Survivor recap: The Do or Die twist arrives

Survivor 41 twist time arrived again on Wednesday night as host Jeff Probst introduced a new wrinkle to the game.

As Survivor fans saw on the last episode of the show, Shan got eliminated through a huge blindside. She was caught completely off guard by what happened at Tribal Council.

This week, a new Ponderosa video featuring Shan was also released. We got to see how she reacted to getting voted out and what her reception was like from the rest of the Survivor 41 jury members.

And then it was time to find out what happened after Shan got eliminated, as well as who might secure Individual Immunity to make it to the next stage of the season.

Survivor 41, Episode 11 recap

The new episode began with DeShawn and Danny trying to tell Liana why they turned on her and Shan. They claimed that it was all Ricard’s doing and they had no choice but to turn on Shan. Liana called it “stupid” that they kept Xander and his Individual Immunity Idol in the game.

Xander, Erika, and Heather were shown chuckling and getting excited that the other trio was arguing and that it meant the game had shifted quite a bit. DeShawn was then showing how upset he was that Shan had called him a “snake” on the way out and had said Ricard would get her vote to win.

Danny was given a segment as he talked about it being the 25th anniversary of losing his father. His dad died in a car wreck when Danny was just eight years old.

A dangerous Survivor 41 twist

Before the new Immunity Challenge got started, Jeff Probst explained a huge new twist that would impact the finals even castaways.

Jeff let them know that the first person eliminated from the Immunity Challenge would have to participate in a Do or Die Challenge. It would be a game of chance at Tribal Council and if that person lost, they would immediately be out of the game. Nobody was forced to play in the Immunity Challenge, though, forcing them all to make a difficult choice.

A huge Individual Immunity Challenge

Heather and Liana sat out the challenge. That left just Danny, DeShawn, Erika, Xander, and Ricard playing for Individual Immunity.

The challenge itself required balancing a weighted ball on cylinders. It was done in rounds, and dropping the ball meant elimination.

DeShawn was out of the challenge after only a few seconds. He was now at risk due to the Do or Die Challenge to take place later.

Erika was the second person out, leaving Xander, Ricard, and Danny playing for safety.

The trio did very well in the final round, even while the wind was kicking up. Ricard and Xander dropped out within half a second of each other, giving Danny Individual Immunity and safety for the time being.

Camp drama ahead of Tribal Council

A situation had been created where DeShawn and Danny could both be safe at Tribal Council, forcing the other five people to scramble regarding their votes. The two primary targets were Ricard and Liana, and it seemed like Erika was going to be the swing vote.

Liana was trying to figure out if she should play her Shot in the Dark in order to gain possible safety, but it was risky because it would cost her the important vote that might save her at Tribal Council.

Tribal Council with the Do or Die twist

An important conversation was had at the beginning of the Tribal Council where Danny, DeShawn, and Liana spoke about representing their culture and how important it was to have the cast be 50 percent people of color. They also spoke about the stress and pressures of being in that spotlight.

The Do or Diet twist was done with three boxes that Jeff put out. One of them would provide safety, and two would mean death for DeShawn’s game. DeShawn chose correctly and he remained in the game. This also meant that DeShawn was safe from the Tribal Council vote that was about to take place.

The votes were read off by Jeff and they were (in order) Ricard, Liana, Ricard, Liana, Ricard, Liana, Liana, and Liana. That meant Liana became the 12th Survivor castaway voted out and the new member of the Season 41 jury.

Survivor 41 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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