Tensions continue to rise among disagreeing alliance members. Concentration is key in this week's individual immunity challenge. Then, a secretive midnight journey turns not so secretive when tribemates notice this player sneak out of camp.
Chrissy went home because she tried to take a very early stab at someone that she shouldn't have: me. I don't know why she came at me. She seemed to be very upset with all of the muscles. And I don't know how that ended up being… being mad at me. Every single person voted for Chrissy except for Chrissy, but I don't think that it was unanimous in their hearts. I think it was unanimous on paper.
David is dead to me. He parades himself around camp talking about how he's playing an honest and truthful game. And he was the one person who lied straight to my face. He tried to vote me out, and David wants to keep all the strong people in the game so that he can continue to have amazing Survivor challenges. This dude is a complete idiot. He thinks he's out here for the Olympic qualifiers with him, Eva and Joe. He's completely forgot that we're on Survivor.
The last Tribal Council was cutthroat. It was brutal. Personally, I would have rather have seen Kamilla go. I think she's a bigger threat in this game. But there seems to be some hesitancy with voting out Kamilla on the part of Kyle. Everybody plays this game in a different way. But Kyle's been scaring me lately. Why is he so hesitant to vote out Kamilla? I got to figure that out.
Last night, Chrissy went home. It was a really tense vote, but everybody voted together, including those not in the core six. I'm happy she went home. I think that it's definitely a better vibe around camp without her. And I think that as long as it's not one of my people, I don't care.
David wakes up and gets right back to work. He's still hell-bent on getting Kamilla out of this game. And David has a new number one, which is Mary, and, uh, it's David's way or the highway. And that's just how he kind of operates. David and I's relationship really fell apart when he tried to pressure me into voting out Kamilla. So I'm feeling pretty pissed off because Kamilla is my number one in this game, and we work well together. But it also showed me that he really wasn't with me at the end of the day. I've been riding the middle very hard in this game, and I think that's starting to fall apart. So now I got to play.
So the first thing that I had to do was talk to Shauhin. And I had to explain to him that David and Mary don't trust Shauhin and I at all, because I need to make this personal for Shauhin so that I don't reveal just how close I am with Kamilla.
David and Mary are in trouble because they pushed too hard too soon. And they're trying to push Kamilla. And the reason they're pushing Kamilla is because they're afraid of Kamilla's relationship with me. And so, Kyle's trying to enlist my help to get rid of Mary. And I'm down.
Something in my gut tells me that Kyle and Shauhin are gonna flip on us. Ugh. Like, you can't just ignore all these signs. There's a blaring neon sign that says, 'They are working together.' Shauhin and Kyle are worrying me.
I feel that David and Mary are being extremely paranoid. I get that we're at nine, and that if one person from our group swaps, then it changes everything. But nobody's gonna swap to me. Like, I feel like I trust all of them. And so, I'm not liking that there is this weird extra tension. It sucks for the people I trust not to trust each other. Please. Like, you guys are so cool. Please just be friends. I want all my friends to be friends.
What the hell is going on? David's paranoia has translated into bullish behavior towards other players in this game. And I've had a lot of experience, um, dealing with confrontational or argumentative people in various circumstances. I don't like it in the real world, I don't like it here. While I would love to just remedy this behavior by talking to him about it, I can't. So, at the end of the day, his number… his new number one's got to go, and he's got to go soon after.
At the taco reward, I had reached in my chips and pulled out a tiny little scroll, and the scroll told me that I would need to sneak out of camp the night after the taco reward in order to get some new advantage. Once it's finally dark and all the conversations die down, I think I can go now.
I'm really excited, but I need to make sure that I don't get caught with my pants down. So I start creeping my way out of camp, and I don't think that anybody sees me go.
I woke up in the middle of the night, and I see this shadowy figure, and I realize it's little old Eva. Usually, in past seasons, when someone creeps out of camp, they have an opportunity for an advantage, and Eva just went on reward. Well, where do they tell you that you have an opportunity to go sneak out of camp and get an advantage? When you're on reward. That's what I think is happening tonight. So, boom. Game on.
So, I'm laying there asleep, and like a wombat, here comes Shauhin, a bearded man, standing over top of me. He's staring into my eyes, and he's like, 'Shh.' And he grabs my face, and he whispers in my ear… 'Eva's gone.' And he goes, 'She's been gone for a long time. Don't fall asleep. Wait for her to get back.' He's super worked up, but I am not worried at all about Eva. I'm not. She's a team player, and I trust her with my life. So, whatever it is, we'll talk in the morning.
Once I sneak out of camp, I walk all the way down the beach, and I can see that there's these torches that are lighting a little area off to the side. And I am a little worried because all the journeys that have been happening this season, you lose your vote by going. And I was like, 'It said I'd get an advantage, but I might be risking my vote, too, just by being here.' When I walk up, I see this table waiting for me. And I was like, 'This is crazy.' 'Congratulations! This Extra Vote is yours.' So, I read the note, and the first part is that I get an Extra Vote. I'm really excited. I'm super pumped to see this.
I get an Extra Vote. And that can be mine or I can bet it for a Safety Without Power, where I would pick between two scrolls, and one would give me the Safety Without Power and one would give me nothing, and I would lose that Extra Vote.
This Extra Vote is good, but fifty-fifty shot at having a Safety Without Power. Being able to evacuate Tribal and stay safe-- that seems like a huge advantage here.
So now I will get to bet again if I want, and I can bet on three scrolls. So I have a 33.3 percent chance of picking a scroll that will give me a full-on Hidden Immunity Idol.
Oh, boy. Like, I have an idol, but, like, two idols? That's big. And do I get greedy here? This is a big decision. And the game is at a really tough spot. I feel like I have all the ammunition right now. Like, the artillery is full. I think that I'm sitting with the most power in the game, currently. And that's a great feeling, but it's also a dangerous one.
Last night I said, 'I am not worried about Eva.' I wasn't gonna ask her. I wasn't gonna approach her. I felt that confident. And what happened? First thing in the morning, she's like, 'All right, here's what I got.' So I feel good. I'm happy for her.
Eva-- two advantages in the game. I almost blew a gasket last night, but her telling me all this information solidifies trust. She's dangerous to win this game for sure, but I trust Eva. I'm not coming for Eva.
I cannot lose Kamilla in this game. I know that we have different strengths and weaknesses. I'm able to sort of navigate this game socially and grab information from people, or at least try to be in the know. Whereas Kamilla, on the other hand, has a great strategic mind. And she's also good at solving problems. So it's been very helpful for me to bring problems to Kamilla and sort of workshop them together.
Kamilla and I-- nobody seems to really know how good we are at playing this game together, except for David. David actually could blow up my whole game. David has information from old Civa, so he really knows how close I am with Kamilla. And I'm really antsy about that, so I need to make sure that I'm one step ahead of him.
We're supposed to have this strong guy alliance moving forward, but I just get this uneasy feeling. I think Shauhin and Kyle have something going on. I can feel it.
David's like, 'Hey, we need to talk.' And he's very paranoid. 'What's going on? Something's wrong, something's wrong.' Basically saying, 'Watch out for Kyle, watch out for Shauhin.' But that's my alliance, and I trust them.
The last few days, I've been really trying to build a relationship with Star. And I got to give her a couple tips on swimming. The fact that she's out here doing it and trying, it just goes to show you that anyone can come out here and play this game, regardless of what you think you are and are not capable of doing.
The swimming of the breaststroke and then the moving of the feet-- it just reminded me that I definitely got to sign up for these swim classes whenever I go back, because when Jeff calls me, I promise the next time Jeff sees me, I will be a swimming pro.
Things are really tense right now. Little battles are forming, a war seems to be burgeoning, and I still seem to be a person that's right in the middle of all of this conflict. So I just had to talk to Joe about, like, why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I wanted to share with him a couple of experiences I've had in my life that might make it difficult for me to be in sort of confrontational situations or very tense situations.
Growing up, I was a little bit of a wild child, and a lot of that was how I was doing socially, you know? I started drinking and partying at a very young age. As an athlete, as somebody who was kind of in the in crowd, like, that's what I did. And because of that, I also ended up in a lot more trouble than, uh… than the average kid.
The charges and the things that I sort of confronted were underage possession of alcohol, um, you know, which is drinking alcohol before you're 21. Uh, you know, like, a disorderly conduct charge, you know, for walking down the street with a beer or something like that. And, you know, that results in me having to… to go to jail for a couple of weeks.
You know, most people, if you screw up or if something happens to you, you kind of just give up, you know? You might think, if you're in law school, and you get sentenced to 30 days in jail that your life is over, but that's not the case for me, you know? I convinced the judge at that time, before I actually had to do my sentence to let me come out on furlough so I could actually take one of my exams in person. I wrote an essay that I needed to turn in that semester on a jail computer in the corner of the room while, like, my cellmates were watching Game of Thrones behind me on the small TV. I had my fiancée Maggie actually bring books to the jail so I could study. Um, and how… I even had a professor come and visit me while I was in jail so that I could give her an in-person oral exam, which I… You know, and I got great grades that semester. And, uh, sharing that with Joe was really nice for me. It really kind of let me get something off my chest. In a game where I'm lying about my entire profession, part of my life, I felt like I could at least share one thing about myself that doesn't define me, but is a big part of who I am. To able to share that with Joe, who I really do trust to be a good person-- it was… it was really game-changing for me.
Kyle shared some really deep things about a little bit of a troubled past, and places he's been. And there's been a lot of stress with Mary and David, and he's feeling the tension. And I'm glad that he entrusted me to just kind of open up and say why it was a trigger for him.
I'm feeling completely different about David after that conversation, about him saying I went back on my word, 'cause I did not go back on my word. I know myself. I'm getting super irritated. And to be honest with you, I don't like working with this guy. But I'm trying to play this game as honorable as possible, I truly am. But I want to just see where Eva's head is at.
Eva is very fond of David, she's very fond of Mary. So, I'm gonna have to subtly go, 'Hey, where are you really at? Because I want to make sure we're both protected.'
I don't understand why people are starting to get spooked about each other, but maybe I just feel extra safe because I do have an idol. And maybe I feel extra safe because I'm not recognizing people lying. I think that if I get spooked by people, that will break our entire thing apart, because I believe that I'm the one who's in the exact middle. We're so close to having accomplished something that is very rare in Survivor, but people are starting to get scared.
I'm so proud. I won immunity. I won immunity today. My kids get to see that. Proud dad right now. For all them old dads out there, all them young punks running around, still can get 'em. We still got it. Still got it.
Camp is a little dreary. David is really upset that he lost that challenge. Mary actually kind of had to console David for quite some time. It looked like… It looked like they were-- No, I-I-I'm not gonna say it. It-- They looked like very close friends in that moment. It was hard to see David in that emotional state, but… then when I look at David and Mary together, it just reminds me how tight they are. They're a really dangerous pair, and they need to be split up.
When you don't have that immunity necklace around your neck, you do have to look at things from a different perspective. Like, you do feel that you are maybe on the bottom. And it makes you go through contingencies, makes you go through what could happen, what could go wrong.
Mitch is the only clear other target here. And so that's why it has to be Mitch, because it can't be Kamilla, 'cause, obviously, I think they're gonna play an idol on her. And I don't want it to be Star because I potentially got to work with Star.
For some damn reason, David thinks Shauhin has an idol. I know Shauhin has no idol. But with that being said, you got to go with the majority or you're gonna be next. So, tonight, Mitch goes home.
At this point in the game, my hands have been tied behind my back, because I haven't had the numbers. I haven't had the immunity necklace to make the moves. And it's so frustrating, but in Survivor, you don't go out without swinging.
When Mitch says that he wants to go after David, that got me excited. We've been gunning for Mary, but at the end of the day, the move of taking out David is a bigger move. I just have to be careful, because when you push too hard, people pull away. But I have been planting the seeds to let that move happen for a while. In order to get the David thing to happen, this had to start, like, four or five days ago.
And that is key, because, all along, you allow the others… …to see it for themselves. It feels like a war that I've already been preparing for. Welcome to the party, David. I've been here for a minute. Let's party.
Coming back into camp, the first person I wanted to talk to was David, but he's still saying we can't trust Shauhin and Kyle, who are two people that I trust very much in this game.
Again and again, David and Mary have been causing this paranoia and constantly, like, attacking my-my friends. It's really bringing me down, and I just, I'm not liking it. Mary and David keep counting you and Shauhin with Kamilla. And they're like, 'We think they have an idol. So if there's an idol played on Kamilla, then we know that they're with them.'
Kyle said to me he might try to make a move on David. And my heart sank. This is someone that we had had this plan together about playing an honest and loyal game.
At the end of the day, I'm trying to get two loyal people to turn on their alliance. It's a really delicate balance that I'm trying to play. Joe and Eva are both straight up players, and they don't want to turn on Mary and David, but somewhere along the way, I fell out of David's good graces.
So I'm hoping when Eva talks to Joe, it's full steam ahead, and we send David packing. If I can't get them on my side, then my game, while still alive, might be in the gutters.
I hate that I might have to go against my word to David, but it's so hard for me, because I do see things in very black and white, like I trust you or I don't. And here, I'm, like, I trust Mary, and I trust David for me. I trust that they are with me, but I don't know if they're with my people.
I'm dealing with two really hard options right now. One is I go with this initial plan we had, where we vote out Mitch. Outside of the six of us, he is the most likable player and the biggest threat to win this game, but… there's another option that is blindsiding someone I trust and getting out David. David and Mary have been creating a lot of paranoia, but I'm someone who's always been part of a team, and I believe that you need a team to accomplish anything. And I do still believe in this core alliance. And it's a lot to weigh because this is a big decision here. And I didn't think I'd have this decision to make this early on.
”
Challenges[]
Reward/Immunity Challenge:Crocodile Rock Castaways will push up on a bar, with which they will try to keep a ball wedged between a set of jaws. If they release the bar, the lower jaw will fall, causing their ball to roll outwards. Once their ball falls, they are out. The last person remaining wins. Reward: An afternoon picnic at camp, including ham and cheese wraps, cheese and crackers, and dessert Winner:Joe Hunter(shared with Eva Erickson, Mitch Guerra, and Shauhin Davari)
Unfortunately, I don't think there was anything I could do. It seemed like too many people turned on me and Kyle and Shauhin flipped, which I had suspicion they would. My biggest takeaway from this is that there are no heroes, there are no villains, we're just people and we're all going to be heroic one day and villainous the next and I think that's okay. Do you know I'm trying a chocolate milk as soon as I get out of here? That's at least a solace in getting voted out, is I get to look forward to that.
