Chew the Fat

This is the 12th episode of my second fan fiction, Survivor: Couples Showdown.

Previously On Survivor...
Martin and Talia butt heads due to the former's impulsive move which sent Ricky home, but made amends the next morning. At the Reward Challenge, the men won reward, sending them to a luxurious overnight stay at the Philippine island paradise of Boracay. While the other men were sleeping, Martin found a Hidden Immunity Idol behind a TV set. Knowing he played both sides, and with the Cursed Idol in his back pocket, Martin persevered to win the next Immunity Challenge. With Tribal Council looming, the warring alliances decided to end the upcoming vote a stalemate. But at the vote Martin flipped once again. This time, he initially joined the Bulan alliance to vote Kasia out because he was burdened by the idea of voting Melissa, whom he had a soft spot for; but did the unthinkable by changing his mind at the last minute, handing his idol to Kasia, leaving Melissa's three votes enough to send her home. Before leaving, Melissa left the Cursed Idol in Kasia's possession. Seven are left, who will be voted out tonight?

Challenges
Survivor Auction: Using a bamboo snorkel as their breathing apparatus, players will submerge themselves in water as long as possible. For every 30 seconds they survive, they will get $50. This activity will last for 10 minutes. In theory, if a player finishes the whole 10 minutes, he or she will win $1000. The money they have accumulated will be used at the auction proper. Players may pool money due to the uneven starting money of tribemates, but may not share with the items.

Immunity Challenge: Lost in Translation Players must dig two numbered bags from a sand pit. Then, they must run to the first station where they must solve a puzzle using the bag numbered "1," revealing a chart containing symbols of the alibata, the pre-hispanic writing system in the Philippines. After finishing the puzzle, they must proceed to the next station (situated 100 meters from the first station), where they must use the tiles (with each tile having one alibata symbol engraved on it) from the bag numbered "2" to spell out the word "ALIBATA." First person to spell the said word correctly wins immunity. If at any time a player stumps at the translating part of the challenge, they may return to their first station to refresh their memory. Winner: Talia



Night of Day 30
The seven remaining Apolaki tribe members return to camp, where Kasia asks Martin of why he became wishy-washy at the previous Tribal Council. Martin explains he was at this most conflicted, because he had a soft spot for Melissa, but had to vote her out because she was a threat, yet he has an alliance to keep his word with.

Day 31
The tribe meets Jeff Probst for what they think is a Reward Challenge, Jeff informs them they would be doing a Survivor Auction, but with a twist. Before they start the auction proper, Jeff explains that an activity will determine how much will they have as bidding money. Given the uneven distribution of money, castaways with less money are forced to be frugal. The table below denotes how long they survived the activity and what items they win from the auction. Returning back to camp, Talia thanks Kevin for sharing his pizza and lending his remaining money, while Andy is frustrated seeing his tribemates with full bellies and he is not. In the evening, while most of the Tala members are already asleep, Jacki, Andy and Josh converse strategy at the beach. With Martin in a precarious position for his indecision, Jacki insists they work with the Tala alliance to vote Martin out. This way, Bulan and Tala will be even again 3-3. Andy proposes they should exploit the Cursed Idol and make the vote a 4-4 tie, to possibly make Martin indecisive again and vote against Kasia at the revote. While Josh explains the pros and cons of both plans, Martin accidentally wakes up and goes to the woods to urinate, silencing the three. After peeing, an unsuspecting Martin goes back to sleep. Josh tells them that should there be a tie, only two of them are eligible to vote, leaving the other with vulnerable with three votes, that is if Martin does not flip-flop once again.

Day 32
While collecting water, Kasia and Kevin discuss strategy, for Kasia fears the Bulan alliance might enforce a tie with the Cursed Idol, and Martin's constant "swing voting" may be her undoing. Kevin cheers her up, telling he and Talia will be on her side. Martin shows up, explaining that he will never waver anymore like he did when Melissa was voted out, and stresses out that if a tie occurs at the next vote, the Tala alliance will have the upper hand because three members of the Tala alliance (himself, Kevin and Talia) are still eligible to vote again. As Martin leaves the conversation, Kasia talks to Kevin about voting Martin out as an alternative. With Ricky and Melissa's eliminations, and almost causing her own elimination as well due to Martin's indecision, Kasia tells Kevin that Martin's flipping is a detriment to both alliances, but Kevin is unsure of it, explaining that they need all the numbers they need; and if all three of the survive the next two Tribal Councils, they won't need Martin anymore.

Day 33
The seven remaining Apolaki tribe members meet Jeff Probst for their next Immunity Challenge. Talia is asked to reveal the advantage she got from the auction she reads it aloud: "The tiles of symbols in your second bag will be reduced to half." After a string of terrible challenge performances, Talia's advantage earns her the Immunity Necklace after realizing there is a pattern to the symbols. The symbols are almost alike when if the viewer looks at every column, but there the placing of the "dot-thingie" on every symbol is different.

Returning back to camp, Kasia talks to Andy explaining that they would be willing to vote Martin out because of his past two irresolute votes. Martin overhears everything, and confronts Kasia, and tells her he would not give her his idol if he was not loyal to the Tala alliance. Jacki, Andy and Josh see the whole conflict, and mutually agree to vote for Kasia, because the conflict will highly likely to culminate with Martin voting against her at the next Tribal Council.

At Tribal Council, the showdown between Kasia and Martin continues and intensifies. Martin explains that his seemingly indecisive past votes are due to Ricky being a physical threat and Melissa for being a social threat. Kasia rebuts that Martin had no reason to waver from the Tala alliance because they followed his lead and voted Leo out. In the end, the votes are in, and Martin, the Bulan alliance's three votes and the Cursed Idol sends Kasia home in a 5-3 vote. While she is disappointed at Martin for voting her out, she states she won't give her Cursed idol to him. Instead, to test Martin's true loyalties, Kasia gives the Cursed Idol to Jacki.

Next Time On Survivor...

 * With Martin voting out Kasia out of spite, will he be able to redeem himself to the Tala alliance?
 * One survivor fights back and an unexpected survivor turns the game around.

Author's Notes

 * "Chew the Fat" - talk socially without exchanging too much information.
 * Sorbetes (also known in our country as "dirty" ice cream and not to be confused with the similarly named sorbet) is a street food in the Philippines. The reason why it is called "dirty" is beacuse they are sold in streets across the metro, with the vendor collecting all the street dust and smoke from smoke-belching cars. Don't get me wrong, they are fairly safe to eat. Furthermore, instead of cow's milk, "dirty ice cream" is made from coconut milk.
 * Banana cue is derived from "banana" and "barbecue." They are basically sugar-coated saba bananas that are either grilled or fried. Saba bananas are abundant here in the Philippines. Saba is important in Philippine cuisine, for it is an ingredient of several Filipino desserts. Also, "banana ketchup" is made from saba bananas. Trust me, banana ketchup does not taste like bananas in one bit because of the spices added.