This Is Extortion

At Tribal, I said, "I'm not going to Edge with a advantage in my pocket." Everybody's been lying for the past two weeks to everybody. No one's telling the truth. I don't know what's going on. So, I have my advantage, my Safety Without Power. So I said, "I'm out of here." Like a... (snaps fingers) flash in the night. Boom. Like a Houdini trick. I just... (mimics magician's puff of smoke) poof and I'm gone. You know? It was beautiful. Oh, man. And then I come back to camp, and I am losing my mind, waiting to see who's coming back. And then I start seeing people come back one at a time. Ben comes. Sophie comes. Denise comes. And then I see Tony and Kim. I was like, "Wow, Tyson is back on the Edge." This is not good.

Going into Tribal Council, we had a real clear-cut plan. Sarah, Sophie, Nick, Tony, and myself, we was gunning for Jeremy. But Jeremy gets up and leaves Tribal. So there goes our target, right? Like, that's our target, and he just walked out, safe as can be. Going forward, Jeremy's obviously public enemy number one. And this is an actual group of five that I think we can move forward and-and take control of the game with. And so my gut is telling me stick with the five and go for the biggest threat, which is Jeremy.

Tyson's the-the biggest shield around. So I wanted Tyson here as a shield for me. That's my meat shield sy-system. That's how I win this game. And as soon as I'm out of Tribal, oh, it's time to jump on Tyson. (shakes head)

The obvious situation when you're left out of a vote and nobody seems to trust you is that you're probably on the bottom. So, me, Kim, Jeremy, and Denise are spinning around like tops, trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Because, obviously, we are gonna be picked off.

The beginning of the season, I couldn't go and look for idols. I didn't want to put a target on my back by leaving camp at all, so I stayed in camp all the time. I was drooling. I wanted to go look, but I couldn't do it, 'cause it would jeopardize my game. And look what happened: I'm still in the game, I made the merge. Everything's working out wonderfully, because I've been patient and I haven't been causing any paranoia at camp by looking for idols. Everybody's always tired after Tribal. They're exhausted. They sleep like logs. So now I'm at a point where I'm saying, "You know what? Now's my time to go out and go to work." Historically, on Survivor, when you play an idol at Tribal, it goes right back into the game. That means the idol's back out there now. So, first thing in the morning, I went to the area where I knew I wanted to target first and I said to myself, "This is where I'm gonna look before anybody else gets up to look."

And then, while I'm looking, Nick shows up. And he's cramping my style. I'm like, "This is my area, man. I want you out of here." I already looked at the water well area. So I said, "Nick, go to the well. Let's split up. It's a perfect strategy. You search the well first. I'll search this area first before anybody else does." So he says, "Good idea," and he goes off. And I was so happy, so delighted that he did that. So I continue my search. I went right to work. I was looking, looking, looking, looking, looking, looking, looking, scratching, scratching, looking up, going in the hole, looking looking, looking.

I picked up a rock behind a big root, and there was a little package. I grabbed that little package, and I ran full force into the jungle to a nice spot where I knew I was safe to look at it. I open it up. I peel it open. And then, sure enough, it's a idol. I am so excited. I really didn't think I was gonna find an idol this season because of the way I was playing. But say hello to my little friend. (shows idol) This is season 40. These are all veterans, so you gotta, you gotta think of everything. And I woke up early in the morning. I made sure I was the first one looking. That's somebody that knows how to play the game Survivor. So now I got the real deal. (kisses idol) I love it so much.

This morning, I thought, "You know, what happens after Sarah Lacina's a cop?"

While I've been out here, I started my own clothing line.

I love Tony to death, but he and I play this game two completely different ways. Tony wants this flashy, "I'm playing idols for them," but not really playing a social game. My social game is really great.

Sarah wanted to put on a fashion show, but I want to do damage, man. I want to play the game. Jeremy was my target at the last Tribal. Jeremy's very likable. I can't go to the end with him, so there's no point in keeping him around. So, obviously, I need to go undercover right now.

What I have to do is pretend that I'm on a side that I'm really not. I'm undercover, so I can keep infiltrated in the group that I really want out... which is Jeremy, Michele, Denise, and Kim.

I have to continuously pretend I'm on their side, because that's the only way we can blindside them. In my real job, I never went undercover like this. The real world is way more dangerous than getting blindsided on Survivor, so, right now, I'm having all the fun out here on Survivor land.

I think this group is solid-- Michele, Kim, Denise, and Tony. So I'm thinking we have five out of nine. This is good for me. This is good for my game.

Tony has got this whole act going right now, where he's trying to salvage this relationship with Jeremy. He is doing this whole psychotic double agent act, where, like, I'm not supposed to know what Tony is doing, but I do know. So I feel like Tony's my biggest enemy out here right now.

Natalie and I are looking for firewood around the rocks, and, all of a sudden, Natalie digs something up out of the sand. And it's this wine bottle, and I'm like, "What is that?"

Now we have this clue. So we're like, "What is happening?"

Crawling under the bed where everyone's laying. That's exactly it. Now we have to strategize how we're gonna get this thing, because everyone lays on that all... day... long.

Literally, all day, the shelter was never unoccupied, so we were just happy that people eventually migrated away from the main shelter to watch the sun going down, which felt like it took forever. Parv distracts everybody, and I knew I had a very short period of time to actually get eyes on this thing before dark. And I just started looking for a medallion, something big, similar to the clues we've received in the past, but under the one side of the bed, tied up to the top plank, was a really small scroll. And I grabbed it, and I ran away. (laughs)

So, the actual advantage is an extortion advantage, which I've been waiting for some way to kind of mess up people's game, because I have no alliances anymore.

I'm thinking we could really disrupt the game if we give it to someone that no one expects and someone that we know is totally chaotic already and someone that I think would stop at nothing to get those tokens and not sit out of a challenge and not sit out of a vote. And we'll get paid whatever price we want.

The first word I saw that popped out to me was "extortion." I'm like, "Yes! Yes, I'm gonna extort somebody." 'Cause, in real life, I can't do that. But I know it sounds like fun. When I watch in the movies, the mobsters extort people for money or they're gonna break your legs or they break your kneecaps if you don't give me this and that. So I'm s-- I'm excited.

That's a extremely powerful advantage, and I can't wait to use it. And then I'm reading more and I'm reading more and then it says... "This advantage is playing on you."

I'm being extorted for six tokens. That's double of what I have. And they're saying if the person cannot come up with the extortion payment, they don't get to play in the Immunity Challenge, so they have no shot at winning immunity. And at Tribal, they can't vote. My deadline is before the Immunity Challenge. So if we get Tree Mail and it says it's time for Immunity Challenge, I have to have the tokens in place, ready to pay up the vig.

Denise comes with the Tree Mail, and, sure enough, it's an Immunity Challenge. And I'm like, "Not only are they extorting me for Fire Tokens, they're also putting a time limit on it." Th-they're like, "You need to pay this extortion fee right before the Immunity Challenge." So I'm like, "The pressure's on." So, my plan in my head is to approach my fake alliance and tell 'em I'm in trouble and they need to help me so I can help them with the vote.

Tony asks me for Fire Tokens, and I'm like, "Oh, crap," because, in actuality, I have zero Fire Tokens left at this point, 'cause I spent it on my 50/50 coin. But I don't want people knowing about my advantage. So I have to piece together, scramble together some kind of cock-and-bull story about me using my Fire Tokens for an advantage on Edge of Extinction.

And then she comes clean and says, "Tony, I spent my tokens on a advantage." I said, "Wow, that's great, Michele. How much did it cost you?" She said, "Four Fire Tokens." I'm like, "Whoa, the price of milk just went up." How-- what's going on here? I'm getting extorted six tokens. She just paid four tokens for an advantage. It-it's-- I guess it's inflation on Survivor island. Inflation just... (stammers) I don't know what Survivor's doing to me to-- this time around.

He needs the six tokens by the Immunity Challenge. Time is tickin'.

Trust is huge out here. And Tony trusts me, and I want him to know I need him as much as he needs me. So I'm willing to give one Fire Token. I would give another one, but then I'll have zero, and I don't want to have zero.

Jeremy gave me one Fire Token. So now I have four tokens. I need two more, because I can't vote if I can't come up with these six tokens. So I'm thinking I have to go to my real alliance members.

So I go to Nick. I say, "Nick, I'm in trouble." He said, "No problem, Tony. I'll help you." So then I said, "I need to talk it over with Ben." Ben's like, "Tony, I got you. I got your back." And I have the six on me right now to pay the price for the extortion. I am loaded. (shows tokens) I am wealthy. So this is an official payment for that... disgusting disadvantage that somebody sent me. So I'm officially paying for it. I will compete in this Immunity Challenge. I will have a vote tonight.

This is perfect. I won two Fire Tokens. I can pay my debt. And had I not played that Immunity Challenge, Jeremy would have won that necklace. So, what's happening today is we're gonna be voting for Jeremy. I'm loving it.

I didn't want Tony to win today. But Tony winning two in a row back-to-back is not bad. It puts a target on Tony's back. So, yay for Tony. Tony is completely playing Jeremy, and I clearly know about it. But at this point in the game, I don't have the numbers on the Jeremy side. Jeremy has Michele, and that's it. My only option is to go back with this other group, who I don't really trust anyway. It's a precarious position. It's not my favorite.

Going into tonight, I have the idol in my pocket. But I know there have to be oth-other idols floating around. We have enough people to split the vote, so, yes, Jeremy will go home, but Michele will get a couple of votes just in case Jeremy plays an idol.

I feel like I'm playing double agent, because on the one hand, I'm working with Jeremy, Kim, Michele, and Tony to vote out Ben. That's not really my plan.

I've tried to save Jeremy in the past, but I think it's time. Kim and I are both in cahoots together to blindside Jeremy tonight.

At the start of this game, I was like, "You know what? I like Ben. He's a good guy. That's my friend." And now, like, everything he does annoys me. Like, every little thing he does bothers me. The dude-- he doesn't want to work with me. He doesn't want to play with me. And Denise and Kim would love to see Ben go. So, my intended target right now is Ben.

Everybody's very calm and cool and quiet, and they're tired of all the talking, the chattering. Like, "Guys, we're solid. Let's just stop talking." If they want to stop or slow down, that's better for me, because I'm not stopping or slowing down. I'm always thinking when they're not. I have the Immunity Necklace, so I'm safe for tonight. I've been patient long enough. Now I have an opportunity to flip-flop. It's time for me to blindside somebody. And Sophie is getting too close to my partner, Sarah. So, I'm thinking my target should be Sophie. Because my real alliance is splitting the votes, that creates a huge opportunity for me, because you don't need that many numbers. Jeremy and Michele don't have a choice. Once I tell them a name, they're gonna go for it. So all I need is Nick. But I'm just watching the sun, as it's starting to set. I want to hit them, like, maybe minutes before we have to go to Tribal.

Me, Jeremy, Nick, Michele. 'Cause that four is stronger than their three and their two. So, I'm gonna be golden if I can pull this off.

Tony comes to me late with a plan to take out Sophie. And I'm like, "Come on, we have a plan." Like, I didn't want to do anything different. I want Ben gone. And then he said, "Listen, Kim and Denise aren't with you. You gotta just trust me on this." And the first thing I thought was, "No, Tony, you're wrong, you're wrong." So... I really don't know if people are coming after me. I don't know.

Oh, man. Jeremy doesn't believe me.

I can't believe it. Jeremy's reluctant. I'm trying to save him. I'm begging him to save him. "Jeremy, this is your only opportunity to stay in the game. I'm telling you, Kim and Denise jumped ship. They are coming after you. If you don't believe that, and you want to go with your plan and vote Ben, you'll be going home tonight."

I've never been blindsided before. I think it's a traumatic experience. I played as best as I could, and it's a bummer to go out with an idol in your pocket. I probably came into this game feeling like I was a bottom-tier winner, and it's been fun realizing that I can hold my own.