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With only nine players left in Survivor 45, a group of five castaways have emerged as the reality competition show’s power alliance. But, we may be in for a good ol’ fashioned betrayal next episode.
Early in season 45, Austin Li Coon, Drew Basile, Julie Alley, and Dee Valladares came together under the Reba banner to create a tight-knit foursome. Although the “Reba 4” never made a trip Tribal Council before the first tribe swap on day 8, they proved their loyalty by sharing information, including the directions to finding a Hidden Immunity Idol, which Austin eventually secured.
When the 15 remaining players were randomly rearranged into three new groups of five, Austin and Drew stuck together while sporting Belo’s blue buff, and Dee and Julie remained on Reba’s beach. The two women went to their first Tribal on day 9 when they lost the Immunity Challenge, and it was clear that Dee and Julie were closer than ever, even though Dee later tossed a rogue vote at Sifu Alsup.
Back at Belo, Austin and Drew focused their effort on winning ex-Lulu’s Emily Flippen over to create a majority in the five-person tribe to combat original Belo members Kendra McQuarrie and Brandon Meyer. Emily’s allegiance was tested on day 11 when the blue squad was sent to Tribal Council.
“Brando” and Kendra attempted to flip Emily to their side while Drew and Austin beckoned her over to theirs. In the end, Emily chose the two Reba players and Brando was ousted.
The Reba 4 reconnected the next day and, along with Emily, have continued working closely together since.
In the most recent episode, which aired on November 15, the fivesome blindsided Kellie Nalbandian and she was sent to Jury. The five-player block holds the majority heading into episode nine. And barring any advantage or Immunity used by the other side, they theoretically could have a clear path to the end game by knocking out the remaining original Belo tribemates one by one.
Emily showed a willingness to turn on Dee during episode 9’s sneak peek
Well, judging by Emily’s words to Austin in the sneak peek for episode 9, the investment analyst isn’t prepared to ride with Dee to the finale. “If Dee’s in the final three, Dee wins,” Emily said to Austin.
“I can’t blindside Dee,” Austin then said in a confessional. “I love talking with her. I love hanging out with her.”
We then saw the nine castaways standing together in front of host Jeff Probst at a challenge. In front of them were three mats — blue, yellow, and red — and Jeff revealed that three contestants were about to lose their votes, presumably for the upcoming Tribal Council. “My mind just goes blank,” Emily said to close out November 22’s snippet.
If you missed the sneak peak at the end of November 15’s episode, you can watch it above via the embedded YouTube player.
So, it’s clear the edit is teasing a potential severing of the Reba 4 spearheaded by Emily, who seems much more inclined to play alongside Austin and Drew than Dee and Julie.
Interestingly, Kellie revealed to Parade’s Mike Bloom that Emily was considering turning on Dee before her elimination in episode 8. But, because Bruce Perreault had lost his vote for that Tribal, and Jake O’Kane was adamant about using his “Shot in the Dark,” which would’ve eliminated his voting power as well, Emily stuck with Dee, Julie, Austin, and Drew and voted out Kellie instead.
“That’s what Emily wanted,” Kellie said about Emily targeting Dee. “I think we can kind of understand why she may want to take Dee out at this moment. So that’s that conversation with Jake trying to get him to not play the Shot in the Dark is. We needed his vote because we didn’t have it. So if we did have Bruce’s vote I think it’s a lot easier to convince Emily to vote with us. Because she’s a financial analyst, right? She’s looking at the numbers, and the math is not working.”
Dee has proven herself to be a strategic and physical threat. Although we haven’t seen it on the show as of yet, Emily likely views Dee as also being an obstacle impeding her ability to create a deeper working relationship with Austin and Drew. But, with so many rounds of play remaining, it may be too early for Emily to take a shot at the entrepreneur.
Regardless, Austin will likely be the biggest puzzle piece Emily needs to pull off the betrayal. Austin is rolling with two Hidden Immunity Idols at this point and she won’t want to find herself in his crosshairs.
Will Emily strike during the next episode, or will Austin and Dee come together to blindside Emily? Or, will they continue cruising together while picking off another ex-Belo? We’ll find out soon enough!