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Episode 7 - "They're All Just Lemmings"

Odd Man Out

The Timbira tribe treks back to camp through the darkness after having lost yet another member at Tribal Council. The general attitude around camp is that of hopelessness and defeat, for their tribe is now down to a mere four members compared to new Jalapao's six. The situation looks even more grim for the members of the original Jalapao tribe, who are outnumbered seven to three. Spencer, especially, finds himself alone and vulnerable as the last original Jalapao member on his tribe, declaring, "Returning to camp after Tribal was pretty devastating for me. I was stunned that Joe got voted off; didn't expect that at all, so that sucked." Spencer sets his torch against the shelter and watches the rest of his tribemates sitting around the fire and whispering to each other. "Going to Tribal Council is not fun," he continues. "Um, it's very emotionally draining and after tonight, voting for Erinn, I feel I'm in a very vulnerable position."

Trying to explain his vote to his tribe, Spencer says, "Hey, you know what? I played the game and it didn't work." "Oh, nobody's gonna hold nothin' against you," Jerry tells Spencer, as he tends to the fire. "We're all gonna have to make them kind of votes, uh, sooner or later down the road." Spencer continues to apologize and tells Erinn how bad he feels. He desperately hopes that the merge will come soon to provide targets other than himself: "In a perfect world, tomorrow would be the merge because if we stay just as Timbira, uh, definitely my head is next on the chopping block. You know, it doesn't matter if this one vote is consequential or not, I'm still gonna be the odd person out if we go back to Tribal Council, so…I am praying hard for a merge and hopefully tomorrow'll be a new day."

Mending Fences

As the morning sun rises over the Timbira camp, a restless Spencer lies awake in the shelter and continues to reflect on his position in the tribe after the previous Tribal Council: "It's one of those things that you wake up and you wish it was a big awful nightmare, but you quickly realize, it's not," Spencer good-naturedly explains. "I mean, you just do what you can do; that's all you really can, so I'm just trying to go about my normal day until we get treemail." As Spencer continues to wash his face in the river, Erinn joins him.

"I just wanted to talk to you because I'm not upset about it and I didn't want you to think, like, I was gonna hold it against you," Erinn says. Looking up at her, Spencer replies "If you did, I would understand." Erinn brushes the vote off as if it wasn't a big deal. "But, after I cast my vote, I was like 'Crap. I should not have done that.' I'm just pissed off at myself." Spencer justifies. "Spencer made a mistake at the last Tribal Council by voting for me and not Joe, but I'm definitely not gonna alienate him," Erinn expresses. "I need every vote I can get at this point and Spencer's definitely somebody who gets the game." "Just know, like, I'm on your side," Erinn reassures him. "There's a lot of people on the other tribe who are gonna go before you." Spencer tells her that he appreciates her honesty. "He's almost like another 'Stephen,'" Erinn continues in her confessional, "And if we do merge today, I don't want him flipping to any other side." Spencer swears that he will be loyal and has no plans to double-cross Erinn or Carolina: "Going into the merge, I don't know if I have any strong loyalties per se, but if I can find a way to stick with Erinn and Carolina, I definitely would," he states.

Dreams of a Merge

At the Jalapao camp, the mood is much less tense. "This morning, I just want to sit around, laze around, not do hardly anything," Tyson tells the camera, as he bathes in the sun. "If anybody asks me to do something, I'm gonna tell them I'm working on my awesome tan." "I've soaked up so many rays out here, uh, my hair's actually starting to have blonde highlights again," he says.

Treemail then arrives at both camps, which instructs them to pack up their stuff immediately and head to an undisclosed location on a map. Assuming it's a merge, the tribes gather their supplies to take with them. As they pack up their things, Tyson, Candace, Coach, and Taj hold a last-minute strategy session. They reaffirm their loyalty to each other and agree to go to the Final Four together. Tyson says that they have the luxury of being able to align with old Timbira or new Jalapao. "At this point, things are working out very well for me. On the surface, I have an alliance with Tyson, Candace, and Taj; I've also got a little something with J.T., so I don't think I'm goin' anywhere anytime soon, but…the way I'm playing the game is not the way the rest of these guys are playing, and if they want me to keep this four-person alliance, they're gonna have to vote against Erinn or Carolina…you know, whichever one didn't get voted off last night," Coach says in the moments before leaving camp.

The Tribes Merge

Both tribes march parallel to each other, tribe flags in hand. To everyone's surprise, a large hut filled with a great abundance of food, including chicken, fruit, wine, juice, and baked goods, lies ahead. Taj finds a note and reads it aloud. "Congratulations tribes, you have merged. Exchange your old buffs with the new." The note also instructs them to come up with a new tribe name, design a new tribe flag, and live at the old Timbira camp. Spencer is ecstatic to make it to the next phase of the game: "My biggest hope was that today was the merge," he tells the camera, "And here we are with these new green buffs, so…I'm feeling like I have a lot more wiggle room right now. Sure, I'm not a part of the original Timbira and I'm not a part of the new Jalapao, so I could still be picked off, for sure, but the odds are definitely more in my favor than not."

Coach then leads the newly merged tribe in a friendly toast, but his words are not met favorably from everyone: "The person I was least excited to see on the other tribe was Coach," Carolina expresses. "He's like a cocky know-it-all who's been out to get me since Day One. Like, his toast to everyone totally made me lose my appetite, but I told myself, like, "There's food in front of you, girl. You need to eat it anyway." The festivities begin as the hungry tribe members chow down and get to know each other. Spencer introduces himself to the Tyson, Taj, Coach, and Candace. "The feast was amazing," Spencer narrates. "We had, like, three or four different kinds of meat. There were kabobs. We had buffalo wings, salad, bread, and all that other fun stuff. I didn't know what to eat first. I was just grabbing food and piling it onto my plate; I didn't even know." The castaways continue to indulge in a gluttonous celebration, as they turn to the desserts. "Lastly, there was a big platter of chocolates, which everybody was excited about. I mean, we definitely had sugar overload but it was so good to have that. It was so delicious, but so disgusting," Spencer laughs.

As the tribes continue to mingle, the castaways laugh as they throw around possible tribe names, eventually taking Erinn's suggestion, "Novo," which is the river that the tribes have lived on for the first nineteen days of the game. The merge tribe has been named, but the sizing up continues. "Honestly, I wasn't that worried during the feast," Candace admits. "I mean, I knew right away, if I'm already tryin' to figure all these people out, they're definitely trying to figure me out, but…the fortune thing is that I'm an original Timbira member. I've got a majority of votes regardless." While Candace seems sure of her position, Sandy is much more uncertain: "All the people who were goin' against me in the first, uh, Jalapao tribe, they've all been voted out," she says, "So I definitely do not know who, you know, I want to be in an alliance with. I could go in any direction."

The Novo Camp

As the newly merged tribe, Novo arrives at the old Timbira camp. After a brief moment of getting acquainted with their new surroundings, the game picks up again. Tyson discreetly taps Erinn on the shoulder to get her attention: "We're trying to put Timbira back together. We'll talk later…" he whispers. "So we get back to the Timbira camp and as soon as we got here, I get this tap on my shoulder from Tyson and he's like 'We're trying to start this original Timbira alliance. We'll talk later.'" Erinn says in her confessional. "You know, if there is some old Timbira loyalty, that's great, but that only works for three Tribal Councils. Plus, Carolina and I know we would definitely be on the bottom, so I'm like, 'Okay, whatever. We'll talk.'" Erinn and Carolina begin to paint the Novo flag, as the rest of the tribe separates to complete tasks around camp and Erinn tells Carolina what Tyson said to her. "I always knew that all Carolina and I needed to do was get to the merge," Erinn continues. "You know, more often than not, the first people to get voted off once it's individual are the guys because they're the biggest threats, so if we can work it where Coach goes home first, we'll be in a really good spot."

Meanwhile, Candace volunteers to help Tyson collect firewood. As the two walk away from camp, she brings up the subject of the upcoming Tribal Council. "We gotta figure out who's gonna be the first goin' home," Candace suggests to her ally. Tyson asks her what she thinks. "The easiest thing for us to do is just vote out the three [original] Jalapao members, don't you think?" Candace asks. Tyson nods his head in agreement. "I'll tell you right now, the first one I wanna see go is Spencer," Candace says. Listening intently, Tyson replies, "Yeah; that's what I was thinking." "Make sure Coach knows," he then adds. Later, in his confessional, Tyson explains why he is targeting Spencer first: "Right now, with the merge, old Timbira is up 7-3. New Jalapao is up 6-4, so the only person I haven't really met is Spencer. I just talked to Candace and she already agreed, so…he'll probably be the first to go. It would just make my life that much easier. I wouldn't have to stab anyone in the back yet."

Candace tells Tyson that they have to make sure they distance themselves from each other so they don't look like an obvious pair. Tyson agrees and says that he's thinking about making an alliance with Carolina and Erinn just to keep them loyal. "They're probably stupid enough that they'd believe me," he revels. Candace says that she will talk to Jerry and Taj to ensure that they vote for Spencer. "To this point, no one sees me as a real mental threat," Candace reveals, "Because they see Tyson, which…is great. I mean, I'm not gonna complain that they don't feel threatened by me, but there's a lot more to me than just the pretty face and the boobs," she laughs. "Um, it's called a brain."

Weathering The Storm

As the day quickly turns to night and the strategizing comes to a halt, a torrential downpour engulfs the camp putting a damper on the tribe's merge celebration. The castaways take refuge from the elements under their flooded shelter. The cold night air, coupled with a combination of rain and lightning, forces the castaways to huddle together as they try to stay warm. "This is the first night, uh, after the merge," Sandy narrates. "For a while there, we were celebratin'. You know, everybody was hootin' and hollerin' and it was great, and then a big humongous storm hit, so everybody kinda huddled up under the shelter, you know, and…the daggone thing ain't big enough for ten people." Tyson is left sleeping at the end of the shelter, exposed to the downpour of rain. "This is definitely the worst storm we've had since we've been here," Tyson comments. "I'm looking forward to being completely drenched in another freezing cold night. I mean, there's ten people trying to stay warm in our shelter; I'm stuck on the end, so…I guess I'll be having some, uh, wet dreams tonight."

One Big Happy Family?

The next morning, as the sun rises on the Novo beach, the rain finally blows over leaving the castaways with a flooded camp and no fire. "Last night was awful," Erinn narrates as she reluctantly crawls out of the shelter. "It was one of the worst nights out here. I mean, it rained for, like, seven hours and the entire time, we were like sardines. It was terrible, and this morning our fire's out. All our firewood is wet. We have no way to dry anything. It's awful." Spencer shivers in Sandy's arms, as J.T. desperately tries to spark a flame. As they stand by the shelter away from their tribemates, Tyson whispers to Coach that Spencer is the first target, while their conversation is interrupted by excited cheers when J.T. makes fire. Coach then walks over and compliments J.T., before putting a pot of water over the fire. Unintentionally, he spills a large amount of water out onto the ground.

Commenting on the situation, Carolina says, "J.T. started the fire this morning, and Coach goes to put a pot of water on, so he takes the water pot and he's like sloshing it around; he spills it everywhere." J.T. takes the pot from Coach, who seems shocked and defends that he was "so cold that my hands were literally shaking." Carolina rolls her eyes at the excuse. "I mean, I just gotta laugh," she tells the camera. She then publicly accuses that if anyone else had spilled the water, Coach would have wanted to vote them off and he shouldn't get a free pass. "Carolina's desire to rub my face in this one mistake, it's annoying and it's frustrating," Coach vents. "You know, I'm in a continuous fight out here against this girl who's trying to do whatever she can to get to me and that's fine because I'm older than her; I know better than her; and my tactic is to not respond to that. When somebody is so desperate for attention that they're making those kind of negative comments in front of the tribe, I just ignore 'em." "You know, it was such a minor issue to me; I'm not gonna keep bringing it up," he says.

Immediately afterward, Coach meets with Spencer, J.T., and Sandy and trash-talks Carolina behind her back. "Would you believe that I was so human this morning that I spilled the water pot? I mean, I've made one mistake in twenty days and she wants to nail me to a cross for it. You know, give me a break." "There's definitely some tension between Coach and Carolina," J.T. observes. "I mean, I noticed that right away and this morning they got into an argument so…that's just something I'm gonna have to get used to, you know, bein' in this new tribe."

As the conversation continues, Coach begins to talk strategy: "I'm gonna tell you something, there ain't no way in hell that these guys are sticking to an alliance with [new] Jalapao." "They told you that?" a concerned J.T. asks. "Candace and Tyson are looking at Spencer," Coach says, "And after Spencer, it's gonna be you, J.T., cause they're gonna start knocking off threats." Seeing an opportunity to eliminate his long-time rival, Carolina, Coach tries to sway the votes of the original Jalapao members: "My strategy is to keep the strong. You know, my word is my bond and I'm telling you this honestly; I could be slitting my own throat, but it's gotta be Carolina and then Erinn." Spencer tells Coach that if it keeps himself safe, he'll gladly vote Carolina. J.T. then reflects on the situation in his confessional: "From what Coach says, Tyson and them's gonna vote Spencer and new Jalapao might not be stickin' together after all, so…I don't know yet what everybody's plan is, but right now I feel like my vote's gonna be the same as Coach." Coach says that he'll talk to Tyson and Candace and "they'll have no problem switching it." Spencer begins to say something: "So the four of us are voting…" "Carolina," Coach interrupts. "And then you don't have anything to worry about."

Slightly confused at how four votes is supposed to eliminate Carolina, Spencer tells the camera, "I really don't think Coach gets the game. I mean, I definitely appreciate him telling me my head's still on the chopping block, but in order for an alliance to work, you need more than four people." As J.T. and Coach walk away, Spencer comments to Sandy that listening to Coach's rant was awkward. "Yeah; I'll vote with the strong ones, and then I'm gonna be one of the weaker people a week from now," she sarcastically quips. "Coach is, uh, targeting Carolina right now," Sandy explains, "But in the challenges, he could be a real threat. You know, I'd rather get rid of him than Carolina."

"You know Coach is campaigning, like, hardcore against you?" Spencer later tells Carolina in passing as he drags a log back to camp. "I knew he was gonna come after me," Carolina replies. Spencer says that if she wants to start a campaign against Coach, she would definitely have him. "I've lived with Coach for, mmm, ten days now," Sandy continues. "Carolina, I've only known for about a day, you know, so I haven't had my fill of 'er yet like some of these other people have, you know? So I don't know yet who I want to vote, whether it be Coach or Carolina. You know, we still have our first Immunity Challenge…"

Immunity Challenge - Get A Grip

As the rain begins to unleash another fury over the Brazilian Highlands, the newly merged Novo tribe arrives on their green mat. Host Jeff Probst explains the rules of their first individual Immunity Challenge. Each tribe member will hold onto a pole for as long as they can. The last person left on their pole wins Immunity.

The challenge is on with all ten tribe members atop their poles and holding on for dear life. Fatigue quickly sets in, and one by one, the Novo members drop from their poles. Taj is the first to drop from her pole, lasting only fourteen minutes. Carolina is next to slide down her pole and be eliminated, much to her disappointment. Then, Spencer begins to struggle as Sandy slides off her pole. Jerry's feet shake as he falls off of his pole. As the challenge continues, Coach and Erinn both lose the fight and fall off of their poles. Suddenly, rain stops pouring down on the remaining participants, giving them a break. Tyson falls off, and then Spencer slides down after repeated attempts to regain his footing.

With the coveted individual Immunity on the line, it comes down to Candace and J.T. After thirty more minutes, Candace slides slowly from the pole, handing challenge powerhouse J.T. the first individual Immunity. Triumphant, J.T. collects his prize as Jeff places the necklace around his neck. "Winning Immunity when he didn't need to, you know, J.T. may have just, uh, increased his own target," Tyson tells the camera. "But…Spencer's gonna be the one to go. I haven't changed it, so…I mean, my alliance is gonna vote who I tell them to."

The Game Is On

Back at Novo, as Tribal Council looms, it's clear that Spencer, Coach, and Carolina are all on the chopping block. The castaways discuss how hard the challenge was. Relieved that his friend is safe, Coach congratulates J.T. on his victory. "I won the Immunity necklace today, first one," J.T. gleefully tells the camera. "It was definitely a challenge to hang on as long as I did, but there was no way I was gonna drop out, so…it was well worth it." "Right now, after winning the Immunity Challenge, the plan is that Coach, myself, Spencer, and Sandy will vote for Carolina tonight. Coach is s'pposed to be gettin' Tyson on board, so we'll see what happens."

Coach immediately corners Tyson about the vote and tells him that he's been lobbying for votes against Carolina. "This morning, she's making negative comments. You know, I can't stand somebody who preys on other people's mistakes like they're somehow better. That just doesn't sit well with me, and I'm gonna tell you something, man: I've got four votes going against Carolina tonight," Coach matter-of-factly says. Tyson suspiciously asks him "Who?" "The three Jalapao and myself," Coach answers. "So, I need two more and then we, uh, get rid of Carolina and Erinn. That's two Tribal Councils that nobody has to worry about." Due to Coach's unnecessary scrambling, Tyson decides that Coach will without a doubt be the next to go: "He's proven he can't be trusted. He just does his own thing. I mean, it's stupid for him to try and build an alliance with the ex-Jalapao people, so…he's done; I mean, he's gonna be the next to go." Privately, Tyson asks Candace if she agrees on voting out Coach and she supports his decision.

Not revealing his conversation with Coach, Tyson approaches Carolina and Erinn and the girls insist that even though they would like to stay with Timbira, Coach has to go first. "If that's what you guys want, I'll support that," Tyson immediately offers. Surprised at how little convincing was needed, Erinn exclaims "Seriously?" "The thing is: I don't particularly like you, and you know what? I think that the most people on the jury are not gonna like you, so…my strategy right now is to go to the Final Four with you two and Candace," Tyson explains. "I mean, I'll make sure everyone votes for Coach in exchange for your unwavering loyalty, and uh, you'll definitely get to the end." Erinn and Carolina carefully consider Tyson's proposal for an alliance with Candace: "The fact that we are these outcasts could really help us," Erinn theorizes, "But am I just gonna put all my trust in Tyson? There's no way. I mean, it's everybody playing for themselves and that alliance is what's best for him," she tells the camera, "So we'll see. Like, if you wanna play, let's play," she laughs. "The game's gonna start getting interesting."

Tyson tells Carolina and Erinn that the original Timbira tribe has to stay united after Coach is voted out and they agree. "I think to let any of them [the original Jalapao members] get to the Final Two would be embarrassing," Tyson states. "After Coach, it'll be Spencer, J.T., and then Sandy." "My alliances right now, uh, I've made alliances with pretty much everybody in camp, but Coach is out of my alliance," Tyson states. "Uh, Jerry's replaced him in an alliance with Taj, and my other alliance is me, Candace, Carolina, and Erinn." "I don't know which one I'll be loyal to at this point," Tyson continues. "Probably whoever I feel like. I mean, I can change this game however I want to, so…I'm pretty powerful, I feel like," he chuckles. "These people should worship me." Taj, Tyson, Candace, and Jerry meet by the river. "I'll vote for whoever y'all want," Taj says. She is told to vote for Coach because he's too much of a wildcard. "I am voting for Coach, 100%, and it seems to be unanimous," Taj tells the camera. "Right now, I'm just going with the group until I can find an opportunity to really change up the game, but don't think I don't know who's calling the shots cause I know exactly who's in charge here."

Word continues to spread amongst the Novo tribe to vote for Coach. J.T. is the last to find out when he and Tyson go fishing: "We can still stick together after that. You know, we still have the majority for a few votes, but everyone's pretty much on the same page," Tyson explains. "Sandy and those guys already know." "He's just causing too much conflict, and then he tried to get you guys to vote for Carolina, I mean, that was pretty untrustworthy." "Are you cool?" Tyson inquires. "As long as nothin' else changes between us, I'm solid with you." J.T. replies. "You're voting Coach," Tyson asks. J.T. confirms "I'm voting Coach." "Cool," Tyson says. As Tyson walks away, J.T. seems a little disappointed at the sudden change in the vote. "I've got a lot to think about now," he says aloud.

Shortly after, J.T. sits down with Coach and breaks the news to him that he could be going home: "I know you'd have done the same for me, so…I just didn't want you to get blindsided tonight." "Well, I think my head's on the chopping block because apparently Tyson didn't like that I tried to rally votes for Carolina," Coach reflects. I'm pissed off right now, man. If the rest of these people in this tribe follow a 26 year-old bartender over someone like me, then it's unforgivable, in my opinion. They're all just lemmings, and there's no honor in that; there's no respect in that." Continuing to talk with J.T., Coach makes a last-ditch effort to stay, with the help of his friend: "I didn't even wanna ask, but I'll pose this to you anyway. If you give me your Immunity, not only does that keep me in the game but that just ensures that Carolina'll be the one to go, and the sooner she's gone, the better." "We could take everybody by surprise tonight," Coach reiterates. "We sure could," J.T. replies, unsure what to do. "I've got a huge dilemma tonight," J.T. says, as he weighs his options. "Coach has really tried to help me in this game, so if I wanted to, I could give him my Immunity necklace…but then Spencer'd probably be voted off; Spencer or Carolina, so it's a hard decision what I wanna do." "If you can't, I understand but…your vote's the only one I want out of everybody," Coach tells J.T. J.T. then says that he won't write Coach's name down. "I hope I'm makin' the right decision," J.T. laments in his confessional.

As the sun begins to set, the Novo members pack their bags before Tribal Council. "We're still takin' Coach out tonight, right?" Sandy asks. Tyson nods his head and replies "Yeah; that's who everyone's voting for." Sandy, however, has a plan of her own to stir up dissention in the ranks: "Tyson says that everybody's voting out Coach, but I am definitely worried that I'm gonna be one of the next two or three to go, so I'm gonna put another vote in there and it's gonna be someone random, you know, cause I want them to question each other, so…I ain't even gonna vote for Coach and it's gonna be luck of the draw with me tonight."

Tribal Council #7 - Novo Tribe

At Tribal Council, all ten Novo tribe members are in attendance for the first time. "Full house tonight," host Jeff Probst comments. "I haven't seen some of you guys in a long time." "I know you missed me," a smirking Tyson says. As the tribe settles in, Jeff begins by asking Coach about the merge feast: "Things were cordial between everybody, but if you want the truth, uh, there were a couple people I wouldn't have picked to be sharing it with." Jeff then asks "Who would that be?" while a contemplative Erinn looks towards Coach. "Carolina and, uh, Erinn," Coach bluntly states, to no one's surprise. "So Carolina, this tribe isn't one big, happy family?" "I'm not gonna lie," Carolina replies. "Like, people are gonna have other people that they get along and don't get along with and that's just the way it is. You don't just forget all that immediately and become one happy family. That's not the way the game works, you know?" Her answer is blunt but rings true for everybody in the tribe. Jeff then asks Spencer if he agrees with Carolina: "Uh, it's gonna take some time for this group to merge, for sure," Spencer says. "Um, there's always gonna be certain people who feel like they're more Timbira than Jalapao, or more Jalapao than Timbira, so we're definitely still not one tribe."

Jeff asks Tyson how the game has changed since the merge: "Basically, uh, there's ten people scrambling around, trying to figure out where they stand, who gets along with who; um, what the pecking order is, so…I think it's more interesting." "There's more people to get rid of, for one thing," he adds. The discussion turns to the impending vote and Jeff asks Spencer who should be most worried: "I feel like, generally if two people in the tribe have conflict, they're probably gonna be on the chopping block, so…I mean, there's a chance that anybody goes, but I would definitely say Coach or Carolina should be most worried, if not myself." "Why should Coach be worried?" Jeff follows up. "Um, I know Coach talked to the three original Jalapao, uh, me, J.T., and Sandy and pretty much said that his alliance was planning on voting the three of us out, which I definitely appreciated but at the same time, he kinda sold the rest of his tribe out for no apparent reason," Spencer explains, "So…he's not the most popular person in the tribe right now; let's just say that."

Turning to Coach, Jeff asks him what his response is to Spencer's comments: "Well, first of all, did I go and throw all these guys under a bus? Absolutely not." Coach's statement is met with mixed reactions from his former allies. "Did I seek out other options? You know, these people need to understand I was not gonna align myself with Carolina, period. I'm also not gonna go around begging for votes. If my head's on the chopping block for not compromising my values, so be it. You know, better to go out with my honor and my integrity intact than to follow somebody like this [Carolina] down a path of lies and deception," he rants. "She would cut every one of your throats in a second without batting an eye and I just want you guys to see it, man." "So your vote's pretty clear," Jeff says to Coach, stating the obvious. Dead-set on voting Carolina, Coach dramatically nods his head. "This is somebody who cannot be trusted," he insists while pointing at Carolina. "I'm telling ya, she's like an infection and the longer it's left to fester and rot, the more annoying it is and the more damage it does."

Jeff asks Coach if he feels he's made any mistakes in the last three days. "No," Coach plainly answers. "Everybody seemed to be saying 'Timbira alliance,' 'Timbira alliance,' and I thought 'Wait a minute. Timbira alliance?' My alliance is to keep the strongest and most honorable group of people, and second of all, her and I just don't click and they should've known I wasn't gonna go in that direction, so again, it comes back to the integrity thing," he rambles. "This is somebody with not a lot of integrity. Obviously I have integrity. I'm standing firm on what I'm gonna do in this game, and I can't align myself with somebody who I believe should have been out of here on Day Three, and…Erinn's the same way."

"Carolina, you've taken a lot of hits tonight," Jeff observes. "You know, he can say whatever he wants," Carolina retorts. "Like, it's hard to take anything seriously from a guy who wants grown adults to call him 'Coach,' so it doesn't really affect me one way or the other." Shaking his head in disbelief, Coach blurts out, "I just gotta tell you, this persona of being the victim here that she's putting on for you, Jeff, is so fictitious and so fabricated. If she isn't already pursuing acting, she should be." Carolina begins to quip back, but then bites her tongue. Amused, she grins and then shakes her head. "It's just his cocky attitude, she replies. Like, there's no reason for him to come after me except out of a personal vendetta, so I mean, there's nothing else to say at this point." "I just think, how can they trust him?" Erinn adds. "He's obviously made certain alliances and then told other people different things. Like, when is it gonna stop, I feel like?"

"My last hope is to lay all my cards on the table," Coach desperately says. "I'm voting Carolina tonight; if Carolina goes, I'm voting Erinn after that, and you guys can be with me or against me, but you all know that when I give my word on something, that's what I'm gonna do with no questions and no hesitation and there's nobody else in this tribe who can say that." "Well, we'll find out," Jeff says. With this, J.T. decides to keep individual Immunity and apologizes to Coach. The time of reckoning nears as the Novo tribe members cast their votes.

Jeff then tallies the votes, and reveals them one at a time to the castaways:

COACH.

CAROLINA.

JERRY.

Most of the tribe seems visibly surprised by this vote, including Sandy who deliberately tries not to give herself away.

COACH.

COACH.

COACH.

COACH.

COACH.

In an overwhelming 8-1-1 decision, Coach Wade, the 37 year-old soccer coach and symphony conductor from Bolivar, Missouri, becomes the seventh person voted out of Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands. Even Coach's friend J.T. regretfully votes against him, and Sandy's mystery vote plan is put into action. Now, two of the Final Nine will make it to the end and the remaining seven will make up the jury that will ultimately decide who becomes the Sole Survivor.

Coach's Final Words

Unwilling to admit responsibility for his actions, Coach feels betrayed and upset to be out of the game. Angrily, he leaves behind his final words, but still believes he played the game the right way: "Well, that's the end of the run for, uh, Coach Wade. 21 days. It is gonna be hard to accept that people like Carolina and Erinn lasted longer than I did, but I'm not gonna beat myself up too bad. Yeah, I should have done something sooner to change the outcome of this game, but…I walk away with integrity knowing that I stayed true to my word and how I wanted to play this game. The people who played this game like weasels, they're gonna have to look at themselves and live with those decisions. I did not dishonor myself, and every decision I made in 21 days, uh, I look back on fondly."

Episode 8 - Undisclosed Title

Two castaways let their power get to their heads, making enemies out of potentially allies. How will this affect the game?

One vulnerable castaway makes a play to topple the ruling alliance by trying to unite the outcast players. Will his coup succeed or fail?

Sandy's mystery vote becomes a topic of discussion around camp, but it may backfire when one unexpected castaway gets wrongfully blamed. Who will this unfortunate castaway be?

1) This was probably one of the most difficult and complex episodes I've ever had to write. There really was so much going on, especially strategically, that it was incredibly hard to make sure that every development occurred in the best and most logical order. I know that some things might not be fully clear because I couldn't include every character in what was going on, so please ask questions if you need to. I think the problem is that I'm writing way more detailed again than I was at the beginning, so it's almost like having the full episodes again since I'm writing out actual conversations. Oh well.

2) Odd Man Out: I really like this scene because it sets up Spencer's position in the game really well. You are supposed to be rooting for him as an underdog but his popularity didn't change much after last episode so I'm not sure how many people actually do like him. I think some of you still might think he's boring. Anyway, it's definitely true that if there was no merge again and Timbira lost, Spencer would have been voted out. You are supposed to sense that he is in danger here and want him to stick around.

3) Mending Fences: This is another good scene and one that is very important for future developments. Spencer's vulnerable position is again emphasized and Erinn ends up mending fences with him and telling him she's not going to hold the vote against him. This is a smart move on her part and it shows that she understands the game. Had she been a bitch to him, it might have made Spencer go to the other side and say "We need to break up Carolina and Erinn." Instead, it got him back on their side.

4) Dreams of a Merge: If I had to pick one, this might be my least favorite scene in the episode, which is why I kept it really short and simple compared to everything else. I just wanted to get to the merge, which is typical of my merge episodes. I think the confessional from Tyson at the start where he is basically just lying around and not wanting to do any work. I think that's true to his character. The confessional from Coach was irony because he's saying that he's going to be around for a while when really he's going to be voted out next.

5) The Merge: This scene was one of the hardest to write. You get a lot of narration from Spencer once again (sorry to those who don't like him) but I really like his first confessional for some reason. I think it's pretty true to how he would be thinking about things. The confessionals narrating the feast were just okay. I didn't want to spend all this time talking about what they ate, etc. because it's a waste of time. But Spencer was the best person to just have kindof narrate that and then get it over with.

I personally like the name "Novo" a lot for the merge and I think it's a logical choice given that the river name is familiar to everyone and easy to pronounce. So, Novo tribe it is. And it's Erinn's suggestion since she's generally the intelligent one.

We have a minor part where Candace talks about sizing people up and then Sandy says she doesn't know who she wants to be in an alliance with. This was because, earlier, she talked about siding with the Timbira people (Tyson and co.) but now that there's some Jalapaos left, she might end up sticking with them. We'll see.

6) The Novo Camp: This is another great scene in my opinion. I'm really enthusiastic about this episode for some reason. I like how it starts off with Tyson telling Erinn they'll try to get Timbira together and they'll talk later about it. Erinn and Carolina just seemed like the right choice for the people to paint the flag and I think Erinn's comments about just needing to get to the merge were very insightful. She's playing one of the best games this season, which I have to admit is rare for female players lately (though they usually are a bit stronger in my stories). This is the first suggestion that Coach might be voted off.

Then we get another scene with Tyson and Candace talking about the boot. They decide to target Spencer first, which I think makes a ton of sense since he's not included in the original Timbira alliance or the new Jalapao alliance. Like Tyson said, if Spencer goes, it makes his life way easier because he doesn't have to backstab anyone. Interestingly, the merge was supposed to put Spencer in a better position but he's still on the chopping block. However, it's very unlikely that Spencer would go because he does have Erinn/Carolina (and kindof Jerry, though he was purposely left out of this episode) on his side.

Not much to say about the last part of the scene. Candace/Tyson probably do seem like an obvious pair, but Erinn/Carolina is the even more obvious one.

7) Weathering the Storm: This scene exists pretty much for the sole purpose of Tyson's line in his confessional. Hopefully most of you will find it amusing and it will lighten the mood because things do get pretty intense pretty quickly - I wanted it to break up all the strategy. Plus having a rainstorm on the night of the merge means that I didn't have to write another scene with the tribe celebrating on the first night, which tends to get pretty repetitive (like Rocky and Ian both getting drunk, etc.) So I like this scene because of Tyson's confessional. Hopefully Sandy's was okay too.

8) One Big Happy Family?: Another scene with a lot of stuff going on here. I needed something to jumpstart the Coach/Carolina conflict and something as simple as Coach spilling the water and Carolina being a little bitchy about it was enough for that to work. I think there were probably better ideas but I wanted it to be something pretty minor that gets made into a bigger issue so I couldn't really come up with anything else.

I think you do get a sense of Coach being condescending in the way that he says he's older than Carolina and he knows better than her so he'll just ignore her. And then he says he's not going to keep harping on the incident but in the very next scene, he's complaining about it. That is definitely an intentional 'editing' choice. I think it was funny that Coach said he made "one mistake" in 20 days.

The next part is a little weird but hopefully makes sense. Coach says that they aren't really going to stick to an alliance with the new Jalapao, and after Spencer gets voted out, it will probably be J.T. We haven't really heard anyone say that yet (until later in the episode) but that is the idea behind the "Timbira alliance." There's also the "New Jalapao" alliance and if that went through the first 3 people booted would be Erinn, Carolina, and Spencer, in whatever order. But Coach tries to make the Jalapaos seem vulnerable so that he can get their votes against Carolina. He doesn't realize that Spencer has something with Carolina (note that Spencer lies and tells Coach he'll vote for her), and that's the problem with this merge is that there's so many little connections and relationships and alliances that it's hard to get a unified vote on anything. It's amazing that it was almost unanimous against Coach.

I also liked the part at the end of this scene with Spencer and Sandy, and Sandy is another character who I try to include as much as possible because I think she'd interesting.

9) Immunity Challenge: This challenge had to be kept really short and simple due to everything else being so complex. For a challenge like this, there isn't much more I can give than an order that people fall down in. J.T. won, which was not too surprising given he is a strong competitor and later in the episode you'll see why he had to win also.

10) The Game Is On: It's going to be really difficult to get into all the details of this scene. It is probably the most complex strategy scene of the season - there might be another one or two that come close, and because it was already so complex, people like Jerry and Taj had to be mostly left out of it. There's no way I could have given all 10 player's thoughts. It would have been too confusing.

It begins with J.T., which is a good place to start since he just won Immunity. J.T. doesn't really know much of voting for Coach right now - making a little bit from Carolina, but he thinks that the three Jalapaos and Coach are voting Carolina. Because of Spencer, that's pretty much not going to happen. But Coach is unaware of this…

The catalyst of everything is Coach going to Tyson and saying that he's got 4 votes against Carolina. 1) It again makes it seem like Coach can't be controlled, which was an issue that Tyson brought up in Episode 4 (foreshadowing), and 2) It makes it look suspiciously like Coach is trying to set up a whole new alliance for himself. So this scene is what seals Coach's fate, and theoretically, getting rid of Coach shouldn't hurt Tyson at all. He's still up 6-3 in original tribe numbers and 5-4 in switched tribe numbers. But divisions are not all that clear anymore. This move could be HUGELY costly.

Putting potential risks aside and just looking at the move right now, Tyson does something pretty brilliant by going to Erinn/Carolina and making it look like he's totally just giving in to their demands and letting Coach be the one to go. That will earn him something back from them, and the other thing he does is be brutally honest and say he doesn't like them but he turns it around and says that he'll take them to the end because everyone will hate them on the jury. When you put it that way, they might actually buy it. If he had offered an alliance out of goodwill, it would have been a lot more obviously fake. But we'll see which alliance Tyson actually sticks with here.

There's some more bragging from Tyson. I like the line "These people should worship me." At least one person practically does (Candace) and the rest sure are being good followers. We actually get to hear from Taj here too where she says she's just going along with the group right now and will make a move to change the game when she gets the chance. That was kindof my attempt to explain her lack of visibility.

One thing I should point out is that everyone is talking about the vote even though I have to focus on key people. So when it says Carolina tells someone or Tyson tells someone, it's likely that they already know because sets of alliances would have had group discussions. It's not like there's only 3 or 4 people discussing who to vote off and then they just tell everyone else. Certain people have more power but everyone is involved to a degree.

Tyson then tells J.T. that Coach is going. Even if J.T. wanted to go against this, there's not much he could do because there wouldn't be enough support for anything else. The Jalapaos couldn't even have gotten together because Spencer would have wanted to keep Carolina, etc.

Coach's quote "They're all Just Lemmings" is kindof significant. Are they really lemmings for Carolina? Or is there someone else calling the shots? Who has more power: Tyson/Candace or Carolina/Erinn? Or someone else like Spencer? Or is it Jerry and Taj who are kindof in the middle and can influence a decision with their 2 votes? This will be a big question coming up.

This was another significantly pivotal moment: J.T. actually tells Coach that there's a chance he's going - a very high chance - and it was almost an obligation that J.T. felt due to Coach trying to help him in the game. This is where Coach comes up with a pretty intriguing idea. He says that J.T. could give him Immunity, and although it would be a risk, it's true that either Carolina or Spencer would have gone home. The danger would have been everyone saying that J.T. was too big a challenge threat and voting him out. But I had to come up with something so that Coach's boot wasn't incredibly obvious and I thought that this, along with Sandy's mystery vote, would cause some doubt and make things a little suspenseful.

11) Tribal Council: I would say this is probably the best Tribal Council so far, although I wish I could have asked a few more people questions since only 5/10 got to speak. The most important thing had to be the Coach/Carolina conflict and since there was only one Tribal Council of it, I didn't think it was too horrible to give them both a lot of focus here. It starts right at the beginning with Coach saying he wouldn't have wanted C or E at the feast and gets even more heated from there.

Again, Spencer gets a lot of narrative type questions. I find he's good at this and can keep things moving along. One thing to point out though: the Timbira people did know about Coach's conversation with the Jalapaos so when Spencer brings this up as a reason why Coach is on the chopping block, it's not news to anyone. I just didn't have the space in the episode to show absolutely EVERYTHING.

I'm not going to go into detail about every part of Coach vs. Carolina. Hopefully you guys will enjoy the fight, but I think Coach's rants speak for themselves. You just know the words honesty and integrity are going to come in there and Coach was definitely being the martyr a little bit (much like the real show, but in a different way) by saying it's better for him to go out with his values than to follow Carolina and lie and deceive. I like how Carolina smartly didn't respond to everything and just let Coach go on his tirades. He didn't make a bad case for himself - it was just too late. The damage was already done.

So J.T. decides to keep Immunity just to be on the safe side, and Coach is voted out 8-1-1. Sandy randomly votes for Jerry. I don't know how she decided but there is no significance behind picking Jerry - she must have drawn sticks or something to decide. Had she voted Carolina, things might have been a little messier. It's clear now that someone was trying to stir things up but they don't know who.

A side note:

If Coach was given Immunity, I actually think Spencer would have gone and not Carolina, but it's really tricky to decide. Coach probably would have exploded. I have no idea who C/E would have voted for - maybe J.T., actually. They wouldn't have voted Spencer and I'm not sure if they'd vote Tyson, since they might have some alliance with him. Coach would definitely vote Carolina but I think the Tyson group might have switched back to Spencer. Not sure. I actually think Carolina would be the smarter vote though. Spencer on his own, not a huge problem. Split up C/E, then take out Spencer. We'll see.

12) Why Coach?: I'm guessing that a lot of you are going to be ECSTATIC that Coach left and Carolina stayed, and you are supposed to be. I didn't care for either of them in the real show but I have no problem referring to them as goddesses here. They are actually (surprisingly) among some of my favorite characters in my fanfics and make such a good pair.

Coach vs. Carolina was the big story, and it's the reason why he was a big presence in the first 3 episodes and then went more low-key after the swap. Without Carolina there, he wasn't as important. Same with Carolina. But the other major part of Coach's story was with J.T. and his strategy of keeping the strong. We saw it a little bit at Jalapao and it was part of Coach's undoing. It was also important to show this so it made sense why Coach asked J.T. for Immunity.

All in all, I enjoyed writing for Coach. I think he kindof got screwed here in the way I portrayed him too but he was a character to work with. I think he's one of those people who would have gotten extremely repetitive the longer he stayed around, though, and it was better to get one great episode out of the Coach/Carolina conflict than to drag it on forever. That's the same reason Dave was booted in Micronesia.

So you can all be happy that Coach is gone and the beloved characters stayed.

13) Episode 8: I believe Episode 8 will be another really good episode, but not as good as this one. Again, there is a lot going on strategically but I know most of you enjoy that intense strategy. Mystery votes are always fun. I try not to overdo it but sometimes they can pay off. Sometimes they backfire. Sandy's might. There's also one player in particular who tries to organize an alliance and essentially stage a coup against the people in control. But who are those people? And then two castaways start letting power get to their heads and alienating some people, which isn't good for them. Hopefully you will enjoy it. I really have no idea when this episode will go up though - I'll keep you informed.

Prediction: Episode 7 will be the highest rated of the season so far.