A new episode of Survivor 43 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
Last tribal council, Dwight was voted out after his former Vesi tribe members Cody and Jesse flipped on him. Sami tries to make amends with Jeanine. Sami tells her that Dwight was leaving anyway after Cody and Jesse flipped. Jeanine says in her confessional that it was the worst case scenario for her. She not only lost her ally Dwight, but he also left with her idol in his pocket. Before tribal council, Jeanine handed Dwight her immunity idol to hold in case James played his Knowledge is Power advantage against her. Jeanine laments having no numbers or safety. However, in actuality, Dwight handed Jeanine’s hidden immunity idol to Jesse before tribal council. He was panicking before tribal council and was aware his name was being thrown out. Jesse also had Cody’s idol, so he was in possession of two hidden immunity idols. Jesse doesn’t tell anyone he has Jeanine’s hidden immunity idol.
Owen feels down for being on the outs for two tribal councils in a row, but he has hope there is room for him to maneuver. He wants the people on the bottom to stage an uprising. Noelle was also left in the dark. Owen, Noelle, and Jeanine discuss how to better position themselves in the game. They hope they can bring in Gabler and two more people to form a new majority alliance. Noelle doesn’t think the people who voted together last night are solid. Meanwhile, James, Jesse, Cassidy, and Karla talk game. James suggests voting out Owen next. He wants him gone since Owen voted for him already. He doesn’t trust him.
Ryan is the provider for the tribe. He is the best at catching fish and bringing food for his fellow castaways. He says it’s part of his strategy, but he also feels comfortable with the group of seven that voted out Dwight last time. Sami, however, doesn’t feel comfortable in the alliance. He thinks he would be on the bottom of the alliance. He wants to be in control of the game. Sami talks to his former Baka tribe members Jeanine and Owen. He tells them he doesn’t want to be #7 in the majority alliance. He calls the majority alliance a sinking ship, but he plans to still pretend he is loyal to that group.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. They will be required to balance a ball on a pole. Throughout the challenge, they must add another section to the pole to make it longer and harder to hold. If they drop their ball, then they are eliminated from the challenge. The last one standing wins immunity. Before the challenge begins, Jeff offers more rice for everyone. He will give it to them if five people agree to sit out of the challenge. After some hesitation, Sami, James, Jesse, Karla, and Cassidy volunteer to sit out. James even tried to sway Owen to sit out before Cassidy finally volunteered. The challenge begins. Jeanine is the first to drop her ball, and she is followed by Noelle. The rest must add another section of pole. Gabler drops his ball. Ryan drops his next. After more rounds of adding another section to their poles, Cody and Owen are the last two standing. Their poles are very high up in the air, and they must add another section to their pole. During the transition, Cody drops his ball. Owen wins immunity! James is visibly annoyed since he wanted to vote out Owen tonight.
The castaways return to camp after the immunity challenge. Owen calls winning immunity a sigh of relief. Owen noticed how James wanted him to sit out of the challenge. Owen calls James patronizing, but Owen’s goal for tonight is to find himself on the right side of the numbers. The group of seven agree to vote for Jeanine tonight. Ryan checks in with everyone for 10-15 minutes to make sure everyone is on board with voting for Jeanine tonight before going out to the water for two hours. Sami, however, wants to make a move. Sami tells Jeanine and Owen that they should target Ryan tonight. Later, Sami brings up his idea with Karla. She says she would be on board with it, but she is unsure if the rest can be persuaded to vote him out. However, it seems like everyone is willing to vote out Ryan tonight. The plan spreads to everyone while Ryan is out in the water. But later, James and Cody have doubts. They want to stick to the original plan to vote out Jeanine. When James brings up his concern, Cassidy shuts him down. Cassidy says too many girls have been voted out, and it’s time to vote out another guy. She says it makes no sense for James’ game to want big, strong guys like Ryan to make it to the end. Cassidy wants Ryan out tonight, but James is still hesitant. The plan for the vote is still up in the air before tribal council, but it will very likely be Ryan or Jeanine voted out tonight.
It’s time for tribal council. Jeff asks if there’s an established social contract. Gabler says they must be subtle with the game talk. Karla agrees that there is subtlety, but they can’t be subtle all the time. Ryan says everyone is stepping back and enjoying the experience. Owen just wants to be in the game, whether or not he’s not calling the shots. Sami points out how the last two people voted out were blindsided. Everyone is playing, but they are all playing differently. Cassidy says it’s about keeping trust with the people she wants to work with. James says lines are drawn, but new lines could be drawn as the game progresses. It’s a fluid game. Jeanine says the game could change and shift, and they just have to go with the momentum. Gabler says they bounced between Plan A and Plan B throughout the day. Cody says he noted how everyone was absent from camp when they arrived. Ryan shares with Jeff that he caught 21 fish today. He hopes bringing in a bounty will keep him in the game. Jeanine says she’s not comfortable since she was on the outs. She just tried to work on the relationships she built with people. She can only trust her gut. Sami says they are all talking about trust, but it’s nonsense at this point. There will be a civil war among them eventually. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Jeanine
Ryan
Ryan
Jeanine
Jeanine
Jeanine
Jeanine
Jeanine
Jeanine is the eighth person voted out and the first member of the jury.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
