Survivor recap: Who wins Survivor 41 in Fiji?

The Survivor 41 season finale arrived on Wednesday night, spelling an end to the latest season taking place in Fiji.

On the previous episode, Survivor fans watched as Danny McCray got voted out of the game.

A new island, no food, and no shelter awaited the final five castaways as they arrived at a new camp following the last Tribal Council.

DeShawn Radden, Xander Hastings, Ricard Foye, Heather Aldret, and Erika Casupanan had nearly made it to the end, and now it was time for Survivor fans to see what happened with the final five.

Survivor recap: Time for the three-hour season finale

Xander talked to the camera about loving that everyone had to start over. He felt he could go with no food or water and that adrenaline could carry him.

Erika was really upset at DeShawn for what he had said about her during Tribal Council and “blowing up her spot” in the game. Heather was also at odds with DeShawn because of that, suggesting he was the one most at risk of getting voted out next. But Heather was also upset at Erika it seemed.

A final advantage clue

Everyone got a scrambled clue and they had to unscramble it before they could then search for an advantage on their new island. Xander solved it first and he was off and running. Erika was the last one to figure it out, and soon all five people were sprinting around the island looking for the advantage.

Erika found it. It revealed that she would have a small advantage given to her at the upcoming Individual Immunity Challenge. She immediately told Ricard about it, and then Heather as well. Erika was also enjoying the fact that DeShawn was wasting energy looking (she didn’t tell him she already had it).

The final five Individual Immunity Challenge

An obstacle course where they had to create ladders and then finish a puzzle awaited the final five people. Erika’s advantage was that her ladders were already partially finished. The puzzle was 75 pieces, meaning that even getting there early, it was going to take a while to finish it.

The winner of the Immunity Challenge would also be getting a reward. A steak dinner with vegetables and wine was awaiting the winner of the challenge.

Erika opened up a big lead, Heather started out in second place, and Xander was way behind at the beginning. Heather got passed up in the ladder stages, though, and she was the last one to start her puzzle. As expected, the final five castaways were all working on the puzzle at the same time.

The advantages ended up being exactly what she needed, and Erika Casupanan won Immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final four. She was then tasked with choosing someone to join her in the reward meal. She picked Heather.

Ricard vs DeShawn debate

Erika and Heather were unsure of who to vote out at Tribal Council. They both felt that Ricard was a huge threat to win, but also agreed that they really didn’t like DeShawn after what he did to them. Would they take this last chance to get Ricard out of the game? Or would they vote out DeShawn, who they felt “didn’t deserve” to make it to the end? Xander was in the same boat, not knowing if he should vote with his head or his heart.

Tribal Council for the final five

By a vote of 4-1, Ricard Foye was voted out at Tribal Council. Xander did use his Immunity Idol on himself since it was the last opportunity to do so, but he didn’t really need it. They decided to get rid of who they thought was the bigger threat (Ricard) in order to have someone they felt they could beat (DeShawn) in the final four.

The last Survivor 41 Individual Immunity Challenge

The night before this challenge the final four castaways were hit by a storm at their new camp. Since they had no shelter, they ended up huddling under trees and got extremely wet in the downpouring rain.

For the Immunity Challenge, they had to balance blocks on a moving platform that required a lot of concentration to create tension on a rope holding up the platform. Losing their balance or the tension on the rope would (and did) cause blocks to drop. The first person to stack the six blocks successfully would win Individual Immunity.

Xander Hastings won the final Individual Immunity Challenge and a guaranteed spot in the final three.

Time to learn to build a fire

Everyone other than Xander needed to practice building a fire. When Erika had problems doing it, Xander started to think that he might want to step down from safety and challenge her in fire-making. But was it a ploy? Erika made a fire for herself when she was on Extinction Island.

Fire Challenge at Tribal Council

Xander took Erika with him to the final three. That left Heather and DeShawn to compete in the fire-making challenge. One of them would be going to the final three, and the other one would be the newest member of the Survivor 41 jury.

It was an intense challenge, as DeShawn got his fire going strong and then he accidentally smothered it. Heather then got her fire right up to the rope, but it too shrunk. They were both battling until the very end when DeShawn won the challenge. Heather’s rope burned through a few seconds later.

Survivor 41 final three

DeShawn Radden, Xander Hastings, and Erika Casupanan were the final three members standing from the Survivor 41 cast. They got a nice meal back at camp to celebrate making it to the end. It also gave them each time to talk about their journey and why they deserved to win the season.

It was then time for the final three to go in front of the Survivor 41 jury and speak about why they deserved to win the season. Xander, DeShawn, and Erika each took turns detailing what they had done during the season, the challenges they had won, and how their social game impacted things.

Who won Survivor 41?

The jury placed their votes and it was then time to read them.

The votes were, in order, Erika, DeShawn, Erika, Erika, Erika, Erika, Erika, and Erika.

Erika Casupanan won Survivor 41.

Even though Survivor 41 has come to an end, CBS has a lot of reality competition shows waiting in the wings. The Amazing Race 33, Celebrity Big Brother 3, and Survivor 42 are all debuting soon.

Survivor 42 debuts in Spring 2022 on CBS.

All episodes of Survivor are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!

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