This article contains spoilers for Survivor 45‘s first episode.
Even though Survivor 45’s episodes are supersized at 90 minutes, a lot of content was still left on the cutting room floor including a massive twist. Season 45 premiered on Wednesday, Sept. 27 and we were introduced to 17 new castaways, as well as reacquainted with Bruce Perreault from Survivor 44, who received a second crack at the $1 million after he was medically evacuatated 12 hours into the game.
We also became familiar with perhaps the worst tribe ever, Lulu — move over, Matsing.
From Brandon Donlon nearly passing out during the opening challenge, to Emily Flippen burning bridges everywhere she could, to an emotionally distraught Hannah Rose throwing in the towel at Tribal Council, the players donning the yellow buff were a focal point for much of episode 1.
However, one thing that wasn’t shown was a critical twist after the first Immunity Challenge wrapped.
The three tribes (Lulu, Reba (red buffs), and Belo (blue buffs), battled in a classic-style Survivor obstacle course that ended in a puzzle. After Lulu put on a dismally physical performance trying to get their tribe members up a wall, Belo finished the puzzle first, and Reba placed second.
During Sept. 28’s episode of On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast, longtime host and showrunner Jeff Probst revealed that with their victory, Belo earned a big advantage. They had the opportunity to send one player to Lulu’s beach to live with them while they prepared for Tribal Council. In doing so, the player would learn the dynamics of their tribe’s opponent while also potentially creating new bonds and alliances.
The twist also allowed the opposing tribe member to vote for a Lulu player to go home
“There’s one scene that you actually need to know about,” Jeff said.
Jeff revealed that Belo sent Kendra McQuarrie, the 31-year-old bartender from Steamboat Springs, CO, to Lulu. “Kendra goes over and she literally just hangs out there watching all of them scramble, but they now realize Kendra’s here,” the host said. “So, they’re trying to figure out who they’re going to vote for. But, they’re also aware that somebody is eavesdropping.”
Jeff said that none of the Lulu contestants were privy to another element of the twist. Kendra was also tasked with casting a vote against one of the six of them. Before Lulu made the journey to Tribal Council, Kendra went to Tree Mail and secretly wrote Brandon’s name down, he revealed.
Brandon was highly dismayed for large portions of episode 1. He was the big reason why Lulu didn’t capture supplies in the opening challenge, and his Immunity Challenge performance was not much better. Back at camp before Tribal, Brandon said he was planning on leaning into the Shot in the Dark game mechanic where he could wager his vote for a one-in-six chance of receiving safety from the vote.
“So, we get to Tribal Council, in theory, Brandon already has one vote cast against him,” he said.
However, Kendra’s surprise vote had no impact on the game because Hannah chose to quit Survivor 45. Instead of each player taking a trip to the voting urn to write Hannah’s name down, they all verbally agreed to honor Hannah’s wish, and she was sent packing. The host also gave Hannah the honor of snuffing her torch.
“So, when it came time to have to trim the episode down, as much as we loved this scene, because it didn’t really play out the way we intended with the vote and everything, we had to cut it,” Jeff said.
Kendra’s time on Lulu may be beneficial to her later in the game, the host said
The twist was a big opportunity for Kendra to make inroads with other competitors outside of her Belo tribe. And that could come in handy for her later in the experience if she plays her cards right.
“Obviously, Kendra now has been to Lulu,” he said. “She’s formed some kind of relationships with those players, and she has some kind of information. So, if there’s a tribe swap or if she makes the merge, who knows how that information or those relationships might come into play.”
He didn’t go into further detail about how Kendra’s game was ultimately affected by the twist. Also, we don’t know if the same thing will happen next episode — the first-place tribe at the Immunity Challenge sends a member of their squad to the loser’s camp.
You can catch episode 2 of Survivor 45 on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and Paramount Plus.
