A new episode of Survivor airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap here.
The tribe returns to camp after tribal council. Kaleb successfully played his Shot in the Dark advantage, negating all the votes cast against him. Katurah was hesitant to vote for Kaleb, which Bruce brings up in front of other castaways. Bruce wants to put a target on Katurah’s back, and Katurah sees through Bruce’s scheme. Katurah calls Bruce a liability and wants to vote him out.
The next day, Katurah tells Kaleb that Bruce was pushing for Kaleb to go last night. Katurah wants Bruce to be the next target. Kendra is also on board to vote out Bruce. Kellie doesn’t like Bruce either, but she wants to keep him around since he trusts her. Elsewhere, Emily wants to keep her bond with Kaleb. They are the only original Lulu tribe members remaining. Emily didn’t want to stick her neck out too much for Kaleb since it would make her a target, so that’s why she was willing to let him go last time. In addition, Emily wants to keep nurturing the alliance with Austin and Drew she formed after the tribe swap. As for Austin, he has a hidden immunity idol since he sacrificed his vote at the previous tribal council. And since J. Maya was voted out and she had one of the three amulets, Austin and Kellie are now in possession of a steal-a-vote advantage since they have the remaining two amulets.
Jake wants the majority alliance to be original Belo tribe members plus Kaleb. However, the problem is Kaleb and Bruce do not trust each other. Kaleb claims he’s trying to work with Bruce, but he doesn’t think he can move forward in the game with him. Bruce believes Kaleb is on the outs, so he doesn’t think he needs Kaleb. Bruce says his closest allies are Jake and Kellie. Bruce and Kellie talk game, and Bruce’s stubbornness is irritating Kellie. She sees him as an anchor that she’s dragging around. Later, Jake and Kellie talk about Bruce. They agree they need to keep Bruce as a number, but Bruce and Kaleb need to figure out a way to get along.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. It’s an endurance challenge that requires them to hold onto a pole as long as possible. The last one to drop will win immunity. Jeff reveals there’s a twist. They will be divided into two groups. The last person hanging on for each group will win immunity. They are also playing for reward, which is a trip to the sanctuary with food. There’s another twist. The two groups will go to separate tribal councils, and one person from each group will be voted out. That’s not all. The person voted out at the first tribal council will not be part of the jury. Afterwards, they draw rocks to determine the groups.
Red – Jake, Dee, Austin, Julie, Kaleb, and Katurah
Blue – Bruce, Sifu, Kendra, Kellie, Emily, and Drew
The challenge begins. Everybody is up on their pole trying to outlast everyone else. Emily is the first to fall, and she’s followed by Julie. Kendra and Jake fall next. Sifu is the next to fall, and he’s followed by Bruce. Austin slides down his pole next, and he’s followed by Drew. Kellie wins immunity! Kellie stays on her pole to try to win reward and to go to tribal council second. Kaleb is the next to fall. Katurah falls next. Dee wins immunity! After 17 minutes into the challenge, Kellie falls. Dee wins reward for the Red group.
The Red group arrive at the sanctuary and enjoy their food. Even though they won reward, they still have to go to tribal council. Julie wants Kaleb to be the target. However, Jake doesn’t want Kaleb gone. He thinks Kaleb could be a shield for him. Jake believes Dee is the biggest threat in the game, but she’s safe. Jake wants to take out one of Dee’s numbers, so Jake wants to see Julie voted out tonight.
Meanwhile, the castaways on the Blue group return to camp and get ready for tribal council. Drew tells Bruce he’s willing to vote out Sifu tonight. Drew says he would rather see Bruce voted out tonight, but the original Belo tribe members have the numbers tonight. Later, Drew talks to Kendra. Kendra tells him she wants Bruce voted out tonight, and she later shares this plan with Sifu and Emily. Bruce is aware Kendra is targeting him tonight, but Kellie tries to tell him he’ll be fine tonight. Bruce has a hidden immunity idol in his possession, and he says he will play it tonight if he gets suspicious. Kellie doesn’t want Bruce to be voted out since she knows Bruce trusts her.
Dee and Austin talk game. Austin says Dee’s threat level is rising, and it might be better to keep a big threat around as a shield. Dee sees the argument in keeping Kaleb, but she would rather vote Kaleb out tonight. She says it should be no issue voting him out since everybody already voted for Kaleb last time. Jake doesn’t like being told what to do. He wants to control the vote instead, and he wants to keep Kaleb. Jake tells Kaleb that the two of them plus Katurah should vote for Julie tonight. It would be a 3-3 vote, and Jake believes Austin is more likely to flip to avoid drawing rocks in the tiebreaker. Later, Kaleb reveals to Katurah that Bruce has a hidden immunity idol. Katurah is stunned, especially since no one in her Belo alliance shared that information with her. After Katurah confirms with Jake about Bruce’s idol, she’s feeling excluded from her Belo alliance. Now she wonders if she should vote with the Reba group of Dee, Julie, and Austin tonight.
Back on the Blue group, Sifu is worried he could be the target tonight. He knows Bruce’s name is being thrown out, but he believes the Reba tribe members are being targeted. Meanwhile, Kendra and Kellie talk about Bruce. They agree he’s a liability, but he’s a shield and a number for them. It wouldn’t make sense to vote him out tonight. They discuss targeting Sifu tonight instead. Kendra shares with Drew the plan to vote out Sifu, but he thinks getting Bruce out is the better move. Later, Drew weighs the pros and cons with Kendra of voting out Sifu or Bruce tonight. Drew says the safest move would be to vote out Bruce tonight. Kendra is torn what to do. Later, Bruce gets paranoid, and Kellie tries to calm him down. She says working with Bruce is the worst part of her game, and she needs to make the smartest decision for her game.
It’s time for the first tribal council. Jeff talks about the twist. This vote will determine who misses out on the jury. Kendra says they have to look at all options. She wants to build trust with people she wants to move forward with. Bruce says there could be fractures if they realize they can’t trust each other. Kellie says tribal lines are blurred due to the different random group divisions. Sifu says he knows he’s a threat, and he feels like he is on the outs tonight. Bruce says they have to rely on the conversations and trust they have with other people. Sifu points out that their group has three Belo tribe members and two Reba tribe members. He explains that’s why he’s nervous, but Kendra says they shouldn’t assume. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Bruce
Sifu
Sifu
Sifu
Sifu
Sifu is the seventh person voted out of Survivor 45.
It’s time for the second tribal council. Jeff points out the person voted out from this group will be the first member of the jury. Jeff asks about the vibe at the sanctuary. Dee jokes they had office hours, but they bonded with each other too. She says they’re a family now. Jake says it’s a tough decision since he likes everybody here. Julie agrees it’s tough since they’re not robots. They have to invest in each other to move forward, but it makes voting each other out difficult. Katurah brings up how you don’t know who to trust until they see the votes read. Jake says tonight’s vote is about getting to the next step of the game. He wants to figure out who wants to take him far in the game. Kaleb says he tried to take his “foot off the gas” after receiving all the votes last time. He wanted to show transparency tonight. Dee says it comes down to how people perceive Kaleb and his words. Katurah says Kaleb had no choice but be transparent, but she points out how Kaleb has nothing to lose at this point. She says all they can do is figure out who they trust the most. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for…
Kaleb
Julie
Kaleb
Julie
Kaleb
Kaleb
Kaleb is 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.
