Rome is gone and not everyone seemed to be on the same page when it came to the tribal council vote. So what does this mean for our remaining Survivor players now that we are at the merge? We recap the latest episode, episode 7, here.
Back at the Beka Tribe beach after Rome was voted out, it felt like there was a sense of celebration, except between Andy and Sol. Sol voted for Andy at the tribal council, meaning he had to make amends. And during their chat, Sol told Andy that the reason he put his name down was because of Sam.
Andy told Sol that he wanted an alliance with him and that they needed to trust each other moving forward. And in his production chat, he admitted that he needed to start going after the people he was seemingly once working with: Sam and Sierra.
After a night of contemplation, it sounded like Andy was drifting towards Genevieve as he knew "number one" in the game. While he might've been willing to work with Sol, it seemed like Genevieve was the person he was trying to move forward with.
Tree mail arrived at Beka Tribe
While the newly merged tribe was trying to get to know each other and find new alliances, Genevieve popped up with tree mail. And that tree mail was all about the fact that someone would be sent home soon.
This seemed to inspire the women, who seemed to want to form an alliance. Would it happen? Past experience says it could work or it could fall apart, depending on who ends up actually wanting it to work.
That being said, this women's alliance discussion did mean that Gabe's name was brought up again as a potential threat. It sounded like if he didn't win immunity, he could be in danger of going home.
The Immunity Challenge with reward
This week's challenge was all about balance and coordination. The Survivors had to balance on a beam while holding a long pole with a ball balanced at the end of the pole. At regular intervals, the players had to move down the beam without falling off or dropping the ball.
But that's not all, as Jeff announced that he would be pitting players against each other. There would be a random divide that broke the tribe into two teams of six. And the one player who lasted the longest would not only win immunity for themselves but also for everyone on their team. The winning team would not only not be eligible to be eliminated, but they also wouldn't vote for who gets eliminated. Instead, they would get to sit and watch the tribal council.
On the losing team, whoever lasted the longest would also get immunity, this time solo immunity. However, they would be part of the tribal council and would get to cast a vote. And whoever got voted out would not make the jury.
The winning six also got a reward which included ribs, corn on the cob, and potato salad. Plus, there were beers and soft drinks to enjoy as well.
After a rock draw, the teams were divided into six and we got to see who went with who. In this case, team yellow was Genevieve, Sierra, Teeny, Sol, Andy, and Sam. On the other side, we had Rachel, Caroline, Sue, Tiyana, Gabe, and Kyle.
Pretty quickly, Andy was the first player out, as his ball couldn't stop spinning. And he wasn't alone as Rachel quickly followed. After their quick drop, the rest of the players had to move forward on the beam, and during the transition Sierra and Tiyana dropped.
Sol dropped, leaving just three players on his team going for the immunity and reward. As the players had to once again move forward, Sue ended up dropping in the final moments of the move up the beam. There was definitely a lot of shaking and movement, but everyone still in the game was able to recover before there was another move forward on the beam.
Gabe couldn't make the transition and Caroline followed right behind him. Sam dropped at the transition and Kyle dropped. And with Kyle dropping, he earned the individual immunity, but that also meant that it was his team that lost. Teeny and Genevieve didn't have to finish as they all walked away with immunity on their team.
The losing team did not go back to the tribe beach and instead went to the old Lavo beach. They didn't get a reward and they had a tribal council to prepare for.
Pre-tribal discussions
At the reward meal, the winning team believed that they knew who would be going home. And they really believed that Rachel was in trouble, as she was the odd woman out on her team. But they also believed that there could be an idol at the Lavo beach that could potentially change what would go down at the tribal council.
On the Lavo beach, Gabe believed that they were all going after Rachel, thinking that Rachel would use her shot in the dark. Tiyana, on the other hand, believed that it was a bad idea to take out Rachel and instead, she wanted to take a shot at Gabe.
Tiyana and Kyle discussed going after Rachel, meaning that they needed Rachel to vote with them. So Tiyana told Rachel that she and Kyle wanted to vote Gabe out. Now, it sounded like they just needed to get Caroline to vote with them and Rachel stayed.
Back at the Beka beach, everyone seemed to be in a bit of a food coma. In broad daylight with everyone literally laying next to him, Andy started looking to see if there was an advantage at their feast. While he didn't find anything, Sol ended up finding something in the greenery around the pole of their setup. And he quickly snagged it and hid it in his shorts without getting noticed.
On the Lavo beach, Caroline tried to convince Tiyana that Rachel was the person who needed to go. She made it clear that she believed that Rachel was the biggest threat. At the same time, Gabe and Rachel were off on a walk and he told her that he wanted to go after Caroline. Although, in his production chat, he admitted that he just didn't want Rachel to play her shot in the dark, so he was giving her a lifeline so that she didn't.
Rachel was clearly not safe for this tribal council. And it sounded like her Survivor days could be numbered.
Over on the Beka beach, Sol wandered off from the group to find out what his advantage was, and it turned out that he had found an advantage that he had to send to one of the players on the losing team. They could either steal a vote or have safety without power. Now, he just had to figure out who he wanted to give this advantage to and how it would benefit his game moving forward.
Did he choose Rachel to get the advantage? Or did he try to build trust with someone else?
Tribal Council
It seemed like this tribal council could be very cut and dry, with Rachel going home. But with an advantage at play, it was anyone's game to lose.
During the tribal chat, everyone admitted that Rachel may not be the way to go. But Rachel didn't necessarily believe what anyone was saying to her. At the same time, as Jeff pointed out, these players could've used Rachel to their advantage. So was it worth it to flip things around and save Rachel and send someone else home?
It turned out that Sol opted to give his advantage to Rachel. So what was she going to do? Well, it turned out she was taking the Safety without Power and headed back to camp. So now the Tuku members who planned to vote for Rachel had to come up with a new plan.
With Rachel off the table, who was going to be the seventh player voted out of Survivor 47?
Tiyana is the seventh player voted out of Survivor 47
It is clear that Tiyana was devasted as her name was said for a second time. And when it was official that she was the seventh player voted out, she simply couldn't contain her emotions. As her torch was snuffed and she walked away from her tribe, we could all hear her crying.
In the end, it was clear that Gabe may have just had more of a chokehold on his former tribe mates than we even knew.