Out on a Limb (episode)

Out On a Limb is the penultimate episode of.

Day 32
Katie Collins arrived at Redemption Island after drawing the white rock at Tribal Council and greeted her mother Tina Wesson and Laura Morett. She filled them in on the manner of her elimination, and the two moms supported her decision to take a chance with the rocks. However, Tina worried about competing against her daughter in the Duel, and told Katie that she was not opposed to letting Katie win the Duel. Katie countered that they should both just try their hardest.

Meanwhile, back at Kasama, the tribe reeled from the drama at Tribal. Ciera Eastin and Hayden Moss assured everyone that they still loved everyone, and Tyson Apostol applauded the big move and stated that he was excited to be a part of it. As Hayden explained that he’d just fought hard, Tyson turned to Gervase Peterson and told him, “That’s why you don’t tell an insane person they’re next to go.” Later, Monica Culpepper thanked Gervase and Tyson for sticking by her and going to rocks to save her. The five remaining contestants drew a line in the sand, joking about the divide between Gervase, Monica and Tyson and Ciera and Hayden, with Monica saying they were going to pull Ciera back over to their side, and Ciera saying she was always in the middle.

Monica then approached her alliance, worried about either Hayden or Ciera having a Hidden Immunity Idol, but Tyson revealed to her and Gervase that he’d found it. Despite this, Monica continued to worry about needing to split votes, until Tyson shut down the conversation. Tyson and Gervase later derided Monica’s ability at the game behind her back, as Monica felt betrayed by Tyson’s withholding of the information about the Idol.

Day 33
The following morning, Hayden found Ciera in the hammock and the two discussed their way forward in the game. Ciera was feeling relieved after making a big move the night before, despite it not panning out perfectly, and was optimistic about Laura returning from Redemption Island. The two decided their best plan of action was to try to find the Hidden Immunity Idol and to hope to win Immunity, whilst also trying to drive a wedge into the majority alliance.

Kasama then headed to the Redemption Island Arena, where Tina, Laura and Katie entered to fight in the Duel. Jeff Probst asked Tina about the internal conflict of having to compete against her daughter to stay in the game, and she answered that it was “by far, the hardest day.” She continued that she couldn’t come to terms with the finality of fighting against Katie, and had decided to just make the decision in the moment.

Jeff then revealed the Duel: Jail Break. Trapped behind a wooden gate, each contestant, using twine and sticks, was to construct a long pole which they would use to retrieve three keys (each further away than the last). Once they had all three keys, they would use them to unlock three locks, open the “jail” door, and step through to safety. The first person to finish would receive a clue to the Idol, to share with a member of Kasama, whilst the last to finish would be eliminated from the game and become the fourth member of the Jury.

Immediately after the challenge started, Tina shouted advice to Katie about how to construct her pole. Laura was the first to make her pole, and easily retrieved the first key, but only just got it back through the gate as her pole began to collapse. Without making any adjustments, she continued to try for her second key, as both Katie and Tina made their way for their first. Tina’s was too short, but Katie’s was strong enough to retrieve her first key. Simultaneously, Laura obtained her second key, and made a few adjustments to her pole before attempting the third. Barely struggling, she retrieved the final key and as Tina finally managed to hook her first key, Laura stepped through the gate to win the Duel.

With only mother and daughter remaining, both were neck-and-neck as they reached for their second keys. Tina’s pole collapsed, but Katie was able to hook her’s, but it slipped off of her pole, forcing her to retrieve the key by digging it out of the sand with a weak pole. This opened the door for Tina to retrieve her second key, followed by her third, as Katie struggled to dig her key out. As Tina unlocked her locks, she asked Katie if she was okay with her winning and eliminating her from the game, to which her daughter gave meek consent. Telling Katie that she loved her, Tina walked through her gate to survive the Duel.

Katie and Tina embraced as Tina apologized, and fighting tears, related the strength of her bond with her daughter. Katie added that she was proud of the two of them, and said that the experience had been a gift. Katie then burned her Buff, becoming the thirteenth person eliminated from and the fourth member of the Jury.

Laura chose to give the Immunity Idol clue to Ciera, asking to walk it over to Ciera herself. As she gave her the clue, she told her to “find that thing,” as Tina turned to Hayden to tell him to win the challenge. Laura and Tina, arm-in-arm, then departed the Arena and Kasama returned to camp.

Back at camp, Ciera shared the Hidden Immunity Idol clue with Hayden: ''First clues can be pretty vague and make you feel a bit dim. To find the idol, or to win this game, you’ll have to go out on a limb.'' Deducing that the Idol must be hidden in a tree, the two sought the Idol, searching in the same tree in which the Idol had once been hidden. As Hayden was looking, Monica passed by on her way to the well, catching him in the act and spoiling the search. Hayden came to the conclusion that Tyson had already found the Idol, since he couldn’t locate it in the obvious hiding places.

Meanwhile, Gervase, Monica and Tyson discussed the aftermath of the Duel, where Laura and Tina had given direct support of the outsiders. Determined to solidify his seat in the Final Three, Gervase then discussed trust with Monica, asking her to rate her opinion of her tribemates. She answered that she trusted Gervase and Tyson a “ten,” and Ciera a “five,” whilst Hayden was just scrambling. He told her that he also trusted her to a ten, and she thanked him for his scruples in not flipping on her at the rocks vote.

Lying in the shelter, Ciera and Hayden determined that Gervase was not going to flip, so their only option was Monica. Ciera planned to throw the two men under the bus, and tell Monica that they’d trash-talked her behind her back.

Day 35
Kasama convened for the Immunity Challenge where Jeff took back the Immunity Necklace from Gervase. He then revealed the challenge: Pulled Up. Starting out in the ocean, each contestant would push a buoy along a rope and through a series of ropes wrapped around a pole. Once reaching the shore, they would untie a bag filled with letter tiles and use them to solve a word puzzle of a “classic Survivor phrase.” The first to finish would win Immunity, as well as Reward in the form of a dinner selected from a menu of steak, lobster, pizza or a burger.

Early on, Hayden and Tyson pushed into the lead, with Monica close behind. Although still a distance behind, Gervase managed to stay in front of Ciera, surprising Jeff. Hayden and Tyson simultaneously reached their obstacle, with Tyson edging out a lead as Monica and Gervase reached their obstacle platform. Ciera had only just reached her’s by the time that Hayden was already moving on. Monica was next in the water, with Gervase close behind, as Tyson and Hayden reached the shore. Ciera struggled at the obstacle, as Gervase overtook Monica as they reached the beach and began work untying their puzzle pieces.

Tyson was the first to start on his puzzle as Ciera made it through her obstacle. Hayden, Monica and Gervase were close behind on the puzzle. Ciera reached the beach and began working on her puzzle as the remaining four began sorting out their letter tiles. As Jeff reminded the contestants that they were looking for a common Survivor phrase, they began finding possible words such as “vote” and “you are going.” Gervase had formed five out of eight words as Ciera began to catch up. While many of the castaways circled the same phrase – “you are going to vote...” – Ciera made a breakthrough in replacing “vote” with “have.” As Gervase also reached the same conclusion, Ciera picked up the pace and in a come-from-behind victory, solved the phrase: “You are going to have to dig deep.”

She celebrated by high-fiving her competitors, and Jeff gave her the Immunity Necklace. She was then informed that she could share her dinner reward with one other person, and chose “Hay-Train” to join her. Ciera and Hayden selected their dinners from the menu, and returned to camp with the rest of Kasama.

Ciera celebrated her victory at camp (particularly excited for her mother’s discovery of the fact), congratulated by her tribemates. As Ciera and Hayden sat down for their reward meal, Tyson talked to Gervase and Monica in the shelter, suggesting that it was better that the three of them missed out on the food because they remained a unit. Monica wondered who would be targeted at the vote, but meanwhile, Hayden and Ciera conspired to pull Monica onto their side in a vote against Gervase by throwing the Coconut Bandits under the bus.

Later, Ciera pulled Monica aside for a chat on the beach, where she told her that Tyson had been “talking mad crap” about her behind her back, calling her just another vote and a “puppy on a leash.” Monica asked if he was still as rude, and Ciera said that he was still saying such things. Monica asked why Tyson would draw rocks if he really didn’t care about her, and Ciera argued that it was because he knew he would have been the next on the block if he’d voted her out at the revote. As Ciera urged a tearful Monica to vote with her against Gervase, the two men wondered if anything was going on with their ally. Tyson was worried, having seen Ciera smiling after her conversation with Monica, but Gervase was confident she wasn’t going to sway.

Kasama arrived at Tribal Council, and the Jury – Aras Baskauskas, Vytas Baskauskas, Caleb Bankston and Katie – entered. Seeing his former ally cleaned up, Hayden commented that Katie looked “hot,” to which Ciera agreed. First up, Jeff asked Ciera about the division between the alliances. Going into the challenge, she said, it had still been herself and Hayden against the returning players, and that one of them needed to win Immunity. Hayden concurred that they were under pressure, being on the bottom, but despite that, there were still things they could control.

Asked if they’d looked for a crack in the three-person alliance, Hayden said they didn’t focus on the crack, but rather the truth, emphasizing that Gervase and Tyson were only keeping Monica around because they thought they could beat her at the end. Hayden then accused Tyson of drawing rocks for this reason, as he couldn’t beat anyone other than Monica at the end, but Tyson returned that he’d gone to rocks because he knew he could trust her. Gervase interjected that “one man’s perception is another man’s reality,” pointing out that Hayden and Ciera’s views were real to them, but not necessarily accurate. He accused them of throwing trash at the wall in the hope that something would stick.

Monica admitted that Ciera had come to her and told her of “unbecoming things” that her allies had said about her. She said it hurt to hear such things being said, and thought there could be some truth to them. Tyson said he wasn’t concerned with what Ciera had allegedly said, recounting that when he’d asked her who she wanted to go the the Final Three with, she’d wanted take Monica because she could beat her. Tyson added that Monica knew what kind of character he was, but Hayden interrupted that she knew what kind of character he was to her face. Ciera added that she’d wanted to warn Monica, “woman-to-woman,” about the people she was playing with, suggesting that Monica would regret her decision to stick with them in hindsight.

Gervase noted that they were only bringing these accusations up now, when they were desperate, rather than when it happened. Hayden said it was because Tyson had been controlling the game, prompting Gervase to exasperatedly refute that Tyson was in control, and then asking who was in control of the minority pair. Hayden and Ciera answered that neither was in control, but before they could elaborate, Gervase escalated into an aggressive accusation that that was the reason they were going home.

Ciera tried to settle the situation, explaining she’d played along with Tyson and Gervase’s comments because she’d been in a tight alliance with them, but when she’d felt controlled at the last Tribal Council, she’d stood up for herself and drawn rocks. She insisted that she wasn’t lying to Monica. Asked how she was feeling, Monica said she’d had to “dig deep” in the game, and if people didn’t respect her, she didn’t know what else she could do. She added that, “hell yes,” she’d been hurt by what Ciera had told her because she liked the people she was playing with, but her resilience was keeping her going, concluding that bad moral and ethical decisions could come back to bite.

Gervase said he was concerned by Monica’s statement, pointing to Ciera’s last minute flip at the last Tribal Council. Hayden agreed that it was necessary to get into someone’s head, and turned to Monica, emphasizing that Tyson and Gervase had played stronger games than her, and the pervading opinion of her was that of a lapdog and a pawn, something her family would see. He told her that this was an opportunity for her to stand up and put her mark on the game, but Tyson countered by asking her if he told her what to do or if they discussed their opinions. Ciera then interjected that she respected her, that her allies did not actually value her opinion, and that she could take the opportunity to make a big move and make it her game. Monica thanked her, and the vote began.

Hayden cast his vote first, followed by Tyson and Gervase. Ciera voted next, with Monica concluding the proceedings. Jeff tallied the votes and then read them aloud. The first vote was for Hayden, followed by a vote for Gervase. A second vote for Hayden was followed by another vote against Gervase, tying the tally at 2-2 with one vote remaining. The final vote was for Hayden, making him the sixteenth person voted out of. He hugged Ciera goodbye and congratulated Tyson and Gervase on their game as he took his torch to Jeff. After his torch was snuffed, he departed for Redemption Island, waving farewell to his tribe. As Jeff bid the tribe farewell, he reminded them that a wildcard was about to return from Redemption Island.

Hayden arrived at Redemption Island, greeting Laura and Tina who were upset to see him voted out. Hayden told the mothers about Monica’s decision, recounting that Tyson had her on a leash.

Duel
Challenge: Jail Break

Locked in a makeshift jail cell, players must use sticks and rope to create a long pole to retrieve three keys. These keys are to be used to unlock three locks. First two to open all three locks and get through their door stays alive.

Winners (in order of finish): Laura Morett and Tina Wesson (Laura M. gave Hidden Immunity Idol clue to Ciera Eastin)

Reward/Immunity
Challenge: Pulled Up

At the starting position, the castaways will dive into the water and ride along a buoy. After making it back to shore, the castaways will solve a puzzle of an eight-word Survivor phrase (You are going to have to dig deep).

Reward: A picnic lunch

Winner: Ciera Eastin (reward shared with Hayden Moss)

Voting Confessionals
Unavailable.

Trivia

 * No footage from Day 34 was shown.
 * This was the fifth episode of the season to skip a day, following The Dead Can Still Talk (Day 12), One-Man Wrecking Ball (Day 15), Skin of My Teeth (Day 20) and Rustle Feathers (Day 31).
 * With the elimination of Katie Collins, Laura Morett & Ciera Eastin are the last pair of Loved Ones remaining.
 * The title of the episode was part of the clue for the Hidden Immunity Idol that Laura gave to Ciera after she won the Redemption Island duel (To find the idol, or to win this game, you'll have to go out on a limb.).
 * This was the only Tribal Council of the season where a female did not receive a vote.
 * Hayden Moss received the most confessionals this episode, with five.
 * Laura Morett was the only contestant to not give a confessional in this episode.
 * This was the second consecutive episode in which Laura did not have a confessional.