Game Changers: Episode #1

As the game began, the 20 contestants were divided into two tribes, Mana and Nuku, and given a few minutes to grab supplies from a boat to bring back to their camps. The castaways were also given the chance to swim out to a nearby buoy and release a large toolkit; Danny won the kit for Nuku. During the scramble, Zersch found an envelope. At the Nuku camp, she learned that she had found a "legacy advantage," which would give her immunity when either thirteen or six castaways remained; if she were voted out before then, she would privately will it to someone else following her elimination. Nofo worried that Danny, who she had betrayed on Survivor: Micronesia, would target her out of revenge, which he did. At Mana, Curtis immediately declared that he was going to look for a hidden immunity idol, which caused his tribe to distrust him. Darren discussed getting rid of Curtis or Brian, his closest ally, but only earned the ire of her tribemates for strategizing too much.

Nuku won the challenge. At camp, Mana targeted Darren for her strategizing but told her the target was Boc. Boc was angry after finding out she was the decoy target, which caused some of her tribemates to reconsider their plans, but at Tribal Council, the tribe stayed united and voted Darren out.

After Tribal Council, Curtis and JJ — the tribe's only winners — discussed how no one else would let a former winner win this season, and agreed to align. However, while Curtis was completing his spy bunker, he overheard JJ talking with Dylan and believed she was targeting him. At Nuku, Nofo tried to recruit allies against Danny.

Nuku won the challenge. Back at camp, Curtis and JJ campaigned against the other — Curtis argued that JJ needed to go for her poor challenge performances and status as the only two-time winner, while JJ argued that Curtis' inability to remain calm made others paranoid. Ultimately, the tribe sided with JJ and Curtis was voted out.

Game Changers: Episode #2

The next day following Curtis' vote out, the castaways were redistributed into three tribes; Maddie, Leos, Christian, Jamie, Boc and JJ formed the Nuku tribe; KC, Brian, Rose, DD, Zersch and Bryce formed the Mana tribe; Shadow, Nofo, Danny, Vic, Dylan and Patrick formed the Tavua tribe who had to build a new shelter from scratch.

At the Nuku tribe, Jamie was amazed at how decorated and put together their shelter was and compared it to winning a reward challenge. Christian stranded his tribemates out on the ocean for snorkeling as a ruse to look for a Hidden Immunity Idol being the only original Nuku remaining there but failed to find it. At Mana, Bryce bonded again with Brian and rallied to bring him into the alliance with KC, Rose and Zersch due to his friendship and Brian's challenge strength though Zersch viewed the friendship as a potential threat. At Tavua, Dylan found himself in a similar situation to Christian being the only Mana member but discovered a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, which was planted at the next Immunity challenge.

Nuku and Tavua won the challenge and Dylan found the Hidden Immunity Idol while acting as if he was overjoyed by the victory. At Mana, Bryce wanted to get rid of DD since Brian was a stronger competitor and friend. KC warned Bryce that Brian remaining in the game would only hurt his chances at the merge and that he needed to do what he felt was right for his game. At Tribal Council, Brian and DD lobbied their pleas on why they would be more valuable to keep other the other. Ultimately, Brian was voted out in an unanimous 5-1 vote with Bryce choosing to play with his head rather than his heart like in Kaôh Rōng.

Game Changers: Episode #3

Nuku and Mana won the challenge, with the latter making a come-from-behind second place victory due to KC. At the Immunity Challenge, the tribes learned of another game changing twist: Only one tribe would win while the two losing tribes would have to vote simultaneously at Tribal Council for only one castaway to leave.

Tavua won the challenge with a close race between Leos on Nuku and Shadow on Tavua. At Nuku, JJ lobbied to vote out Zersch since she was the strongest female competitor on the Mana tribe while Christian voiced voting off Bryce due to his sneakiness. At Mana, the tribe lobbied between voting out either JJ or Jamie while KC attempted to make pleas for DD to stick with them. Bryce managed to find the Hidden Immunity Idol shortly before Tribal and told his tribe members, who were ecstatic that the game was about to change.

At Tribal Council, things appeared to be unpredictable as tribe members relayed messages to the opposing tribe and plans seemed to be changing every second with KC's name appearing to be who Nuku wanted to target. Nevertheless, they stuck with their plan to vote off Zersch but Bryce played his Hidden Immunity Idol on her, negating all six votes from the Nuku members. KC, Rose, DD, Zersch and Bryce voted out a shocked Jamie as Boc blamed Christian for causing his vote out as the tribes left Tribal Council.

Game Changers: Episode #4

After Jamie's elimination, Christian tried to defend his actions at Tribal Council, however his tribemates continued to distrust him. This prompted Christian to search for the hidden immunity idol, which he found.

Tavua placed first while Nuku placed second, as Rose's struggles on the balance beam caused Mana to lose the challenge. At Tavua, Vic aligned with outsider Dylan. At Mana, Rose was furious over her poor performance in the challenge, and lashed out at KC, labeling him the tribe's dictator. Bryce later found a clue to the tribe's new hidden immunity idol. At Nuku, Christian and Boc squabbled over the latter's consumption of the sugar they had previously won. In order to keep the two fighting, JJ ate the rest of the sugar, causing Christian to accuse Boc of the act.

Mana placed first and Tavua placed second. At the Nuku camp, Christian and Boc targeted each other; Maddie sided with Christian, but JJ teamed up with Boc out of revenge for Jamie's elimination. Both sides lobbied for Leos' vote, but he ultimately chose to vote against Christian, who chose not to bring his hidden immunity idol to Tribal Council and was eliminated from the game. After Christian's elimination, JJ confessed to eating the sugar.

Game Changers: Episode #5

At Mana, Bryce deciphered his idol clue and discovered the hidden immunity idol underneath the water well. Later that day, the castaways were redistributed into two tribes by random draw: Maddie, KC, Nofo, Jake, Boc, Zersch and Dylan formed the new Mana tribe; Shadow, Leos, Danny, JJ, Vic, Bryce and Patrick formed the new Nuku tribe; and Rose was exiled for drawing the empty parcel, to later join the tribe that lost the next immunity challenge following their Tribal Council.

On Mana, lone men KC and Dylan bonded, as KC pledged to bring Dylan into his alliance with Zersch. On Nuku, Leos and JJ were outsiders for being the only original Mana members. However, Patrick had bonded with Leos, and Patrick led the original Nuku alliance into claiming that they were against Bryce in order to avoid Leos and JJ from scrambling, allowing them to take the latter out. Living at a new camp, Bryce instinctively decided to check for a hidden immunity idol underneath the well, which he then found. Rose was exiled to a yacht, where she enjoyed a feast and was joined by Survivor: Caramoan winner Curtis Page, who gave her game advice. At the conclusion of his visit, he gave Rose a choice between three advantages: a kit to construct a fake hidden immunity idol, an extra vote at any Tribal Council of her choice, and an advantage for her tribe at her next immunity challenge. She chose the extra vote.

Mana won the challenge. Back at camp, Leos was confident that Bryce was going home, but JJ was skeptical, and campaigned against Bryce for his original season bond with Maddie and Rose. Though her tribemates agreed with her points, they still planned to eliminate her that night. However, Bryce accidentally told Leos that JJ was the target, which made the others anxious. At Tribal Council, JJ took advantage of Bryce's paranoia, leading to Bryce openly telling his tribemates to target Danny for being a physical threat, causing a huge argument between Bryce and Patrick over Bryce's unpredictability. Leos and JJ retaliated by telling their tribemates to vote out Bryce for being untrustworthy. However, when the votes were read, the original Nuku tribe stayed loyal and sent JJ out of the game, ending her 94 days of consecutive play over three seasons. Rose then joined the Nuku tribe.