The ‘Survivor 48’ final 5 speak in exclusive finale interview

They made it. Joe Hunter, Eva Erickson, Kyle Fraser, Kamilla Karthigesu, and Mitch Guerra have advanced all the way to finale night on Survivor 48. Congratulations and a hearty HUZZAH! to them.

Three of those five fine folks will eventually sit in front of a jury and have to answer questions from the people they voted out along the way. But before they do that, they have some other questions to answer. Our questions! Every season, Entertainment Weekly gets an exclusive pre-finale interview with the last contestants standing to gain a little insight in what has transpired on the island in the first 23 days.

What were their best moves in the game? What were their personal highest and lowest moments on the island? And which juror was the biggest threat to win it all? We hit the final five with those queries, and all the intel waits below. (Also make sure to read our exclusive pre-finale interview with the jury.)

What is the move you were most proud of in the first 23 days?

KAMILLA KARTHIGESU: The whole Shauhin idol saga — I can’t believe so many people fell for this. This one lie had so many payoffs! The initial lie saved me because David and Mary were POSITIVE Shauhin was going to play his idol on me, meaning no votes came my way. Fast forward a couple of days later, and that lie evolved from “Shauhin MIGHT have an idol” to “he showed me beads.” This allowed us to eliminate one of my biggest final Tribal Council threats while also weakening the game of those who fell for it.

JOE HUNTER: The move I am most proud of in the first 23 days was to be there for Eva no matter what. 

MITCH GUERRA: I’m most proud of how I responded after Charity was voted out and I was the only one blindsided. That moment could’ve easily shut me down, but instead, I used my Block-a-Vote advantage in a subtle but impactful way. It helped eliminate Sai, who had been actively targeting me, and more importantly, it signaled to the majority alliance — especially Joe — that I was still willing to work with them moving forward.

Despite being left out and being seen as a threat to go on an immunity run, I showed I wasn’t playing emotionally or seeking revenge. That move became a turning point. It took the idea of splitting votes against me off the table and helped build trust with Joe, which allowed me to sneak into a working relationship with the majority alliance. That trust carried me all the way to the final five.

EVA ERICKSON: I was proud of orchestrating a core alliance that was so tight that I could be completely insulated despite holding multiple advantages. I was the person that took the “Strong Six” to a core four. The morning after obtaining the Safety Without Power, I shared the story of my journey with Joe, Shauhin, and Kyle, telling them that I was NOT sharing this information with David and Mary because I knew this was the four I wanted to work with in the game. This solidified our group, showed each of them they could trust me, and allowed me to create a path for myself.

KYLE FRASER: The idol play at four is definitely my favorite. But, while the show broadcasted the improv that Kamilla and I had to do on the front end before that Tribal, I am most proud about how we handled it during and immediately after Tribal.

What was your favorite non-game related interaction you had with someone over your first 23 days?

KAMILLA: This was way back in our early Civa days. We were all sitting around camp using sticks to scrub at our teeth and David goes “Man, I wish I had some floss.” I offered him a strand of my hair since I’d been using it to floss out the coconut, and this for some reason disgusted everyone on our tribe — everyone except for David. I made that offer as a joke not expecting him to actually take me up on it! I ended up plucking out a nice thick strand of my unwashed hair and he flossed his teeth with that.

JOE: Jeff allowing me to leave my mat and go to Eva in her moment of distress. I really missed my kids and thought of them constantly, and in that moment I couldn’t help but think… that is someone’s daughter. 

MITCH: My bond with Charity during the first few days was something really special. We shared a lot of personal stories about our journeys and what brought us to the game — it was real, raw, and meaningful. Another standout moment for me was on the very first night, sitting down with Kyle and having a deep heart-to-heart about working in education and giving back to our communities.

That conversation created a strong personal connection that carried throughout the game. Kyle and I continued to have a meaningful relationship that went beyond gameplay — we were genuinely becoming friends. It’s wild how deep those connections can grow out there, even in the middle of a strategic game.

EVA: I think the hardest I laughed was one night when Star was telling a story and instead of saying “I walked over there” she said the phrase “I was skitty-scatting on over” and that phrase cracked me up, but what killed me was when Joe and Kyle started scat singing! They were doing doo-bops and she-bops and doddli-dos and ad-libbing on it like a barbershop quartet, and I could not stop laughing! For days to come, sometimes they would just hit me with a random diddly-bop to make me laugh.

KYLE: My conversations with Mitch the first two days, without a doubt. Mitch and I had an incredible conversation on the first night of the game at Civa. I was feeling particularly low after losing the marooning challenge and failing to get the supplies. And I was so anxious that my tribe hated me for all of the above. But Mitch and I talked about education and how it’s such a privilege to work with children, and I could tell that he actually wanted to get to know me. This meant the absolute world to me.

On night two, Mitch and I had a conversation that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Mitch is such a confident and outgoing person, so I asked him if he has always been that way. He then went on to explain that he had a lot of struggles as a kid, but he also learned when he was young that he deserved to take up space. I still struggle sometimes with accepting the fact that I’m allowed to be myself in some of the environments I find myself in, so learning from Mitch out there was huge. Mitch was the most likeable and competitive person out there, and I continue to learn from him.

What was your lowest moment over the first 23 days?

KAMILLA: All the policing — from mostly David, and at times Mary and Star. After the split Tribal, those three made sure I was not allowed to talk to anyone on that island unless one of them were around. I was followed everywhere.

JOE: The lowest moment, hands-down, was Shauhin’s vote out. The hardest part about playing this game, especially that deep into the game, is being able to tell what is the truth and what is a lie. In the end, I feel like we both had a bad day and it impacted our game. 

MITCH: Day 22 was by far the toughest. When Shauhin won reward and chose Kyle and Joe to receive letters from home, it hit me hard. I was already feeling like I was on the bottom, and not being picked just reinforced that. I had performed well in challenges earlier, but now I couldn’t win when it really mattered. I felt like I was letting my friends and family down.

But what made it worse was that I thought I had fought so hard to get to this point so we could make a move at six — and now I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I believed Shauhin was on the verge of flipping against Joe and Eva, but picking Joe made me question everything. Why feed the biggest challenge threat?

That decision shook my confidence. I was soaked, starving, and sitting outside while those three were bonding even more. It felt like the game was slipping away from me.

EVA: Voting out David. I knew I was making the right moral decision for myself to get him out, but it still hurt so bad to eliminate someone who was loyal to me and had been a friend. I felt like I was mourning that friendship after Tribal Council and feared he would never forgive me. 

KYLE: My lowest moment was literally the first five hours of the game. After we lost the marooning challenge, a few members on the tribe immediately looked at me and volunteered me to go on the journey. I told myself that I would NEVER go on the day one journey, but I couldn’t go against the tribe.

Going into the game, I knew the social deficit it would put me in by being away from camp for so many hours when bonds are formed. Losing by breaking my jug was just the icing on the cake. I was a college athlete, but I hadn’t actually competed physically in something for such a long time.

In that moment, I really felt like I had let myself and my tribe down — and, in considering the consequences, I did. That moment stayed with me the rest of the game and really did color a lot of my gameplay moving forward.

Of the six people already on the jury heading into the finale, who was the biggest threat to win the game?

KAMILLA: Shauhin, because his door was open to everyone. He talked strategy with people outside of his core alliance, even if he never intended to follow through. He made people feel heard, and he let people feel like they were playing the game. It seems silly cause it’s Survivor 101, but it truly was that simple.

Also, a huge shoutout to Mary — everyone loves an underdog story, and this woman had the biggest one! From constantly being on the bottom of Vula (with Cedrek to back that up), to being the sole survivor of her starting tribe. I did not want her getting anywhere close to final Tribal Council at all.

JOE: Shauhin. In my mind he was the best player overall and his strategy was off the charts. His feel for the game and the ebbs and flow through all the chaos was, to me, what makes him a special player. 

MITCH: If Mary had made it to the end, she would’ve been a huge threat to win — no matter how she got there. Her ability to adapt and stay connected across alliances was impressive. She had strong relationships with Eva and Shauhin, and if we had used her to make a move, she could’ve floated between sides all the way to final Tribal. That kind of adaptability made her dangerous, which is why I couldn’t make a move with her.

Shauhin, though, was probably the biggest overall threat. From Day 1, he was wildly personable — he’s a total “WOO-er.” He knows how to work a room and make you feel like the most important person there. His social game was easily one of the best on the island. He didn’t even have to be flashy — people just gravitated toward him. And the fact that he writes speeches for a living? If he had made it to final Tribal, he would’ve crushed it. His ability to charm, connect, and speak with purpose made him a dangerous player from the start.

EVA: Mary! Mary was the last remaining Vula. She played scrappy, no one on the jury was angry at her, and she had a distinctly different story to tell than each of the people left in the game. So often when a member of the disaster tribe makes it to the end, we see them win (Kenzie, Yam Yam).  The fact she made it out of the Vula hell was impressive, and adding in the way she roped David into deep loyalty, I think she would have had some very compelling arguments about how she managed to outwit, outplay, and outlast the competition that would have set her apart from other people.

KYLE: So many people had a shot at winning the game at the beginning of the merge. If I had to narrow it down, I would say Mary, Shauhin, and David — in no particular order. Mary was scary because she had every interpersonal tool a great player needed, and her story on Vula was also compelling; we have seen seasons in the new era where someone from the underdog tribe squeaks into the finale and takes the million, and I think she was very close to pulling that off.

Shauhin had a lot of positive relationships and is a very good orator. He was constantly under heat in the game, sometimes even from me, and I think there is a lot to be said about dodging bullets like that at so many Tribals.

David surprised me very early in the game with his strategic acumen. He was an obvious challenge threat, but I liked working with him, especially within the context of the Civa four, because he did a great job at hiding his intelligence and allegiances. I think if David made it to the end, it would in large part be because he concealed certain attributes that others might have wrongfully assumed he did not have.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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