We have entered the penultimate week of Survivor South Africa: Return of the Outcasts. Let’s see what is going down with Final 7!

Episode 17

• Marian gets back to camp in disbelief that Meryl played the Tribal Council Pass on her even though she already had immunity.
• The rest of Salan gets back from Tribal. Shane is happy that it was a unified vote and that Marian and he are here to play the next day. Marian thanks them all for doing their part. Like I thought in the comments last week, Killarney is happy that her plan was able to come to fruition without her becoming the next in line to go. Meanwhile, Phil discloses that Marian told him that Killarney was unhappy that she lost credit pre-Tribal for that move, which makes him flabbergasted since she doesn’t have the social capital needed to make that move. Salan tells Marian that Meryl left in good spirits, which makes Marian happy that they will be friendly after the game. I feel like Marian needed to do some legwork on that front before Meryl left, not after.
• Dino is excited that he was able to come back and make big moves as a pre-merger, while Marian is excited to be closer to Final 6 and the loved ones’ visit.
• Day 28 opens with Felix waking everyone up with Treemail, indicating that the challenge is for a reward. Almost everyone pegs it as either an epic challenge or an epic reward, leaning towards Loved Ones.
• Phil misses his family because he has never been away from them for this long. 
• Killarney then reveals that she has been playing under the shadow of loss. She lost her mother on her birthday in her arms. In the aftermath of dealing with that grief, her partner started to get sick and died a month later. Two months after that, Killarney got the call to play, which inspired her to play with guns blazing. I cannot imagine playing at all while dealing with this double whammy. 
• At the challenge mat, Tejan introduces us to his Staff of Power (not a joke) because he has some power now that Full Package is dismantled. The actual challenge is the tripwire obstacle course that they have to go through to spell out “Return of the Outcasts”. If they trip the rig, then they have to pick up any letters that fell on the ground. The winner gets a meal of chicken schnitzel and a video call with their loved ones along with an advantage for the next Immunity Challenge. Marian starts crying and wants to see her mom. Felix and Tejan are also excited to see their loved ones, while Shane just wants to get the advantage. Despite Tejan once again being close to winning and most of the others not that far behind, Phil is able to win. Tejan then asks Dino if that means they don’t get their loved ones, which Dino says probably. 
• After the challenge, Phil is offered a dilemma: go by yourself and get the reward as offered before the challenge or pick two others and only get the video. Everyone (except Dino) immediately says to just go. Phil hems and haws, but he then decides to go by himself. Before he leaves though, Tejan asks if using the Reward Send would entitle him to all parts of the reward including the advantage, which Nico confirms. Tejan then decides to go. This is a really good play, especially if you are going to get an advantage too. After they leave for the reward, Dino is bummed that he can’t see his fiancee, but Marian comforts him by saying that he will see her soon. Killarney then asks us an important question, “How can you mourn on Survivor”. No one has the answer for that.
• At the reward, I am shocked that they got two portions of the meal instead of just sharing one portion. Tejan is happy to bond with Phil and form a possible alliance with him. They each get fifteen minutes with their loved ones. Their advantage will be revealed at the challenge. As they are enjoying their meal, Phil tells us that he was going to take Tejan no matter what because of how hungry Tejan has been. He also has to buy his vote, but he wasn’t aware that Tejan would also get the advantage.
• Phil and Tejan start talking strategy. Tejan says that there are three…no four people in his way to the end, but he is down for a Final 3 with Phil and Felix. Phil is cool with that because Felix is his number one. Both of them say that Dino and Marian are the biggest threats left in the game, but they want to blindside Dino. Phil is worried about sitting next to Dino at the end.
• Back at camp, Dino and Marian are laying around and talking about wanting to take out Tejan due to his ability to win challenges. Killarney perks up, since she was right next to them, and says that she is on board as well. 
• Dino’s ideal Final 4 is Marian, Phil, and either Felix or Shane because it would be a good reflection on the season. Unfortunately, they are all his biggest threats in the end.
• This is opposed to Felix and Shane going off and strategizing together. Felix starts to propose something, but Shane interrupts and says that he knows whatever Felix is wanting to do would mean that he is ready to backstab someone close to him which would mean that Shane would also have to do the same. Felix says that is indeed the case because their alliance is either gunning for Shane or Tejan, but he doesn’t want to say anything definitive until after the Immunity Challenge. This is an extremely smart move. You don’t want to make the call and then immediately have to hang it up, especially this late in the game.
• Going back to Marian and Dino, Marian doesn’t want Tejan, Killarney, and Felix to win. Dino stands up for Felix, which is not a great sign for the perception of his subtle but very effective moves in the past few rounds. If Marian had her way, she would take out Killarney, but she is extremely worried that she would end up fourth in a Final 4 of Phil, Shane, and Dino since they would probably all take each other over her. 
• Shane doesn’t like the fact that there are two goats in F7. At this point, I could see the jury counting him as a goat ala Joe/Tai in Koah Rong. 
• At the reward, Phil immediately breaks down when he sees his wife and daughters. He has been trying to put them out of his mind, so he doesn’t play so emotionally, but he stresses to them that he has pushed through because of them, no matter how hard it has been. It is very emotional because I didn’t realize how little his girls were. There is a strong chance that at least one of them was born between his seasons.
• Tejan is already in tears before the video call starts. He is excited to see his partner and family, but he is arguably more excited to see one of his two dogs, which is pretty funny. His partner is excited that he has made F7.
• After they are finished with their calls, they are both happy to participate in the reward and Tejan is excited to have forged an alliance. Phil is less definitive about this being a long-lasting alliance.
• Day 29 is a rainy one and everyone is stuck in the shelter. They start brainstorming about what the challenge will be. Marian gestures to Dino and Phil that Felix needs to go. Marian wants Felix out because she wants Phil freed up for herself. She decides to lie to Dino that Felix wants him. She also trusts that she can read Phil, so that makes him a better alliance partner than Felix, someone who she thought was a goat the day before.
• After this convo, Dino talks to Felix, and Felix tells him that it needs to be Marian followed by Tejan. In confessional, Felix does mention that he has thought about blindsiding Dino, but getting rid of Marian would free up Shane to ensure that he would have the numbers to make that kind of move. They then tell Tejan that the plan is on Killarney. Tejan is worried that he is seen as a physical threat, even though he has not won any challenges yet. 
• Time for the Immunity Challenge! It is the “stand on your tip toes and holds the block against a structure” challenge. Phil and Tejan’s advantage is that they don’t have to join in until five minutes in, which can be a good advantage. Within the first five minutes, only Marian has been eliminated. However, Tejan doesn’t last long (perhaps because he is bald?). After that round is done and they start the second “no hands on the structure” round, it quickly gets down to No BS. Dino is the first to fall out, which leads Marian and Dino concerned that Felix is going to win. The episode ends with Felix having a laughing fit and shaking while trying to maintain the block.

Episode 18

• We start where we left off. Dino gestures to Shane about Felix. Despite a good recovery, Felix’s block falls out and Phil wins his second immunity of the season. Guess that was a good advantage for Phil. On the mat, everyone calls him a challenge beast. Dino asks him if he will give it up. They have to wait until the next evening for Tribal.
• Back at camp, Killarney is worried about Phil’s challenge abilities.
• Marian is just worried that Phil is getting too close to Felix, just like Dante did with Felix at the merge. She wants them broken up.
• Marian asks Dino about his conversation with Felix from last episode. Dino tells her (and Shane) that Felix wants Tejan and Marian gone. Marian believes that Felix wants Killarney, Tejan, and Shane as his Final Four. Marian tells Dino that she is planning to vote for Felix at Tribal.
• We then join Felix, Killarney, and Phil on the beach. Felix sees the Salan insignia on the ground, which causes Phil to pick it up and see the idol clue. Felix is happy that Phil found it, but he doesn’t like that Killarney was there. Phil immediately takes off, but he is confused by the idol clue and frustrated that he wasn’t alone when he found it.
• Felix and Killarney talk about working with each other officially since they voted Meryl out together. Felix regrets not looping her for the Steffi vote, but Killarney is not worried. She is worried about being a target after instigating the past two votes. Felix can’t believe it, but he finds it humorous.
• Meanwhile, Phil is still struggling with the idol hunt. He can’t figure out what “the middle” is.
• Phil walks up on Dino and Marian to complain about the idol hunt. Dino and Marian tell him that Felix is targeting them, which Phil immediately says that Felix is now gunning for him. He is open to voting for Felix, but he is not definite.
• Shane and Felix talk about the open idol hunt. Shane tells Felix that Dino told him and Marian about their conversation. Felix is shocked but his eyes are open to the fact that Dino sees him as a big threat, which means it is a time for him to go.
• Tejan joins their group and Shane tells him that they need to be looking out for an advantage because he has not lied to Tejan all game. After he leaves, Tejan tells Felix that Shane has not lied, but Shane maybe won’t tell him until last second at Tribal, so he doesn’t trust him. Tejan says that despite the fact that he has been very open about his hunger, he hopes that a jury will see that he has been playing “goat mode”. He hopes to be at the end with either Killarney or Felix.
• Shane and Tejan compare notes. Tejan thinks Marian will split votes between Killarney and him, but Shane says that the plan is to go after Felix because of his playstyle. Tejan is upset that Felix hasn’t come to him.
• Phil is still looking for the idol. He is digging in the staircase when Felix and Dino come up on now. Phil gets a little frustrated that Killarney might come up on them, even though Felix says that she didn’t read the clue. He still runs off. Dino and Phil talk about the earlier conversation and how it breaks their hearts but they have to take out Felix. Phil is still on board with working with Dino. Dino is worried that Marian and the others may be trying to break up No BS, but he is also worried that he is a big target left on the board.
• While Dino continues to idol hunt, Felix fills Phil in on the conversation Dino had with Marian and Shane that got relayed back to him. Phil is shocked that Dino did that.
• We then get a montage of Killarney, Phil, and Dino idol hunting. Killarney then tells Dino that Phil found an idol clue, which immediately makes Dino suspicious that Phil found it and didn’t tell him. She also suggests that maybe Phil has found the actual idol because he has found other stuff in the past. Dino is worried about No BS being done.
• The next morning, Dino gets up and goes idol hunting to try to beat Phil. Meanwhile, Marian approaches Phil about what Killarney has told her about Phil finding an idol. Phil says that he found a clue, but the idol is at the Outpost. Marian immediately calls BS because why would he be digging around the camp if the idol isn’t there.
• Killarney reassures Dino that she doesn’t think Phil found the idol, but Dino is still devastated.
• Phil is on the stairs dejected, so he decides to fill in Dino with the clue because Dino is “Survivor smart”. However, Dino may be overthinking it because he is convinced that Phil has found the idol and is now trying to build back his trust with Dino.
• Tejan approaches Felix about the conversation Tejan had with Shane. However, Tejan can’t remember if Dino or Shane mentioned that Felix has proposed taking out Tejan, which worries Felix.
• Felix talks to Phil about Marian and Dino, which means that Dino is also working with Shane. To Felix, it means that his game may be over and Phil will be next. After being asked what the target is, Phil says Tejan. Felix is confused that the day before, Phil’s target was Dino, but now his target is Tejan.
• No BS convenes. Phil pleas for alliance unity and voting out Tejan tonight.
• Marian tells Shane that they are going after Felix. Shane says that Dino would vote that way and he can get Tejan to vote his way since he wants to survive. Marian tells us that Shane wants a blindside and she wants to keep Shane happy.
• We cut to Phil finding another clue at Tribal in the middle of the staircase. It took three people looking in that area to find it. Anyway, the idol is at Tribal. He is excited because if he can find it, then he is safe until F5.
• However, Shane saw him unwrap some sort of parchment and assumes that he had the idol. Shane tells Marian that Phil is the number one threat, which Marian is like “duh”. However, since he is safe, then they are still on board for taking out Felix.
• Marian tells Dino that Shane saw Phil with the parchment. Dino tells her about him sharing the idol clue. She then fills Dino in about Phil’s lie about the Outpost Idol. They both are convinced Phil won’t sit next to each other, but she stresses that Phil will win in order to get Dino to take out Phil. Marian and Dino end their conversation with the No BS handshake.
• Shane tells Tejan to write down Felix’s name. Tejan is worried that Dino and Marian will still maintain power with this move. He then moves on to Dino who tells him that Killarney, Phil, and Felix are writing his name down, but Dino is the swing vote.
• Tejan then decides to approach Felix about Dino’s conversation. Felix then says that the plan is either Felix or Tejan tonight and the other one the next night. Felix is worried that his plan may not work, but he has to trust his gut.
• Tejan decides to construct his own fake idol using his previous parchment. He is not going to play it necessarily, but he plans on flashing it in order to deflect at least one vote to survive the night.
• At Tribal, Felix says that it is the vote against him. Marian says that tribe was chaos, but Tejan says that he was calm. Felix disagrees. The talk about what is a goat and the perception around the goat. The jury has a similar facial sentiment that I did throughout all of this. It basically boils down to taking out the perceived goat in Tejan over the bigger threat in Felix. Throughout this, Dino and Marian whisper about the plan. Dino wants to do a vote split and vote for Tejan.  Marian tells him that he cannot vote for Tejan because then Tejan is out. Tejan reveals his fake idol as insurance and Marian immediately clocks it as fake. She though thinks that it is the expired one. Felix argues that Tejan will go where he needs to go, so they should play with someone they can trust instead of someone who flip flopping. Phil whispers to Killarney that she should vote for Tejan. Marian whisper confirms that Dino is voting for Felix. Felix is tired of the miscommunication in his alliance.
• When Phil goes up to vote, he is able to find the idol underneath the voting urn. We see Shane voting for Tejan because he was instructed to do so. When Nico brings the urn back up and asks for any idol, Tejan stands up and attempts to play his idol. However, he doesn’t because he got the reactions he wanted. This is the most animated we have seen the jury all night. The votes come in for Felix, Tejan, Felix, Tejan, Tejan, Felix, TEJAN. Felix is overjoyed, while Marian is pissed. Tejan is just excited to eat.
• I figured Tejan wasn’t long once they started in on the removing the goats talk. However, it is interesting how this chalk vote ended up dismantling so many different alliances. The NTOS shows a No BS break-up, which the episode title spoiled that at least some of them made it this far a few weeks ago, and Shane wanting Phil and Felix gone. We also see that Phil voted for Tejan because he wanted the idol flushed. I wonder if we hear some explanation in tomorrow’s episode.
• This is my final recap for the season. At this point, this is a really good season. I feel like the strategy feels really transparent and exciting. My only small critique is that I wanted a little more characterization, but I would highly recommend watching this season even if you haven’t watched a season before. Thank you all for reading and see you soon!