Less is More

Less is More is the third episode of Survivor: Mexico.

Story
"none"

- Previously On... Survivor! At Zorrillo, Rodrigo sat around while everyone else worked which did not sit well with Lucas ‘Rodrigo, why don’t you shut up and pick up something heavy?’ and Damian took advantage of the situation ‘I think I can assure myself three more days if Rodrigo did something to set off the tribe.’ At Pantera, Simoneta used her efforts to align with Estrella ‘As long as I can keep stroking Estrella’s ego, I can assure myself some safety.’ Back at Zorrillo, Damian, Memo and Yuyi put their plan into action by purposely sabotaging their own tribe ‘I can’t wait to see the looks on everone’s faces when they get a drink of this dirty water,’ leaving Rodrigo to take the fall. This promptly led the men of Zorrillo to conspire against him ‘I hate the idea of ever throwing a challenge, but... If we let Rodrigo go anywhere near the merge, it could spell trouble…’ At the immunity challenge, Zorrillo chose to sit out Rodrigo so that they could throw the challenge giving Pantera the victory ‘PANTERA! Wins immunity and reward!’ When Zorrillo returned to camp, the men gave Rodrigo the chance to ask for forgiveness, but to no avail. After being comforted by Diego and Santiago, Rodrigo pleaded to have Lucas voted out instead ‘…he’s a tyrant, we need people to stand up to Lucas so that he knows that he can’t just boss us around.’ At tribal council, Zorrillo had enough of Rodrigo’s laziness and unanimously voted him out ‘Rodrigo, the tribe has spoken.’ Fourteen are left, who will be voted out tonight?

Pantera
At Pantera, the women put their fishing gear to work. With Simonta’s experince, Estrella, Brisa, Polita and Simoneta were able to catch a few fish. When they came back to dock, Polita was crouched down, holding her head between her hands in exhaustion. "pantera"

- This morning, when we came back from fishing, I started to feel dizzy. It’s like every time I stand up, I need to sit down. This game is really starting to get to me and it’s only been seven days. I’m just worried about what’ll happen if I’m still here on day 39.

When Simonet, Brisa, Estrella and Polita walked up to camp they began to cheer to signal their successful attempt at catching fish. As Simoneta was cleaning the fish, everyone had their eyes on her."pantera"

- When Simoneta was cleaning and the fish, she made the mistake of letting people watch her. From letting everyone watch her, she took something special of her and depreciated the value. ‘Cause now everyone know how to clean a fish and now we don’t have a reason to keep her around. "pantera"

- When I was cleaning the fish, I purposely showed everyone so that they know that I can be an asset to this tribe. They seemed pretty amazed because no one said a word when I was cleaning that fish. So I feel that it helped boost me up the totem pole. When Pantera had their first taste of the fish, they all nearly cried because their palette’s finally had a taste of something outside of their daily rice and cactus. Wendy gave a toast to themselves because they all showed how they get along.

Zorrillo
After a very tense tribal council, Zorrillo experienced a sense of relaxation the morning after. As they gathered around the fire to have their morning meal of rice, and cactus, Zorrillo had a powwow over what happened at tribal council last night. The guys seemed to grow stronger from their powwow because they had the incentive of not going to tribal council again until the merge."zorrillo"

- So this morning, everybody was all rainbows and sunshine, but I don’t buy it for two seconds. I knew Damian made up what Rodrigo said and it was smart of him to do that. Zorrillo might seem like a unified tribe, but when tribal council looms, you start to see people making deals and going off with other people. So, I didn’t believe what Santiago or Angel said for a second.

Later that morning, Santiago and Diego were walking down the banks of the Laguna and were discussing their standings within the tribe. "zorrillo"

- I know I sound like a hypocrite for telling Santi that if we let Rodrigo get to the merge, he’ll flip on us. But in terms of where we stand in this tribe, we’re near the bottom, and we might have to flip on the guys if circumstances come to that.

Reward Challenge
"COME ON IN GUYS!" Pantera came with their bodies painted and their game faces on followed by Zorrillo as Jeff announced, "Pantera, getting your first look at the new Zorrillo tribe. Rodrigo, voted out last night. Guys ready to get to today’s challenge?" Everyone shouted in agreement, “For today’s challenge, both tribes are going to solve a tile puzzle. There are four symbols, each symbol, in four different colors for a total of sixteen tiles. On my go, you will arrange the tiles so that none of the same symbols and none of the same colors are in the same row or column. You’ll select one person to be your eyes; they will have a vantage point above on a tower. First tribe to complete the puzzle correctly wins reward." After explaining the rules, Jeff asked, “Wanna know what you’re playing for?" Both tribes nodded their heads. Jeff then uncovered a table filled with a variety of items, “Creature comforts,” Everyone starting to hoot and holler, “Creature comforts, ceresin lantern, blankets, pillows and big, ugly yet functional tarp. Worth playing for?”

Everyone responded with a “Yes.”

“Pantera, who’s gonna be your set of eyes?” Pantera huddled together for a minute and they pointed to Marisol, who raised her hand, “Marisol,” He then asked the men, “Zorrillo, who will be your set of eyes?” the men responded by choosing Lucas, “Lucas. Alright, take your spots, wait for my go,” After everyone got into position, Jeff announced, “Here we go, for reward. Survivors ready, GO!” As everyone ran from their starting mats ran to the giant grid, they started flipping tiles and shouting franticly.

As they were flipping tiles, Jeff noted, "First thing you gotta do, is figure out what you're dealing with! Four different symbols, each symbol comes in four different colors. Cannot have the same symbol or color in any row or any column!" As Marisol instructed the girls to leave thing alone, Lucas was shouting at the guys to start moving things around. After Marisol had a looked at the grid, she was able to assess the grid properly and began to lead her tribe. Jeff took note of this, "Pantera's got something going. Zorrillo, having no luck so far," As time passed, the guys quickly lost faith in Lucas and just ignored him completely. Without a set of eyes, the guys became disorganized and began to argue among each other. Pantera stayed focused and with Marisol acting as their eyes, they were mere moves from completing the puzzle, “Pantera seems to be getting very close. Zorrillo, you need to pick it up!,” When they least knew it, Pantera had finished their puzzle and called for Jeff’s attention. Once he checked their grid, Jeff happily announced, “PANTERA! Wins reward,” Once everyone regrouped, “Pantera, congratulations,” the girls clapped over their victory and collected their reward. Jeff then told Zorrillo, “Zorrillo, got nothing for you head back to camp,” Both tribes then retreated back to their camps.

Zorrillo
When Zorrillo returned to camp, Lucas tried to justify himself by making the argument that he's what brings this team together. Everyone was too angry with Lucas that they had to take a walk and get away from Lucas."zorrillo"

- When we got back to camp, Lucas tried to take the blame off himself by saying we lost because we didn't listen to him. Everyone was so pissed, that hey couldn't even look at him let alone listen to what he had to say. That's the last time we'll ever make him our caller. "zorrillo"

- I don't get why everyone was getting mad at me, they're the ones who lost their cool, not me. The reason why I wanted to be the caller was because whenever I speak, people listen. They could've picked Santi, they could've picked Diego, they could've picked Damian, instead I stepped up because I knew I could lead them, but that was not an easy puzzle. So, sorry for getting stuck on the puzzle, but you guys chose to stop listening. Had they let me figure it out, we could've won.

Pantera
When the girls arrived back at their camp, they wasted no time to hang the tarp and spread the blankets and pillows out in the shelter. After that, most of the girls just laid in the shelter for most of the day."pantera"

- It really felt amazing to win that reward challenge. When we got back we wasted no time to put in the tarp and then we decided to take the rest of the day to rest because we all worked hard to win that reward.

Even though most of the girls decided to lay in the shelter, Marisol was frustrated by the lack of work being done. She decided to go to fill the water canisters and took Wendy and Citali along with her. As the other girls were lying in the shelter, they took a quick look to see if the three were still going to be down by the water for a while. While the three were down by the water, Simoneta was trying to bring along Polita to her side so they could vote out one of the other three girls."pantera"

- If I get voted out for being an honest person who wants to play a sentimental game, well then I got voted out for being myself. I couldn't live with myself if I had to lie to someone because it benefitted me. I want to work with Simoneta, but not at the cost of having people upset with me.

Zorrillo
After retrieving their tree mail, Zorrillo had an open forum so that Lucas can hear what everyone had to say."zorrillo"

- Having the chance to talk as a group, was great because everyone got to be heard and everyone felt included. Most of my life, I didn't grow up with much, but I was raised to hear what people had to say. Seeing the guys talk it out, really made me happy because I thought we'd have egos clash in this tribe. After this morning, I think we're gonna be unstoppable.

Immunity Challenge
"COME ON IN GUYS!" Both tribes came in with a look of determination on their faces, "Alright ladies, gotta give it up,” Pantera gave back immunity and it was placed back on the platform, “Once again, immunity is back up for grabs and today’s challenge will require steady hands. On my go, one tribe member at a time is going to break a coconut. Once you break you break the coconut's shell you will pour the juice into a small bowl and make your way through the obstacle course. The first stage, you're going to make your way through a wood crawl. At the second stage, you'll go up and over a see-saw. At the third stage, your going to walk over a series of wooden hurdles. At the fourth stage another see-saw, and the final stage, crawl through a wooden cage. When you reach the end, you'll pour the juice remaining in your bowl into a jar.If you spill all your juice on the obstacle course, you come back and go to the end of the line. First tribe to get back to the start with their jar filled with coconut juice, wins immunity, safe from tribal council. Losers, someone voted out tonight. I'll give you a minute to strategize, wait for my go." Once everyone picked their order, Jeff called to the tribes, "Here we go, for immunity. Survivors ready, GO!" With Lucas starting off for Zorrillo and Marisol for pantera, no time was wasted cracking the coconuts. As they both grabbed their rock they were given to open their coconuts, it only took one good strike for Lucas to open while it took Marisol a few strikes. As Lucas finished pouring his juice, he headed out for the course, "Lucas, first out onto the course," Once Lucas started at the wood crawl, Marisol started on the course. Even though Marisol was trailing, she easily passed Lucas because the course did not compliment Lucas's large frame. As her lead grew, she spilled a fair amount of juice on the second see-saw. She was unfazed by the loss and made it to the jar with her bowl half-full, "Marisol's got a little bit of juice," she then raced back to let the next person go. Once Lucas made it to the jar, he redeemed himself by halving almost all his juice intact, "Lucas's got a lot of juice," One after the other almost everyone was successful in transferring their juice from the start to the jar. When it was Polita's turn, she was taking a while cracking the coconut and once she finished pouring the juice into her bowl, she immediately poured all of it out o her team could make up the time she lost for them. Both Zorrillo and Pantera just needed one more bowl of juice to fill their jar and with Polita's failure to transfer the juice, Zorrillo was able to capitalize on the opening and seal Pantera's fate of going to Tribal Council. As Lucas poured the last bowful of juice into the jar and gingerly, yet quickly made his way to the start to be greeted by Jeff with a victory, "ZORRILLO, wins immunity!" As soon as the guys heard that, they began to jump up and down and Lucas immaturely poured the juice onto himself. Once Zorrillo calmed down, Jeff happily rewarded them with the immunity idol, "Zorrillo, immunity. Pantera, going to tribal council tonight where one of the seven of you will be voted out. Have the afternoon to figure out who it's going to be, head on back to camp,"

Pantera
After coming away with two victories from the previous challenges, Pantera was caught by surprise by their loss from the immunity challenge. With tribal council looming, everyone seemed unsure of who to vote for, but much of the talk was focused on Polita. "pantera"

- I’m really starting to worry about Polita, she hasn't been doing too good in the past few days. With her being bigger than most of the girls, it’s likely she needs to eat more than us and unfortunately, we can’t give her bigger portions because that wouldn’t be fair to everyone. It might be best to vote for her because even though she acts as our lineman, she can also turn into a big liability. Sometimes, less is more and in our case, voting her out will benefit us.

Simoneta was taking a walk with her alliance when she made the decision to vote for Polita. After their discussion, Brisa went to go see Polita. They huddled together and talked about how this game is really tearing them apart because they have to vote another person out."pantera"

- Polit is one of the nicest people I've ever met. She and I get along well because we're both snsitive and we help comfort each other. I want to stay in this game, but I don't want to hurt Polita by writing her name down. No one wants to be voted out, but sadly, we're force and I don't know what to do.

Tribal Council
That night, Pantera packed their things and made the long walk to Tribal Council. Once they arrived, they set their torches their slots and 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. When it was Simoneta's turn, it was revealed she voted for Polita. When Marisol went up to cast her vote she mentioned how difficult the vote was, but that it was purely strategic. 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 had a rain cloud over themselves because of the decision that had to be made. 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: Simoneta Polita Polita That’s two votes Polita, one vote Simoneta. Polita That’s three votes Polita, one vote Simoneta. Third Person Voted out on Survivor: Mexico: Rodrigo. That’s four, that’s enough. Need to bring me your torch.

Once she realized she was going home, she had a smile on her face. As she got up and collected her things, everyone surrounded her and gave her a group hug as they all cried because they didn't want to vote for her. As she put her torch next to jeff, her game ended."none"

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

Polita then turned to for one last look at her tribe and advised, “Stay strong and romantic,” "none"

- Well it’s that this wasn't an easy vote for anyone, but will this vote help unify your tribe Grab your torches head on back to camp. Goodnight.

Reward
Challenge: Connect Four The caller stands on a platform overlooking a 4x4 grid of sixteen squares, each with a tile (in four colors and with four designs); the remaining tribe members must move the tiles so that no design appears in the same row or column. Winner: Pantera

Immunity
Challenge: Half Full, Half Empty One tribe member at a time must hurry to open coconuts, then race with the juice through a wood crawl, see-saws, wood hurdles, and a wooden cage to deposit the juice into the receiving jar. Once the jar is filled, the last member must carefully carry it to the finish line. The first tribe to cross the finish line with a full jar wins. Winner: Zorrillo

Voting Confessionals
"pantera"

- My vote's for Polita, and, um -- Polita, this is one of the hardest things I ever have to do, and I honestly can't even give you a solid reason. I’m gonna miss you, and I love you.

"pantera"

- Polita, I love you. I value our friendship more than anything. This vote has everything to do with a promise I made the first day I was here. It has nothing to do with you. I hope you'll understand.

"pantera"

- Polita, it kills me to do this to you, but -- you're truly one of a kind, you're amazing, but it's difficult to watch your body fail you. I'm sorry.

"pantera"

- This is probably one of the most difficult things for me to do right now. This is purely strategic, nothing personal. I am going to miss you dearly and how you would always say how everything’s “romantic” and “sentimental.”

"pantera"

- I have to vote for someone, I just wish it wasn’t any of my Pantera sisters.

"pantera"

- Polita, it just seems like you're too tired.

"pantera"

- Polita, you're one heck of a woman and we're really gonna miss your spirit around the camp. But I also know the last nine days have taken a toll on you, both physically and emotionally.

Final Words
"pantera"

- Well, my Survivor adventure is over. For the most part it was so romantic. I want to wish the girls the best of luck. Overall I want to thank everyone for such sentimental memories. I will never forget this adventure