Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Survivor 47 Episode 6.

Survivor 47 has finally entered the merge portion of its game! Created by Charlie Parsons, this historic CBSreality series has awed for decades, with longtime fans understanding just what a huge moment it is each season for our castaways to leave their tribal identities behind and become even more motivated in their fight for the $1,000,000 grand prize. This group has been itching to get to this higher level of gameplay all season, with each episode filled with complex strategy and shocking blindsideslike the one that claimed Anika Dhar in last week’s episode. Will this kind of jaw-dropping chaos get even more intense now that our group of ferocious players are living on the same beach?

We’ve Made It To the Merge on ‘Survivor 47’
Image via CBS

With another successful Survivor blindside complete, the episode begins back on the yellow Gata beach right after Dhar’s shocking elimination. There’s a mixed energy within the tribe; while Sam Phalen and Sierra Wright are glad that their plans succeeded, Andy Rueda is overwhelmingly thrilled, raving to the camera about how happy he was to see Dhar’s shock at being eliminated. The only crestfallen one is the former player’s closest ally, Rachel LaMont, hurt about being left out of such a huge decision and confused over how to navigate within such a small group she’s clearly at the bottom of — lucky for her, she won’t have to for long. Because the next day sees a boat coming to each Tribe with a message that every Survivor player wants to hear: they’ve made the merge! Everyone comes together on the blue Tuku beach, with LaMont and many other players hopeful that this new unity will be just what they need to survive longer in the game.

The sudden arrival of this new group sends Tuku’s Sue Smey into a panic; the player is worried that, after having retrieved an idol from a pot full of red paint a few days before, people will see the residual mess on her bag and begin to suspect she’s hiding something. She’s trying to wash it off as everyone arrives and begins enjoying one another’s company, with not even a sign telling them there’s an advantage on their beach that will help its finder in the next challenge spurring these players into action.

The rest of the group eventually does find the wreckage of Smey’s idol, but the only one who can trace it back to her is her close ally, Caroline Vidmar (though Tiyanna Hallums is definitely suspicious of the woman), and the discovery is overshadowed by former Lavo member Genevieve Mushaluk finding the advantage floating on a buoy. It was a relaxed, pleasant vibe all around — the exact kind of setting that Rome Cooney sees as a perfect opportunity for chaos. The man took his talent for in-fighting to this merged beach by plying Kyle Ostwald for information about other players before going to each one afterward and painting Ostwald as a gossip who was bad-mouthing them. It’s a well-practiced tactic that could have painted a target on the man’s back… if Hallums hadn’t clued him in on this deceit and Ostwald held a miniature town hall to inform everyone of how Cooney had lied to them.

“Earn the Merge” Shows That Nothing is Easy on ‘Survivor’
Image via CBS

With these revelations fresh in their minds, the castaways go to Survivor’s “earn the merge,” a challenge that divides the group into two as they (hopefully) make it past the last hurdle to joining the merged tribe. But this season, there’s a twist: instead of an entire team earning immunity after fighting it out in an initial challenge, the winning team will go to yet another competition whose sole victor will be the only person safe at that night’s tribal council. Genevieve gets boosted to that second portion thanks to her advantage, meaning she gets to watch as everyone struggles through obstacle courses, scales a huge wall, and finally has two members of their team try and solve a complex balance puzzle as quickly as possible. Cooney’s group loses, with one hilarious moment seeing his nemesis Solomon “Sol” Yi asks host Jeff Probst if he could swap with the man because of his floundering in the puzzle, meaning that the winning team of Sam, Rachel, Kule, Sue, Sierra, Teeny Chirichillo, and the well-rested Mushaluk get to compete for individual immunity in a final endurance challenge. Ostwald wins immunity by balancing a ball on a wooden bow while standing on a balance beam the longest, and at the celebratory merge feast, these winners come to a conclusion: Rome needs to go.

Unaware that Kyle had revealed his lies to everyone earlier, Rome tries to pin a target on Sol’s back, laughing about how he faked tears at Vidmar and Hallums about how terrible Yi made him feel in the challenge and why that should help him vote out such a negative person. The episode takes a shocking amount of time to highlight how much of a misread Cooney is making; many minutes of screentime are filled with the man gloating to camera about his control of the game as he tells everyone around him that the plan is Sol, only for the shot to switch to those same people discussing what an easy vote-out Rome will be. Despite this apparently simple plan, fear of Cooney having an advantage has the players select a backup target they can split votes onto: Andy. Despite pledging Rueda their allegiance, Wright and Phalen agree to the plan, and the entire group goes into tribal council hoping to blindside Cooney but being content with the other man’s elimination.

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This ‘Survivor’ Blindside Is Shockingly Sweet

This tribal council will go down in Survivor history for Probst doing the absolute unthinkable: letting someone else sit in his seat. Amidst a conversation about how it feels to be merged and what advantages everyone has, Cooney comments how the three-way amulet that Vidmar, Rueda, and Chirichillo share is the worst, with Probst shockingly standing up and allowing the man to take his usual spot to explain just why it’s so detrimental to the trio’s game. This segment is capped off perfectly by Rueda talking once again about how much he enjoyed blindsiding Dhar and, after the votes have been cast, he and the other two amulet-holders making a huge showing of combining their three tokens to grant Teeny immunity for the night, clearly not actually concerned for their safety and simply wanting to get rid of the “advantage.” Then, as the confident man can only watch in shock, Rome is eliminated, with only two votes being spared for Rueda and Cooney himself throwing a random one onto Phalen.

Despite it being a send-off of one of this season’s most chaotic characters, the first merged episode of Survivor 47 was relatively calm. Yes, Cooney did stir up his usual in-fighting, but the group catching onto him quickly meant we didn’t get to see the usual repercussions of this mischievous gameplay. Even more, Cooney’s elimination was a shockingly sweet one; he expressed love for everyone on the cast and hugged Probst on his way out. It created a heartfelt start to the merge — though this episode already showed the cracks that’ll begin to fracture more and more as this season goes on. Catching two votes at tribal made Rueda realize that his supposed alliance might not be as committed to his safety as he’d thought, and Smey is determined to get out Ostwald (not knowing that Hallums is beginning to suspect the secret she’s trying so hard to keep). These and more created a volatile setup for what’s looking to be a thrilling post-merge.

Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.Release Date May 31, 2000 Cast Jeff Probst Studio Seasons 45 Rating Story By Jeff Probst Writers Jeff Probst Network CBS Streaming Service(s) Hulu , Netflix Directors Jeff Probst Showrunner Jeff Probst Expand

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