Tell a Good Lie, Not a Stupid Lie

Tell a Good Lie, Not a Stupid Lie
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	42
Episode Number	10/14 (621)
Original Release	May 4, 2022
Viewership (in Millions)	5.62
Ratings/Share (18-49)	0.9/8
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Game of Chicken"
Next	"Battle Royale"
Subpages

Tell a Good Lie, Not a Stupid Lie is the tenth episode of Survivor 42.

Story

Night 17

As a thunderstorm rages on, the orange team members return to the Kula Kula camp and debrief after their vote. Hai Giang is happy about the result, and thanks Mike Turner for conceding to his request to vote against Rocksroy. Despite this, Mike feels like Hai forced his hand with the Rocksroy plan. Mike vents to Omar Zaheer, who uses this as an opportunity to bring Mike closer to himself while driving a wedge between Hai and Mike. Although he was the one that orchestrated the vote, Omar feigns empathy for Mike's situation.

	Hai	“	We got split up at today's challenge into two teams but our Tribal went exactly the way that I wanted it to—again—so I am extremely happy that I got my main target out, which was Rocksroy. But I knew my biggest obstacle in getting the Rocksroy vote executed was with getting Mike's blessing. However, thankfully, Mike being a great ally listened to me, so I'm so happy that Mike let me be the driver for this one vote.	”

	Mike	“	I had no plans on voting Rocksroy out—I gave my word, and my word's my bond—but Hai was so definitive that everybody wanted Rocksroy out because of his abrasiveness, so I voted Rocksroy, it was unanimous, but I was extremely upset with myself, 'cause I was letting Hai play my game.	”

	Omar	“	Mike says, (imitating Mike) 'I just wanna know, are you okay with how everything transpired?' And I'm like, 'Funny you say that, Mr. Mikey, boy,' I am fine with the way it transpired 'cause that's what I wanted, but I do want you to be a little bit leery of Mr. Hai. Mikey no likey, that lets me know that maybe he's starting to not like how Hai is running things, so over the next few days, my plan is going to be to bring Mike closer to me and sever his relationship with Hai, and Hai has given me enough ammunition to do that.	”

The blue team then returns to camp, sharing that Tori Meehan was the person voted out of their group. Drea Wheeler talks about the emotional toll of her Tribal Council, but vows to play hard for as long as she remains in the game.

	Drea	“	Tribal was like a very emotional thing that has just happened and I end up playing my idol and Maryanne played her idol, but I'm still on Survivor. And I have my Knowledge is Power, I have my Extra Vote, so as long as I still have a leg in the game, I'm gonna play it as hard as I can.	”

Day 18

Lindsay Dolashewich catches Omar up on the events of the blue team's Tribal Council. They are bewildered and frustrated by Jonathan Young's poor strategic call to put Maryanne Oketch as a backup plan, which caused their alliance to lose an idol. Lindsay reassesses her partnership with Jonathan.

	Lindsay	“	Jonathan was willing to put Maryanne on the line. He's not great at strategy, I'm slowly not able to rely on him as much as I thought I was in the beginning, and if we seem like a pair, and he's poor at strategy, it looks like I'm in on that poor strategy, which I'm not, so not my favorite alliance member to have anymore at this point.	”

Lindsay and Omar split off, and, knowing that two idols were played the previous night, she takes the chance to search for a Hidden Immunity Idol. As highlighted by the show, she has a close brush with one, but returns to camp empty-handed.

	Lindsay	“	So, traditionally, when two idols are played, at least one is gonna come back in, and I think today's kind of a good day to look 'cause everyone's cold and miserable. I'm like, oh, I'm looking for firewood, blah-dy blah. It'd be awesome to have an idol; that just helps me stay a little bit further in the game if I can. Can't rely on winning everything—I haven't won anything yet—so I'm just trying to look at places that seem obvious. Like, in roots, I'm seeing if I can see anything; in little crevices of trees… And I found basically nothing. I hope I find it at some point before somebody else does.	”

Back at camp, Hai and Jonathan are attempting to start a fire. Maryanne offers to help out and leaves to look for firewood near the well. She is "shooketh" to find a Hidden Immunity Idol in the crevice of one of the trees, and is elated to find that it comes with no strings attached. She does not intend to share this information with anybody. In a confessional, she expresses how this idol find has validated her gameplay so far.

	Maryanne	“	We're all looking for dry firewood. And so I'm looking at the trees, looking for branches to pick off, and I see this tree right at the corner, and I'm like, oh my goodness.	”

	Maryanne	“	I just found my second Immunity Idol, baby! And do you see, there is no stipulation, no secret code, no bunny rabbits or mailboxes. So this puts me in such a great position because I have an Extra Vote, I now have this idol. When playing my idol at the previous Tribal, I was so frustrated because I knew that I was safe. Being able to find an idol literally the next day shows me that the way I am playing this game is both right in the strategic sense and also in the moral sense.	”

As the storms continue to batter the castaways, Kula Kula walks in for the Reward Challenge, shivering. Jeff Probst promises that, unlike the season's previous challenges that have pushed them to their limit, today's challenge will be "fun", to Lindsay's delight. Jeff explains the mechanics of the challenge: Walk This Way. The winner will receive a night at the Survivor sanctuary, a sheltered night of refuge from the brutal storms, as well as food and drink.

Jonathan and Lindsay are the first to reach the obstacle, followed by Hai and Drea. Jonathan unties his knots first, gaining a slight lead over his competitors to reach his endpoint first. Hai and Lindsay eventually catch up and start tossing their sandbags as well. Ultimately, it is Lindsay that lands her sandbag first, winning reward. She exclaims in excitement over her first individual challenge victory.

Jeff allows Lindsay to share her reward with one other person. Because he has yet to win a reward, she picks Omar, who asks if there will be pineapple pizza on the reward. Jeff allows her to pick another person, and she picks Mike—she has wanted to had pizza with him since they met. Jeff tells the trio that a boat will bring them to the sanctuary at night, and sends the tribe back to camp. Mike and Omar thank Lindsay for sharing the reward, and she expresses that the victory could not have come at a better time.

	Lindsay	“	This is just an awesome, badass reward that I won and couldn't have come at a better timing, 'cause the weather couldn't have been more miserable and I got to pick two people that I really want to discuss strategy with and get close with, so it was like a win-win.	”

The tribe returns to camp, where every member laments about the weather. In their confessionals, Maryanne and Romeo share how watching Survivor comes no where close to living through the miserable weather conditions. Jonathan proposes that the tribe redo the palm fronds on their roof, and the tribe gets to work fixing the shelter.

	Maryanne	“	When you say you wanna play Survivor, you're like, man, I wanna feel that feeling when you get close to the end and it starts to get hard, but then you get to that place. Like, we're at Day 18, the rain is miserable, literally like I'm shivering so much that it hurts to walk because I just kept on tensing my leg muscles, like, that's the type of pain that we're in.	”

	Romeo	“	This doesn't translate when you're watching at home, like, oh, it's just a little bit of rain. Well, you try sitting in wet clothes for 24 hours, starving, missing home, that wind that comes when you're wet, it hist you like a thousand knives. I would kill for a warm bed tonight. But Lindsay, Mike and Omar get to go on that reward and sleep in a nice warm bed with pizza and beer, and here we are just dying.	”

Encouraging his tribemates to remain optimistic, Hai shares about his upbringing and how that has helped him cope with the elements.

	Hai	“	We had to fix the shelter, we were all wet and cold but being out here has taken me back to my roots. I didn't have an easy childhood and as a result, I've seen what it's like to have nothing. I've seen what it's like to be hungry and to be poor, so for me, I know how much worse things can be. My family immigrated here when I was three years old as refugees from Vietnam. Watching my parents sacrifice everything that they had to give me a better life inspires me, and I'll never forget where I started. And i think being out here a lot of people forget, there's a finite ending for us in sight. This misery is temporary; we're so close to the finish line, that's what gets me through another day.	”

In the shelter, Hai and Lindsay strategize. He thinks that Romeo is the best choice, but she proposes taking out Jonathan next. Not wanting Jonathan to go on an immunity streak, Hai entertains the idea.

	Hai	“	I see Lindsay fragmenting from Jonathan, I had quite a little nice quiet conversation with her at the shelter when everyone was sitting around, and she seems to be signalling to me that she wants Jonathan out next and, guess what Lindsay? I'm open.	”

That night, Lindsay, Mike, and Omar are taken to the Survivor sanctuary. As they enjoy their pizza, they hear a voice coming from around the corner. They find out that their loved ones' videos are being projected, and are overcome with emotion.

Lindsay sees a photo with her parents cradling her as a baby, a photo of her high school graduation, and a video of her family encouraging her to keep pushing. Omar sees a photo of him and his girlfriend, Sarah, who tells him that she misses him before sending words of encouragement. Mike sees photos of him and his children and his wife, who also encourages him to go for the win. Omar and Mike share their gratitude for being picked by Lindsay for this reward.

	Omar	“	It wasn't just food for the stomach we needed, we really needed food for the soul, and you don't know how much you need it until you see it.	”

	Mike	“	There's nothing that means more to me than my family. There's nothing that means more to me, nothing. (tearing up) Honestly, it's one of the greatest gifts that was ever given to me by anybody, and Lindsay did that for me.	”

	Mike	“	I'm a New York, Hoboken, Jersey kid. We live on pizza! I knew that I was gonna eat until pizza was coming out of my ears.	”

	Lindsay	“	I start hearing, like, voices and mumbling, and I'm like, what's going on? And then all of a sudden, I look up… Oh my God! These are our loved ones, and we all just lost it.	”

Wanting to open lines of communication with Mike, Omar shares a piece of damning information about Hai: He has been referring to Mike as a "puppet", which was why Omar has not been talking openly with Mike. Mike is taken aback but unsurprised by this information, and says that he is tired of Hai's control. Omar reveals in a confessional that this was a lie. An indignant Mike decides to push for Hai's ouster, saying this has become personal for him.

	Omar	“	Hai has never told me that Mike was a puppet, but hearing those words just supercharged Mike. And I'm like, 'Mike, I would never treat you that way.' (laughs) It worked because Mike looked me dead in the eye and he said, 'Your story makes sense.' And I know it makes sense—you tell a good lie, not a stupid lie.	”

	Mike	“	Hai thinks I'm totally with him, I'm his puppet, I'll do whatever he wants! This is totally gameplay, but he played me, so this is personal for me now, too.	”

Lindsay then shares about the Amulet Advantage that she, Drea, and Hai possess. The three are open to getting rid of Hai to give Lindsay's advantage more power, but Lindsay expresses her reservations in her confessional, considering getting Jonathan out instead because he is hurting her game.

	Lindsay	“	My Amulet is stronger if Hai is gone. But I'm conflicted, because Jonathan is destroying my game because he feels like he has a lot of power, and I don't like being told what to do like that. So it's the matter of who wins immunity tomorrow.	”

Day 19

The tribe enters for the Immunity Challenge. Jeff takes the Immunity Necklaces back from Hai and Jonathan, and then explains the mechanics of the challenge: Bow Diddley. The tribe draws for spots and gets the challenge started.

As the challenge starts, Hai's ball is already on the edge of his ball. However, it is Mike who drops first. Shortly thereafter, Hai joins him when his ball drops, with Romeo following afterwards. Omar drops his ball as well, leaving four people remaining in the challenge.

After five minutes, Drea, Jonathan, Lindsay, and Maryanne survive the first stage and progress to the second stage. When the four make the transition and the challenge resumes, Maryanne is unable to balance her ball and drops first, exclaiming "Fiddlesticks!" in dismay. Drea's ball drops off soon after, and she calmly catches her ball and takes a seat on her beam. While Jonathan has been constantly fighting to keep his ball centered, Lindsay has remained stable throughout. Jonathan narrowly survives the second stage, to his tribe's amazement, and both players end up surviving the second stage.

On the third and final stage, Jonathan is struggling to even get his feet on the beam. Maryanne exclaims that "he has giant feet", and Jeff lets Lindsay and Jonathan find their footing before resuming the challenge. Jeff declares that this final stage will last for 30 minutes, "if [they] can last that long". Both players immediately encounter a lot of movement, but Jonathan ends up losing his balance. Lindsay wins her second individual challenge and dons the Immunity Necklace. Jeff sends the tribe back to camp, and Mike promises that Hai will be dethroned at Tribal Council.

	Mike	“	Lindsay wins, and just for Lindsay, I'm ecstatic, but way more than that, Hai did not win. He thinks he's the king, well, guess what, the king will be dethroned tonight.	”

At camp, Jonathan entertains his tribe with his "monkey run" while Hai lays out his plan. To him, this will be the only opportunity to get rid of Jonathan before he wins any further challenges. After sharing his plan with Mike and promising him a "solid ride to the end", Mike agrees, but says that this is only a pretense.

	Hai	“	I was so grateful that Jonathan did not win the Immunity Challenge, because he kills it in every challenge he competes in. He either wins or gets second. Right now, I have the numbers to kind of sway the game in the direction that I want to. So for me, Jonathan being vulnerable tonight might be my only opportunity to get him out of the game.	”

	Mike	“	Mike's great idea is target Jonathan. I'm gonna be Hai's puppet for the next day. I'll say, 'Yes, yes Hai, I'm your puppet, whatever you want.' And meanwhile, his head's in the guillotine, ready to be lopped off, and rightfully so. I'm not anybody's puppet, I'm not playing anybody else's game—I'm playing my game.	”

Mike talks to Jonathan and is still indignant about being made to look bad in front of Rocksroy. He tells Jonathan that Hai is targeting him, but that they will be blindsiding Hai, who does not have an idol, to "cut off the head of the snake".

	Jonathan	“	Hai's plan is to vote me out, and I am very nervous. Out of everybody here, I would figure that they would wanna kick me out first one, and get rid of me. But Mike came to me and said, 'We need to get rid of Hai', and if I can get him out first, what a move.	”

At the shelter, Drea and Lindsay are discussing their next move. Drea says her husband is probably pointing at the television and asking why she is not getting rid of Hai, believing that he is playing a good game. The two women snicker in agreement, seeing the merit in getting rid of Hai to grant their Amulet Advantage more power. Lindsay talks with Maryanne and Jonathan separately, and discovers that Hai is the consensus target for the night. She backs out of her Jonathan plan so as to keep things simple.

	Drea	“	After the last Tribal, I realize that I need to stop playing the game with so much heart. I'm definitely going against Hai's alliance, but if I get out Hai tonight, my Amulet becomes a steal-a-vote with Lindsay, so that's why he has to go.	”

	Lindsay	“	Originally, I was wanting Jonathan out, but seems like everybody is on board to get Hai out, except Hai. And Jonathan's completely on board, so right now, I don't wanna rock the boat. I'm gonna stick with the plan and call it a day.	”

To prevent Jonathan from playing his Shot in the Dark, an oblivious Hai assures him of his safety. Telling Jonathan to vote for Romeo, Hai promises Jonathan that he will play a (made-up) idol for him at Tribal Council so that he can continue to shield him and Lindsay. He believes Jonathan has fallen for the ploy, but Jonathan does not buy it and divulges the "worst lie [he] has ever heard" to Omar.

	Hai	“	Every Tribal I go to, I've made sure I know who the target is, and I can make the target feel comfortable enough that they do not take a Shot in the Dark. So I'm able to use my fake idol play. […] My strategy is tell him that I will play my Hidden Immunity Idol for him and he will stay. It's obvious, but he bought it.	”

On the other hand, Omar wonders if Hai, who unbeknownst to him has been stranded with no allies, might be the better person to keep because of his loyalty. Knowing that he has Lindsay, Maryanne, and Romeo in his pocket, he considers switching the vote to Jonathan out of a worry that he might sweep the remaining challenges. As Tribal Council looms, Omar weighs his options.

	Omar	“	It's clear that it's not gonna be difficult to get Hai out at this point, everybody wants him out. So, I mean, everything's working out perfectly, um, but it's like almost too perfect, 'cause then you start thinking like, should I just work with Hai now, 'cause nobody trusts him? So does that mean, in an essence, that I should take Hai, and raise him from his execution tonight? Because he's loyal to me! Is the other option here to just take Jonathan out of the picture and vote Hai out next time? Jonathan, my number-one boy from the Taku tribe, he is still a liability in this game. If we don't take Jonathan out tonight, will he just win every other immunity to the end?	”

	Omar	“	Romeo trusts me out of everybody here, and Maryanne's on my side too. And Lindsay is already prime to not trust Jonathan. Once again, I'm in the middle, and it doesn't take very much to switch a vote right now. This switch to Jonathan, I actually think might be the better play here. So the question is: Is it the time, and that's what you have to ask yourself every time you go to Tribal Council, you know, we're getting to the end, there's only four more votes before Day 26, like, you have to pick the right person at the right time, otherwise you'll be the next person out.	”

At Tribal Council, Jeff starts with quizzing Lindsay on her challenge wins, asking her if there was any fallout from who she picked to join her for her sanctuary reward. Mike denies that any deep strategic conversation occurred at the sanctuary. As a firefighter, he states that he has weathered numerous difficult challenges on the job, but could always count on comfort at the firehouse. However, this game has offered no such hope. Jeff asks Lindsay why there continue to be people who want to play the game; she responds that everyone playing is "sick" for enjoying the rush of the game. Meanwhile, Hai does not believe that no strategy occurred at the reward. Comparing the remaining players to "long-distance runners with blindfolds on", he believes that there is always a chance to overtake the front-runner.

Omar believes that nobody can "lead" the whole game without eventually getting their "head chopped off". Drawing from his experience as a veterinarian that has to make life-or-death decisions for his animal clients, he states that every decision a player makes is "life-or-death" for their game, but nobody can afford to have regrets for their choices. Mike believes gut feeling is important in choosing when to make a move and whom against. Maryanne admits that she is constantly thinking ahead about strategy, like a game of Survivor Jenga. Jeff asks Jonathan if he got that, and he responds "Yes", to which Maryanne pumps her fist.

Lindsay says that tonight's vote is about "evening the playing field" for everyone to have a fair shot at making the Final Tribal Council. Jonathan interprets her statement as an observation that someone in the game is still disproportionately powerful, and admits that he is still trying to understand how to read that statement. Hai interjects, saying that Lindsay's answer was ambiguous and open to interpretation: it depends on how each person perceives themselves and their abilities, and what each person fears most in their adversaries. Jeff then gets the tribe to vote.

Jeff tallies the votes and returns with the urn. Nobody plays any advantages, so he reads the votes. The votes come back, and though Jonathan receives two votes, Hai is the person that leaves the game, blindsided by a 6-2 vote and becoming the fourth member of the jury. He applauds his tribemates for the good play and thanking them for the "brilliant" blindside. As he leaves Tribal Council with no hard feelings, the tribe bids him "Bye, Hai."

Challenges

• Reward
• Immunity

Challenge: Walk This Way
Starting in the water, the castaways will traverse a tunnel obstacle before untying knots to retrieve a stick with a sandbag on top. They will carry the stick and maneuver a sandbag under a hitching post before crossing a seesaw balance beam. They will then place their stick in the hole in a narrow disc platform, onto which they will attempt to land their sandbag. The first contestant to land their sandbag wins.
Reward: A night at the Survivor sanctuary with pizza, drinks, and loved ones' videos
Winner: Lindsay Dolashewich (shared with Mike Turner and Omar Zaheer)

Challenge: Bow Diddley
Castaways must balance on a narrow beam while balancing a ball on a rounded bow. Every five minutes, they would move further down to a narrower part of the beam, making it harder to keep steady; those that make the final stage will stay there for 30 minutes. If they drop their ball or fall off their beam, they will be out of the challenge. The last person standing wins.
Winner: Lindsay Dolashewich

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 10: Kula Kula
Voted Against	Voter
Hai (6 votes)	Drea, Jonathan, Lindsay, Maryanne, Mike, Omar
Jonathan (2 votes)	Hai, Romeo
VOTED OUT: Hai Giang

Voting Confessionals

No voting confessionals were aired in this episode.

Final Words

	Hai	“	I just got blindsided. I honestly thought I was going to run away to the end with the whole thing and I did not even suspect it. It was stunning and I feel proud; I don't have any regrets. I came here to play the game and I played it every well until the game outplayed me.	”

Still in the Running

Jackson 18th	Zach 17th	Marya 16th	Jenny 15th	Swati 14th	Daniel 13th	Lydia 12th	Chanelle 11th	Rocksroy 10th
Tori 9th	Hai 8th	Drea Kula Kula	Jonathan Kula Kula	Lindsay Kula Kula	Maryanne Kula Kula	Mike Kula Kula	Omar Kula Kula	Romeo Kula Kula

Trivia

Secret Scenes

• (Untitled): As the rain continues to batter the Kula Kula tribe, a desperate, sleep-deprived Maryanne tries to make fire to warm her clothes.
• Reward Challenge Treemail: The Kula Kula tribe is anxious for a reward after experiencing rainy weather.
• Immunity Challenge Treemail: Hai hopes to win his second Immunity Challenge in a row.

Behind the Scenes

• On Day 18, the tribe debriefed about the Double Elimination and the members of the orange team learned about the race conversation that occurred at the blue team's Tribal Council.
• Behind-the-Scenes of Reward Challenge

Other

• With Lindsay winning the Immunity Challenge, every person that has made the jury phase has had individual immunity at at least one Tribal Council.
• With Hai's elimination, Mike is the last remaining member of Vati.