Tonight on CBS Survivor airs with an all-new Wednesday, December 20, 2023, season 45 episode 13 and we have your Survivor recap below. It looks like Survivor season 45 is going to be awesome, so visit us each week for all the details!
In tonight’s Survivor season, 45 episode 13 called, “Living the Survivor Dream,” as per the CBS synopsis, “The remaining five castaways must stack up a win in the immunity challenge to secure a spot in the final four. Then, one castaway will be crowned Sole Survivor on the three-hour season finale, followed by the After Show hosted by Jeff Probst.”
So make sure to bookmark this spot and come back from 8 PM – 11:00 PM ET for our Survivor recap. While you wait for the recap make sure to check out all our Survivor news, spoilers, recaps & more, right here!
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In tonight’s #Survivor episode, Drew left last tribal after an amazing blindside. However, his chief ally was now facing loneliness. Austin could no longer trust Dee or Julie. He also couldn’t go running to the former Belos.
They were in a position of power now. They wouldn’t give that up or use up their energy on saving anyone other than themselves. Austin knew he needed allies. He fought to keep them because he was afraid of the others figuring out he had no one. He also didn’t have an idol anymore.
He started out with two. He gave one to Julie and she used it to save herself. Jake has it now. Austin used up another idol to protect himself. Only no one was out for him at the time.
They didn’t start coming for him until tonight because that’s when they had to. There was five of them at the start. They all wanted to still be there once those numbers are whittled down on tonight’s season finale! Tonight opened with Austin wanting a recap. He wanted to know how he was blindsided.
Dee apologized to him. She talked to him one on one. She said it was nothing against him and that Drew was the bigger threat. Austin took it very well. He might be lying. He could be faking forgiving her. Or he might have genuinely forgiven her because this is Dee.
Austin really has feelings for Dee. Dee also has feelings for him. There was a part of her that was thrilled when Austin took the blindside so well.
She said her feelings for him deepened after that and so the two of them stayed out on the beach together. The others were back at the camp. They were even mocking them for being such a couple. Everyone knew they were a couple that only a million dollars could destroy. Dee and Austin continued to work together after that. There were given a puzzle to solve.
Everyone had a chance to solve this puzzle. They chose to go it alone. Jake solved it first and he got a piece of a paper that came in handy later on at the Immunity Challenge. Their endurance had to be tested. Again at the challenge.
They also had to solve a puzzle. Jake’s advantage was that he solved the puzzle in advance, but Jake’s strength wasn’t in endurance. He also made critical mistakes. He sacrificed his advantage because he forgot something. He had to go back for it and in the meantime Austin was catching up. It came down to a showdown between Austin and Jake.
Austin eventually took the win. He won Immunity thanks to Jake missing a piece he didn’t know he was missing. But Austin was guaranteed a spot in the finale. Austin got to pick someone to enjoy perks with.
He chose Jake because he said Jake deserved it after the challenge. Was it strange that he didn’t take Dee? Yes, it was. Dee was usually his ride or die and so him passing on the chance of ensuring she was at least fed proper food might mean he hadn’t forgiven her all the way for the blindside.
Back at the camp, Katurah came up with a plan. She wanted to take out Dee. She approached Julie with this plan and Julie shot it down instantly. She would love to work with Katurah.
She just didn’t want to betray Dee to do it. Julie instead talked Katurah into going after Jake. They would have the numbers if they voted out Jake. Dee would work with them to get rid of Jake.
The ladies approached Dee and she was onboard with the plan. And Jake then made a crucial mistake of telling practically everyone about his idol.
Jake has to play his idol before the final four. He was protected. He wanted to get rid of it and so everyone soon heard he had an idol. They also remembered he claimed to have an idol once before.
It had been a bluff back then. It wasn’t a bluff anymore. He really did have it and he worked on a plan with Katurah. They both made a plan to oust Dee. Jake told Austin he wanted to get rid of Julie. Julie wanted to get rid of him. Dee wanted to oust Katurah. Austin wasn’t sure what he wanted. And Jake might be lying to Katurah.
The knives were out at that first tribal council of tonight. Only Jake stayed true to his pact with Katurah. Jake also used his idol for Katurah and it ended up being Katurah that betrayed that alliance.
She voted out Julie. There were two votes for Julie. She was eliminated. Julie didn’t know that it was Katurah as well as Austin that voted her out. She went on to hug both Katurah as well as Dee before she left. She also told Katurah to go to law school. Funny thing about that was Katurah was already a lawyer. She lied about that at the start and it left her in the final four.
Jake was ticked off with Katurah after that. He revealed the entire plan to the others. Katurah claimed she couldn’t trust Jake. She didn’t know that she was going to be safe and so she made the move that she thought was the wisest. She didn’t want to face Julie who was the only mother left.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to work together at the next challenge. It was everyone out for themselves once again. Jake got too aggressive with the new challenge and he was out before he could complete it.
Dee was in the lead. She was the only one that never shook it and had to start over. It was a surprise to no one when she won that challenge. She won Immunity. Dee will be in the final three. The next question was who’s going to join her? Dee wanted to go to the end with Austin. There was no doubt about that.
She just didn’t know if she should ally herself with Katurah or Jake. She believes Jake can defeat Katurah. She doesn’t want Austin to take Katurah out because she didn’t want to risk him. Until they realized Jake couldn’t defeat Katurah in the fire making challenge.
Austin went to go check on Jake. He saw that Jake couldn’t make a fire for his life. He was setting it up all wrong and he felt he had a better chance at defeating Katurah than Jake did.
Dee meanwhile told Katurah that she considers her a threat. Dee got to choose who to take with her in the final three. She chose Austin. The final race for the third spot came down to Jake and Katurah. Which Jake wanted. Jake hasn’t won at anything and he wanted the chance to finally prove himself. And so it came down to two for the race for the third spot.
Jake must have taken Austin’s lessons to heart because he got a flame. He nurtured it. He was getting burned by it while Katurah struggled with making a fire. It became clear early on that he was going to win and he was so happy when it happened. Jake had needed a win. He had been so close to winning several times.
He needed this. Its why he asked to be in the challenge in the first place. Katurah was eliminated and she finally confessed to being a lawyer. She said she put her lawyer hat to the side to just be Katurah.
Lie! She didn’t want anyone to know she was a lawyer because she didn’t want to be seen as a threat. They tend to get rid of lawyers first. Dee clocked her as a threat right away and Julie saw glimmers of it. Katurah was eliminated only she still had a chance to vote for the winner. Along with the other eliminated contestants from this season.
They all had their favorites. Katurah wanted to choose people who made active moves during their game play. And no one could say that was Jake because he’s been passive for most of the game.
People discussed getting rid of him. They tried to get rid of him and he was still there fighting. Jake has played it smart in the middle from early on and he was loyal. He stuck with people to the end. He didn’t betray anyone for an advantage. Jake could also put on his lawyer hat. See, he never lied about being a lawyer.
He owns up to what he is and what he wants to be. He never hid that. Austin and Dee both wanted to win for themselves. They had to eventually turn on each other to make their case.
Dee and Austin may have feelings for each other, but there was no plan to share the cash prize. They liked each other. They weren’t there at love.
There’s so much they want to do with the money. Austin wanted to finish schooling. Probably come out of debt from that. Dee wants to put her family in a better position.
She wants to take care of her parents. Jake was really out here because he had something to prove to himself. He wanted to prove that he could survive on the show. He has several miniature seizures that were mentioned earlier. Its why he kept passing out.
Jake never gave up then. He didn’t want to give up tonight. He also didn’t come for Dee or Austin. Austin and Dee on the other hand were claiming all the big moves that got them there.
Austin has never had his name written down. Dee has claimed she’s been manipulating things from day one. Even before the merge. Austin said he didn’t start to make moves until after he found himself out of Reba. They both tried to take credit for things. They also discussed the blindside. And Dee admitted to warning Julie.
It was an overall great final tribal. Emily voted for Dee and she threatened to take back the vote if Dee spent a cent of the cash prize on Austin. Dee has never downplayed anything. She admitted to forming a core four and using that as her shield. She played a hell of a game. She even fooled the young man that has feelings for her. Dee was good. It is why she eventually won most of the votes and became the winner of Survivor 45. And the night didn’t end there because there was an afterparty once the votes were read.
They all talked about the big hits. The losses. Plus, people were asking about the love story. Where are those two going from here? Austin joked that girls were better at betraying than guys. Jeff offered couples’ therapy. More jokes were made. The champagne was flowing. And it seems all was forgiven for what happened during the game.
There would be more reminiscing, but none of that matters anymore because Dee has won the million dollar cash prize!
THE END!