‘Survivor’ Premiere Recap: A Terrifying Medical Emergency Leaves 1 Tribe Shaken Up

Season 37 of ‘Survivor’ kicked off on Sept. 26, with a medical scare sending shockwaves through one camp after the very first immunity challenge. Here’s our recap!

For season 37 of Survivor, the contestants are split into two tribes: David and Goliath. The 10 players on the David tribe have spent their lives “battling adversity” and are “always the underdog,” host Jeff Probst explains, while the Goliath tribe “spent their lives capitalizing on their assets and are always considered the favorite.” Right off the bat, Jeff challenges the Goliath tribe to choose the weakest male and female on the David tribe — they go with Christian and Lyrsa — and the strongest male and female on their own tribe — Alison and John — to go against each other in a challenge.

At first glance, the Goliath tribe should have an obvious advantage. However, the David’s get a chance to change fate — there are two different courses for the challenge, and Christian and Lyrsa get to pick which course each team will take. Christian and Lyrsa make the right choice and are able to dominate Alison and John once they get to the puzzle portion of the challenge, earning the first reward of the season for the David tribe.

At the Goliath camp, Kara and Dan hit it off right off the bat, and don’t waste any time starting to flirt. Things aren’t so peachy between Natalie and Natalia, though, who disagree over the best way to build the shelter. Meanwhile, at the David camp, Pat immediately takes control of how things are being done, and quickly rubs some of his tribe members the wrong way. Alliances quickly start forming over at tribe David, with Christian and Gabby hitting it off, and Lyrsa and Elizabeth pairing off immediately.

Of course, it doesn’t take long for the search for hidden immunity idols to begin, and Mike makes the first trek over at the Goliath camp. This immediately puts a target on his back, and Natalie lets him know it. However, certain members of the tribe also want Natalie out for being bossy. For the David’s the target is on Pat, for being controlling, and Nick, for being lazy.

Eventually, ALL of the Goliath’s start searching for the hidden immunity idol, but it’s Dan who’s the first to find one. He’s searching with Kara and Natalia when he comes across the secret advantage, and shares the news with them.

Meanwhile, the weather is not enjoyable for the first few days, as it’s constantly cold and raining. Even at the immunity/reward challenge, the rain is pouring down. The challenge requires the teams to make their way through a series of obstacles before putting together a giant number puzzle. The Goliath’s pull out the win, which means the David’s are heading to tribal council.

After the immunity challenge, there’s a terrifying medical scare for the David camp. On the boat ride back to camp, the rough seas cause Pat to fall on his back, and the others hear a terrible crack. He’s left in excruciating pain, and can barely breathe. Medical tends to Pat, and although he’s desperate to stay in the game, it’s simply not safe for him to move on. Just like that, the game of Survivor gets VERY real for the David tribe members, as they watch Pat get pulled from the game