Cutting Their Strings

**Cutting Their Strings** is the second episode of *Survivor 41.*

## Story

After Tribal Council, the Luvu tribe is in relative peace, as they all get along for now. However, Heather and Erika stay up late by the fire, discussing how they feel like they are on the bottom of the tribe and must figure out a way to escape that position. On Ua, Ricard and Shan begin playing hard, forging alliances with every member of the tribe, specifically two foursomes, one containing themselves, JD, and Sara, and the other containing themselves, Brad, and Genie. The other two pairs are happy to form a majority alliance, but are suspicious of how much Ricard and Shan talk with everybody. On Yase, Tiffany continues to ruffle some feathers with her outspoken personality, but Voce seems to enjoy her jokes more than everybody else. Meanwhile, Xander and Liana begin spending lots of time together, agreeing that they are both strong individuals who would make a great team for the rest of the game.

At the Reward Challenge, Ua is able to finish the cube puzzle fastest, winning fishing gear. They decide to send Genie to the Summit, as they think she is an honest player who will tell them what happens. Genie chooses Abraham to go with her, as she thinks he looks like a loyal older player like her. At the Summit, Genie and Abraham bond over their experiences in the game, being looked over due to their age and not being the most strategic or cutthroat players. They agree to work together in the future, and then they have to decide if they should risk or protect their votes. Genie expresses that she feels like Ua is unstable with Ricard and Shan talking to everybody, while Abraham feels pretty solid on Yase. Thus, Abraham agrees to protect his vote so Genie can risk hers and get the advantage. They do so, with Genie getting a vote steal from the Summit.

When Genie returns from the Summit, she is open to Ua about the risk or protect challenge, but she lies and says she felt like Abraham was standoffish and didn't want to risk her vote against him. Most of the tribe believes this, although Ricard is suspicious of her. Genie ends up telling Brad she got the vote steal in a move to secure his loyalty, and the two agree to a Final 2 deal. Meanwhile, Sara and JD have been getting along great, and they also agree to a Final 2 deal while unsuccessfully idol hunting. Abraham returns from the Summit telling a similar story to Genie, saying he didn't feel safe enough with her to risk his vote. Tiffany doesn't believe Abraham, voicing her concerns to Voce and then Evvie, who she feels close to. Evvie takes this in stride, telling no one as she feels comfortable with everyone on the tribe and wants to stay in the middle. On Luvu, Erika and Heather spend their time trying to bond with Danny and Deshawn, having decided that Sydney would be the easiest of the three to get out due to her sometimes volatile personality. Sydney begins to get annoyed with the other women, especially Heather, complaining about them to Danny and Deshawn.

At the Immunity Challenge, Ua loses the challenge when Deshawn from Luvu and Xander from Yase out-throw JD and Ricard, who switch off. Going to Tribal Council, Ricard and Shan feel excited to be in between the two foursomes they've created, spending all day talking with both groups and deciding if they want to go with Sara and JD or Genie and Brad. They tell both groups they are with them, telling Genie and Brad they want out Sara since she is shy, and Sara and JD they want Genie out since she's the weakest physically. Ricard and Shan also make split vote plans with both groups in case of an idol, hoping for a 2-2-1-1 outcome no matter what. While Ricard and Shan believe they have all the power, both other duos feel uncomfortable seeing how much Ricard and Shan are talking to the other side. Spooked about their allies' spots in the game, JD and Brad talk about the vote and realize Ricard and Shan have been pulling the wool over their eyes. Unsure of who Ricard and Shan will side with, both other duos come together and agree to blindside them out of the game. Thus, at Tribal, Ricard and Shan's power trip is put to an abrupt end when Ricard is blindsided out of the game in a 4-1-1 vote.

## Challenges

* Reward
* Immunity

**Challenge:** *Sled Zeppelin*

Each tribe will have to race across a net bridge to where two bags are hanging. Working together, they will then need to untie the bags to get a pair of ropes. Using the ropes, the tribe will need to slide a sled full of giant puzzle pieces through a course. At the end of the course, they will need to solve a cube puzzle to win Reward.

**Reward:** Fishing gear

**Additional Stipulation:** One member of the winning tribe will attend the Summit with a member of another tribe of their choosing.

**Winner:** Ua

**Sent to Summit:** Genie Chen who picked Eric Abraham to go with her.

**Immunity Challenge:** *Basket Case*

One at a time, they will dive into the water and swim to a platform where they will find buoys attached to a rope. They will maneuver a buoy through a series of obstacles and swim to the next platform, then the next person in the tribe goes. Once a tribe has collected all five buoys, they will attempt to toss them into a basket. The first two tribes to get all five buoys in their basket win immunity

**Winner:** Luvu and Yase

## Voting Confessionals

*Brad and Shan's votes were not shown during their confessionals.*

## Next Time on Survivor...

Shan spirals after her power evaporates...

...while on Yase, divisions become clearer...

...and on Luvu, one castaway's rampant imagination causes an uproar.

## Trivia

The episode title was said by JD Robinson when talking about how he felt like Ricard Foyé and Shan Smith were using him as a puppet, and how he wanted to remove himself from their influence.