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Episode 1 – "If Only He Were Twenty Years Older..."
Part 3

Day 3
The next day, the tribes arrive at their first immunity challenge:

For this challenge, the two tribes must run out and push their tribal boats into the water. Paddling out to retrieve puzzle crates, they must dive down underwater to release the boxes. Once all crates are retrieved and brought back to shore, the tribes must stack the crates into a staircase, with Judge Judy’s catchphrase “Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever” properly aligned along the sides. Then, two members of each tribe must solve a puzzle, giving them the combination to retrieve the correct key. The first tribe to run to the top of the tower, unlock and pull a lever, releasing the tribe flag, wins immunity and reward in the form of flint.

Thanks to the brute strength of Kenton and Justin, the athleticism of Jordan and Kristin, and the puzzle-solving skills of Steadman and Edwina (after the challenge, she goes out of her way to verbally thank the editors of the crossword in her local newspaper, the Lincoln Journal Star), Berajilo win the challenge, earning immunity and fire in the form of flint. For Honifor, nothing but a date at Tribal Council with Judge Judy later tonight.

A defeated Honifor return to camp, bummed out about losing the first immunity challenge of the season. Everyone keeps a very gracious exterior, choosing not to directly blame one another for the loss, despite the fact that Takondwa’s injured ankle clearly held the tribe back in places. Feeling guilty about the result, Takondwa decides to take Aubin, Chris, Josie, Alicia and Kyle aside separately. To her surprise, they all reassure her that her ankle will have no bearing on their decision making at Tribal. A relieved Takondwa then retires to the water’s edge and dips her foot in the sea, believing that the salt will do it good and reduce the swelling. Meanwhile, Josie rallies her troops Callum and Theresa in preparation for the vote, and soon realises that her alliance is currently a little threadbare in its current form. In order to try and recruit numbers, Josie goes up to each of her fellow castaways except Takondwa, separately pitching to each of them the plan that she has been keeping secret until now: as it is unlikely that Takondwa’s ankle will magically heal, the tribe will not be able to win challenges moving forward unless they vote her out tonight, and they will instead be more likely to win challenges if they are united as one massive alliance. Having spoken to almost everyone and believing her work to be done, Josie spends the remainder of the afternoon sunbathing.

However, while collecting firewood, to make up for the fact that they did not win flint in the challenge today, Kyle and Chris discuss the separate conversations that Josie had with them earlier. They both concur that her idea of making one massive alliance is ridiculous, and that Josie spoke to them in a patronising manner, as if she had been speaking to the children that she teaches. Agreeing that Josie seems to be getting “a little too big for her boots”, the pair approach Alicia, who suggests that they vote her out to prevent her from running the show. They later talk to Aubin as a trio, who confesses that he would rather vote out Josie than Takondwa, as they have already shared personal conversations about their children and (in Takondwa’s case) grandchildren, whereas Josie has seemed reluctant to speak about her family life and “seems dead behind the eyes, and that’s not the kind of person you want to play this game with.” As a foursome, they then walk up to Takondwa, who is still sitting by the water’s edge, and tell her their plan. She is thrilled to hear it, although also somewhat confused, as Josie had told her just hours earlier that she wasn’t going to vote for her – at least, not for being a challenge liability.

As the sun begins to set and Tribal Council looms, Chris suggests bringing Theresa into their plan, ensuring a strong majority of six to allow room for error. However, when they go to find Theresa, they realise that she is sunbathing right next to Josie. Not only do they feel unable to take Theresa to one side to inform her of their discussions, or else Josie may catch wind of the plan to blindside her, but they begin to worry that Josie’s conversation with Theresa cemented a potentially strong relationship between the two, and wonder if the other conversations secretly had a similar impact on anyone else in the tribe. If so, Chris worries that the whole plan could be thrown into jeopardy. As Honifor make their way to Tribal Council, Josie crosses her fingers that they will be a united front once Takondwa and her dodgy ankle leave tonight.