‘Survivor 47’ episode 1 recap: Who was voted out in ‘One Glorious and Perfect Episode’? [UPDATING LIVE BLOG]
CBS has officially lit the torch on the 47th season of “Survivor.” Just like all of the “New Era” cycles, this year’s 18 contestants have been divided into three tribes (Gata, Lavo and Tuku) and all come from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. The first episode of this installment is two hours long, with 90-minute episodes thereafter. In the season premiere, viewers met the new castaways and found out who had the unfortunate title of being the first person voted out of Mamanuca Islands, Fiji.
Below, read our minute-by-minute “Survivor 47” Episode 1 recap/live blog of “One Glorious and Perfect Episode” to find out what happened on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite castaways on CBS’s reality TV show, who annoys you the most and who you think will ultimately join the “Survivor” winners list and take home the $1 million grand prize. Jeff Probst once again hosts and produces the program.
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Here are the current “Survivor 47” tribe breakdowns (click on each name to be brought to their individual profiles):
GATA: Andy Rueda, Anika Dhar, Jon Lovett, Rachel LaMont, Sam Phalen, Sierra Wright
LAVO: Aysha Welch, Genevieve Mushaluk, Kishan Patel, Rome Cooney, Solomon “Sol” Yi, Teeny Chirichillo
TUKU: Caroline Vidmar, Gabe Ortis, Kyle Ostwald, Sue Smey, Tiyana Hallums, Terran “TK” Foster
SEE‘Survivor’ deaths: Full list of castaways we’ve lost
Keep refreshing/reloading this “Survivor 47” live blog for the most recent updates.
8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘Survivor’!” In last season’s finale, the Final 3 contestants faced the jury and Kenzie Petty ended up winning the $1 million check in a 5-3-0 vote over Charlie Davis and Ben Katzman. That made Kenzie the fourth female winner of the “New Era” following Dee Valladares, Maryanne Oketch and Erika Casupanan. But enough about last year — it’s time to begin Season 47!
8:01 p.m. – The first players we got glimpses of as they journeyed to the beach to meet Jeff for the first time was Sam, the “wolf in wolf’s clothing” on Gata, Aysha, the one keeping a fly swatter in her back pocket, on Lavo, and Kyle, someone that “made brownies with” the “recipe for disaster” that life dealth him, on Tuku. Will they be the most formidable players on their tribes? Or will it be “the first native Hawaiian to play” Tiyana, the one with friends at home wanting him “to suffer” Jon, the “might get a little evil” Anika, or the 59 year old Sue that will “beat all your asses”?
8:08 p.m. – After some personality checks and an introduction about “community” from Jeff, the three tribes were brought to an “arena” for their first reward challenge. One winner would emerge from an obstacle course and race to retrieve and then solve puzzle pieces from the jungle – at stake, tribe supplies to take to camp on their first day.
8:10 p.m. – Kyle was the first through the mud pit, giving Tuku an early lead, but the pair of Kishan and Aysha for Lavo were the first to get back in that initial leg. In the second leg, Sue and Gabe took the lead back for Tuku as Lavo quickly fell behind. In this last leg, Andy and Sierra “blew what little lead” Gata earned and were still on the course as the other two tribes began on the puzzle. Sam became worried about “bad team chemistry” on the Gata tribe, but that was put to bed as Rachel and Anika raced to “make up a lot of time” on the puzzle and soared through the assembly of it to not only take back the lead, but to ultimately win the challenge for the yellow tribe!
8:15 p.m. – As the sole winners of this reward challenge, Gata left to make their way to their camp as a six-member tribe, while Jeff held back the two losing tribes with “another way” of earning their supplies. Each tribe had to choose a single person to take on a task with no information about the task itself. Lavo chose Aysha and in a rock-or-scissors game between three volunteers at Tuku, TK was selected as the second player to go on the journey. In a confessional, Rome thought it was a “big mistake” Aysha made missing out on the initial social connection point of the game by leaving the tribe.
8:22 p.m. – Upon arriving at camp, Gata took some time for “baptism by mud” in order to get to know one another while rinsing off in the ocean and then got started on building their camp. Andy was immediately ready to play the “numbers game,” hoping to “connect with two people” because he thinks it would be difficult for anyone else to get enough numbers to vote him out. When Andy and Jon went off on their own, Sierra was the first to acknowledge that the four of them left behind “had vibes” and should have something “unspoken” between them.
8:24 p.m. – At Tuku, Gabe initiated his pre-game plan to build a “day one, number one alliance” with an older person because he thinks they’re less likely to get caught up in the social game. He approached Sue with this in mind and asked for them to be a tight pair. In her own confessional, Sue mentioned that she really likes Caroline because she reminds her of her daughter and so they became a natural pair as well.
8:27 p.m. – The Lavo tribe felt that they’d be the “resourceful” tribe because they don’t appear to have as much physical strength as the other two. Teeny was confident about her social game and hatched a plan to be “everyone’s number one.” Her first bond was with Kishan, but Genevieve was also looking to work with Teeny. Genevieve was bonding well with Rome while Teeny thought Aysha would be a good fourth member to an alliance with Kishan.
8:29 p.m. – Meanwhile on the journey, TK and Aysha were offered the chance to become a “hero” for their tribe in a race to retrieve four keys quicker than the other. The first three clues were on separate paths and required them to use a photo to match to their real vision in order to find the hidden keys. Aysha found her first three keys before TK could find his second and set out on the shared path to find the single fourth key first. Still, Aysha got lost on her way back down to the beach through a dense forest and TK got into the water first by making his own new path through the brush. Even though Aysha caught up to TK in the water, he found the buoy with the key first and earned supplies for Tuku, leaving Aysha having to return to Lavo without any reward or advantage.
8:38 p.m. – Despite not wanting to become a leader out of the gate, Anika quickly fell into that trap because of her natural personality. Sam was happy that someone else was leading because he preferred to be what he called “the glue guy” that could hold the tribe together instead of lead. Using the flint they won as reward, Sierra became the first player of the season to start fire for this elated Gata tribe.
8:41 p.m. – When TK returned to Tuku with supplies, he was greeted with leaping hugs and he explained that he prevented Lavo from getting their own supplies. He felt like his success would help keep him safe in the tribe, but Caroline quickly noticed that “the guys flocked to” TK immediately and she got concerned with the “bromance.” And yet despite the budding bromance, when Gabe and TK were collecting logs together, Gabe did not include TK in finding a Beware Advantage he saw in the brush and instead chose to pick it up privately. Gabe decided to take the advantage and learned that he was looking for a box that contains what he needs to find an idol, but that until he takes possession of the idol he will not have a vote at tribal council. Unfortunately for Gabe, when he was retrieving a key he needed, TK returned and so he had no choice but to bring him along for the ride. Gabe made it seem like he found the key on its own and TK played along, but privately TK was suspicious and felt like Gabe was hiding something from him.
8:45 p.m. – As a “Survivor” fan, Teeny recognized Aysha as someone that goes on podcasts about the show and so when she returned to their camp Teeny was once again interested in building another personal connection. Teeny disclosed that she recognized her and said that they should keep it a secret, but the disclosure made Aysha nervous about being “blindsided by good vibes.”
8:47 p.m. – Rome was the first one to stick out at Lavo because the others noticed how often he was sneaking away on his own, seemingly to find idols or advantages. Rome knew he was potentially putting a target on his back by being away, but he knew that if he found an idol that it would protect him. Like Gabe, Rome found the Beware Advantage and accepted it without even registering the beware aspect. Realizing that he’d have to dig on the path to the well, Rome decided he’d return under the cover of night instead of looking during the day.
8:54 p.m. – To further his alliance with Sue, Gabe brought her in on his search of the Beware Advantage idol, mostly because he knew he needed a lookout while he went digging on the path. Gabe was able to find the box, but when he opened it he was met with a new surprise. Inside was an idol good for one tribal council and a note that his vote is restored. However, there was another locked box that presented the option of an idol good for three tribal councils if he takes the risk. He made the choice to discard the idol he earned and take the risk, losing his vote once again and presented with a new task. In his journey back down the rock face, he dropped the wooden box and it tumbled down loudly enough to be heard back at camp. Eek.
8:57 p.m. – At Gata, Jon quickly realized that he was the oldest person on a tribe of younger people and that it would take conscious work from him to connect to them. Numbers guy Andy was already feeling good about Jon, but knew he needed to bring in another player still. He felt instantly connected to Rachel and so he pulled her aside to jointly express that they’re “in alignment.” Rachel felt like Andy is sweet, but not strategic and found him “too eager” in a “super suspicious” way. That night, Andy had trouble sleeping and woke up Rachel to go off and chat. She tried to tell him it’s a bad idea and they should return to camp because people definitely heard them, but he wanted to do it anyway, solidifying for her that he’d be a “bad alliance member.” Later in the morning, the awkward interaction with Rachel made Andy’s insecurities and anxieties worse because he felt like “the least popular on this tribe.” When Andy expressed that to his initial ally Jon, Jon also got nervous about what it would be like working with Andy too closely.
9:06 p.m. – Gabe went on a hunt for his second key early in the morning and was successfully found it among the driftwood without being detected by anyone else. But once again he was greeted with a third box inside the second box offering him another “final” risk for an idol that would last until the final five. Because he’d worked so hard already, Gabe did not take the risk this time, restoring his vote and securing an idol good for three of his tribal councils.
9:08 p.m. – Sure enough, Rome woke up in the middle of the night to do his digging and it turns out he also took the second risk to find the key to the second box inside the first box. But in his search, Aysha walked by and then told everyone else in the tribe that Rome was clearly searching for idols. When the group of Teeny, Aysha, Sol and Kishan all went looking for Rome, they saw him at the water well and then were triggered by him darting away from them when he clearly saw they were coming. Aysha used this as a moment to solidify a bond with the four and hoped they could align to take Rome out first.
9:16 p.m. – Jeff brought the three tribes to the water for their first immunity challenge, asking them to paddle in a boat and then drag that boat along the beach and under a net before using massive puzzle pieces to finish a puzzle. This time there would be two winners and the one losing tribe would go to tribal council to vote someone out. The first tribe to finish would also earn as a reward a full building kit and the second tribe to finish would earn a smaller tool kit. As always, the losing tribe would also have to give up their fire-making flint.
9:18 p.m. – In the water, Gata paddled themselves in the wrong direction at first and quickly fell behind. They were blessed by a major mistake with Tuku who flipped their boat and lost their pieces, but then as they were re-setting, Gata capsized as well, leading Jeff called it “one of the worst starts to any challenge in 47 seasons.”
9:24 p.m. – While the others struggled on their boats, Lavo started with a “giant lead” on the beach and reached the puzzle well ahead of the others. Rome, Kishan and Aysha took up puzzle-solving duties for Lavo and easily solved it to earn safety and the better reward for their tribe. While Sam, Rachel and Anika exhibited bad communication on their puzzle, Caroline, Gabe and Tiyana were able to finish theirs and earn safety and the mini reward. On the sidelines, Andy was on his back and asked to see medical while the challenge continued. He was overheated and “still in the game” per Jeff, but Andy was expressing to him that he “gave everything” and had certainty that his tribe was going to vote him out. Later, in front of everyone Andy vocalized that he sees himself on the bottom and that his tribe doesn’t even like him because they cheered for other people that opened coconuts, but not for him. Then, he added that Jon is his best friend in the game and while he was laying down he conceived ways to throw him under the bus just to stay. No one from any tribe could believe what they were hearing. Jeff reminded him that he “might be right,” but he also “might be wrong” about his tribe and they’ll find out at tribal council.
9:38 p.m. – In the fallout of his “meltdown,” Andy explained to his tribe that he was “at 80%” after the challenge and that he fell prey to paranoia. He apologized for the things he said and mentioned being plagued by insecurity in the past. Still, Anika saw it as a “huge concern” that he was already having “huge outbursts” on day three. The group tried to big Andy up with all the ways he matters to the tribe, but there was a growing concern that he was already a liability. Jon told the women in private that he was frustrated by Andy calling him out publicly, but he decided to use it as a way of connecting to them.
9:40 p.m. – The women thought they could use Jon’s name as the decoy to tell Andy because it is what would make him feel safest, but that worried Jon and so he decided he needed another route to secure his safety. He went to Andy and asked what they should do. Andy suggested Anika, but they knew they needed to pull in two more votes. Their plan was to approach Sam and Sierra to point out that Anika doesn’t bring anything to the tribe in terms of strength. Sam heard the guys out, but did not like the idea and so it made him think that Jon is “dangerous” and keeping Andy for strength is better. When Sam took it back to the women, they started the age-old debate about whether to keep their tribe strong with Andy right now or vote him out because he’s capable of imploding.
9:50 p.m. – At tribal council, Sierra named Anika as a leader of their tribe for getting them “through the basics” of camp life from day one. Jon described a “delayed start” to strategy at camp because of the emphasis on building genuine connections. From there, Jeff turned to Andy’s commentary about his place in the tribe. Andy explained growing up as someone who felt like they never belonged and all the work he’s done in the real world to overcome that rushed back to him when this game started. Jon asked that “people shouldn’t be judged on their moments” and so he was willing to forgive Andy and move on. Sam thought it was hard to “jump into bed with” someone that was so quick to turn on his friend the way Andy did and Rachel said that he could become a liability if he were to ever be sent on a journey with members of the other tribes.
9:56 p.m. – In this first tribal council, no one played an advantage or idol and so Jeff read the votes: Jon, Anika, Jon, Jon, Jon. In what was a 5-1 vote, Jon became the first person voted out of the game and Gata clearly chose physical strength over any fear of the liability Andy may be down the line.
NEXT TIME: Anika refers to Andy as a “toxic clingy boyfriend,” Rome continues to rub Lavo the wrong way, and someone calls “all of us losers” over at Tuku.
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