Written by NSA Contributor and Survivor superfan James Hayden, this blog follows the journey of Mitch Guerra — the first openly stuttering contestant in the show's history.
We're rooting for Mitch every step of the way and can’t wait to see how his story unfolds.
This post will be updated weekly with episode recaps featuring Mitch, so be sure to check back. Let’s hope he earns the title of Sole Survivor!
Survivor Season 48 Episode 1 Recap
Survivor 48 begins with a montage of the cast discovering they’re going to Fiji! Mitch is featured in this montage, but we aren’t officially introduced to him until the cast is marooned. Jeff Probst, host since season 1, greets the cast and formally welcomes them to Survivor 48. After giving the cast a pep talk, Probst asks Mitch, “Why did you answer the call to be here?” Mitch explains how seeing Christy Smith, who is deaf, play in Survivor: The Amazon inspired him to play. During his response, Mitch openly stutters and discloses that he has a stutter to the group. When Jeff asked what took him so long to get there, Mitch responded, “I’ve been trying to get out here for 20 years.” The cast laughs, and Mitch makes a good first impression overall.
After asking two other players the same question, Jeff announces the tribe names. Mitch’s tribe is called Civa and their tribe color is orange. The other two tribes are Lagi and Vula, wearing purple and green, respectively. In the opening reward challenge, Lagi wins their camp supplies: flint, machete, and a pot. Civa and Vula have a second chance to win their supplies. Each must send one player to compete in the challenge. Civa sends Kyle and Vula sends Kevin. Kevin secures supplies for his tribe, which means Civa won’t get their supplies until after the first immunity challenge on day 3.
Once at the tribe camp, Mitch gets his tribe’s first confessional. He gets along well with everyone and pulls his weight around camp. One of his tribe mates, David, pulls him aside to look for the hidden immunity idol. He seems to be in everyone’s good graces, and his stutter is a non-issue. The story of day 1 on Civa is told through Mitch’s eyes.
Over on Vula, Sai is hitting the ground running. She is looking for advantages, and ultimately finds their hidden immunity idol on day 2. In Lagi, Eva opens up to Joe about being a person with autism. The two share a beautiful exchange that goes beyond the game, discussing how to be an ally for someone.
The tribes compete in their first immunity challenge on day 3. Mitch performs excellent in the challenge, and Civa finishes second. Civa wins their camp supplies and immunity. Vula loses and votes out Stephanie for losing the challenge for them.
Overall, Mitch had a good first episode. He seems to be well-liked by everyone in his tribe, did well in the challenges, is a hard worker around camp, and David seems to trust him. The only thing that concerns me is a scene in which his tribe mates Kamilla, Chrissy, David, and Kyle form a four-person alliance. On a tribe of six, this is not good for Mitch. However, it’s still early in the game. A lot can and will change from now until day 26.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 2 Recap
The episode opens with Vula back at camp and Mary asking why she was left out of the vote. She gets into it with Sai, and it’s clear these two do not like each other. Vula is simply a mess.
On Civa, the members share their “humble traits.” When asked what his “humble trait” is, Mitch responds, “I just have a speech impediment.” This gets some chuckles out of his tribe and helps Mitch strengthen his rapport with the rest of the tribe. It’s important to note that Civa is laughing with Mitch instead of at him. This scene normalizes stuttering and shows the others that Mitch doesn’t view it as a big deal, and they shouldn’t, either.
Over on Lagi, Star, feeling on the outs, starts looking for the hidden immunity idol. She finds the clues but can’t find the idol. She tells everyone in an attempt to bond with the tribe, but it backfires on her. Star is now the prime target on Lagi.
A boat approaches each tribe’s beach and instructs the tribes to pick one person to go on a journey. A journey gives the chosen player an opportunity to win an advantage. Mitch is selected for Civa, Mary for Vula, and Thomas for Lagi to go on the journey. They encounter a puzzle and must solve it within the given amount of time. Mitch and Thomas are successful, while Mary is not. Mitch wins the opportunity to block someone’s vote at Tribal Council, while Thomas wins the opportunity to steal someone’s vote. Mary loses her vote at her next Tribal Council. Mitch tells his tribe he won and forms an alliance with Charity, who is on the outs. The rest of Civa look for the idol, and Kyle and Kamilla ultimately find it.
For me and the rest of the stuttering community, the episode's highlight occurred on day 5. Before explaining the immunity challenge, Probst asks Civa how the toolkit they won during the first challenge improved their camp life. Mitch answers Probst’s question and has quite a few stuttering moments during his response. Instead of moving on, Probst takes a moment to be an ally.
He asks Mitch, “When you’re struggling, do you want help from someone, or is part of it to let you finish when you’re ready to finish?”
To which Mitch beautifully responds, “The hope is that everyone would just kind of hang in there for me and just give [me] the opportunity to finish my sentence. I’m so thankful you asked that because, honestly, people just naturally want to help others and sometimes we don’t feel comfortable enough asking that, so thank you.”
Mitch’s answer is what every person who stutters wants: the space to openly and freely stutter during spontaneous communication. It’s such a powerful message for everyone. Moreover, I appreciate Probst’s response to Mitch’s stutter. He allowed Mitch to stutter freely, had no visible reaction, and then asked how he could best be an ally. To paraphrase Probst, “That’s how you do it in allyship.” In addition to Probst, the entire cast took in the moment. They nodded in support of what Mitch was saying and showed their support. They, like Probst, are willing to learn how to be a better advocate for PWS (people who stutter).
As a longtime fan, what I love most about this moment is that it wasn't a forced or potentially scripted moment. Instead, it occurred naturally. It was just one person who doesn't stutter asking one person who does, how to be supportive. It just so happened that it occurred with cameras rolling and would later be broadcast on prime-time TV for millions to see. Moments like these are when the show is at its best: when two people from different walks of life meet and teach each other something. This episode gave us one of the most positive representations of stuttering allyship in the media for millions of people to learn from.
Moving on, the next challenge is a water obstacle course, and each tribe has to get five balls to reach their goal. Mitch is the hero for Civa and wins them immunity and fishing supplies. Cedrick loses the challenge for Vula, and they are headed to Tribal Council.
On Vula beach, every person’s name is mentioned as a possible target. Sai plays her hidden immunity idol because of the chaos. But ultimately, Kevin goes home after Sai joins Justin and Cedrick to vote him out.
Overall, this was a great episode for Mitch: He had a few hero moments, strengthened his social bonds on Civa, and gracefully educated Jeff and at-home viewers how to be a strong ally for PWS. Going into next week, my only concern for Mitch is that he’s associated with Charity. It’s only day 5, and with 21 days to go, many things can change.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 3 Recap
The episode opens with Vula dealing with the fallout from Kevin going home. Sai no longer trusts Cedrek and Justin after they both told her to play her idol when she didn’t need to.
We then join the Civa tribe on the morning of Day 6. The main four, David, Kyle, Kamilla, and Chrissy, are talking about weight loss and life back at home. David has been a big character in the past two episodes, but we go beneath the surface this week and get to know him better. He opens up about his living situation and how important winning the million-dollar prize is to him. Elsewhere, Lagi struggles with lacking food, living in the elements, and missing home. To bring up tribe morale, Joe builds a bonfire for the tribe to enjoy. While everyone is sitting around it, Eva gives Joe a bracelet for his daughter. This alarms Shauhin and Thomas, who realize Eva is too close to Joe and needs to go.
Mary wakes up early on Day 7 to look for the hidden immunity idol. Since Sai played it at the last Tribal Council, it has been hidden again. Sai has the same idea, and, eventually, they both chase after the idol. Neither has any luck finding it and it stays hidden at Vula Beach.
Over at Civa, Mitch believes the tribe is firing on all cylinders and ideally wants to go deep into the game with all of them. Charity and Mitch are each other’s #1 allies. Mitch approaches Kyle about a four-person alliance of Kyle, himself, David, and Charity. This gives Kyle and David options since they’re also in an alliance with Chrissy and Kamilla.
At Lagi, Star knows she’s on the outs and continues using her clues to try to find the tribe’s hidden immunity idol. Seeing this, Eva approaches Star about allying with her and Joe. Star is against this and tells Bianca and Thomas, her true allies, and a plan against Eva begins to take shape.
The immunity challenge is a blindfolded obstacle course. One player directs three blindfolded players to collect three bags of keys. Once all the bags are collected, the tribe’s caller must direct one blindfolded player to complete a slide puzzle. Mitch has a solid performance and saves Civa from Tribal Council. Vula loses their third challenge in a row.
Bianca, Justin, and Kamilla go on a journey in which they play a game of chance. If they win, they get an extra vote. If they lose, then they lose their vote at Tribal Council. Biana and Justin lose their votes, and Kamilla wins an extra vote.
After Mary pretends to have an idol, three rounds of voting, and a historic Tribal Council, Cedrek casts the sole vote and votes out Justin.
This episode is quiet for Mitch and sets the stage for what the rest of the season could look like. Everything could be upended when the tribes swap next week!
Survivor Season 48 Episode 4 Recap
We open the episode, “The House Party’s Over,” on Day 8: Cedrek and Sai attempt to rebuild trust after a historic Tribal Council just as Mary and Sai finally realize they should work together instead of against each other.
However, tribes are thrown a curveball when they arrive at their next challenge and Jeff says the game-changing words, “Everyone, drop your buffs. We’re switching tribes.”
The new tribes are:
Civa: Bianca, Cedrek, Chrissy, Mitch, Sai
Lagi: Charity, David, Eva, Mary, Star
Vula: Joe, Kamilla, Kyle, Shauhin, Thomas
On Lagi, Eva immediately bonds with David. She then informs the rest of her tribe that she would gladly vote out Star if they went to Tribal Council.
At Vula, Kamilla and Kyle pretend not to be close to each other. Kamilla also uses information she learned from Star to throw Thomas under the bus.
On Civa, Chrissy realizes she needs to work with Mitch to make it through this phase of the game. Bianca approaches Sai about an alliance with them and Cedrek. Sai is unsure and tells Bianca to “vibe check” him first. Cedrek approaches Mitch about allying, but this conversation is so much more than that.
Cedrek tells Mitch about how he stuttered as a kid and how, at times, he still stutters. They then talk about their experiences in speech therapy and the sounds they have difficulty with. Mitch mentions that he has the most difficulty with “M” sounds (it's common for people who stutter to stutter when saying their name!). Mitch talks about growing up without any positive portrayals of stuttering. Ironically, Mitch’s appearance on the show is creating a meaningful and positive portrayal of stuttering that many people will treasure and appreciate!
Cedrek sees himself in Mitch and wants to work with him. At its core, this conversation is about two people bonding over a shared experience. But in tribes this small, any commonality you find with someone could lead to an alliance. Cedrek pitches to Mitch that he and Sai are loyal to each other. Humorously, it instantly cuts to Sai talking to Bianca and throwing him under the bus.
The immunity challenge is another obstacle course that ends with three tribe members building a 3D temple puzzle. Once again, Mitch shows his physical prowess and dominates his part of the challenge. Although Vula has all new members, the result is the same: They win a fourth straight date to Tribal Council.
Kyle and Kamilla keep pretending that they are at odds but ultimately plan how best to use Kyle’s idol and Kamilla’s extra vote to survive. After an emotional Tribal Council, Kyle uses his idol to send Thomas home for being a threat.
Overall, this was another good episode for Mitch. Although potentially being in the minority on his new tribe, I think Mitch is in a good spot. He and Chrissy realized they’re better together than apart, made inroads with Cedrek, and was never once mentioned as a possible boot if Civa goes to Tribal Council. His challenge prowess has him in a good spot going into next week, but that could all change. What’s true on Day 9 might not be true on Day 10.