'Survivor' recap: Moriah Gaynor plays "Shot in the Dark" but gets voted out as the tribes merge

Survivor featured its castaways voting out Moriah Gaynor, who played her "Shot in the Dark" but wasn't saved, right before the merge during the Season 46 episode that aired Wednesday night on CBS.


Survivor's castaways voted out Moriah, a 28-year-old program coordinator from Boca Raton, FL who currently resides in San Diego, CA, with all but one vote on Night 13 of the game at Tribal Council.

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Charlie Davis, a 26-year-old law student from Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA who currently resides in Boston, MA, had cast the single vote for Venus Vafa, a 24-year-old data analyst from Hill, Ontario who currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.

"I just got voted out of Survivor!" Moriah said in her final words.


"The good news is, everyone spelled my name write, so small victory there. But in this game, my biggest takeaway is you deserve as much as you believe you do. And that's up to you to determine. It's sad to know that this is where my journey stops."

The Survivor broadcast began at Siga's camp on Night 11 after Jemila "Jem" Hussain-Adams' blindside.

The Siga Tribe was comprised of Moriah; Charlie; Ben Katzman, a 31-year-old musician from Miami, FL; Maria Shrime Gonzalez, a 48-year-old parent coach from Dallas, TX; and Tim Spicer, a 31-year-old college coach from Arlington, VA who currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

Moriah admitted Tribal Council didn't go as planned. She had written Ben's name down despite the fact Ben had been very nice to her all along. Moriah hated being on the wrong side of the first vote, and she wasn't sure whom she could trust going forward.

Ben told Moriah not to sweat her vote, and she openly apologized for having made a mistake. Moriah insisted that she had no problem with Ben and was still "Siga strong."


Tim told the cameras that he was still game for "Siga strong" but that Moriah was on the bottom.

Over at Yanu's camp, the Survivor tribe finally had fire and felt new life in the game after winning an Immunity Challenge.

The Yanu Tribe only had three castaways left: Kenzie Petty, a 29-year-old salon owner from Gibraltar, MI who currently resides in Charlotte, NC; Q Burdette, a 29-year-old real estate agent from Senatobia, MS who currently resides in Memphis, TN; and Tiffany Nicole Ervin, a 33-year-old artist from Franklin Township, NJ who currently resides in Elizabeth, NJ.

Suddenly, a man on a boat arrived and handed the tribe a letter that revealed they were going to merge. Tiffany showed off her idol and was excited to make moves with it.

The Nami Tribe then also learned that they were about to drop their Survivor buffs and merge.


The Nami Tribe was comprised of Venus; Tevin Davis, a 24-year-old actor from Goochland, VA who currently resides in Richmond, VA; Hunter McKnight, a 28-year-old science teacher from French Camp, MS; Liz Wilcox, a 35-year-old marketing strategist from Luther, MI who currently resides in Orlando, FL; and Soda Thompson, a 27-year-old special education teacher from Long Island, NY who currently resides in Lake Hopatcong, NJ.

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Before new tribemates showed up on his beach, Hunter had to find the key to unlock a chest that would unveil the Beware Advantage he had been waiting for. Hunter had to work quickly and look for the key in the steps at camp, with his tribemates all sitting underneath the shelter near him.

"There is definitely a ticking time bomb," Hunter lamented to the Survivor cameras. "There's so much to do and so little time."

Luckily, Venus and Soda were distracted with conversation, trying to patch up their relationship before the merge.


Hunter eventually managed to open the box, and he was thrilled to have a hidden Immunity Idol in his pocket. Hunter, who had lost his vote at the previous Tribal Council, recognized that this idol could be the only thing to save him in the game.

Everyone then pulled up on the Nami beach via boat. Kenzie explained how there were five players on Siga, five castaways on Nami, and only three castaways from Yanu "right in the middle." Kenzie suggested that her three were going to be swing votes.

On Day 12, the Survivor castaways congratulated each other and attempted to get to know one another.

Tim didn't want anyone to think that Moriah was an outsider because then he'd lose her as a number.

And Venus said she was "over" Tevin and Soda's alleged attitude to her. She therefore ran up to Q and Tiffany, asking to work with them. Q acknowledged there were "cracks" in Nami, which would work to his advantage.


"Hunter, Tim and myself made an alliance at the Journey, and we all got the opportunity to pull in one person whom we all must protect," Q explained in a Survivor confessional.

"I pulled in Tiffany, Hunter pulled in Tevin, and Tim pulled in Maria. So today, the Journey Six is who I want to make sure is intact. But Hunter and I are still a little wary about Tim and Maria and whether or not they are onboard."

Q talked to Maria next as a result, and Q revealed that Tim had called her his No. 1 person. Maria thought that was a "strange" revelation because she actually considered Charlie to be her closest ally.

Maria admitted in a confessional that Tim was more like her No. 3.

Q realized that if Tim had not pulled Maria into the Journey Six, then he was not to be trusted.

Tim claimed he wanted to work with Q's group of six but a part of him was afraid to "commit too early" to a group in the Survivor game. Q, however, was confused why Tim had waited so long to talk to Maria, and he was definitely worried about that.


On Day 13 of the Survivor game, Venus said she was excited to start making big moves. She felt she had been under Tevin's control up to that point.

Venus set out to find cracks in the Siga tribe, and she immediately bonded with Moriah over their similar personalities. Venus thought Moriah was a sweet girl and that she could trust her going forward.

But most of the merged tribe could see that Venus was playing hard and had a strong social game. Charlie acknowledged how Venus also seemed "wicked smart" and could be a threat to his own personal game.

Q was then shown tracking Moriah down for a chat, and she could tell that he was looking for cracks to worm his way into. Moriah, however, didn't give away that she had been on the outside of Siga's first vote. Moriah pretended to be "Siga strong," and Q admitted he was scared of her.

Q told Hunter that Moriah was "dangerous," especially because Moriah had said she's a Survivor Super Fan and her favorite player is the intelligent Aubry Bracco.

On Day 13, all of the Survivor castaways met host Jeff Probst for the first Individual Immunity Challenge of the season.


Jeff explained that the group was going to be randomly divided into two groups of six players. One at a time, they'd race under a muddy net to a cart. Once everybody was at the cart, they'd push it through a field, collecting very heavy sandbags along the way.

They'd then pile those sandbags one on top of the next and climb up the stack to the top of a tower. Once everyone reached the top, they'd collect a bag of keys and slide down the other side. At the end, everyone would work together to climb a massive boulder.

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Once an entire group reached the top, two players at a time would use one crate of puzzle pieces to solve one section of a three-section puzzle. So everyone was going to work on a puzzle.

The first group to finish would earn their merge buff, a merge meal, and immunity at the next Tribal Council session. While the winners would cast votes at the next Tribal Council session, they could not be voted for.

The losing group would receive no buff, no meal and no immunity. Only one of the losers could be voted out that night.


Since there were 13 people, one Survivor castaway was not going to compete. After drawing the single gray rock, he or she would get to choose one group to side with. If that group won, so would that player. If that group lost, that person would also be vulnerable of going home.

Each Survivor castaway then drew orange, purple and gray rocks. Tiffany picked the gray rock.

The groups were extremely "lop-sided," according to Jeff.

Kenzie ended up on the clearly-strong Purple team with Tevin, Tim, Q, Hunter, and Ben.

The other Orange team was comprised of Moriah, Maria, Charlie, Soda, Venus, and Liz.

Tiffany put her faith in the purple team, and it was the right decision, because that group won immunity and would soon celebrate their victory. However, the team comprised of mostly women were very close!


Once half of the Survivor castaways returned to camp, Moriah didn't want people thinking she was a strategist or a risk to their game. Siga and Nami -- who were even numbers-wise -- were on the chopping block, given all of the original Yanu players were safe.

Tevin had an extra vote to use that night, and he voiced with the winning group how he didn't trust Venus at all. Tim and Ben backed Tevin's concerns, but Siga wasn't throwing a name out there at all.

Tiffany felt that Siga wasn't willing to work with Yanu long-term, and so that was a red flag for them.

Q said Moriah seemed savvy and that worried her, and Tiffany shared how she'd like to get rid of someone who could out-maneuver them. Tim, however, suggested that he wanted to go after Venus first.

"Because they were so willing to vote Venus and more reluctant to say Moriah, it made me want to vote Moriah," Tiffany explained to the Survivor cameras.

It appeared to be the consensus that Venus "was a snake" and Moriah was "a threat," but Tim wanted to protect Moriah as well as Siga's numbers.


Tim cued Charlie into what was going on, and the guys planned to tell Moriah to vote for Venus. Charlie wondered how hard he should push the Venus vote because he had to think about his own game now and how playing aggressively could affect him.

Hunter then told Q that Nami wasn't strong in their numbers because there was a rift between Soda and Venus. Siga was clearly the stronger tribe of the two, and so Q thought about siding with Nami and voting out Moriah.

Q then warned Venus that her name was being thrown out there, and so she tried to convince the tribe to vote out Charlie, who was a smart player and a definite threat. Venus didn't like the idea of voting for Moriah, and she also wanted to split up the guys who appeared very close with each other.

Venus' Charlie pitch complicated things within the tribe, and Kenzie ratted out Venus' plans to Tevin and Q.

"Venus don't want to vote a woman... but I need to make sure Venus understands. I put my game on the line to tell you exactly what's going to happen. If you're going to be ungrateful, I'll send your ass back to Cali," Q vented in a Survivor confessional.

And Tevin wanted Venus to go because he said he couldn't trust her at all.


Moriah also knew her name was on the chopping block, and Tiffany teased that things were "about to get messy" at Tribal Council that night.

At Tribal Council that night, there were 13 people, but seven of them were safe. That meant six Survivor players were in jeopardy of going home.

The six players who were in trouble were Moriah, Venus, Charlie, Soda, Liz, and Maria.

Hunter announced to Jeff how Yanu would be deciding the vote that night since they had the numbers, basically between Nami and Siga.

Moriah, feeling the heat on her, declared how she was "the odd man out" at Survivor's previous Tribal Council for Siga. Moriah confirmed that she was on the bottom and she wasn't "Siga strong" after all.

Q complained about how Moriah had lied to him about being on the bottom before and she should've been honest with him, but Moriah insisted, "Q, I'm serving it up to you on a silver platter here... I'm playing for me, for that merge buff."


Charlie admitted he had heard "whispers" about his name but he ultimately felt closely aligned with some people. Venus also confirmed she had heard her name "a terrifying number of times."

Venus claimed that she could bring a lot of value in the Survivor game, but Moriah argued how she was being the most honest person at the Tribal Council session.

"I'm feeling very satisfied with my message," Moriah concluded.

It then became time to vote. Hunter didn't have a vote to cast, but Tevin had two votes he could cast.

Jeff then tallied the votes, but before he read them aloud, Moriah played her "Shot in the Dark." She had lost her vote to play it, but Jeff deemed her "Not Safe." Any votes cast against Moriah were going to count as a result.

Jeff proceeded to read the Survivor votes in the following order: Venus, Moriah, Moriah, Moriah, Moriah, Moriah and Moriah.


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The episode's closing credits later showed that Charlie had voted for Venus, while everyone else -- except for Moriah and Hunter, who couldn't vote -- had unanimously voted for Moriah.

The castaways then officially merged, and Jeff handed out the Survivor buffs to all the remaining players.







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski