Perhaps We're Overthinking This

This is the 1st episode of Survivor: Marianas

Challenges
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Break of Dawn ''Tribe members one at a time race through a course to a knotted rope, where they will untie a knot and get a ball loose. When all four balls are loose, the tribe will throw their balls and try to break an urn with puzzle pieces inside. When all puzzles pieces are free from the vases, the remaining two members will use the puzzle pieces to create a 3D spherical puzzle.''

Reward: Flint, steel, tinder and a firemaking kit for the first tribe to finish and flint for the second tribe to finish. Winner: Luta/Tinian

Day 1
The Marianas. These volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean have been host to a variety of people, from the native Chamorro tribe to Spanish colonists during the 1500s and Japanese and American soldiers during World War II.

However, the islands will now be host to one of the most popular reality shows in television history. Here, strangers from all different walks of life will now depart on a journey of a lifetime.

Aboard three fishing boats, eighteen strangers near the coast of the island they will soon call home. As the three boats get closer, first impressions start to develop."luta"

- The guy next to me looks as if he hasn’t missed a day at the gym in about ten years. Definitely wouldn’t want to fight him one on one.

"luta"

- There’s this man in a suit next to me. A suit! Ha!

"tinian"

- The guy across from me has on black eyeliner. I like his style.

"tinian"

- The tiny girl across from me is all piercings and tattoos. She’s very striking.

As Jeff meets them on the beach, he has them gather into the groups that they were in on the boats, and then hands them buffs. The first group is given teal buffs and named Sarigan, the second is given green buffs and is named Tinian, and the last given yellow buffs and named Luta. After they put on their buffs, Jeff asks Karina what she thinks of her tribe. "luta"

- I don’t want to judge any books by their cover, but from looking at us I feel pretty good. I can see muscles and while I can’t see brains, I’m confident that for most of us, they’re there. Jeff then questions Brett."sarigan"

- I mean, not to hurt any feelings, but I’m not as confident as the chick with glasses. We don’t seem as strong or as agile as the other two tribes. Sorry guys.

Taj rolls his eyes at that, and Jeff, seeing this, questions him on what his opinion of the Tinian tribe was. "sarigan"

- They look all very young. Full of boundless energy. I don’t pity anyone on that team at all.

Jeff then asks them to select a leader for their tribe. Tinian immediately choses Ryan and Luta selects Isaac. Sarigan however, has a hard time agreeing with either Carmen or Brett. Frustrated, Christian steps forward and declares himself the leader. "sarigan"

- Our tribe was a mess at the beach. I don’t consider myself the leader, but I stepped forward just to end them squabbling.

The leaders are instructed to choose one item to take with the tribe to camp; two chicken, an extra two bags of beans and a bag of rice, or a box of matches. As soon as Jeff reveals the items, Christian quickly choses the matches and Sarigan sets off to their camp. After a short hesitation, Ryan choses the chickens and Isaac is left with the bags of beans and rice. However, Luta is nonplussed as they set off to find their camp. "luta"

- Once the matches are used up, you can’t make fire anymore. Once you butcher your chickens and eat them, you don’t have any more chickens. We have a lot of beans and rice and for that I’m somewhat grateful.

At the Sarigan camp, Taj and Brett work on the shelter as Christian and the girls try making a fire. Although Christian is happy that they were the ones to get the matches, Rayya and Carmen berate him for stepping forward on the mat. "sarigan"

- We were choosing a leader and we were deciding between two. Was Christian one of the two? No! Then why the hell did he step forward?

As the Tinian tribe finished up building their shelter, they decide to talk a little bit about themselves. Margot shares that she is a prosthetic makeup artist and that she’s worked on some movies before. Max reveals he is a drag performer, which Zac laughs at.

At Luta, Isaac and Noemi try to start a fire while the rest of the tribe builds the shelter. As they work, Isaac suggests they band together, as they aren’t as athletic as the other member of the tribe. Noemi hesitantly agrees, stating that she rather not make any moves before she has to. "luta"

- I know you have to strategize and make alliances. That’s how the game works. But I’m not going to lie and stab people in the back unless it’s me going home instead.

Day 2
As the sun rises, David wakes early and goes into the woods to meditate. When the rest of Luta wakes up, they wonder where he is and Charlotte suggests that he is looking for the idol. Ali suggests confronting him about it, but Karina points out he might lie. Isaac suggests trying to flush out the idol by convincing David he’s being voted out. "luta"

- I don’t want to see David go if he doesn’t have the idol. Perhaps we’re overthinking this.

At Sarigan, the tribe is in a better mood than the previous day, and most of them spend the morning in the water, talking. Ellie notices and Taj isn’t with them and finds him back at camp. When asked what was wrong, Taj says he feels homesick, and he misses his boyfriend. Ellie tries to comfort him, but he declines politely, saying he would rather just be alone. "sarigan"

- It’s been hard. I know it’s been only two days in this game. I miss him really bad. We’ve never been apart more than a night before. This is totally new.

"sarigan"

- I totally get Taj. When you’re homesick, you want to be alone. No hard feelings.

In the afternoon, Max approaches Margot and asks if she wanted to work with him and says that he felt she was the only one he could trust after he shared his occupation yesterday. Margot agrees and they carry on cooking the chicken over the fire. "tinian"

- I feel bad for Max. He shares something very dear to him and he gets laughed at.

At Luta, Karina and Charlotte talk while preparing dinner. They discuss the other members of the tribe and predict that Ali and David will do the best for the team in challenges. Karina says that she feels that Isaac will be gone soon and Charlotte embarrassedly reveals that she thinks the same about Karina."luta"

- Wow. Thanks. That means a lot coming from you Charlotte. The kicker is I feel the same about you but I'm not going to tell you that because that's a b*tch thing to do.

Karina excuses herself and goes to help Ali fixing the shelter, leaving Charlotte to stir the beans. Across the camp, Isaac and Noemi chop coconuts and debate on whether they should ask David about the idol. "luta"

- David's a nice guy, and if we aren't going to tribal council, I see no reason to ask him.

Next Time on Survivor...

 * What's gonna happen at the next episode?

Author's Notes

 * This is where you put your trivia.