The 18 new castaways were welcomed by Jeff before being informed of their first challenge, as well as the fact that they would start with meager supplies.

• Reward Challenge: Tribes had to find six paddles then jump into the ocean toward their boat. After unclipping the front and back of their boat, tribe members worked together to paddle around a buoy and to a flint. The first tribe to get the flint won it as well as a pot and a machete.

Luvu jumped to an early lead, while Yase did not put up a contest. However, Luvu failed to unclip the anchor of their boat, leading to Ua pulling away with the victory. While setting up the tribe's camp, JD started Ua's fire and forged bonds with his tribemates, but some of them saw his attempts as overbearing. Shan, however, approached JD for an alliance.

As punishment for losing the opening challenge, Luvu and Yase had four hours to either solve a puzzle or nominate two tribe members to carry ocean water to fill two large buckets. Both tribes selected the latter task; Danny and Deshawn went for Luvu, while Voce (reluctantly) and Xander went for Yase. While both pairs were successful, Naseer reported to his tribemates that he believed the former pair were looking for an idol during the task, which set the two of them against Naseer. At Yase, Abraham expressed concerns about Tiffany's performance in the opening challenge, and Liana relayed this to Tiffany.

On Day 2, the three tribes were asked to pick a representative to take a journey; Danny volunteered for Luvu, JD was sent for Ua by random draw, and Yase agreed on Xander. The three bonded during a long walk, then were faced with a private decision to risk or protect their vote. Only Xander was shown choosing to risk, meaning he received an extra vote advantage. JD's story about protecting his vote upon coming back to camp was not believed by Ricard.

• Immunity Challenge: Tribes went over a net climb and under a low beam, then worked together to transport large bags of puzzle pieces using a push cart. They then maneuvered the cart up flights of stairs with the bags before solving a 3D jigsaw puzzle. The first tribe to finish won immunity. The losing tribes had to forfeit their flint until the next immunity challenge.

Luvu came from behind to win the challenge. At Yase, Abraham worked on convincing the tribe to vote out Tiffany to preserve strength, while Tiffany searched for an idol. Evvie, who had bonded with Tiffany, likewise tried to sway tribemates to vote out Abraham. At Ua, Sara and JD targeted each other; while Ricard sided with Sara, Brad stated that Sara and Shan were on the chopping block due to faltering in the puzzle. Meanwhile, Shan was torn on who to vote out.

At Yase's Tribal Council, tribe strength was discussed, and a new twist was introduced to the viewers. Shot in the Dark allowed castaways to take a 1 in 6 shot at being safe from the vote, but if they took the chance, they would lose their vote. Xander discovered his extra vote, and Yase stayed united to vote out Abraham. At Ua's Tribal Council, whispering between Sara and Shan started a live tribal in which Brad was targeted for his earlier statement against the two women, while JD tried to convince Shan that voting out Brad was a bad idea. Shan convinced JD to vote for Sara, and told Sara not to use her Shot in the Dark. During the vote, it was revealed that JD did risk his vote to earn the advantage, and Sara was ultimately voted out.

At Ua, JD and Ricard discussed voting out Brad by the water well, but Brad eavesdropped on the conversation from the bushes. He told Shan, who relayed Brad’s suspicions to Ricard. At Luvu, Deshawn struggled with starting a fire, so Naseer stepped in to help, earning Sydney’s respect. At Yase, Tiffany expressed how exhausting the season was for her, and Xander searched for an advantage. He found a “Beware” advantage: an idol that only works when someone from all three tribes found their respective ones (having to say a secret phrase at a challenge to confirm the idols are in power). Until then, Xander would not be able to vote at Tribal Council. He told Voce and Evvie, the latter of which told Liana and Tiffany in hopes of forming an all-girls alliance.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Tribe members must traverse an obstacle course in the ocean, with the first member unclipping a key underwater. Once all tribe members are across, they would solve a turtle puzzle. The first two tribes to finish won immunity and fishing gear. The losing tribe had to forfeit their flint until the next immunity challenge.

Xander said his secret phrase, but was met with silence from the other tribes. Luvu placed first and Ua placed second after Tiffany struggled for Yase in the challenge. For placing first, Luvu had to send someone from Yase and someone either from their own tribe or from Ua to go on a journey. They chose Evvie, then Deshawn volunteered. During their time together, Evvie told Deshawn how idols worked this season and expressed that her vote was crucial, urging him to risk his so he could get an extra vote and that they could work together in the future. Back at Yase, the girls planned on blindsiding Xander until Tiffany grew paranoid over Xander playing an idol (though it didn’t have power yet), proposing voting out Voce instead. This made Evvie and Liana consider voting out Tiffany to preserve strength, but at Tribal Council, the women stuck together to blindside Voce from the game.

All of the Ua tribe searched for the idol which was found by allies Brad and Genie. Brad also disclosed their discovery to Shan so as to build trust. Additionally, Brad found a second “Beware” advantage requiring him to travel to a separate island or else lose his vote. Tiffany had likewise found a similar note on Yase, as did Sydney on Luvu. Once on the separate island, the three were faced with a decision: a steal-a-vote or a tarp. If all three chose tarp, all three tribes would receive a tarp. If all three chose steal-a-vote, all three lost their next vote. A split decision meant those who chose tarp would get nothing and those who chose steal-a-vote got the advantage; only Brad chose the steal-a-vote. At Luvu, Naseer proposed blindsiding Danny, but that turned Sydney against him for strategizing too much.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Tribe members must cross a rope bridge over the water one-by-one, then dig up a large bag of sandbags from a sand pit on the beach. Once retrieved, they had to toss the sandbags onto overhead platforms. The first two tribes to successfully land all five sandbags won immunity plus fruit. The losing tribe had to forfeit their flint until the next immunity challenge.

Brad said his secret phrase before the challenge started, but no one on Luvu had yet found the idol. Luvu and Yase won the challenge. JD and Ricard agreed to vote out Brad, while Genie targeted JD. Brad lost his vote due to Luvu’s idol being undiscovered. Shan was the swing vote; at Tribal Council, she sided with JD and Ricard to blindside Brad with two advantages in his pocket.

Tensions grew between Genie and the rest of the Ua tribe after they left her out of Brad’s elimination, with Genie declaring she would no longer provide for the rest of the tribe.

• Reward Challenge: Tribe members tossed a ball onto an overhead track, then maneuvered through a rope obstacle to catch the ball before it hit the ground. Once all four balls are retrieved, tribes had to toss them onto a high, narrow beam. The first tribe to finish won a visit with a local survivalist, and the second tribe to finish won a fish to share.

Ua and Yase cruised to an easy victory while Heather struggled for Luvu in the challenge. An emotional Heather was consoled by her tribemates and Jeff after the challenge. The four Yase members enjoyed their fish reward and witnessed baby turtles moving to the ocean, while at Luvu, Erika proposed voting out Sydney to Deshawn. However, Deshawn, aligned with Sydney and Danny, revealed to them that he was contemplating throwing the challenge to blindside Erika.

• Immunity Challenge: Tribes swam to shore with a heavy bag of blocks, which they untied on the beach. They used the blocks to push out smaller blocks through a tunnel, one of which had a key to a chest that had three rings. The first two tribes to toss all three rings onto hooks won immunity; the losing tribe had to forfeit their flint until the next immunity challenge.

Despite Deshawn and Danny’s efforts to throw the challenge, they placed second with Yase coming in first. The alliance of JD-Ricard-Shan initially planned to stay strong and vote out Genie, but Shan got an idea to convince JD to again give her his extra vote for Tribal Council by acting paranoid, putting her and Ricard in the middle. At Tribal Council, they sided with Genie to send JD out of the game.

Genie found a new "Beware" idol and immediately showed Ricard and Shan to use as a group idol for the merge, but Shan had her keep it concealed and hidden so that she could secretly make a fake idol and obtain the real one for herself. She would say the phrase to see if anyone from Luvu had found their idol and would keep the idol hidden so that she could still vote. She also gave her extra vote to Ricard in case it wouldn't need to be used yet. At Luvu, Deshawn and Danny tried to recruit a reluctant Naseer to help them throw the next immunity challenge to vote out Erika, while at Yase, Tiffany and Liana searched Xander's bag and discovered his extra vote on top of his idol.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Tribes worked together to get all three members over a net, then one member would unspool a key from three knotted ropes. The key unlocked a machete that would chop a rope, releasing sandbags. The sandbags would be used in a slingshot to knock over two distant targets. The first two tribes to knock over both targets won immunity; the first tribe to finish also won a larger tarp, while the second tribe to finish won a smaller tarp. The losing tribe had to forfeit their flint until the next immunity challenge.

Naseer said Luvu's secret phrase, having found the tribe's idol the day before, putting all three idols in power. Yase placed first and Luvu stayed undefeated to place second. Yase sent Shan to the summit and Liana volunteered to join her. They bonded and agreed to work together, with Shan telling Liana that if she were to be voted out that night, Ricard (her closest ally) could not be trusted as he would have voted her out with Genie. Shan also told Liana to risk her vote, as Shan would protect her own vote. Liana discovered a new advantage called "Knowledge Is Power"; she could ask only one tribemate if they had an advantage or idol, and if they did, she could take the advantage for herself.

Upon returning to Ua, Shan asked Ricard for her extra vote back, but Ricard came to believe she would blindside him, leading to a disagreement. At Tribal Council, Shan was once again the swing vote, debating between voting out her closest ally Ricard for his strategic prowess or voting out the more loyal Genie. She ultimately stayed true to her day-one alliance partner to eliminate Genie from the game.

Shan and Ricard continued to argue about who was to hold onto the extra vote, though Ricard ultimately gave it back to Shan the morning after Genie's elimination. All three tribes received treemail hinting at a merge, but when they convened, Jeff stated everyone had to earn their way into the merge.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: In teams of five chosen by random draw, castaways removed a large, heavy boulder from the sand, then maneuvered it across various obstacles to ultimately retrieve a key. Teammates then worked together to scale a tower and unlock puzzle pieces. The first team to solve the puzzle won a feast, immunity from the first merged Tribal Council, and the right to choose one of the two castaways who drew a rock that didn't match either team color to join them.

Naseer and Erika drew the odd rocks, and the team of Danny, Deshawn, Evvie, Ricard, and Sydney won the challenge; they chose Naseer to join them. Following the feast, Danny, Deshawn, Liana, and Shan made a final four deal. For not being chosen, Erika was sent to Exile Island with meager supplies and was visited by Jeff, who informed her of a choice she had to make. She could either let the game continue as is, or "go back in time" and transfer the winning team's immunity to the other castaways and herself by smashing an hourglass Jeff provided to her.

Erika rejoined her tribemates the next morning at the first individual immunity challenge and revealed she chose to smash the hourglass, taking immunity away from the winning team and giving it to herself, Heather, Liana, Shan, Tiffany, and Xander.

• Immunity Challenge: The non-immune castaways had to build a block structure and place a flag in the center using only their feet. The first to accomplish this won immunity.

Ricard barely beat Evvie and Sydney to win immunity. Upon returning to camp, Liana turned against her old Yase tribemates, and Evvie was targeted by a majority of the tribe for being the biggest perceived threat from the Yase three. Those three targeted Deshawn for similar reasons, and Deshawn's paranoia led him to suggest voting out his longtime ally Sydney as a backup option.

At Tribal Council, Liana used her Knowledge Is Power advantage to ask Xander if he had an idol, but he had secretly given that and his extra vote to Tiffany for safekeeping, rendering Liana's advantage useless. After some last-second scrambling among the castaways, Deshawn discovered his extra vote from his summit visit, using it to cast two votes against Evvie, and Sydney took her Shot in the Dark (which turned out to be unsuccessful). Tiffany prepared to play Xander's idol for Evvie, but Xander talked her out of it. In the end, it wouldn't be needed as Luvu turned on their own, sending Sydney home over Evvie.

Now fully merged as Viakana, the tribe saw three of its members, the former Yase alliance, plead their case separately to their new tribemates, but Deshawn remained unwilling to work with them as they voted for him the night before.

• Reward Challenge: The tribe was divided into two teams of five by random draw, with one castaway ineligible for reward. Each team member swam out to a ramp, then dove to release two buoy puzzle pieces. They then pulled a boat to a platform, where they used the puzzle pieces to build a pyramid. The first team to finish their pyramid won grilled cheese sandwiches and chips.

Erika drew the odd rock again, but Xander offered to sit out in her place. He searched the sit-out bench for an advantage but was unable to find it, and the blue team (Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Evvie, and Ricard) won the challenge. After the feast, Ricard aggravated Shan by eating a piece of a papaya that Naseer collected for the losing tribemates.

• Immunity Challenge: Castaways stood on a beam with a block over their head. If the block fell or they stepped off, they were out. The last one left standing won immunity.

Jeff offered the castaways to sit out for a single serving of rice, or enough rice to last three days if seven people stepped out of the challenge. After renegotiating it to five, Shan and Naseer agreed to give up their shot at immunity, but nobody else budged. Xander offered to step down if four castaways took the offer, and Ricard did the same, giving the tribe the rice. Evvie outlasted Heather for immunity. At camp, the majority agreed to split the votes between Xander and Tiffany. Naseer’s name was thrown out as a decoy vote, but his reaction made the majority change that to Heather. Deshawn worried that Naseer was a bigger threat than Xander, but Shan shut that down quickly, offending Deshawn. The plan to make Heather the decoy vote got back to Heather, who confronted Shan and realized that she has been leading to where everyone was voting.

At Tribal Council, Heather initiated a live tribal just before voting was to commence, seemingly turning her tribemates against her. During tribal, Shan again frustrated Deshawn after shooting his idea down. In the end, Xander and Naseer opted not to play their idols, and while both of them along with Heather received votes, the majority decided to play it safe as Tiffany was sent to the jury.

Naseer and Heather argued over the latter's attempts to sway the vote onto Naseer at the previous Tribal Council, while Shan set her sights on Erika as an under-the-radar strategist. Deshawn again felt as though Shan was bossing him around.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: The ten remaining castaways drew for two groups of five to each attend Tribal Council to vote off one person: Evvie, Danny, Deshawn, Liana, and Xander made up the blue group, while the yellow group consisted of Erika, Heather, Naseer, Ricard, and Shan. Castaways stood on a narrow perch with their hands on the back of an overhead bar behind them. The last one left standing from each group won immunity, but the last one left standing overall won a stew reward and the right for their group to visit Tribal Council second.

Erika won immunity but dropped out soon afterward, and Xander outlasted Deshawn for immunity. The yellow group was exiled to Ua's camp, where Naseer told Heather she would be the one to go. This prompted Erika to approach Ricard and Shan about blindsiding Naseer and flushing his idol while he felt comfortable; Ricard was more willing to join Erika than Shan was. At yellow's Tribal Council, Heather acted as though she would be voted out, and Naseer didn't play his idol. Shan used her extra vote to cast one each against Heather and Naseer, resulting in a 3-3 tie that led to a revote, in which Naseer was unanimously sent to the jury.

With the blue group, Danny, Deshawn, and Liana targeted Evvie as the only non-immune tribemate outside their alliance, but Deshawn considered flipping to Evvie and Xander to blindside Liana. However, at blue's Tribal Council, Deshawn stuck with his allies to send Evvie to the jury.

The following morning, Deshawn and Shan reconciled and affirmed their intent to reach the end of the game together.

• Reward Challenge: Starting on platforms in the middle of the ocean, castaways traversed a series of obstacles, maneuvering a rope along with them on their way back to shore. At the end of the course, they solved a star-shaped puzzle. The first castaway to complete their puzzle won pizza and a night at a Survivor sanctuary.

Ricard won and chose to share the reward with Shan, Heather, and Xander. At camp, Danny and Deshawn contemplated blindsiding Ricard due to his close partnership with Shan.

• Immunity Challenge: Castaways stood on narrow beams with three sections, each section narrower than the last. The castaways had to balance a ball on a wooden disc, and at regular intervals, they had to step onto a more narrow section of the beam, and move their hand further down the disc's handle. If the ball dropped or they fell off their beam, they were out. The last castaway standing won immunity.

Ricard beat out Xander to win the challenge, forcing the majority to come up with a new plan. Ricard and Shan agreed that they would have to cut ties to benefit their own strategic games, and the former met with Erika on splitting the vote between Shan and Liana. Those two voted against Erika at Tribal Council, but the rest of the tribe followed through with their split-vote plan, causing a tie between Shan and Liana. On the revote, Shan was unanimously sent to the jury, her idol having gone unplayed.

Both Liana and Deshawn were upset following Tribal Council, the former for her closest ally being blindsided and the latter for being called a snake by Shan upon her exit. The four outside the alliance of Danny-Deshawn-Liana agreed to align. The next morning, Danny confided in Deshawn about the passing of his father 25 years earlier and how he has slowly been letting go of the negative emotions surrounding it.

• Immunity Challenge: Castaways balanced a ball on a cylinder and held it in place with two wooden handles on each side. At regular intervals, more cylinders would be added. The last person left standing with their ball intact won immunity. The first person to fall out of the challenge would be forced to participate in a game of chance called Do or Die, which could eliminate them from the game without voting. Castaways could opt out of the challenge and be safe from Do or Die, but would not be immune from the potential vote.

Heather and Liana chose not to participate, and Deshawn immediately fell out first. After Erika dropped, Ricard and Xander were eliminated within milliseconds of each other, giving Danny the win. In case Deshawn became safe from Do or Die, the new majority targeted Liana as the only non-immune player from that alliance while the other three targeted Ricard as the biggest perceived threat. However, Erika privately considered flipping to blindside Ricard. At Tribal Council, Deshawn became emotional over his vote against Shan, leading to a healthy discussion about racial equality among the tribe. Deshawn had a 1-in-3 chance at safety, and he chose the correct box to become immune from the vote. Ultimately, Erika stayed with her alliance and Xander used his extra vote, sending Liana to the jury.

Xander and Danny agreed that Ricard was their biggest threat, while Deshawn talked with Erika about an alliance.

• Reward Challenge: Divided into two teams of three, one teammate dove into the water to release buoys. All three would collect one each of three buoys that looked lighter than the others. Once all three teammates are across, they would shoot the buoys into netted targets. The first team to land all three buoys won their choice of chicken and vegetables or sweets.

The team of Deshawn, Erika, and Xander won the challenge and chose the protein. They discussed going to the final three together due to their differing styles of gameplay, with Deshawn trying to convince Erika that her and Heather's games would be seen as too similar by the jury. At camp, Danny searched for an idol but came up empty, and Ricard noted his absence from camp.

• Immunity Challenge: Castaways would spin around to unspool rope from their waist, then traversed an obstacle course while dizzy. At the end is a word puzzle. The first castaway to solve their puzzle won immunity.

Ricard won his third immunity challenge, thwarting everyone's plans to vote him out. Danny and Deshawn accepted the fact that they would have to turn on each other for safety, but at Tribal Council, Deshawn again attempted to convince Erika to make a move against Heather, causing some tribemates to vote against him instead of Danny. After a 3-3 tie vote, Danny was unanimously sent to the jury on the revote. After Danny left, Probst told the final five they would start over on a new island with more meager supplies than before.

The five finalists were left on a separate island with no shelter and meager supplies, where they withstood a rainy night. They were each given a word scramble puzzle via treemail, which provided a hint to the location of an advantage hidden on the beach. Erika found the advantage, which gave her an advantage in the next immunity challenge.

• Immunity/Reward Challenge: Castaways must use a long pole to knock strands of rope off of a bamboo lattice. They must then use said ropes to construct two sets of rope ladders, climb the ladders and solve a 75-piece puzzle. The first castaway to finish the puzzle won immunity and a food reward.

Erika won the challenge, thanks to her advantage that allowed her to start with both of her ladders already partially completed. She was permitted to take one player with her on the food reward; she chose Heather. The consensus was that Ricard was too dangerous to keep in the game, but Xander considered playing his idol for Ricard to make a big move for the jury. However, he elected to play it for himself, and Ricard was unanimously voted out.

• Immunity Challenge: Castaways balanced on a curved platform, holding a rope that stabilized a small ledge in front of them. They must assemble a six-piece block tower atop the ledge, moving one block at a time across the platform. The first castaway to complete their block tower and return to the starting position without it falling won immunity.

Xander won the challenge, and the other castaways made their pitches to him for Tribal Council. Deshawn and Heather both stressed that Erika was the biggest threat left in the game, while Erika downplayed her threat level. Xander believed Erika was a strong firemaker and did not want her to get the opportunity to win the firemaking challenge, so he elected to take her to Final 3 with him. Deshawn and Heather competed in the firemaking challenge; Heather had a strong flame early that faltered, allowing Deshawn time to build his own flame and burn through the rope, advancing to the Final 3 seconds before Heather’s own rope burned. Heather became the final member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, jurors questioned Xander’s social awareness; he was criticized for misreading the jury’s perception of Erika and underestimating her gameplay by giving her a free pass to the end. Deshawn’s emotional decision-making was also criticized, with Shan and others lamenting his decision to break up their alliance too early. The final jury vote was 7–1–0, with Danny voting for Deshawn and everyone else voting for Erika, awarding her the $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor.

Immediately after the final vote reading, the jury and the finalists discuss the season with host Jeff Probst in the "Survivor After Show".