Survivor 48 host Jeff Probst has explained the rules behind one of the "craziest" Tribal Councils in history that resulted in Justin Pioppi's elimination.

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On Survivor's March 12 episode, the Vula Tribe, who attended Tribal Council on Night 7 of the game, was comprised of Justin, Cedrek McFadden, Mary Zheng, and Saiounia "Sai" Hughley.

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Cedrek cast the sole vote to oust Justin from the game after a successful "Shot in the Dark" play on Mary's part followed by multiple tiebreakers and re-votes.

Justin and Mary didn't have votes to begin with because Justin had lost his vote rolling dice on a journey and Mary -- who had anticipated she was her tribe's initial target -- used her Shot in the Dark as a last-ditch effort to stay.

"So let me just take you through the big points. You get to Tribal and you start with this: Justin doesn't have a vote, so he's not voting tonight at all," Jeff explained on the latest episode of his "On Fire With Jeff Probst" podcast.

"Then, Mary decides to sacrifice her vote to play the Shot in the Dark and she gets it. So she's now safe but doesn't have a vote either."

Jeff added, "There was a lot going on because of lost votes and votes that were sacrificed."

Once the votes were cast for the first time, Mary was supposed to go home with two votes from Cedrek and Sai, but she was deemed "SAFE" thanks to her Shot in the Dark.

Jeff therefore asked Cedrek and Sai to vote again, but this time, no one could vote for Mary.

"With Sai voting for Justin and Cedrek voting for Sai, [there was another] tie. So then they voted again," Jeff shared.

This time, Cedrek and Sai could only vote for Sai or Justin, and again, it was a tie.

After three votes -- all of which suggested Cedrek was going to stay loyal to Justin -- the tribe was officially deadlocked.

"Once we are deadlocked, then this is where the rules change the game," Jeff explained.

"The voting is over. There is no more voting. So Sai, even though she had a vote tonight, she didn't get to vote. This is now a decision that will be made between the remaining members of the tribe. So you have Justin and Sai -- they're sitting over there both tied with a vote."

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Jeff said the rest of the tribe had to discuss the situation openly and decide whom to send packing.

"Because they got to send somebody home, because if they don't send somebody home, then Justin and Sai are safe and everybody has to draw rocks and somebody goes home," Jeff noted.

"What made tonight historic is the rest of the tribe was composed of two people, Cedrek and Mary. But, as discussed, Mary doesn't have any say in this because she sacrificed her vote. So the rest of the tribe is Cedrek."

Suddenly, Cedrek was the "only voice" in the complicated matter, and he held all the power.

"So Cedrek now has this big decision... So he decides, 'Do I send Justin home or do I send Sai home?'" Jeff clarified.

"And if for some odd reason he was so conflicted he couldn't decide, then yes, we would technically go to drawing rocks and there would be one rock in there and it'd be Cedrek going home. So we all knew that wasn't going to happen."

This historic moment made Tribal Council "one of the craziest" sessions ever, according to the longtime host.

When asked for his thoughts after everything transpired, Cedrek said it felt "horrible" to have to choose between his two allies because he felt very connected to both Survivor players.

"The big question then became: Is [Cedrek] going to trust Sai and try to forge ahead with something, or is he going to get rid of Sai and keep Justin?" Jeff questioned.

Sai fought for her position in the game by telling Cedrek that she had never lied to him. Justin, on the other hand, never came clean about the fact he had lost his vote during the post-Immunity Challenge journey.

Sai started crying and insisted that she had told Cedrek everything and trusted him the entire time.

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Cedrek therefore asked Justin if he had anything to say, and Justin replied, "Do what's best for you, Cedrek, going forward... I hope to continue this... We had plans to go deep in this game. I hope that can be true, and just know I'm still with you."

Justin also promised Cedrek that no matter what, they'd remain friends and reunite post-game at his pizzeria.

Sai repeated how she had been totally honest with Cedrek, and so Cedrek decided to keep Sai in the game as long as she and Mary -- who had been at odds and gunning for each other -- could bury the hatchet and start fresh in the game.

Sai agreed to work with Mary going forward, and so Cedrek voted Justin out.

"You know what I loved about Justin is the way he went out is exactly my experience with him," Jeff said on his podcast.

"When he basically said to Cedrek, 'Hey man, we'll be friends either way, so you do what you got to do' -- that's the guy I fell in love with. I was bummed to see Justin go. I don't think he ever got his footing."

Jeff described Justin as "very smart" and elaborated, "I'm not sure he ever really took a hold of the game in the way that I think he might wish he had."

The Survivor host pointed out how Justin has a high IQ and graduated from Yale University.

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"[Justin] put law school on hold to help run the family business, the pizza business," Jeff revealed.

"And my notes on him are 'sweet, trusting, giving,' and that's what you saw play out with Cedrek. [Justin said], 'We'll be friends, don't worry about it.' And Justin's gone."




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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