A new episode of Survivor: Game Changers airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap and join the discussion here.
Nuku returns to camp from tribal council after voting out Sandra. Debbie joins the tribe after being on Exile Island, but she lies to her tribemates about how Exile Island was. She paints it as a tough experience, although she was actually on a luxurious yacht. Meanwhile, Ozzy is concerned about Tai throwing his name out during tribal council. Tai realizes he’s in trouble too, but he’s relieved he has two hidden immunity idols in his possession. In addition, Varner is very upset with the others for lying to him about the vote. However, he pretends to be nice to everyone so they won’t know his true feelings. Varner also talks to Zeke, and Zeke tells him he wants to take Varner to the Final 3 with him. In his confessional, Varner believes that he and Zeke have formed a bond and that Zeke is sorry for blindsiding him. Varner says it’s not over for him yet.
It’s time for the reward challenge. After Mana sees that Sandra, the only two-time winner, was voted out, the tribes learn about the challenge. They must work together to unspool ropes to collect keys. The keys will unlock planks that will then be used to be a ladder to retrieve bags of balls. They must then go through a net sling and then launch balls at targets. The first tribe to land all the balls in five targets will win a pizza reward. The challenge begins, and Nuku takes a lead. However, they all catch up toward the launching portion of the challenge. Ozzy is launching the balls while Brad is trying to catch up. Ozzy lands all the five balls first. Nuku wins reward!
Mana returns to camp after the challenge. They bemoan the loss of the challenge, as well as how hungry and exhausted they are. The tribe also discusses how hard the Survivor experience is, and agree how no one realizes how tough it is unless you’ve experienced it yourself. They break down in tears, especially after Brad discusses how tough it was for his wife Monica on her second season. Brad discusses Monica in his confessional and how much she means to him. Aubry and Cirie tell Brad how moved they were by Brad emotionally opening up to them and seem to want to work with him in this game. Brad is glad he has people who want to align themselves with him. Over at the Nuku tribe, while they are enjoying their pizza reward, Varner and Sarah talk game. Varner tells Sarah he wants Ozzy gone next since a merge is coming up soon. Sarah seems open to the idea, and even admits in her confessional that it might be time to “cut Ozzy’s throat.”
It’s time for the immunity challenge. They must swim to a platform and then pull a raft toward them. Afterwards, someone from the tribe must dive into the ocean and release buoys. Once they collect all the buoys, they must use the buoys to solve a 13-letter word puzzle. The challenge begins, and Ozzy manages to get the buoys for Nuku. Brad struggles releasing the buoys, putting Mana behind Nuku. Ozzy’s success in the water is allowing Nuku to maintain their lead, and Debbie, Varner, and Andrea are the first to begin the word puzzle for Nuku. Mana manages to finally get all their buoys, and Cirie, Michaela, and Sierra are working on the puzzle. It’s now an even challenge as both tribes are trying to figure out what the word should be. Mana solves the word first: Metamorphosis. Mana wins immunity!
Varner knows he’s in trouble, but he’s determined to try to get people to vote out Ozzy. As they return to camp, Varner tells them all he knows he’s on the chopping block. He just asks if he can make a pitch to everyone. Later on, a group has a discussion on whom to vote out. Debbie says she wants to vote out Varner, but Sarah makes a case against Ozzy. However, Zeke would rather keep Ozzy around, even though he wants to keep Varner too. Zeke lets Varner know he’s likely going home and that the girls are going to make Varner feel comfortable. Varner also gathers from their conversation that Zeke and Ozzy are working together, and Varner lets Sarah know about his conversation with Zeke. Sarah and Andrea are now very annoyed with Zeke since he threw them under the bus, and now Sarah is seriously considering siding with Varner to vote out Ozzy. In addition, Varner claims he knows something about Zeke that no one else seems to have picked up on. It’s insignificant to the game, but he’ll use this info if he believes it will save him.
It’s time for tribal council. Varner tells Jeff he knows he’s going home tonight. He said he talked to everyone individually, and he thought he was making progress with everyone. He also says he realizes there’s a secret alliance with Ozzy and Zeke, and everyone else is on the bottom. He said there’s deception on the tribe that no one knows about. He turns to Zeke and asks why hasn’t he told anyone that he’s transgender. Zeke stays quiet, but the tribe erupts at Varner for outing him. Andrea is in tears, and the entire tribe is telling how wrong it was for Varner to do that. Everyone is extremely angry with Varner. Jeff also calls out Varner for suggesting that Zeke is deceptive due to not telling anyone he’s transgender. Varner says it wasn’t to do that, but everyone is calling him out since Varner did bring that up to paint Zeke as a dishonest person. Eventually Tai and Andrea admit that Varner didn’t mean any ill will and that Varner was just desperate, but remain adamant that Varner was still in the wrong. Varner also breaks down in tears, and he feels horribly about outing Zeke. He didn’t know that Zeke wasn’t open about being transgender, and he just outed him in front of millions of people. Jeff asks Zeke his thoughts, and Zeke says he didn’t want to be known as “the trans guy.” He wanted to be just known as Zeke, and he’s proud of how he has presented himself on the show. Sarah is also in tears, and she calls out Varner as a malicious person. Varner disagrees and says that he had no malicious intention, but Sarah doesn’t care to hear what Varner has to say. Sarah talks about her conservative background, yet she loves and respects Zeke no matter what. She’s sorry Zeke was outed that way. By the end of the discussion, Jeff notes how they don’t even need to vote. They all one-by-one say out loud they’re voting out Varner, so Jeff tells Varner to grab his torch. Varner is the seventh person voted out of Survivor: Game Changers.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor! Thanks for reading, post your thoughts in the comment section below, and come back next week for another live recap.
