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Popular reality competition series Survivor season 44 aired its two-hour premiere episode on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at 8 pm ET on CBS. It documented a brand new set of 18 castaways embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, while participating in some very interesting first challenges of the season. Throughout the course of the episode, the contestants began forming alliances and strategies, while also getting to know each other and forming deeper relationships.
In the premiere episode of Survivor, Bruce was medically evacuated after suffering a head injury. Following a hectic reward and immunity challenge, strategic gameplay, and finding idols, Maddy from the Tatu tribe was eliminated from the Tribal Council. Therefore, a total of two contestants were eliminated from the competition.
Survivor season 44 premiere kept the doctors busy
The premiere episode of Survivor season 44 saw host Jeff Probst welcome an eccentric bunch of individuals to the Fiji Islands. The contestants were then divided into three tribes: Ratu, Soka, and Tika. They were all excited about what was to come.
The official synopsis of the episode, titled I Can't Wait To See Jeff, read:
"Immediately upon reaching the beach, the three tribes go full throttle in their first challenge to earn crucial camp supplies; the remaining two tribes choose between a mental or physical challenge to earn their camp essentials."
For the first reward challenge on Survivor, the castaways had to solve an entire puzzle to win camp supplies. The tribe that placed second was to choose between a Sweat or Savvy task, while the losing tribe would get whatever was left. Within the first few seconds of the challenge, Bruce hit his head on an obstacle and started bleeding.
The medics were called after Bruce fell to his knees. Although he looked fine for a brief period of time, his condition got worse later in the evening, which led to his medical evacuation, cutting his Survivor journey short. Soka won the challenge and Ratu placed second, which left Tika in last place. However, the two tribes managed to successfully complete the tasks and gain supplies.
Bruce wasn't the only one needing medical attention in the premiere episode. Matthew tried climbing a huge rock but suffered an injury when he fell and dislocated his shoulder. Although the shoulder was fixed, he still needed a medic for a quick check-up.
As Soka happily headed back to camp after their win on Survivor, they found a cage with a potential advantage inside. However, it was locked. Later on, Brandon found the key. While he initially decided to keep it a secret, Maddy saw him, which led him to reveal the information to her. She also advised him to keep it a secret, but he didn't want to risk it and told the group about the same.
The tribe unlocked the cage and found a hidden immunity idol, which was termed useless, considering everyone found it. A boat then landed on the island and decided to take one member from each tribe to an undisclosed location. Lauren from Ratu, Sarah from Tika, and Matt from Soka were chosen to go.
After a boat ride and a hike, the three Survivor castaways reached their destination only to make an important decision. The contestants had to draw one package from a bag. One was an advantage, and the other two, if picked, would have the members lose their vote. They were welcome to try again if their first pick was to "lose the vote," but if it were to be the same outcome the second time, then they would lose their vote in two Tribal Councils.
Sarah picked the inheritance advantage, allowing her to inherit all of the advantages played at a Tribal of her choosing. Matt lost two of his Tribal Council votes, while Lauren picked the "Bank Your Vote" advantage, allowing her to secretly not vote at one Tribal and use it to get to votes at another.
In the immunity challenge on Survivor, Brandon dropped out due to dehydration. Ratu lost the challenge and had to go to the Tribal Council. Back at camp, the three boat riders had to reveal what they found. When Lauren refused to divulge information, fellow Ratu tribe member Matthew told Brandon that she was playing them, following which the tribe decided to vote her out.
Maddy, however, told Lauren that Brandon had an idol and he was the one orchestrating the game. At the tribal council, Jamie announced she'd be playing her "shot in the dark," which could either save them from elimination or put them at the risk of going home. After the vote ended, Brandon revealed he also played to the same advantage as Jamie, which meant only three votes were cast.
However, only Jamie ended up being safe. This led to Brandon using up his immunity idol. Out of the three votes, two were for Brandon, but because of the idol, he was declared safe. The final vote was for Maddy, who ended up getting eliminated from Survivor.
Season 44 of Survivor has already aired an interesting premiere. The installment has just begun and there are already a lot of strategies, coupled with gameplay and drama in place. As the season progresses, viewers will get to witness the contestants getting into more complicated dynamics as they try to make their way through eliminations every week.
Don't forget to tune in to a brand new episode of Survivor next Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 8 pm ET on CBS.
