Tonight on CBS Survivor airs with an all-new Wednesday, December 17, 2025, season 49 episode 13 and we have your Survivor recap below. It looks like Survivor season 49 is going to be awesome, so visit us each week for all the details!
In tonight’s Survivor season, 49 episode 13 called, “A Fever Dream,” as per the CBS synopsis, “Castaways must find where X marks the spot when a boat arrives containing instructions for an advantage for the final five immunity challenge.
It’s anyone’s game during this season’s fire-making showdown. Then, one castaway will be crowned Sole Survivor and awarded the $1 million prize.”
So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back from 8 PM – 9:30 PM ET for our Survivor recap. While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our Survivor news, spoilers, recaps & more, right here!
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In tonight’s Survivor episode, the finale of Season 49 started off with fireworks! Rizo knew he was safe. He had his idol left. His allies were different. The final five was when all idols and advantages had to be played or lost forever.
Soph already played her advantage. Something she heavily regrets. She felt like she made a fool of herself in front of the jury. She wishes she had gone ahead with her original plan of stealing Rizo’s idol because now it was too late. She lost her advantage. She simply got lucky last time that everyone felt it was time for Steven to go home.
Even Steven’s best bud betrayed him. Kristina voted him out. Kristina and Sage were going to side with him when he started badmouthing Kristina. He openly called her game play sloppy.
This was the same person that used her idol to protect him by the way. Kristina would have rode with him to the end until she heard what he was saying. It changed her heart and she got rid of him. Steven was voted out. They were the final five and suddenly a boat came to them. They all had to play for an advantage.
Savannah was in the best shape. She easily found all the clues. She put together the puzzle. She just kept looking down and the advantage was hidden up in the tree. It was actually Soph who found it. It said she had an advantage at the next Immunity Challenge. Her allies were genuinely happy for her.
Yes, they wished they found it first. Savannah doesn’t know that Soph always planned on betraying her. Soph came close to doing so in the past and now she has an opportunity again if the advantage helps her win Immunity.
They later played for said Immunity. Soph’s advantage didn’t seem to be helping because it hadn’t revealed itself. She had to play like everyone else and there was a problem.
It all came down to a puzzle. Soph made up time and then she promptly lost it again as she watched Savannah put together the puzzle. Savannah was the clear lead. Some of them stopped bothering with the puzzle because Savannah was too far ahead. She won Immunity. She now sits among the great women of “Survivor” who have earned Individual Immunity four times.
Savannah could’ve taken anyone with her to the Rewards. She brought Sage. Sage has been on the island for so long without reward or food. She more than earned this. Savannah didn’t even hold the fact that they’ve been on opposite sides of the vote against her.
She was off eating with Sage while Rizo was discussing with Soph and Savannah who they wanted in the final three. They couldn’t beat Sage. Sage was almost as good as Savannah. Both women were great at challenges and its usually them in the final two. And so Kristina made her case.
Sage did the same. Sage could get through to Soph. She reminded Soph of their friendship. She also told her that she wouldn’t last against Rizo and Savannah by herself. She wasn’t wrong. Sage was very strategic. She was just too strategic. It made Soph recall that most of the jury were in her pocket.
They were on the side of the vote with her. She was friends with a lot of them. She also would beat Soph in making fire. Soph had to remember her own game in all of this and she couldn’t decide who was better for it.
Soph really was going to betray Savannah until Savannah won Immunity. She didn’t say that to Rizo or Savannah because as far as they were concerned they’ve all voted together since the merge.
They were a trio alliance that somehow made it to the end. The fact that Soph never got the chance to betray them meant they trusted her explicitly. She was their girl. They have the makings of the final three. Savannah and Rizo were both focused on winning. Soph was the same. They were so close to the million dollars.
They had one tribal before the final four where things would be decided by the fire competition. Both Rizo and Savannah knew they were safe. They could no longer be voted out.
The rest was about skill and so they voted against someone who might actually challenge their skillset. They voted out Kristina because she surprisingly great at making a fire. She wasn’t what the trio needed.
Picking up on Day 25, the final four compete to become the final three and ultimately the winner. Up first was final three. They had to swim, dig, balance themselves on a beam, maneuver a ball in a cage using sticks, and somehow found themselves back at a puzzle. Soph started strong before she fell into dead last. She did right after the swimming bit.
She fell into last position and it had looked like she couldn’t recover in time. Rizo was doing well until the puzzle. He struggles with puzzles. He doesn’t know why. Only he was angry at himself for not practicing before coming on “Survivor”.
Soph then did the impossible. She somehow caught up until she eventually won the Immunity. She earned a spot in the final three. She also received a lot of power by winning. She gets to choose who makes fire and who gets to sit comfortably at the end with her. Soph hasn’t made any big moves.
Her winning Immunity has now added to her “Survivor” resume. It counts a lot with the jury. With Soph winning, it up to the others to figure out who can make fire. Soph didn’t easily say who she was taking with her into the final three.
She instead told them to start practicing making a fire. She firmly reminded them that the million dollar prize was going to be up to skillset. So, they got to practicing.
Savannah quickly learned that she can start a fire. She hadn’t made before then one in the twenty plus days when she first got to that island. She can start it. Rizo can start it. Even Sage can start it. The hard part was building up the fire. They all struggled with it and Soph could only save one of them. The fact that she didn’t immediately choose some of them made them feel bad.
Savannah took it the hardest. She thought she and Soph were best friends. She was surprised when she wasn’t told she was safe. It made her all the more determined to master the fire challenge. Soph telling them what she did had put them on even footing. None of them bothered to hide their skills or lack thereof. They practiced together. They were in this together until Soph said who was safe. She waited till the challenge before she said she was bringing Sage with her. She felt she can beat Sage at the end. She wasn’t sure about either of her former allies.
Rizo pulled off a lot of moves. He never won Immunity, but he did determine who was going home most of the time. Savannah won a lot of challenges. She was a beast at them. Both Savannah and Rizo had impressive resumes.
That’s what made Soph finally break their alliance. Rizo wanted to do the fire challenge. Savannah hated it. She directly asked not to do it and ended up doing it anyways. She and Rizo both made the same mistakes. They constantly tried to build a fire. They also blew out most of the time.
Savannah was the first to realize what she was doing wrong. She rebuilt a flame. She managed to build it into a huge fire and she easily won the final spot in the final three. Rizo also became the final member of the jury. His last request was to be called by his nickname when his torch was extinguished.
Jeff honored that request and called him RizoGod. Rizo being on the jury will help Savannah if not Soph. Soph really didn’t think this one through. She was now paired against Savannah who was tough to beat under normal circumstances. Nevermind this.
The final three in the meantime were given one last day on the island. They all got breakfast. It was a real breakfast with mimosas and more food than they could possibly eat. They got to talking during breakfast about the jury. Steven was the one person that Sage ever truly backstabbed. She admitted as much.
Sage was known as the sensitive player when really she was former military. She put on the sensitive act to survive. It’s okay because Soph did the same. All the times that Soph mentioned wanting to oust someone and she never did.
Rizo was the most strategic player. He came close to winning thanks to the alliance he made day one. He befriended Savannah. Together, they reached out to Soph.
It was strong and it didn’t last the final jury. The women subtly went at each other. Soph tried to take credit for what the trio did. Savannah reminded everyone that it was a trio and that they made decisions together. It was never any one person before tribal. Sage wasn’t attacked and so she got to keep it real. She mentioned she was in a duo with Jawan. He was the social player. She was strategic one.
She let her emotions take her away so that people continued to underestimate her. They underestimated pretty much everyone other than Savannah.
Kristina also tripped Savannah up. She felt her social game was lacking. She asked her to name one family member or partner of everyone on the jury. Savannah had to give best estimate because she truly didn’t know most of the answers. She remembered crucial detail. Like who had kids. Who had a partner. She simply couldn’t remember names.
Sage was also tripped up. Savannah wasn’t alone in that. Steven had asked Sage that she was in a seven person majority alliance and she voted them out.
He wanted to know why. Sage said she had to cut loose dead weight. Its true if not brutally so. She made it to the final three based on what she did. Sage didn’t get dirty with anyone and that’s what they wanted. They wanted the drama. They wanted the tea. And after twenty-six days, the jury chose to name Savannah as the winner because she was a beast at the competition.
Soph didn’t do herself any favors when she kept trying to throw another woman under the bus because Savannah still went on to win a million dollar prize.
The rest was merely chatter around the camp fire.
THE END!