Dropping Like Flies

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

Previously on Survivor...
At Cebu, Carly and Seth clashed once again, because the latter accidentally broke their last earthen cooking pot. At Davao, Freddy plots against Serena, who secretly had the Hidden Immunity Idol. After a two-challenge loss, Davao made a comeback, winning reward and immunity.

At Tribal Council, Wes and Eddie were castigated for their poor performances at the Immunity Challenge, but it was Eddie's weak physique that got him sent home, but before leaving Seth with the Cursed Idol.

Twelve are left, who will be voted out tonight?

Challenges
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Hook Up Above a tower, five tribemates will be retrieving five metal rings using a crane. After hooking the ring, they will have to use the crane to hook each ring to a wall opposite of the tower. Once all five rings are in place, the sixth tribe member will have to secure the rings and use a grappling hook to tug them, which would unfurl a portion of a tribe flag. Once all five rings have been pulled, the whole tribe flag will reveal itself. First tribe to have their whole flag intact would win the challenge. Reward: Tribal immunity and a Filipino lunch consisting of adobo (meat in soy sauce), sinigang (sour tamarind stew), suckling pig (whole pig cooked in hot coals), crispy pata (roasted pork knuckles), kare-kare (oxtail in peanut sauce and vegetables). The reward would also come with desserts; Leche flan, halo-halo (various fruits in shaved ice topped with ice cream and milk and leche flan), turon (banana spring rolls) and tahô (silken tofu with sugar caramel and pearl sago). The said feast would be held the day after the challenge. Winner: Davao

Night of Day 13
The Cebu returned to camp from Tribal Council, where Eddie was voted out from the tribe. Seth was ultimately pissed for receiving the Cursed Idol once again. Seth vented: "Having this f******* object drives me over the edge. I tried to fit in, but nothing seems to work!" As the tribe were about to sleep, Seth was at the beach, shouting aimlessly. Before going to sleep, Carly, Seth's number one enemy, said: "Seth's out of control. Having two Cursed Idols in a row totally drove him insane. It really crushed his ego. Now we're getting close to the merger, it will be very easy to get rid of Seth. The dude lacks self awareness. He pisses people off without knowing it."

Day 13
The tribes received Tree Mail, where the castaways received an innocent-looking earthen pot that was covered. The lid of the cover instructed the castaways to pick a buff without looking -- signifying a tribe switch. Seth was liking the idea of his archrival, Carly on the other tribe. He said: "That bitch needs to go outta here. She's a virus, and viruses are to be eliminated. Hopefully they don't feed her, and let her whine to death."

After the draw of buffs, the new tribes were:

After seeing Carly drawing a purple Cebu buff, Seth angrily fumed. He vented: "She doesn't seem to die that easily, huh?" Nonetheless, Carly was visibly happy and dissapointed at the same time. She was dissappointed upon knowing that her closest ally Wes will be going to the Davao tribe, though she was happy because Seth was pissed off more than ever; and can use this as an opportunity to get rid of Seth. She said: "While Wes is away, which is sad, and Seth is being acerbic, the new members will be easily swayed, especially if I tell them he had our Cursed Idol." Before leaving the tribe, Wes hugged Carly, whispering her that he will try to persuade any member of Cebu to form a cross-tribe alliance and carry her into that pact if he is successful. Carly added: "If this plan works, they [the other players] will drop like flies."

At the Davao tribe, it was revealed that Adrianna, Serena and April will be sent to the Cebu tribe. Distraught by the prospect of losing his closest ally, Brock stated: "Adrianna is my rock in this game, and now I'm in danger of going home, since we have a merger coming soon." While the girls were packing, Adrianna noticed Serena was overly protective of her bag. Going to the woods (under the excuse that she went to urinate), Serena secretly retrieved her Hidden Immunity Idol from its hiding place, where she was caught by Adrianna, who was following her. Adrianna stated: "I saw Serena owning an immunity idol. Any idol that is not in my possession needs to go." Minutes before leaving, Adrianna warned Brock that Serena has the idol, with Brock warning that they must keep the secret as such, for them to make a move before anybody else does.

As the switched members are transported to their new tribes, Seth was anxious. In a confessional, he said: "Knowing that Carly knows Cebu's shenanigans, she can easily take me out, since she is fully aware of my Cursed Idol."

April, Serena and Adrianna arrived at the Cebu tribe camp, where they were warmly welcomed by Seth, Carly and Alanna. After introducing themselves, Serena furthered by telling the tribe that she was a transwoman. In a confessional, a worried Alanna stated: "Serena's a threat because she is athletic, and her boo-hoo story is a one way ticket to the money. She needs to go."

Secretly infuriated upon learning that he was the only male member of their new tribe, Seth explained: "I hope these new girls are not as acid-tongued as Carly, or else I'll erupt and burn on the spot." Later that day, noticing the distance between Carly and Seth, Adrianna secretly talked to Carly if she can divulge any of the former Cebu tribe's secrets. Carly stated that Seth had the Cursed Idol, and that he was their most disliked member. Furthermore, Carly told Adrianna that she and Wes had a two-person alliance, but remained two because none of their other tribemates were deemed trustworthy, and he told her that he would try to form an alliance with anybody from Davao. Adrianna revealed her notes as well, telling that she had the exact same situation with Brock, and also revealed that Serena has Davao's Immunity Idol. The two then agreed to form an alliance, and hopefully Brock and Wes were doing the same. Later, Seth approached Carly and told her to form an alliance with him out of necessity, even as going as far as begging to keep his possession of the Cursed Idol a secret. With both tribes with three former Cebu and three former Davao each, Seth explained to her: "If someone flips, it's the end for Cebu." Replying with a halfhearted "yes'" Carly shook Seth's hand. But Carly said in a confessional: "Seth is trembling right now because I know he has the Cursed Idol. And he knows that if he pissed me off one more time, his secret will be spoiled." Adrianna and Alanna revealed that they already met before Survivor, at a college volleyball tournament finals, where their respective schools became the finalists. Alanna's school won, to Adrianna's chagrin, for it was her last before she graduated that school year. Adrianna said: "Secretly, I wanna get even with Alanna for ruining my goal before I graduate."

At the Davao camp, Belinda was shocked that she would be the only female in the new Davao tribe, even stating that since the tribes are almost divided by gender (with her and Seth being the only exceptions), there can be a brewing gender-themed alliances come post-merge. Meanwhile, Wes approached Brock, telling him about his alliance with Carly. Brock replied that he had an alliance with Adrianna. Speculating that Carly started working with Adrianna over at the new Cebu tribe, Wes and Brock agreed to work together as well. Brock explained: "Wes and I will have to keep mum about our budding cross-tribe alliance, because I have a post-merge plan in the works. And for that plan to work the way I wanted, I have to keep this alliance a secret. But we have a little problem. For my plan to work, we must have a Hidden Immunity Idol, but Serena already has it."

Day 14
After receiving Tree Mail, the new tribes assembled for their next challenge, both for reward and immunity. Being a former rancher himself, Seth nominated himself for the grappling hook part of the challenge.

Task delegations: At the challenge, Carly, Alanna and Adrianna quickly learned how to use the crane and gained an early lead, while Wes was strugged in using the crane. April and Serena extended the lead by retrieving the final rings. Seth sprinted to the wall and clipped the rings, while Wes was just hooking Davao's first ring. Freddy Cyrus, Belinda and Curtis gained momentum by successfully retrieving the other four locks, completely blowing Cebu's lead, to the girls chagrin. While Seth and Brock were doing their task, Carly and Adrianna were doing sign language, agreeing to vote Seth out, even taking the risk of losing the next Immunity Challenge. Brock managed to get pass Seth by completely unfurling Davao's flag, winning themselves immunity, sending Cebu to Tribal Council. Carly was unhappy by the challenge result, saying: "I think I know why Seth is not a rancher anymore. He's cancer, the merge is coming, he needs to go."

Day 15
Davao was on their way to their Tree Mail, where they collected their food reward of Filipino delicacies. Brock was elated by the sinigang, a sour tamarind stew, while Freddy and Cyrus were digging the Kare-kare (oxtail in peanut sauce). Curtis was loving the adobo, while Belinda was more excited about the desserts. She found two aluminum cans for the taho (a street drink composed of silken tofu, sago pearl and caramel) and hoarded cupfuls of it. She exclaimed: "The best dessert ever! Where's my Twitter?!" The tribe decided to save some for dinner.

At Cebu, Adrianna and Carly were strolling down the beach, talking strategy. Carly told Adrianna that she felt that it was the opportune time to eliminate Seth, sensing that the merge is coming. Carly explained: "The merge is near, and Seth is still here, which is a bad thing because he is a physical beast. And on top of that, his sour personality pissed us off since Day 1." Adrianna replied that she was worried about Serena's Hidden Immunity Idol, and she wanted to flush it. As a solution, she formulated a devious and complex plan:
 * Make the others believe that tribal lines are still intact by enforcing a 3-3 tie between Alanna and Serena.
 * Adrianna will taunt Serena to use her idol, but actually for naught; and will then tell her to vote for Seth instead of Alanna, spoiling his Cursed Idol secret.
 * The three former Davaos would actually vote for Seth instead of Alanna, utilizing his Cursed Idol as a fourth and deciding vote, blindsiding him in a 4-3 vote (at this point, Alanna and Seth still believed that Seth's Cursed Idol was still kept a secret from the former Davao members).

Adrianna started to put her plan to work by revealing to Serena and April that she knew she had Davao's idol, and told Serena to use it and vote for Seth instead of Alanna (Adrianna did not tell Serena about Seth's Cursed Idol). April was unsure of the plan, saying that Seth is the only male on the tribe, and if the next challenge required physical strength, Cebu would miserably lose future challenge. Adrianna explained that it would be fine, saying that if Seth goes home, the former Davao would have the upper hand by the merge. Adrianna explained in a confessional: "This plan is so complex, I have to keep tabs on everyone, making sure that it works out tonight. I am just scared of its aftereffects, because I would blindside April and Serena at the same time since both of them are potentially wasted Jury voted on my part."

Meanwhile, Seth and Alanna approached Carly to tell her to switch her vote from Serena to Adrianna, stating that Adrianna was acting like Parvati Shallow, a previous Survivor winner who used her sex appeal to further her interests. They added that Serena can be dealt later, but Adrianna's antics scared them. Alanna said: "Tonigh'ts Tribal Council will be a crazy one. I hope Seth's idol won't count and Adrianna goes home."

At Tribal Council, Serena was on the hot seat for her condition, stating that she would not be a perfect opponent at the Final Tribal Council. Seth on the other hand was seen as a physical threat, but was confident on not getting voted off that night because he is the only male member of the tribe. When the Cursed Idol was brought up, nobody confessed of who might have it.

After the votes were cast,and Jeff asked the owner of the Cursed Idol to stand and reveal himself to count his Cursed Idol vote. Seth revealed he had it, effectively giving himself one vote, to April and Serena's shock. Serena was scared enough to use her idol, but for nothing, as she received no votes. On the other hand, as the votes were read, there are three votes against Seth (including the Cursed Idol vote) and three votes for Adrianna. In the end, Adrianna's plot worked after Jeff revealed the deciding vote, which was for Seth, blindsiding him. Seth would be the fifth casualty of Survivor: The Cursed Idol.

Knowing she had a hand in his removal, Seth handed the Cursed Idol to Carly. Upon receiving it, Carly just shrugged and gave the finger to Seth as he walked away from Tribal Council.

Next Time on Survivor...

 * With Seth gone, the all-female Cebu tribe hangs on to dear life.
 * At Davao, Freddy explodes once again.

Author's Notes

 * Filipino food is always served without any garnishing, for practicality's sake.
 * Sinigang is my favorite Filipino dish. :)