After the shocking results of the tribal council in episode 5 of Survivor 47, the Gata tribe returned to their beach to talk about what went down and the fact that it was Anika who went home. And of course, everyone wanted Rachel to feel secure in what happened, even as it was made clear that she was at the bottom of the tribe.
However, when a boat arrives at the Gata beach, there was plenty of excitement as they learned that things were going to change. It is time to drop the buffs. The other tribes were equally as excited, as the Lavo tribe quickly hugged it out before grabbing their items. And yes, the Tuku tribe celebrated this news just as hard as the other tribes. However, it turns out that all the tribes were heading to the Tuku beach for this "merge."
As all the Survivors together at the Tuku beach, a sign on the beach reveals that there is a grueling challenge ahead before the tribes can merge. Somewhere hidden on the beach, there is something that will help at least one Survivor make it to the merge. And they have to be the first to find it immediately.
After a moment of stunned silence, everyone takes off in a rush. And while many of these people are off searching for an advantage, there is also a lot of connecting with their fellow Survivor players. At one point Genevieve and Sam actually see where the advantage is, but they blow it off thinking it is nothing.
However, around the well, a ton of people spot the red paint and start digging. And they find the broken pottery. This means that Sue's idol is no longer a secret, but only one person knows for a fact that she has it.
Genevieve finds herself going back and forth about the merge advantage. She ends up going back to the beach and out to the buoy and ends up finding the advantage. While she doesn't know what it is, as she has to hand it back to Jeff at the challenge, it has to be better than walking into the merge challenge empty-handed.
Merge Beach drama
On the Merge Beach, Rome goes to Sue and tells her that Kyle has said that Sue is a threat. But that's not all Kyle revealed, as he also said that both Sam and Tiyana have a chance to win it all. So Rome went around to each person and told them what Kyle said.
The problem is that Tiyana didn't quite believe what Rome was saying. So she starts trying to get to the bottom of things. And when Sol hears what happened, he immediately shares that this is what Rome does. This leads to him talking to Kyle and telling him what Rome is saying.
As a bunch of the Survivor players come together around the well, including a few of the people Rome went to about Kyle, Kyle shares that he thought he had a connection with Rome and he is done. He tells everyone that his words were twisted and now he wants the other man out of the game.
Immunity and Merge Challenge
For the individual challenge to officially make the merge, the group will be broken down into two teams of six Survivors. Unlike the normal merge challenge, this time around the winning six are not guaranteed to make the merge. However, they are guaranteed a meal. After they win that meal, there is a harder challenge that the winning six will have to take on and they will go head to head, with only one person earning immunity.
Unlike typical merge challenges, there will only be one person walking into the tribal council with immunity. That is because a single immunity necklace is up for grabs.
And remember that advantage that Genevieve found? Well, she gets to skip the main challenge and advances straight to the immunity challenge, plus she automatically gets the food reward.
For the first half of this challenge, teams are picked by schoolyard pick after two captains are picked by random draw. Team one is Sam, Sue, Kyle, Teeny, Rachel, and Sierra on the yellow team, while team two is the blue team featuring Rome, Sol, Andy, Tiyana, Caroline, and Gabe.
Starting in pairs the teams have to push through a mud pit to get to their mat. Yellow takes the lead in this first leg of the challenge. After getting through the mud they individually have to go over and under a wood chip-filled obstacle to get to the second mat. Once again it is yellow in the lead.
The third stage is a cage with a bundle of coconuts with a ball in it that has to be grapple hooked out of the cage. Everyone has to get over the cage and to the next mat with their bag with the ball in it. After getting the ball out, they all have to get up a steep ramp with a net at the top. They do have an option to grab sandbags to build a ladder to get them up the ramp.
After trailing in the previous parts of the challenge, the blue team ends up overtaking yellow to get to the table maze. But pretty quickly, the yellow team is able to work together to get up the ramp and now both teams are working on the table maze. Sadly, the blue team simply can't pull it together to conquer the table maze.
In the end, it is the yellow team that wins. And that means that they are getting a meal and moving on to an immunity challenge.
Now it is time for the yellow team and Genevieve to fight for their individual immunity. This time, they have to stand on a narrow beam while balancing a small ball on a bow. They have to balance before slowly moving forward on the beam. The first section is five minutes. If the ball drops or they drop, they are out. Being out means heading to a tribal where they are vulnerable.
Sierra is the first person to drop within the first five minutes, with Sam quickly following her. Everyone else makes it to the second section of the beam. This time, they are on this spot of the beam for 10 minutes. Rachel is the first out at this section, with Genevieve quickly following her. Teeny loses her focus and she is out quickly. Now it is between Kyle and Sue.
Kyle and Sue both move down to the final section of the beam. And quickly, Sue's ball is moving, but she recovers. Both Sue and Kyle see their balls rolling on the bow, but they keep recovering, even as their ball continually tries to make a break for it. But in the end, it is Sue who ends up losing control of the ball and Kyle ends up winning the immunity and the first buff of the merge.
Pre-tribal discussions
At the feast, they start talking about who needs to be voted out. And they all seem to agree that Rome needs to go. But at the same time, they want a backup name. The first name that gets tossed out is Andy.
Back on the Merge Beach, the blue team is cleaning up. And even they are talking about voting out Rome after he walks off. Rome pitches that he wants Sol voted out. He tells the women on the beach that he has anxiety and issues of self-esteem, and he feels like Sol has been mean to him. So Andy goes back to Sol to tell him what Rome said.
When the yellow team returns to the Merge Beach, Rome goes around and says that it is Sol to everyone returning back to the beach. And Rome really believes that he is running the game. But behind his back, everyone is saying that it is going to be Rome.
Tribal Council
Heading into the tribal council, it seems like we know exactly which Survivor will be voted out. But will the plan work? As the chats kick off, Rome and Jeff end up switching spots with Rome going off about the amulet advantage and why it is a terrible advantage. And Rome lets Jeff know how much it means to him to have been able to sit in his spot for even 30 seconds.
The tribal chats got deep as they started talking about blindsides, even as this vote could be one of the biggest blindsides of the season. So who is getting blindsided tonight?
Before the votes could be read, of course, the amulet advantage is played for Teeny to get that out of the game.
Rome is the sixth player voted out of Survivor 47
Quickly the votes started with a vote for Sam and two for Andy. Then the first vote for Rome popped up. And from there, the votes went the way we thought that they would. Rome was voted out and he thanks everyone on the way out for the amazing game. He even asks Jeff for a hug and thanks him for letting him sit in his seat.
Before leaving the tribal council, Jeff congratulates everyone for making the merge and hands out their new buffs. And now we have a single Survivor tribe.