She's Joshing Me!

This is the seventh episode of my fan fiction, Survivor: The Cursed Idol

Previously on Survivor...
On the early days of the game, Carly and Wes from Cebu formed two-person alliance. At the Davao tribe, Brock and Adrianna also formed a two-person alliance. After the tribe switch, which split the two pairs in separate tribes, the two pairs are on the verge of making a strong alliance.

At Cebu, Adrianna and Carly orchestrated a big blindside by voting Seth using his Cursed Idol, while Wes and Brock contributed to Freddy's elimination. With the merge looming, how will the four-person alliance hold on with six other people? Could they make an upset?

Ten survivors remain, tonight, one more will go.

Challenges
Reward Challenge: Snakes and Ladders The merged tribe will be divided into two groups of five. Using a massive die, they will play a traditional, but giant, vertical and 3-D version of the boardgame "Snakes and Ladders." First team to reach the finish line on top of the tower would win reward. Reward: A surprise to revealed at night (actually their loved ones are coming to camp to join them at the merge feast and will stay with them overnight). Winners: Cyrus, Carly, Wes, Brock and Carly.

Immunity Challenge: I Peg You Tribe members will be standing at a wall with 15 numbered pegs to hold on to --13 detachable and 2 permanent. Players may hold and step on any peg, but every five minutes, the host will pick a peg number that the castaways must remove from their wall. A player who falls out from the wall will be eliminated. Last person standing wins immunity.

Night of Day 18
Returning from the last Tribal Council, the Davao tribe huddled in the shelter over the intense rain. Cyrus asked the tribe if they can stick together and form an alliance against the Cebu females. In a confessional, Cyrus stated: "I have to stick with my new tribe now. I really have no allegiances with Serena, Adrianna or April because they are threats for me since the original Davao tribe. I felt better with the new tribe. This group will our top five." But in another confessional, Wes and Brock jointly declared their alliance with Adrianna and Carly are about to be in place. Brock said: "Cyrus is kinda delusional. I felt that Cyrus was more comfortable with the new tribe over the old one, so he thought all is well, but it's not." Wes added: "Cyrus is a serious threat. He's a good leader and competitor. He needs to go real fast."

Day 19
Morning at Cebu, the Cebu tribe opened up Tree Mail as a tribe, where they found two message scrolls (one ready to read, while the other remained sealed in wax). The first scroll instructed them to move to the Davao camp for the merger and must keep the second scroll sealed until they reach the Davao camp. Screaming in delight, the girls packed all their personal items and supplies and paddled to the Davao tribe camp. Adrianna exclaimed: "Now we are finally merged, we can get to put our foursome alliance in motion." Before leaving, Serena asked the others if they can form an alliance. While April and Alanna agreed, Adrianna and Carly said a half-hearted yes, but in truth, they have another alliance in mind, Wes and Brock, who are both in the other tribe.

Davao also received Tree Mail, where the same message was stated, but they had a treasure chest. Upon Cebu's arrival to shore, they were welcomed with open arms, and with the chest opened, new brown Buffs are waiting, along with a new tribe flag, poster paint and a new supply of rice. Serena exclaimed: "I thought this chest contained food, like we are going to the merge feast. But when we opened it, I would rather let it closed, because the only thing worth seeing there is the rice." April revealed the second scroll, which revealed that they would be subjected to their first Reward Challenge as the merged tribe. Before leaving for the challenge, Cyrus suggested that they should name the new tribe "Salamat," which meant "Thank you" in Filipino.

At the challenge, the newly merged Salamat tribe met Jeff Probst, where he revealed that the challenge is a giant boardgame of snakes and ladders. After a series of insanely lucky dice rolls, the team of Cyrus, Brock, Adrianna, Wes and Carly prevailed. Jeff said that their reward will be revealed for later. Furthermore, Jeff stated that their merged feast was waiting back at camp for dinner.

As the tribe returned to Salamat camp, some members were delighted to see a banquet table with five other people -- it's the five winners loved ones! Cyrus, Brock, Adrianna, Wes and Carly were elated to see their loved ones after a long period of separation. The loved ones revealed that they will be staying until the next day. Cyrus had his wife Elaine, Brock and his girlfriend Audrey, Adrianna and her boyfriend Garrett, Wes and his mother Connie and Carly's adoptive mother, Kendra. While the rest of the tribe enjoyed the festivities, Adrianna unexpectedly saw a Hidden Immunity Idol inside the roasted suckling pig. Adrianna took a keen view of every hand hovering above the roast. Adrianna whispered to Brock about what she found. Under the premise of getting a piece of the suckling pig, Brock extended his arm while Adrianna's was underneath, trying to nab the idol. Wh ile nobody realized the idol inside the pig's cavity, Adrianna quietly went to the woods under the premise she was going for a bathroom break, but in truth, she was trying to contain herself in excitement.

Meanwhile, Brock made a startling announcement, he and Audrey will be getting married sometime after filming.

Day 20
Carly woke up early in the morning to do chores. While climbing one of the tallest coconut trees at camp, her mom awoke in horror seeing her surrogate daughter climbing such a tree and ordered her daughter to step down. But Alanna told her that Carly was doing fine, telling her that she can already make fire and climb coconut trees. Kendra revealed that Carly does not do camping on everyday life. Kendra said: "I have never seen Carly like this. While she was too ghetto, even for a white girl, but I have seen her though side." Alanna replied that Carly does not hold back in everything she does, in which her mom agreed. Minutes later, Carly stepped down with five large coconuts on her hand. Impressed by her camping skills, Kendra was in tears and hugged her daughter. Carly then taught Kendra how to make fire using flint. Using Cebu's old flint, Kendra made her first fire, to her delight. Meanwhile, Cyrus approached his wife if she could help him about strategy. Elaine insisted to bring the post-switch Davao tribe together to eliminate the Cebu women. While in the woods, Adrianna, Wes, Brock and Carly (with their loved ones) finally united since they have been placed in different tribes. Adrianna revealed she had an idol, and added that Serena built an alliance with the Cebu women, in which both Adrianna and Carly laughed. Carly proposed her 4-3-3 vote plan, but Adrianna's boyfriend Garrett told his opinion, stating that the move is not subtle enough, because if they surface at the next vote, the other five will just make a counter-alliance, and Adrianna will have a problem giving her idol either to her or to her allies. After telling Carly and Adrianna that Cyrus had the Cursed Idol from Davao's Tribal Council, Brock proposed a plan to vote Cyrus out, because he felt that Cyrus is a threat and sometimes annoying:
 * Him and Wes would make all the post-switch Davao members believe they are still an alliance and must convince them to not vote for Carly.
 * Carly and Adrianna will convince April, Serena and Alanna to vote Cyrus out, but they must not tell anyone they are going to vote for him. They must also keep Carly's Cursed Idol (which she got from Seth) a secret to the Davaos. Under the premise they received intel from the other tribe, Carly and Adrianna will tell the Cebu girls that Cyrus had a Cursed Idol.
 * The plan will be divided 5-5 according to tribal lines (Cebu votes Cyrus, while Davao votes whoever they pick). But since Cyrus had the Cursed Idol, he will have enough votes send him home.

Brock added that they cannot reveal their alliance for now because there are six other players who can usurp them. Brock insisted to make the alliance as low key as possible and use his plan to cove up their secret cross-tribe alliance. Immediately after the conversation, a motorboat arrived at camp, implying that the loved ones stay is over. The castaways bade their goodbyes at the loved ones. As a parting gift, Kendra gave her jacket to Carly.

Day 21
The tribes met Jeff for their first individual Immunity Challenge, where they have to stand on a wall with only pegs for support. Cyrus became the first casualty when Jeff drew out the peg number he was actually gripping, losing his balance, with Adrianna, Wes, Carly and Brock secretly nodding. It came to a point where 13 pieces are all gone, leaving only 3 pegs, with two over their shoulders and one peg to serve as a foot rest. When Jeff said to remove the footrest peg, the castaways struggle even more, until a series of fall outs occured, leaving only Serena and Brock. After Adrianna murmured his safety, Brock stepped down, giving the first individual immunity to Serena.

Back at camp, Wes and Brock started to put their plan in motion by approaching Belinda, Cyrus and Curtis, telling them to vote for either Alanna or April, because Serena had immunity, and it became apparent that the vote will end up a tie, discounting the Cursed Idol votes. When asked about the owner of Cebu's last Cursed Idol, Wes and Brock did not answer. Meanwhile, Carly and Adrianna told the Cebu girls to vote for Cyrus. They told them he was a threat, but did not disclose of Cyrus' possession of Davao's Cursed Idol. Serena felt suspicious of Carly and Adrianna's ulterior motives. She said: "I think Adrianna knows something I don't know. I think she's joshing me. But come to think of it, as long as it's not me and it will not hurt me in the long run, I don't really care of who goes."

At Tribal Council, the topic of the Cursed Idols surfaced, but nobody admitted they had a Cursed Idol. After voting, Jeff asked the Cursed Idol owners to reveal themselves. While Carly was visibly not worried about her Cursed Idol, Cyrus sheepishly handed his to Jeff. In the end, the fearsome foursome alliance secretly prevailed, as the vote ended a 6-5-1 vote, blindsiding Cyrus. Before he left, Cyrus gave the Cursed Idol to Serena, stating she was a threat.

Next Time On Survivor...

 * The fearsome foursome is about to strike, but a big move may thwart it.

Author's Notes

 * The Snakes and Ladders Reward Challenge is similar to the vertical maze Immunity Challenge from Survivor: Vanuatu. The "snakes" are actually real slides.
 * This week's Immunity Challenge is lifted from the Final Immunity Challenge from the second season of Survivor Srbija.