A new episode of Survivor airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
Last time Erika was left with the choice to reverse the results of the merge challenge. Will she change history or keep things the same? Let’s find out!
The castaways greet Jeff before Erika joins them after two nights in exile. Erika reveals the hourglass twist presented to her. Jeff explains that the people with immunity will be vulnerable and those not safe will suddenly have immunity if Erika smashed the hourglass. Erika reveals that she smashed the hourglass and reversed history. Erika, Heather, Tiffany, Liana, Shan, and Xander are now safe and cannot be voted out at the upcoming tribal council. Evvie, Sydney, Naseer, Ricard, Deshawn, and Danny are no longer immune and will have to compete in the immunity challenge. Jeff asks for their reactions. Deshawn says it’s not the game of Survivor he’s used to. Afterwards, Jeff explains the rules of the immunity challenge. They must assemble a block tower, but they can only use their feet. The challenge begins, and Sydney takes the early lead. Evvie is close behind Sydney, and she eventually overtakes her. It soon becomes a showdown between Evvie and Sydney, but they both struggle placing the flag in the center. This allows Ricard to come from behind them and he places his flag in the tower first. Ricard wins immunity! Jeff explains that everybody will vote at tonight’s tribal council. However, the only people eligible to be voted for are Evvie, Sydney, Naseer, Deshawn, and Danny.
The castaways return to camp. Liana is already planning to use her steal-an-idol advantage. Danny is upset that he is no longer safe due to the twist. He says it’s unfair the people who won the challenge no longer have immunity. The conversation turns to the vote, and Ricard throws out Evvie’s name. There’s also speculation Naseer has a hidden immunity idol. In a confessional, Deshawn calls Danny and Sydney his closest allies, and he doesn’t want to vote out Naseer since he’s a former Luvu tribe member. He says Evvie is his only choice. The plan to vote out Evvie spreads, but Liana is struggling with this plan. She wants to move away from the Yase tribe, but she doesn’t want to vote out Evvie. Shan tries to convince Liana that this is the best move for the game, but Liana is still unhappy with the possibility of voting out her friend Evvie. Meanwhile, Xander is planning to give his immunity idol to Evvie. Xander and Tiffany tell Evvie they have her back. Xander throws out the idea of splitting up the trio of Deshawn, Danny, and Sydney. They contemplate taking out Deshawn due to his strong social game. In addition, Tiffany told Evvie about Liana’s steal-an-idol advantage. They let Xander know about it too, so Xander is aware that Liana has the power to steal his advantage. However, she can only steal the idol if it’s in Xander’s possession, so he wants to come up with a plan to prevent her from taking away his hidden immunity idol.
Later, Danny and Xander talk game. Danny says one of them will be losing a number as former Luvu and former Yase members are vulnerable. Xander tells Danny that Evvie will be safe tonight. Xander is confident the vote will go his way, so he also shares that he knows about Liana’s advantage. Unbeknownst to Xander, Danny has already aligned with Liana. Danny lets Liana know that people know about her steal-an-idol advantage. Liana is now worried about misplaying her steal-an-idol advantage. She approaches Xander and Evvie to know their plan, and they say Xander will play his idol for Evvie and vote out Deshawn. Liana goes back to Deshawn and tells him his name is on the chopping block. Meanwhile, Sydney is worried she could end up getting voted out if Xander saves Evvie. She’s aware so many people are planning to vote for Evvie, but their votes will be nullified if Evvie is saved. In that scenario, Sydney could end up being voted out if she gets any votes.
It’s time for tribal council. Jeff asks for their thoughts, and Danny says this game is in the Top 5 of his toughest competitions. Sydney says she’s glad to have new faces in the game. Liana says it only took five minutes for the pace of the game to speed up. Tiffany says they don’t know who to trust, but this is the part of the game where Survivor really happens. Shan adds that there are so many advantages in the game that could completely turn the game. It all comes down to who they can really trust. Deshawn wanted to focus on the social dynamics of the game, and he wished there was more value in social ability than advantages. Evvie candidly says she feels okay about the vote tonight thanks to Xander. Jeff says that’s quite a statement to make publicly before Xander pulls out the hidden immunity idol. He says it’s no secret he has it. Evvie says it’s a relationship they built in the game, so she knows she can trust him. However, Deshawn reveals that Evvie already told him he had an idol when they met at the summit. Xander did not know about this, but Evvie says she regrets telling Deshawn that and promises Xander he can trust her. Afterwards, Liana asks to read aloud her steal-a-vote advantage. She says since there’s so much talk about Xander’s idol, she asks Xander if he has a hidden immunity idol. Xander says he does not and tells Liana she can have his fake idol. We next see a flashback of Xander handing his real hidden immunity idol to Tiffany while fashioning himself a fake hidden immunity idol. Xander, Tiffany, and Evvie all came up with this plan to block Liana from stealing Xander’s hidden immunity idol. Evvie sarcastically thanks Liana since Liana has been promising her all day that she had her back, yet she tried to stop Xander from saving her. Liana says she hopes they can appreciate the game move. With plans foiled, there is a lot of whispering happening among the castaways. Sydney’s name is brought up numerous times, but some still want to vote for Evvie tonight. Before the vote begins, Deshawn names starts spreading too. Tiffany, Xander, Evvie, and Sydney whisper together while everyone else is in a separate group. Shan suggests splitting the votes between Sydney and Deshawn. Afterwards, it’s finally time for the vote.
Before the votes are read, Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage. Sydney reveals she played her shot-in-the-dark for safety. She gave up her vote for a chance at safety. She unwraps her parchment. It says “not safe.” Sydney will still be eligible to be voted out tonight. Tiffany almost plays the hidden immunity idol for Evvie, but Xander tells her not to play it. He’s confident Evvie will be safe tonight.
The first vote is for…
Deshawn
Evvie
Sydney
Deshawn
Evvie
Sydney
Deshawn
Evvie
Sydney
Evvie
Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the seventh person voted out of Survivor 41. Sydney regrets giving up her vote for the shot-in-the-dark as she walks away.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor. Thanks for reading and come back next week for another live recap.
