The season premiere of Survivor 45 airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
The episode begins with confessionals from some of the new castaways. Drew calls himself one of the smartest people to play Survivor. Katurah plans to hide the fact she’s a lawyer. Emily doesn’t want to waste her time. She’s only here to win the game. Jake plans to move out of his grandmother’s house if he wins. Sifu is a traveling musician and does Tai chi.
Jeff greets the castaways on a barge. He says he’s never seen so much energy from a cast. Brandon is in tears. He’s dreamed about playing Survivor since he was eleven years old. Bruce is back for a second chance. He was medically evacuated after hitting his head in the opening challenge. Bruce says he doesn’t have an advantage, but Emily disagrees and argues against everything Bruce said to Jeff.
The three tribes are Reba, Belo, and Lulu. The Reba tribe’s color is red, and the tribe members are Austin, Dee, Drew, J. Maya, Julie, and Sifu. The Belo’s tribe color is blue, and the tribe members are Brando, Bruce, Jake, Katurah, Kellie, and Kendra. The Lulu’s tribe color is yellow, and the tribe members are Brandon, Emily, Hannah, Kaleb, Sabiyah, and Sean.
It’s time for their first challenge. They must race to empty crates of sandbags and then leap off the barge and into the ocean. They must swim to a boat, collect keys, and paddle back to the barge. They must climb back on the barge and use two poles to retrieve a bag with their flint. The first tribe to complete the challenge will earn flint and camp supplies. The Reba tribe takes the early lead while Belo falls behind. However, Belo makes a comeback when they are the first to return to the barge after diving into the ocean and paddle their boat back. Brandon struggles climbing up the ladder back onto the barge, which puts Lulu in last place. He is stuck on the ladder and can’t get himself back on the barge. He eventually climbs the ladder, but Reba takes the lead back and gets their bag of flint first. Reba wins! They earn camp supplies and flint. In addition, Lulu and Belo must send two tribe members each to compete in a Sweat vs. Savvy showdown. It will be their second chance to earn camp supplies.
The Reba tribe arrives at camp and they introduce themselves. Julie says she’s a teacher, but she’s actually an attorney. Drew thinks there are two sides to him, and he thinks that makes him a well-rounded player. At the Belo tribe, they discuss how Emily called out Bruce at the marooning for having an advantage by being a returning player. However, Bruce starts being a bit too bossy and gives everyone advice on how to start their camp life. Brandon returns to the Lulu tribe. He’s embarrassed by his poor performance in the challenge. They get to work on building their shelter, but no one seems to know what to do.
Brando and Jake go against Kaleb and Sabiyah in their Sweat vs. Savvy challenge. They must transfer heavy logs and solve a puzzle within an hour. The first pair to complete both tasks will win camp supplies for their tribe. The Sweat task is difficult, but straightforward. Eventually, they begin the puzzle, but both pairs are struggling with the task. By the end of the challenge, neither pair is able to solve the puzzle within the hour. Both pairs return to camp and deliver the bad news. Brandon and Hannah are excited to be on Survivor, but they both break down in tears. The experience is more difficult than they expected, especially without camp supplies.
On Day 2, Kendra, Kellie, and Katurah form an alliance on the Belo tribe. Kendra considers targeting Jake since he’s a lawyer. Katurah expresses her amusement in her confessional. She’s a lawyer too, and she explains this is exactly why she hid the fact that she’s a lawyer. Meanwhile, on the Lulu tribe, Emily is rubbing her tribe members the wrong way. She’s too negative about everything, and they don’t want to be around her. Emily admits in her confessional that she’s struggling fitting in with her tribe members. On the Reba tribe, Sifu goes searching for an idol or advantage. His tribe members notice his long absences, and they become suspicious of him. Austin, however, is the first to find an advantage. He grabs a Beware Advantage from a tree branch. He opens it and learns he must complete a series of tasks. He must first decipher the code on their tribe flag. He will not be able to vote at tribal council until he retrieves the idol.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. They must race through a series of obstacles, drag a net filled with coconuts, and then land baskets with the coconuts. Then they must climb up a ramp and solve a puzzle. The first two tribes to solve the puzzle will win immunity. The losing tribe will go to tribal council tonight. The Reba tribe and the Belo tribe are fairly even while the Lulu tribe trails behind in last place. Once again Brandon is a liability and cannot climb up the ramp where the puzzle awaits. Lulu is finally able to start the puzzle, but Belo and Reba are nearly done completing their puzzles. Belo is the first to complete the puzzle. Belo wins immunity! Reba shortly afterwards finishes the puzzle too. Reba wins immunity! Lulu will go to tribal council tonight.
The Lulu tribe returns to camp. Hannah is exhausted and miserable, and she wants people to write her name tonight. Brandon doesn’t want Hannah to quit since he wants her in the game with him. Brandon is also struggling with chest pain that won’t go away. He tearfully explains his situation to Sabiyah and Kaleb, and he says he will play his Shot in the Dark tonight. Sabiyah says in her confessional that the plan was to vote out Emily, but now she is wondering if they should just vote out Brandon tonight. She and Kaleb agree that Brandon wanting to play his Shot in the Dark means he doesn’t trust them. Meanwhile, Emily wants to vote for Kaleb to split up the apparent Kaleb and Sabiyah duo.
It’s time for tribal council. Jeff first talks to them about how they’re doing living in the elements. Sean is amused how they’re sleeping on the floor. Emily feels like she’s a more extreme version of herself. Hannah says she’s the most emotionally wrecked out of anyone on the tribe. Jeff says that could make Hannah an easy person to vote out, but Sabiyah says there are still a lot of politics in the game. Emily points out that Sabiyah and Kaleb are the strongest people on the tribe and an obvious alliance. Sabiyah says she and Kaleb did not ask to be viewed as the strongest people on the tribe. She says Emily is just making that assumption, and she adds that Emily is isolating herself. Brandon can’t pretend he’s the strongest person on the tribe, but he believes he can comfort his tribe members. Hannah says she sees five people who really want to be in the game, but she’s ready to leave. She says they don’t even need to vote. Jeff asks if everyone is on the same page about the vote. The admit that they are, so there is no need to go through the formality of casting votes. Hannah is the first person eliminated from Survivor 45.
And that wraps up the season premiere of Survivor 45. Thanks for reading, and come back next week for another live recap.
