Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Survivor 47 Episode 8.

Get your appetites ready and your cash tubes prepped for the Survivor auction! Created by Charlie Parsons, this mainstay of the legendary CBSreality series returns to offer this cast of starving competitors a chance to win some of the filling food they’d been missing — for a price, of course. Yet despite all of this excitement, most of these players will be coming into the auction fighting off tears; after the heartwrenching elimination of Tiyanna Hallums in the last episode, it’s impossible for most of this cast not to feel at least a little empathy for one of their friendliest personalities getting voted out in such a shocking blindside. It’s a testament to how hardcore not only this entire game is but especially these players, a group who have been ready from the start to do whatever it takes (and betray whoever they need to) in their fight for $1,000,000. Will this thrilling gameplay last, or will these contestants calm down once they realize how easy it is for the target to be placed on them?

It’s Time for the ‘Survivor’ Auction!
Image via CBS

Eliminations are almost always sad on Survivor, with this episode being no different as it starts with the tribe returning to their merged beach still reeling after Hallums’ tearful goodbye — well, most of them. While everyone was walking back in stunned silence, Rachel LaMont had been relaxing at camp, happy that the Safety Without Power she’d been anonymously gifted kept her safe in a scenario with a high chance of sending her home. Eventually, Solomon “Sol” Yi admits that he’s the one who gave it to her. She thanks him profusely, and the pair agree to ally with one another, while the rest of the group starts to discuss similar partnerships as they enter the jury portion of the game. These conversations go into the next morning as folks try to solidify safety before the next tribal council, though they’re interrupted when Caroline Vidmar appears with an announcement: it’s time for the Survivor auction!

A “New Era” spin on the classic auction sees the castaways dash off into the forest to discover tubes of money they’ll be using to buy items. Everyone manages to find some cash to hopefully buy the delicious food they know will be offered… well, almost everyone. Andy Rueda continues his trend this season of not really being aware of his surroundings, with the man being unable to find a single tube and going into the auction with $0. While excited about the chance to eat some real food after starving for weeks, the players are reminded of the rules for this version of the auction: the person with the most amount of money at the end loses their vote, and host Jeff Probst will pull a random, hidden number at the beginning to see how many items they’ll actually be selling off.

It’s a precarious set of parameters that has many of the players trying to get rid of their money as fast as possible, with Sol spending hundreds on some potato chips and Teeny Chirichillo emptying their entire wallet on a (admittedly tasty-looking) bowl of mac and cheese. This auction was filled with entertaining moments, like Kyle Ostwald breaking years of vegetarianism for a bite of some buffalo wings and Sam Phalen ultimately losing his vote for having the most money at the end, but there was one shocking moment that only the viewers got to see: LaMont finding an advantage in her burger and fries.

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A ‘Survivor’ Entrée With a Side of Advantage
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Survivor has hidden advantages and idols in wild places before, but never have they placed them in as creative (and slightly unsanitary) of a place as within the food sold at auction. A discreet read back at camp informs LaMont that she can find an immunity idol curled up within the tribe’s tarp, a huge piece of fabric that she quietly tears open to retrieve the item while everyone’s back is turned. This discovery has her feeling giddy as they enter the immunity challenge, an endurance competition that has the players grip a bar tightly, holding up a suspended bowl that weighs a fraction of the weight they were before the competition began. This challenge offers two immunity necklaces, one for the last man able to hold his weight the longest and one for the last woman, and in the end, it’s awarded to Sue Smey and Ostwald in what becomes the man’s third win in a row.

People begin conspiring as soon as they return from the challenge, practicing the seminal Survivor tradition of talking behind one another’s backs as they plot who to vote out that night. It quickly becomes clear that these alliances aren’t as set as most people think; while Phalen and his #1 partner Sierra Wright think Rueda is loyal enough that they can tell him to vote Gabe Ortis, the man has secretly been resenting them for days after he found out they perceive him as a bumbling lackey. He begins pitching them both as a target to others, with most of the tribe going back and forth over which is more dangerous in the long term — and this isn’t even the only targeting going on! Unaware that she has an immunity idol, Genevieve Mushaluk — another of Phalen and Wright’s supposed partners — speaks with Smey and Vidmar about getting out LaMont (the duo’s close ally) as she sees the woman’s easy charisma and strategic mind as a huge threat in the game. There’s back and forth among everyone and nothing seems solidified as they walk to tribal council, except for one thing: one of these three won’t see another sunrise in Fiji.

The ‘Survivor’ Jury Starts With a Devastating Tie

While there’s rarely a calm tribal council on Survivor, this one was particularly dramatic as people openly talked about the secret plans they made and the metaphorical wars they were waging against one another. They went to vote and, to everyone’s shock, the nervous LaMont played her Shot in the Dark; she noticed the strange conversations going on and decided to use her random chance at safety rather than her assured immunity idol, losing her vote for what turned out to be a small scroll that said NOT SAFE. Luckily for her, she wasn’t the ultimate target for the night, as the power duo of Sierra and Sam had to watch in shock as four votes were cast for each of them in a deadly tie. They went to do a re-vote and, because Sam didn’t have a vote, Sierra was allowed to use hers to throw one onto her #1 ally — but that wasn’t enough. The tribe decided she was the more lethal player and, to the dismay of this pair who’d felt so strong only minutes, they all decided to vote her out as the first member of Survivor 47’s jury.

It’s yet another shocking blindside, as a furious Phalen and Wright had all of their so-called allies turn on them! Sierra’s elimination severed what had become one of this season’s strongest alliances, though this vote didn’t just serve to eliminate her from the game. With the countless conversations that led up to it and the many names that were thrown out as potential targets, this vote revealed just how fractured and ferocious this tribe of castaways is as they enter the latter half of the game. Alliances are being broken left and right as any player with an ounce of power is having targets placed on them by those they trust the most. Every season of Survivor is cutthroat, but these players combine that intensity with a deadly knowledge of whose dreams they need to crush to make it one more day — a bloodthirsty spectacle that, for everyone at home, is impossible not to watch.

A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.Cast Jeff Probst Writers Jeff Probst Network CBS Streaming Service(s) Hulu , Netflix Release Date May 31, 2000 Rating Seasons 45 Studio Story By Jeff Probst Directors Jeff Probst Showrunner Jeff Probst Expand

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