The episode begins with the Baka tribe returning to camp after tribal council. Owen was thrown off guard seeing his name written down, but he’s grateful the tribe kept him. After a stormy night, the Baka tribe wake up miserable and exhausted. Gabler is especially having a hard time living in the elements. He’s the oldest man on the tribe, and he worries he’ll be seen as dead weight. He has to lie down for a few hours while the rest of the tribe work on repairing the shelter.
On the Vesi tribe, Dwight and Jesse go searching for an advantage. They also talk game, and they realize the tribe is separated into three duos: Justine & Noelle, Cody & Nneka, and Dwight & Jesse. Dwight feels he has bonded with everyone except Cody, and he would prefer Cody to be their first target. However, Jesse is okay with Cody. Justine is the person Jesse has bonded with the least. Dwight cannot vote at their first tribal council after risking his vote last episode, so Jesse says in his confessional that he’s in the driver’s seat. However, he wants to be on the same page as Dwight if they were to go to tribal council next.
A majority alliance has formed on the Coco tribe with Geo and Ryan on the outs. We hear a confessional from Geo, where he opens up about coming out as gay to his family. Despite the struggles, he didn’t let anything stop him from achieving his goals. He says he’ll play the game the same way. He won’t let anything get in his way. Ryan feels close to Geo, and he thinks they can be a strong duo in the game.
Back on the Vesi tribe, Cody opens up about the death of his best friend. He lost his leg before passing away a year later. Cody said it put things into perspective on how he wanted to live his life. He wants to live every day to the fullest. Meanwhile on the Baka tribe, Jeanine and Elie talk game. They discuss whether they should bring in Owen or Sami as the third person in the alliance. They are confident that the guys aren’t talking game and they can lead the strategy for the tribe. Unbeknownst to them, Sami is currently telling Owen and Gabler that they have the numbers on the tribe. So, it doesn’t matter what Jeanine or Elie may be saying about them.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. They must climb into a cage out in the water and retrieve a snake that weights 400 pounds. After they heave the snake over the cage, they must take it back to the beach. Once there, they must maneuver the snake through obstacles. Once the snake is placed on a table, they must solve a number combination to unlock bags of puzzle pieces. The first two tribes to solve their puzzle will win immunity. Along with immunity, the winning tribe gets a fishing kit. Second place will get a smaller fishing kit. The challenge begins, and Baka takes the early lead with Vesi falling behind in third place. Nneka isn’t helping heave the snake on the beach, and Noelle shouts out from the sit-out bench that Nneka needs to help. Baka is the first to work on the puzzle. Coco begins on the puzzle next as Vesi is still behind. Jeanine and Elie work on the puzzle for Baka. Lindsay and Cassidy work on the puzzle for Coco. Dwight and Nneka are working on the puzzle for Coco. Dwight and Nneka are moving very slowly, putting them further behind. Baka completes the puzzle first and wins immunity. Coco wins immunity next. Vesi will go to tribal council tonight.
Vesi returns to camp after the immunity challenge. They realized they lost after failing to notice a puzzle piece inside a bag. Cody talks game with Jesse, and he admits Nneka competed horribly today. However, he still wants to keep Nneka since she’s part of the alliance. Meanwhile, Noelle and Justine agree that Nneka needs to be voted out tonight. Nneka is aware she’s on the chopping block tonight. Nneka is hopeful the relationships she built with Cody and Jesse will save her tonight.
Back on the Baka tribe, they enjoy their new fishing kit. Elie is proud of herself, especially after teachers doubted her potential in school. She excelled in the puzzle today and helped her tribe win immunity. While Gabler is fishing, Jeanine, Elie, and Owen speculate about Gabler’s immunity idol. They are unsure if his idol expires after the first two tribal councils of the game or after Gabler’s first two tribal councils. They go through his bag to read the clue themselves, and they learn Gabler’s idol is good after his first two tribal councils. So, Gabler can play his idol the next time they go to tribal council.
The Vesi tribe members discuss the vote before tribal council. Cody and Jesse agree that Justine should be the target tonight. Jesse thinks she’s scary to keep around, especially after Justine admitted to him she’s good at lying. However, Jesse wants to be on the same page as Dwight tonight. Dwight isn’t receptive to the idea of voting out Justine, which Jesse finds troubling. Jesse is even more concerned after Justine calls him the swing vote tonight. He feels like Justine doesn’t think he’s trustworthy. Dwight cannot vote tonight, but he does not want Justine gone. He explains in his confessional that keeping Justine in the game gives him more options. Before tribal council, Cody stumbles upon a Beware Advantage. He opens it and learns he won an immunity bracelet. This immunity idol can only be activated once he collects a specific bead from everyone’s bag. Beads cannot be stolen, and they must be willingly given to him. How he persuades his tribe members to give him their beads is up to him. However, Cody cannot vote at tribal council until he collects all the beads. Cody realizes he may have ruined the plan for tonight. The vote could end up being 2-2 now that Dwight and Cody cannot vote.
Cody explains the situation to Jesse, and Jesse tells him he needs to work on collecting the beads. Jesse tells Nneka that Cody lost his vote. In order to persuade his tribe members to give him their beads, Cody adorns a palm frond hat with beads. Jesse and Nneka give him their beads right away, and they manage to coax Justine and Dwight into giving him their beads. Noelle, however, wants to keep her beads. She fashioned herself a bracelet with her beads. She wants to keep them. Cody is panicking as tribal council approaches.
It’s time for tribal council. Jeff points out the palm frond hat Cody is wearing. He says he wanted to “rock it.” Justine said she wouldn’t have minded to have a hat today, and Cody says he can make one for her if she survives the vote. Jeff points out this remark, but Cody says it’s not up to him. It’s up to the tribe if she survives the vote. Justine knows tonight could be her last night. Justine candidly tells Jeff that there are two obvious duos in the game with Noelle and herself and Cody and Nneka. She says Dwight and Jesse are in “no man’s land.” Jeff asks Dwight if this is accurate, and Dwight says it’s fair he might be on the outs of strategic talks since he lost his vote. Jeff rhetorically asks why does everybody tell everybody everything? He says it’s because information is currency in the game. Jeff asks if there are other idols in the game they are concerned about. Nneka says a Beware Advantage could be in play, so there’s a chance someone else may not be able to vote tonight. Noelle says someone could be lying since no one has come forward in having an advantage. Noelle says no one has done anything wrong to deserve to be voted out first, but they need to keep the tribe strong. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Justine
Nneka
Cody
Justine
Justine
Justine is the second person voted out of Survivor 43. Before the final vote was read, we see a flashback that Nneka managed to persuade Noelle to give her beads to Cody. Therefore, Cody was able to vote tonight. Dwight is visibly displeased with Jesse. After Justine’s torch is snuffed and she walks away, he tells Jesse that they’ll talk later.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor 43. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
