| Sun. | Mon. | Tue. | Wed. | Thur. | Fri. | Sat. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-game | Ep1: "A New Era" | |||||
| Day 0 (Apr. 11) Cast in quarantine in Fiji since late March. |
Day 0 (Apr. 12) |
Day 0 (Apr. 13) Pre-game press interviews? |
Day 0 (Apr. 14) |
Day 1 (Apr. 15) 
Ep.1 RC: Marooning
Tribes must gather six tribe-colored paddles from the barge they're assembled on, then all jump in to the water, swim out to a rowboat, unclip it both ends, paddle it around an achor and back, then grab a flint hanging off the barge. First tribe to do so wins, other tribes get nothing, and have to win their machete, flint, and cookpot by performing a second-chance task (Savvy or Sweat) in camp. Filming begins. |
Day 2 (Apr. 16) 
Ep.1 dilemma: Safety or risk
On the morning of Day 2, each tribe is told to pick one representative. JD (Ua), Xander (Yase), and Danny (Luvu) travel to an island, where they are told to hike to the top of a hill. After doing so, they're told they have a decision to make separately further down the hill. It's a prisoner's dilemma situation: Each is given the choice to risk their vote or keep it. If all three keep it, nothing changes. If all three risk it, all three lose their votes. If it's a split decision, anyone who risked it gets an extra vote, while the person(s) who played it safe gets nothing. In the end, Danny chooses safety, while JD and Xander risk, so they get extra votes. |
Day 3 (Apr. 17) 
Ep.1 IC: Bonus Track
Tribes must go over a net and under a crawl (with sawdust) obstacle, then move heavy bags of puzzle pieces onto a sled. Two people at a time must run ahead and move heavy sandbags off a track and put them in a bin at the end. Then the tribe must push the sled up the track, transfer the bags to a crate, then haul it up a two-story structure. Finally, two people (Shan, Sara; David, Evvie; Erika, Deshawn) must complete a large vertical sunrise/logo puzzle. Results: Luvu has to go back with their sled after one sandbag falls off their pile, and have a huge time disadvantage. They're last to the puzzle, but first to finish it, when Ua (who were leading) neglect to get one puzzle piece out of their bags. TC1 - Abraham voted out (5-1), 17 left. TC2 - Sara voted out (4-1-1), 16 left. |
| Ep2: "Juggling Chainsaws" | Ep3: "My Million Dollar Mistake" | Ep4: "They Hate Me 'Cause They Ain't Me" | Ep5: "The Strategist..." | |||
| Day 4 (Apr. 18) 
Ep.2 (idol) 'advantage': Xander
With everyone else off doing stuff, Xander searches around camp for an idol. He eventually finds the packet labeled (three-way shared idol) Beware Advantage, and after briefly hesitating, decides to open it. Upon doing so, he learns he has lost his vote at Tribal Council until the other two tribes' Beware Advantages have been found, and all three secret phrases have been said at an Immunity Challenge. |
Day 5 (Apr. 19) 
Ep.2 RC/IC: Water Sports
Heather sits out. One person (Xander, Genie, Sydney) must swim to a buoy at the end of the course, dive down, and unclip a key. Then two more tribe members must swim out and cross a series of water obstacles (net, balance beam). The last two people (Deshawn, Erika; Ricard, JD; Evvie, Voce) must use the key to unlock and complete a turtle puzzle. This time, the first two tribes to finish win immunity and fishing gear (first place wins more gear). Results: Tiffany is slow on the beam, costing Yase time. Luvu wins again, Ua is second. After the challenge, Luvu also gets the chance to send two people away to "make a decision" (the Risk/Protect one). They choose Evvie and Deshawn. 
Ep.2 dilemma: Risk/Protect
Evvie and Deshawn are taken to the same island as in Ep.1, and must make the same hike up the hill, and the same decision to risk or protect their votes. Evvie tells Deshawn that Evvie is definitely protecting, with Yase down to four active votes already, so he can have a free extra vote if he chooses Risk. Evvie also tells Deshawn that Yase will likely vote out Xander, and explains the Beware Advantage, info Deshawn can put to good use back at Luvu. TC3 - Voce voted out (3-1), 15 left. |
Day 6 (Apr. 20) 
Ep.3 idol 'advantage': Brad
Brad and Genie are looking for idols at Ua camp, when Brad finds a "Beware Advantage" package, just like Xander's from Yase. Brad quickly opens it, recognizes Xander's "butterfly" script from the previous immunity challenge. He seems unfazed about losing his vote, and gets to work memorizing his broccoli phrase. 
Ep.3 dilemma: Tarp vs. steal-a-vote
On the morning of Day 6, people in each camp (Brad, Tiffany, Sydney) find packages with 'Beware Advantage' on them placed in conspicuous locations near the fire. It turns out the 'beware' part is just deciding to get on a boat that pulls up to camp at night, and this is all just a convoluted way to get three people to this week's prisoner's dilemma. This time, it's a choice between tribal reward (tarp) or individual (a steal-a-vote advantage). If all three choose tarp, each tribe gets a tarp. If all three choose steal-a-vote, they all lose their vote at the next Tribal Council they attend. But if it's split, the people who chose tarp get nothing, while the other get steal-a-vote advantages. In the end, only Brad picks the advantage, and he's the only one who receives anything. But because he also found the (idol) Beware Advantage, he is unable to use the vote steal, so it's useless all around. |
Day 7 (Apr. 21) 
Ep.3 IC: Victory in the Bag
Heather, Erika, Genie sit out. One at a time, tribe members must dive off a dock, swim to a ladder, and cross a slackline over the water, jump off, then swim to the beach, Once all four reach the beach, they must dig up a sack of sandbags (and coconuts) from the sand. Then open the bag, retrieve the five sandbags, and land them on five high perches. Luvu is first to the sandbag toss, Ua second, Yase third. Bags landed: Tiffany-1 (Y1), Deshawn-1 (L1), Xander-2 (Y3), Deshawn-2,3 (L3), Brad-1,2,3 (U3), Deshawn-4 (L4), Xander-3 (Y4), Deshawn-5 (L5, Luvu wins), Xander-4 (Y5, Yase second). Luvu and Yase also win fruit. TC4 - Brad voted out (3-1), 14 left. |
Day 8 (Apr. 22) 
Ep.4 RC: Ball rolling, landing
Erika, Naseer sit out. One at a time, contestants must toss a ball up into an overhead gutter, run through an obstacle, then catch the ball at the other end, before it hits the ground. Then the tribe must dig under a log, and go through. Finally all four balls must be landed in an overhead trough. Ua takes an early lead, wins. Yase turns their final ball-landing task over to Tiffany, who lands all four balls. Heather struggles mightily with the first task for Luvu, never completes it. Ua wins camp visit, Yase second, gets a fish. |
Day 9 (Apr. 23) 
Ep.4 IC: Kenny Log-Ins
Heather, Sydney sit out. As mostly seen in HvHvH. Contestants must swim to a platform, untie a bag of logs, and repeat for two more bags. Then take the bags to the beach, untie tie them, and push the logs through a tunnel, pushing boards out the other end. One of the boards contains a key that unlocks three rings, which the tribes finally must land on three pegs. Rings landed: Tiffany-1 (Y1), JD-1 (U1), Liana-1 (Y2), Naseer-2 (L2), JD-2 (U2), Naseer-3 (L3). Yase wins, Luvu 2nd. TC5 - JD voted out (3-1), 13 left. |
Day 10 (Apr. 24) 
Ep.5 Ua idol: Shan
Genie initially finds the Ua Beware idol package, rehidden (in the same spot?) after Brad's boot. She alerts Ricard and Shan, and they collectively decide to leave the package unopened, because with just three people, they can't risk losing a vote, especially with the merge near. After Genie goes fishing, Shan and Ricard reconsider, and Shan opens the package herself, replacing the idol with a fake one, rewrapping the package, and putting it back. She gives Ricard her extra vote to hold, in case the idol isn't activated. Ricard then convinces Genie they'll go ahead and say the words about broccoli at the IC, just to see if anyone else bites. 
Ep.5 Luvu idol: Naseer
As revealed when he talks about being "as nervous as a goat on astroturf" before the next IC, the day before, Naseer found Luvu's idol, just sitting on a branch of tree down by the beach. He reflects on his luck, and the time his daughter Raya spent helping him practice for Survivor by hiding idols for him in their backyard. With Naseer's find, all three Beware Idols are now active. |
| Ep5: "The Strategist or the Loyalist" | Ep6: "Ready to Play Like a Lion" | Ep7: "There's Gonna Be Blood" | Ep8: "Betraydar" | Ep9: "Who's Who in the Zoo" | ||
| Day 11 (Apr. 25) 
Ep.5 IC: Obtacles, slingshots
Deshawn, Erika, Heather; Tiffany sit out. In groups of three, contestants must all cross a high net obstacle, maneuver a rope slide puzzle to release a key (Naseer, Ricard, Liana), unlock a machete and chop a rope to release sandbags, then one person at a time (Naseer/Danny/Naseer; Xander; Ricard) fires the sandbags with a giant slingshot to knock down two targets. First tribe to do so gets a giant tarp and immunity, second gets immunity and a smaller tarp. Targets hit: Naseer 1 (L1), Xander 1 (Y1), Xander 2 (Yase wins), Naseer 2 (Luvu second). 
Ep.5 dilemma: Liana gets Knowledge is Power
Shan and Liana are sent away after the IC to "make a decision." They bond on their hike up the hill, Shan and Liana talk about their tribe's various idols and advantages, and Shan promises to not risk her vote, with Ua facing a three-person Tribal. Liana happily accepts, risks her vote, and upon returning to camp, learns she's won the Knowledge is Power advantage, which allows her - at Tribal Council - to ask one person if they have an idol (or advantage), and if they do, that person has to give it to her. The advantage is good until six are left in the game. TC6 - Genie voted out (2-1), 12 left. |
Day 12 (Apr. 26) 
Ep.6 RC/IC: Keep Digging
Upon arrival, Probst tells the contestants to drop their buffs. It's the merge! Sort of. Contestants draw rocks to divide into teams of 5, with two people unassigned (Naseer, Erika). Blue (Ricard, Evvie, Danny, Deshawn, Sydney) vs. Yellow (Heather, Tiffany, Liana, Xander, Shan). Teams must dig a huge boulder out of the sand, roll it through a series of obstacles, collecting three keys along the way. Then scale a two-tier structure, use the keys to unlock a puzzle, solve the word puzzle. Blue has a huge lead throughout, wins. They get merge buffs, a feast, and immunity from the first individual challenge. They choose either Naseer or Erika (Naseer) to join them. The other (Erika) gets exiled for 2 days. |
Day 13 (Apr. 27) 
Ep.6 exile: Erika's hourglass
Approximately 24 hours into Erika's two-day stay on Exile Island, Probst arrives in a boat. After making Erika cry talking about her isolation and separation from the merge goings-on, he tells her she also is receiving great power. He presents an hourglass, which, if she breaks it with a hammer, will reverse the events of the previous day's IC: The winning team will now lose, and have to compete in the individual IC, while she and the losing team will be immune. He tells her to make her decision before she leaves the next day, and she will announce her choice at the challenge. |
Day 14 (Apr. 28) 
Ep.7 IC: The Game is Afoot
Erika uses her advantage, so now only Naseer, Danny, Deshawn, Evvie, Ricard, and Sydney must compete. As before, players must build a three-tier tower using only their feet, then place a flag in the middle, without knocking any blocks over. Results: Sydney, Evvie, Deshawn, Ricard all hit the third tier about the same time, with Naseer close behind. Evvie, Sydney and Ricard all placing their flags at same time, but Ricard wins. Syndey second. TC7 - Sydney voted out (5-4-3), 11 left. |
Day 15 (Apr. 29) 
Ep.8 RC: Puzzle Pieces
Random draw for teams. Erika initially draws gray rock, can't compete. Xander swaps out for her. Blue (Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Evvie, Ricard) vs. Yellow (Naseer, Heather, Tiffany, Liana, Shan). Players must jump off a dock, climb up a ramp, jump off, and dive to release four puzzle pieces (4-piece pyramid puzzle). They then swim the puzzle pieces to a boat. When all are in the boat, pull a rope to reach a dock, then work the puzzle. Evvie and Erika do the puzzle for blue, and Evvie knew it from past seasons. Blue wins easily, they get grilled cheese back in camp. Xander misses an advantage under the sit-out bench. |
Day 16 (Apr. 30) 
Ep.8 IC: Keep on Your Toes
Probst negoiates four people (Ricard, Shan, Naseer, Xander) to sit out, in exchange for rice for the tribe for three days. Order out: 7. Deshawn, 6. Erika, 5. Tiffany, 4. Danny, 3. Liana, 2. Heather, 1. Evvie wins! In barely 4 minutes. No ChA charged for the sit-outs, since they were coerced. TC8 - Tiffany voted out (6-2-2-1), 10 left. |
Day 17 (May 1) 
Ep.9 RC/IC: Uncomfortably Numb
Rock draw to split the contestants into two teams. Last team with someone still in the challenge wins reward: chicken and beef stew back at camp. Challenge is also for individual immunity, with the last person from each team winning. Teams: Blue (Danny, Xander, Liana, Evvie, Deshawn) vs. Yellow (Heather, Naseer, Ricard, Shan, Erika). Order out: B5. Evvie, Y5. Heather, B4. Liana, Y4. Shan (all quickly), B3. Danny, Y3. Ricard, Y2. Naseer, so Y1. Erika wins! (She drops shortly after this). [33 min.] B2. Deshawn, so B1. Xander wins, also wins stew for the blue team. Yellow is sent to Ua camp until Tribal. TC9 - Naseer voted out (3-3; 4-0), 9 left. TC10 - Evvie voted out (3-2), 8 left. |
| Ep10: "Baby with a Machine Gun" | Ep11: "Do or Die" | Ep12: "Truth Kamikaze" | Ep13: "One Thing Left to Do ... Win" | |||
| Day 18 (May 2) 
Ep.10 RC: Starfish
Contestants start off on a dock, tethered to a rope. They must dive in, swim to the beach, where they must follow the rope around a series of obstacles. Once through, they must solve a star puzzle. First person to do so wins a trip to the Survivor Sanctuary, where they will eat pizza under the stars, then spend the night in a shelter with blankets and pillows. Order to puzzle: Ricard, Liana, Deshawn, Danny, Erika, Xander, Shan, Heather. Ricard wins over Deshawn. He takes Shan, Heather, Xander with him. |
Day 19 (May 3) 
Ep.10 IC: Ball on pole
Contestants must stand on a narrow beam, while balancing a ball on a disc. If they or the ball falls off, they're out. At regular intervals, they must move down to a narrower part of the beam, and move their hand down lower on the pole holding up the disc. Order out: Rd.1 (5 min., widest part of beam): 8. Liana, 7. Danny. Rd.2 (10 min., narrower): 6. Erika (on transition), 5. Heather. Rd.3 (narrowest) 4. Shan, 3. Deshawn, 2. Xander, 1. Ricard. TC11 - Shan voted out (3-3-2; 6-0), 7 left. |
Day 20 (May 4) |
Day 21 (May 5) 
Ep.11 IC: Balance on the Line
The challenge formerly known as "The Ball Drop," as seen in the Philippines F4 IC. Players can opt out, and should, because the first person out of the challenge has to play "Do or Die" at Tribal Council, and could leave the game without a vote. Heather and Liana sit out. Contestants must hold a ball on a grooved cylinder, using two handles, and wooden blocks on either side of the cylinder. At regular intervals, two more blocks are added, making it harder. Order out: (5 min, 3 blocks) 5. Deshawn (in seconds). Rd. 2 (5 min, 5 blocks) 4. Erika (at the 10-min overall mark). Rd. 3 (infinite, 7 blocks): 3. Xander, 2. Ricard, 1. Danny wins! TC12 - Liana voted out (5-3), 6 left. |
Day 22 (May 6) 
Ep.12 RC: Beach Front Bay Bash
Two teams of three: Blue (Danny, Heather, Ricard), yellow (Deshawn, Xander, Erika). One person (Danny, Xander) must swim, climb a net ramp, dive in and release a set of buoys, bringing one of three team-colored buoys to the finish dock with them. The remaining two people must retrieve the other two buoys. Then one person (Danny/Ricard; Deshawn) must land the buoys in each of three floating baskets. Results: Deshawn lands all three buoys, Ricard 1. Yellow wins their choice of chicken and veggies or desserts. They choose the former for its protein. |
Day 23 (May 7) 
Ep.12 IC: Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Contestants must stand in a coil of rope, and spin themselves to unspool it. Then they must cross a net and a balance beam to retrieve a puzzle piece, then use it to solve a word puzzle (DON'T MAKE THIS NEXT VOTE YOUR LAST). Order to the puzzle: Ricard, Xander, Erika, Deshawn, Heather, Danny. In the end, it's Ricard and Deshawn racing on the word puzzle. Ricard wins his third immunity! TC13 - Danny voted out (3-3; 4-0), 5 left. |
Day 24 (May 8) 
Ep.13 advantage: Erika
After spending the night on a new island with limited supplies following the Ep12 Tribal Council, the tribe receives treemail the next morning alerting them to the "final advantage." Contestants must unscramble a message (Your treasure hangs where the trees love to dance), and only then can they look for the advantage. Erika is last to unscramble the message, but finds the advantage anyway. It gives her an advantage in the next challenge. 
Ep.13 Final 5 IC: Born to Rung
Contestants must run out, use a pole to knock 7 rope rungs off an overhead frame, then use them to assemble a ladder. Then move a bag of puzzle pieces (on a ring) up a second ladder, moving the ring up as they go. Then work a 75-piece Survivor logo puzzle. Erika's advantage is that both ladders start with four rungs completed. Order to puzzle: Erika, Ricard, Deshawn, Xander, Heather. Results: Puzzle comes down to race between Erika and Ricard. Erika wins! She also wins a steak dinner, brings Heather. TC14 - Ricard voted out (4-1), 4 left. |
| Ep13: "One Thing Left to Do ... Win" (finale) | Game over | |||||
| Day 25 (May 9) 
Ep.13 Final 4 IC: Let There Be Rock
As seen in S38: Edge of Extinction. Contestants must stack six cubes on a wobbly table to spell FINAL3, while also walking on a rocking platform. Everyone except Xander drops their stacks at least once. Xander wins. TC15 - Deshawn wins, Heather out via fire, 3 left. |
Day 26 (May 10) 
Final Tribal Council and jury vote
The final three address the eight jurors, defending their games. In the end, Erika wins, 7-1-0, and the result is revealed immediately, on location (mostly due to COVID). Following the reveal, everyone gets pizza and champagne, and they film a live "Survivor After-show" instead of a live reunion in LA. |
Day 27 (May 11) Departure. Contestants head back to the U.S. |
Day 28 (May 12) Contestants return home, resume Instagram influencing. |
Day 29 (May 13) |
(May 14) |
(May 15) |
Historical notes:
- Filming in Fiji again, running from approximately mid-April - mid-May, 2021.
- March 22, 2021: Jeff Probst announces Survivor will soon be filming in Fiji, with quarantine.
- April 9, 2021: Martin Holmes at InsideSurvivor reports filming imminent, 26- or 29-day season?
- May 21, 2021: Martin Holmes at InsideSurvivor reveals half the (rumored) cast: Danny, David, Deshawn, Erika, Ricard, Sara, Shantel, Sydney, and Xander.
- May 26, 2021: Martin Holmes at InsideSurvivor adds two more: Evvie and Genie.
- May 28, 2021: Martin Holmes at InsideSurvivor adds the remaining 7 contestants (Brad, Eric, Heather, Jairus, Liana, Naseer, and Tiffany).
- June 26, 2021: Martin Holmes at InsideSurvivor reveals the three tribe colors and names (blue - Luvu, green - Ua, yellow - Yase) and how the contestants are divided among them.