'Survivor' recap: Anika Dhar gets voted out and cries about being blindsided

Survivor featured the Gata Tribe blindsiding and voting out Anika Dhar instead of Andy Rueda during the Season 47 episode that aired Wednesday night on CBS.


Anika, a 26-year-old marketing manager from Santa Rosa, CA, who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, was voted out of her Gata Tribe through a 3-1 vote instead of Andy, a 31-year-old AI research assistant from Buffalo, NY, who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, on Night 10 at Tribal Council.

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"I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty devastated," Anika cried in her final words.

"The worst part is how confident I felt. I got played before I could play them. Yeah, the game came to an end too quickly for me. I don't know, I'm just devastated."


The Survivor broadcast began on Night 8 at the Lavo camp.

The Lavo Tribe, who wore red buffs, featured Genevieve Mushaluk, a 33-year-old corporate lawyer from Winnipeg, Manitoba; Rome Cooney, a 30-year-old E-sports commentator from Corvallis, OR, who currently resides in Phoenix, AZ; Solomon "Sol" Yi, a 43-year-old in medical device sales from Del City, OK, who currently resides in Norwalk, CT; and Teeny Chirichillo, a 24-year-old freelance writer from Manahawkin, NJ.

Teeny felt totally blindsided because she had expected that Rome was going to be voted out. Teeny therefore didn't know if she was on the bottom of her tribe and if she needed to be in survival mode.

Genevieve, knowing Teeny was upset, did some damage control with Teeny, and she was excited that Rome was going to trust her going forward because she had tipped Rome off initially about people targeting him.

Rome, meanwhile, was pleased to see Kishan's torch snuffed, and he confirmed that trust with Teeny was "100 percent broken" after she and Kishan had tried to go after him.


The Gata Tribe, wearing yellow, was comprised Anika; Andy; Rachel LaMont, a 34-year-old graphic designer from Dexter, MI, who currently resides in Southfield, MI; Sam Phalen, a 24-year-old sports reporter from Schaumburg, IL, who currently resides in Nashville, TN; and Sierra Wright, a 27-year-old nurse from Wilmington, DE, who currently resides in Phoenixville, PA.

The Tuku Tribe, wearing blue, was made up of Sue Smey, a 59-year-old flight school owner from Kirkwood, NY, who currently resides in Putnam Valley, NY; Caroline Vidmar, a 27-year-old strategy consultant from Palos Verdes, CA, who currently resides in Chicago, IL; Gabe Ortis, a 26-year-old radio show host from Baltimore, MD; Kyle Ostwald, a 31-year-old construction worker from Cheboygan, MI; and Tiyana Hallums, a 27-year-old flight attendant from Aiea, HI.

On Day 9 of the game, the three tribes met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

Jeff announced that there were only two lanes in the challenge because they were about to do something different in a new Survivor twist.

Jeff conducted a random draw across the three tribes to form two random teams of seven castaways -- just for this challenge. If a team won together, they'd celebrate with a Reward together.


For the challenge, the castaways were required to race under an obstacle, collecting keys along the way. Those keys would unlock a ladder, and then they'd have to work together to maneuver a ladder until it's free.

The ladder would be used to collect five balls from an overheard structure, and then they'd race to the finish, where they'd attempt to land those balls in five different targets.

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The winning seven castaways would be taken to the Survivor sanctuary. In a "Survivor Social Hour," they'd barbecue hotdogs, play cornhole and have the advantage to hang out with new players and maybe forge new bonds that could help them later in the game.

"Losers... you'll head back to your camp and then hope that others will share with you what really went down," Jeff explained.


The teams were Anika, Sol, Rome, Gabe, Andy, Sierra and Genevieve vs. Sue, Kyle, Teeny, Sam, Rachel Tiyana and Caroline. Both groups had members from all three tribes, and so Jeff announced how winning would definitely give those players an advantage.

In the end, Teeny's team won after a huge effort by everybody.

At the sanctuary, Tiyana threw Gabe under the bus, but Gabe was Sue's No. 1 ally. Sue therefore noted how Tiyana had definitely put a target on Gabe's back for the merge.

Caroline also spoke to Rachel and Teeny about how she loved Sue and Sue was a great person to work with. Caroline felt "good vibes" from the other ladies.

Back at camp, Rome warned Sol that Teeny had an Amulet and was going to return to camp with a huge advantage after the Reward. Rome told Sol that he wanted to work with him more than Teeny going forward.


Sol admitted to the Survivor cameras that he had "no idea" what was going on in the game. Sol thought he was great at reading people and convincing people to do things, and so he confessed to eating a big piece of "humble pie."

Genevieve thought Rome was playing a "chaotic" Survivor game, but she decided to keep working with him since they were already bonded in the game.

However, Sol broke the news to Genevieve that Rome had told him that Genevieve didn't want to work with him. Genevieve denied that was the case, and she informed Sol that Rome had told said Sol wanted to go after Teeny.

Sol and Genevieve realized that Rome wasn't exactly being honest, and so this painted a big red flag for Genevieve.

Once Sam returned to his tribe from the sanctuary, he, along with Rachel, shared some of what happened. But he left out the fact Sue had informed him that he and Sierra were running the show at the Gata tribe.

Sierra didn't like hearing that because it took a target on her back. Sierra said she had the opportunity to "kick it" with the men or the girls, and so she had a big decision to make.


"I know I have a lot of power right now, but it's kind of stressing me out," Sierra told the Survivor cameras.

Once Teeny returned to her Lavo camp from the sanctuary, she tried to make her tribemates believe she had kept information about her tribe close to her chest. Teeny, however, had been much more open in reality.

Sol and Genevieve then spoke to Teeny about how Rome had thrown her Amulet under the bus.

"I think Sol and Genevieve have already seen the light on what I've known basically since the beginning of this game, which is that Rome's unpredictability and manner of playing this game is just too chaotic to have long-term," Teeny explained in a Survivor confessional.

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Meanwhile, at Tuku's camp, Sue was feeling bad for Gabe, whom others were going to view as a threat going forward.


Caroline noted that Tuku was "falling apart," and so she tried to think of a way to work together. Caroline feared Gabe had lost all trust with Tiyana, and so she tried to be "the mother hen" by bringing everyone together.

Caroline therefore suggested to Tiyana that she should come clean with Gabe. If Tiyana ignored the advice, she believed no one would trust her, and so she apologized to Gabe for having told two people about his Idol play as a result.

Gabe nodded his head and acted like everything was fine, but he told the Survivor cameras that he never trusted a single thing that had come out of Tiyana's mouth. Gabe insisted they were cool, but he called her apology "B-S."

Gabe proceeded to inform Sue about Tiyana's apology, and Gabe admitted that he wanted to see Tiyana's torch get snuffed.

On Day 10, the three tribes met Jeff for the next Immunity Challenge.

The Gata tribe asked Jeff if they could trade their chickens for 24 eggs because they didn't want to kill and eat the chickens. Jeff, however, negotiated their request down to 18 eggs.


For the Immunity Challenge, each tribe was required to drag a very heavy net full of coconuts and sandbags along a course. Along the way, they'd collect more of those items, making it even heavier.

Once at the finish, they'd throw the sandbags at a puzzle wall until they could knock off every block. They'd then race to reassemble the exact same puzzle.

Gata sat out Anika, and Tuku sat out Sue from the Survivor challenge.

In the end, Tuku won the challenge and the Lavo tribe placed second, sending Gata to Tribal Council.

Andy worried he'd be on the chopping block that night because he was on the bottom and didn't perform well in the challenge.

Anika had lost her vote on a journey, but she was pretty sure Andy was going home that night. However, Sam didn't trust Anika, and so he was ready to rally votes against her.


Andy asked Anika and Rachel to work with him, promising loyalty in return, and so the women decided to sell him a plan. The girls therefore decided to tell Andy that they were going to vote Sam out.

Andy knew that the women had pitched him a fake plan, and so he acted naturally.

"They are believing exactly what I am feeding them," Andy boasted to the Survivor cameras.

Sierra, meanwhile, wanted to keep Anika around, which was different from what Sam wanted to do. And Sam really wanted to keep Andy around, so the pair had to find a way to keep each other calm and get along.

"Is keeping Andy the best for my game?" Sierra questioned.

Sam's hidden Immunity Idol was only good for one more Tribal Council, and so he planned to play it that night. But Sam hadn't even told Andy about his idol, so he knew the move would shock Andy.


Sam started to consider voting out Andy so that Andy wouldn't be mad at him going forward, but he didn't have his mind made up going into Tribal Council.

On Night 10 at Tribal Council, the tribe agreed cohesion was very important come the merge, but Sam pointed out how cohesion was not always a guarantee.

The entire tribe hoped they were part of the "we" and included in the larger plan.

Andy let Jeff know that he was probably in trouble, but he was optimistic he could maybe survive the vote.

Andy was then shown casting his vote for Anika, whom he bragged about "burying." Anika didn't have a vote, but she revealed she would have voted for Andy because she couldn't trust him.

Sam chose not to play his idol, and then Jeff tallied the votes in the following order: Anika, Andy, Anika, and Anika.


Anika appeared totally shocked, and Sam looked at the ground.

"You're kidding me, you guys?!" Anika vented. "Okay."

Anika's tribemates apologized to her, and Rachel insisted that she didn't know on Anika's way out.

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Anika asked who "owned" the decision, and Sam admitted that Sierra, Andy and himself were behind the vote with three votes.

Anika broke down into tears after walking away from Jeff, and the episode's closing credits later showed that Rachel was the only tribe member who had voted for Andy.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski