'Survivor 47' Episode 5 Recap: Here's Your Tombstone


Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Survivor 47 Episode 5.





We're nearing the halfway point of Survivor 47, with this installment of this historic CBSreality show from Charlie Parsons already packing more outbursts and drama into just five episodes than other shows are lucky to get in a whole season! This intense game of strategy continues to astound, as contestants try to survive the elements (and one another) to win the illustrious title of "Sole Survivor." This installment started with a bang and hasn't slowed down since, with the last episode especially leaving audiences nervous as they watched alliances fail, new bonds be forged, and, in what has become the trademark of this constantly evolving show, someone gets blindsided in the form of 47's fourth boot, Kishan Patel. It's a kind of play style that has left the players exhausted and audiences exhilarated — and it's only going to get wilder from here!





The 'Survivor' Sanctuary: Where Mess Happens


The Blue Team from Survivor 47 Episode 5
Image via CBS


Survivor's latest episode begins with a sight that all longtime fans know well: a group of people shocked and upset after tribal council. This bunch is from the red Lavo tribe, with Teeny Chirichillo feeling betrayed after Genevieve Mushaluk recruited the feuding Rome Cooney and Solomon "Sol" Yi to eliminate her closest ally, Patel. Genevieve reassures Teeny that this was purely strategic and that they're not at the bottom of the group's social hierarchy (despite Cooney hoping she does feel that way to keep her in line), but it does little to ease the player's nerves.




Teeny is still feeling hurt and confused as they go to an award challenge, with all three tribes growing shocked when host Jeff Probst announces that they'll be merging — kind of. The 14 remaining castaways will form two groups made up of players from each tribe with the winners going to the Survivor sanctuary for an afternoon of hot dogs, "Survivor cornhole," and, if they're lucky, chances to forge some cross-tribal alliances before the impending merge. The contestants are desperate for both food and good strategy, so each team gives it their all, with the winners of this obstacle course being the Yellow squad of Teeny, Sue Smey, Kyle Ostwald, Sam Phalen, Rachel LaMont, Tiyana Hallums, and Caroline Vidmar.






While the losing team goes back to their respective beaches, audiences watch as the winning team begins to socialize at the Sanctuary — while spreading as much gossip about the absent players as possible. Each tribe gets a juicy tidbit shared about their dynamics; Teeny talks about being at the bottom of Lavo, Sam has to once again deny that he and his close Gata ally Sierra Wright are running their tribe, and both Tiyanna and Kyle take the opportunity to make the others aware of how suspicious Gabe Ortis from Tuku, angering his ride-or-die Sue. Yet even with all this drama being spilled during lunch, the messiest conversations of this episode happen back on Lavo, where a once confident Rome has realized how precarious his position is in this game. The man scrambles, going to both his #1 ally Genevieve and former nemesis Sol to try and solidify relationships with them — while purposefully telling each one that the other doesn't want anything to do with them. The pair speak and quickly learn about Rome's lies, and when Teeny returns (hilariously complaining about how everyone only got one hot dog each), the trio agrees that whenever they go to tribal council next, they're setting their sights on Cooney.








One Mistake Can Bury Your 'Survivor' Dreams





The episode's immunity challenge has some surprise guests, as the Gata tribe brings along the three chickens they'd won as a reward in a previous challenge. After successfully bartering with Probst to trade their feathered friends for 18 eggs, the challenge begins, with the triumphant tribe quickly growing panicked as they fall behind in an intense obstacle course that includes cutting down bean bags and coconuts to dismantle a puzzle before putting it back together. This was mainly due to the fumbling of Andy Rueda and the man's inability to cut a rope (he was using the dull side of a knife), and even though they manage to catch up to the Lavo tribe in the final portion, that early lag hurts them every step of the way. They lose by mere seconds, and while the red and blue tribes go back to their beaches for a restful evening, the yellow prepares to drop their numbers down from five to four.




The true (platonic) power couple of Gata is scattered as they return home, with Sam and Sierra disagreeing for the first time over how they should proceed in the game. Their plans previously had been to blindside Anika Dhar as she had lost her vote in an earlier challenge, and Phalen believed she'd spell trouble for them in the future. He wants to keep the bumbling Rueda instead, a decision that Wright initially agreed to before realizing not only how committed Dhar and LaMont were to her, but just how badly Rueda could mess up everything with his tendency to say the wrong thing. While these two argued, their potential targets sat comfortably, with Dhar confident in her alliances and Rueda brazenly talking in confessional about how he'd been "burying" her strategically and that night, he'd be presenting her with a tombstone. With both of them confident in their safety, they all go to tribal council.








'Survivor' Is a Painful Game to Play


Anika Dhar in Survivor 47
Image via CBS


No Survivor tribal council is ever truly calm, though this one was especially precarious as Probst's questions about loyalty and deception had the power pair of Wright and Phalen cringing, thinking about which of their "allies" they'd be backstabbing that night. No matter Wright's misgivings, though, Phalen proved persuasive as they and Rueda joined together to eliminate Dhar in a 3-1 vote. Both the young player and LaMont, her only true ally in the game, were gobsmacked by this in a refreshing moment of pure emotion during an era of the series where most contestants try to hide their frustration after getting eliminated. It was thrilling to watch Anika get up to extinguish her torch and glare at all of her faux friends the entire time — and it was especially telling that when she asked who orchestrated her eviction from the island, Sam was quick to claim the move as his own. Rueda countered that it was the entire trio's idea, but no matter who was trying to take ownership of the movie, all anyone could do was watch as Anika tearfully had her torch snuffed by Probst and became the fifth boot of Survivor 47.




The merge is fast approaching, and it shows in the erratic ways these players have decided to play the game. This season has been delightfully volatile from the start, but this episode showed the effects that this kind of stressful strategy can have on the folks who are willing to do whatever it takes for that grand $1,000,000 prize. It led to the massive scrambling of this episode and hints at even more enjoyable chaos down the road, with Dhar's shocking elimination over someone who many people believe should have gone home episodes ago spotlighting just how unpredictably fun this season is turning out to be!



Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.





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