Survivor 45 Episode 4 had surprises and twists all the way to the very end as players spent the majority of the show building alliances until one person, for the second time this season, asked to be voted off the island.
At the very beginning, some wishes were answered as the teams were reshaped, but by chance, the three remaining members of Team Lulu were the only ones completely separated. The other two tribes remained relatively intact. While the shake-up allowed players to reinforce bonds, it put the players on Team Lulu at odds.
For the remainder of this Survivor 45 Episode 4 recap, we’ll include spoilers, so you’ve been warned.
The Odd Man Out
At the end of episode 3, the 35-year-old elementary school principal Sean Edwards was blindsided as Sabiyah Broderick was sent home. Out of the three players capable of voting, Edwards was the only one to cast a vote for Kaleb Gebrewold. While he tried to make amends with his fellow castaways, Gebrewold and Emily Flippen, they weren’t buying it.
Kaleb described Edwards as “cowering” with his tail between his legs when they returned and Emily said she believed that he was being disingenuous as well. During a confessional, Edwards explained that he was “dumbfounded” by the blindside vote and added that his only chance was a mix-up, which came the very next day.
Edwards was added to Team Reba, Flippen went to Team Belo, and Kaleb remained on Team Lulu. With four remaining Reba members, Edwards had an uphill battle trying to convince either Nicholas “Sifu” Alsup or the alliance of three women he was on their side. After losing the immunity challenge, Sifu and Edwards realized that they were the ones on the chopping block.
As the 49-year-old estate attorney, and Team Reba member Julie Alley explained, Sifu’s athletic ability was the reason they won three challenges in a row, but they also couldn’t trust him. In previous episodes, other Reba players caught him sneaking around the camp and spying on teammates.
Going into Tribal Council, the stress cranked up to 11 and Edwards delivered an emotional plea, asking his team to send him home. As a gay man from a conservative Mormon community, he explained that he thought he could “reclaim” the time he lost trying to fit into a life that wasn’t his, but that wasn’t what he learned.
“It’s being here that I’ve realized that my true adventure of a lifetime is back home with my husband, Matt,” Edwards said, adding, “I don’t want to take your dream away from you because this is not mine and I’m at peace with that because my dream is at home. So respectfully, I would kindly ask that when you vote tonight, that you write my name down on the parchment.”
But it wasn’t the final shocking moment of the episode. Instead of voting unanimously, someone voted for Dee Valladares and another voted for Sifu, which furthered his distrust of everyone in the tribe. In fact, on Edwards’ way out, Sifu whispered to him: “Did you vote for me?” Although Edwards answered “no,” we’ll find out the real answer next week on Survivor 45 Episode 5.
