Survivor 42

Jeff welcomed the 18 new castaways before announcing their first reward challenge.

• Reward Challenge: One member from each tribe raced into the jungle to untie two paddles. A second member then raced along the beach to retrieve the rest of the paddles, but each were met with a decision to immediately grab the paddles or untie 20 knots for individual advantages. Once all paddles are obtained, tribes paddled around a buoy before collecting bamboo sticks which would be used to retrieve a flint. The first tribe to get the flint won it plus a pot and a machete.

Daniel injured his shoulder but was cleared to continue after the challenge concluded. Drea, Hai, and Lindsay agreed on the advantage, and Taku’s large lead going into the final stage was squandered to Ika. Taku and Vati were met with a “savvy” or “sweat” task to complete in four hours to obtain basic supplies. Both chose “savvy” and successfully completed a puzzle in which they had to count how many triangles were within a large triangle. Drea, Hai, and Lindsay learned they possessed an "advantage amulet", which gave the group one extra vote. Two castaways remaining would upgrade the advantage to one steal-a-vote, and one castaway remaining meant the amulet was a full idol. This advantage would be good until the final six.

At Ika, two alliances of three (Drea-Rocksroy-Romeo and Swati-Tori-Zach) formed, but some tribemates were put off by Rocksroy’s methods of leadership when building the shelter. Tori went off on her own to gather food for the tribe, but some saw this as her looking for an idol. At Vati, bonds between Jenny & Mike and Hai & Lydia led Chanelle to propose an alliance with Daniel. At Taku, Jackson opened up to his tribemates about being a transgender man, but an underlying medical condition which required the use of lithium caused side effects that ultimately led to his evacuation from the game on day 3 due to him not telling production about it in advance.

On day 2, one representative from each tribe went to a summit: Maryanne from Taku, Jenny from Vati, and Drea from Ika bonded on their journey before deciding to risk or protect their vote. Jenny protected hers, while Drea and Maryanne risked, meaning they each received an extra vote.

• Immunity Challenge: Tribes swam to a boat where they gathered three heavy chests floating in the water, which they pushed under nets after arriving on land. Two tribe members used puzzle pieces inside the chest to assemble a giant dragon puzzle. The first two tribes to solve their puzzle won, while the last-place tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Taku and Vati won the challenge. At Ika, Zach became a target due to faltering in the puzzle, but Romeo, who Zach had bonded with, tried to sway votes onto Tori instead. At Tribal Council, Zach took his Shot in the Dark but was unsuccessful, and the rest of the tribe voted him out.

At Ika, Drea told Swati and Tori about her extra vote in an effort to establish a girls' alliance, but her growing power worried Swati, who tried to convince Tori to vote out Drea next. At Taku, Maryanne's youthful energy endeared herself to her tribemates but also sparked concern. Jonathan and Omar bonded, and the former was also tightly aligned with Lindsay. Marya opened up to the tribe about the death of her brother, a nurse, at the start of the pandemic. At Vati, Hai struggled with eating a crab due to being a vegan. Mike searched for an idol, finding the "beware" idol returning from the previous season. He told Jenny and Daniel, but the latter talked to Chanelle about blindsiding Mike before the idol had a chance to get power.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: One tribe member directed two pairs of blindfolded tribemates to bags of puzzle pieces. Afterwards, they brought their four tribemates to a station to direct them in solving a puzzle. The first two tribes to finish won immunity; the first-place tribe won a large fishing kit, the second-place tribe won a smaller fishing kit, and the last-place tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Vati and Ika won the challenge. The alliance of Jonathan, Lindsay, and Omar debated voting out Marya or the more outgoing Maryanne, the latter of which searched for an idol. At Tribal Council, everyone acknowledged a personal fondness for each other, but it was Marya who was sent home following a failed Shot in the Dark.