Survivor Recap: A Brand-New Twist Offers Major Opportunity

Twists in Survivor aren’t quite what they used to be, but that didn’t stop the new era from reaching into its bag of tricks once again in Wednesday’s episode.

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Members from all three tribes were divvied up into two teams for the season’s first reward challenge. But: 1) The groups were only temporary, and 2) the winners had to enjoy their well-earned reward together. This trip to the Sanctuary was deemed a “ Survivor social hour” where the winning castaways enjoyed hot dogs, corn hole (random) and the advantage of mingling with players from the other tribes.

A chance to network pre-merge? HUGE. As we’ll see below, the blending of tribes did create some (relatively small) waves once information was leaked. While I don’t minimize the importance of this beachy mixer, I can’t help but wish this was a tried-and-true tribe swap, paring us down from three tribes to two. It’s something we haven’t seen in a while, and watching Tribal Councils with only four or five people just isn’t as exciting. In the words of The Dude : That’s just like, uh, my opinion, man.

Rachel, Sue, Caroline, Tiyana, Sam, Teeny and Kyle won the challenge, meat and the hang sesh. How did it affect the game? Read on for the rest of the highlights.

SANCTUARY | While on the reward, Teeny told everyone what happened at the Kishan vote, and really, she doesn’t have much to lose at this point. Sue asked Sam straight up if he and Sierra were running the show at Gata, which he declined. Tiyana, meanwhile, told the entire group that Gabe had been an idol-hunting pro out there and that he had played one already. Sue, Gabe’s No. 1 ally, was sitting right there and she did not like what she heard. It’s safe to say that the flight school owner was not happy about the target being placed on her friend’s back.

And that’s when the spilled information traveled even farther. When she got back to TUKU , Sue told Gabe exactly what Tiyana revealed. Caroline told Tiyana that she should be up front with Gabe about what she said to the other tribes. Once the tribes merge, chances are this bit of tea will get back to him. When she finally confessed, it fell on deaf ears. Gabe was sus about everything Tiyana said. Luckily for him, he had Sue to fact-check all of Tiyana’s half-truths. Tiyana told Gabe she mentioned his idol to Teeny and Rachel only. We know (and Sue knew!) that it was done in front of everyone . It was some sloppy gameplay that should hopefully pay off extremely well (for us) down the road.

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LAVO | Rome was back at it with his chaos, scrambling and lies. He told Sol that Genevieve doesn’t want to work with him long-term (not a lie, but he shared an ally’s secrets which is a big no-no). He then told Genevieve that Sol wanted to target Teeny (which Sol did not say). It was messy, it was overplaying, it was… Rome! Let’s just say he was lucky to be immune.

STRATEGY | After losing the immunity challenge by mere seconds, Gata became the unlucky tribe heading to see Jeff. Sierra questioned whether she should stick with the women or kick it with the guys. Hearing that the Tuku ladies were very pro-women made Sierra wonder if she should follow suit. Andy’s inability to correctly saw (with the correct side of the blade) was top of Sam’s mind, but Anika remained his No. 1 target. Andy, knowing he was a liability in challenges, was ready to sell his vote to anyone who wanted it, as long as it kept him safe. Rachel and Anika asked him if he was willing to vote for Sam, and that he was! Sam reminded us that he had an expiring idol to play, but he worried that if he played the idol, he’d have to explain himself to Andy later. A fair point. (But also: It’s Andy .)

THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN | With the merge around the corner, Gata weighed whether to keep someone who’s “liked” or cut someone who struggles in challenges. But who was included in the “we” was the main question at hand. Andy told Jeff that he had a “shred of hope,” but did his already shaky ground collapse underneath him?

Andy wrote down Anika’s name, but she didn’t have a vote to fire back with. When Jeff tallied the results, Anika was sent packing with three votes to her name. The look on her face spoke volumes.

Surprised by Episode 5’s results? And what are your predictions for next week’s merge? Go full tilt boogie in that comments section!

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