Let's Not Be Cute About It

Let's Not Be Cute About It
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	44
Episode Number	7/14 (646)
Original Release	April 12, 2023
Viewership (in Millions)	5.34
Ratings/Share (18-49)	0.7/7
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Survivor with a Capital S"
Next	"Don't Get Cocky, Kid"
Subpages

Let's Not Be Cute About It is the seventh episode of Survivor 44.

Story

Day 14

The Va Va tribe shows up for the Immunity Challenge, where Jeff Probst announces a new twist. The tribe will be divided into two teams and compete in an endurance challenge. The last person standing from each team will win individual immunity, and the last person standing overall will win immunity and reward for their whole team. In addition, the winning team will abstain from the vote at Tribal Council. Given the odd number of remaining players, the person who draws the odd-colored rock will sit out of the challenge; however, that person can bet on the team they believe will produce the overall winner, and join that team on the reward or at Tribal Council. Carson draws the odd rock and chooses to bet on the orange team.

Brandon	Carolyn	Danny	Frannie	Heidi
Jaime	Kane	Lauren	Matt	Yam Yam

Carson

Challenges

Reward/Immunity Challenge: Audio Slave
Divided into two teams of five, each castaway will stand on a narrow balance beam while holding up a boom pole over their head with a ball balancing on a disc at the end of the pole. At regular intervals, the castaways will step forward to a narrower part of the beam. If they fall off the beam or their ball drops, they are out of the challenge. The last person standing for each group wins immunity. In addition, the overall winner of the challenge wins reward and will exempt their whole tribe from the vote.
Additional Stipulation: The odd player out will choose one of the teams to root for at the challenge, and if that team wins, they would also win reward and immunity.
Reward: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and potato chips.
Winners: Orange Team (Carolyn Wiger, Danny Massa, Frannie Marin, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt, and Kane Fritzler) (since Carson Garrett guessed the winning team correctly, he also won reward and immunity) and Brandon Cottom (Purple Team)

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 6: Va Va – Purple Team
Voted Against	Voter (Heidi controlled Lauren's vote)
Matt (3 votes)	Brandon, Jaime, Yam Yam
Yam Yam (2 votes)	Lauren, Matt
VOTED OUT: Matt Blankinship

Voting Confessionals

Lauren was shown writing down Yam Yam's name. No voting confessionals were aired.

Final Words

	Matt	“	I don't think that tribe split could've been any worse for me, but sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles. Frannie, I feel like we developed an incredible relationship within the game and also outside the game, and I'm so very proud of you for winning and I don't want you to blame yourself for what happened.	”

Still in the Running

Bruce 18th	Maddy 17th	Helen 16th	Claire 15th	Sarah 14th	Matthew 13th	Josh 12th	Matt 11th	Brandon Va Va
Carolyn Va Va	Carson Va Va	Danny Va Va	Frannie Va Va	Heidi Va Va	Jaime Va Va	Kane Va Va	Lauren Va Va	Yam Yam Va Va

Trivia

Secret Scenes

• (Untitled): An extended scene of the newly merged tribe picking a tribe name. Carson suggests "Asan" ("NASA" backwards), which he claimed was the Fijian word for "well-being", but the tribe agrees to use Yam Yam's proposal of "Va Va".
• Skin in the Game: Kane is worried about his safety in the game with an upcoming challenge and so many unknowns.
• Playing All My Cards: Matt is doing everything he can to not be the one voted out tonight at Tribal Council.

On Fire with Jeff Probst

• The Big Theme: Jeff Probst discusses the creative process of developing season themes, and reflects on past twists and themes like Redemption Island, David vs. Goliath, Edge of Extinction, and Fire Tokens. He also talks about his vision of the new era of the show after the conclusion of Survivor: Winners at War.

Other

• This marks the first time since "Are We Gonna Live on Exile Island?!" in Survivor: Fiji that a post-merge tribe competed for group immunity.
• This is the first time this season Matt is able to vote.