Tonight on CBS their Emmy Award-winning series Survivor airs an all new September 24, season 29 premiere called, “Suck It Up and Survive.” On tonight’s show eighteen castaways compete with and against loved ones in a “Blood vs. Water” style competition that reintroduces Exile Island to the game.
For those of you who are not familiar with the show, similarly to Survivor: Blood vs. Water, this season will feature pairs of loved ones competing against each other but, unlike Blood vs. Water, all of the players will be new. The season was filmed in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the same location as Survivor: Nicaragua and Survivor: Redemption Island. This season will see the return of Exile Island, which was first featured in Survivor: Panama and last used in Survivor: Tocantins. In lieu of a reward challenge, a castaway and their loved will square off in a duel. The loser is sent to Exile Island, while the winner earns reward for his or her tribe and must send one of their tribemates to Exile Island as well. Exile Island also holds a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol planted somewhere near the tribal camps.
On tonight’s show eighteen castaways compete with and against loved ones in a “Blood Vs Water” style competition that reintroduces Exile Island to the game. In the opener, the 18 players arrive in Nicaragua and participate in their first challenge and the return of Blood Vs Water with the absence of familiar faces, at least Survivor ones is going to be really exciting.
Tonight’s season 29 premiere looks like it is going to be great and you won’t want to miss it, so be sure to tune in for our live coverage of CBS’s Survivor: San Juan del Sur – Blood vs Water episode at 8:00 PM EST! While you wait for our recap hit the comments and let us know how excited you are about the return of Survivor. In the meantime, enjoy a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below.
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On #Survivor, Jeff announces that they decided to do another blood versus water because the first go round was so compelling. He flies his chopper over the beach. Each pair of competitors has been given a flint to practice making fire. It’s day zero and they get a note saying they need to practice making fire and shelter and that this may be the only night they’ll get to spend together. They are also told to leave the flint and steel behind when they go.
John Rocker is introduced and they remind us of the controversy that the media stirred up around him. He doesn’t like being called a bigot and says those are fighting words. His girlfriend Julie thinks people won’t look past her looks. Baylor and Missy, mom and daughter try to make fire but Baylor panics when she sees monkeys. Baylor says her mom’s many divorces have made their bond stronger.
Brothers Drew and Alec are always competitive. They cut off some hair to use as tinder for the fire and quickly get it going. Farmer Dale and daughter Kelley are working on their fire. She tells her Dad to get going. They’ve had an up and down relationship and Dale is hoping this will strengthen their relationship. Josh and Reed are Broadway performers and are Survivor fans.
Jeff says they have 39 days to fend for themselves. Jeremy the firefighter gets their fire started – he’s been trying to get on Survivor for 10 years and his cop wife Val is ready to fight him for the win. Former Amazing Race competitors and twins Natalie and Nadiya think the prior competition prepared them but know this will be harder. They are struggling to make fire and failing.
Keith and Wes, Louisiana firefighters, are working on their fire but lost their striker and Keith blames his son. They blame each other and each insults the other then laughs. After a night spent with their loved ones, the sun rises on day one. Jeff welcomes the nine pairs of loved ones to #BloodvsWater. He asks who made fire and most raise their hands.
Reed and Josh tell him they’re not surprised they could make fire. They tell him they prepared. Wes and Keith tell him they lost their striker and couldn’t make fire. He says they also broke their flint in half. Jeff says it’s hard to break flint. He asks Natalie and Nadiya who’s in trouble and they tell him they learned on Amazing Race not to judge books by covers.
Jeff says it’s time to divide into tribes. He hands out packets and the orange buffs are Coyopa and blue is Hunahpu. They hug their loved ones and move to their tribes. John says this is like Civil War brother versus brother. Keith recognizes him and thinks to himself that John is an ass and was when he played for the braves.
Val says she doesn’t need her husband’s help or protection. He says we’ll see. Jeff tells them the game has started. It’s time for the first reward challenge. One person from each tribe will run through a wooden cub and untangle a rope. This will loose a platform then another obstacle will release another obstacle. Both must be dragged across the line. They rock paper scissor to see who goes first.
Jeremy is put up for the blue. Jeff tells him he’ll compete against his wife. Val comes over. Jeff says they’re playing for fire and a bag of beans. He says the loser will go to Exile Island. Val says she’s there to play. They get ready to start. Jeremy works quickly as does Val. Val seems to have an advantage because she’s small and nimble. They seem to be pretty evenly matched. He pulls ahead a little because of a height advantage.
He gets the first ring and she’s tangled. Jeremy starts tossing the ring to lasso the first platform. She finally gets up and over and has her ring. Val gets hers hooked and it moves a little then slips off. Jeremy manages to drag his toward him and finally grabs it. He has the first one in hand. Jeremy is back getting the rope and now has his second ring. Val lassos the platform and drags it to her.
Jeremy is working on the second one. He loops his but it slips off. She gets her first one and now has to get her second loop. He catches the second one again and it’s sliding to him. He has it in hand and beats his wife. He wins reward for his tribe and sends his wife Val to exile island. She does not look happy. Jeff calls Jeremy over and tells him he just proved his value to his tribe.
He asks how he feels. Jeremy seems sad and tears up. Jeff asks Val what she thinks. She says she feels bad for her husband but says she’ll be back and says she’s a fighter. Jeff tells him to send one person from his own tribe to join his wife on exile island. Jeremy chooses Keith because he says he thinks he can take care of his wife.
Jeff reminds him that Keith lost his striker but Jeremy says that was his son’s fault. Keith is teary too and says he knows all of them will go through this. He says he hates to leave, but they’ll all make it work. Keith goes to stand by Val and Jeff tells them to head to Exile but will be back for the first Immunity Challenge. Jeff hands out maps to their camps. Jeremy says this was his worst nightmare – to do this to his wife.
Hunahpu heads down the beach to their camp. Reed is excited when they see they have nails and other stuff to help build. They also laugh about the rusty stuff that may give them tetanus. They all give Jeremy props for winning the challenge. Jeremy gets teary again and says his friends back home are going to kill him for crying out there. He’s upset because he didn’t take care of his wife.
He heads to talk to Kelley and they make a tentative alliance then to Natalie. They both ally with him. He then goes to Missy who thinks Jeremy is a good guy. He’s making alliances with all women. Over at Coyopa, they talk about what they need to do and Josh is excited that he’s there and has a machete. They chat and find out that they are in the younger group except John at 40 and Dale at 50.
Dale notices that they are segregating by age. Nadiya says she’s just going to call him Dad. Dale says he doesn’t get a lot of visitors on the farm and isn’t used to crowds. He goes to get water and finds something tied to it and pockets it. He doesn’t think it’s an idol but might be useful so he keeps it. He uses his glasses to try and start a fire. He says the humidity is killing it.
He’s getting upset that he can’t start the fire. Josh works on it another way. Baylor says she’s never seen the glasses method work. Dale snaps his glasses to double the lens power. He sacrificed his vision to try and start the fire. It seems to be working. He gets it started and runs to the fire pit with it and they have flames. They all cheer him.
Josh says the first thing they needed he provided and that took the target off him. John calls him a bad ass. Dale says this may have pulled him up the food chain. On #ExileIsland, Val is worried she may be first to be voted out and says this place sucks. She and Keith go to check it out. They go try and find some shelter and Keith isn’t happy to be there either.
They see two urns and a sign that says they each must choose one. Each has a note. Hers is a clue for an idol back in camp and Keith’s is blank. He asks what hers says. She says it’s about camp. She doesn’t let him read it. Keith thinks if it has something to do with her tribe, he doesn’t have to know. He must not be real bright. He tells her he’s a firefighter like her hubby. He hopes this will help him bond once he gets back to the camp so he’s not voted out.
At Hunahpu, Drew takes control of the shelter construction even though he didn’t want to. He says it needs to be “levitated” off the ground (genius!). He talks about how he was a model in Europe and is kind of a big deal. Julie thinks he’s arrogant and doesn’t need to be in charge of the shelter. She thinks he’s just a young, dumb guy.
Over at Coyopa, Wes tells Alec he thinks he recognizes John. The Braves were his favorite team. Then he goes and asks John. He says his name is Wetland. John says he’s going to lie about who he is because he wants anonymity. Wes persists and won’t leave John alone. He tells him he looks like someone he saw on TV once. He says it was back in the day when the Braves were awesome.
John admits it’s him but asks him to keep it on the down low. John is worried Wes won’t keep it secret and wonders if he should try and get him voted out. At Coyopa on Day 3, Josh’ eye is burning and watering painfully. He says he just has to suck it up but he’s uncomfortable. Baylor hopes she doesn’t get it from him and says it’s not a good sign.
He says there are some plants out there that will do this and they wonder if some of the roofing leaves had sap. They start to remove the leaves just in case. There are also scorpions and other things that have them concerned. At Hunahpu, Jon is calling to the monkeys and goofing around but then talks in his confessional about how his Dad is dying of a brain tumor. He says it was hard to come to Survivor since his Dad is dying but his Dad is a big fan of the show.
It’s time for the first #ImmunityChallenge. The tribes stream in with their banners and Val and Keith return from Exile to join them. The tribes applaud them and they get hugs in greeting. Jeff asks Val how it was for two days. She says it was desolate but she and Keith bonded. Jeff says he hopes they can each now find a spot within their tribe.
They have to race through obstacles then retrieve pieces to get to the top of a giant tower. They need rope, pegs then just their bodies to scale it. At the top, they have to solve a puzzle. He shows them the immunity idol and says tonight will be the first person voted off of Blood vs Water. They begin. The teams race off and scramble under the obstacle. They are knocking each other down as they scramble.
Alec is hurt and others are cut up. They lift Baylor up to get the bags for her tribe and she gets them down quickly. Julie is not as fast and they pick up Kelley. Hunahpu is in second. They have to throw bags up top. John is throwing for his tribe and Keith for his. John nails it for Coyopa. He begins to scale the wall. Wes follows him. Drew takes over for the other tribe. Coyopa has a good lead.
Jaclyn is slow on the wall as Drew finally gets it for the other team. Drew scrambles up the wall the Jon. All of Coyopa make it up the wall. The next level is up pegs. Josh scrambles up first. Hunahpu is gaining ground. Coyopa has made it up the second wall. For the third wall, they have to make it up however they can. John is letting people climb up him. They pull John up last.
Alec runs for it and Coyopa is all up and are working on the puzzle. Hunahpu is still struggling on the third wall. Drew finally makes it up and now they are on the puzzle. It’s anyone’s game now. It’s a big, complex, symmetrical puzzle. Coyopa’s last piece won’t fit. Hunahpu thinks they have it but their last piece also won’t fit. Both teams struggle to figure out where they went wrong.
Hunahpu has it finally and wins immunity. Coyopa will be the first tribe going to tribal council. They ask Missy how she feels to be safe when her daughter isn’t. She says Baylor is strong and will pull through. Jeff asks Natalie what she feels. She says it’s tough. He tells Coyopa he’ll see them at Tribal tonight. Dale worries it will be him going home but says he’s the only one that can start fire.
Back at Hunahpu, they are excited to have immunity. Keith is excited to see the camp. He meets the rest of the tribe and is ready to slip in and fit in a little bit. He goes to chat with Jeremy who tells him he owes him for taking care of his wife. Jeremy tells him he’s going to get him back in with the tribe for doing this for him. Keith says he has no idea about the rest of the tribe.
Over at Coyopa, they march back dejected from their loss. John welcomes Val and says they’re glad to have her. Val is worried that her game might be over. She goes looking for the immunity idol based on the clue she got on Exile. Dale sits by the fire and asks Nadiya about the Amazing Race. She says it’s a totally different game because on that game, you are told exactly what to do.
Dale talks to the others and they think they should vote out Nadiya. Dale says he saw her backstab on Amazing Race. Josh just says yes but then Nadiya approaches him and tells him that her sister is working with his boo on the other tribe. He wants to be the person people come to so he’s excited. Nadiya says she counts him as a girl. Josh doesn’t like that and thinks it’s a stereotype.
Val talks to Nadiya and Missy about an all-girls alliance. They agree it’s time they try this and Nadiya says they can pull in Josh. They discuss who they can lose and Baylor says Dale can go. They remind her that he starts fire and she reminds them that they will get flint tonight. Baylor goes to Josh to talk about who to vote. He tells her the guys are after Nadiya. She tells him the girls want Dale.
Josh wonders which alliance would get him further. He knows sometimes the swing vote person can end up in the worst position. He thinks he may not decide which way to vote until Tribal Council. It’s Night 3 and Coyopa streams in to get their torches and they dip them in to get fire. Jeff reminds them fire represents life.
Jeff asks John how it feels to be here already. He says it’s unfortunate and tough to be here so quick. Nadiya tells Jeff that they are all getting along well and now they have this huge decision they’re not ready to make so fast. She says they have to look at physical capabilities and make a good decision and keep going. Josh says you should keep positive and motivation going. He says lose this and you’re dead.
Jeff asks her how this compares to Amazing Race. She says it’s so different because Survivor took away all her primal needs including fire, shelter and her twin sister. She says her tribe is her new family and she’s proud of them. Then he asks val about Exile. She says ti gave her time to explore and find things. Jaclyn says she sees that the guys are bonding a lot.
Jeff asks Dale if he feels like an easy target since he’s older. He says it is tough. Dale adds that he has to prove his worth to the tribe – he says that’s why he cracked his reading glasses to make fire. Jeff asks how it felt to finally see flame. Dale says it was a huge sense of relief. Wes tells Jeff that Josh is the most well-liked and that people seek him out.
Nadiya also agrees and says he has the advantage to go between the girls and boys. Jeff asks if this is because he’s gay. Nadiya says this helps. Josh doesn’t like this attitude. Josh says if he’s stuck in the middle, his decision is a big one, but that might not be what’s going on here. Jeff says it’s time to vote and Wes goes first. Josh seems to be thinking hard.
They head back one by one to vote and we only see John vote for Nadiya – he says she had too much experience on the Amazing Race. Nadiya votes for Dale and calls him the odd man out. Those are the only two votes they show. Jeff announces that he’ll go tally the votes. Jeff comes back and asks if anyone has a hidden immunity idol. No one does.
Votes are: Nadiya, Dale, Baylor, Dale, Nadiya, Dale, Nadiya. Tied three votes Nadiya and Dale. More votes are Nadiya and then another for Nadiya and she gets the first #Blindside of Season 29 Blood vs Water. He snuffs her torch and sends her on her way. Jeff says the message is clear that the tribe is still finding itself. He tosses them flint. John catches it and they head back to camp. Nadiya says it sucks to be voted out first and hopes her twin wins it all. She says she’ll be rooting for her all the way.
THE END!
