Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X

The 20 new players were divided into two tribes of 10 based on age: those 33 and older formed the Gen X tribe, while those 31 and younger formed the Millennials tribe. Immediately, the tribes were given a few minutes to grab supplies scattered in the jungle. During the scramble, Jessica from the Gen X tribe found an envelope. At camp, she learned that she had found a "legacy advantage," which would give her an unspecified advantage in the game on Day 36; if she were voted out before then, she would privately will it to someone else following her elimination. Both tribes had difficulties setting up their camps due to a severe storm, even after being given tarps for assistance and shelter. After the storm was upgraded to a cyclone, both tribes were evacuated to a safe location for the night, and returned to their camps the following morning.

At the Millennials camp, Zeke led the tribe in building the shelter and making fire. Taylor flirted with Figgy and bonded with Jay; the three aligned, and later added Michelle to their alliance. However, Hannah and Mari were wary of Taylor's alliance and Mari began rallying her other tribemates against them. At the Gen X camp, Rachel's bossiness annoyed her tribemates while David struggled with camp setup; his paranoia led to him searching for a hidden immunity idol, which caused his tribe to distrust him.

• Reward/immunity Challenge: The castaways completed an obstacle course; at two points in the challenge, each tribe could opt to take a "shortcut" to make a portion easier. After completing the obstacle course, two tribemates solved a puzzle; the difficulty of the puzzle increased with each additional shortcut taken. The first tribe to complete their puzzle won immunity and fire in the form of flint.

The Gen X tribe took both shortcuts while the Millennials took one; while the Gen X tribe completed the obstacle course first, they lost their lead after David and Rachel struggled on the puzzle, and the Millennials won immunity. Back at camp, an alliance of Bret, Chris, Jessica, Lucy, Paul, and Sunday formed, and — following an impassioned plea of loyalty from David — they decided to target Rachel. At Tribal Council, David, Ken and the majority alliance of six split their votes between Rachel and her only ally, CeCe, in case of a hidden immunity idol; no idols were played, and Rachel became the first castaway voted out.

At the Gen X camp, David managed to make fire, but both Chris and Paul targeted him for elimination; however, David was able to find the tribe's hidden immunity idol. David later showed Ken the idol, and the two aligned with CeCe against Paul. Paul fell ill from heat exhaustion but, following a visit from the medical team, was cleared to remain in the game. At the Millennials camp, Taylor and Figgy's mutual attraction continued, but Michaela overheard the two kissing and outed them the next morning, which alarmed Jay – Figgy and Taylor's closest ally. Michaela and Figgy proceeded to argue.

• Reward/immunity challenge: One at a time, five tribe members swam out to a platform in the water; as they jumped off, they grabbed a key. After all five keys were gathered, the other four competing tribemates used the keys to unlock a diving mask, and then took turns diving down and unlocking five rings in the water. Then, two of the divers threw the rings onto a series of targets; the first tribe to get a ring on all five of their targets won immunity and a tarp.

The Gen X tribe won immunity. Back at camp, Zeke worked to break up Figgy and Taylor, telling his other tribemates to vote out Figgy. However, Jay alerted Figgy and Taylor, and the three and Michelle decided to target Mari for her intelligence: Michelle recruited Will, and Figgy and Michaela made amends. During Tribal Council, Jay and Michelle quietly tried convincing Hannah to change her vote to Mari; after much noticeable hesitation, Hannah joined the new majority and cast her vote against Mari, who became the second person voted out, leaving Adam and Zeke in shock.

After switching her vote to eliminate Mari, Hannah apologized to Adam and Zeke and expressed a desire to still work with them, but they were frustrated with her for refusing to leave them alone after betraying them. The next day, both tribes were instructed to send four representatives, chosen by random draw, to a summit: Figgy, Jay, Taylor and Will went for the Millennials, while CeCe, Chris, David and Paul went for the Gen X tribe. After the eight feasted, CeCe and David privately chatted with Figgy and Taylor, telling them that Paul was their tribe's leader; David later pledged loyalty to Taylor if they ever ended up on a tribe together, and vowed to turn against his Gen X tribemates. After returning to camp, Figgy and her allies decided to target Zeke while Adam tried convincing Michaela to rejoin her initial alliance and split up Figgy and Taylor, which she considered. At the Gen X camp, the minority alliance of CeCe, David, and Ken continued to campaign against Paul.

• Reward/immunity challenge: Five tribemates carried 40-pound bags filled with coconuts and sandbags through an obstacle course, and then transported them across a balance beam. Then, two tribemates separated the sandbags from the coconuts and threw the sandbags at a series of puzzle blocks on a table. After clearing their table, the last two tribemates then reassembled the puzzle. The first tribe to do so won immunity, blankets, pillows, a hammock and two lounge chairs.

After CeCe struggled on the balance beam, the Millennials gained a lead that they were able to maintain to win the challenge. Back at camp, the majority alliance targeted CeCe; however, after Paul made an offhand comment to Jessica about how he would align with men over women, the women in his alliance — Jessica, Lucy, and Sunday — considered voting him out. At Tribal Council, they joined the minority alliance to eliminate Paul from the game.

The morning after Tribal Council, Lucy told Chris and Bret that betraying Paul was Jessica's idea, and Chris, Bret, Lucy and Sunday targeted Jessica for being untrustworthy. While his Millennials tribemates hunted for food, Adam looked for the hidden immunity idol and found a clue to its location.

• Reward challenge: Two members per tribe raced to retrieve a ring in the water; a tribe scored a point when one of their members had one hand on the ring and one hand on their tribe's starting pole. The first tribe to score three points won steaks, sausages, spices, and vegetables.

The Gen X tribe won the challenge in the fifth round. At the Millenials camp, Adam found the hidden immunity idol. At the Gen X camp, Lucy told David and Ken that Jessica was the next target, but demanded that they didn't talk to anyone else about the plan; Ken didn't appreciate Lucy's bossiness and considered making a move against her.

• Immunity challenge: Three tribemates, one at a time, raced through a series of obstacles to a chair, where five other tribemates used a pulley system to lift them across a vertical structure to retrieve ten puzzle pieces. Once all thirty pieces were retrieved, the three retrievers used them to solve a word puzzle. The first tribe to do so won immunity.

After 45 minutes on the puzzle, the Millennials won the challenge. Back at the Gen X camp, CeCe, David, and Ken tried to rally support against Lucy, but Ken was unable to convince Jessica that Lucy was targeting her. Jessica discussed Ken's claims with Lucy and was further dissuaded after Lucy told her to vote against CeCe. Ken and Lucy later argued: Ken about Lucy's attitude and Lucy about Ken's attempts to vote her out. David considered playing his idol on Jessica to secure her as an ally, which would put his alliance with CeCe and Ken in the majority. After an argumentative Tribal Council, Ken joined Bret, Chris, Lucy and Sunday in voting against Jessica while Jessica voted against CeCe. However, David played his hidden immunity idol on Jessica, nullifying the five votes against her and sending Lucy out of the game with David and CeCe's votes.

After David played his hidden immunity idol to save Jessica, she vowed to be loyal to David and Ken and told Ken about her legacy advantage. The next morning, the Gen X tribe looked for the rehidden immunity idol, which David found. Later that day, the castaways were redistributed into three tribes: CeCe, Chris, David, Michelle and Zeke formed the Vanua tribe, at the Millennials camp; Adam, Figgy, Jessica, Ken and Taylor formed the Takali tribe, at the Gen X camp; and Bret, Hannah, Jay, Michaela, Sunday and Will formed the Ikabula tribe, receiving an extra member due to having to build a camp from scratch.

At Takali, Figgy implored Taylor to hide their romance from their new tribemates, while Adam and Ken bonded. At Vanua, Chris and Zeke bonded over their mutual home state of Oklahoma, and Chris's experience playing on the 2000 Oklahoma Sooners football team. At Ikabula, Gen X-ers Bret and Sunday struggled to integrate with the Millennial majority, and Michaela made fire for the tribe.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways dove underwater to retrieve buoys. Once all five buoys were retrieved, the tribe then threw the buoys into a basket on a floating platform; they also had the option to throw a hook onto the platform to drag it closer. The first two tribes to land all five buoys in their basket won immunity.

After CeCe and David struggled to secure their buoys, Vanua lost the challenge. Back at camp, the Gen X majority of CeCe, Chris and David chose to target Michelle over Zeke, but Chris decided to join the Millennials to target CeCe instead for her poor challenge performances. Chris told David about the plan in an attempt to engender trust, which David agreed to. However, after a paranoid Michelle tried to convince CeCe to target David, David realized that he would be the weakest member of the tribe once CeCe was gone and considered using his new idol to save CeCe, but at Tribal Council, David kept with Chris' plan and CeCe was voted out.

At Ikabula, Jay and Will found the hidden immunity idol, but were caught by Michaela. As the tribes assembled for the reward challenge, Figgy expressed joy upon discovering that her ally Michelle had not been voted out.

• Reward challenge: Three tribemates were blindfolded while a fourth directed them through a course to retrieve a series of puzzle pieces. Once all the pieces were retrieved, one of their blindfolded tribemates — as directed by their caller — completed the puzzle. The first tribe to finish their puzzle won pie, cookies, brownies, milk and iced tea, while the second tribe won a plate of cookies.

Vanua placed first while Ikabula placed second. Back at Vanua, Zeke considered targeting Michelle due to Figgy's comments before the challenge. At Takali, Figgy and Taylor decided to tell Jessica and Ken about their relationship.

• Immunity challenge: Two tribemates raced through a series of balance beams to retrieve three bags of coconuts each. A third tribemate then opened the bags to retrieve three billiard balls, and then joined another tribemate to navigate the three balls through a labyrinth. The first two tribes to land all three balls at the end of the table won immunity.

Michaela's leadership led Ikabula to victory; she then coached Zeke and Michelle, which allowed them to win the challenge for Vanua. Back at Takali, Adam found himself caught between staying loyal to the Millennials by voting with Figgy and Taylor against Ken, or breaking up the relationship by voting with Jessica and Ken against Figgy. Ultimately, at Tribal Council, Adam voted against Figgy, sending her out of the game.

After Tribal Council, Adam talked to Taylor about betraying him and eliminating Figgy, but Taylor still plotted revenge. At Vanua, David showed Zeke his hidden immunity idol in order to secure his loyalty.

• Reward challenge: The tribes maneuvered three balls through a series of obstacles, and then threw them on top of a wooden structure. The first tribe to get all three balls on top of their structure won a steak lunch cooked by a professional chef, while the second tribe to finish won a plate of kabobs.

Vanua placed first and Ikabula placed second. At Takali, Jessica and Ken considered betraying Adam for the less-strategic Taylor. At Ikabula, Bret continued to lie about his occupation — claiming he was a funeral director instead of a police officer — but Hannah and Jay were suspicious, correctly deducing that he was a cop.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways threw coconuts into a basket; once enough coconuts were in the basket, a scale would tip releasing three two-digit numbers; one tribemate would then use the numbers to solve a combination lock and unlock a slingshot. The castaways would then use the slingshot to launch sandbags at targets; the first two tribes to hit all five of their targets won immunity.

Takali and Vanua won the challenge, sending Ikabula to their first Tribal Council. Michaela rallied the Millennials together to split the votes between Bret and Sunday, with Bret leaving on the revote. However, Michaela's planning of long-term strategy alarmed Jay and Will, who worried about her impressive strategic mind and challenge performances, and considered voting her out to eliminate a major threat to win. At Tribal Council, Jay and Will teamed up with Bret and Sunday to blindside Michaela from the game.

After being left out of the plan to eliminate Michaela, Hannah felt on the outs of the Ikabula tribe. The next morning, the three tribes merged into one, Vinaka, and enjoyed a celebratory feast. Jay, Michelle and Taylor reformed the core Millennial alliance along with Will, Jay's closest ally from Ikabula; David reunited with Ken and Jessica, as did Chris with Bret and Sunday, while Millennial outsiders Adam, Hannah and Zeke teamed up.

While the tribe feasted, Adam found an advantage: the ability to steal a reward from another player following a reward challenge. Later that night, Taylor stashed food from the feast, but was overheard by several others; as Taylor snacked, Adam came over in an attempt to align, telling Taylor about his advantage and targeting Will, telling Taylor that Will was Jay's new closest ally. However, out of revenge for Adam voting out Figgy, Taylor told Jay about Adam's plan. Jay then told Will, and the two decided to target Adam; however, they were overheard by Zeke.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways balanced on a narrow perch with their hands, suspended above their heads, shackled to a bar attached to a bucket of water. If the bar was pulled downward, the bucket would drop and the castaway would be eliminated from the challenge; the last player remaining won immunity.

After an hour-and-a-half, Will outlasted Jessica to win immunity, foiling Adam's plan. Chris, David and Zeke — allies from the Vanua tribe — brought their factions together against the core Millennial alliance; while Zeke wanted to target Taylor, David and Chris suggested voting against Michelle as the least likely to have a hidden immunity idol. Shortly before Tribal Council, a paranoid Adam again talked to Taylor about aligning, which alarmed Adam's allies. However, at Tribal Council, the Millennial outsider-Gen X coalition kept to their plan, and Michelle became the first member of the jury.

After Tribal Council, the minority alliance of Jay, Taylor and Will tried to recruit more allies; despite being in opposing alliances, Adam and Taylor promised to protect each others' secrets — Adam about Taylor's food stash and Taylor about Adam's reward-stealing advantage — and Jay reconciled with Hannah.

• Reward challenge: Divided into two teams of six, four teammates raced through an obstacle course to retrieve a key to unlock a box; they then dragged the box through the rest of the course. At the end, one teammate used a machete to open the box to release five bolas, which the two other teammates then threw onto a target; the first team to get all five bolas on their target won a cheeseburger lunch at a poolside resort.

Bret, Chris, David, Ken, Sunday and Taylor won the challenge. On the trip, Sunday reflected on her lack of trust in David, Jessica and Ken. At camp, Jay tried talking to Adam, but Adam taunted Jay about Jay being in the minority alliance; after Jay told Adam's allies about his comments, they considered betraying him. The next day, Sunday and Bret discussed targeting Jessica; Sunday recruited Jay, who promised support from his alliance members Taylor and Will.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways balanced a ball on a wooden bow while standing on a slanted, increasingly narrow beam, moving farther down as the challenge progressed; if they or the ball fell, they were eliminated. The last castaway remaining won immunity.

Ken defeated Taylor to win immunity. Back at camp, the majority alliance decided to split their votes between Jay and Taylor in case of a hidden immunity idol. Sunday realized that her plan to target Jessica was infeasible at that point, and warned Jay. Taylor then told Jay about his stolen food stash and Adam's advantage. Jay encouraged Taylor to tell their tribemates about Adam's advantage in order to spark distrust. At Tribal Council, Taylor falsely claimed that Adam had eaten the food with him, and also revealed Adam's advantage, which Adam confirmed. Ultimately, the majority alliance stayed loyal while the minority alliance turned on each other out of fear; Jay chose not to play his idol and Taylor was voted out.

After Taylor's elimination, Jay returned Taylor's hidden food stash to the tribe, while Will tried building trust with Zeke by telling him about Jay's idol, which Zeke then told his alliance about. Chris, Bret and Sunday decided to turn against David, Jessica and Ken, and targeted Jessica.

• Reward challenge: Divided into two teams of five, the teams stood on a raft and used a rope to pull themselves to an obstacle course, where each teammate retrieved one key. Once on shore, they used the keys to unlock four large cubes with colored sides; the castaways were to stack the cubes such that there would be no repeating colors on each side. The first team to do so won a pizza lunch.

Adam, Bret, Hannah, Sunday and Zeke won the challenge. On the reward trip, Bret and Zeke bonded; at camp, David rallied Ken and Jessica against Chris.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways balanced a statue on a ledge with a pole while standing on an increasingly narrow beam, moving farther down as the challenge progressed; if they or the statue fell, they were eliminated. The last castaway remaining won immunity.

David defeated Zeke to win immunity. Back at camp, both alliances tried courting Hannah and Zeke, though neither told Jay about their plans in order to goad him into playing his hidden immunity idol. At Tribal Council, Jay chose not to play his idol; he voted against Jessica, but the other Millennials sided with David's alliance to send Chris to the jury.

After Tribal Council, Bret — having lost his closest ally in Chris — tried aligning with Zeke, who suggested they eliminate David for being a strategic threat. The next morning, David tried aligning with Bret against Zeke, but Bret told Zeke about David's plan, and Zeke told Bret about David's idol. Zeke then talked to Adam and Hannah about his plan and David's idol, but both were hesitant.

• Reward challenge: Divided into three teams of three, the castaways relay raced through an obstacle course with their hands and feet shackled together; once all three teammates completed their portions of the course, they were unshackled and completed a snake-shaped puzzle. The first team to solve their puzzle won a helicopter tour of Fiji followed by a picnic.

Before the challenge, the castaways drew rocks to determine teams; the castaway who drew the white rock earned exemption from the challenge and automatically went on the reward trip with the winners. David drew the white rock, and Bret, Sunday and Zeke won the challenge. On the reward trip, Bret came out to Zeke, and the two and Sunday affirmed their alliance against David. Hannah later told David about Zeke's plan, and the two decided to target Zeke.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways stood behind a cage door and blindly maneuvered the handle through a maze on the other side; after unlocking their door, they completed a slide puzzle. The first castaway to finish their slide puzzle won immunity.

Jay won the challenge before anyone else was able to unlock their gate. Back at camp, Jessica and Ken confirmed their allegiance with David, while Zeke talked to Hannah about his plan; after she was visibly hesitant to work against David, Zeke decided to target her instead. He recruited Jay and Will to join him, Bret and Sunday, while Hannah tried recruiting Adam to join her, David, Jessica and Ken and force a tie. At Tribal Council, David and Zeke's alliances openly quarrelled and whispered amongst themselves about their respective plans. Before the votes were read, David stood up to play his hidden immunity idol, but decided to play it for Ken after Adam claimed that he overheard Zeke's alliance planning to vote for him. Adam joined David's alliance in voting against Zeke, but Zeke's alliance voted against Hannah, and the votes were tied.

During the revote, Zeke openly asked Jessica to switch sides to avoid a deadlocked tie, but everyone stayed loyal and the votes were tied again. Per the rules, the non-tied castaways were given a few minutes to come to a unanimous decision as to who to eliminate between Hannah and Zeke, but they were unable to do so. As a result, the non-tied and non-immune castaways drew rocks; the castaway who drew the black rock was eliminated. Jessica drew the black rock and was sent to the jury; after her elimination, she privately chose to give her legacy advantage to Ken.

After a heated Tribal Council, Zeke’s now-majority alliance with Bret, Jay, Sunday and Will solidified a deal to pick off David’s alliance one by one. The next morning, Ken found the legacy advantage that Jessica had left for him. Before the reward challenge, the castaways were joined by their loved ones: Sunday’s husband, Jeff; Bret’s father, Don; Jay’s sister, Melanie; Hannah’s mother, Liz; Adam’s brother, Evan; David’s father, Doug; Ken’s brother, William; Zeke’s father, Sam; and Will’s mother, Irene. Adam told his tribemates that he would not use his reward stealing advantage to deprive the challenge winner of time with their loved one.

• Reward challenge: The castaways were attached to a rope threaded through a series of obstacles; the first castaway to finish the course won a private barbeque lunch back at camp with their loved one.

Jay won the challenge and chose to share his reward with Will, Sunday, Adam and their loved ones. Adam’s brother shared information about their mother’s battle with cancer. To show his gratitude to Jay for sharing the reward with him, Adam gave Jay the reward stealer. The next day, Will told David that he was willing to change allegiances and eliminate Zeke for being a strategic threat.

• Immunity challenge: The castaways used two metal handles to hold a metal bar in tension above a tile; the last castaway holding their bar won immunity.

Adam defeated Jay to win the challenge. Back at camp, David’s alliance, with the addition of Will, targeted Zeke. Zeke was suspicious of David’s calm demeanor, and chose to target Ken out of fear that David had found another hidden immunity idol. Will told Ken that Zeke's alliance was voting against him, and a paranoid Ken outed Will’s duplicity, putting both alliance’s plans in disarray. At Tribal Council, both alliances openly vied for Will’s vote. Zeke's alliance voted against Hannah, but Will decided to betray them; Adam played his hidden immunity idol on Hannah, negating the four votes against her, while Zeke was sent to the jury.