A new episode of Survivor 43 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
The episode begins with the castaways returning to camp after tribal council. Jeanine was blindsided by Elie’s elimination. She’s nervous that she’s on the outs of the tribe. Noelle tells Jeanine this will help her game. Noelle can relate to Jeanine since this was how she felt when Justine was voted out earlier in the game. Jeanine feels like crying, but she talks to everyone and says no longer being associated with Elie will be a blessing in disguise.
The next morning, Owen and Dwight talk game. They discuss uniting some Baka and Vesi tribe members into a majority alliance. Owen says Gabler is a loose cannon, and he is unsure he wants to work with him moving forward. Owen notes in his confessional how everyone sees how the former Baka tribe members are not united. Gabler’s idol is expired, so it can no longer keep him protected at tribal council. Gabler is glad he voted out Elie. He wants to lie low for the time being and strike again later.
The castaways get tree mail informing them they must divide into six pairs to compete in the immunity challenge. No one wants to pick first, and there is a lot of hesitation. They ultimately decide to draw rocks to determine the pairs: Owen & Gabler, Cody & Dwight, Noelle & Sami, Ryan & James, Karla & Cassidy, and Jesse & Janine.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. For this challenge, they will compete in different stages. They must race through various obstacles, and the last pairs to complete the stage will be eliminated. The final stage will have the last two pairs, but they will compete individually. The last person standing will win immunity. The challenge begins, and the first obstacle is crawling through a muddy net and then digging up planks out of the sand. The four pairs advancing to the next stage are Ryan & James, Owen & Gabler, Cody & Dwight, and Karla & Cassidy. For the next stage, they must climb a net wall and then go across a rope bridge with their planks. Cody & Dwight are the first to climb their rope bridge. It’s a close challenge among the last three pairs, but Karla falls into the net and Ryan and James drop their planks. Owen & Gabler make it over the rope bridge. They advance to the final stage. For the final stage, it’s an endurance challenge. They must hold onto handle bars of a contraption that are holding up a bucket with 25% of their body weight. The last one still holding up his bucket will win immunity. Dwight is the first person to drop his bucket. Owen is the next one to drop his bucket. Owen and Gabler are the last two remaining after 24 minutes. After 37 minutes, Cody’s bucket drops. Gabler wins immunity.
The castaways return to camp after tribal council. The first names being thrown out as targets are James and Ryan. The initial plan is to split the votes since James is a social threat and Ryan is a physical threat. Meanwhile, at the well, James finds the clue for an advantage. An advantage is hidden under the tribe shelter, which James retrieves. Sami and Cody were present at the well with James, and word about the advantage gets around camp. Noelle lets everyone know James likely has an advantage and must be voted out tonight. Jesse and Karla say Noelle is calling the shots, and they now want to vote her out. Jesse talks to Cody about this plan, but Cody says he would rather vote out Dwight. Jesse and Cody are torn whether to make the safe move and vote out James, or make the big move by voting out their former Vesi tribe member Dwight. Later, James learns he has the Knowledge is Power advantage. He individually shares this with Karla, Ryan, and Cody. Cody is now worried about James stealing his immunity idol, so now he would rather vote out James. In order to protect their advantages from James’s Knowledge is Power advantage, various castaways hand over their advantages to different people. Cody hands his immunity idol to Jesse. Jeanine gives her idol to Dwight, and Noelle gives her advantage to Owen.
It’s time for tribal council. After talks about the difficulty of the challenge, they discuss the scrambling before the vote. Jesse says with a laugh that there were definitely talks happening at camp. Dwight says they are individuals now, and tribal allegiances may no longer be in play. Jeff asks about advantages, and Noelle says they always have to mindful about someone else having an advantage. James adds that they have to think if actions back up what is being said at camp. Advantages need to be played correctly, and oftentimes trust within a group is more helpful than advantages. Cody says they have to decide when to jump in and play the game, or wait around a little bit. Jeff asks how confident are they that they will be safe tonight. Jesse says he’s at 9/10. Karla says 9. Ryan says 7 or 8. Cody says 8. James says 8.5. Dwight says 7. Noelle says 8. Sami ends the discussion by pointing out they have to play this game with their gut more than their heart or their mind. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Before Jeff reads the votes, no one plays an advantage or an idol.
The first vote is for…
James
Dwight
Ryan
James
Dwight
Ryan
Ryan
Dwight
Dwight
Dwight
Dwight
Dwight is the seventh person voted out of Survivor 43.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
