Tonight on CBS Survivor airs with an all-new Wednesday, May 25, 2022, season 42 episode 13 finale and we have your Survivor recap below. In tonight’s Survivor season, 42 episode 13 called “After a grueling, accelerated 26-day season filled with new twists and advantages, castaways skillfully navigate their way to the final three, with one crowned the Sole Survivor, on the two-hour season finale, followed by the Reunion Show hosted by Jeff Probst.”
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Tonight’s episode begins with the final five and this is the finale of season 42. Everyone is fighting to the bitter end. It’s going to be a battle royale.
On day 23, it is raining and dark after the tribal council, Omar was voted out and everyone is happy they made it to the final five who have been put on a brand new beach in the dark. There is no tarp, they’re back from scratch, there is nothing there. Maryanne is excited, she thinks she may indeed make it to the end. Jonathan calls out Lindsey for voting for him. She can’t stand the way he talks to her and hates that she has to grovel for the next few days. Romeo says he is using his idol at the next tribal, but little do they know, it is a lie, he made a fake idol.
Lindsay and Maryanne walk off and talk game. Lindsey knows if she doesn’t win immunity she is going home at the next tribal council. Mike is playing two sides, he tells Lindsey and Maryanne he will play his idol for both of them. She is trying to stay positive, but if she doesn’t do something she thinks she is screwed.
They get tree mail, a final advantage clue; solve the phrase to find the advantage, first, you must unscramble the words then decipher the phrase. You cannot search for the advantage until you have correctly solved and written down the entire phrase. Romeo sucks at puzzles and word scrambles so he doesn’t think he is going to get it. Lindsey takes off, she figured it out and is running around all over the island to find that advantage. Maryanne is trying to sandbag the guys because she wants Lindsey to win. Lindsey finds it, she has a slight advantage in the immunity challenge, this is huge.
It is time for the final five immunity challenges. They are going to race through a series of obstacles collecting puzzle pieces along the way. Once they have all the pieces they are going to use them to solve a circular puzzle. They are also playing for a reward; pasta and meat sauce, cake, salad, and red wine. Lindsey tells Jeff about her advantage. Everyone will have to untie six knots at every station, and Lindsey will have to untie one. It’s a big advantage
Jonathan and Lindsey are the first to start the puzzle, he catches up with her and this is a very difficult puzzle. They are not doing well and Mike catches up and passes them. Mike can feel it, he might just win this. Mike and Lindsey are so close, it will come down to seconds on who wins. Mike is working on the last piece, and Lindsey as well. Mike wins immunity, he is going to the final four and says he has been waiting twenty-one years for this. He says his kids are going to be proud. He watched season one from the firehouse, and can’t believe he made it, he hugs Jeff. Mike gets to choose one person to join him, Jonathan who doesn’t have much left in the tank. Mike asks for another one, but Jeff says no.
Lindsey is furious, when he saw Mike winning, he stopped playing. Mike is thrilled, he beat people 30 years young than him and two who are competition beasts. He has an idol, and he is going to pick who he wants to take to the final four. Mike and Jonathan want to get rid of Lindsey. Jonathan asks Mike if Lindsey pulls an idol, will he use his on him, he says yes, and gives his word. Maryanne thinks Mike is going to use the immunity idol on her and send Jonathan home. Lindsey goes to Mike and says he gave her his word, and she reminds him that, they are supposed to go to the end together.
At tribal council, Lindsey says that it’s a no-brainer that she is the target, her social game sucked because she didn’t know she was being played by Omar, she only has her physical game. She pleaded her case as much as she could, it’s guns blazing at this point. It’s time to vote, Mike stands up and plays his immunity idol for Maryanne. Romeo does not play his fake idol. The first vote, Lindsey, then Jonathan, Lindsey, Lindsey. The 14th person voted out is Lindsey.
On day 25, Mike tells Jeff they are depleted but it is time to dig deep for this last immunity challenge. Romeo says he draws on everyone back home. Maryanne is turning her sadness of her family who is estranged and using it to push her in this competition. Jonathan is stoked, it is the last immunity challenge of the season. For today’s challenge, they are going to have one hand tied behind their back, they are going to drop a ball down a spiral shoot, then when it goes down they have to grab it. Again and again, and not let the ball drop until they are the last one standing and win immunity, with all the power of who they are going to take to the end with them. Mike falls with only one ball, in the warm-up phase. In a moment they are going to add a second ball. Maryanne drops, and they are down to Romeo and Jonathan. They are now at three balls. Jonathan drops and he is out. Romeo wins immunity, he is in charge of everything at the tribal council.
Mike tells Romeo that he is ready to make a fire, but he needs to make a bold move and let him make fire against Maryanne, she is likable and people will give her the money. Meanwhile, Jonathan practices making fire. Mike tells Jonathan that if Jonathan an out if he doesn’t have to make fire, don’t. Maryanne is also practicing, she just doesn’t know what Romeo is going to do. Mike has a dream, to put on his resume that he is the winner of Survivor. He only has one choice at the tribal council, to make fire and win.
The jury is shocked to see that Romeo won immunity. Mike says the worst kept secret is that he is making fire tonight and he feels it is him and Jonathan against him, he is the target. Romeo takes Maryanne with him, Mike and Jonathan are making fire and taking their spots. Mike has a flame first and it doesn’t take long for him to have a high flame, the rope is starting to burn. Jonathan is doing a good job as well, a little more organized. Mike is just putting what he can to burn the rope, but the wind is blowing it Mike’s flame is killing it, and he wins. Mike has the final seat, the fireman pulled it out. Jonathan did good but Mike built an inferno.
Now the three have to prove to the jury that they deserve the million, after one more sleep at camp in Fiji. Jonathan says he was shocked to see how fast Mike made that fire. And if he ever has the chance, he would be right back out on Survivor again.
It is the last morning and the final three are having a feast and thinking of what they are going to say to the jury. Maryanne says she did everything she could, except win a challenge. Mike says this is the final fight. Romeo says that deep inside him there is a monster.
Time for the final tribal council. The final three have to prove why they deserve to win. In response to Tori’s question, Mike says he played the game as well as he could, he only went against his word once with Rocksroy and he apologizes for that. Maryanne said her not taking the game seriously was a strategy of hers. Mike says he was paranoid, he went from feeling like the boss to the employee. Hy tells Romeo that he gaslighted him and Romeo reluctantly admits it but says that he did because he came aggressively at him. Amar says that Mike lied to Drea as well. Mike says he didn’t purposely compromise his integrity, but he had to do things to protect himself. Mike says Rocksroy is the only person who shook his hand and went against him. Drea says they all lied to people and she thinks Mike’s game was on point. He is 57 years old and a lot of them were half his age. Drea says his social game is the reason she went home. Amar says Maryanne’s social game put her on the bottom. She says yes, she did realize her social game was terrible until they went to the merge. She tries to take the credit for a move and Jonathan jumps in and tells her that it wasn’t her move, he told Mike to speak to her. Romeo says his social game was to make alliances with everyone. Rocksroy asked what skills they had. Maryanne says she was very good at scaling and gutting fish. Mike says his work ethic, he didn’t stop moving once. Hy says he is the only reason why they had a merged shelter. Romeo says he never camped a day in his life, he just learned how to swim. Drea says her vote is going to the person who had the best strategy. Romeo says his game turned into a self-preservation game because his name was out there so much. He created the fake immunity idol to take the attention away from him. He took Maryanne because he didn’t think she had a strategy. Mike says he made his big move, he thought Hy was too strong and organized a blindside. He played strategically but sometimes his emotions got the best of him. He tried to play with integrity, but he knows he didn’t sometimes to save himself and he didn’t have a choice. Maryanne said she set her up to be in the final three in multiple situations. She shows her merge idol that she could have used. By taking Omar out she made her best move to get to the final three.
It is time to vote for the winner of Survivor. Jeff tells them that in Survivor 41 they read the votes in Fiji and they are going to do that now. The first vote is for Mike, then Maryanne, Maryanne, Maryanne, Maryanne, Maryanne. The winner of Survivor 42 is Maryanne.
A lot of the jury claimed Maryanne’s winning was because she had the idol they were all looking for in her pocket and they didn’t know. Romeo didn’t get any votes, Maryanne got 7 and Mike got 1.
Drea had five advantages, yet she was voted out. Rocksroy says he heard all three funny phrases and didn’t clue in because he was focused on the challenge. Lindsey was slated for Survivor 41, and because of her amazing attitude, she was asked to join 42. Jonathan thought he would be one of the first to be voted off because of his size. Lindsey says she loved every moment, they got to experience a whole new game this season, and it was cool to take the ride. Tori says she cried more than she thought she would. Everyone says they had an emotional cry this season whether in front of the group or in private. Omar says it is normal because you are stripped to the core. Drea admits that she had plenty of moments, it was really hard because it was tough to sleep and she was starving a lot. Jeff tells Maryanne that she was a very impressive winner. She says it feels like this isn’t happening, she had to win on her bucket list. She feels like she is dreaming right now.
THE END
