I Don't Expect Her to Last

I Don't Expect Her to Lastis the premiere episode for Survivor: Mexico.

Story
"none"

- I'm on the steps of a 2,000 year old pyramid in one of the oldest civilizations in the country of Mexico. 16 castaway will begin the adventure of the lifetime in ultra-modern Mexico City. But as their journey continues, these 16 strangers are being transported back in time. Over the next 39 days, the survivors will experience a culture that dates back more than thousands of years. Their adventure will play out in a remote section of Mexico on the place of many waters; a harsh and remote land that will test even the strongest of survivors. It is the ultimate challenge, 16 people forced to work together to create a new society, while battling the elements and each other. They must learn to adapt or they'll be voted out. In the end only one will remain to claim the million-dollar prize. 39 DAYS, 16 PEOPLE, 1 SURVIVOR!

Day 1
A large pickup arrives at the Lagunas de Zempoala in Mexico carrying all 16 castaways each. They all step foot off the truck and stand on one giant mat.

"none"

- When I got off the truck, all I could keep staring at was the beautiful blond with the ponytail. She seems like a really nice girl and I wouldn't mind aligning with her.

"none"

- I don't see why everyone else is even gonna try because I'm just gonna end up winning it all.

"none"

- The fact that my sister was even picked to play Survivor makes me want to vote her out that much more. She doesn't have a backbone; I don't expect her to last.

"none"

- I'm so excited about getting to play Survivor and I can't wait to make great memories with everyone. I think it'll be so romantic. After gtting off the truck, the group met at the banks of the Lagunas together with host Jeff Probst. Jeff Standing in front of the them announces, "Welcome to Survivor: Mexico." Everyone cheered and clapped in excitement. Jeff then shocked the castaways by instructing the castaways that are men to group together and told the women to do the same - it's a battle of the sexes! Observing his tribemates, Rodrigo reacted by rolling his eyes and scoffing. Jeff then handed the mens tribe blue buffs, and named them as the Zorrillo tribe (Spanish for "Skunk"), "Men your tribe color is blue, your name is Zorrillo, it means skunk. We have Angel, Santiago, Rodrigo, Diego, Yuyi, Lucas, Memo and Damian." The womens tribe was given magenta buffs and they will be called the Pantera tribe (Spanish for "Panther"), "Women your tribe color is magenta, your name is Pantera, it means panther. We have Carlita, Citlali, Estrella, Wendy, Marisol, Polita, Brisa, and Simoneta."

Pantera
As Pantera was rowing to their campsite, Wendy pointed to their tribe banner, "LOOK, there it is!" The women all cheered and raised their oars in excitement. Upon reaching camp, the Pantera tribe started to get to know each other."pantera"

- As soon as we got to camp, we knew we had to start making shelter just in case it started raining. Luckily, Marisol took charge of this and we got things done, even if Simoneta and Carlita were just grazing around like cows. While most of Pantera was working on their shelter, Simoneta and Carlita were sitting in the water talking. "pantera"

- I'm not going to spend my time here building a shelter. Are you kidding me, like I want to kick back and grab a lemonade, I don't work. "pantera"

- The fact that I have my cousin here makes this game that much more easier for me. As long as she’s around getting on everyone’s nerves, no one will care to pay attention to me.

Zorrillo
Over at the Zorrillo tribe, the men bonded while creating shelter."zorrillo"

- When we arrived to our camp, we got to work on our shelter. While I was getting some palm reeds, I had the perfect opportunity to talk to Memo and Yuyi about maybe forming an alliance. "zorrillo"

- So Damian talked to me about making an alliance with him and Yuyi, but the only thing I don’t want is to be on the outs because everyone thinks I'm just working with Damian and Yuyi. On the other hand, Damian seems like he’s got a few tricks up his sleeves. So either I join him, or he’ll screw me over.

Zorrillo
"zorrillo"

- So last night was pretty rough, but I can’t imagine we had a worse night than the girls. I bet you they’re all huddled together and wishing they had a big, strong man, like me, helping them out.

Waking up, the Zorrillo tribe saw Lucas throwing up after overworking himself building the shelter. Diego and Santiago approached Lucas to see if he was okay "zorrillo"

- Lucas needs to be careful. We need him for challenges. I know he’s a strong guy, but he’s getting his butt kicked out here now. If he can't keep up, we might have to vote him out.

Having thrown up, Lucas realized the harsh realities of the game."zorrillo"

- Watching Survivor, you don't realize how real it is, I never imagined that it was going to be this difficult. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this and unless you've woken up spewing your guts out, you know what I mean.

Pantera
"pantera"

- The first night is always the roughest because you’re used to sleeping in a bed with a blanket all nice and warm, but none of us could sleep. It was cold, we had to huddle up next to each other for warmth, and the fact that there’s always a swarm of flies in your face doesn’t help.

At Pantera, all the women were washing off in the lagoon and Citlali asked to form an alliance with Marisol and Wendy."pantera"

- Right now, alliances early on are the most important thing because it shows people you are willing to work with them and that you can help each other. So the fact that Citlali asked me to form an alliance with her and Wendy shows that I'm pretty valuable to her.

Pantera
After receiving Tree Mail for their first Immunity Challenge, Marisol called a meeting with her tribe mates, where she rallied her tribe mates by telling them that the men might be stronger, but unlike them, they had teamwork. Most of the girls were inspired by what she said, but Carlita and Simoneta were skeptic of her so called "speech." ."pantera"

- Marisol is so fake with her so called speech, the only reason she opens her mouth is to either make jokes or cause drama with me.

Zorrillo
After Angel and Lucas went to get tree mail, they read it alud to their tribe and were getting themselves psyched up for their first challenge. Lucas called the group together and rallied them to get their morale up. He told them that they can't let the guys lose again to girls on the first challenge and prove that even when guys mess up, they can bounce back and trample the women.

"zorrillo"

- So today we have our first immunity challenge and I feel that the guys are going to win this because of the simple fact that the guys have me n their side. Without me, the guys would just fall apart so we shouldn't have any problems beating the girls.

Rewaard/Immunity Challenge
"COME ON IN GUYS!" Pantera came in single file while an upbeat Zorrillo tribe entered the challenge with a comedic tribe chant. The Pantera tribe just laughed at the whole ordeal. "Alright, you guys ready to get to your first challenge?"

Everyone shouted YES to Jeff "On my “go,” all tribe members must crawl through a mud pit. Once all eight of your tribe members make it to the other side of the mud crawl, three tribe members must solve a box maze. Your goal is to maneuver a ball from start to finish. Once the ball’s in the net, you will take it with you up and across a very narrow balance beam. If you fall, or if your feet hit the net at any time, you gotta go back to the start. Once all eight are across, you will unravel the ball to reveal flint to start your fire. The same three tribe members who solved the table maze, will race to build a fire that will burn through a rope and drop a torch. You will then light that torch and cross the finish line. The first tribe to light their torch, cross the finish line and light their final wok… wins reward and immunity."

After explaining the rules, Jeff asked, “Wanna know what you’re playing for?"

Both tribes anxious to get started responded with a “yes.”

“The single most important thing in this game is immunity,” Jeff then uncovered the shrouded immunity idol, “This is the immunity idol. When you have this in your possession, you cannot be voted out of this game. Winning tribe gets immunity and winning tribe gets fire in the form of flint. This will dramatically change camp life. Worth playing for?” Everyone nodded their head in agreement, “I’ll give you a minute to strategize. Take your spots we’ll get started.” Once everyone was in position, Jeff began to announce, “This is the first challenge of Survivor: Mexico. Acting as the table maze operators and fire starters for Pantera we have Marisol, Simoneta and Wendy, for Zorrillo it is Santiago, Diego and Rodrigo. For immunity and fire, Survivors ready, GO!”

Both tribes ran head first into the mud crawl, as Zorrillo took an early lead and easily made their way through the mud pit. “Zorrillo is through the mud pit. Zorrillo, start working on your box maze,” As Santiago, Diego and Rodrigo had a head start on the box maze, the women finally made it through the mud crawl.

“Pantera, you’re good, start working on your maze,” Marisol, Simoneta and Wendy took their places and didn’t hesitate to start on the maze. Both tribes were neck and neck at the maze, but Zorrillo’s lead helped them finish first. Zorrillo took their maze ball and climbed up the ladder to the balance beam. As soon as Diego started crossing the balance beam, Pantera had finished their maze and hustled over to the balance beam. More than half of Zorrillo made it across the balance beam, however things started to go bad when Lucas failed to get across the beam. This gave Pantera the opportunity to pass their rival Zorrillo tribe. The men started to get frustrated of how slow Lucas was moving and were panicking at the thought of going to tribal council. Pantera made their way down the net slide to their fire making station and started unraveling their maze ball. With the lead Pantera got, Marisol, Simoneta and Wendy took their time creating a structure for their fire. While they were building their structure, Lucas finally made it across the beam and Zorrillo was back in the challenge. Instead of structuring their fire, Santiago, Diego and Rodrigo just got to work lighting their fire. The women too were trying to light their fire, however, they had trouble sparking the flint, while the guys had their fire started. When Zorrillo’s fire was lit, the guys rapidly fed the fire more and more as it grew bigger and stronger. The girls began to panic, and when they finally got their fire lit, the men had burned through their rope and had their torch in hand. All the women could do is watch in frustration as they saw Zorrillo run across the finish line and light their wok.

“ZORRILLO! Wins immunity and reward!” The men celebrated, jumping up and down and cheering obnoxiously. As Jeff walked over to the men’s tribe, “Zorrillo, immunity,” he handed the idol and flint over to the Zorrillo tribe.

Jeff then turned to face the women’s tribe “Pantera, got a date with me to tonight at Tribal Council. Where one of the eight you will be the first person voted out. Have the afternoon to think about it, see you at tribal,” Pantera walked away with an obvious look of defeat on their faces.

Pantera
When Pantera arrived back at their camp, there was an uncomfortable and hostile atmosphere around the camp. "pantera"

- So tonight we have to go to tribal council, and I don’t know who to vote for. All I know is that we need to keep this tribe strong and it’s between Simoneta or Carlita because all they do is either lay in the shelter or lay in the water. I’m going to have to talk with Citlali and Wendy about this.

Marisol and Wendy headed back to the shelter and waited for Carlita and Simoneta to leave. Once they left, Marisol was campaigning to vote out Carlita. Later that afternoon, Simoneta took a walk with Estrella and Brisa to talk about tonight’s vote. "pantera"

- So while talking to Brisa and Estrella, I found out Carlita’s head is definitely on the chopping block and the fact is, I can’t do anything to help her. Either I tell Carlita and run the risk of putting my head on the chopping block or I go with the tribe and help vote off my cousin. Either way, the repercussions will be negative for me and I just have to hope to make the right call.

Tribal Council
That night, the Pantera tribe made the walk of shame to Tribal Council. Once they arrived, Jeff famously recited, "Behind each of you is a torch, approach the flame, dip it in and get fire. This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council because in this game, fire represent your life, when your fire is gone so are you. " As they dipped their torches in the flame, and set them in their appropriate slots, the Pantera tribe took their seats. Brisa stood up and walked passed the fire pit and through a small corridor to the urn and casted her vote. Her vote was not revealed and she folds it into the urn, went back and rejoined the group. One by One they all cast their vote. Once they all cast their votes, Jeff announced, "I'll go tally the votes." Jeff then went to collect the urn and tally the votes. Pantera waited anxiously to see who would be the first person voted out. Jeff came back with the urn instructed, "Once the votes are read the decision is final person. Person voted out will be ask to leave the tribal council area immediately. I'll read the votes." "none"

- First Vote: Carlita Carlita Marisol That’s two votes Carlita, one vote Marisol. Carlita Carlita That’s four votes Carlita, one vote Marisol. First Person Voted out on Survivor: Mexico: Carlita. That’s five, that’s enough. Need to bring me your torch. The last three votes will remain a mystery.

As Carlita collected her things and grabbed her torch, she gave a hug to her cousin, Somenta. She placed her torch in the slot next to Jeff, as her game came to an end. "none"

- Carlita, the tribe has spoken. Time for you to go.

Reward/Immunity
Challenge: Fire Starter This challenge consists of a commando crawl through a mud pit, three players moving a ball through a table maze, grabbing the ball, climbing a ladder to a balance beam, net slide back to the ground, three other players then using provided materials and matches inside the ball to build a fire in a cauldron to burn through a rope, lowering a torch, lighting the torch, and crossing the finish.

Reward: Tribal Immunity and Flint

Winner: Zorrillo

Voting Confessionals
"pantera"

- I'm a team player. I have to go with what I think's going to be best tonight for our team. I like you, but I'm sorry, I have to go with the team tonight.

"pantera"

- I’m tired of listening you talk, you might be the boss of everyone else, but you’re not the boss of me

"pantera"

- It was between you and Simoneta, and unfortunately for you, Simoneta gave more of an effort to fit in with us. So tonight, my vote is for you, Carlita.

"pantera"

- You might be a nice person, but we've got to keep the stronger members.

"pantera"

- Carlita, we hardly knew you. It would have been awesome if you'd played the game.

"pantera"

- I know this is very anti-romantic, but this is to keep our tribe strong. I’m sorry, but I had to vote for somebody, good luck.

"pantera"

- You can't hesitate in life and you can't hesitate in this game. Unfortunately for you, I have to do what’s best for me because in the end only ONE person can win.

"pantera"

- Maybe if you were willing to work with everyone, you’d have a chance to stay in this game, but you made this decision too easy.

Final Words
"pantera"

- It sucks to be the first person voted out. I’m pissed off of the fact that chose to choose that loudmouth Marisol over me. Whatever, if those girls want to lose then they can be my guests. All I wish is the best for my cousin, Simoneta. If I were to bet money on someone to win, it’d be her. The rest of y’all can go to Hell.

Next time on survivor

 * Without Carlita, Simoneta finds herself between a rock and a hard place, “If I can’t plant myself within the group, I’m done for.”
 * Damian causes chaos at Zorrillo, "They’re goona see who Damian Bravo really is," which puts Rodrigo in hot water, "Whoever did this is going to PAY!"
 * And frustration towards one of the men leads Zorrillo to throw a challenge.