You Better Be Wearing a Seatbelt

You Better Be Wearing a Seatbelt
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	42
Episode Number	8/14 (619)
Original Release	April 20, 2022
Viewership (in Millions)	5.43
Ratings/Share (18-49)	0.9/7
Episode Chronology
Previous	"The Devil You Do or the Devil You Don't"
Next	"Game of Chicken"
Subpages

You Better Be Wearing a Seatbelt is the eighth episode of Survivor 42.

Story

Night 14

The final eleven return to camp, having officially entered the merge and the jury phase of the game. The newly merged tribe hopes for a feast, while the surviving members of the majority alliance debrief. The outsiders Chanelle Howell, Maryanne Oketch, Romeo Escobar, and Tori Meehan split off to figure out what happened with the vote.

	Mike	“	At Tribal Council, the majority of the tribe voted together and as hard as it was to make that decision, Lydia had to go home, and it was the right decision for my core alliance right now.	”

	Mike	“	Immediately, who had been left on the outs would be Tori, Chanelle, Romeo, and Maryanne. They were like how rats get when you turn on the lights, they scurry away in different places. That's what they were doing, they were scurrying away, looking for different places to go, to hide and talk.	”

Chanelle demands to know why she was left out of the vote when her Vati tribemates Hai Giang and Mike Turner were in on the plan. Hai lies to Chanelle that the vote was switched at the last minute. As Chanelle begs Hai to keep her in the loop in the future, she questions her standing in the game.

	Chanelle	“	Tonight, I was on the wrong side of the numbers, and if there is any mistake not to make: Do not come into the merge and end up on the wrong side of the numbers. My spot in the game is really up in the air. I think tonight's the first night I realize, in my head, I was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers and it was a huge wake-up call to get my head in the game.	”

Romeo expresses his frustration at being left out of the vote and is unsatisfied by Drea Wheeler shirking the responsibility of keeping him informed despite supposedly being his ally. His increasing paranoia draws her ire.

	Drea	“	Romeo was my closest ally, but things changed as soon as we came to the merge. He's been totally different, he's just becoming one of the most paranoid players I think I've seen, and like, it's not helping my game right now. So if Romeo has to go, then Romeo has to go.	”

Meanwhile, Lindsay Dolashewich assures Maryanne that the Taku four are still strong, but Maryanne feels that her self-described weirdness has caused her to be alienated from her former tribemates.

	Maryanne	“	The people in the Taku tribe are telling me 'Don't worry, I have your back,' but I know that I'm basically at the bottom of the tribe, which honestly sucks so much. Because I flash back all the way back to elementary school and it's like, I felt like, I finally found out who I was and that people would accept me, and like I know it's a game and there's reasons why people are on the bottom, but it's like, I'm too weird to be a part of the cool kids. All you can think of is like, 'I suck, there's something wrong with me, and that's why people don't wanna work with me.'	”

Challenges

• Reward
• Immunity

Challenge: Basket Case
One at a time, team members will leap from a tower into the water and swim to a platform where they will find buoys attached to a rope. They will maneuver a buoy through a series of obstacles and swim to the next platform, then the next member goes. Once a team has collected all five buoys, they will attempt to toss them into a basket. The first team to get all five buoys in their basket wins.
Reward: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and potato chips
Winners: Blue Team (Chanelle Howell, Jonathan Young, Mike Turner, Rocksroy Bailey, and Tori Meehan)

Challenge: Can't Buoy Me Love
Castaways must balance on a small perch while holding a buoy using two handles. The last person holding their buoy while still on the balance beam wins.
Additional Stipulation: If one castaway agreed to forfeit their chance at immunity, they would receive a single serving of rice. If multiple castaways agreed to forfeit their chance at immunity, the tribe would receive four days' worth of rice. The tribe successfully negotiated for four members to sit out of the challenge and received the bag of rice.
Winner: Tori Meehan

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 7: Kula Kula
Voted Against	Voter
Chanelle (7 votes)	Drea, Hai, Jonathan, Lindsay, Mike, Rocksroy, Tori
Romeo (3 votes)	Chanelle, Maryanne, Omar
Hai (1 vote)	Romeo
VOTED OUT: Chanelle Howell

Voting Confessionals

No voting confessionals were aired in this episode. Romeo's confessional was shown on the next episode.

	Romeo	“	(voting against Hai) Even if this is my last vote, I just wanna see you squirm.	”

Final Words

	Chanelle	“	Man, I should've seen this coming. I know that when a vote is too easy, that that's never the case. I think my biggest takeaway was like, I think I was playing a little bit too late when clearly the game was just running full speed and so this game is a lot harder than I thought, but I mean at least I made jury and now I get to decide who's going to win the game.	”

Still in the Running

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

Trivia

Secret Scenes

• (Untitled): On Day 15, the merged tribe names themselves "Kula Kula".
• She's Hilarious: Tori reveals why she likes Maryanne as they get ready for the Immunity Challenge.
• Rice Reward: Drea is so grateful for the rice that she, Lindsay, Maryanne and Omar sat out of the Immunity Challenge to get.

Behind the Scenes

• According to Hai's exit interview, he told Romeo to vote against Chanelle; Romeo then disclosed this to her, and she relayed this back to Hai, causing Romeo to be put on the chopping block.
• Independently, both Lindsay and Hai told Omar about their Advantage Amulets 15 minutes apart from each other.

Other

• Day 16 was filmed on May 31, 2021, the 21st anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Survivor: Borneo. Jeff Probst filmed a video commemorating the occasion on location shortly before the Day 16 Immunity Challenge that was posted on the CBS Twitter page.
• This is the eighth consecutive episode with at least one person sitting out of a challenge, breaking the record of seven episodes previously set in Palau and tied in Survivor 41.
  • This episode also marks the tenth consecutive challenge with at least one person sitting out.
• This episode marks the first appearance of a Beware Advantage following the merge.
• Drea becomes the first castaway to possess four unique advantages at the same time.
• Tori becomes the second woman to win the first two individual Immunity Challenges, after Laura Morett in "Tastes Like Chicken".
  • Tori is the first woman to achieve this where only one Immunity Necklace was available at each challenge.
• This is the first episode of the season where nobody became ineligible to vote at any point during Tribal Council.
• The episode title is said by Hai at Tribal Council about the power dynamics on Kula Kula.