'Survivor 41' Episode 9 Recap: A Double-Tribal Switch Up!

(CBS) - Who missed last night's episode of Survivor 41? Two people got their torches snuffed this week, and here's how it all went down:

Viakana

Tribal Council got pretty messy last week. Since Heather caused a last-minute scramble, she seems to be near the bottom now. Not only did Deshawn confront her about it, but Naseer did as well. Naseer was especially unhappy with her stunt since she initially threw his name under the bus. When he asked her why she voted for him, Heather was confused and shared how she never ended up writing his name down. Naseer didn't believe her though, since she was targeting him in the first place. But, little do they both know, it was Xander who voted Naseer. Behind the scenes, Xander explains how stirring up the chaos will only help his game in the long run... and it sure seems to be working.

More chaos was spreading among the dominating alliance of Deshawn, Shan, Liana, Danny, Naseer and Ricard. Deshawn hasn't been the happiest with Shan lately and feels she's been running the show. He says she doesn't listen to him and this causes quite the drama between the two. But, by sunrise, they made up, so much so, they were all ready to plan their next move. That's when Shan openly isolated Xander and Erika when she wanted to strategize with her alliance:

This core alliance is taking over – and the people on the bottom are eager to make a change.

Individual Immunity Challenge

Immunity is back up for grabs! But first, there's a twist! This time, the castaways had to divide randomly into two groups, yellow and blue. These two groups will then have to compete against their individual group, declaring one person from each team safe from Tribal Council. That means two people will be safe, and there'll be two Tribal Councils – which means two people will also get voted out.

In addition, the first, last person left standing will win a beef and chicken stew for their team. A lot was on the line! The castaways all began their challenge where they had to balance on a narrow perch with their hands holding a handle behind their heads. If you drop or release your hand, you're out. The last person standing on both the yellow and blue team each wins Individual Immunity!

Yellow team: Erika, Shan, Ricard, Naseer and Heather

Blue team: Evvie, Xander, Deshawn, Liana and Danny

In the end, underdog Erika won the Individual Immunity on the yellow team, but it was blue who won the stew. Over 30 minutes into the challenge, it was between Deshawn and Xander to win that second Immunity – and another underdog, Xander, won! You could tell he absolutely needed this win!

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Both Erika and Xander were thrilled as they both said they dreamt of this moment earning their Survivor Immunities.

Before heading back to camp, these two groups had to stay divided up. The blue team left to enjoy their reward (courtesy of Xander outlasting Erika), and the yellow team had to make their way to the previous Ua camp for the rest of the day.

Tribal Council 1 – Yellow Team 

Now away from the rest of their tribe, Naseer, Erika, Heather, Shan and Ricard had to decide which one of them they'd vote out at their Tribal Council. Since Heather and Erika are not in the major alliance, it's clear they're on the bottom. But since Erika has Immunity, all signs are pointing to Heather.

Naseer, who's still holding an idol, feels confident it won't be him. So confident, in fact, he even apologizes to Heather in advance. Erika and Heather are desperately trying to come up with a plan for Heather to survive the vote. That's when Ricard took the opportunity into his own hands. He then secretly shares to Erika and Heather how "no offense" but Heather isn't much of a threat and how it makes no sense to vote her out just yet. Harsh, but honest. He knows Naseer, who's played pretty strategically and has an idol, will be a much bigger threat in the game later on. He's on board with voting Naseer, as long as everyone acts like Heather is the next one to go – that way, Naseer doesn't play his idol for himself.

But first, before pulling off this blindside, Ricard needs to update his number 1, Shan, about this plan. At first, she's pretty hesitant because not only does she not trust Heather, but she wants to use Naseer to help her further her own game. To pull off this move smoothly, in case Naseer does play his idol, they both agree that maybe it's time to use their extra vote. Reminder, Shan and Ricard adopted this extra vote advantage earlier in the game... ya know, when they stole it and blindsided JD.

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In the end, Ricard got what he wanted, and another epic blindside struck! The group sure had some great poker faces acting like Heather was the next one out. After secretly using the extra vote, it was tied 3:3 - Heather and Naseer. The second round of votes was unanimous, and Naseer was the next person out – even with an idol in his pocket!

Tribal Council 2 – Blue Team

Uncertainty was the trend among this group – or was it? Xander, who's safe from the vote, was in the middle of all the scrabble. Danny, Liana and Deshawn are still pretty confident they'd vote Evvie out next. However, Deshawn built a solid relationship with Evvie, and now he's debating if he should work with her and Xander instead. It could be a bold move voting Danny or Liana out, but he also knows it could cause some significant repercussions. Liana, who recognizes Xander could always use his idol for Evvie, was nervous herself.

It was clearly between either Evvie or Liana. After all this uncertainty, they headed to Tribal Council, where they were hit with some harsh reality – Naseer sitting on the jury. As Jeff Probst asked them how they were feeling, every castaway said they were "pretty comfortable" with how things will turn out, besides Danny. Danny acknowledged that there is no certainty in this game, especially since Naseer did have an idol – yet is now sitting on the jury. Maybe his acknowledgment of Naseer led them all to play it safe – because that's exactly what happened. There was no switch-up or blindsides among this group. Plus, Xander didn't even use his idol for Evvie – which may haunt him later on in the game. Evvie was the next person voted out, making her the third person on the jury this season.

Photo Courtesy of CBS

Naseer and Evvie had the best attitudes after getting voted out. They both were just so grateful they at least got to play Survivor. I love to see that! What'd you think of the double-tribal on this week's episode? Tweet me @mick_cloudy and let's chat!

Don't miss Survivor 41, Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS, as well as streaming live and on-demand with Paramount+ or the CBS App!