‘Survivor’ Recap: 2 Players Are Eliminated As Some Of The Biggest Threats Survive Tribal

Things get off to a quick start on the premiere of ‘Survivor: Winners at War,’ with TWO tribal councils and more paranoia amongst the players than ever before.

Survivor: Winners At War unites 20 former winners competing against each other for an epic $2 million prize. The tribes are picked randomly. Sele (blue tribe) has Natalie, Danni, Jeremy, Ben, Michele, Adam, Rob, Parvati, Denise and Ethan, while Dakal (red tribe) has Nick, Tony, Kim, Amber, Yul, Wendell, Sarah, Sandra, Tyson and Sophie. The episode kicks off with a reward AND immunity challenge. Two players from each team race for a ring in the water, and have to fight to get to a pole first while holding onto it. The first team to win three rounds wins the challenge.

Dakal wins the first two rounds, but Sele comes back to win the third. Dakal wins round four, though, giving them the win for immunity and flint to make fire. At camp, the players learn more about the new fire tokens, which can be used to buy advantages and other items in the game (full description HERE). At Sele, Adam and Denise venture off on their own, which immediately raises red flags for the rest of the tribe. Rob also proposes an alliance with Parvati, despite the fact that they worked against each other on Heroes vs. Villains.

However, Rob is a quick target at Sele. Ben lets him know that Danni brought up the idea of voting him out, and Rob confronts her about it. She’s truthful with him about her intentions, which he admittedly respects. An ‘old-school’ alliance of Rob, Parvati, Danni and Ethan forms at Dakal after the conversation. Natalie and Jeremy, who played on Survivor: San Juan Del Sur together, also align. Adam proposes the ideal of splitting the votes between Jeremy and Natalie to break up their alliance, but people are also weary about Adam and Denise’s new alliance. At tribal, Denise gets two votes and Adam gets one, but the rest go to Natalie. She’s voted out and off to the Edge of Extinction, but before she goes, she gives her fire token to Jeremy.

Meanwhile, at Dakal, Tony restrains himself from leaving the group to look for idols so he doesn’t put a target on his back, and Yul expresses interest in working with Sophie. He recalls that Tyson, Rob (and, indirectly, Amber) and Kim previously played in a poker tournament together, and she points out that Tony, Sandra and Sarah have all played together on a previous season. Yul secretly organizes a secret alliance with one-time players (himself, Wendell, Sophie and Nick), and reveals plans to use Sandra and Sarah to vote with them, without actually including them in the alliance.

The next immunity/reward challenge requires the players to row a boat to collect numbered tokens, complete an obstacle course in the water, then complete a three-ring ring toss. Dakal is ahead the entire challenge, but Jeremy pulls through at the ring toss for Sele, and they win. At the Edge of Extinction, Natalie finds a hidden immunity idol and learns that she can sell it to someone on the losing tribe (Dakal) for one fire token. She chooses Sandra and Sandra agrees to the deal.

At camp, Amber aligns with Tyson and Kim (the “poker alliance”), and Yul’s alliance is strong. Several people are targeted around camp, and, with the safety of her idol, Sandra spreads a lot of rumors. She tells Tony that Tyson is targeting him, which, of course, makes Tony want Tyson out. Once Tyson learns that his alliance is on the bottom of the tribe, he agrees to vote out Kim or Amber so that Yul will save him, but Tony is not convinced.

At tribal, Kim insists that there is no “poker player alliance,” and urges the tribe to be more fearful of other relationships that are actually much closer. Sandra feels safe enough not to play her idol (it’s good for the next three votes). Nick gets one vote, Kim gets three, and Amber gets the rest, so she’s off to the Edge of Extinction. She gifts her fire token to Rob before leaving.