The Thorn in My Thumb

The Thorn in My Thumb
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	45
Episode Number	7/14 (660)
Original Release	November 8, 2023
Episode Chronology
Previous	"I'm Not Batman, I'm the Canadian"
Next	"Following a Dead Horse to Water"
Subpages

The Thorn in My Thumb is the seventh episode of Survivor 45.

Story

Day 14

The castaways arrive at their first individual Immunity Challenge, where Jeff Probst informs them that two people would be going home that night in a Split Tribal Council. He explains that the castaways will be divided into two teams of six before competing in a classic endurance challenge: Get a Grip. Not only will the winner from each team win immunity, the overall winner will win reward for their team, including the right to vote second. The stakes are raised as Jeff explains that the person voted out from the losing team will not join the jury. The castaways then draw rocks to determine their team during the challenge.

Austin	Bruce	Dee	Drew	Emily	Jake
Julie	Kaleb	Katurah	Kellie	Kendra	Sifu

Challenges

Reward/Immunity Challenge: Get a Grip
Divided into two teams of six, castaways must hang onto a pole for as long as they can. The last person remaining from each team wins immunity, and the last person standing overall wins reward for their team.
Reward: Tacos, soft drinks, and the right for their team to vote second.
Additional Stipulation: The player voted out from the losing group will not make the jury, whereas the player eliminated from the winning group will.
Winners: Kellie Nalbandian (Blue Team) and Dee Valladares (Red Team) (As the last person standing, Dee won reward for the Red Team.)

Tribal Council

Blue Team

Tribal Council 7: Dakuwaqa – Blue Team
Voted Against	Voter
Sifu (5 votes)	Bruce, Drew, Emily, Kellie, Kendra
Bruce (1 vote)	Sifu
VOTED OUT: Sifu Alsup

Voting Confessionals

No voting confessionals were aired.

Final Words

	Sifu	“	(sigh) So I felt the whole day something looming. It was my impending doom! I did everything that I wanted to do and, in my day-to-day life, I'm a master instructor, but out here I'm a student of the game of Survivor. I appreciate it.	”

Red Team

Tribal Council 8: Dakuwaqa – Red Team
Voted Against	Voter
Kaleb (4 votes)	Austin, Dee, Julie, Katurah
Julie (2 votes)	Jake, Kaleb
VOTED OUT: Kaleb Gebrewold

Voting Confessionals

Part of Jake's confessional was shown in the following episode.

	Dee	“	(voting against Kaleb) Could've worked together, but you burned the bridge last time.	”

	Jake	“	(voting against Julie) I didn't have a say in it last night; I'm hoping I do now. I'm sorry, I trust him more than I trust you.	”

Final Words

	Kaleb	“	Right when I thought my game was about to take a turn, I got voted out and I couldn't have played a more different game than the one I thought coming onto this beach. First member of the jury, not at all the place that I wanted to go, but I never gave up and I fought until the very end, so I am really proud of how I pushed through this game.	”

Still in the Running

Hannah 18th	Brandon 17th	Sabiyah 16th	Sean 15th	Brando 14th	J. Maya 13th	Sifu 12th	Kaleb 11th	Austin Dakuwaqa
Bruce Dakuwaqa	Dee Dakuwaqa	Drew Dakuwaqa	Emily Dakuwaqa	Jake Dakuwaqa	Julie Dakuwaqa	Katurah Dakuwaqa	Kellie Dakuwaqa	Kendra Dakuwaqa

Trivia

Secret Scenes

• (Untitled): The merged tribe names themselves Dakuwaqa after a Fijian shark deity.
• Enjoying the Sunrise: Kaleb is happy to see another day on Survivor after surviving the previous Tribal Council.
• Day 14 Treemail: Dee explains why she hopes the upcoming challenge is the one where they have to hold onto a pole.

On Fire with Jeff Probst

• Get A Grip

Other

• This is the first time that the votes have been revealed prior to Tribal Council; Jake and Dee's votes were shown during a flash-forward prior to the Tribal Council segment.
• After this episode, Emily becomes the highest-placing member of Lulu.
  • Lulu effectively becomes the second-earliest tribe to be reduced to its last original member, achieving this distinction on Day 14, following the original Casaya which earned the same distinction on Day 11.
• After voting out Kaleb, the remaining members of the Red Team would go on to make up the entire final five.
• The Easter egg in this episode's intro titles was the Immunity Necklace.