The “Survivor” Season 48 merge is finally (almost) here.
At the start of the sixth episode, titled “Doing the Damn Thing,” the three tribes were told to drop their buffs and join together on one beach as the team portion of the reality competition show ended and a more individual game is about to begin. But it wasn’t merge time quite yet: Players were in “mergatory” this episode, the final step before officially joining together.
There are just 13 castaways left playing the 26-day game in Fiji with meager food, supplies and shelter, competing in challenges and voting each other out in hopes of winning the $1 million prize and title of “sole survivor.”
At the beach, the players read a sign stating that an advantage had been hidden somewhere on the island, prompting a mad dash to find it.
Saiounia “Sai” Hughley was lucky enough to find it, barely beating Charity Nelms in a footrace to claim the advantage.
But at the challenge, longtime host Jeff Probst told players that they were not yet merged, but would instead have the chance to earn it through a complicated obstacle course. The winning team of six would win a feast, and get the chance to compete to win the individual immunity necklace. As the winner of the advantage, Sai was able to sit out the first part of the challenge, competing only in the immunity competition.
Here’s what to know about this week’s episode of “Survivor” Season 48.
Who went home on ‘Survivor’ Season 48, Episode 6?
Seven players competed in the immunity portion of the challenge, including Sai, who had won the advantage. Contestants had to balance a ball on a circular platform connected to a pole they were holding, and had to gradually add more length to the pole as time went on. One by one players dropped until Kyle Fraser was the last man standing, winning himself the first individual immunity of the season.
At the merge feast with the seven winning players, Sai threw out Eva Erickson’s name as a contender for going home, because of the well-known fact that Eva had an idol.
Others, turned off by Sai’s aggressive gameplay and blunt personality, started making plans to vote her out, while others began gunning for Charity, also because of her strong style of gameplay.
There was some hope that Eva would play her individual immunity idol, flushing it from the game, but she didn’t take the bait and no votes were cast against her.
In the end, Charity, a 34-year-old flight attendant living in St. Petersburg, Florida, received the majority of votes and became the sixth person voted out of the game.
After she exited tribal council, host Jeff Probst revealed to the 12 remaining players that they had finally made to the merge portion of the game.
‘Survivor’ Season 48 cast: Meet the 18 castaways hoping to win $1 million in Fiji
Who went home last week on ‘Survivor’ Season 48?
After an emotional immunity challenge where contestant Eva Erickson shared her autism diagnosis with the rest of the cast, causing host Jeff Probst to tear up, it was back to business and tribal council for the losing Civa tribe.
Once the Civa members were back on their beach, Bianca Roses realized she was in a predicament.
Roses had lost her vote in a previous episode, effectively giving her no power in the forthcoming events. At first, she kept this information to herself, working both sides of the Chrissy Sarnowsky-Mitch Guerra alliance and the tenuous Cedrek McFadden-Sai Hughley alliance.
At first, Chrissy and Mitch were game to vote out Sai, and Bianca worked to convince Cedrek to do the same. But just as they were leaving for tribal council, Bianca revealed her secret to Cedrek in hopes it would garner trust and further influence his vote on Sai.
But things did not go according to plan for Bianca, who of course had no vote and no power at tribal council. Mitch voted for Sai, Sai voted for Chrissy, and in a surprise twist, Cedrek and Chrissy voted for Bianca, who had no vote at all, making the 33-year-old PR consultant living in Arlington, Virginia, the fifth person to be voted out of Season 48.
How to watch ‘Survivor’ Season 48
Season 48 of “Survivor” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET / PT on CBS and streams on Paramount+ for subscribers of the Paramount+ with Showtime plan.
Episodes can be streamed the next day for subscribers of any Paramount+ plan.
The previous 47 seasons of the show are all available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.
Watch every season of Survivor on Paramount+
Who is the host of ‘Survivor’?
Jeff Probst has hosted all 48 seasons of the show, which has been on the air since 2000. He also serves as an executive producer.
‘Survivor’ 50: Jeff Probst talks casting all-stars season, whether he’d play ‘Traitors’
Who won ‘Survivor’ Season 47?
Rachel Lamont won Season 47 of “Survivor,” in a 7-1-0 vote against Sam Phalen, who got one vote, and Sue Smey.
Lamont, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Southfield, Michigan, was originally on the Gata tribe and became the fifth woman ever to win four individual Immunity Challenges in a season.
Where is ‘Survivor’ filmed?
While “Survivor” previously took contestants to remote locations around the world, from the Pearl Islands to the Philippines and Guatemala, the show has been filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji for the past 15 seasons.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Survivor’ 48, Episode 6: The merge is nearly here. Who’s voted out?
