♪ ♪
PROBST: This group of strangers
has agreed to be abandoned in the Fijian islands.
They come from different backgrounds...
I was born three months early with mild cerebral palsy.
The doctor said, "You know, he's not gonna walk.
He's gonna be in a wheelchair."
PROBST: ...cultures...
NNEKA: Growing up in Nigeria was like Survivor.
You know, it was like survival of the fittest.
PROBST: ...and experiences.
NOELLE: I played Division I lacrosse.
I was in a moped accident that caused me
to lose my left leg above the knee.
And then I became a Paralympian.
And I hold the United States record for the 100-meter.
PROBST: But despite their differences,
they must rely on each other in order to survive.
MORRIAH: My biggest asset as a teacher is being able to connect.
I always hear people get on this show, and they say,
"I'm not here to make any friends."
And I'm like, "Well, I am."
Be my friend.
Let's have an authentic and genuine connection and bond.
That way, when I get to the end, you can vote me the million.
And then we can go out for pizza and coffee afterwards.
♪ ♪
SAMI: Being 19 and as young as I am, I am way more than just my age.
I'm actually attending Brigham Young University right now.
So, I'm, like, a student, pet cremator,
business owner hybrid. I'm all this.
I'm all these things. Like, look at me.
I think I'm just a fun and "energible"--
I don't know if that's a word-- "energible" person.
And I don't think I cater to one specific group.
I can cater to anybody.
♪ ♪
LINDSAY: I am unapologetically Survivor's biggest fan.
I mean, I've loved Survivor
longer than I've known my husband,
my kids, my nursing career.
I've spent the last 22 years imagining this moment.
It's finally here. I get one shot at it.
What am I gonna do with it?
♪ ♪
KARLA: Growing up in a tough environment,
I'm a very adaptable and a very resilient person.
That's how I've gotten to where I am today in life.
When I've been tired, when I've been beaten down,
when I've been told no, that's my time to shine
and kick ass.
♪ ♪
CODY: I'm gonna play the game as hard and as fast as I can--
just like I do my life.
Just like the way I surf.
Just like the way I go out on a weekend.
And I'll be honest with you, I've already spent part of it.
So I really need, I really need the million bucks.
(chuckles)
PROBST: They'll form a new society
where they decide the rules
of how this million-dollar game is played.
CASSIDY: I'm not gonna sit around and wait
for other people to determine my game.
I make my fate. I make my game.
♪ ♪
PROBST: It's up to them who stays and who goes.
One thing I do as a psychologist
is get people to do things that they don't want to do.
They'll figure it out once their torch is getting snuffed.
PROBST: Each player must learn
to adapt to their new society,
or they'll be voted out.
I want the game to be chaotic.
I want no one to know what's going on.
For me, that's my comfort zone.
PROBST: In the end, only one will remain
to claim the million-dollar prize.
I want this so bad.
I used to daydream about seeing my name up
in the opening credits.
CODY: I'm buckled up and I'm ready for the ride.
KARLA: Let's do this.
Who will have what it takes
to outwit, outplay and outlast all the rest?
This is Survivor 43.
♪ ♪
Come on up.
ELIE: When you pull up and you see Jeff standing there,
it's just the most surreal thing that you can imagine.
I honestly felt like
kind of out-of-body experience.
And I'm like, "Whoa. Shoot. I'm here."
Like, I am a part of it, and
it's intense.
All right.
-(laughter) -Welcome to Survivor 43.
(applause and cheering)
It's here.
-Oh! -Yes.
I can feel the energy.
(laughter)
Woman in the front right in the yellow dress.
-Yeah. -♪ Hi! ♪
-What's your name? -My name is Jeanine.
Okay, explain that reaction, that ♪ Hi! ♪
-'Cause, you... It's... -Yeah. Sorry.
This has been... Honestly, I just...
I can't even believe I'm here,
and this has been a dream for not only my lifetime
but my father's, and so it's-it's just
a dream of two lifetimes, really.
What's the connection with your dad and Survivor?
This was his first favorite American TV show
when he immigrated from China, so,
he used to be a sweet potato farmer back in China,
and to now be a biology professor
-with his PhD here... -PROBST: Wow.
and having a daughter be on the show
is just beyond all of our wildest dreams.
Guy in the back, in the blue shirt-- what's your name?
-Oh, James. -James, how about you?
When'd you find Survivor?
When Richard Hatch was sitting on the tree.
-(laughter) -Day one. -Day one.
I remember Earl winning,
uh, his season.
For me, it was just good to see that...
You know, I'm from Philadelphia, and to see somebody that
looked like me, similar background, go to an island,
live on dirt, and come out and win a million dollars--
it just got me excited about the game,
and I've kind of been watching ever since, so...
Guy in the back right with the beanie?
-Yes, sir. -What's your name?
-Gabler. Mike Gabler. -Gabler.
When did you discover Survivor?
Jeff, I've been watching since the very beginning
when our children were still being created.
And my wife, basically, when they hatched--
we-we started watching as a family like everybody else did,
and we make it a Survivor night every week.
-I'm proud to be here. -Glad to have you here.
Woman in the middle-- what's your name?
-Noelle. -Noelle,
when did you first start watching Survivor?
I first started watching Survivor
probably when I was about ten years old.
My mom loved this show, but she said
she could never play it.
So I said, "You know what?
I'll apply and I'll play for both of us."
And then I lost my leg, Jeff.
-And then, hey. -You lost it after you applied?
Yeah, I lost my leg when I was 19 years old,
and losing my leg is the best thing
that's ever happened to me, you know?
It made me realize the importance in life.
Having something like this happen to you--
it just really made me think, "You know what?
This is... it's just a leg."
And I don't want to look back and regret my life.
I want to look back and be proud of it.
And the beautiful game of Survivor and how it has evolved
is the reason why I even wanted to keep showing up
and keep applying and try to get on the show, because
it's almost accepted and encouraged to be different.
And I'm just grateful to be here and to be able to prove myself
and show that amputees are badasses.
You know, I got a few leg jokes along the way,
-so I hope I can tell you guys. -(laughter)
All right, so I've heard a lot.
Let me see if I can encapsulate what we've just talked about.
Survivor is a lot of things.
First and foremost, it's a game.
It's a great game, and one of the things
that makes it so great is, anybody can play
because there really aren't many rules.
You form a community with a bunch of strangers
where you decide how that society will function.
You decide how the game will be played--
slow, fast, safe, dangerous.
You are forced to rely on each other
to live in a jungle on an island
while simultaneously voting each other off the island
in pursuit of a million dollars.
Pretty tremendous. But Survivor is also an adventure.
All of you got up off the couch,
applied because you want that adventure.
You want to leave that normal life behind for a moment,
fly across the world to be tested
in ways you can't imagine.
It's terrifying,
and yet you're all smiling.
-(laughter) -Because it's also exhilarating.
So if you can just let go
of expectation and instead give yourself permission
to play, you can change your life.
You can change how you see yourself,
you can change how you see the world, you can change
how others see you, because being here takes courage.
I'm glad each of you are here.
I hope Survivor gives you what you seek,
and I also hope you'll stay open
to receiving what Survivor thinks you need.
Shall we get into it?
(all assenting)
PROBST: All right.
Tribe names. Wearing red, you are Vesi.
-(whooping) -Yeah.
PROBST: In the middle, in yellow-- Baka.
-Baka! -(screaming)
And on the end, in blue-- Coco.
(whooping, cheering)
All right, I'm gonna give the ten points to yellow. I think
-that was the most tribe spirit. -(cheering)
All right, you ready to get to your first reward challenge?
(all assenting)
-Wow. -PROBST: Here we go.
Two players are going to race down the beach,
retrieve and bring back... two heavy wooden crates.
Then two other players are going to run out into the water,
haul a boat back carrying more crates.
Once you get all the crates here,
the two remaining players will use those crates to form a cube.
Then one player will hop up on top,
use a bamboo pole to retrieve a flint.
First tribe to get their flint
earns their camp supplies.
It's not much.
A pot, a machete and the flint.
-(Gabler whistles) -No food, no help.
You're gonna earn it every single day out here.
Two losing tribes-- you will have to go to your camp
and try again to earn it in another way. Big setback.
You're not building shelter.
You're just trying to get your tribe supplies.
All right, I'm gonna give you just a moment
to figure out who's going to do what.
(laughs)
Okay. All right, guys, come in.
-Get in here. -All right, so who's running...?
(overlapping chatter)
You want to run? Me and you are running?
-(overlapping chatter) -PROBST: All right, six. Let's go.
Runners, come out here. Here's our line right here.
This is official. Behind this.
Baka!
-Go, Vesi. -Here we go, Vesi.
Let's go, Baka!
(overlapping shouting)
Here we go. First reward challenge of Survivor 43.
Yes.
Survivors ready?
Go!
-(overlapping shouting) -You got to race into the jungle.
Get two heavy wooden crates.
-(whooping) -Yeah, Vesi!
PROBST: Doesn't matter how you get 'em back.
You can help each other, you can take your own.
NOELLE: You guys got this!
-JEANINE: Yes, Baka! -(whooping)
-Let's go! -Who will emerge first?
Vesi, Baka or Coco?
-GABLER: Wow. -(indistinct shouting)
That's Sami back for Baka.
Right behind, here comes Ryan, here comes Cody.
-(indistinct shouting) -There's Jesse
-carrying one. -NOELLE: Way to go, Jesse!
PROBST: Geo struggling with his crate.
-(whooping) -Awesome! Good job, Sami! -Yes! Yes!
Got to get 'em both back.
There's Owen with the second. Takes a fall.
Here comes Jesse. These are heavy.
Ryan now heading back to help Geo, who's moving very slowly.
GABLER: You've got it, Owen!
You're good.
(whooping)
PROBST: It is Baka in the water.
Vesi now in the water.
-JAMES: Let's go, Ryan! -PROBST: Here comes Ryan
with the second Coco crate. Keep digging, Geo.
You're good! Let's go!
You got to get both people to the boat.
You've got to unclip and then pull your boat back to shore.
We've got Baka still in the lead.
Elie and Gabler pushing hard.
SAMI: Let's go, Baka!
PROBST: Here comes Vesi.
Got Justine and Noelle. Noelle at the back.
-Okay. Here we, here we go. -PROBST: Once you get it here,
-you got to clip it in. -LINDSAY: Go, Coco!
-Come on, girls! -(indistinct shouting)
There's Karla and Cassidy for Coco.
Vesi now in the lead. You're good.
-Let's go then. -(overlapping chatter)
LINDSAY: Cassidy, let's go!
You're good!
Yo, you got this. Let's move it!
PROBST: Cassidy and Karla, you got to keep digging.
(grunts)
All right, Coco, you're good!
-Coco, go! -Let's go, baby.
PROBST: Got Nneka and Dwight on the puzzle for Vesi.
You've got Jeanine and Morriah on the puzzle for Baka.
You're good, Coco. Start working on that cube.
It's going to be Lindsay and James.
You're using all of these crates to solve the cube.
You are playing for a pot, a machete and a flint,
which doesn't sound like much, but out here it is everything.
-Oh, no, there, there! -There! There! Put that one!
No. Here to there.
James and Lindsay now with some excitement.
They think they might have something.
JAMES: Let's go, baby. Let's go, baby!
(overlapping shouting)
James and Lindsay-- they've got it.
-Help her! Help her! -Help her up! Help her up!
KARLA: All right, you guys, come on.
-We got this, y'all. -PROBST: Coco has it.
-KARLA: Come on! Come on! -PROBST: Lindsay is up now.
-Let's go, Lindsay. -A little bit higher. You got this.
Take your time. Take your time.
You got time. You got time.
PROBST: It's Lindsay with the bamboo pole
trying to retrieve the flint.
Vesi and Baka still working to solve the cube.
It would be an early victory for the tribe
that was in dead last
with a big comeback
if Lindsay can close it out here.
Can she get that ring?
RYAN: Take your time! Take your time!
We're in the lead. Don't rush it, baby.
-Come on. Hop up, hop up, hop up. -Vesi has it.
Now they're back in it.
Now it's Dwight for Vesi. We've got two tribes in it.
-Come on! -You got this.
PROBST: Dwight sees the opportunity.
-Okay, good job. -PROBST: Dwight.
-Dwight. -You got this, Lindsay. You got this.
PROBST: He's got it good, smooth, and it drops.
Here goes Lindsay. She's got it halfway.
-No! -PROBST: Lindsay drops again.
(grunting)
(yelling)
Look at that. Baka's back in it.
All three tribes are in it now.
-Come on, baby. You got it! -PROBST: Once again why you never, ever
give up on yourself in this game.
NNEKA: Hey, hey, Dwight.
Try to put the flint right in the pole
on the top of the bamboo.
Go from underneath and put the flint inside of it.
I got that.
CODY: Yeah, there's a hole inside there.
Put the flint in there.
That's the one, baby.
PROBST: There goes Dwight.
-Does he have it? -CODY: That's the one.
-That's the one. -Yes!
-PROBST: He does! -Yeah, baby!
Vesi wins first reward!
Tribe supplies waiting back at camp.
Wow. What an opening challenge.
Everybody left it out in the sand.
He put the flint in the bamboo stick.
-It's all right. -It...
(overlapping chatter)
All right. Great effort by all three tribes.
Let me give you maps to new homes.
(cheering, whooping, applause)
-Welcome to Survivor. -Yeah!
-Yeah. -Go, Coco!
All right, Vesi, great job.
Your tribe supplies will be waiting for you back at camp.
Like I said, it's not much, but it's a lot in this game.
One pot, one machete, one flint.
Baka, Coco, you're going to go to your new camp
and have to try to earn it in another way,
which will take time away from building shelter.
That's the penalty for losing.
-Vesi, head out to your boat. -(exclaims)
-PROBST: Good luck. -All right.
Baka, Coco, head out.
-Thank you, Jeff. -Thank you, Jeff.
LINDSAY: Out of the gates, to fail
at something that I thought I would be so good at
is a huge wake-up call to me.
And it made me realize that, like,
being out here and the challenges
that we're about to face are going to be a hell
of a lot harder than I thought they would be.
And it has definitely set in that we need to be ready
for anything that Jeff's about to put out there.
♪ ♪
NNEKA: Yay.
-Yes. This is home. -This is home.
CODY: Winning the first challenge sets a tone,
from an excitement level, from a camaraderie level.
I feel alive from my-my... my toes to my bones
to my heart to my spirit.
NNEKA: Vesi.
-Yee-hoo! Yeah! -(cheering, whooping)
Hell, yeah! We got a machete, a pot.
We're ready to rock.
During the pandemic, I started binge-watching Survivor,
and I realized that I have the tools
to... not only to compete but... but to win Survivor.
You guys wants to, uh, chat and talk story for a second?
See what everybody does. Maybe we got someone in here
that does construction or knows how to build a shelter.
-Right? Okay, okay, okay. Good play. -Not me.
I am so blessed to just get out there and do some living.
L-I-V-I-N. You know, get busy living and get busy dying.
That's how I'm going to play this game.
So I'm... I'm locked and loaded, ready to go full throttle,
ride a wheelie all the way across the park.
Uh, my name's Cody. I'm 35,
and I work for an elevator and escalator company.
My name is Nneka. Nneka's a Nigerian name.
-That's where I'm from originally. -Amazing.
I think it's a name you give
when you want a boy and get a girl.
So was mine. Mine is a boy name with an "E" at the end.
So...
-Yeah. -NOELLE: Justine?
-I get called "Justin" all the time. -(Nneka laughs)
Oh, and I work in software sales.
Okay. Cool.
I'm Dwight. I'm 21.
-So my graduation is a few weeks... -NOELLE: Yeah.
-after I'm done here. Like... -Oh, my God. That's...
DWIGHT: My family and I have watched Survivor together since
I was about six years old. We've watched
every single season since then.
So my game plan hitting the beach is,
okay, let's go build the shelter,
let's go start doing all the Survivor things.
We can definitely cut the... I think... I think...
-We have a machete, guys. -Oh, yeah.
DWIGHT: And we quickly realized
no one has any idea what they're doing
when it comes to shelter construction.
Has anyone used a machete before?
-NOELLE: No. -DWIGHT: No.
I can try it out if y'all really don't want to do it.
I...
NNEKA: Be careful.
Yeah.
-Right? -(laughter)
Pull it. Pull it over.
-Like this? -Yeah.
DWIGHT: I know my parents are going
to not let me hear the end of it
because before we left, they said,
"You need to learn how to build a shelter properly." Like,
"I watched videos. I know how to build one. It'll be fine."
-Does it move if you let it go? -It's slipping down.
(sighs) Got to... got to deal with that when I get home.
GABLER: We've got a beautiful group of people on this tribe,
a very positive tribe.
(whooping, yelling)
We've got some strong people, we've got
a lot of personality.
But being older,
I am on the outside.
I'm the oldest guy out here.
I think I'm 20 to 30 years older
than some of my teammates.
-Yeah. We got this. -JEANINE: Wait.
GABLER: So I have to be careful
with how I start my game plan.
Oh, gosh.
(overlapping chatter)
"Two tribe members work together..."
Huh.
-Okay. -All righty.
I'm-I'm...
OWEN: Sami was like, "I would do the Sweat," and I was like,
"Shh. Like, stop with that."
"Because if you do it, then I'm probably
going to do it with you."
And I was not going to do that.
A) the physical exertion,
B) being away from everyone in those first moments.
That's where all the scheming, plotting,
strategizing happen, and that's where lines get drawn.
-I feel like we all busted our ass so much... -Yeah.
-I feel like we should all do it together. -That sounds...
-That's... -Let's use our brains. We're a smart group.
And we win together, we lose together.
(overlapping chatter)
Baka.
(whooping)
-All right. -MORRIAH: Okay, let's...
OWEN: We have four hours.
Um, can we see the clue one more time?
GABLER: "Move two bones to form the largest whole number."
"You can only move the two bones one time."
ELIE: We clearly have
an intelligent tribe,
but our minds are all racing,
and it's hard to know what to focus on.
Can that still be a nine?
I don't think that's gonna fly.
-SAMI: Yeah. -Yeah.
ELIE: Right now, we absolutely
are up the creek
without a paddle.
♪ ♪
RYAN: So, we have four hours to complete
whatever that dig-out challenge is.
So I'm willing to dig if somebody else is willing to dig.
JAMES: Four hours to dig on the beach?
I didn't come out here to be a strong person.
That was not what I came out here to be.
Yeah, is that for sure what every...
-RYAN: I mean... -KARLA: Is that okay with everyone?
CASSIDY: I mean, yeah, as long as it's okay with y'all.
GEO: So our choice was Sweat versus Savvy.
We just looked at each other, and we're like, "Okay,
"none of us are, like, geniuses here.
(laughing): So we just got to... Let's be real."
For the Sweat challenge, you have to dig
for your supplies, and it could be anywhere in the square.
I volunteered, 'cause I felt a little guilty about
not being able to carry the boxes
from the previous challenge.
-RYAN: See you guys later. -KARLA: Good job, guys.
JAMES: It'll be quick. You guys got it.
GEO: No one said it would be easy.
(panting)
RYAN: That's why they call it the Sweat challenge.
(grunting)
(panting)
(exhales heavily)
RYAN: We only have four hours.
It's quite a big area to dig with the two of us.
If we do an "X," we'll be able to cover more ground.
So I ended up figuring out we're gonna do
an "X" formation across the grid.
It's gonna cover the most amount of area
with the least amount of effort.
I'm pretty good. I do carpentry.
My mom taught me everything I know.
I can build quite a bit, as long as I take my time.
So I feel like working smarter and not harder
in the Sweat challenge really draws back
to having to think outside the box growing up.
I was born three months early,
which gave me mild cerebral palsy.
And that not only affected the ability to walk,
but it also affected the way I think.
And having a stutter in my brain,
it's like having two seconds of an echo before you're able
to figure out, okay, that's what I need to do.
Doctors said I would never walk.
And my mother said, "No, we're not having that."
And she took me to physical therapy
every Thursday for four years.
I developed walking late in life,
and I had to rewire my brain
to be able to function the way I do today.
-Oh. Oh! -Oh.
(laughs loudly)
Yeah!
(Ryan whoops)
-I think they finished. -(gasps)
(chuckles)
Wait, that would be amazing.
LINDSAY: Shut up.
(grunts loudly)
It only took about 30 minutes to get this bag out,
and we had four hours.
Oh, look at that. It's so nice.
To be able to pull off this challenge feels like
everything that I've been through had a meaning.
Having the confidence in myself to be,
"Hey, this is my idea. We should try it."
-I'm sweaty and sandy. -Good job! I know...
Good job.
RYAN: I really feel like I could bring
more than just muscle to the squad.
I did good on this one.
♪ ♪
-Okay, yeah. -Right?
MORRIAH: It's so important, day one, to be able to have the pot
and the flint and the machete.
But when everyone saw the Savvy challenge,
we freaked out, because we don't have any idea
how to figure it out.
ELIE: There's something that we're missing.
♪ ♪
SAMI: I wanted to do the Sweat part of the challenge,
because I'm trying to play to what people see me as out here.
I'm a bigger guy.
I kind of do want to conceal parts of me.
Like, I don't want them to know that I'm good at puzzles because
every little thing can be used against you in this game.
But I do want us to have a good camp.
I want us to be organized, and we can't really do that
if I'm sitting here, trying to hide my strength.
Guys, guys, watch your minds be blown.
Watch this.
-Yeah, okay. Okay. -Okay. All right, Sami.
-(Elie chuckles) -Five, right? -MORRIAH: Okay.
SAMI: We got a zero.
-MORRIAH: Okay. -We got an eight.
MORRIAH: Uh-huh.
-SAMI: And then we got a... -MORRIAH: Zero?
No. Three ones.
(Jeanine gasps)
You move these two.
-Yeah. -Oh! It's a six-digit number!
-Sami! -Sami!
-Oh, yes, Sami! -Yeah!
Ah! Wait! Hear me out.
-Hear me out. -(chatter, laughter)
Do that here! One, two, three.
-In here, with the same thing. -51.
-So it'd be... -5-1-1...
-...8-1-0. -Ah.
-Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! -(excited chatter)
-That's it. -(oohing)
OWEN: Let's lock it.
-You got this. -You got this.
SAMI: All righty.
-Everybody blow it a kiss. -(kissing)
-(exhales sharply) -Yay.
-OWEN: That looks amazing. -SAMI: 5-1-1-8-1-0.
-JEANINE: Can't touch it now. -ELIE: Yeah.
-Jeanine, you're gonna drop it. -Oh, no.
-No, someone else. -Yeah, you drop it.
-ELIE: I'll untie it. -You do it.
-Yes. -(whoops)
Ooh, my heart's pounding.
JEANINE: Yes, Elie.
-ELIE: All right, ready? -OWEN: Yeah.
♪ ♪
(cheering loudly)
I knew I had a spark.
-GABLER: Amazing! Amazing! -(cheering)
Like when you spark a little flint on the fire.
It sparked our group.
I feel really good about solving the puzzle
and getting us the materials that we needed,
because I'm 19 years old.
That's not gonna sound good in a group of people
who are experienced and well-thought-out
like-like these people.
Wait, you never said your age.
Oh, well, I'm 22. Sorry if anybody was,
anybody was wondering.
So I'm telling people I am 22 years old.
19's just not a good sound and it's not a good look,
regardless of how much you prove yourself.
-You need some help? -No, you're good.
I'm out here doing what most 19-year-olds can't do,
and I'm gonna be the youngest to win this game.
JEANINE: You're killing it, Sami.
♪ ♪
I've made 'em before.
-NOELLE: Yeah? -It's been a while.
-And I thought about it... -NOELLE: It looks awesome.
I was like, "I'm gonna try making one of those again."
NOELLE: I'm extremely happy that I'm on Vesi tribe.
Doing that first challenge and kind of having,
you know, that winning atmosphere made it
definitely a lot easier for people to be happy around camp.
My first Survivor meal.
-Oh. -Yes!
Ta-da!
NOELLE: I think, off the bat,
I definitely mesh with Justine,
just because, you know, we are similar in age.
This tree looks very suspicious to me.
Yeah.
She is definitely a very smart girl,
and she's very determined.
-Damn. -So having that relationship off the bat,
I really, really think
that we're gonna do really well working together.
CODY: Yeah.
How do you guys feel?
The game is afoot.
-The game? -(laughter) -Yeah?
CODY: One thing that I've learned
from the last few seasons is,
obviously, the game is very quick, and
I don't have an alliance, I haven't talked to anybody.
I got to do something. So,
I saw my crack, and I took it.
-I connect with y'all. -JESSE: Yeah? It's all good.
I'll be straight with you.
Feel good about you, feel good about you.
What do you think? Same? Yeah?
-I'm good. (laughs) -Let's do it.
NNEKA: Right now I'm excited.
I can very easily build a relationship
with the guys who are like, hey, easygoing.
I work with guys a lot.
I understand that. And I was like,
"All right, first alliance. Check, check. You know?"
CODY: Yeah, me, too.
I always fear any salesperson
in this game.
-Justine? -Mm-hmm, because
they're so good at, like, the game, right?
The dynamics of how it flows.
-Yeah. -And that, that fears me.
When I found out that Justine is a sales representative,
I was stoked. Like,
there is a stereotype with salespeople-- like, manipulative
or, uh, BS-er. So,
I'm making sure everybody knows that Justine is a sales rep.
That's the salesperson.
Like, that's-that's my fear.
CODY: I've told my tribemates that
I work for an elevator company, but
I don't need them to know that I'm a salesperson.
-I mean, I'm glad that we're talking. -Yeah.
And we can get something going.
CODY: I do sales for the elevator company.
Been doing it for a long time, and, um,
my motto coming into this was not telling people
I'm a salesperson. You can be damn well, I'm going
to be going after the person that's a salesperson.
CODY: Yeah.
-(laughter) -(chuckles) Right?
JESSE: I really like Cody and Nneka, but for me,
I think the game plan is to not do too much at this point.
Like, day one, I want to sort of sit back.
I want to see, like, who is just naturally sort of cliquing up.
I initially cliqued with Noelle,
and I think that's, like, natural 'cause we...
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah. -are around the same age, and...
But I think that, like, I can definitely
see myself trusting you.
JESSE: At this point,
I'm in a really good position.
Nneka and Cody want to work with me,
but then on the other side
the two girls Justine and Noelle are tight,
and they want to pull me in.
Back home, I don't have very many friends.
Like, it's me, my wife, and my kids, so, like,
I don't really get invited to parties or anything like that.
But out here I got, like, two invitations
to two separate parties, and now
I have to figure out which one I want to go to.
(laughs)
GABLER: I'm going to take this out.
-OWEN: Yes. -GABLER: I'm gonna put it here.
-We'll do a triangle here. Okay? -OWEN: Cool.
GABLER: Sami, just watch yourself.
I'm going to come over you.
You're gonna go over my head. Okay.
You're going to put it up on that "Y" branch.
Back a bit more.
-There we go. -Good job.
OWEN: People are working hard.
Elie, Morriah and Jeanine have been weaving fronds all day.
Okay, now let's put it up.
-Whoa. -Okay.
SAMI: Hey, we're going to figure it out, guys.
-GABLER: We sure are. -JEANINE: I'm worried.
ELIE (laughing): Oh, no.
OWEN: God willing, we will have
a beautiful shelter, but the minutiae
we're putting into the shelter
is not how I would want to expend my energy.
-I'm getting real thirsty. I might... -I know, I know.
That well water's looking pretty good right around now.
This 26-day game
is so much more rapid.
I need to sneak off and start strategizing.
We'll keep an eye out for each other.
Hopefully, we can... You know, the number one rule
of Tribal Council is don't go.
OWEN: "Hey, if I hear your name, Gabler, I'll let you know."
That's not a whole lot. I mean, this is Survivor.
That's not like a blood pact or anything crazy.
I will definitely... will let you know
if I hear your name coming up.
Yes, I will for sure let you know.
That's so weird to say.
-No, I mean, it's-- that's what we're doing. -Yeah.
-OWEN: Are you getting good vibes from anybody?
-JEANINE: Honestly, I'm getting good vibes from everyone. -Yeah.
No one seems to be scheming. No one's, like,
trying to do too much.
People have been very guarded. No one wants
to jump out as being strategic, and it's...
it's a little frustrating.
The way alliances are going right now,
it's like we're trying to chop these coconuts.
Just hacking away, hacking away.
And just bang, bang, bang.
Like, open up, open up.
And I think, later on in the game,
it might bite us in the butt.
A little more coconut pressure's gonna do it. (sighs)
MORRIAH: So, my oldest sister is 42.
I have a sister who's 35, 33,
-30, 28. -Okay.
My oldest half sister is, like,
-18 years older. -MORRIAH: Okay.
ELIE: But I have one full sister,
but she passed away.
-Oh... I'm so sorry. -Yeah.
I'm so sorry.
Yeah, but she... she died in 2020.
Definitely the worst thing that ever happened in my life.
When we were growing up, my sister was my hero.
She's smarter than me, she's prettier than me.
She is everything to me.
And then there was this major trauma that happened
to my entire family, and I think that my sister dealt with it by
using drugs.
I tried to help guide her through the struggles
that she experienced, and our relationship became strained.
And we hadn't spoken in a year.
The last conversation that we had was about Survivor,
and it was just like I was talking
to the sister that I knew.
Um, but she told me that she was proud of me,
and she told me she was excited for me.
And the most important thing she said--
"Whatever you need, I got you."
I hadn't felt that for a long time.
That was the last conversation that I had with her because
six months later, she died of... of an overdose.
-No amount of time makes it not... -MORRIAH: Yeah.
-just, like, kill you. -Yeah.
Oh, my goodness.
-Oh, my God. -Yeah.
-Oh. -Thank you.
-(laughs) -Make room.
ELIE: I feel closer to Jeanine and Morriah
because of that moment.
-Yeah. -Right?
Yes!
-Seriously. -Yes.
ELIE: I think we're a good three, and I definitely
want to play with women in this game.
It feels totally natural to me.
It's powerful.
ELIE: I feel my sister here with me.
She would be happy
that I'm in a good spot right now.
♪ ♪
-Ugh. -(laughing)
Doesn't taste that good.
You could put bamboo this way.
-Slide... -Push it, push it, slide more.
-(clears throat) Here we go. -Yup. There we go.
I would push it more this way.
We have the plans to start building the shelter.
You know, some people are going
to weave palm fronds, some people are going
to start cutting bamboo.
But I'm in the game now,
and it's time to start strategizing.
(sighs) You know, always nervous.
-I know, me, too. -Yeah.
-But I really like you. -I like you, too.
I feel like we're dating. I'm just kidding, right? Like...
Yeah, I know, like...
I want to play like a fox-- clever and cunning.
I want to outmaneuver people. I want to be sneaky.
I don't want to play a loud,
in-your-face game because a lot of times
women can't get away with that the same way that men can.
-If we have to go to Tribal Council tomorrow... -I know.
-I want to have a game plan. -Yeah.
CASSIDY: There are some loud voices on this tribe,
and it allows me to stay behind the scenes, and nobody
sees me as, like, a huge threat until it's too late.
BOTH: Okay.
So if you see James and I talking, I promise you...
KARLA: You're working it.
...we're not hiding anything from you guys.
-Yeah. Okay. -Okay?
I love Survivor, and
I always said that I wanted to be able
to have an all-girls alliance.
-Because at the end of the day... -Yeah.
the three of us-- it's what's going
-to keep us alive in this game. -Yeah. -It is.
-Honestly. -Seriously.
The girls and I got together.
But for numbers, I want to pull James into our alliance.
I think
he's very genuine out here.
I know.
-Mm-hmm. -I like your vibe.
-Cool. -I think we work well together.
That's the name of my company-- Good Vibes Only.
-It is not. -It is.
JAMES: I feel like
my biggest trick to this game is going to be my ability
to connect with almost anybody.
What do you think?
Growing up in Philly, I learned how to play chess, and
I won the U.S. Open when I was 13 for my ratings bracket.
Traveling around the country, I would be surprised
to be the only Black kid at tournaments.
In chess, you figure out who you're playing,
and you're trying to figure out
what they're going to do.
And now being on Survivor...
Lindsay and Karla-- they're all solid with you.
JAMES: ...all three women have said
they wanted to work with me,
and I'm the lone guy. Like,
that's great.
It's always better to let people feel like
they have the upper hand.
I want to be a king,
but I'm gonna look like the pawn.
GABLER: This is so much harder
-than at home. Geez. -(laughing)
You think it's just too humid? That's what it is?
There's just too much humidity in the air?
MORRIAH: You got it, Mike.
GABLER: Come on.
Man! Why isn't it burning?
OWEN: Is that husk not flammable?
Yeah, maybe so.
SAMI: When you hear "pet cremator," all you think of is,
I'm a guy that grabs dogs and cats and lizards by the feet
and throws 'em in a fire.
GABLER: Put a bunch of magnesium on there.
SAMI: I actually gracefully lay them in the incinerator, and
I'm not killing the pet.
-Well... -Okay, that's our firepit for the...
-So you get... you get it going, and I'll just pick it up. -Cool.
SAMI: But I know from experience,
fire is something I know I can do, just like with the shih tzu
that I put in the incinerator.
-JEANINE: Elie, come over here. -Fire!
-Oh, my God, guys. -Little sticks, guys.
Teamwork, as usual.
-ELIE: Oh, my God. -GABLER: Baka teamwork, guys.
JEANINE: Oh, my God. You are...
-Sami! -Hey!
-Sami! -(whooping)
Sami lit the fire!
Guys, we're cooking. We're literally cooking.
Amazing. Okay, we can exhale now.
GABLER: This was not a start that I had
planned on or envisioned.
Watch out. It's going to be nice and toasty there.
I'm older than my teammates.
I think that basically points
everybody against you and makes you an easy target.
So, my strategy is basically
connect with them and to bond with them.
And I think
there's always somebody teaching somebody what to do,
and, you know, sometimes I'm the one being taught,
which is awesome at 51.
-Yeah, like, Mastodon. -Oh, that's...
-Mastodon is great. -I mean...
Yeah, it's really good. Sex Pistols...
-It's just really good music. -Yeah.
ELIE: My sister loved metal.
And Gabler-- he listens to heavy metal.
I'm like, "Yeah, Mastodon. I listen to that."
Uh, Dead Kennedys.
I'm, like, pulling from my sister up in space,
being like, "What were those punk bands you like?"
And he loved it,
so we bonded on that real quick.
Well, it's been great playing with you.
You let me know how I can help you in this game, too, okay?
Oh, yeah. Same here.
If I can help you, if I hear your name.
I'll let you know.
I think he feels like we're probably kindred spirits, and
in a way, we are. I genuinely respect him.
-Yeah, absolutely. Deal. -Yeah, yeah.
All right, I'll let you know.
He's really sweet and he's caring.
I might want to work with him.
I'm not ruling him out at all.
(rhythmic chopping)
Somebody want coconut water?
JAMES: I'm out here laying on the floor.
Crazy. I'm from Philly! This is not what we do!
(Karla groans)
Um, so it was hard for them
to understand and accept that we were together.
But now we're really good, actually.
GEO: Me and Karla-- we kind of, like, started vibing.
We're both married, both gay,
and we're both Latino.
She's from Mexico, I'm from Peru.
So we have a lot in common.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Stop, you're gonna make me cry.
I know.
I play with my heart, and I feel like
I want people to see the type of person that I am,
and I want people to see my life.
I think that's going to be a good way to get people
to open up about themselves,
so that way we can feel more connected
and we can work together.
Thanks.
You know?
So...
KARLA: Coming into this game, I was just
so nervous. Like, no one's going to want to work with me.
They're going to see me and they're going to be like,
"Who the hell is this girl?"
But now it feels like I've spoken to everyone.
(sighs) So...
Okay.
Yeah.
KARLA: At this point, it feels like that Geo, Ryan and myself--
the three of us are solid,
but I'm also working with James, Lindsay and Cassidy.
It feels like I'm in the middle.
Let's try not to spend too much time, like,
all of us hanging out together
-because I don't want people to suspect. -Yeah.
KARLA: Coming in, I was
very nervous that I would be perceived as weak,
that people would think that I won't do well on our challenges.
I honestly thought I was going to go out first,
so it's hard to trust that everyone wants to talk to me
and solidify my vote.
So I don't know what to believe.
I don't think this is good for people
(laughing): to be, like.... this scrambled.
I had a couple tattoos, man, so this is just, uh...
I had one on the back of my head removed.
-What? -Had one on my face.
You had a tattoo on your face?
Yes, sir. (laughs)
CODY: Where was the one on your face?
Like, was it, like, a Mike Tyson tattoo?
No, it was, uh, three dots.
-I had three dots right here. -Oh.
-JUSTINE: Tattoo? -Yeah, right here.
When I was a teenager, I was, I was in a gang,
-and so... -Oh.
-Sort of juvenile hall and stuff like that. -JUSTINE: Yeah.
Ended up meeting some,
like, really cool nonprofits
-that were able to help me out. -JUSTINE: Yeah.
They, uh, were able to, like, pay for, like, things
-like getting the tattoo off the back of my head. -JUSTINE: Wow.
JESSE: Yeah, I'm not the type to walk in a room
and just sort of advertise my background.
I grew up in Los Angeles, California.
My family didn't have college degrees.
They had, like, addictions, right?
Nobody went to college. They went to prison.
You know, I ended up in a gang
and I ended up getting arrested
and going to juvenile hall at 17.
When I was in juvenile hall, I was lucky enough
to be in an educational program,
and they offered a GED test there.
And I took the GED test,
and I got one of the highest scores that they had seen.
Like, that's when I think it was sort of like a switch went off,
you know, and I was like, "All right,
let me try and, like, shift gears here."
And so, that's when I started, like, doing things
to better myself, better my situation.
And I got accepted at Berkeley, which was insane,
and then went on to Duke.
And now I have a PhD in political science.
But coming out here, I just want to show my family,
my son, my daughter that, like, you can do anything you want.
But at the same time, I feel like
I need to represent because, like, there's a lot of kids
who, you know, are sitting in juvenile hall right now,
locked up in the same room that I was in,
thinking that they can't make it.
And I want to show people that you can go
from sitting in a juvenile hall with
a tattoo on your face and on the back of your head,
uh, to, you know,
sitting out here in Fiji with a PhD.
Where's that shell?
I just kind of wanted to go for something.
Like, put the L.A. in there.
Sort of like the belly of the beast kind of thing.
-Oh, wow. -Yeah.
But, uh, he has a cooler one than me, though.
-Really? What do you have, Cody? -(laughing)
Where is it?
NNEKA: Oh, great. Okay.
JESSE: Livin'. (laughs)
Two exclamation points and a smiley face.
(laughs)
(rapid, rhythmic clanging)
You got it.
JUSTINE: I grew up doing a lot of things
that are not typical of young girls.
Like, my dad and I had matching dirt bikes,
and we would be camping out in the trunk of our Jeep.
-I'm manifesting. -Absolutely.
You're gonna get it.
JUSTINE: So, coming into Survivor,
I was like, "I can build a fire."
-(indistinct chatter) -Damn.
JUSTINE: And then it's very humbling when
we can't do it. (laughs)
Wow. Good job, you guys.
But at the same time, like, I'm super impressed
with how our tribe has been doing so far.
Wow. This looks like a really good shelter.
Yes, it would be amazing if we had fire,
but I'm just thankful that we have a shelter.
Better. There... Like, I think
at the very top, it's kind of loose.
(shrieking)
-You okay? You good? -NNEKA: You okay?
Yeah, I'm good. I'm fine. I'm fine. Y'all?
-I'm good. -Yeah, you good?
-I'm good. -(laughing): Oh, man.
-Is everybody all right? -I'm good. -That's it.
I'm-I'm good. Oh, my God, we have a fire!
-(laughter) -(indistinct chatter)
DWIGHT: So, we broke our shelter immediately,
collapses on my head, the girls get the fire going.
JUSTINE: Ugh! It's going out, guys.
That sucks.
DWIGHT: The fire then goes out. It's a complete disaster.
So while we had a leg up on the competition,
we also kind of took a few steps back.
♪ ♪
Just when we think that we're actually relaxing,
like, everybody's hanging out, yeah, a boat shows up.
Oh, God.
-Oh, no. -Okay.
CODY: We all know.
(laughs) Here we go. Like, that boat ain't coming here
to drop us off some goodies.
-I'm scared. -I'm scared, too.
It was on like Donkey Kong.
You guys.
LINDSAY: So, we're all sitting on the beach,
and all of a sudden we see a boat pull up.
LINDSAY: Coming out here, I thought
about this exact scenario,
but I have no idea what's about to happen.
(gasping): How exciting!
-Oh! -Ah!
LINDSAY: In this new era of Survivor, you 100%
have to make big moves to win.
I'm not scared of what is coming.
I'm not scared of the game of Survivor.
I'm scared of never having the opportunity to play.
"One person must get on this boat.
You'll return to camp this afternoon." That's it.
Okay. Who's staying?
-Oh, we have to stay. We got to. -Okay.
We got to work on the shelter.
What can we do? Draw sticks?
We had to pick somebody to go to an adventure.
I'm thinking the most democratic way.
Pick a number between one and 20.
-17. -14.
-GEO: 20. -KARLA: Seven.
-She got it on the... on the... -JAMES: Blackjack.
-LINDSAY: Did it. -KARLA: Really? -Yeah, blackjack.
Karla got the seven, and
this is the new era,
so we know she's going off somewhere,
and there's going to be an advantage or something in play.
-CASSIDY: Have fun. Have a ton of fun. -Oh, my God!
JAMES: Advantages change things up.
Someone that was nice and sweet can be a villain.
♪ ♪
-Okay, go, let's do it. -MORRIAH: Okay. I'm ready. -OWEN: Okay.
-One, two. -One, two.
-ALL: One, two, three. -Go.
SAMI: Deep down, of course, you want
to go on the journey. Like, you want to go see what it's about.
40, 41, 42, 43.
-(whooping and cheering) -All right!
SAMI: But I was totally okay
with putting it out to a random draw because
you don't want to put a target on your back by being
so eager, especially when
there is something like an advantage, and everybody knows
about the possibility of it being there.
CODY: You know you want to, bro.
-Kind of do, but I kind of don't. -This is your dream
to go out there and do this.
NOELLE: All right.
CODY: Dwight is a superfan, so he wanted to go.
I mean, him
getting on the boat was a wake-up call for everybody.
Like, I could tell everybody was like,
"Now the game has started."
I mean, he might be out for a boat ride, having a picnic,
but my guess is that
something's going to go down.
♪ ♪
KARLA: I'm on this boat, and
I don't know what's happening whatsoever.
So I'm really nervous.
-Karla. -Gabler.
-Nice to meet you. -Gabler. Aw. Nice to meet you.
Dwight.
KARLA: But I was actually really
calming myself down
because, if I come in level-headed
for whatever the task is, I will be fine.
"Make your way from the beach to the giant rock,
"where you will make a group decision.
Take this time to get to know each other."
-The giant rock being... that? No, I... -The big boy.
-I think that's the giant. -Out there?
GABLER: I think we head out there.
DWIGHT: Yeah, I guess so.
-GABLER: All right, let's do it. -(Karla sighs)
DWIGHT: I look over, and I can already see the giant rock.
And I'm like, "It can't possibly be that bad.
"It's just right there.
"It's going to be, like, a two- or three-minute walk.
We're gonna have barely any time to talk."
I was so,
so wrong about that.
KARLA: Do we have to make it over there?
-Yeah. -What?
Yup, we got a ways to go, Karla.
-Oh, we have a long way. -Okay, is anyone else afraid to hike?
KARLA: In this journey,
you're kind of going through these, like,
really slippery, dangerous
rocks and covered with moss.
-Oh, here. It's slippery. -It's super slippery.
So I'm trying to calm myself down, I'm trying
to breathe and remind myself, like, why I am out here.
I'm the proud daughter of two Mexican immigrants.
I grew up poor, but I'm not going to settle for less.
And that ignited a fire in me to pursue education.
I got into UC Berkeley.
I thought to myself, "How am I going to pay for it?"
And then I got the word that I was awarded
the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship.
I am the first in my family to graduate high school.
I was the first in my family to graduate college.
It's like a generational change.
So, I need to remember that
I am street-smart and I'm book-smart,
and for this game I have to channel that.
I'm ready to do what it takes.
-Oh. -O... kay.
Okay. Oh, my gosh. Here we go.
KARLA: Okay.
-Okay. -Interesting.
DWIGHT: So, what happens is, each player
chooses secretly if they want to risk
or not risk their vote,
and we all reveal the card we choose simultaneously.
Based on how many people choose to risk their vote,
they draw from a bag of that many risk-takers.
One has an advantage, all of the rest
lose their vote.
So now we have to figure out...
How this is going down.
...if we want to risk it.
KARLA: It's like a game of poker, right?
Uh, you know, what are the odds?
Risk, no risk.
It could lead to an advantage.
It could lead to an idol.
But, honey, your vote is
your life right now.
You thinking about risking it?
I'm thinking pretty big. Yeah.
I was half bluffing.
I was trying to say it so confidently so that they would
be like, "Well, if Gabler's going to do it,
then I'm not going to risk my vote 'cause he's going in."
GABLER: There we go.
We reveal our cards, and it's shown that
Karla did not risk her vote,
but Gabler and I did.
So that means Gabler and I have to now draw
from a bag which contains an advantage
and a "lose your vote" card. It's 50/50,
which is terrifying.
If I lose my vote, I am screwed.
You want to draw first, or should I?
Let's go age before beauty. How about that?
All righty. Good luck.
GABLER: Dwight met my bluff, and he doubled down,
so now I can lose my vote.
But I'm 51, and
there's only been one winner over 50
of Survivor in all the seasons, so, yeah,
I have to take risks, and I'm going big.
-Good luck, guys. -Good luck. -Good luck.
Guess we'll find out.
I guess we will. It's going to be interesting,
the next Tribal or not. Like, "Oh, God."
KARLA: I'm very happy with my decision. I think
I did the right thing by trusting my gut
and not risking my vote.
-See you at the merge. -Definitely see you at the merge.
-DWIGHT: Absolutely. -KARLA: And Gabler was like,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll see each other at the merge."
But I don't know if that's going to happen, given the fact that
one of them can't vote and one of them is now a threat.
♪ ♪
(metallic clicking)
CODY: This is the one. This is the one. Come on.
Blood, sweat and tears.
JUSTINE: We've kind of just traded off shifts
of everyone trying to
make fire.
CODY: Oh, oh, oh.
NOELLE: All right, add those twigs behind you.
JUSTINE: But for me, when I put my mind to something, I...
I-I know I have to do it, or else
I'm not going to be able to, like, sleep at night.
(cheering)
-CODY: Hey, girl. -NNEKA: Keep going.
Sticks, sticks, sticks, sticks, sticks, sticks!
JUSTINE: It was super satisfying
being the one to actually get fire,
and it's also something that I wanted
to cross off on my Survivor checklist.
-CODY: Nice work. -Thank you.
NOELLE: Yes, queen! Great job.
JUSTINE: Nice.
-(boat engine purring) -NOELLE: Oh, Dwight is back.
NOELLE: Dwight's back.
-Hey. -NOELLE: Hey. -(laughter)
DWIGHT: Coming back into camp, I'm thinking about
do I lie? Do I tell the truth?
-Oh, God. Do we have a fire? -Yes.
-Oh, my God.
DWIGHT: We've all seen 41 and 42.
We know that advantages come from these journeys.
So if I come back and say,
"Oh, it was nothing this time. It was just a nice walk,"
they're gonna put a target of my back so quickly.
So it was an island. It was me, Karla and Gabler.
We had to walk across... Like, it was water up to here.
So everything was wet. We get there.
You can risk your vote or not risk your vote.
For every person that risks, you draw out of a bag.
Only one has an advantage.
Oh, damn.
And I don't know yet. I won't figure out till later today
what I got. So... -(Justine gasps)
You're fine.
-Have at it. -(both chuckle)
CODY: I don't know if I trust Dwight's story fully,
'cause he's like, "Oh, we went in the water. It was this deep."
And then he's like, "It's already dry." I'm like,
"There's no way it's dry by the time you're back.
You were only gone for an hour and a half. Impossible."
I didn't believe any of that story.
-You know what I mean? -Yeah.
He's got a lot going on in his head.
I think there's more to it. This guy's here to play.
Not out here just to have a good time.
So it could be detrimental to my game.
♪ ♪
GABLER: So, me and, um, Dwight risked it.
-Oh. -So it's like a toss-up. -So it's 50/50
if you get... if you win the advantage or not.
So I don't know what it is yet,
and I don't know if he got it, but I'm gonna go.
-(indistinct chatter) -So I'm gonna go walk off
and figure out what it is and then I'll be back, okay?
-And then you come back and let us know whatever you want to. -Come back. You got to.
-All you. -Okay. Let's roll.
I could lose my vote. That would be devastating.
But at the same time, you know, if you get
that opportunity to go on a big journey like that,
you want to come home with something.
Let's see. Did I outplay Dwight?
Or did he outplay me?
Okay.
"You risked and won."
(whoops)
(cheering)
"You risked and lost.
You cannot cast any votes at your next Tribal Council."
(sighs) Damn.
(whoops)
-Oh, my God! -(cheering)
GABLER: I have an idol for my first two Tribal Councils.
Most people think you get the idol,
you bury it, you hide it, you lie about it.
-Yes! -Oh, my God!
GABLER: But as you probably can figure out by now,
I go to the beat of my own drum.
JEANINE: I'm-I'm so happy for you.
SAMI: They didn't get it.
NNEKA: Oh. Aw, man.
CODY: You lost your vote?
DWIGHT: And listen, we all know Gabler has something now.
-So just be wary of Gabler. -Yeah.
GABLER: By letting them see the idol, it builds goodwill and trust.
And trust is the name of the game out here.
ALL: Baka, Baka, Baka!
(whooping)
♪ ♪
Come on in!
(gasps)
-Yes. -PROBST: Look at those smiles.
JAMES: Oh, dang.
Awesome.
That's what we want to hear, Lindsay.
This is a big, kick-ass first immunity challenge.
SAMI: Let's get it on.
I like the enthusiasm.
♪ ♪
All right, let's get into your first immunity challenge.
(cheering, applause)
CODY: Yeah, baby!
For today's challenge, you're gonna race
through a series of obstacles, collecting three balls.
One player will then dig under a log...
...and release a ramp.
You'll work together to get everybody
up the ramp and across a balance beam.
As players cross the beam, you can untie a handle
that will open the beam wider and make it easier.
The first tribe to get all their players to the finish
gets their choice between three table games.
The second tribe picks between the remaining two.
The last tribe gets what's left.
Then two players will work together to maneuver
three balls to the end of their table game.
The first two tribes to finish win immunity,
-are safe from the vote. -(exclaims)
These are the immunity idols.
(cheering)
Yeah!
(whooping)
They're so beautiful.
With an immunity idol at your camp,
it means you're not going to Tribal.
It means you can't be voted out.
The last tribe to finish, Tribal Council tonight,
where somebody will be the first person voted out of Survivor 43.
And as a penalty for losing, I will take your flint.
All right, I'm gonna give you a minute to strategize.
We'll get it on.
♪ ♪
All right, here we go.
For immunity. Survivors ready?
♪ ♪
Go!
You got to get through that mud.
This is your awakening.
It's happening.
You're not at home anymore.
You're on Survivor!
SAMI: Here we go, guys.
♪ ♪
PROBST: Everybody's got to get through that mud.
CODY: Yeah!
PROBST: Got to get all six people to your mat.
MORRIAH: Go, go, go, go, go.
DWIGHT: You got it. You got it, Nneka.
PROBST: Baka, you're good.
KARLA: Go, go. Go, go.
Coco, you're good.
♪ ♪
Vesi, let's go. Got to get everybody through.
You're good.
Now you're untying your three balls
that you need for that table game.
They're attached to the post.
Come on, come on!
-Go! -PROBST: Baka, you're good.
-Go, go, go! -(indistinct chatter)
NNEKA: Yep, yep, yep.
PROBST: Vesi, you're good.
KARLA: Okay, we got it.
Coco, you're good.
We're dead even right now.
All three tribes in this.
You've got to dig a hole that is deep enough
for your entire body to get under the log
and through to the other side.
-Let's go, Ryan, you got this. -PROBST: This is not easy.
Ryan is going for it.
LINDSAY: Let's go, Ryan! Let's go!
-(Cassidy whoops) -PROBST: Can he get through?
You got this! Yes!
-Yeah! Yeah! -JAMES: Yeah!
Ryan's through for Coco!
LINDSAY: All right, let's go, let's go, let's go.
PROBST: Coco, now trying to get to the top.
CASSIDY: All right.
PROBST: Lindsay on her own. Wow!
Nice work. James is providing that ladder.
Let's go, baby!
Come on, step on my shoulders!
PROBST: Lindsay trying to pull Ryan up.
He's up!
(indistinct chatter)
Cody's through!
Jeanine, completely buried under the pole,
trying to get back out to dig again.
You're good, Vesi.
RYAN: Pull. Climb it up. Climb it up.
James still trying to get up.
Ryan gonna come down and try to help him.
This is what it takes on Survivor.
You have to assess the situation and adapt,
and you're doing it.
James is almost up.
They've got him!
Now can Ryan get up again? He's done it once.
♪ ♪
-(indistinct chatter) -PROBST: Coco, they've got it.
Start across the beam.
SAMI: Come on, Jeanine!
Come on, Jeanine, dig!
-SAMI: Almost there, y'all! Let's go! -MORRIAH: Go, go, go.
PROBST: Vesi's still working to get up.
(indistinct chatter)
(exhales)
PROBST: Here goes Ryan.
KARLA: Take your time.
-All right, go. -LINDSAY: Yeah, Ryan!
PROBST: You can start untying that pole.
Once Ryan has the knots undone,
you can open that beam wide and everybody will race across.
Lindsay's across.
OWEN: Keep pushing, girl.
-(cheering) -GABLER: Here we go!
Thataway, Jeanine! Jeanine is through.
-Jeanine now trying to chop the rope. -(Elie shouting)
-PROBST: Jeanine's got it! -(cheering)
Baka, you're good. Start working on the wall.
-(overlapping shouting) -OWEN: Gabler, Gabler...
Let's go.
-(grunts) -Now you got it!
Let's go!
Come on!
(Morriah shouting)
PROBST: That's how you do it.
(indistinct chatter)
Coco releases their pole.
Everybody now can cross.
RYAN: Slide down, slide down.
Run, run, run.
Slide down now.
Go.
KARLA: Okay, let's choose one.
-All right. -Wait, wait, wait. Before we do...
Coco now has made their selection.
They've taken the maze.
Table game number three.
-Baka trying to get everybody up. -Got you.
PROBST: They've got one person left.
-MORRIAH: Yes! -Morriah, get ready. Morriah...
And he's up. You're good. Start on the beam.
NOELLE: You're good. Great job, girl.
NNEKA: Good job, girl. That's awesome.
PROBST: We've got Coco in the lead, working on their table game.
-Let it go. You're good! -(Nneka whoops)
You got it.
Vesi heading across now.
Here goes Morriah.
(indistinct chatter)
PROBST: Wow. Nice touch by Morriah.
-(cheering) -That is how you do it!
Great job, Morriah.
-Here goes Sami. -GABLER: Look forward, and...
Vesi have to choose now between one and two.
They're gonna take number two, the straight shot.
All right, guys, we got this.
PROBST: There you go!
Up, up.
(indistinct chatter)
PROBST: It is Ryan and Lindsay doing a really nice job.
They are very close to that first ball, but it drops.
-It's a learning curve. -Sorry.
-(yelling) -PROBST: Here comes Baka.
Coco got here first.
They chose the maze.
Vesi got here second.
They chose the straight shot.
-One, two, three! -One, two, three, go!
PROBST: Baka got here last, and they were left with the obstacle.
The question is, were these the right choices?
Drop back our way. Drop back our way.
Oh.
-(cheering) -PROBST: Coco lands their first ball. Two left.
Jesse and Noelle.
They chose straight shot.
Some would say this is a more difficult,
but they've got a nice touch.
Almost drop it out of the gate.
-Pull it back. Wait... -Good job, brother.
-Little bit. -GABLER: There we go.
-So flatten her out. -(groans)
Okay. That's okay. We're learning.
PROBST: Once again, Ryan and Lindsay, very, very close.
-And they've got it. -GEO: Got it.
Coco has two. Down to their last ball.
-Jesse and Noelle gonna give it another shot. -Slow it up, slow it up.
-Yes. -PROBST: In and out for Vesi. -(groaning)
-Nice maneuvering by Gabler and Sami. -ELIE: Nice. Nice, nice, nice.
-MORRIAH: You got it. Yes... -PROBST: They're at the three-quarter spot now.
-GABLER: Yes, we do. -MORRIAH: Yes.
-(overlapping chatter) -PROBST: Gabler and Sami.
-(Gabler groans) -PROBST: Drops in the gutter again.
Bro, bro, I'm trying.
I know. It's hard. I know.
-Okay, slowly. Okay, ready? -LINDSAY: Okay.
PROBST: Coco very close to their third and final ball.
-(cheering) -Coco wins immunity!
Safe from Tribal Council. Nobody going home.
(cheering continues)
We're looking for one more.
Somebody will be voted out of this game tonight.
Sami and Gabler, as close as they've ever been
-to landing their first ball. -You're taking the shot.
PROBST: They're close.
-They're in, they're out. They're around, and they drop. -Oh, man.
-You are so close... -(overlapping chatter)
I need your help right there.
Bro, I know. I was, I was helping you.
-I was... Trust me, I'm helping you. -You hold that.
-You want me to go, like, right here? -Yep.
Let's try this.
(indistinct chatter)
PROBST: Ooh, a new strategy.
♪ ♪
-That's in. Vesi has their first ball. -JUSTINE: Yes!
PROBST: Now they know they can do it.
-And that is a lot of this challenge. -JUSTINE: Yes, that's it, yes.
Believing that you can do it.
♪ ♪
-Down, down, down. -PROBST: Wow. Wow!
(cheering)
PROBST: Amazing. Straight down the track and right in the hole.
Vesi lands their second ball.
Sami and Gabler cannot panic, but they're in trouble.
-Gabler, stop. Gabler, stop. Gabler, stop. -Okay, okay, okay, okay.
-Okay. Barely touching. -SAMI: Okay.
Let's do it.
(groans)
SAMI: You're fighting me.
GABLER: I'm not fighting you, dude.
I'm barely putting any effort on this.
PROBST: Vesi can close it out right here.
Vesi down the track.
It's Jesse and Noelle for the win.
JUSTINE: Slowly.
-PROBST: And that's good! Vesi pulls it out! -(cheering)
-JESSE: Let's go! -PROBST: Immunity for Vesi.
-Sending Baka to Tribal Council. -JESSE: Let's go!
PROBST: Where somebody will be the first person voted out of this game.
(whooping)
♪ ♪
All right.
First place, Coco.
-A dominating performance. -(cheering, applause)
You are all safe.
-Nobody going home tonight. Congrats. -(excited chatter)
-Yeah! -(cheering)
Mwah.
Equally hard fought the entire way.
Vesi, congratulations.
(cheering, whooping)
-Let's go. Let's go. -Yes!
PROBST: Coco, Vesi, nobody going home.
-Grab your stuff, head back to camp. -LINDSAY: Yes.
-PROBST: Congrats. -DWIGHT: We can go?
-We can go? -JUSTINE: All right. (whoops)
PROBST: All right, Baka. So let's talk.
Gabler, what's the feeling right now,
knowing Tribal Council is just a few hours away?
-GABLER: Jeff, honestly, we haven't thought about it. -(crying)
We thought about winning since-since we got here.
And I'll tell you this, we all gave it all.
We were communicating. We never lost heart.
We never lost friendship.
-(breathing sharply) -That's right.
That's it. I mean, it's just... it's hard.
-(crying) -PROBST: All right, the result is, Baka, dead last.
As a penalty for losing, I'll be taking your flint.
Sorry for you.
Sorry for us.
PROBST: You'll have a chance to earn it back
at your next immunity challenge.
All right, Tribal Council tonight, where somebody will be
the first person voted out of Survivor 43.
Grab your stuff, head back to camp.
See you tonight at Tribal.
-Group hug. -(indistinct chatter)
(exhales)
Let's go.
SAMI: Losing sucks. It's sad.
With that being said, I think that with the loss today,
our game really starts.
I mean, we didn't talk any strategy at all,
not for one second.
And this is no longer some kumbaya camping trip.
It's about to get really crazy very shortly.
♪ ♪
GABLER: We lost the challenge.
It was excruciating.
In the sun, everyone's watching. Jeff's in your ear.
It's about the most intense thing I can think of,
and I work in the operating room with heart surgeries.
We have to go to Tribal Council,
and we're gonna have to lose somebody tonight.
-Okay. -MORRIAH: How is everybody?
OWEN: We busted our ass. We did our best.
MORRIAH: I'm so proud of everybody.
GABLER: I take accountability for that.
I was part of the loss,
so I should be a potential target tonight.
So, a couple things here.
Number one, I came out here with three goals.
And one was to learn about myself through hardship.
Secondly, I came out here to play a great game,
which t-to date, we all have played an amazing game.
And lastly, I wanted to win an immunity idol, which I-I did.
So that's freaking huge. It's amazing.
Being that said, I'm not gonna hide behind my immunity idol.
I don't want to take the easy road out.
So tonight, I'm gonna take a Shot in the Dark.
I'm gonna roll it.
I'm gonna throw the Shot in the Dark,
and we're just gonna see where it's at.
Everybody at home is gonna have a hard time understanding
why I wouldn't automatically play my immunity idol.
But I was part of the loss,
and therefore I'll be playing my Shot in the Dark,
because I should be at risk tonight.
Cool?
ELIE: The shock was written all over my face and body.
Just... what?
Like, what are you doing right now?
-Dude, we still got, we still got... -I know.
I-I know...
(sniffles)
ELIE: We need to look at our fire.
We just lost our flint. I think we'll all want to scramble.
-GABLER: Let's focus on that first. Yeah. -ELIE: We'll all want to talk
to each other. Like, let's just see if there's something there.
-Okay. -ELIE: You only play the Shot in the Dark,
you only choose to lose your vote
for a one-in-six chance if you think you're going home.
-We need to get some kindling. -SAMI: I'm gonna go run and grab some.
-GABLER: Okay. -ELIE: I'm not interested in voting out Gabler,
especially not this early.
-Hey, we're not voting you. -Okay.
ELIE: Gabler works really, really hard.
He's constantly helping out around camp.
And I think that we need workhorses.
Okay.
Okay, but don't...
My skill as a therapist is to talk people out of things,
to talk people off of a ledge, essentially.
OWEN: Unfortunately for Morriah, in a tribe of six,
strength and challenge performance is really important.
Oh, yeah, keep blowing like that.
OWEN: This tribe was living in a fantasy world.
We were all like, "Oh, my gosh, we're on Survivor.
This is so fun. I love you. I love you."
And now, strategically, that lackadaisical attitude
has definitely translated to now a mad, mad dash right now.
All right...
Yeah.
And she is strong, and I feel bad.
I feel very bad.
I definitely don't want it to be me or you.
-No, yeah, I'm good with you. -I-I, like, I'm serious.
-Like, look me in my eyes. -We're good.
Like, I, like, Sami. Like, seriously.
No, yeah, we're good. I-I wasn't even thinking about you.
Like, not even once. I do like Elie a lot.
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah. -And I like Jeanine a lot.
'Cause in a perfect world, we're all on the same page,
except for who's going home.
I guess if I was to say who I haven't talked to.
-Yeah. -Probably Owen the least out of anybody.
-Like... -Okay.
We're no longer a kumbaya tribe,
but I have my girls, and I really vibe with Sami.
And that leaves on the outs Gabler and Owen.
SAMI: Yeah.
MORRIAH: For me, it's just too much of a risk
to vote out Gabler.
Not only does he have an idol,
but now he's talking about playing his Shot in the Dark.
That's two different opportunities
for him to save himself.
Gabler's not playing his Shot in the Dark. We were just
-kind of chatting that. -MORRIAH: I don't b...
-I don't know. I don't know. -ELIE: We don't think so.
So, not Gabler.
-Okay. -What were you thinking?
JEANINE: Oh.
So, Owen.
SAMI: Me and Owen
haven't really been talking very much.
And I think he's a lot smarter than he seems,
which scares me about him.
Owen is the kind of player that,
down the line, when we get down to it,
I'm going to end up seeing
just how dangerous Owen could be.
-That's true. -ELIE: All right.
-So, Owen? -That's the clearest way.
ELIE: Morriah came up with a plan,
and I came up with a plan,
and she doesn't know that
my plan is against hers.
I'm not interested in voting out Owen.
I want
to prioritize strength right now.
Sorry.
The three of us and Sami-- we're writing...
-I just wanted to triple-fy check. -ELIE: Yeah.
The three of us plus Sami is going to write Owen.
Okay.
MORRIAH: The three of us sticking together--
-if we lose again... -ELIE: Yeah.
-we have three women over two now. -ELIE: Yeah.
It's like the smartest plan for the three of us.
JEANINE: Elie wants to vote Morriah out because
she's just the weakest member of our tribe, but
my mind is working right now, and
I'm worried about how that will go in the future in terms of...
It makes it pretty easy for the majority of three guys
now to work together to vote out the women.
And that's why I'm, like, really stressed right now.
'Cause I don't want to be, like, us versus boys.
ELIE: I understand Jeanine's fears.
So now I'm weighing out
options of a vote
for Owen
or voting out Morriah.
I really want us to move forward
more physically strong.
Morriah is not the strongest
physical competitor amongst our tribe, but
I know that she wants to stick with me and Jeanine.
SAMI: Sorry.
ELIE: The downside to keeping Owen
is that he could be trouble
down the line.
I have to take into consideration
the relationship
between the three guys.
I could be setting
something in motion
Where they could have an easy majority.
The first vote is huge,
and Jeanine and I hold all of the power
to decide who goes home.
♪ ♪
Behind you is a torch. Everybody grab a torch,
dip it in, get fire.
♪ ♪
This is part of the ritual
of Tribal Council because, as you know,
in this game fire represents your life.
And when your fire is gone, Owen, what happens?
-So are you. -Yeah.
Always breaks my heart.
All right,
so, Sami, let's talk about the first few days.
What is life like back at camp?
Life has been, like, a joy.
We were all harmonious. It was all just like
a kumbaya group thing.
-We are final six, honestly. -(laughter)
I'm stunned by what Sami just said.
To come out into this game
and to actually believe you're the final six,
"We don't need to think about Tribal, we're going
to be fine," blows my mind.
Owen, did you share that unbridled we-got-this based
-on absolutely nothing? -Yeah. Well, like
Sami was saying, like, we've gotten
to know each other, shared our stories.
But in terms of the gameplay, yeah, no one wanted
to put a target on themselves by being that person
that is a little too antsy to, like, rush in
and throw someone under the bus.
PROBST: Gabler, the obvious downside is, you wait
so late that people don't have much time to make a case
to keep themselves or even know it's them.
So it's just as vicious.
-Oh, yeah. -Just in a different way.
But I think that's all the more reason why
it was important to get to know everybody early
because you never know how the game is going to shake up.
I mean, we were supposed to win today.
-We really... We-we gave our all. -Supposed to win?
I just can't figure it out.
-I know. -Based on what?
Well, I just want to say that we did win today.
We didn't win the immunity challenge 'cause,
-clearly, we're sitting in this beautiful Tribal Council. -Yeah.
Let me just take this in, Morriah.
-MORRIAH (laughs): Wait. -You won today because?
MORRIAH: We won because
none of us gave up and we all tried our best.
-Yeah. -And that's what it's about.
You're not always going to win the game,
but when you walk away knowing that you gave it
-every single last thing... -Everything.
that you had in the tank, then you won.
SAMI: But at the same time, moral victories
-mean nothing at immunity challenges. -GABLER: Right.
We're going to be here every single time if we look
-at moral victories as a real win in the books. -Yeah.
-Mm-hmm. -OWEN: I agree.
-That's right. -Yeah. -I have... I have enough
-moral victories in my personal life... -Yeah.
with the teams I root for, so in Survivor,
it's not as attractive.
You want to... you want to win at whatever cost.
We really wanted to win this one.
Losing with dignity's great.
Like, we all had our heads held high,
but it still sucks.
So, if everybody feels good about the effort today,
does that mean there was no finger-pointing?
Because Gabler and Sami-- you two picked the finishing spot...
-Yeah. -and couldn't get it done.
Did anybody come back and say,
"Maybe we should look at these two"?
GABLER: For sure, Jeff. I mean, there is accountability.
You know, you feel bad for letting people down.
You know, you want to be the-the hero.
You want to... you want to pull it out.
You know, but is it possible
that I'd have a target on me for that? Yes.
ELIE: But pinning everything on like,
"Hey, you volunteered to do this
"and you couldn't pull it out
at the end of the day," to me,
that's not a great strategy right now.
So I think that won't be what it rides on.
For me, it's almost
a first-come, first-serve situation.
You know? Who reached out to me first?
Who has been making an effort to make some kind of connection?
Those things really do matter
because that lends itself to trust.
-You know? -Mm-hmm. It's like that validation you need when,
you know, you just started dating someone,
and you need that affirmation from someone to...
-Yeah. Text me back. -Yeah, exactly. Like,
give me a little bit to go off of, and then...
and then you hitch onto that and you realize,
"Okay, I'm being affirmed that this is where I want to go,
and I'm not crazy."
And, you know, you...
-It's reciprocal from there on. -Yeah. -Morriah, did you feel
that people texted you back?
I got some emojis and stuff. I'm not gonna...
I'm not going to go into details, Jeff.
No, but I do feel like some people text,
and I got a few phone calls here and there,
and I'd like to think that I sent out a few texts
and phone calls as well.
And it's scary
because we're kind of out of this trance
that we've been in, and every single person today
is going to pick up that pen and write a name.
-Yup. -SAMI: I kind of feel that same way. I feel like
now we're playing the game. The game is on,
and it's on full force. I mean, at the end
of tonight, somebody is going to be looking back like,
"What if I was a little bit more aggressive?
Could I have made it a little bit further?"
PROBST: It's really interesting how this conversation
started with all of you entrenched in this idea
of a happy tribe, and now that we are literally moments away
from voting, I'm feeling the tension.
It's the price we pay for trying to be kumbaya for too long.
And I think whoever does go home is going
to wish they sent a few more texts out and
had-had something cooking a little bit better.
PROBST: All right, with that, it is time to vote. Sami,
you're up.
♪ ♪
(sighs) I really do hate this.
♪ ♪
Wow.
(sighs)
If anybody has an advantage
or an idol they want to play,
now would be the time to do so.
All right, I'll read the votes.
First vote-- Morriah.
Owen. One vote-- Morriah, one vote-- Owen.
Morriah. Two votes-- Morriah, one vote-- Owen.
Morriah. That's three votes-- Morriah, one vote-- Owen.
♪ ♪
First person voted out of Survivor 43-- Morriah.
That's four. That's enough. You need to bring me your torch.
I love you guys. It's okay.
-ELIE: Love you. -MORRIAH: Love you guys.
-It's been a blast, guys. -I'm going to miss you.
You're amazing.
(laughing)
Morriah, the tribe has spoken.
Thanks, Jeff.
-Bye, you guys. -Bye. -GABLER: Bye-bye.
(Elie sighs)
Grab your torches, head back to camp.
Good night.
♪ ♪
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Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org
GABLER: That storm was a beating.
This game is blowing my mind right now.
KARLA: They believe that I'm with them,
but there's a girls alliance.
I want to jump off that 'cause it looks really fun.
Tribal lines are getting clearer.
(yelling)
It's heartbreaking to be going,
but I'm happy with the game I played.
I had a ton of fun,
but I played like it was my first time,
when I should have been playing like it was my second time.
I genuinely love the Baka tribe,
and I'm so proud of them and so proud of how they played.
And I hope they get far in the game.