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.

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.

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.

Since Kimmi told Ogakor that Debb voted for Jeff Varner at the first Tribal Council, Jeff Varner 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.

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.^[15]

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.

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 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.