Why Survivor 48's Joe Hunter still leaves the game as a huge winner

USA Today

22-05-2025

Why Survivor 48's Joe Hunter still leaves the game as a huge winner
When it comes to playing Survivor in the modern era, strategically (and, most often, amicably) stabbing people in the back is typically part of the formula for success.
A big move, a "blindside," is a coveted attribute to add to your Survivor game, showing that you can indeed "outwit" your opponents and build your reputation for being a master of strategy.
When the game first started, original winner Richard Hatch caught his opponents off-guard with his purposeful conniving, but it is now a critical piece to any Survivor castaway's game to win favor with the jury.
To be honest, to play Survivor the old way, with more interpersonal integrity and with heavy reliance on alliance and sheer force of strength and will, won't earn you a lot of favor with the audience and potentially with the jurors. That's probably part of why Joe Hunter, Survivor 48's third-place finisher, didn't ultimately win the competition.
This latest season's winner, Kyle Fraser, absolutely deserved winning in the context of the game. He arguably played the best strategy of any contestant outside of fellow secret alliance partner Kamilla Karthigesu, he meshed beautifully with the game's two best alliances for individual survival and he showed enough poise and power in the Immunity Challenges to build his Sole Survivor case. Kyle was an excellent Survivor victor.
However, for so much of the season, it seemed like Joe was steamrolling his way to the finish line playing the game his way, which was pretty remarkable considering how Survivor has dramatically evolved from its inception. Final Tribal Council is always such a tricky spot where the makeup of any given jury can swing the game in some wild directions, but Joe found a way to make himself a frontrunner while eschewing traditional game strategy for a much more honorable approach to how he tried to win the whole shebang.
No, Joe did not take home the million dollars, but he is still a pivotal game player in the show's recent history and leaves a huge winner. Joe showed audiences globally that you can still be a stand-up human being and make it far on the beaches of Fiji. He showed a path to play Survivor in the modern era where you really can advance week to week by playing a nearly impenetrable social game while dominating in the Immunity Challenges. He built one of the more impressive alliances in recent memory, and he made sure to keep it intact for as long as possible. No, he did not plot a traditional "blindside" or work his strategy in the shadows, but he didn't necessarily need those tactics to make his game as strong as it inevitably was by season's end.
For a modern Survivor jury, this is not the path to currying votes in the face of strategic advancements. However, Joe even making it to the final three as a viable threat to winning altogether proves that he may be the prototype for a throwback style of Survival competitor. This entire season felt like a time capsule back to the early 2000s at times, which might be why Joe gained such a foothold on the competition.
Joe never really had to sacrifice his integrity to maneuver in the game (depending on how you view David Kinne's beef with him), and he clearly became uncomfortable when the winds blew in the direction of playing the modern way being the only way to make it out for the next day. Perhaps that's why he felt like a unique contender in a Survivor landscape where potential players dream of how they'll pull off big moves and "blindsides" to win the game.
However, it's just cool for where Survivor has gone that you got a player like Joe with such a strong moral compass and an eye for life bigger than the game being played. It's also why Kyle was such an easy person to root for by game's end, a Survivor winner who agonized how his fully fair deceptions might impact the castaways he developed close relationships with while in Fiji. It's clear how much this cast came together at the end, and how even a modern game of Survivor can build lifelong bonds in the heat of competition.
Joe's relationship with Eva Erickson, Survivor's very first openly autistic castaway and an incredibly deserving runner up to Kyle by Final Tribal Council, really cemented why the former's run on the show was so special. It was always easy to root for both of these challengers from a human perspective, but it was something else altogether to see Joe at times perhaps sacrifice his individual game to see the bigger picture with Eva.
The season's most powerful moment by a mile came when Joe left his tribe to comfort Eva during a particularly troubling episode for the latter, publicly exposing their alliance in an interaction that ultimately left show host Jeff Probst in tears. The empathy and character Joe showed in helping Eva during such a harrowing moment in the game cemented the two as one of the game's all-time duos, as it could become hard to root against them in a game where it's easy to lose sight of the person behind the player.
Yes, strategy in Survivor often dictates you do just that in the spirit of friendly competition, but Joe seemed willing to fall short of his ultimate goal if it kept him from doing the right thing. That's pretty moving. Joe, Eva, Kyle, Kamilla and Mitch showed moments of remarkable character throughout, and it's really cool they were the last five standing by the season finale.
Joe's ironclad bond with Eva might not have endeared those who prefer their Survivor to be as cutthroat as possible, but it was a welcome change of pace and a reminder that you can still play the game Joe's way and make it very far in the competition. Sure, you might not always leave with a million bucks this way, but for so much of this season, it felt like Joe was headed his way there with ease.
Honestly, you wish Joe would have made this more central to his argument at Final Tribal Council. He should get many more flowers for finding a way to play the game his way, one build on unshakable bonds and consistent brawn, in this modern era and still making it as far as he did with such week-to-week dominance.
That might not sway the jurors who want their season of Survivor represented by the most impressive strategy, but it still means Joe should leave Mamanuca Islands with his head held high. For a game that proudly creates heroes and villains, Joe gets to close his run on Survivor 48 as a clear hero. If his mission in heading to Fiji was that the world could see what a good guy he was and prove that even the good guys can find success in the world's greatest game without even strategically compromising their character, then mission accomplished.
As a friend who is a huge Survivor fan shared with me in conversation about the finale, we have a feeling this season of Survivor will age well because of the genial spirit that largely dominated the island this go-around, and we have a feeling even those who didn't like Joe's game this time around for its lack of traditional "blindside" strategy will grow to appreciate it more in the years to come. Joe played the game his way with honor and determination, and he would have certainly a worthy Sole Survivor because of it.