Survivor 44

The 18 new castaways arrived in Fiji to begin Survivor 44.

• Reward Challenge: Pairs of tribe members raced under obstacles in the sand to collect puzzle pieces, and then repeated until each player had gone once. Afterwards, two tribe members used those pieces to complete a block puzzle before trying to remove three large rings from a tall pole. The first tribe to finish won flint, while the second tribe to finish had their choice of either a "Savvy" or "Sweat" challenge to complete for their supplies, leaving the last tribe with whatever option was not chosen.

Soka won the challenge and Ratu finished second. The challenge was briefly stopped to tend to Bruce after he injured his head, but he was cleared to continue. However, he was pulled from the game later that night. At Ratu, the tribe elected to complete the "Sweat" challenge, with Brandon and Matthew dragging a net between two stations transporting coconuts. At Tika, Helen and Carson successfully completed the "Savvy" challenge. All three tribes also found a locked cage at their camp with a mystery advantage inside.

The next day, boats arrived at each tribe's beach to take one member to a summit; Lauren, Matt, and Sarah were chosen. They were individually given a 1-in-3 chance at an advantage; guessing wrong meant losing their vote at the next Tribal Council, but they could elect to pick twice. Sarah lost one vote but received an "Inheritance" advantage to secretly inherit all advantages and idols played at one Tribal Council; Matt lost two consecutive votes; and Lauren received a "Bank Your Vote" advantage, giving her the option to give up her vote at one Tribal Council in exchange for an extra vote to be used in the future. During the summit, Ratu decided to search for the key to their cage; Brandon found it and elected to publicly open the cage and retrieve the advantage, which was a hidden immunity idol along with a fake one. Matthew also injured his shoulder while attempting to climb a jagged rock.

• Immunity Challenge: Tribes paddled boats around distant buoys in the ocean before jumping into the water to retrieve a large chest on the sea floor. After hauling it ashore, tribe members pulled it across a ramp and then opened it for a key, which they used to unlock puzzle pieces and solve a giant sliding block puzzle. The first two tribes to finish won immunity, while the losing tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Soka and Tika won immunity. During the challenge, Brandon was temporarily pulled by the medical team due to heat exhaustion and Matthew learned from Claire that Lauren may have lied about what she got from the summit. Back at Ratu, Matthew shared this information with the tribe and many agreed to target Lauren; however, the women secretly wanted to blindside Brandon to flush his idol, bringing in Kane to help. At Tribal Council, Lauren elected to use her Bank Your Vote advantage, while Matthew and Jaime played their Shot in the Dark; Jaime's succeeded. Brandon played his idol, negating two votes against him, and his lone vote sent Maddy home.

Brandon's trust in Kane diminished after finding out he was the other player that voted against him. At Soka, Matt felt drawn to Frannie, opening up the truth of how he lost his next two votes. Meanwhile, when everyone was not looking, Danny found the key to the tribe's caged idol. After grabbing the real idol, he placed the fake idol back in the bag, just before Claire and Matt went to investigate. At Tika, Carolyn likewise found the key to the cage but left the package open, resulting in everyone suspecting each other of opening it, not suspecting Carolyn whatsoever.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Tribe members raced over a wooden obstacle before untying sandbags searching for a ball. Once found, one tribe member scaled up a tower to release rope, which remaining members pulled to raise a bridge so the member could cross and open it for the rest of the tribe. Afterwards, tribes raced to the finish, where one member used the ball to complete a vertical snake maze. The first two tribes won immunity along with large and small fishing gear rewards respectively, while the losing tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Ratu and Soka won the challenge. The alliance of Carson, Helen, and Sarah agreed to vote out Carolyn (though Sarah was without a vote), while Carolyn and Yam Yam tried to convince Carson to blindside Helen. At Tribal Council, Carolyn declined to play her idol and Carson flipped, sending Helen home.

Carson admitted to Sarah that he flipped, but still wanted to work with her, though Sarah was skeptical. At Ratu, Jaime discovered an idol with Matthew, but Matthew revealed via a confessional that it was a fake and that he had found the real idol prior. At Soka, Matt and Frannie's connection continued, leading the other four to align against them. Matt found the key Danny hid and fell for the ruse after Danny had placed the parchment saying it was an idol back in the bag; Danny proceeded to tell the tribe that Matt found the idol.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Tribe members swam out to a large wooden cube in the ocean, which they navigated through the water to two poles and collected keys off metal spirals. Ashore, tribes dug under a log and used one of the keys of unlock a rotating platform, where they solved a colored box puzzle so the boxes stacked without any repeating colors on any side. The first two tribes to finish won immunity, as well as large and small tool kits and fruit platters respectively, while the losing tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Claire volunteered to sit out a third consecutive challenge, and Ratu and Tika won. The tribe agreed to vote out Claire for her lack of contribution at camp and in challenges, but Frannie secretly considered a girls' alliance alongside Matt to blindside Josh, who had not approached many people strategically. At Tribal Council, Claire played her Shot in the Dark, which failed, and she was voted out unanimously (with Matt unable to vote).

Josh believed himself to be in the middle of two alliances (Danny & Heidi and Matt & Frannie), but the four of them planned to target him next. At Tika, the idol cage had a makeshift "X" mark in it, while another one was hidden, revealed to be Carolyn's work. Sarah ultimately found the fake idol after locating the other mark.

• Reward Challenge: One tribe member at a time climbed a structure and hit a faraway target with sandbags using a slingshot. The first two tribes to hit all five targets won large and small tarps respectively, with the first placing tribe also getting to choosing which members from each tribes got to attend the summit.

Soka and Ratu won reward. Carson, Jaime, and Josh were sent to the summit. Each of them was given an idol that was good until all surviving castaways were living together on one beach, but all three also learned that they were forced to switch to a different tribe. Carson went to Ratu, Jaime to Soka, and Josh to Tika. At Ratu, Matthew told Carson that Jaime found an idol in front of him, leaving out that it was a fake. At Soka, Danny searched Jaime's bag to see if she had any advantages but came up empty. At Tika, Sarah figured Josh was a surgeon due to an earlier comment about needing to have steady hands, but Josh told his new tribemates that he was a personal trainer, which led to their distrust of him.

• Immunity Challenge: One tribe member at a time traversed an obstacle course in the ocean, jumping to retrieve keys in the process. After retrieving all their keys, tribes unlocked pieces to a manta ray jigsaw puzzle. The first two tribes to solve their puzzle won immunity, while the losing tribe had to forfeit their flint.

Soka and Ratu won immunity. Yam Yam directed a plan to vote out Josh with Carolyn as the decoy vote, but that did not sit well with Carolyn, so she and Josh contemplated making a move against Sarah using Josh's idol that he told Carolyn about. At Tribal Council, Josh played the idol on himself to negate two votes, and Carolyn joined him in blindsiding Sarah, leaving Yam Yam shocked.

Yam Yam and Josh were in conflict over the vote, but bonded later due to their respective coming out stories. Josh also told Yam Yam he had another idol (really a fake) and showed him the note from his journey. At Ratu, Matthew's shoulder injury was not improving, while Carson and Kane bonded. At Soka, Jaime tried to align with Frannie.

• Immunity Challenge: Three tribe members were tethered together with ropes and navigated across several wooden obstacles, before filling a pot with water, crossing a seesaw and emptying it into a bucket, then running back and crossing again until they had emptied enough to drop a barrier. Once through, two tribe members navigated three balls through a table maze, attempting to lad them all in different holes. The first two tribes to finish won immunity, with the first placing tribe getting to choose which member from each tribe went on a journey, and the last place tribe having to forfeit their flint.

Ratu and Soka won the challenge, with Jeff asking Matthew to stay behind so medical could examine his shoulder. Brandon, Danny, and Carolyn were chosen for the journey, and they got to enjoy a small food reward. Brandon and Danny bonded, making Carolyn feel excluded. She immediately mouthed to Yam Yam that she was on board with him against Josh (due to Brandon and Danny wanting to include Josh in their newly formed "strong guys" alliance) and told him the note Josh had was the same one he showed her before the previous Tribal Council. Yam Yam was torn on who to side with, but Jeff arrived at Tika shortly before Tribal Council saying Matthew had decided to leave the game due to his injury. Thus, Tribal Council was cancelled for that night.

All three tribes received treemail to convene at Ratu's beach, ending the tribal stage of the game and rendering Carson and Jaime's idols useless. Josh's claim that he had an idol circulated around the tribe, with some questioning the validity of his claim.

• Immunity Challenge: Divided into two teams of six by random draw, team members raced to unearth a large boulder before navigating it through a series of obstacles, standing on it when necessary to grab a key, which they used after they scaled to a top of a tower to unlock puzzle pieces and assemble a tree puzzle. The first team to complete the puzzle won immunity at the next Tribal Council, the new merged tribe buffs and a merge feast reward.

Brandon, Carolyn, Carson, Frannie, Jaime, and Matt won the challenge. Carolyn's attempt to convince her teammates that Josh's idol was fake fell on deaf ears, and a plan to vote out Josh with Kane as a backup was formed. Carson told Kane that his name came up, raising red flags with his allies, while Josh tried to recruit allies to vote out Yam Yam. At Tribal Council, most of the tribe voted out Josh, and the remaining 11 were officially merged.