Playing Everybody's Game

"Playing Everybody's Game"
The tribes merge, making it everyone for themselves.
Season	Survivor: Caucasus
Author	User:Blaine7275
Episode Number	10/14
Episode Chronology
Previous	Triple Play
Next	Three-Faced

Playing Everybody's Game is the tenth episode of Survivor: Caucasus.

Previously On Survivor...

After voting out one of their alliance members, the Alazani men consisting of Sebastian, Derek, and Daniel, decided to invite Gerardo into their alliance. However, to prove his loyalty he'd have to vote out his ally Aaron. Luckily for him, his tribe wound up winning immunity keeping Gerardo from having to vote out anyone.

Meanwhile at Rioni, Heather's reveal of her Hidden Immunity Idol spurred drama around camp. Yessica originally planned on having herself, Amy, Lauren, and Samantha split the votes between Heather and Agatha in case an idol was played, but after finding out that Lauren was targetting her, she decided to turn the tables on the real estate agent. Controlling the votes, she was able to vote Lauren out of the game leaving Samantha by herself. Ten castaways left, who will be voted out tonight?

Challenges

Immunity Challenge: Coconut Cradle
The castaways would balance on a small perch while holding a coconut between two ropes. At regular intervals, the lengths of the rope would be increased. The last man and last woman left balancing their coconuts would win.
Winners: Heather and Daniel

Story

Night of Day 24

The Rioni tribe returned to their camp later that night. Samantha came back distraught over the vote, as her closest ally was sent home. Meanwhile, Yessica and Amy were pleased about the results and even Heather, despite having Agatha not vote the way she wanted, was satisfied as well.

“	Things can't get any worse right now. My only friend in this game is gone, and Heather didn't even play her idol like we all thought she would! The only thing that can save me right now is a merge.	”
–Samantha

“	Surprisingly, I'm not that upset that Agatha defied my orders, again, and voted for someone else. I should be furious at her, but I'm just glad these idiots bought my whole idol tease and let me walk three more days in this game without even having to play it.	”
–Heather

Once the fire was put out, everyone went to sleep.

Day 25

The next day, both tribes received treemail instructing them to go to a designated location. Upon arriving, Jeff was no where to be seen. Instead, baskets filled with food, champagne bottles, a blank flag, buckets of paint, and a note caught the attention of the ten castaways. Sebastian took the note and read it out loud.

Sebastian: "Congratulations on making it to the halfway point of the game. From now on, the two tribes will become one, as each of you will vie for individual immunity. The new tribe will be situated at the Alazani camp and all the items will be relocated to that spot. But for now, enjoy the feast that has been provided for you and take the time to come up with a new tribe name."

After some deliberation, Derek came up with the name tribe name, Kura, which he claimed was the longest river in the Caucasus Mountains. The tribe adopted the new name, and dug into their feast.

“	Thank God the tribes finally merged. It's every man and woman for themselves and I can't wait to show everyone what I'm made of!	”
–Daniel

Once the feast was over, the newly merged castways returned to their camp and old tribemates were reunited once again. Yessica and Gerardo stepped aside to compare their experiences while they were seperated.

Gerardo: "What the heck happened after the tribe swap? How'd Rachel get the boot?"
Yessica: "Heather played an idol negating all the votes cast against her and voted for Rachel. And believe it or not, but she managed to find another one!"
Gerardo: "What?!"
Yessica: "Yeah! She showed it to everyone so that we wouldn't vote for her or else she'd play it. And in the end, she ended up not using it so she still has the idol. We need to get her and Aaron out of the game ASAP!"
Gerardo: "I know."

“	I'm so happy to be with Yessica again, but I don't plan on telling her about my alliance with Aaron. That's some information that needs to stay under wraps.	”
–Gerardo

Meanwhile, the threesome of Derek, Daniel, and Amy reunited. Amy told the guys of the alliance she made with Yessica and vise versa, Daniel told her about the deal they made with Gerardo.

Amy: "That's wonderful! While on Rioni, Yessica told me she had an alliance with him."
Derek: "So if us three, Yessica, Daniel, and Sebastian all join together, we'll have the majority."
Daniel: "What about Samantha?"
Amy: "Uhh. She's probably not to happy with me right now. She wanted me to vote out Yessica, but I ended up voting for Lauren instead. So she probably won't want to work with us, but I guess we can go talk to her anyway."
Daniel: "Alright."

“	It's so great to have the numbers right from the start. With this, we can draw out Heather's idol and get her or Aaron out of this game!	”
–Amy

Later, as everyone was helping design the new tribe flag, Heather and Aaron managed to sneak off without anyone's notice. After checking to see that they were alone, Heather thanked Aaron for giving her his idol he found while on Alazani and revealed another in which she had found herself.

Heather: "This thing took me forever to find! But nonetheless, we have it."
Aaron: "That's awesome!"
Heather: "But.."
Aaron: "But what?"
Heather: "Everyone knows I have it."
Aaron: "What?! How'd they find out?"
Heather: "I kind of told them about it."
Aaron: "Why would you do that?! The whole point of having a Hidden Immunity Idol is to keep it hidden!"
Heather: "Look Aaron. It was either reveal it to everyone or be voted off. Just be happy that I didn't use it."

Aaron also told Heather of the events that happened while he was on the men's tribe and that he was able to become allies with Gerardo.

“	Aaron told me all about Gerardo, and I'm not buying it for a second. Looking at the way Gerardo happily reunited with Yessica, I doubt he'll join us.	”
–Heather

As the sun began to set on Day 25, a meeting was held between everyone on the tribe excluding Heather, Aaron, and Agatha. Sebastian claimed that they'd all need to work together to take out Heather's idol to which everyone happily agreed, although Gerardo was a bit reluctant. After a plan was set forth to split the votes between Heather and Aaron, everyone immediately dispersed.

“	Entering the merge without any real allies, it gave me some peace of mind knowing that everyone was targetting Heather and Aaron. However, I still need to win immunity tomorrow to know that I'm fully safe.	”
–Samantha

“	I'd really want to keep those two around, but everyone's so bent on eliminating them. If it was my choice, Samantha would be going home as she kind of has no one in this game, and it keeps targets in the game longer.	”
–Gerardo

Day 26

The next day, the ten remaining contestants arrived to the site of their first individual Immunity Challenge. Upon arriving, Jeff asked them what their new tribe name was to which Derek responded with "Kura". Jeff then announced the challenge rules and suprised everyone by saying that a man and woman will each win immunity. The castways got on their perch and the challenge was underway.

Time Elapsed: 10 Minutes

At the fifteen minute mark, all the contestants seem to be doing well holding their coconuts between the ropes. Jeff then instructs them to increase the lengh of their ropes. Immediately after, Amy begins to wobble and steps off the perch, eliminating her from the challenge.

Time Elapsed: 20 Minutes

After twenty minutes, Jeff tells them to increase the lengh of their ropes. Upon doing so, Agatha accidentally drops her coconut and steps out of the challenge. Minutes later, Sebastian claims that his shoulder is beginning to hurt and steps down, leaving seven contestants still aiming for immunity, four men and three women.

Time Elapsed: 30 Minutes

Once the half hour mark is past, the lengh of the ropes are increased again, making it substantially hard for the contestants to keep their coconuts off the ground. Nonetheless, the remaining seven persevere through until both Yessica and Derek get a little shaky and both step off their perches. After 37 minutes, Gerardo drops his coconut through his ropes and is eliminated from the challenge, leaving Daniel, Aaron, Heather, and Samantha on their perches still.

Time Elapsed: 40 Minutes

After forty minutes, the ropes are lenghed to their maximum lengh. To the dread of everyone, Samantha ends up dropping her coconut, leaving Heather as the sole female left and wins immunity for herself. Minutes later, Aaron drops out earning Daniel immunity as well. After Heather and Daniel are given their Immunity Necklaces, the tribe heads back to camp.

“	I won immunity which means that these losers can't vote me out for now! Knowing them, they'll probably target Aaron but maybe I'll be able to use that to test Gerardo's true loyalties.	”
–Heather

Coming back to camp in defeated state, the "Anti-Heather" alliance met up to discuss their now limited options.

Derek: "So what now? Do we gun for Aaron instead?"
Yessica: "But what if Heather ends up giving him the idol? It's a lot safer to split the votes between him and Agatha."
Sebastian: "Alright, then let's do that. Daniel, Derek, Amy, and Samantha, you four vote for Aaron. And Gerardo, Yessica, and I will vote for Agatha."
Everyone: "Okay!"

“	There are many ways I can approach this. I can vote with the majority alliance in taking out Aaron. Or I can flip my vote and convince Heather and them to vote out Samantha. To me, neither is an acceptable option. I need to get the whole tribe to vote for Samantha. That way, no one gets suspicious of me and my intentions at playing everybody's game.	”
–Gerardo

After the meeting was over, Gerardo inconspicously took Heather and Aaron aside in order to talk to them about the vote.

Gerardo: "Heather, I know you probably don't trust me, but Aaron must have told you about how I was able to keep both of us safe while we were at Alazani."
Heather: "I don't distrust you, I'm just a little bit wary of your intentions."
Gerardo: "Well, if that's the case, then let me tell you that the rest of the tribe is planning on splitting the votes between Aaron and Agatha in case you end up giving Aaron your idol."
Aaron: "What?!"
Heather: "Why are you telling us this?"
Gerardo: "Because one, we both need eachother and two, I want Samantha out as much as you do. So what do you say?"
Heather: "We got ourselves a deal."

“	Gerardo seems like he straight up wants to work with us, but just in case this whole thing is a charade to get me to waste my idol, I'm not going to play it. Sucks if they are targetting Aaron, but I need to get myself further.	”
–Heather

Day 27

The next day, Gerardo woke up early to campaign for the elimination of Samantha. He first went up to the former Alazanis, excluding Samantha, and brought up the topic.

Daniel: "Why would we target Samantha when there's Aaron? I thought we all agreed on this."
Gerardo: "Look at it my way. I'm positive that they're going to play their idol so why vote for Aaron? So that'll leave Agatha being voted off and is she really that much of a threat?"
Amy: "Not really."
Gerardo: "Then why are you so hesitant? In reality, Samantha has nobody, so no one will be upset and lately, I've seen her get closer to Heather."
Amy: "That doesn't make any sense. She hates her."
Gerardo: "At a glance it doesn't, but when you really think about it, it's much smarter for her to jump ship. If she stays with us, she's 7th, but if she flips, she jumps all the way to 4th."
Sebastian: "I don't know Gerardo. We already have a plan, but I guess we can talk about this later."

Gerardo then has the same talk with Yessica. He tells her about all the reasons why Samantha should be voted out and even tells her the lie about Samantha jumping ship. Yessica seems unsure, but tells her ally that she'll think about it.

“	It's really unsettling that Gerardo is so reluctant about following the plan. I feel like he's hiding something, but I guess I'll just to have talk to everyone else about it later.	”
–Yessica

“	I had to lie to them. I don't want any of my allies to leave the game yet, which means that I'll do whatever it takes to make the vote go my way. I just hope that everyone else follows my lead.	”
–Gerardo

Later that day, the tribe heads up to Tribal Council. Jeff waits for them to get situated, and begin the tribal session. He starts by asking about what they thought about merging. Heather states that it was about time as she was walking on eggshells at her old tribe. When Jeff asks her how much she needed immunity, she responds by saying that the challenge was life or death. Jeff questions if there are any old tribal lines in the tribe, to which Aaron states that they've been tossed out the window way before the tribes even merged. Jeff then turns to Samantha and tells her who she wants out, and replies that the person she wants out unfortunately beat her out for immunity. She and Heather then give cold states at eachother. Jeff wraps up the session and tells Aaron to vote. After everyone finished voting, Jeff fetched the urn.

Jeff: "If anyone would like to play a Hidden Immunity Idol, you may do so now."
Everyone: "-silence-"
Jeff: "Alright, I'll tally the votes. First vote.. Aaron. Samantha. That's one vote Aaron, one vote Samantha. Third vote.. Samantha, Samantha, Samantha. That's four votes Samantha, one vote Aaron. Sixth vote.. Samantha. The eleventh person voted out of Survivor: Caucasus and first member of the Jury.. Samantha. Six votes, that's enough. Please come and fetch me your torch.

Speechless at the outcome of the vote, Samantha picks up her things and brings her torch to Jeff.

Jeff: "Samantha, the tribe has spoke. Time for you go go."

As the first member of the Jury heads out of the Tribal Council area, Gerardo and Heather both seem to have a satisfied look on their faces while mostly everyone else seem to be unsure of their decision.

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 11: Kura
Voted Against	Voter
Samantha (9 votes)	Gerardo, Sebastian, Daniel, Heather, Yessica, Amy, Derek, Aaron & Agatha
Aaron (1 vote)	Samantha
VOTED OFF: Samantha Marino

Voting Confessionals

“	It wasn't supposed to be you tonight, but there was as sudden change in plans. I'm sorry!	”
–Amy

“	You didn't go last time, hope you do this time.	”
–Heather

“	I really hope they do play an idol.	”
–Daniel

“	I'm really sorry Sammi, but Gerardo really seems to be gunning for you for some reason.	”
–Yessica

“	Sorry darling, but just following orders.	”
–Agatha

“	Barely knew ya, but Heather doesn't like you, so neither do I.	”
–Aaron

“	Later!	”
–Derek

“	If I can't take out Heather, I'll just settle with eliminating her "boyfriend".	”
–Samantha

“	You stood in the way of me winning this game, so I had to take you out. No hard feelings.	”
–Gerardo

“	I'm really unsure about this, but we all decided on you.	”
–Sebastian

Final Words

“	I feel totally blindsided right now, but I had the feeling this would be coming. I tried playing this game smart, was part of an alliance, but it only ended up biting me in the butt. You need allies to play this game, and I guess I just didn't have any.	”
–Samantha Marino

Still In The Running

Rioni
Aaron	Agatha	Gerardo	Hazel	Heather	Martin	Max	Rachel	Winston	Yessica
Alazani
Amy	Daniel	Derek	Lauren	Mary-Jean	Phoebe	Samantha	Sebastian	Stan	Van

Next Time On Survivor...

• An injury takes one of the castways out of the game.
• Being aligned with everyone in the game, Gerardo is forced to choose a side.

Author's Notes

• The Immunity Challenge is the same challenge used in Double Agent from Survivor: South Pacific.
• This episode's title was said by Gerardo.