The Stakes Have Been Raised

The Stakes Have Been Raised
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Game Changers
Episode Number	1/13 (501)
Original Release	March 8, 2017
Viewership (in Millions)	7.64
Ratings/Share (18-49)	1.7/6
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Reunion" (previous season)
Next	"Survivor Jackpot"
Subpages

The Stakes Have Been Raised is the season premiere of Survivor: Game Changers.

Story

Day 1

Twenty returning survivors are on a sailing vessel in the South Pacific Ocean.

	Tony	“	Coming into this game, I already know I'm a huge threat. I created the spy shack. I found the special idol. I voted out my closest ally. And just when you think you seen it all, you ain't seen nothing yet.	”

	Malcolm	“	In Survivor: Philippines and Survivor: Caramoan, I swung for the fences-- made some splashy firework-type moves. I have a reputation to uphold and I'm gonna keep making big moves. I'm so excited. I-I can't stop, like, bouncing in my seat. (laughs)	”

	Sandra	“	I'm the only person to ever win Survivor two times... and it wasn't just luck. That's what I know how to do-- make it to Day 39 and not get voted off. The queen stays queen. Adiós.	”

	Cirie	“	I am a bona fide ex-couch potato that saw this game and loved it. I'm the gangster with a smile like a-a wolf in sheep's clothing. I've made it to the end. What's the next step? The only next step for me is to win.	”

	Debbie	“	Anybody who watched Survivor: Kaôh Rōng would know that I've got a strength like a gymnast and a tenacity like a giant squid. When I come into this game, it's go for broke. This is the Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and the Belmont Stakes all at once... so you better go for it.	”

	Brad	“	We've all changed the game, so to win this game, you gotta go big or go home.	”

The castaways are told they each have just a few minutes to grab everything they can from the ship before leaping over to their raft. There, however, is a twist, both tribes have the chance to race out to a nearby buoy and be the first team to release their own buoy to claim a major toolkit to take back to camp. Ozzy immediately goes for the toolkit while Mana ignores it until Caleb catches up, but Ozzy gets the toolkit for Nuku. Back on the boat, Sierra finds a "secret advantage" envelope on the ground which was uncovered by Andrea unknowingly and she puts it in her back pocket. Nuku ends up gaining more from the marooning and both tribes paddle off towards their camp.

	Andrea	“	It's Survivor: Game Changers, so you can't just sit around and hope to get to the end. The stakes have been raised. This is going to be an epic season, so... game on.	”

Mana arrives on their beach and they each greet one another with hugs.

	Hali	“	Seeing the flag was like déjà vu. I mean, that's when you really feel like you're on Survivor. But everyone here is like a snake in the grass, and I'm like the cobra that you don't know is sitting underneath you, and then all of a sudden, it strikes and you don't know what hit you.	”

	Michaela	“	This season, I believe, my best shot at winning is going to be literally schmoozing up to everybody here and making them feel awesome. Anytime somebody starts talking to me I'm going to go like this... (makes face) because I can't control my facial expressions. Like, it is very difficult for me to lie.	”

As Mana settles in to figure out where to build their camp, Tony jokingly announces he is going to go looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol then takes off to the jungle making llama sounds, causing his tribe to distrust him.

	Malcolm	“	All of a sudden, that big bald maniac screams, "I'm going for the idol, baby!… (llama call)" If you're going to call a season Game Changers, I think it's more important for me to get a foothold with alliances and making relationships and not be pulling a "Tony" who's freaking out everyone at camp with all of this idol hunting.	”

Tony is very surprised that nobody is chasing him through the jungle. Meanwhile, the tribe decides to send Sandra and Caleb to watch after Tony.

	Tony	“	I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to rattle them a little bit." And so I was thinking they were gonna all chase me, and if they would all chase me, I would stop and say, "Guys, I'm just kidding. I'm messing with you." But they weren't chasing me, so I said, "You know what? Let me take advantage and start looking for the idol, for sure," you know?	”

	Sandra	“	Everyone is already talking about, you know, "We really can't trust Tony, look at what he's doing." But I don't know that we can hurry up and take Tony out, because we need him. He is a physical player. We need strength.	”

Sandra and Caleb catch up with Tony who laughs about the fact that his tribe is now afraid of it. The three of them walk off together.

	Caleb	“	I like Tony. He's got high spirits. Day 1, paranoia, stirring up trouble. All I can say is that's just Tony for ya. You wouldn't expect anything less, but he's got a big target on his back.	”

Over on Nuku, the tribe greets one another. Zeke, in particular, is very starstruck by his tribemates.

	Zeke	“	I'm here to slay everyone and to win a million dollars, right? But I have, like, the greatest tribe ever. I got the goddess Cirie. I've got Ozzy. I've got J.T. I'm playing surrounded by Game Changers. Part of me has to keep slapping myself and being, like, "You're out here, too. You belong out here, and you need to act like it." So I want to get my hands dirty. I want to lather myself in-in the blood of my enemies, right? Like, I want to... I want to change the game. That's what I love about Survivor.	”

The tribe spots some goats and debates on whether or not they would be able to catch them. Tai and Ozzy both agree that the goats would be much too fast to catch.

Nuku opens their toolkit consisting of a hammer, nails, a rake, among other items.

	Sarah	“	I played Survivor: Cagayan, and I have a phenomenal social game. I'm a police officer, so I can read people, and with a season called Game Changers, I feel like somebody will get anxious and feel as though they need to make a move, which will put a target on their back, and then I'm going to be the silent assassin. (laughs)	”

Sierra decides to walk off and open up her "secret advantage" away from the other members of her tribe.

	Sierra	“	Finding the secret advantage is just giving me this opportunity to do something big, and it's exactly what I wanted to do with my game this time around.	”

Sierra's "secret advantage" is a variation of the Legacy Advantage from last season and will grant her immunity when there are either 13 or 6 castaways left in the game. If she's voted out before she can use it then she must gift it to another castaway.

	Sierra	“	The Legacy Advantage opens up a lot of doors for me. I'm already a strong competitor. I know what it takes to do it socially. I mean, I'm a cowgirl. Like, my job is working with guys every day of my life. My comfort is hanging out with the guys, so I got to keep them close.	”

At camp, Sierra and Brad solidify an alliance and discuss pulling Ozzy in with them.

	Brad	“	In Blood vs. Water, it-it was so difficult. I had my wife Monica on one side and I had my side, but I came on and was very aggressive. This time around, I'm trying to let everybody come to me. And I find myself saying, "W.W.M.D., What would Monica do?" And I promise you that she'd be slow playing this right now. I got a long way to go, but I think I'm off on the right foot.	”

Sierra decides to solidify a relationship with Ozzy by going off to talk to him. Ozzy agrees that working with Sierra would be smart for his game. Ozzy reveals to Sierra that he's nervous about playing with Cirie and might want to target her early in the game.

	Ozzy	“	I think my competition is fierce. In Survivor, big moves always require big risks. A lot of times they're not successful, but if you don't make them, your chances of winning the game are-are very small. Cirie and I played together on Fans vs. Favorites, and Cirie helped to get me out. I'm not sure if I can trust her. So this time around as a Game Changer, I need to be the master of blindsides, and if we lose an Immunity Challenge, it's gonna be Cirie that's gonna go.	”

Day 2

The next morning Nuku continues to work on building their shelter. Cirie realizes that having Ozzy on her tribe might lead to him targeting her early on and thinks she may have to smooth things over with him.

	Cirie	“	I think it's good to say you can put the past aside, but I knew it was a problem when I saw Ozzy on the same tribe as me. What the hell?! I didn't start the blindside for Ozzy-- I participated-- in Fans vs. Favorites, but that was, like, eight years ago or something. I mean, get over it.	”

Cirie asks Ozzy if the past history between them would cause any sort of division and Ozzy tells Cirie that the past is in the past and they are still good.

	Cirie	“	It felt like we were solid, so maybe everybody will remain calm.	”

Ozzy talks about Cirie with Tai and J.T., admitting that Cirie did not actually organize his blindside in Survivor: Micronesia but was complicit in it alongside the Black Widow Brigade. Ozzy states he would like to get rid of Cirie because "she's not a physical player."

	Tai	“	I have a conversation with J.T., Ozzy, he keep bringing, uh, Cirie up. He and Cirie have a history. He doesn't trust Cirie, but I like Cirie, so I don't want to get caught in something that suddenly they say Cirie have to go.	”

Tai talks to Cirie while cleaning out the chicken cage near the water. Cirie asks Tai if she has to worry about the game and Tai tells her that the only thing she might want to do is to work things out with Ozzy. Cirie is taken aback by this, she did not realize that there was a division between herself and Ozzy. Tai reluctantly reveals that he's sensed a vibe that the two of them need to talk things through.

	Cirie	“	So just hearing the way Ozzy is feeling about me, I know that it's going to take something more than just the conversations we had. Listen, the war is going to start anyway. What difference does it make if the war starts tonight or tomorrow? There will be blood either way.	”

Over on Mana, Tony decides to evolve his "spy shack" from Survivor: Cagayan to the "spy bunker", a version of the spy shack where Tony is able to hide underground.

	Tony	“	We're all Game Changers here, so we know what the deal is. So when all these bums start talking, Tony is always working.	”

	Tony	“	I went to dig a spy bunker next to the water well so I can just go under the ground where nobody is going to expect it, because they're going to be looking for spy shacks. They ain't going to be looking for an underground bunker. The best quality I have for this game is actually what's needed to win this game and that's adaptability. And if they get fooled again, that's shame on them. This game is not worth it if you lose. I would never do it if I didn't think I could win.	”

As Tony is digging Troyzan walks up and catches him digging in the sand.

	Troyzan	“	Tony is the biggest threat here. He's probably the number-one Game Changer, and look, I already caught him digging in places like the idol weasel. I mean, like, he's just... (smirks) he's out of control. And then he acted like, "Oh, hey, bro, what's up?" (laughs) I'm like, I didn't confront him, but he had like-- I can read-- and when he's guilty, he has a fantastic guilty face. But I got to be very careful with a guy like that.	”

Troyzan tells Malcolm about Tony's actions and word quickly spreads to the tribe. Concern builds that Tony might have a clue to the idol because he was digging in one distinct spot.

	Ciera	“	I played Survivor a few times with winners. I played with Tyson. I played with Tina. I played with Aras. And I think that I have that advantage where I kind of know, like, how to navigate that. Tony's played one time and he's won, so I know he's coming in extremely, like, arrogant and he's already pretty close with Caleb. And I am so excited to teach him a little lesson.	”

At the water well Ciera, Aubry, Hali, Jeff, and Malcolm discuss Tony's actions and Ciera discussing getting rid of Tony and splitting the votes or targeting Tony's right-hand man, Caleb. The idea of getting rid of Caleb is quickly shot down due to Caleb's strength in challenges.

	Malcolm	“	It's open season on who the first target for this tribe is. Everyone's playing nice with everybody, but names have started being thrown out: Caleb, Tony. These are two people I don't want to go at all, but what I do know is the person throwing these names out is Ciera. Strategically, for my game, I'm where I want to be. Everyone is talking to me, but if Ciera is the one who is going to push us out of zen mode on this tribe, it makes it easy to target her early.	”

Day 3

At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the tribes will each send seven of their castaways out into the water on a raft before all racing back to the beach. There the remaining three castaways will wait to assemble a puzzle with the first tribe finishing earning immunity and reward. Before the challenge starts, Jeff Probst reveals the Tribal Council vote twist. He explains there will be no re-votes and if there's a tie vote then they can debate in search of a unanimous agreement, but if that doesn't happen the castaways go straight to drawing rocks.

Ciera opted to do the puzzle portion of the challenge, wanting to make up for her loss back in Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Nuku won the challenge after Ozzy crushed Hali in the swimming portion of the challenge and Ciera and Sandra could not make up time on Cirie and Zeke during the puzzle portion.

	Ciera	“	And I see that this is a puzzle that I had done before, and I actually lost the puzzle to my mom, and I totally let everybody down, and it's just-- it's a crappy feeling to lose the same puzzle two times. I'm nervous, you know, I don't want to be first vote out on the game-changing season.	”

	Jeff	“	Losing the first Immunity Challenge is nothing new to me. That's exactly what's happened to me every time I've ever played. Nobody wants to be the first person voted out. To even have to go to the first Tribal is awful. And even though Tony is a snake, my gut's telling me to keep the tribe strong.	”

Back at camp, Tony, Aubry, Malcolm, Caleb, and Jeff discuss getting rid of someone who's a threat but is also weak. The group consensus seems to be that getting rid of Ciera is the best option. Malcolm reveals to Caleb and Tony that Ciera had thrown their names out and that strengthens the resistance against her.

	Jeff	“	When you talk about game changing, you talk about Ciera. She voted her mother out. That says a lot. Ciera has flip-flopped. She's forced ties. Ciera is slick.	”

Sandra walks up on the group and declares that she doesn't care who goes home. When Tony presses her for a name she simply says she would go along with whatever names were out there. They reveal to her that Ciera has been throwing out the names of Caleb and Tony. As Ciera walks over to the water well, the group decides to tell her that they are targeting Michaela.

	Ciera	“	This season there's a little twist here. In the event of a tie, there will not be a revote, and we'll draw rocks right then and there. And for me it's a huge advantage, I feel like, because I play fearlessly, and I've been there. So I feel like I was just handed an advantage, but I know I didn't perform at that challenge, so the pressure is on for me because sometimes early on people want to keep the (air quotes) "tribe strong." Everybody majority wants to get rid of Michaela, and I'm fine with that. At this point, I'd be fine with anybody but myself.	”

Down by the water, Sandra tells Hali, Troyzan, and Michaela that Ciera is the name being thrown around most prominently.

	Michaela	“	Going into Tribal Council tonight is an easy vote. The name Ciera came up. I'm perfectly fine with that. That's actually who I wanted to go home first.	”

In camp, when Ciera walks away Tony tells Michaela that Ciera is voting for her. Michaela is shocked by this and immediately is very against the idea of Ciera voting for her.

	Michaela	“	I ask, "Who does Ciera think everybody else is voting for? Who is she planning to vote for?" And that fool said me!	”

Michaela is shocked to find out that her tribemates had convinced Ciera that everyone was going to vote for Michaela and she is very nervous as to why her name was thrown around and what position she was in now.

	Michaela	“	I reacted in a way I shouldn't have, 'cause I'm trying to-- I'm not trying to let them see how big Michaela can be, but she can't contain greatness, so it came out. And, you know, it is what it is.	”

Aubry talks with Michaela who reveals that she feels very bad about the fact that her name is around at all. Michaela requests that Ciera be coerced to vote for somebody else by the end of the day.

	Aubry	“	Michaela is definitely a tricky one for us as a tribe. She has a bit of a hot streak, and if you ignite that the wrong way, the whole place is burning down.	”

Tony discusses with Aubry, Sandra, Malcolm, and Caleb how he is afraid of Michaela's tendencies to freak out. Caleb states that people who are likely to flare up like Michaela need to go home.

	Sandra	“	The plan was that Ciera is gonna go home, but the only issue is the minute that they told Michaela that it was gonna be Ciera but that we were going to tell Ciera it was Michaela, then it was a different story. Michaela was pouting, making these faces like she was pissed off. When push comes to shove, we could easily take out Ciera some other time. If Michaela is somebody that we need to take out, we need to take her out quick, fast, and in a hurry.	”

At Tribal Council, the members of Mana discuss Tony's antics and the star caliber of the people who are playing on their tribe. Jeff Probst asks Sandra why people should go with her and she confidently tells him that people should go with her because no one would vote for her to win a third time. In the end, the vote comes down to challenge weakness and the fact that, as Hali put it, "loose lips sink ships," and Ciera is the first person voted out in a 9-1 unanimous vote.

Day 4

Normally, a 9-1 vote at the first Tribal Council unifies a tribe. For Mana, it unnerved many of them that the vote was so easy. Tony, in particular, found himself 'bored' at the lack of game-changing moves in the first Tribal Council of Survivor: Game Changers.

	Tony	“	Last night's Tribal, it was the smoothest Tribal that I can remember. It was 9-1 unanimous. That's not how it works. Right now everybody's waiting for somebody to make the first move. I'm bored. I'm tired of just sitting back. I want to get into gear already. This is the part I specialize in. I gotta jump into action. It's time for me to make some moves.	”

Knowing they need to solidify a real majority before anyone else, Tony and Aubry discussed recruiting Malcolm, Caleb, and Sandra, who they saw to be big threats like themselves.

	Aubry	“	I talked to Tony this morning. He's a threat in the game. So am I. And I want to play with people who are threats, because I think that's the best thing for me right now.	”

	Tony	“	All the threats that are around, I would like to keep them around because they're shielding me. So that's exactly what I'm doing here. Aubry is a big threat for being a strategic beast. Malcolm and Caleb, both huge threats, and Sandra is the biggest threat of any returning player, 'cause she won twice. You don't win twice by a fluke.	”

Afterward, Tony and Sandra met up to discuss Tony and Aubry's idea for a threat alliance and how no one will let a former winner win this season unless it's three winners at the end. They agreed to make an alliance.

	Sandra	“	I wanna work with Tony. You know, he's a winner. I'm a winner. Like, J.T. is a winner. We do have to protect each other for a little bit.	”

At the same time, Sandra asked to be assured by Tony that the physical players on their tribe will not be taken out and Tony told her they need physical players in order to win challenges and stay in the game.

	Sandra	“	Tony wants me in his alliance of five. My game is pretty simple: as long as it's not me, I don't care who goes home, which I really don't. I honestly believe that Tony is gonna help my game. As long as our interests line up, there's no end to the damage we can do together.	”

At Nuku, Tai took care of the chickens as he did in Survivor: Kaôh Rōng. He spoke to Debbie about making sure the chickens are trained so that in a week or so they are able to run free around the camp similarly to Tai's famous pet "Mark the Chicken" from his previous season.

	Debbie	“	Tai and chickens have a history that's sketchy. There's just going to come a point where those chickens start looking like angus cattle, you know? So we should not be getting too attached to them.	”

Tai, Debbie, Ozzy, and Brad grouped up to name the chickens together. Brad notably named one of the chickens "Monica" after his wife and two-time Survivor player Monica Culpepper.

	Tai	“	The chickens become my responsibility to keep them alive. I mean, nobody else would. I'm the chicken guy. It's like a burden, but it's... it's-it's a responsibility. I don't mind taking it on.	”

As J.T. was getting corn for the tribe, Tai requested that he leave some on the cob for the chickens. J.T. was visibly annoyed by Tai's request and continued to get corn for the tribe instead of the chickens.

	J.T.	“	Tai and myself, both of us love animals, no doubt about it. I mean, I'm a country boy from Alabama. But I'm looking out for me and myself, and Tai seems to be looking out for the chickens. I think the chickens inevitably are gonna hurt Tai. In this level of competition in this game, everything you do is critiqued. Anything can be a reason for someone to get rid of you. He's got to decide what he's here to do, win a million dollars or-or marry these chickens.	”

Back at Mana, the tribe had turned in for the night and everyone is sleeping except for Tony who stood above everyone else in the shelter.

	Tony	“	I came into this game calm and collected this time. Now I have so much energy bottled up inside of me. And it just burns me up just to sit down and just let everything be quiet, because in this game, anything can happen. People can change their minds. People could be lying to you. So I have to get some kind of intel. So I need to finish my spy bunker and get control of this game. You know, I'm here for a reason. I'm a Game Changer. I'm gonna be down there building my bunker and I have all night to do it because they're gonna be sleeping.	”

Tony rushed off to the well where he had been previously caught by Troyzan and continued to work on his spy bunker or hidden spy base that is dug underneath the group. While he is doing this, Troyzan woke up and requested to go off somewhere to talk to Sandra alone. The two of them walked off toward the well.

	Tony	“	So I started covering myself up with debris to see how it works, but while I'm doing that, I see Sandra and Troyzan walking up my way. I had to bail out of it and I had to hide.	”

As Tony realized the two of them were coming, Tony quickly crawled away from his spy bunker and crept on Sandra and Troyzan from behind. The two of them were having a conversation about the best path for them going forward and in the conversation, Troyzan told Sandra he doesn't think that Tony is any big threat going forward. Tony overheard this.

	Tony	“	I creep up on them, they're talking-- very intense conversation. I'm hearing my name tossed out there. People are just trying to stir up things. They're trying to plot against me.	”

When Sandra walked off Tony approached Troyzan in an attempt to catch him in a lie. Troyzan told Tony that he and Sandra were just admiring the tide to which Tony began to laugh. Sandra told Tony that they were talking about a crate that Michaela had put too close to the fire but Tony doesn't buy any of it.

	Tony	“	And Sandra decides to give me the biggest lie that never made sense. She said, "Oh, no, we're just talking about crates." So I'm starting to think that Sandra is against me. I wanted to stay with her, but the more I see her sneaking around doing things, I'm gonna have to take care of that, and I'm gonna have to put a stop to that.	”

Sandra assured Tony that everything he thinks is going on is in his head but Tony insisted that there is plotting going on against him and grills Sandra as to what exactly was said.

	Sandra	“	I thought I had aligned myself with Tony, but he's running around acting crazy. He wants to look me in the eyes like the fuzz, like the popo does, like they're taught to do. I don't want to ever deal with that again. There is no telling what this dude would do for a million dollars. Tony needs to go home.	”

Day 5

On Nuku, J.T. and Ozzy discussed the difficulty of the early stages of the game and the two solidified an alliance together. Cirie watches the two of them talk and began to worry about her position in the tribe.

	Cirie	“	I know Ozzy is coming for me, and I see that Ozzy and J.T. seem super tight, which is not good for me. My whole life right now is hanging on, like, by a string in this game. I think they think Cirie, the legend-Jedi-mind-trick-puppet-master, is trying to get me. That might be so... (laughs) it's just not right now. (laughs) So I have to try to weed out who I can play with and who I can't. I have to get in with somebody. I can't play by myself.	”

Cirie talked with Sarah at the water well and assures her that she is not coming after her ever, she promised to only write Sarah's name down unless it is in the Final Tribal Council. Sarah agreed to this, however she did feel wary about going against the opinion of her tribe this early in the game.

	Sarah	“	I told Cirie I'm good with her, but if someone's going to throw her name out, I'm gonna go with it. Last time I played like a cop, look where it got me. This time I'm playing like a criminal, and we'll see where it gets me. My word is not my bond in this game this time.	”

Cirie then went and talked to Zeke about her position with him because she feels a great bond with him. Zeke assured Cirie that he "will not screw her" and wanted to work with her going forward.

	Zeke	“	Cirie is a masterful player. She has this, like, mystical quality that, like, draws you in.	”

Cirie told Zeke that he's a strong player and that he should keep his options open. Zeke told Cirie that they're solid, however he really believes that it might be too early in the game to align with such a target and such a power player in Cirie.

	Zeke	“	I wanted nothing more than to work with Cirie, but as gaga as I am to be playing with her, Cirie is arguably the most dangerous player here, so my gut tells me that it's too early in the game to align with someone who everyone's gunning for.	”

Next, Cirie walked with Debbie and revealed to her that the tribe thinks she talks to everybody more than anyone else and is someone the tribe wants to target early on. Debbie says she doesn't agree with this perception but thanks Cirie for the information.

	Debbie	“	I don't fully trust Cirie because she's feeding me what she thinks is counterintelligence. "Hey, Debbie, I'm doing you a favor, pal. I'm coming to you, and I'm telling you they're trying to get you out." I assessed it, I don't buy it. I don't know if Cirie understand what kind of training I've been through. I am a captain in the Civil Air Patrol, although I don't get paid in dollars, I get paid in military training. So it's going to take a lot to outwit me. It's going to take a lot.	”

Cirie told Debbie that if Nuku loses immunity they should target one of the guys and requested that the plan stay completely under wraps. Debbie nodded and quickly agreed with Cirie's plan.

	Debbie	“	All you really have at the end of the day, as far as who to trust, is your instinct, your internal radar, your (expletive censor) detector, and mine says Cirie would be on the chopping block if we lost, and she's looking for an opening. I admire it, but my B.S. detector was EH, EH, EH with what she was telling me.	”

Back on Mana, Sandra revealed to Hali that Tony is forming an alliance of five and that Hali is not a part of it. When Hali asks Sandra if she is a part of it she replies that Tony believes she is. Sandra told Hali the two of them need to turn the tables on the boss, Tony, and Hali agrees.

	Sandra	“	I'm done. Tony can't be trusted. I think he feels like he can just do whatever, but he's totally confused because this is my game. You know that saying where it says, "You're only the king until the queen arrives?" I'm here. I was born to play this game. It's so natural to me that I really don't feel like I have to put too much effort. I have to make sure that I'm still here. I'm still on top. I'm still the queen. Tony's going home and that's it.	”

Sandra went around assembling a counter-alliance against Tony, revealing the plan to Troyzan who quickly jumps on board and to Jeff who was surprised to not be a part of Tony's alliance. Troyzan pulled in Michaela who was happy to be a part of the numbers alongside the other members not in Tony's alliance.

	Jeff	“	Sandra put together an alliance of five in just 15 minutes. I mean, that's scary. Sandra knows what she's doing. She's won this game twice for a reason. When two winners of Survivor go after each other for another million dollars, it gets ugly fast... and I love it. I can't wait to see the fireworks.	”

Day 6

Tony approached Aubry and told her he has a feeling Sandra is developing a group in order to take him out at the next Tribal Council. He told her that Sandra cannot be trusted.

	Tony	“	I wanted to work with Sandra, but now I don't like what's brewing. I can feel it. I can see it. She's scheming and scamming, and I'm going to have to put a stop to that. I don't mind snakes, but weasels? Not too fond of them. So, I think it's time for me to start getting ruthless.	”

Tony talked to Malcolm about forming a majority in order to take out Sandra. The two of them agreed that they need to keep the strong together and have to take out Sandra as soon as they possibly can.

	Malcolm	“	You can't let Sandra get an army, mobilize her forces and have them at her beck and call whenever she wants them because that's how she won the game twice. As far as allies go, Tony's not my first choice, but he's somebody I think I can work with, not because I trust him, I don't trust him any further than I can throw his big, bald body, but it benefits me to have all the strong players there as long as possible. I need camouflage, and the more targets around, the better.	”

Tony then pulled in Caleb who immediately hops aboard his plan, he is very nervous about how Sandra has been running around forming an alliance over the past two days. The two of them agreed that Sandra is bad news and that if she takes power they will both be voted out very soon.

	Caleb	“	With Sandra and Tony, I don't think you can't trust either one of 'em, but right now I feel like I can trust Tony more than I can trust Sandra, because he's got a big target on his back, and I feel the same way. So we got to try to keep each other safe.	”

Malcolm and Caleb agreed that if people go along with Sandra's plan to vote out a strong player like Tony they are making an idiotic decision. They noticed that Sandra already has everyone in his pocket and think if Tony goes home they're both likely to go very soon.

	Caleb	“	Playing with Tony is dangerous, but for challenges, we gotta keep the tribe strong. It might be a bloodbath later, but for now we gotta win.	”

At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, each tribe will send six castaways out in the water, over a cage, and dragging back a huge "snake" filled with puzzle pieces. Those will be put back together for a combo puzzle and then leads to a ring toss that flips up paddles to spell "Immunity." The first tribe to finish wins immunity and a fishing kit with paddles and nets.

Cirie sat out of the challenge for Nuku and they won the challenge after J.T. made quick work of the ring toss, and despite Malcolm nearly catching up, Mana fell behind after they kept dropping the snake, and lost their second challenge in a row.

	Malcolm	“	I can't lose every damn challenge and expect to win Game Changers, so we need to keep the strong people who are good at challenges around as long as possible or else we're doomed.	”

Back at camp Mana was extremely disappointed in their loss and cannot believe that they again have to go back to Tribal Council. Michaela was particularly upset to be on the losing tribe because she does not like to lose.

	Michaela	“	The challenge today was deplorable. It was so frustrating because I am a strong player. That's the only reason that I'm here. So to be standing there doing nothing while weaker players lose it again. It pissed me off. But the other people are making decisions for the group, so I guess I just gotta sit here and deal with it.	”

Sandra lobbied hard for Tony to be voted out, she began to hatch a plan in splitting votes between Tony and his alliance member Aubry to ensure that one of them goes home in case Tony does have the Hidden Immunity Idol.

	Sandra	“	At this point, I'm almost sure I have the numbers to vote out Tony. He feels like he can just do whatever. He's running around acting like he's the king, so he's gotta go. Unfortunately, Tony is good at finding idols, and that makes him dangerous, so we gotta split the votes.	”

Hali, Troyzan, and Sandra discussed gaining two more votes in order to have enough to split. They agreed that they needed to get Malcolm and Caleb to vote with them. Hali told Caleb that this is the best opportunity to get rid of Tony and that if Tony sticks around he will most likely get closer with Aubry than he will with him. When Tony approached them, Sandra told him that the plan is to get rid of Aubry. Tony was shocked but he did not disagree with the plan.

	Tony	“	Sandra is saying they're going to put Aubry's name down. To be honest, I'll do what I have to do to not get voted out, but if Aubry goes home, Sandra takes control of the game. So I know my back is up against the wall, but I'm not here to play it safe. I'm here to win, and to do that, I gotta make big moves. So Sandra's going home. I want the throne, and when I set my sights on a target, I'm a heat-seeking missile.	”

Tony and Caleb both decided that Sandra is too big of a threat to be kept around and Tony realized that Sandra getting rid of Aubry would be a terrible thing for his own position in the game.

	Caleb	“	Tony was right. Sandra's convinced everybody that Tony should go. And now, they're trying to get me to be part of it, but I don't want to do that, because when it comes to strong people, when you get rid of one, it exposes the others. You send Tony home, it's exposing me and Malcolm. But looking at numbers on who will vote out Sandra, we've only got four, so we need one more person.	”

Tony told Caleb that they had to pull in Michaela alongside them. He thought that Michaela would be the only chance for them to get the numbers and Michaela's hatred of losing would allow them to get rid of a weak challenge performer in Sandra.

	Caleb	“	So Tony throws out let's try to flip Michaela and it might just work, because one thing about Michaela, she just hates to lose, so maybe she'll be down with getting rid of the weakest link.	”

Caleb spoke to Michaela and Jeff about keeping the tribe strong and utilized the case of winning challenges in order to attempt to sway them to vote for Sandra over Tony. Caleb stated that Tony was a big threat but that they needed to keep him a bit longer. Michaela agreed and said she wanted to win more challenges.

	Michaela	“	People that know me know that lose is not in my everyday vernacular. So to come out here and do it time and time again when it doesn't have to happen, it doesn't make sense.	”

	Michaela	“	I know that Tony is a threat, but he can help us win challenges. But Sandra is useless in just about everything.	”

Jeff agreed with Caleb as well, however, he voiced his concern that Tony was such a strong and such a paranoid player and said that it may be in the tribe's best interest to get rid of him now.

	Jeff	“	I'm in heaven. Having two winners going at each other is Christmas. And the best part of it is we get to decide which one is going home.	”

Sandra made sure Hali is on board, however, Hali revealed that she is nervous that the vote may not end up going their way.

	Sandra	“	Tony has already been eating away at Caleb's brain. That's why he's gotta go. There is a chance it could go south and then I end up going home, but let me tell you something, just 'cause Tony won once doesn't make him a king. No one has a track record like me, and we're going to put that into perspective tonight when Tony goes home.	”

At Tribal Council, Sandra and Tony argued, and Jeff said that the idea of the night's vote would be to minimize paranoia and taking out those who didn't fit in. In the end, Mana (including Caleb, Tony's closest ally) decided to side with Sandra, and Tony was voted out. Before leaving, Tony called Sandra out, but Sandra fired back, saying that she had to do what she had to do to stay in the game. Jeff Probst offered his perspective, stating that groupthink had determined the past two votes.

Challenges

• Reward
• Reward/Immunity (Day 3)
• Reward/Immunity (Day 6)

Challenge: The Marooning
The tribes are to collect as much supplies as they can from a large ship. However, while the tribes are busy gathering items, several yards from the ship are two color-coded knots. Members from each tribe can choose to dive in and swim to the ropes to untie them. The first person to untie their tribe's knot will release a toolkit for their tribe.
Reward: A toolkit
Winner: Nuku

Challenge: Blue Lagoon Bustle
Tribes start out on the beach, with each tribe running into the ocean, swimming out to a net obstacle, climbing over it, going over a barrel roll, and swimming to a platform to retrieve keys. Three players from each tribe then solve their tribe's puzzle in the form of a captain's wheel. The first tribe to extend the flag using the wheel wins.
Reward: Flint
Winner: Nuku

Challenge: Serpent Turf
Contestants must race out into the water and swim over to their respective tribe's bamboo cage. Once the entire tribe has arrived, each person must climb up and over the cage wall into the water. They will then retrieve a 30-foot long, 400-pound snake and bring it back to shore after crossing a balance beam before setting the snake on a table. Three remaining castaways will then retrieve six number tiles from the snake, and the tiles will be used to solve a number combination. Solving the combination frees 8 rings that one of the three castaways must throw at a series of targets that became progressively further from the contestants. The rings, when hit, will eventually spell out "IMMUNITY". The first tribe to spell out "IMMUNITY" wins.
Reward: Fishing kit with a raft waiting at the winning tribe's camp
Winner: Nuku

Tribal Council

Day 3

Tribal Council 1: Mana
Voted Against	Voter
Ciera (9 votes)	Aubry, Caleb, Hali, Jeff, Malcolm, Michaela, Sandra, Tony, Troyzan
Michaela (1 vote)	Ciera
VOTED OUT: Ciera Eastin

Voting Confessionals

Ciera was shown writing Michaela's name down on the parchment but did not give a confessional. Sandra's vote was not shown during her confessional.

	Michaela	“	(voting against Ciera) Bye, Felicia.	”

	Sandra	“	(voting against Ciera) The queen stays queen, and adiós.	”

Final Words

Ciera's final words were not aired in the original episode. They were uploaded online later.

	Ciera	“	It sucks to be first out, but I think on a season like this called Game Changers, the fact that I went first maybe is a little bit of them saying they respect my game and saw that I was a big threat that needed to go early. I'm just really honored to be part of a season that I know is gonna be-- I mean, if I'm the first vote out, it's gonna get crazy from here on out. I'm just excited of watching.	”

Day 6

Tribal Council 2: Mana
Voted Against	Voter
Tony (7 votes)	Aubry, Caleb, Hali, Jeff, Malcolm, Michaela, Troyzan
Aubry (2 votes)	Sandra, Tony
VOTED OUT: Tony Vlachos

Voting Confessionals

	Sandra	“	(voting against Aubry) Aubry, you're not going home tonight, but I still have to cast this vote just in case, and as far as Tony's concerned, you're the clown that's going home, and the queen stays queen. Adiós.	”

Final Words

	Tony	“	I knew coming into the game that I was gonna have a target on my back. I knew I was the most vicious out here, and I tried my best to see if I could overcome the reputation I had coming into this game, but apparently it got the best of me. As of now Sandra's the queen. She manipulated everybody to believe that I was scheming or scamming or whatever the case may be. She knows what she's doing. She's out here doing it again. I couldn't pull it off and they got me tonight.	”

Still in the Running

Ciera 20th	Tony 19th	Andrea Nuku	Aubry Mana	Brad Nuku	Caleb Mana	Cirie Nuku	Debbie Nuku	Hali Mana	J.T. Nuku
Jeff Mana	Malcolm Mana	Michaela Mana	Ozzy Nuku	Sandra Mana	Sarah Nuku	Sierra Nuku	Tai Nuku	Troyzan Mana	Zeke Nuku

Trivia

Secret Scene

• Caleb the Fire Starter: On Day 1 at Mana, Caleb Reynolds manages to quickly and efficiently start a fire, much to the delight of the tribe.
• Cirie Checks In With JT: In the middle of the first night at Nuku, Cirie Fields decides to take some time to check her relationship with J.T. Thomas, who had previously betrayed her in Heroes vs. Villains. Their conversation goes well, but both Cirie and J.T. remain wary and neither are completely confident in trusting each other.

Unaired Confessionals

• An Epic Disaster: Malcolm Freberg vents after the tribe's loss at the Immunity Challenge, believing that what needs to change to allow Mana to finally win a challenge is leadership in an incohesive tribe.
• Everything Fell Apart: Hali Ford expresses her disappointment at Mana's challenge performance. She then goes on to discuss why it might be a good idea to vote Tony Vlachos off while in the early stages of the game before he can assert control.
• I Don't Know What People Think Of Me: Tai Trang discusses how the rest of his tribe could potentially perceive him because of his outward "obsession" over taking care of the chickens at camp. He does not want to be seen as the "chicken guy" and wants to make it clear that he is not simply obsessed with the chickens.
• I Love Where I Am: Jeff Varner takes a minute to take in his surroundings. He finds peace in the Fijian islands, comparing the serenity to the stress and tension in Cambodia.
• I'm Glad I Have These Two Rocks: Caleb discusses Mana's failure at the Immunity Challenge. He then discusses the two rocks he had been keeping in his pocket, which represent his wife and his daughter, and how he will be using them to remind him of home and to maintain his sanity.
• It Was Hard To Watch: Sandra Diaz-Twine talks about how badly Mana failed at the challenge, especially after they had believed their line-up would have beaten Nuku's handily. She recalls how stressful it had been to watch as their lead kept slipping from their fingers.
• Never An Easy Season: J.T. discusses the difficult camp conditions and harsh weather, and also his concerns of an impending tribe switch.
• This Is A Business Trip: Jeff hopes to finally make the merge and the jury, having failed to do so in his previous two seasons. He compares Game Changers to a business trip before discussing how a paranoid and uneasy Tony makes things difficult for the tribe, and he says that he was even worse of a tribemate than Abi-Maria Gomes.

Other

• Jeff and Malcolm attend the first Tribal Council of the season for the third time, having done so in each season they participated in. Jeff mentions this trend in a confessional this episode.
• This episode's Tribal Council is the first that Caleb has attended as he was pulled from Kaôh Rōng when his tribe had yet to lose an Immunity Challenge.
• This episode marks the first time Brad Culpepper won an Immunity Challenge, having lost all four he participated in prior to his vote out in Blood vs. Water.

Episode Title

• The title was said by Andrea Boehlke about the theme of the season.