A new episode of Survivor 41 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
The episode starts at the Ua tribe. Brad says JD was very unpredictable at tribal council last night. After Brad sees JD and Ricard going to the well, Brad runs after them and hides behind the bushes. He overhears their conversation, and he hears them say “he” a lot. Since there are only three men on the tribe, Brad is certain they are talking about him. Brad runs back to camp before JD and Ricard return. Brad tells Shan he will tell her everything later since JD and Ricard are on their way back to camp. Shan calls Brad unpredictable in her confessional. She can’t see trusting Brad down the line, so she fills Ricard in on what Brad did. Ricard says they weren’t even talking badly about Brad. Ricard says Brad needs to be voted out next.
At the Luvu tribe, Deshawn struggles making fire with the flint. Naseer steps in to help. Naseer grew up in Sri Lanka without running water and electricity. He’s lived in harsh conditions, so he’s used to making the most out of very little. Naseer manages to make fire for the tribe within a minute. The tribe members are thankful for Naseer’s help. Sydney admits in a confessional that she initially wanted to target Naseer, but now she wants to keep him around after getting to know him more.
At the Yase tribe, Tiffany is feeling exhausted. They have no food and little amount of supplies. Meanwhile, Xander goes searching for a hidden immunity idol or an advantage. He stumbles upon the Beware Advantage. There is a note on the package informing him he must do what he’s told to do. If he would rather not risk the twist, then he can replace the advantage. He decides to risk it and opens the advantage. He receives the three-person immunity idol. He must say a secret phrase in front of the other tribes at an immunity challenge. If two other people repeat a secret phrase in return, then all three people will receive immunity. The twist, however, is Xander cannot vote until the secret advantage is played. Xander decides to share the news of this advantage with Evvie and Voce. He also shares that he has the extra vote advantage too. Evvie tells Xander she believes she can get Liana to vote with them. Evvie is playing both sides of the tribe as she has alliances with the men and the women. However, Evvie admits in a confessional she would rather work with Liana and Tiffany. Evvie tells Liana and Tiffany about Xander’s extra vote advantage.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. Xander says one of the secret phrases (“butterflies are just dead relatives”), but no one replies. The three-person immunity will not be in play. As for the challenge, one tribe member must swim down into the water and retrieve a key. Two other tribe members must go over a series of obstacles and then the last two tribe members must complete a turtle puzzle. The first two tribes to complete the puzzle will win immunity. The challenge begins with Xander, Genie, and Sydney retrieving the keys for their tribes. Sydney gets an early lead for Luvu, but Xander is right behind for Yase. Luvu is the first to start working on the puzzle while Yase starts falling behind. Yase is still behind when Ua start working on their puzzle too. Tiffany is too tired to get across the last balance beam while the other tribes are working on the puzzle, but she finally makes her way to her tribe members. Deshawn and Erika are working on the puzzle for Luvu and Ricard and JD are working on the puzzle for Ua. Liana is sprinting across the obstacles, and she reaches her Yase tribe members. Evvie and Voce can now start working on the puzzle. Luvu is the first to complete the puzzle. Luvu wins immunity! Ua has been struggling with the puzzle, leaving an opportunity for Yase to catch up. However, Yase struggles with the puzzle too, and Ua finally solves the puzzle themselves. Ua wins immunity! Yase will return to tribal council tonight. Jeff informs Luvu has a decision to make. They can send two people to go to the summit. They choose Evvie, and Deshawn volunteers to go to the trek. Evvie will return in time to attend tribal council.
At the Yase tribe, Tiffany apologizes for her performance in the challenge. She explains that she has no energy. Tiffany admits in her confessional that she’s unconcerned about her life in the game. She’s confident Liana and Evvie will have her back at the vote tonight. She says the tribe will vote out Xander tonight. Xander and Voce lament going back to tribal council tonight, and they say Tiffany is a liability. They want her to go home tonight, but Xander cannot cast a vote. Voce hopes Liana will agree to vote out Tiffany tonight, but Liana is planning to stay loyal to her alliance with Tiffany and Evvie and vote out Xander. Meanwhile, Evvie and Deshawn trek up the mountain together. Evvie is eager to build a bond with Deshawn since Yase will be down in numbers going into a merge or a swap. Evvie tells Deshawn she cannot risk her vote tonight, so she’s telling Deshawn he can get himself an extra vote tonight. Deshawn is thankful, and Evvie says they can work together down the line. Evvie also shares with Deshawn the details of Xander’s advantages and how the three-person immunity idol works. Afterwards, Evvie and Deshawn individually choose to risk or protect their vote. Evvie chooses to protect her vote; Deshawn chooses to risk his vote.
Evvie returns to camp, and she tells her tribe members that she chose to protect her vote. She gets together with Liana and Tiffany, and they confirm their plan to blindside Xander tonight. Evvie continues to play both sides, and she tells Voce and Xander she’s on board with their plan to vote out Tiffany tonight. Meanwhile, Tiffany is getting paranoid about Xander’s advantages. She’s worried he could be lying about the details of his advantage or idol, so she would rather vote out Voce tonight. Tiffany shares her concerns with Evvie, but Evvie tells Tiffany that she read the note in Xander’s hands. Evvie keeps telling Tiffany that she knows how Xander’s advantages work, but Tiffany is still panicking. Evvie is now torn on who to work with. She’s aware that Xander trusts her, but she already committed to working with Tiffany and Liana. She’s the swing vote tonight.
It’s time for tribal council. Jeff asks how they are doing living in the elements. Tiffany says she’s struggling without the lack of sleep and food. Xander admits he has no idea what he’s doing. Voce agrees the experience is humbling him. He also shares his background about his life and how his mom taught him to have drive to succeed. Jeff asks them about the vote, and he asks Tiffany about her difficulties at the challenge. Tiffany says Survivor is not only about challenges. She believes she can count on her social game. Evvie adds tribe strength may not matter if they swap tomorrow. Loyalty could be more important. Xander agrees the dilemma is to choose between tribe strength and loyalty. He says they can only focus on what can help them get to the next day. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Tiffany
Voce
Voce
Voce
Voce is the third person voted out of Survivor 41.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor 41. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
