Survivor season 46 episode 3, "Wackadoodles Win," features a shocking exit, and no, it wasn't because of a tribal council vote. For the first time this season, there was a medical evacuation of a cast member of the Nami tribe.
We shared who got pulled from the game and what it means going forward. There are spoilers for Survivor season 46 episode 3!
Randen Montalvo was pulled from Survivor season 46 in episode 3
Randen's tribe has never lost a challenge yet through four challenges, but Randen was still eliminated from Survivor in the season's third episode. He joins Jelinsky and Jess on thelist of castaways to exit season 46. After losing feeling in his arm and hand and prickly feelings all over the right side of his body, Rande sat out the immunity challenge for this episode, which the Nami tribe won.
Randen, though, was sitting on the beach when Jeff Probst and Dr. Will arrived. They informed Randen and the rest of the Nami tribe that they believed there was a high likelihood that Randen was suffering a disc issue in his back or neck, which was causing the numbness in his arm. They couldn't allow him to continue in the game and risk injury, paralysis, or something worse.
Randen left the game via medical evacuation. It turns out that Randen did not need surgery, but he revealed to EW's Dalton Ross that he had inflammation in several places that was causing him to lose feeling and lack motor function in his hand and arm.
"They looked at it and they immediately put me on anti-inflammatories and I went into therapy for my arm. And I would say within a couple of days the swelling started to go down and they started monitoring it. And then I felt okay, thank God, because you can't repair a disc. It's a very serious thing."
Randen is the first non-Yanu member to be eliminated from Survivor season 46.
Yanu catches a break
Speaking of Yanu, the tribe that's lost EVERY SINGLE CHALLENGE finally caught a break, albeit at the expense of Randen.
After removing Randen from the game, Jeff ventures over to the Yanu camp where he reveals that Randen has been pulled. Despite losing a third straight immunity challenge, Yanu, for the first time, will not have to vote off another member of their tribe.
Will it make a difference? Will they be able to stick together and win a challenge? We'll have to wait until episode 4 for that!
Bhanu (and perhaps Kenzie) caught a major break with Randen going home. It's great that one of them got to stay in the game, but it's definitely not looking good still for their tribe morale and gameplay. They've been close to winning a challenge, but not close enough!
We'll have to see what happens next week on Survivor! Episode 4 airs Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 8 p.m. ET.