A Messy Mergatory Uncovers a Threat

In Survivor 46’s “Tiki Man” episode last week, Siga tribe’s Jungle Jem went home despite having an immunity idol in her pocket after a surprise blindside.

The sixth episode, titled “Cancel Christmas,” brought the three tribes together for Mergatory, where the remaining 13 castaways must earn their way into the merge (and the jury if they don’t make it to the final three).  

On the purple Yanu camp and the green Siga beach, the two tribes received notes telling them to pack up because “it’s day 12 and the game is about to change — drop your buffs.” Yanu’s Tiffany made sure to pack her immunity idol, which she named “Idol-isha.”

At the orange Nami headquarters, the quintent were also told to drop their buffs but to stay put and wait for the eight other players to join them. 

As they waited, Hunter snuck away to complete his Beware Advantage mission to find a hidden idol. With minutes to spare before the other tribes arrived, Hunter found the idol in the sand near wooden steps.

Upon arriving, Yanu’s Q checked up on his potential physical-threats alliance he formed in the previous episode with Hunter and Tim. They had formed an alliance of six with themselves and each of their No. 1s: Hunter tapped Tevin, Q chose Tiffany and Tim picked Maria.

Meanwhile, Moriah, who was left out of the Jem blindside plan, looked for a crack among the Nami five and pinpointed Venus, who had also been feeling left secluded from her Nami tribemates. 

Moriah then told Q that she wanted to play like Survivor alum Aubry Bracco, who was known for being a smart strategic threat in her seasons. Q took this information to Hunter and told him Moriah is “dangerous” like Aubry.

At the challenge, the castaways drew rocks to split into two teams, with Tiffany having to sit out because of an odd number of players. 

Host Jeff Probst then asked Tiffany to pick which team she thought would win the challenge. She chose the purple team because they had the most people who were deemed physical threats. 

Though close, the purple Goliaths prevailed over the orange Davids, meaning Tiffany, Kenzie, Hunter, Tevin, Ben, Tim and Q all earned a feast and immunity from the next tribal council. The only players eligible for votes now were Moriah, Venus, Charlie, Maria, Liz and Soda.

At the feast, the winners decided the vote would be between Nami’s Venus or Siga’s Moriah. Back at camp, Tiffany told Venus that she was on the chopping block and that she had to vote for Moriah to stay alive in the game. 

However, Venus wanted to change the target from Moriah to Charlie because she deemed him more of a physical threat. This potential change of plans sent everyone into panic mode ahead of voting time.

At tribal, Moriah made one final plea but feared for her elimination so she played her Shot in the Dark, unfortunately rolling “Not Safe” and losing her vote. In the end, the tribe felt Moriah was a threat and voted her out.

Survivor season 46 airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.