A new episode of Survivor airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap and join the discussion here.
The episode begins with the tribe returning to camp after tribal council. Debbie says she’s in control of the tribe since she got her way with Ozzy going home. She says she has a core alliance of six that will pick off the other five. She says a line has not just been drawn in the sand, but also “in the concrete.” She doesn’t see her alliance with Brad, Sierra, Tai, Troyzan, and Sarah breaking. Meanwhile, Andrea says tribal council was a shocker and acknowledges that she’s is in the minority. Andrea confronts Zeke about him coming after her, and Zeke says Andrea and Cirie had no intention of taking him to the end, and Andrea calls Zeke shady. In his confessional, Zeke says he has no choice but to stick with the majority. Later, Sarah and Zeke talk by the well, and Sarah says they can just vote out Andrea next. Sarah still wants to keep her options open of working with Zeke, and she says that there is no permanent line in the sand.
It’s time for the reward challenge. They will be divided into two teams of five. One at a time, someone from each team will have to go through an obstacle course in the water until they reach a floating platform. Once all five are there, they must dive down into the water to retrieve grappling hooks. They will then use the grappling hooks to retrieve five rings in the water. The first team to get all their rings win reward – a picnic. One person will not participate since it’s an uneven number. They do a schoolyard pick to determine teams. Brad was a captain, and he chose Debbie, Sierra, Andrea, and Aubry. Cirie was the other captain, and she chose Zeke, Sarah, Troyzan, and Tai. Michaela was not picked, and she’s not happy about it. She has to sit on the sidelines of another platform and watch the challenge. Unbeknownst to her, there is a secret advantage lying on the platform with her. The challenge is underway, but Cirie struggling to get through the obstacle puts her team behind. Sarah jumps into the water to help Cirie, but she’ll also have to redo the obstacle. This allows Brad’s team to complete the challenge without much competition. Brad, Debbie, Sierra, Andrea, and Aubry win reward. However, even though the challenge is over, Cirie’s teammates still help her get through the obstacle and they all cheer on Cirie. Before Jeff sends the castaways away, Sarah noticed the secret advantage Michaela did not grab. While no one is watching, Sarah gets the advantage.
After the challenge, Cirie is touched by her teammates helping her complete the challenge. She calls them good people. Meanwhile, Sarah reads the secret advantage she snatched from the reward. She learns she can steal a vote from someone else. The last time this advantage can be played is when there are five people left in the game. Sarah is determined to use this advantage to her benefit.
The winning team is enjoying their reward. They take a plane ride to the reward. While they’re enjoying their picnic, we hear a confessional from Brad about how he’s glad he’ll still have eyes and ears back at camp. He also asks Andrea about what happened between her and Zeke, and she tells him she feels like she has no one in the game now. We also hear a confessional from Sierra, and she feels like she’s in the driver’s seat right now since she’s calling the shots in her majority alliance.
Back at camp, Sarah and Cirie talk game. They agree Sierra and Brad are running the game. Sarah asks if she would have a chance at winning the game if she goes to the end with Sierra and Brad, and Cirie tells her she won’t. Sarah discusses the possibility of switching things up in her confessional, but she’s unsure if this next vote will be the right time to strike.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. They must spell out the word “immunity.” However, they must place letters on a table they are balancing with a rope. They have to walk back and forth to transfer letter blocks one at a time to spell out “immunity” while holding a rope to keep the table balanced. If they lose balance and their blocks fall over, they must start over. The first person to spell out “immunity” will win immunity. The challenge begins, and Andrea takes an early lead. However, she drops everything, opening up the door for Troyzan to win since no one else is close to him. Brad was close, but he drops his blocks too. Troyzan manages to spell out “immunity” and get back to the starting point. Troyzan wins immunity! Before they return to camp, we hear a confessional from Sierra. She’s confident the vote will go her way, and she wants Andrea to be the next one voted out.
Back at camp, Troyzan is proud of himself to have won immunity. He’s also confident his alliance of six will stick together at this next vote. Brad talks game with Debbie and Sierra. Although they want Michaela gone because they can’t stand her, they agree Andrea is a bigger threat. They later tell Sarah, Tai, and Troyzan to vote out Andrea too. The plan is to tell the others to vote out Michaela, but they’re actually voting out Andrea. However, Sarah is bothered that she was told how to vote without anyone asking her thoughts first. She realizes that she’s on the bottom of the alliance, and she wants to flip. Sarah later talks to Zeke and Andrea about voting together. Even though there’s bad blood between Andrea and Zeke, they both realize they’ll need each other to survive in the game. Later on, Sierra talks game with Sarah. Sierra tells Sarah she wants to go to the Final 3 with her and Debbie. Now Sarah is unsure what to do since she might not be on the bottom of the majority alliance after all. Meanwhile, Debbie is telling Aubry that the plan is to vote for Michaela. Debbie is also planning to use her friendship with Aubry to her advantage, so she assures Aubry that she is safe. She also tells Aubry that Sarah does not trust her. However, Aubry was bothered by how cocky Debbie was, and she tells Michaela that the alliance is targeting her. The two of them talk to Andrea too, and they are both annoyed by how cocky the majority alliance is. They later fill in Sarah, and Sarah is not happy about Debbie making up lies about her. Now she’s torn which way to go, but she said coming into this game that she wanted to make big moves.
It’s time for tribal council. After they recount how the tribe supported Cirie at the reward challenge, the talk switches to the immunity challenge. Andrea says she needed that immunity and she knows she’s in the minority. Zeke also calls out Debbie, Brad, Sierra, Tai, Troyzan, and Sarah as the majority alliance. He mentions how they went into the woods together and must have agreed who should go home there. Andrea also mentions how they threw out Michaela’s name, but she’s certain that was false information and she’s the actual target. Sarah defends herself and asks if anyone can blame them for feeling secure together. Debbie adds that the six of them just click and everyone had a turn to talk when discussing whom to vote out. Troyzan says that even if there’s a six, they just have to do what it takes to make it to Top 6. Zeke is hoping for the desk to reshuffle within the six, but Sarah adds it’s wishful thinking to hope that the deck will reshuffle. Michaela is the last to chime in, and she says that she plans to go out swinging. She says everyone knows who is running the show, and the people on the bottom of the six can do something about it. They can use people outside the six for numbers, or they can just look like fools when they’re eventually taken out. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
We see Debbie vote for Andrea, and Andrea vote for Debbie. But who will be voted out?
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Debbie
Debbie is voted out and the third member of the jury.
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.
