The castaways were transported to their destination on a DHC-4 Caribou loaned from the Royal Australian Air Force. Upon arrival, each tribe had 5 minutes to collect everything they needed from a box waiting for them and then faced a five-mile hike to their respective camps. The Kucha tribe got lost, and the Ogakor tribe arrived at their camp first. After arrival the Ogakor tribe argued about starting a fire and where to build their shelter. The two tribes faced the first immunity challenge. First, they had to cross a broken bridge using two planks. They then had to carry a torch on a raft to an island and locate two sets of ladder rungs. Finally, they had to take a second raft to a second island, use the ladder rungs to climb to a fire pit, and light it with the torch. Once Kucha got to the third section, their raft overturned and their torch went out, disqualifying them. Mitchell lit the fire for Ogakor, winning them the prize of waterproof matches and immunity. At Tribal Council, Michael was regarded as the leader. While Jeff, who had become physically sick, got a vote for being considered weak, Debb was voted out.

The reward challenge required the tribe members to jump off a cliff, swim out to a floating crate, and bring it back to shore through a set of rapids. Ogakor took the lead and won their second challenge in a row. Jerri thought she saw Kel eating beef jerky, but on searching his bag they found nothing; Kel claimed it was a blade of grass. The immunity challenge featured tribe members eating things based on the spin of a wheel. Kimmi from Kucha faced Tina from Ogakor, and Kimmi won the challenge by eating her mangrove worm faster. At Tribal Council, Kel was voted out.

Michael became fixated on providing for his tribe and was determined to ambush and catch a pig. In the reward challenge, one member had to hold a shoulder pole while a "loader" placed buckets on the pole. The remaining tribe members would then traverse a long balance beam with a pole on their shoulder and one bucket on either side and hang it on the opposing tribe's pole. When neither Ogakor's Colby nor Kucha's Michael cracked, a run-off race was arranged. Ogakor won and received some fishing gear.

At the immunity challenge, each tribe, tethered together, raced through a log chute, down a sand slide, and across the river, climbed over obstacles, and sprinted across the sand to the finish line. Kucha took a lead on the third leg, and although Rodger fell twice during the sprint, Maralyn proved too costly for Ogakor as they dropped their second straight immunity challenge. Jerri and Mitchell each received a vote at Tribal Council, but Maralyn's weakness in challenges caused her to be voted out.

Tina and Keith were concerned about their position in the tribe following the previous night's Tribal Council, where Jerri said she was friends with everyone except them. Kimmi led Kucha to win the reward challenge and receive three chickens and a rooster. Michael wanted to eat the chickens as soon as possible, but Nick told him that they needed to make decisions as a group. With Nick's help, Michael caught and killed a pig. Ogakor took a 3–2 lead in a trivia immunity challenge, but Kucha pulled even and then won thanks to Alicia answering the final question correctly.

At Tribal Council, Mitchell wanted to vote for Keith, but Colby felt he was an asset at camp. In the end, Colby sided with Keith and Tina to vote for Mitchell while Amber, Jerri, and Mitchell voted for Keith, resulting in a 3–3 tie. Although Mitchell said he could not compete with Keith and that he was physically drained, the second vote was still 2–2. Probst announced that in the event of a second tie, the person with the highest number of previous votes would leave; with the one vote cast against Mitchell at the last Tribal Council (by Keith), he was the one sent home.

The Ogakor beach was overcome with smoke and haze from a nearby forest fire. Kucha moved their campfire after ash jumped from the fire into their sleeping area, burning through one of Jeff's shirts. The reward challenge was for toiletries as the tribes built stretchers and then used them to rescue their tribemates. Ogakor took an early lead, but Kucha caught up during the second leg and pulled ahead during the final leg, winning their fourth straight challenge. Ogakor became very frustrated at losing again, especially Colby and Amber. Ogakor won immunity at a maze-based immunity challenge. Alicia discussed voting off Kimmi for their personal issues, while Rodger and Elisabeth entertained the idea of voting Alicia off instead. At Tribal Council, Jeff received another vote, but it was Kimmi who was voted off.

The merge was on Kucha's mind; they wanted to go in 6–4 and knew the next immunity challenge would be key. In the reward challenge, the tribes were blindfolded except for one member each, who had to navigate the tribe through a series of tasks. The winning tribe would receive a picnic basket of chips and soda. Ogakor became excited at the thought of a picnic and did yoga to prepare themselves; Kucha was more focused on not having Ogakor win. Ogakor led at the beginning, but Amber veered off track and Alicia and Jeff from Kucha narrowly beat her to the end. Frustrated, Colby filled up a bucket of water and threw it at Jerri.

Everyone at Kucha was relaxing around camp when Michael yelled out in pain and dove into the water. When his tribe asked what happened, he said he took a breath full of smoke and passed out, falling face first into the fire; his hands were burnt with skin hanging off. While his pain intensifying, his tribe watched helplessly from shore and tried to calm him until the medical team could aid him. The medical team arrived in the helicopter, and Michael said his goodbyes to his tribe, all of whom were visibly shaken. Ogakor got a note in tree mail saying that there had been an accident at the Kucha tribe and that no immunity challenge would take place; as a result all five of them would continue to the merge.

Since Kimmi told Ogakor that Debb voted for Jeff at the first Tribal Council, Jeff was worried that his previous number of votes would cause him to lose after a 5–5 tie. At Ogakor, they waited for information regarding the accident. Ogakor's tree mail told the men to go to the other tribe to scout the other tribe's camp; Kucha's tree mail told the women to go. When Elisabeth and Alicia showed up at Ogakor, they filled the women in on Michael's accident. The women were shocked, but relieved to hear that it was not life-threatening. The Kucha men were surprised to see Keith and Colby and sensed that Keith was the outsider of the tribe.

On day 20, the tribes merged. They were given 15 minutes to take as much as they could from their old camps. The men were frustrated that they had to move but gathered as much as they could for the hike. They named the tribe Barramundi, after the river fish. An individual immunity challenge followed, with each tribe member standing on top of a wooden pillar in the water, with the last castaway remaining winning immunity. When just Tina and Keith remained, Keith told Tina that he needed the immunity, and Tina stepped down. The five from Ogakor voted for Jeff, while the five from Kucha voted for Colby. In his vote, Colby said that it was a strategic move that was decided the first week they were there. At the second vote, they were still deadlocked 4–4, and Jeff was eliminated due to his prior vote.

The immunity challenge was a large game of dots and boxes. Despite being behind, Keith scored 17 in a row to win the challenge. While Elisabeth thought that Jerri would be voted off, Alicia thought she was being naïve and that the former Ogakor would be stupid to get rid of Jerri. In the end, the Ogakor team stayed together, and the physical and intimidating Alicia was voted out. Alicia became the first member of the jury.

A recap episode of the first 24 days, including unseen footage.

Heavy rains caused the river to become muddy, and most of the fishing hooks were lost. The lack of fish forced the tribe to eat more rice, diminishing their supply. In the reward challenge, the castaways competed in pairs in an obstacle course. Jerri was paired with Colby, and the two won the challenge. Their prize was a helicopter ride to the Great Barrier Reef, where they had lunch and snorkel. When they got back to Barramundi, Colby gave everyone their own piece of coral from the reef. Keith, Colby, and Tina voted with the Kucha three to kick Jerri out.

Amber felt isolated after not being told of the vote for Jerri. The contestants were down to their final serving of rice and were quickly losing energy. Keith went on a run to catch grasshoppers for bait. In the immunity challenge, Colby won by creating enough fire to raise a platform. Colby contemplated voting Amber off, since she was bonding with Elisabeth, and he worried that she could flip to the remaining Kucha members. At Tribal Council, Nick voted for Keith because he did not bring his backpack, which Nick took as a sign of arrogance. The remaining Ogakor four voted out Nick for his comments about being ready to leave, and he became the third jury member.

A huge storm hit the camp as the castaways were walking back from the challenge. Their camp, which was located in a creek bed, flooded completely, and their rice, knives, and fishing gear were washed away. Tina and Keith went downriver to see if any of their things had washed up offshore; Keith saw the can of rice, still sealed, and went across a heavy current to get it. However, they had no way of starting a fire as the matches that were in Keith's jacket got wet. Tina and Keith joined Elisabeth and Rodger to vote out Amber.

The remaining five were excited to receive tree mail that said their loved ones would be involved. The contestants' loved ones – Tina's husband and children, Elisabeth's family, Rodger's wife, daughter, and son-in-law, Keith's girlfriend, and Colby's mother – remotely participated in the reward challenge, answering trivia questions via instant messaging. Tina's family correctly answered 4 questions and won a 30-minute Internet chat with her and a $500 shopping spree. Each person got one final goodbye, and Keith took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend, who said yes.

The challenge boosted everyone's spirits; Colby said that for that one day, no one cared about winning a million dollars. The next morning, after a long night of rain, Keith and Rodger found a smoldering log from a forest fire, which helped them rekindle their fire. After rationing the rice for the number of days they had left, Keith continued to make more rice. Boredom began to set in, as there was nothing to do around camp.

At the immunity challenge, Jeff Probst told them a story about Indigenous Australians, and they had to run to eight stations and answer questions about the story. Colby won his third straight immunity challenge. Rodger told Tina that he wanted to go before Elisabeth, as she needed the money a lot more than he did. Colby contemplated voting for Keith instead of Rodger, thus allowing the most deserving to make it to the end. At Tribal Council, the remaining Ogakor members honored his wishes, and Rodger was voted out.

With the end near, the contestants talked about how much they missed their families. At the last reward challenge, an obstacle course composed of stages from challenges, the final four had a chance to redeem themselves from past challenges. Colby was the first through the rope course and the puzzle, followed by Elisabeth, Keith, and Tina. Colby and Elisabeth were dead even at the fire station, but Colby's bucket rose first, continuing his winning streak. The prize was a Pontiac Aztek, a good night's sleep, a hot shower and meal.

Back at camp, they received a mirror and a scale in tree mail to see how much weight they had lost and how they looked. Tina had lost 16 pounds, Elisabeth 12, Keith 27, and Colby 25. The women gave a "car-warming" gift of wildflowers to Colby. Jeff Probst took Colby to his new car and joined him at dinner. They feasted on appetizers for a few minutes, until Probst had the food brought out – by Colby's mother. He was in disbelief and excited to see her and gave her a long hug. His mom said she was not prepared to see how much weight he had lost. Colby brought his mom back to camp, and she brought care packages and news from everyone's families. Eventually, the helicopter came to take Colby's mom away.

At the immunity challenge, Colby led the entire time and won his fourth consecutive immunity. Colby was torn between keeping Keith, whom he believed he would win against, or Elisabeth, as she deserved to go further. At Tribal Council, Elisabeth became the sixth member of the jury.

At tree mail on day 40, the final three were given wood, paint, and feathers to create idols, which would be given back to the land. On the way to their immunity challenge, they walked past the torches of those who left before them. At the end of the walk, they found a quiet spot to reflect on their time in the Outback, then threw their idols into the river. Keith said he realized that it was not about the money and that you should walk away with something much more valuable; Tina said she had learned how much her family means to her; Colby said making the idol made him appreciate and remember why he was there.

The final immunity challenge took place at Tribal Council. The contestants had to answer questions about the players who made up the Barramundi tribe. Colby took the lead after 7 questions, but Tina pulled even. After 11 questions, they were tied, but Colby answered the final question correctly, continuing his dominance and allowing him to choose whom to take with him to the final two. Colby chose philanthropy over strategy and picked Tina, making Keith the final member of the jury.

Colby and Tina each pleaded their case for a million dollars. Tina asked the jury not to vote for someone because they got their feelings hurt and that what she was going home to was worth more than a million dollars. Colby said that while he did not beat Tina in strategy, he did everything pretty well. Each member of the jury asked the two contestants a question. For their closing arguments, Colby had no comments. Tina talked about backgammon and how it related to her personal strategy, and that no one's vote off was personal.

Rodger voted for Colby because he thought he played the game harder. Alicia voted for Tina, saying she really played the game by using her head. Amber voted for Colby, saying he was more straightforward and played the game better. Jerri voted for Tina, saying Tina was the mastermind behind all of the strategy that took place, including getting Colby to take her to the final two, which she deeply respected.

Months later, the remaining votes were read live at CBS Television City in Los Angeles for the first time ever. In addition to the four votes that were shown during the broadcast, there was one more for Colby (from Nick) and two more for Tina (from Keith and Elisabeth), giving Tina the title of "Sole Survivor". The castaways returned to discuss the season with Bryant Gumbel.

Follow-up interviews with the 16 contestants months after the end of the game.