At the next Immunity Challenge, Mookie and Liliana both volunteer to switch back to their original tribes and claim Individual Immunity. Waiwai would go on to win Immunity sending Kaikusi to Tribal Council. With Mookie rejoining Kaikusi, he informs Ozzy, Kimmi, Sugar, and David that the Pirai alliance is running Waiwai. He was able to convince everyone that they needed to get out Kim P while they still could. While Kaikusi was voting out Kim P, the tides began to turn against Pirai on Waiwai. Gabriel and Liliana had teamed up to target Sophie. When it leaked to Flicka that Sophie had targetted her, there was an all-out revolution.

During the next Immunity Challenge, after no one volunteered to switch, Sugar and Flicka were chosen at random to switch tribes. Kelly “accidentally” warns Waiwai to vote out Sophie, which caused a huge controversy. Kaikusi won the Tribal Immunity Challenge sending Waiwai back to Tribal. With Mookie back on Waiwai and Kelly having planted the seed, the writing is on the wall and the Pirai alliance is still four players strong with Sophie seen as the leader. However, when Rupert goes missing, Mookie takes the opportunity to strike. He rallies up Gabriel (per Liliana’s tip), Sugar, Marissa and attempted to flip Shane. Unfortunately, the coup plan was cut short. At Tribal Council, Jeff announced that Rupert has decided to leave the game due to personal issues. At the following Immunity Challenge, Flicka and Sugar swap tribes. During this all-important Immunity Challenge, the game is stopped short as there are allegations of cheating. Kaikusi is initially disqualified for helping each other. When it comes to the host’s attention that Waiwai has also been helping each other by using a Google Doc, both tribes’ disqualifications canceled each other out and the challenge continued as scheduled. Waiwai would go on to win Immunity. The tribe’s attention had turned to Kimmi after Kim P had suggested that she and Sophie have an inter-tribal alliance. 

While Kelly pushes hard for a Kimmi vote, Jenna is still annoyed at Ozzy for throwing her name out as a backup plan. Kimmi and Ozzy have their sights set on Liliana, but she finds a Hidden Immunity Idol after putting together two pieces from both tribes. During Tribal Council, the vote seems uncertain and as a result, Liliana plays her Hidden Immunity Idol. The votes come back with only 2 votes being canceled for Liliana, 1 vote for Jenna, 1 vote for Kimmi and 3 votes for Ozzy being enough.

Following Tribal Council, Jeff Probst announces to the tribes that they have both merged and the real game begins. With 13 people, there are 3 members from each of the original Waiwai, Kaikusi, and Pirai; and 4 members of the original Meku tribe in the merge. Immediately all eyes are on Sophie for being the leader of the majority Waiwai alliance. Meanwhile, Sophie and Liliana are having an all-out war attempting to get one another out. Liliana puts together a massive seven-person alliance in an attempt to take out Sophie. Meanwhile, Sophie puts together an eight-person alliance consisting of a lot of the same people targeting David. In the middle of both sides lies the Meku four which have reunited. At the start of the Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst introduces a wrinkle to the game. Anyone could opt out of the challenge and go for a Public Immunity Idol. This idol works like a Hidden Immunity Idol, but it must be taken in the open for everyone to see. Instantly, Sophie grabs the Public Immunity Idol. Kelly goes on to win the first Individual Immunity Challenge. With Sophie being the main target and winning the PII, there is a mad scramble on who to vote for. When it comes time to tally the votes, Sophie takes a gamble and does not play her PII. When the votes are read, Sophie only receives two votes. Five votes are given to David and five votes to Kimmi resulting in a tie. Instantly, Liliana proclaims that everyone should vote for Kimmi. She then decides that Flicka and Artis are the obvious flippers (unaware that Flicka did not flip) and calls them out in front of everyone. Shane instantly tells her to “Calm her bitch ass down” and stop acting like the mob boss. Meanwhile, David is asking everyone to stop fighting. Shane then decides to call out Sophie proclaiming “fuck you too, Sophie, don’t pretend you’re not a huge threat.” When the revote came back, David was voted out seven to four.

With Sophie holding on to her Public Immunity Idol, she has instantly become everyone’s target. At the next Immunity Challenge, Sophie and Kimmi win Individual Immunity, making Sophie’s target even larger. As everyone decides between Sophie and Liliana’s alliances, sides are quickly being drawn. Liliana initially targets Artis for flipping on their alliance at the last Tribal Council. After comparing the votes, Kelly realizes that Artis did flip on the alliance and that he should be the one to go. Unfortunately, Liliana pulls a Hail Mary and decides to go after Shane at the last minute for ‘bullying her’. She begs everyone at the last minute to vote with her for Shane, but many of the players in her alliance already have deals with Shane. During Tribal Council, Shane and Liliana go at it again calling each other bullies. When questioned, Artis and Flicka claimed they were on Liliana’s side until she accused them of being flippers. When the votes come in, everyone had finally decided they had enough of Liliana’s erratic behavior and she became the second member of the jury. At the next Immunity Challenge, Kimmi wins her second Immunity in a row. With Sophie finally vulnerable, the question now becomes will she player her Public Immunity Idol? Kelly’s plan is to split votes between Sophie and Marissa (due to her inactivity and closeness with Sophie). The only problem remains Artis who has questionable loyalties. Depending on where his votes lie during the split, he could cause a tie between Sophie and Marissa or Flicka and Marissa. When the votes are being tallied, Jeff Probst asks if anyone wants to play an idol. When Sophie decides NOT to play her PII, the stage is set for an epic blindside. When the votes are read, they come back reading 4 votes for Marissa, 3 votes for Sophie, and 3 votes for Flicka. Becuase Artis did not vote, Marissa received the most votes and Sophie retained possession of the PII.

The day after Marissa’s vote out, everyone is furious that they were so close to getting rid of Sophie. Even Kimmi, determined to be seen as her own player, works against her ally Sophie. Kelly finds the Hidden Immunity Idol and seems to be in a place of influence. She directly blames Artis for not voting and leaking the plan to Sophie. When Flicka wins Immunity the plan becomes flushing Sophie’s Public Immunity Idol.

The plan going into Council is for Kelly to draw votes from the other side, and the alliance to split their votes between Sophie and Artis. Kelly plans to play her idol and they hope to flush Sophie’s. Tribal Council begins and when Jeff asks if anyone has an Idol, Sophie finally plays her Public Immunity Idol. Kelly immediately plays her Hidden Immunity Idol proclaiming “cause I ain’t no chicken shit bitch like Sophie.” When the votes come in, 4 votes against Sophie are canceled out, 2 votes for Jenna are revealed followed by another 4 votes against Artis. Artis becomes the 3rd member of the jury. The next day, Sophie is left completely vulnerable and it seems as though it’s finally her time to leave. The Immunity Challenge proved to be a close race between Mookie and Sophie coming down to a final tie-breaker question. Sophie edged the win by a fraction of a second dashing the plans of everyone in the game. Being the face behind many of the plans of the merge has put a target on her back and playing the Idol has made that target even larger. Kimmi and Jenna think now may be the time to shake the game up and take out a threat. Mookie struggles between keeping his number one ally, Kelly, and building his résumé for the jury. Afraid of voting out Flicka and giving Sophie and Kimmi the partner Immunity, Jenna and Kimmi decide that Kelly has to go this round. Kelly is voted out with a 5-3-1 vote.

With Sophie winning Immunities and a Hidden Immunity Idol back in play, the partner Immunity Talismans are on everyone’s’ minds. With only Flicka/Sugar, and Kimmi/Sophie remaining, it is only a matter of time before one of the pairs wins Immunity. Another Immunity Challenge occurs with everyone hoping Sophie loses. Everyone’s worst fears are realized when Sophie pulls out yet another Immunity win. With Sophie immune, the tribe decides to eliminate her shot at the Partner Immunity and Kimmi is voted out 5-3.

With Kimmi gone close allies and friends, Flicka and Sugar, have won the Partner Immunity Talismans. Jenna is becoming wary of Sugar’s likability and decides to target her. The next Immunity Challenge comes along and Flicka defeats Sophie. With Sophie finally vulnerable, all eyes are on her to go home. Meanwhile, Mookie creates a backup plan of voting out Gabe just in case Sophie has an idol. At the start of Tribal, Sugar decides to play her Partner Immunity Talisman. When the votes have been cast, Jeff asks if anyone has a Hidden Immunity Idol. Everyone is stunned when Sophie plays a Hidden Immunity Idol on herself canceling all of the votes cast against her. Shane declares, “Is this a joke? Are we on Punk’d? Candid camera? The life has been drained from my soul. Play the lottery, Sophie. Luck is the only reason you lasted this long.” When the votes are read, Gabriel was sent home with only 2 votes.

With everyone reeling and only 6 players remaining in the game, the finals are on everyone’s’ minds. Jenna, Flicka, and Shane make a final three alliance. In another close Immunity Challenge, Flicka and Sophie answer within 10 seconds of each other; however, Sophie wins Immunity yet again. With Sophie off the table, Jenna decides it’s finally time to take out Sugar. She tells her alliance to vote for Mookie in order to claim the move for herself. At Tribal Council, Flicka plays her Partner Talisman. Shane starts Tribal off with a bang calling out Sophie as a “piece of shit.” The rest of the tribe joins in on bashing her. “The reason I don’t talk to you and ignore you? I don’t fucking like you,” Shane continues. Sophie insists that she entered the merge in a minority alliance and had no choice but to win her way through the merge. With this being the last Council to play an idol, Mookie plays a Hidden Immunity Idol on himself. When the votes are read, Mookie’s three votes are nullified and Sugar is voted out with the remaining 3 votes. Having teamed up with Sophie for the last Tribal Council, Mookie is weighing working with her going forward. He currently views Flicka as his biggest threat. Meanwhile, Jenna is beginning to see Mookie as the biggest threat with his recent Idol play. When Sophie wins Immunity yet again Sophie and Mookie approach Jenna about voting off Flicka. Despite initially wanting Mookie out, Jenna agrees to go along with their plan and Flicka becomes the next member of the jury.

In the Final Immunity Challenge it was a close race between Jenna and Sophie, but in the end, Sophie did the unthinkable and won her way to the Final Three. With Jenna doing well in the challenge and being a crucial part of a lot of decisions, she was unanimously voted out and became the final member of the jury. In the Final Tribal Council were three very different players. Sophie has won her way to the finals being targetted since the early merge. Mookie played a solid under the radar game before becoming a threat and playing a crucial Immunity Idol. Shane had never won a single challenge nor did he play any idols and yet persevered vulnerable and volatile. The jury argues back and forth against Mookie and Sophie. In a subtle nod to their earlier seasons, Sugar and Kelly give their votes to Shane. Kelly reasons that 8 years ago she cost him the win in All-stars with her jury vote, and this was her Second Chance to correct that mistake. The remaining jurors decide whether or not Sophie deserves to win for her ability to win her way to the end, or if Mookie deserves to win for being vulnerable a majority of the game. Both equally impressive, the vote comes back as a tie with 4 votes for Mookie, 4 votes for Sophie. Casting the predictable and poetic final Tie-breaking vote for the season… Shane votes for Mookie to win Stranded in Suriname.