Survivor South Africa Season 9, Episode 17: Balance of Power

Twice the Game

Twenty returning Survivor South Africa Castaways arrived for redemption in the Sunshine Coast in the Eastern Cape. Nico informed the newly dubbed "Outcasts" that they were playing for R2 Million, the series' highest prize offer, and were divided into tribes by their previous placements. The red Yontau (Pre-Merge castaways) squared off in the first reward challenge of the season against the blue Masu (Post-Merge castaways).

44 min

Survivor 101

At the Outpost, Shane and Steffi urged Seamus and Thoriso to vote for Tejan, someone on the outs in Masu. However, Seamus decided that the two of them remain quiet of their own votes despite Thoriso wanting to gain favour with the others. Returning to their tribes, all four of them revealed the Outpost Idol and vote, but Shane and Steffi chose not to reveal that they offered Tejan to Yontau.

46 min

The Ghost of Your Past Game

The Chappies blindside left Steffi and Shane uncomfortable in their place in the Breakfast Club, with Marian having to reassure Shane that he's safe in the alliance. Palesa was aware that Tevin giving her immunity at Tribal Council could make the perception of the Season Sixers acting as a quad more of a threat even though she felt in the majority of Masu. PK likewise felt comfortable in a seven strong alliance that excluded Shane and Steffi.

46 min

Walking on Eggshells

The fallout of PK's vote saw Toni arguing with Danté, which overflowed to the morning where she had to leave the shelter due to Danté continuing to raise his voice at her, upsetting her further. Toni wished to be swapped from the tribe as soon as possible to get away from him. Meanwhile, Marian, Meryl, and Steffi solidified themselves as the Full Package trio within the Breakfast Club alliance.

46 min

The Rope Dealer

While the tribe agreed that Pinty should be voted out next, Phil and Thoriso both wanted to break up the duo forming between Seamus and Tevin as soon as possible. Over at Masu, Toni tried to patch things up with Marian after inappropriately using Marian's skin condition against her in the game, aware that flipping to the pre-mergers would be sabotage in the future. Palesa tried to reconnect with Danté after the PK vote, but she felt that his ego was getting too much to handle as the current alpha male of the tribe.

46 min

Sharp Tools

Tevin's blindside left Seamus rattled about his position in Yontau, blaming the vote on Dino. At Masu, Danté started chopping off the symbols around camp in the event of a tribe swap, with Toni wary of his alpha male status around camp.

46 min

Expect the Unexpected

Pinty annoyed the rest of Yontau by celebrating Seamus' ouster at camp the next morning, despite Dino knowing that it was Shona who informed the tribe about Seamus' plans. In the lead up to a potential tribe swap, Toni tried to convince Tejan and Palesa that they should try and work on flipping Steffi against Danté if they have the chance.

46 min

This is Gonna Be a Life Long Torture

The medical team extracted Shona from the challenge to examine her further. Nico declared a restart for the sudden death round, with Shane stepping in for Yontau and Felix replacing Killarney for Masu. With Nico releasing an additional two wooden balls into the mud pit, another hour passed in the challenge before Toni managed to score the winning point for Masu. Both tribes were emotionally drained after the challenge, with Meryl and Marian in tears after everything that had happened.

46 min

Flat Out No

Phil owned up to messing up the plan, leaving Palesa unsure if she should work with the Yontau duo. However, Danté's frustrations with the Breakfast Club left Palesa as someone he was willing to continue working with. Meanwhile, Meryl and Marian started to question whether it was worth still working with Danté given his explosive response to the vote at Tribal Council. At Masu, Tejan shared the idol clue he received at the Outpost to Toni in the hopes to solidify themselves as a duo.

46 min

The Don

After leaving Felix and Thoriso on the bottom of new Masu, Tejan, at Toni's insistence, found the Idol hidden near the tribe's water well. When finding out that it would only work for someone at Yontau, they decided to try and sneak it across to Dino. While at Yontau, Shane started trying to court Dino and Phil to prepare a blindside against Danté.

46 min

Spanners in the Works

Despite feeling betrayed by Tejan and Toni, Felix didn't want to let revenge take over his game due to losing Thoriso at the last Tribal Council. Toni continued to cement her control over the new Masu, aware of the many connections she's forming across tribal lines since the swap. On Yontau, Phil's main goal was to find a means to protect himself until the merge, as his ally Dino only had one idol in his possession. Danté started using the inactive Masu idol he had to bluff to the Breakfast Club that he was assured of getting to merge.

45 min

Guess What, You Are a Number!

The hopes of finding safety for himself vanished when Shane unraveled the advantage and discovered it was Yontau's hidden Diplomatic Immunity advantage, the very same advantage that Marian had just used hours earlier to switch tribes. Knowing that the advantage was useless to him, Shane sought to use the pouch it came in to bluff to the rest of Yontau that he too held an idol.

46 min

Work for It

The new Salan tribe celebrated after Tribal Council at the upgraded former Yontau camp, with Marian noticing how quickly Danté and Felix reached out to each other, being friends outside of the game. The tribe was provided breakfast meals the morning after the merge rather than the typical merge feast.

46 min

A Steady Ship

Tejan was blindsided by the vote, which saw Steffi sticking to her original Breakfast Club and Full Package alliance over the new Masu tribe. In a means to apologize to Tejan, Meryl explained that it was because Toni kept threatening her game, while Tejan was under the belief it was Steffi leading the charge against her, not Toni. Despite finally getting his way, the Breakfast Club started to turn their sights onto Danté, as his aggressive approach with Tejan had started to alienate Shane and the rest of the alliance. Meanwhile, Danté desperately wanted the Breakfast Club to listen to his concerns about Dino

46 min

High Risk, High Reward

Tejan's outburst at Tribal Council left the Full Package trio exposed, with the Breakfast Club falling apart in order to target Steffi or Meryl for their strong social game. Killarney advocated for Steffi, while Shane and Marian wanted to get rid of Meryl.

46 min

Dipping into the Dark Side

As promised, Meryl gave Tejan her Reward Send token as a thanks for saving her at the previous Tribal Council, while her relationship with Marian appeared fractured on the floor. Marian felt disappointed in Phil for flipping against her ally, before telling the No B.S. men about all of the advantages that Meryl still held.

46 min

Goat Mode

After 17 minutes, Felix's block fell, giving Phil his second immunity challenge win of the season. The win made Marian more determined than ever to break up the duo of Felix and Phil, like she felt she had done with Danté and Felix previously. She rallied the rest of the tribe to target Felix at the upcoming vote. What complicated matters was when Felix discovered a rock with the Salan tribe's symbol on the beach while walking with Phil and Killarney, leading to Phil finding a clue to a hidden immunity idol in front of them.

46 min

A Whole Lot of B.S.

The vote had left Marian and Dino suspecting that Phil used Tejan's idol bluff to save Felix, with Shane angry that his and Marian's plan on splitting up the No B.S. alliance failed at the last minute. The No B.S. alliance was left in tatters after Phil saved Felix, leaving Dino feeling on the outs in the trio.

46 min

Our Little Alliance

Returning from the Outpost with a bowl of fruit for the tribe, Dino was aware that regardless of what he said, a target would be painted on him for a presumed advantage. So he withheld the River Cruise reward he won, but that he received a video from home rather. Furthering his lie, he told Phil in private that he could practice for the immunity challenge. Still worried about getting the votes on Felix, Marian decided to implement the buddy system on Killarney, to prevent her from changing her vote at someone else's suggestion.

45 min

A Game of Fluidity

Despite both Phil and Dino electing to vote out Felix, trust between the two of them was at an all time low, with Dino adamant in taking out his ally if he didn't win immunity, as he feared that his resume was going to be diminished compared to Phil's. Tree mail arrived with individual word puzzles for the Salan tribe to search for an advantage for the upcoming immunity challenge, with Shane finding it shortly before Dino could on the beach.

46 min

No Tools In My Toolkit

A mistake by Phil in the reward challenge led to a victory by Marian and Shane. Back at camp, Phil pitched an idea to Dino to convince Marian and Shane to split their vote in hopes that they can battle it out in the end, though Dino secretly sought to vote out Phil if he were to lose the immunity challenge.

45 min

Peace. Calm. Confidence.

The final three's loved ones were brought out for a reunion and to witness the final immmunity challenge.

46 min

Head vs. Heart

70 min