Previously on Survivor: Jamie had it out with Gary. The next day the tribe learns they would compete for a night away from camp. The tribe was split into 2 teams of 4. Lydia, Cindy, Jamie and Rafe’s team took an early lead. But Lydia couldn’t keep up. Steph and Danni surged ahead and won reward for their team. Living in luxury, Danni, Steph and Gary bonded. And Gary took the opportunity to make his move. But Judd wasn’t buying into Gary’s plea. The race for immunity was tight. But it was Rafe who came away with the victory. Judd reassured Jamie that Gary was the next to go, but Rafe, Stephenie and Lydia were conspiring against Jamie behind Judd’s back. At Tribal Council, Judd was surprised to see his alliance turn on one of it’s own. Seven are left, who will be voted out tonight. 

Xhakum
Night 27
Xhakum is coming back from Tribal Council. Steph asks Judd if he is okay. He says he is fine, but he wished someone would have told him. Steph says she wanted to tell him, they all did, but they didn’t want to put him into an uncomfortable position with Jamie. Judd – confessional: He was shocked that Jamie got voted out. They were supposed to be an alliance of six, and it kinda went berserk today. He is pissed. Talks about backstabbing and lying. Makes him wonder from now on what the hell is going on, man. Gary thanks Lydia, and hugs Stephenie. Gary (confessional): No doubt he dodged a bullet tonight. Gary confesses his old ties from Yaxha helped him out, but Jamie did him a big favor by driving everybody crazy. Lydia confesses that she doesn’t know if she did the right thing or not voting Jamie off. She has to figure out if her alliance is still strong. But she has to be careful or she could be the next to go.

The next morning, Lydia and Gary are the first up and are talking quietly. Gary is starting to try to work on Lydia to swing over to his alliance. He asks who she is thinking of voting off next and if Steph is making the decisions. Judd wakes up and sees them talking and is immediately suspicious. He says Gary was working on Lydia and she was nodding and her eyes were bulging out of her head. Judd tells Steph and Rafe that he saw them talking. Rafe confesses that Judd is now feeling insecure. He says that he, Judd and Steph are confident in each other. Judd says Gary told him he wanted Lydia and Cindy out, and now he is going to try to make an alliance with them. He says the person you least expect to lie is the biggest liar. Lydia says she has to cover her own ass – if someone approaches her with a better deal she is going with it. 

Reward Challenge
Jeff calls the tribe in for the reward challenge. He explains that each tribe member has three clay pots filled with corn. He will ask a series of questions about Mayan and Guatemalan culture. Anyone who answers correctly can break someone’s pot. When your pots are all broken, you’re out. The last person to have a pot left wins reward. Jeff explains that reward will be a trip to a hot springs water fall cascading down into a cool pool of water. The effect is like a spa. There will be have Mojitos (not sure if I spelled that right), skewered meat, and will be treated to a massage. He asks if it’s worth playing for. 

First question is about how ancient Mayans recorded their stories. Steph answers incorrectly, and everyone else is right. Judd breaks Gary’s pot, Lydia breaks Steph (Lydia makes a comment about Steph always getting to eat, and Steph is not happy), Danni breaks Steph, Cindy breaks Gary, Rafe breaks Gary and Gary breaks Cindy.

Second question is a True or False. Lydia, Danni and Cindy answer correctly. Lydia breaks Stephenie's pot, and Steph is out. Danni breaks Judd’s, Cindy breaks Gary’s pot, and Gary is out.

Third question is about what spiritually important food the ancient Mayan Gods fashioned man from (corn). Lydia, Danni, Cindy and Rafe are all correct. Lydia smashes Judd’s pot. Danni smashes Judd’s pot, and Judd is out. Cindy smashes Danni’s. Rafe also smashes Danni’s and Danni is out.

Fourth question asks which of four countries does not border Guatemala (answer was Costa Rica). Rafe is only one correct. Rafe breaks Lydia’s pot. 

Fifth question is a True or False. All three answer correctly. Cindy and Rafe both break Lydia’s pots and she is out. Lydia then breaks Rafe’s.

Sixth question is True or False – there are 30 volcanoes in Guatemala (true). Cindy answers correctly and breaks Rafe, who is now down to 1 pot. 

Seventh question is True or False – the most active time of day for crocodiles is dawn (false – it is dusk). Cindy answers correctly, breaks Rafe’s pot, and wins the reward. Jeff tells Cindy she can choose one person to go with her. Cindy looks at all her tribe mates and says this is the hardest decision of the whole game. She finally decides to take Rafe. Jeff tells the rest to head back to camp. Part one [12 minutes]

Day 29
Back from the challenge Stephenie isn’t impressed. In confessional she tells us, “We get to the challenge, and low and behold I'm the first one out. Lydia hits me twice. Danni hits me once. Knocked me right out. Lydia was fed up because I won so many food rewards. Well, boo-hoo for Lydia. I'm sick of hearing her crap. You're lucky you are still in the game.” She confronts everyone with who has eaten what since being there. Lydia is the only one that hasn’t won any food. Gary tells Steph that the pizza he ate was nothing compared to what they had at the feast. Lydia is sitting down not saying a word. Garry tells us, “Lydia is upset because Stephenie eats a ton. She eats so much corn and nuts it's amazing. I know she is strong. She can win.” Lydia tells the tribe she was going to take Rafe if she won as Rafe and her are the only ones that haven’t eaten. It wasn’t personal. That sets Judd off, “Everything in this game is personal. I see people lying through their damn teeth who I didn't expect to lie. When you say nothing is personal, everything is personal.”

Rafe and Cindy arrive for the reward. There are two females waiting for them, one of them explains that they can eat first then have their massage. The table is laden with food and drink for them to enjoy. While eating they go straight to strategy talk. Cindy comments on what’s could be going on back at camp. She thinks Lydia is mad she didn’t get to eat. Gary is mad cause I took him out and Steph and Judd are laughing at it all. 

After they have eaten, the head into the water with soap to clean themselves up. Cindy explains that the water coming from the waterfall is hot like a shower and the water below is cold and crystal clear. Rafe was very touchy-feely with Cindy and tells us, “I was holding her and helping her move. And I am a really touchy person and Cindy is not so it was able to feel that touchy-feely kind of connection with Cindy.”

The couple have their massage, once finished they get dressed and head back to camp. They’re both wondering what kind of reception they will get from the others. Steph is the first one to ask how it was. Lydia is sitting on a rock drinking soup (actually looks like mud in a cup!) And doesn’t say a word. In confessional she tells us, “Cindy and Rafe came back to camp and they shared the experience with everybody. I had to listen to them about how good the food was. Cindy should have chosen me to go to this food reward. I'm an outcast.” Part Two [7 minutes]

Steph, Cindy and Rafe discuss Lydia and how she has made herself and outcast from their group now. Stephenie says, “We need to stick together us four. How she made it to day 29 is beyond me." Cindy answers, “Because she's nice and smiles.” Steph: "She is completely out of our alliance.” 

Day 30
Rafe, Cindy, Judd and Stephenie are making their morning coffee. They make their way to the top of the ruins and discuss how it would be great if this was the final four. It doesn’t go unnoticed. Gary is watching them. Gary goes and sits with Danni to discuss a plan of action. They both agree Lydia is one of them now and they just need a forth person. Gary decided to approach Rafe.

Immunity Challenge 
Jeff motions the tribe in for the challenge, takes the necklace from Rafe and explains the challenge. “You'll race to seven stations. You'll find a puzzle. Put the puzzle together to find a question about the story. Read it and choose between one of two answers. If you are right, you'll find a colored flag. Bring it back to the platform and hang it up. If you are wrong, you find colored sticks. You must find the stick, throw it into the fire before you can go back to that station or any other station. The first person with all the flags wins immunity.” 

Jeff tells them the story of the Moon Goddess. Once he is finished, they all understand so Jeff gets them ready to start the challenge. Lydia and Gary are the first ones back with a flag while Steph and Judd miss their first question. Lydia gets a question wrong and Rafe has his next question. Gary, Rafe, Lydia and Cindy make it back with their second flag. Steph is finally on the board but some are getting confused as to where they have been so far. Gary, Cindy and Rafe are back with four flags and Gary takes the lead. Rafe and Gary battle it out for first place, they both get the question correct, but Rafe makes it to the platform first and hangs his final flag winning him reward.

After the Immunity challenge, Steph congratulates everyone on a good job. Rafe tells us in confessional, “I won individual immunity. Who would see this little gay Mormon and think that he was going to win most of immunity challenges? It feels really good because growing up I never saw someone who looked and acted gay and was also athletic and could -- had confidence in themselves and could do well in competition like this.” We see the four alliance going to get water, all of them agree that they have a great alliance. But Steph feels like it’s too good to be true. Lydia and Danni are talking. She tells Danni that she isn’t useful to the others anymore and that they will probably vote her out before Danni or Gary. 

Now it’s Gary’s turn. He tells us that he is the one they are after now. He approaches Rafe and asks him whom he trusts in the game. Rafe explains that he trusts Steph almost 100% but he doesn’t trust Judd because he has lied in this game. As a thunder storm rolls into camp, Judd tells us he can’t trust anyone in this game. Lydia and Gary least of all. Part Three [8 minutes]

Tribal Council
The tribe shuffle in and take a seat. Jeff brings in Jamie and Bobby Jon. He starts the questions.  Jeff: Lydia, at the reward challenge, a lot of hostility between you and Steph about how much food was eaten, whose had the most. You based your cracking of the pot on that fact entirely. Lydia: I had a feeling that perhaps Stephenie might win this one again. Nothing personal but this time I want to eat. 

Jeff: Nothing personal, it’s very personal. Lydia: Stephenie is very liked in this tribe, and whenever everybody wins a challenge they invite her. When we came back to camp, Stephenie made it clear to me, hey, you know, enough of this. Enough of this stuff about me eating. I wanted to stop right there. And I looked at her and said, hey, this is a game Stephenie, nothing personal but I wanted a chance to eat. 

Jeff: Who is running the camp right now? Lydia: Well, everybody looks up to Stephenie. She's played the game before. In my eyes, it seems as if Steph is running the show. Jeff: Steph, that is driving you bonkers. Steph: I'm definitely not running the show. Did I say that I wanted it to stop when I came back to camp? You’re damn right. If you have something to say, say it to my face. If not, I don’t want to hear it anymore. That's all I said. I'm not running the show. 

Jeff: Gary what's your take. Gary: I like her but there's some people here who are star struck. That's not her fault. But they all could get an autograph after the show. (Laughter from the peanut gallery).

Time for voting, Lydia is the first one up. When it’s Judd’s turn we see his vote. Garry, you've been running around the jungle like a squirrel trying to get a nut, do me a favor and get the hell out of here. Jeff tallies the votes, Cindy gets one vote from Gary.  The rest of the votes are read and it's Gary’s turn to get his torch snuffed and make the walk of shame.  Once he's gone, Jeff tells the others, “Well, one thing is becoming clear to me from these tribal councils and that is nobody is going down without a fight. Which means for the next nine days there should be some big battles. Grab your torches and head back to camp.”

On watching the video, Danni also voted for Gary. Final words from Gary, It was great competition. Loved meeting the people. My tribe does not know my real name which is Gary Hogeboom, I didn't feel that it would be an advantage if they knew I played in the NFL. I wanted them to judge me for how I played, not for what I was. Part Four [10 minutes]

Big thanks to Jem, mo, Morty and smirnoff for contributions to this recap.