Survivor featured the Gata Tribe voting out Jon Lovett after a shocking Andy Rueda post-challenge confession and multiple “Beware Advantages” coming into play during the Season 47 premiere that aired Wednesday night on CBS.
On Night 3 of the Survivor game, the Gata tribe voted out Jon, a 42-year-old podcast host from Long Island, NY, who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, in a 5-1 vote instead of Anika Dhar, a 26-year-old marketing manager from Santa Rosa, CA, who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, at Tribal Council.
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“Nobody imagines that they’ll be the first to go, but when you take a risk, sometimes it doesn’t go the way you want,” Jon said in his final words.
“But that’s why they call it a risk. This will bring so much joy to my friends and family making fun of me for years, and maybe in the end, it will be worth it. [I’m] first out! Let me have it people. Let me have it!”
The Survivor broadcast began with the castaways meeting host Jeff Probst on the beach and getting right to their first challenge.
For the challenge, two players from each tribe had to crawl under a muddy net and then race into the jungle and retrieve two puzzle pieces from one of three different obstacles. Once they raced back, the next pair would go.
Once all six pieces were collected, two tribe members would attempt to solve a rectangular puzzle.
The winning tribe would receive some supplies, including the all-important pot and flint to make fire.
The Gata Tribe, wearing yellow, was comprised of Jon; Anika; Andy, a 31-year-old AI research assistant from Buffalo, NY, who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY; Rachel LaMont, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Dexter, MI, who currently resides in Southfield, MI; Sam Phalen, a 24-year-old sports reporter from Schaumburg, IL, who currently resides in Nashville, TN; and Sierra Wright, a 27-year-old nurse from Wilmington, DE, who currently resides in Phoenixville, PA.
The Lavo Tribe, who were given red buffs, featured Aysha Welch, a 32-year-old IT consultant from DeSoto, TX, who currently resides in Houston, TX; Genevieve Mushaluk, a 33-year-old corporate lawyer from Winnipeg, Manitoba; Rome Cooney, a 30-year-old E-sports commentator from Corvallis, OR, who currently resides in Phoenix, AZ; Kishan Patel, a 28-year-old ER doctor from Fullerton, CA; Solomon “Sol” Yi, a 43-year-old in medical device sales from Del City, OK, who currently resides in Norwalk, CT; and Teeny Chirichillo, a 24-year-old freelance writer from Manahawkin, NJ.
And the Tuku Tribe, wearing blue, was made up of Caroline Vidmar, a 27-year-old strategy consultant from Palos Verdes, CA, who currently resides in Chicago, IL; Gabe Ortis, a 26-year-old radio show host from Baltimore, MD; Kyle Ostwald, a 31-year-old construction worker from Cheboygan, MI; Sue Smey, a 59-year-old flight school owner from Kirkwood, NY, who currently resides in Putnam Valley, NY; Terran “TK” Foster, a 31-year-old athlete marketing manager from Prince George’s County, MD, who currently resides in Upper Marlboro, MD; and Tiyana Hallums, a 27-year-old flight attendant from Aiea, HI.
In the end, Gata put a lot of effort to stay in the challenge and ultimately won.
Each of the two losing tribes then had to choose one person to take on a task. They didn’t receive any information about what was going to be required, and so they made a blind choice.
Aysha volunteered to go on this journey for Luvo, and after doing “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” TK was selected to do the task on behalf of Tuku.
While Aysha and TK were taken to a secret location via boat, everyone else received a map to their tribe’s location, and shelter building began!
Over at Gata’s camp on Day 1, Jon grabbed Andy and the men immediately bonded, and at Tuku, Gabe revealed that he’s an old soul and so he wanted to work with an older person.
Gabe therefore spoke to Sue about how he’d have her back going forward. Sue also got along well with Caroline, whom Sue called “the sweetest person in the world.” Caroline also reminded Sue of her beloved daughter, and so the women quickly joined forces as allies.
“Caroline and Gabe are my No. 1s and I feel good about it. We are going to be a force to be reckoned with,” Sue boasted to the Survivor cameras.
Anika was clearly prepared for Survivor and took the lead, even though she had planned not to take charge and give orders. Luckily for Anika, Sam said he loved Anika stepping up into a power position so that he wouldn’t have to.
The tribe was also able to work together and make fire thanks to Sierra, who set out to prove that she’s much more than a former Miss USA pageant queen.
Meanwhile, Kishan and Teeny became friends at Lavo’s camp while Genevieve admitted she felt really happy when talking to Rome. Genevieve pitched the idea to Teeny of working with Rome, and Teeny said she was onboard with that.
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On Aysha and TK’s journey, they had a chance to become a hero for their tribe, but only one person would achieve that. The two players had to race against each other to find three keys on a path. The single fourth key would decide who would receive a set of camp supplies.
TK ended up receiving the advantage, and Aysha was upset about having to return to camp with no tools and no advantage.
Once TK returned from his journey, Caroline could tell a bromance was blossoming between TK and the other guys, Gabe and Kyle, in the tribe.
And Gabe stumbled across a “Beware Advantage” at the base of a very long . TK was near Gabe when he found it, but Gabe decided to keep the information to himself.
The note led Gabe down a path where he’d dig up a box containing everything he’d need to secure a hidden Immunity Idol. However, he could not participate in voting at Tribal Council until he gained possession of the idol.
Gabe immediately got to work and discovered a key hanging from a tree, and TK discovered Gabe looking at the key. Gabe claimed he had just stumbled across this key randomly, but TK wasn’t buying it. TK figured Gabe had already found the “Beware Advantage,” which made him wary about whether he could trust Gabe going forward.
Teeny was then shown approaching Aysha about her “Rob Has a Podcast” that she co-hosts. Teeny pointed out how she’d keep the podcast a secret because Aysha is essentially a Survivor commentator, and Aysha thought she could trust Teeny for the most part — although she was a little nervous about having been exposed.
The Lavo tribe then noticed Rome was gone, and Rome was off searching for an idol. He found the same type of “Beware Advantage” that Gabe had discovered at his Tuku camp.
“That can put a huge target on your back, but at the end of the day, I want to play this game as hard as possible,” Rome explained to the Survivor cameras. Rome hid his clue and set off to retrieve the idol.
Back at Tuku’s camp, Sue was onto Gabe that he had found some type of advantage. When Gabe finally found and dug up the box, there was another box inside. Gabe learned he had received an idol that would only be good for one Tribal Council session.
A scroll informed Gabe that, if he wanted to take a risk, he could take on another task to receive an idol that would be good for three Tribal Councils. Gabe admitted he’s a gambler in real life, and so he gave back the one-time use idol and received a map that would lead him to his more powerful idol.
Gabe made a lot of noise and was a little sloppy with the big box, so he acknowledged it was going to be a mentally-stressful next few days.
On Day 2 of the Survivor game at Gata’s camp, Jon realized he was older than most of his tribemates, and so he did his best to relate to them by talking about Tiktok and social media.
Andy then attempted to bond with Rachel, who didn’t really view her “eager” tribemate as particularly strategic. Rachel said she found Andy’s enthusiasm “suspicious,” and so while she was nice to his face, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to work with him.
Andy subsequently woke up in the middle of the night feeling anxious and alone, and he was apparently desperate to talk to somebody. Rachel tried to calm down and support Rachel, but this made her even less confident that he’d be a good alliance member to hitch her wagon to.
At Tuku on Day 3, Gave set out to open a second box that would give him the three-Tribal Council idol. He went searching for the box in the middle of the night, and, once again, there was a smaller box inside.
Gabe was given the opportunity to try to find an idol that would be good until the Final 5. Gabe had already done so much work to find the two boxes that he wasn’t sure what to do.
“I’m going to take the three-tribal idol… I’m sitting on top of a pot of gold!” Gabe boasted to the Survivor cameras.
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On Day 3 at Lavo’s camp, Rome read his scroll and went searching for a big piece of driftwood. Aysha walked up on Rome “fully looking” for something, and she teased him by calling him “a gamer.”
Sol called Rome “a complete liability” who was “off his rocker,” and so the tribe had become very suspicious of the castaway. Rome also had to look for a box at the bottom of his tribe’s well, which was a very difficult task.
Rome ultimately retrieved the idol, but not without multiple castaways having eyes on him. Aysha determined that Rome needed to be the first person to go if they had an opportunity to take someone out.
On Day 3, the three tribes met Jeff for the first Immunity Challenge of Survivor’s 47th season.
For the challenge, Jeff instructed each tribe to dive off a platform and swim over to a boat they must paddle back to shore while collecting three very heavy chests along the way. Once at shore, they had to drag the boat along a track and under a net to the finish, where three tribe members would use the keys in the chest to unlock and solve a massive Survivor logo puzzle.
The first two tribes to finish would win immunity and be safe from the vote while the losing tribe would have to vote out one castaway at Survivor 47’s first Tribal Council.
In addition, the tribes were playing for Reward in the form of a Survivor building kit. The first-place tribe would receive a larger tool kit than the second-place tribe.
In the end, Lavo won first place in the Immunity Challenge and Tuku placed second.
Andy received medical attention after the challenge because he was overheated, but Jeff told him not to worry because there was more game to play.
“They were going to vote me out!” Andy told Jeff.
“But they haven’t voted you out,” Jeff told Andy in reply, trying to calm his anxiety and give him the courage and support not to quit.
Before heading back to camp, Andy announced that he didn’t think his tribemates liked him, but the tribe assured him that wasn’t the case. Jeff also didn’t want to hear Andy sound so defeated, especially when his tribemates claimed he was in his head.
“My best friend out here is Jon, and as we were finishing the puzzle, I was thinking I was going to throw him under the bus to try to stay. Jeff, I just want to play the game, and then I stopped seeing straight and I just want to be in the game,” Andy explained to the Survivor host.
All of the castaways in the game appeared shocked by Andy’s confession, but Jeff just ignored the revelation and told Andy that he was wearing a “badge of honor” by participating in this extremely difficult game.
Andy had a vulnerable moment at the wrong time, and so he felt like he was “a dead man walking” into the first Tribal Council of the season.
“The last thing I’m ever going to do is concede,” Andy insisted.
Back at Gata’s camp after the challenge, Andy tried to do some damage control with Jon and explained how he was dealing with some lifelong insecurities. The tribe thanked Andy for contributing a lot to the tribe, but it appeared they were trying to handle him.
Andy’s announcement at the challenge also made Jon feel concerned and “frustrated.” Jon told the women on his tribe that he genuinely liked Andy but it was becoming more apparent that he couldn’t play the game with him.
The girls came up with a plan to tell Andy that they were going to vote out Jon while Andy was the real target.
Jon feared the women were going to flip on him, and so he tried to mend fences with Andy. Jon and Andy therefore discussed targeting Anika and how they needed more votes to get the job done.
Jon and Andy tried to get Sam onboard, but Sam ran off to the women and talked about how Jon and Andy were the real targets. Sierra acknowledged how they needed to keep strength on their tribe and they weren’t getting that from Jon.
Rachel thought Andy was going to be loyal to her, but she also called him a “ticking time bomb” that could explode at any time. Rachel thought Andy brought more to the tribe from a strength-perspective, and so she had a difficult decision to make.
At Tribal Council on Night 3 of the Survivor game, the Gata tribe discussed whether Andy could redeem himself and continue as a valuable member of the tribe. Jon expressed how everyone has “moments,” even though Andy’s announcement had frustrated him, and those people shouldn’t be judged on their mistakes.
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While Jon was ready to give Andy a second chance, the tribe wasn’t ready to give Jon one.
After the tribe cast their votes, Jeff read them aloud in the following order: Jon, Anika, Jon, Jon, and Jon.
About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.