A new episode of Survivor 43 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
The castaways return to camp after tribal council. Sami wasn’t able to get the numbers to take out Ryan. Jeanine was the simple vote everyone wanted to do, but Sami is ready to turn the game around. Meanwhile, Owen is annoyed with James. James wanted to leave Owen out of the vote again. Owen didn’t know the true plan to vote out Jeanine until Gabler told him minutes before tribal council. Owen tells Sami and Gabler that James is dangerous. Everyone is scared of him while he acts like the Godfather. Owen wants to target James. Afterwards, James tries to approach Owen to talk to him, but Owen shoots him down. James doesn’t trust Owen either.
Already, it’s time for the immunity challenge. They must hold a handle holding a ball inside a set of jaws. If they drop the ball, then they are eliminated. They will be separated into two teams of five. One person from each team will win immunity, and both groups will go to tribal council separately. The last person left standing will win a PB&J reward for his or her team of five. They also will go to tribal council second. They are divided into Red and Blue:
Red – Cassidy, Jesse, Gabler, Ryan, and Cody
Blue – Owen, Sami, Noelle, Karla, and James
The challenge begins, and Jesse is the first eliminated. Cassidy’s ball drops next. Noelle is out third. James is the fourth person eliminated. Gabler drops his ball next, and he’s followed by Owen. After ten minutes, it’s Ryan vs. Cody for Red and Sami vs. Karla for Blue. Sami drops his ball. Karla wins immunity! Karla tries to hang on to win the PB&J reward, but she drops her ball. Ryan drops his ball next. Cody wins immunity!
We next see Cassidy, Jesse, Gabler, Ryan, and Cody enjoy their PB&J reward. The game talk comes after they eat. Ryan and Gabler discuss voting out Cassidy tonight. Ryan says he cannot trust her. They share their plan with Cody. They tell him that Karla, James, and Cassidy are a trio that needs to be broken up. Cassidy and Jesse approach Cody afterwards. Cody is noncommittal and says he wants to hear everyone out first. Cassidy is nervous, but she refuses to stop fighting. She dreamed of being on Survivor since she was a little kid. She hopes the plan is to vote out Ryan tonight.
Owen, Sami, Noelle, Karla, and James go back to the old Vesi beach. They won’t get to return to their camp until after tribal council. Karla is planning to vote for Owen tonight. Noelle is on board with this plan too, and she speculates that Owen is going to vote for James tonight. Meanwhile, James tries to talk game with Owen, but Owen doesn’t humor him. Owen reminds James that James lied to him about the vote last time. James told Owen to vote for Ryan, but the actual plan was to vote for Jeanine. They argue about the vote, and the argument continues in front of the other castaways. Owen calls out James for lying to him about the Jeanine vote. James refuses to own up to lying to Owen. Instead, he keeps repeating that Owen voted for James at two previous tribal councils. Owen walks away from James, clearly uninterested in pretending to trust or talk game with James.
Cody and Jesse talk about their options. Would they rather vote out Ryan or Cassidy tonight? They say Ryan is a free agent and a shield for them. However, James and Karla will be angry with them if they vote out Cassidy tonight. They also view Cassidy as a strategic and social threat, whereas Ryan is a challenge threat. Cody and Jesse’s group will go to tribal council second. They wonder if they should vote based on the results of the first tribal council. If Owen is voted out, then they will play it safe and vote out Ryan. However, if it’s not Owen, then they can strike and vote out Cassidy tonight. Before tribal council, Cody approaches Gabler about working with him and Jesse. He shares with Gabler their plan for the vote. They will decide who goes home tonight between Ryan or Cassidy based on the results of the first tribal council.
Noelle tells James that she plans to use her advantage to steal Owen’s vote. However, Noelle truly wants to blindside James tonight. She will still steal Owen’s vote to create a smokescreen so James doesn’t play his Knowledge is Power advantage. Noelle plans to write down James’s name twice, and she shares her plan with Owen and Sami. Owen trusts her to use her advantage against him. However, Sami admits in a confessional that he doesn’t want to move forward with the plan to vote out James without Karla’s blessing. Later, Sami tells Karla that it could be James getting voted out tonight. Karla is hesitant about this plan. James is a number for her, and she doesn’t think it makes sense to get rid of an ally. Sami is still trying to persuade her that losing James won’t hurt their games.
Owen, Sami, Noelle, Karla, and James go to tribal council first. After discussion of having to go back to the old Vesi beach without any rice, they admit it was a tough afternoon. The talk leads to the argument between Owen and James. Sami tells Jeff that Owen and James cannot get along in the game. Owen admits he was frustrated by being left out of the vote, and James was a reason why he was left out. Owen admits he lost his cool. Noelle says she heard yelling from the well. James tells Owen to stop acting like it was just his fault why Owen was excluded from the vote. While Jeff is still talking to James and Owen about the tension between them, Sami whispers to Karla and asks what does she want to do tonight. Karla doesn’t say anything. The tribal council conversation continues, and the talk turns to trust. Karla tells Jeff that she just has to trust herself, even with immunity tonight. The talk turns to advantages. Noelle says advantages have to be used in their favor, and it can be played for an alliance instead of selfishly. Before they vote, Noelle reveals her Steal-A-Vote advantage. She steals Owen’s vote. Afterwards, they cast their votes.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Owen
James
James
James
James is the ninth person voted out of Survivor 43 and the second member of the jury. James is blindsided, but he says he’ll take it as a sign of respect. After Jeff snuffs his torch, James goes to sit on the jury bench with Jeanine.
Cassidy, Jesse, Gabler, Ryan, and Cody walk into tribal council after the others already left. Jesse and Cody look shocked to see James on the jury. Jesse tells Jeff that James had an advantage, so he doesn’t know what happened. Ryan is surprised too, and he wants to talk to the others about what happened. Ryan says James was part of an alliance that might be shattered now. Jeff asks about the vibe back at camp. Cassidy says they were back in “the belly of the beast.” It’s especially concerning with five people on the tribe, and only four people are vulnerable. Cassidy says you never know what people are talking about in separate conversations. Jeff points out how Cody is in a great spot with immunity. Cody says he is the man of the hour, and everyone wants to talk to him. He feels like he’s in a heavy spot. He has to think about his long-term plan. Ryan admits he noticed Cody’s conversations lasted longer than the conversations he had with people himself. Cassidy says tonight’s vote will reverberate for the rest of the game. Afterwards, they cast their votes. We see Ryan vote for Cassidy and Cassidy vote for Ryan. But who will be voted out?
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Cassidy
Ryan
Ryan
Ryan
Ryan is the tenth person voted out of Survivor 43 and the third member of the jury.
And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor 43. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
