$eason 17 Episode 02: “The World Isn’t F@cking Wall Street”
Previously on $urvivor…
24 people were flown to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the adventure of a lifetime. For 21 contestants, it was their first chance to play for the right to be called $ole Survivor…and for three former champions, it was the chance to defend their title.
The contestants were met with a twist called the Circle of Corruption, which forced them to balance greed and opportunity - and gave them the chance to meet two other contestants before the group was split into tribes.
Three tribes were soon formed: Bayola wearing green, Condado wearing purple, and Miramar wearing green, each led by a former champion. Reaction to the returnees was mixed.
COOL:
WHAT THE FUCK RETURNING WINNERS?
ANNA:
Omg it's always scary to play with returnees but i hope to become friends with them rather than target them.
Bayola won the first reward challenge with their poetry skills, giving Jonah and his tribe a leg up in the game… and a target, when Miramar tried to work with Condado to team up in the first impunity challenge. But the plan backfired for Condado, sending them to the very first Tribal Council of the season. And it was no ordinary Tribal Council.
ANNA:
…for the first time ever in the history of $urvivor, the host will not read out the votes one by one but to directly announce who is eliminated after receiving the most number of votes against them at tribal council!
Depature found himself on the outs of his tribe, but when Awesome mentioned another Fifi in conversation, Depature was spooked, and tried to push for Fones instead. He realized he may have overplayed his hand...
DEPATURE:
I feel as though in my attempt to protect Fifi I may have inadvertently made myself a target.
…and at Tribal Council his fate was sealed, becoming the first person voted off.
23 are left. Who will be voted out next?
Bayola | Condado | Miramar |
Jonah | Cascade | Mario |
Cool | Anna | Alec |
Heidi | Awesome | Aniya |
Luka | Depature | Ari |
Nivy | Fifi | Cow |
Sachi | Fones | Foxy |
Spencer | Sid | Iz |
Yousef | Yale | Wade |
NIGHT 4 - CONDADO CAMP
Condado returned to camp after their first Tribal Council, without Depature.
SID:
If Depature wasn't the vote, it would be Fifi and I can't let Fifi go.
If I even try to save Depature, I would be ruining my social game.
And already, minds were on who didn’t vote Depature, rather than who did.
YALE:
I don’t know the vote count (obviously), but I would not be surprised if there were some greedy bastards that went for some cash in the minority handout. Personally, I didn’t want to risk it so I spent my time hopefully working Departure over to get some cash from them.
I feel bad because Departure was awesome and super nice. I really enjoyed talking to him. However, it’s part of the game. Every single vote out is going to be tough! They’re all going to tug at the heart strings, make me think, and get the nerves going. It’s $urvivor!
DAY 5 - THE $TORM
All 23 remaining castaways wake up to a dark sky, lightning on the horizon. Production begins shouting from behind the cameras, and the castaways are rushed into isolation. Everyone is separated, unable to talk to any of their tribemates.
Once separated, the castaways realized it wasn’t just a storm on $an Juan, it was a twist. Everyone was asked the same question: “…you are being offered an opportunity to rebel against the captain of your tribe and oust them from the game. Will you take this opportunity to get them out?”
Immediately, the castaways had to make a snap decision: stick with the experienced captains who were leading their tribe, or oust them to a yet-to-be-determined fate? Some castaways were quick to defend their captains.
LUKA:
I am choosing no because, while I have not been super close to my captain, they lived up to their word in the first challenge and I believe they did what they were supposed to do. While I think this is an interesting opportunity and I have not been getting on amazing with them, it does not feel right to do this to them.
But four people - Cool, Spencer, and Yousef on Bayola, and Fones on Condado - decided to go against their leaders.
COOL:
Yes, I have not connected that much with Jonah and whatever is happening here, I'm more than fine from having him ousted from the game. I'm not sure what kind of twist we're looking at here, but I feel like it might be better for me individually if I vote to get rid of him, whatever this is.
YOUSEF:
I want him gone. I don't think he's working with me.
Leading $pecies to reveal the real $torm.
$PECIES:
…you know what, I don't believe in defending champions.
Castaways, unbeknownst to you, Mario, Jonah and Cascade were invited to join the game as your mentor and lead your tribe as a non-participating captain for the first episode of the $eason. (For the record, they had to bid exactly how they told all their tribemates they would bid in the first challenge. And at the first tribal, Cascade was given no choice but to cast a blank vote.)
And then this $torm came to see how you guys would choose to whether keep them as a useful mentor for $urvival in challenges or $hields as easy target or to oust them. The plan was, as long as 1 person wanted to rebel, they'll be overthrown and sent to the Cave of Corruption.
And just like that, Cascade, Jonah, and Mario boarded a boat for the Cave of Corruption - leaving 20 players remaining in the game.
FONES:
Kinda sad kinda happy that Cascade is gone. It kind of enforces my "throw my name out there and I'll be getting you thrown tf out bye bitch" but also the soft spot in me knows that he was busy and he didn't deserve it. The only good thing about it is that even if I voted no, he would've been gone anyways.
On Bayola, Nivy got the first Legacy of Love of the season - and had to come to terms with her first ally getting knocked out of the game early…
NIVY:
I'm shocked to see departure getting voted out.. I knew he was overplaying a bit, but he was my first ally in this game. I was hoping to work with him in the future , when there was a swap or merge.. & now he has gone too soon..
However, surprisingly departure has left me a legacy of $2,000 This was totally unexpected.
…and Spencer’s tribemates were left confused when the less-than-social player threw together an alliance of him, Cool, Heidi, and Luka.
HEIDI:
Spencer Spencer where have you been?
You made our entire tribe spin
Now I have something to say
And you won’t even have to pay
Don’t add people to an alliance
Without their compliance
It makes them very confused
And might lead to you on that prejury cruise
Over on Condado, Fifi was struggling to understand where the tribe dynamics fell in the wake of Depature and Cascade being gone.
FIFI:
One thing that I still can’t get a read on is the tribe dynamics
Me and Sid are a duo
I feel like Fones and Awesome are a duo
Anna said she loves Fones to me and Sid both
Where does Yale sit with all this???
Who is he the closest to??
I would say I am relatively close to him but wouldn’t be surprised if he has another duoship
If Sifi (that’s Sid and Fifi) has the power, I would say Awesome would be in trouble
DAY 6- IMPUNITY CHALLENGE
The next day, the castaways were met with their second Impunity Challenge, this one called Pirates’ Dilemma. The tribes were split up into six groups of three, each with one member of each tribe per group - formed by the captains whom had just been ousted by some of the castaways.
$PECIES:
2 days ago, I asked your ex-captain to list down their respective tribe members from 1 to 7 in any order that they like. They were informed that it would be used to match with the list from the other 2 champions to form 6 different groups without sharing with them how exactly this challenge would work. Spencer from Bayola and Alec from Miramar would have been matched with Depature had he survived Condado's first tribal. But because of his departure, Spencer and Alec will be sitting out of this challenge and get sent to the Cave of Corruption instead where they will get to meet the 3 overthrown captains. For this challenge, we have 6 groups of 3 consisting of 1 member from each tribe. In each group, there are 3 wooden treasure chests of different sizes (small, medium, large) to be claimed. The small chest contains 1 gold coin, the medium one has 2 gold coins in it and the large chest contains 3 gold coins. Each participant in the group of 3 has a simple decision to make: choose which treasure chest they want to claim for their tribe. If they are the only one in the group who claims a particular chest, they will get to win the gold coin(s) in it to add to their tribe's total.
However, if you and at least one other player in your group claim for the same chest, you will win nothing for your tribe and will be fined $1,700 that will be deducted from your own wallet! To avoid that from happening, you may want to use the challenge channel set up for your group to discuss and negotiate with your opponents during the challenge.
To make things more interesting, transfer of money among the 3 players in a group is allowed to be performed in their group chat for the challenge and other players not in their group will NOT be informed. This means that you are free to strike up any financial or non-financial deals with the other two players in this group. The 2 tribes with the most and second most amount of gold coins will win impunity while the tribe with least coins will attend tribal council.
As Spencer and Alec headed off the Cave of Corruption, the negotiating began in the six groups:
Group 1: Cool (B), Sid (C), Aniya (M)
Group 2: Heidi (B), Yale (C), Foxy (M)
Group 3: Luka (B), Fifi (C), Iz (M)
Group 4: Nivy (B), Awesome (C), Wade (M)
Group 5: Sachi (B), Anna (C), Ari (M)
Group 6: Yousef (B), Fones (C), Cow (M)
Tensions boiled over quickly in Group 3, when Iz couldn’t make up her mind on a deal, leading Fifi to have an outburst in front of everyone.
FIFI (public):
You know what guys
I’m just gonna for number 3
The big box
And luka is gonna go for number 2
If I get fined then so be it
So irritating to deal with iz
IZ (private):
FiFi is such a pain
And as the negotiations continued, members of the Miramar tribe started to rub Condado the wrong way.
FIFI:
I hate the blue tribe
They are very annoying
Even Ari who was in the COC with me
He wanted to spread rumours on first day
And I was like
And Aniya is like the most chaotical
AWESOME:
The miramar tribe is so damn shady
I told Wade one thing and he went and told everyone on his tribe that and ran with it
And that was a relatively minor thing too!
Like, imagine if I said I got the advantage
They would’ve wanted my head on a platter
Aniya and Wade are the 2 shadiest people in this game and I want them gone as soon as possible
They keep being like “well I want money” and then be like “I want the 3”
While members of Miramar saw it as an opportunity to get people to pay up.
WADE:
Honestly my strategy in this challenge is going to be one of two things, make some damn money...OR strongarm my way to the large chest. I'm letting my group talk for a bit, and then I'm going to set a price. If they're not willing to pay that price, then I'm announcing to them that I'm doing the big box. If they want to double up on it with me and sabotage us both, that's on them. So I'm prepared to lose UP TO $1700 on this challenge, but that would mean someone else would have to be willing to bite that bullet to sabotage us. I don't THINK that will happen. Will this make me a target at all? Possibly, we'll see. But there is no way they're coming away with the big boxes for free.
After all the negotiating, the results were clear: Condado won impunity with 14 coins, Bayola placed second with 12, and Miramar finished last with 7 - earning them a trip to Tribal Council.
DAY 6 - CAVE OF CORRUPTION
Spencer and Alec arrive at another beach in Puerto Rico with an unfamiliar skyline. As they approach the coast, they see Cascade, Jonah, and Mario emerge from their shelter.
The former champions presented Alec and Spencer with a large chest and a small chest.
JONAH:
Today's lesson is on Negotiation Skills
I'm gonna go ahead and tell you what's in these chests
The large contains an idol token. Could be very useful to you in you quest to obtain power in this game
The small one?
Welllll, it contains nothing. You guys must decide which chest you want.
But if you both choose the large one, neither of you will get the token and will both be fined $1700
If you both choose the small chest, neither of you will get anything but there won't be a fine
Alec and Spencer bonded over their common love of dogs (really, they posted an absurd amount of dog photos) - and Spencer was honest that he’d already taken a financial hit and was feeling vulnerable, asking Alec for the larger chest. Alec said he’d oblige - for a price. He asked Spencer for $1,700, which Spencer agreed to.
SPENCER:
I’m actually really glad that Alec was so open to letting me take the idol piece. I need to do some foundation work with the members of my tribe (a tribe swap would actually be ideal for me here), and try to make them feel more comfortable about keeping me around. If I still feel they’re on edge with me, I will probably try and get the other pieces I need for an idol. As for the story, me and Alec came up with a great story. We’re going to tell our tribes that there was $3400 dollars that we could take but only if one person didn’t, and then we’ll say that we both tried to take it, and ended up losing $1700 instead. They’ll think I lost $1700 (which I did, really) and that me and Alec don’t get along, so that later down the road, say we’re on the same tribe, we can work together without suspicion!
ALEC:
When they announced the deal my first thoughts were "I want that token but Spencer beat me to the punch on begging for it. The thing was, Spencer had a good argument. Since he took a strike on the first challenge he probably is in hot water with his tribe and needs something that can keep him safe. Cash won't do that, and idol token might. He needed it more than me and was likely going to fight tooth and nail for it. Rather than fighting an uphill battle that I think he would've dug in his heels on, I did my best to get something positive out of the situation by getting a little cash and possibly an ally. If Spencer gets out of his situation, he owes me and he knows it.
DAY 7 - MIRAMAR CAMP
Going into Tribal Council, the seven members of Miramar were already involved in four alliances: Aniya/Ari/Iz, Alec/Cow/Foxy/Iz, Alec/Cow/Iz, Alec/Cow/Iz/Wade
Alec realized that Iz is in the best position heading into Tribal Council…
ALEC:
I think Iz’s alliance with Ari, Foxy, and Aniya is lower on her priorities than her alliances with me. If I thought otherwise, then yeah I’d have a problem on my hands. But furthermore, I think there is such a thing as “playing too well” and I think Iz is falling into that trap. Her social game is too good that everyone wants an alliance with her and she can’t really say no. Inevitably either a) people will compare notes and she’ll become a target or b) she’ll start having to betray people and her game will be blown up. Right now Iz is in the most powerful position in the tribe, but the way she is playing is unsustainable. I think she’s probably going to get pretty far but have her game implode mid-merge.
…and Iz knew she was in the driver’s seat.
IZ:
I genuinely think I have the capital here to control this vote.
So I know I said I wanted Aniya gone earlier, but now that I give it a second thought, Aniya would be an easier target later-down-the-line, given she does not get along with Foxy. I would let those two blow their games first and ensure my safety. Less people already get along with Aniya atm, but taking out a more strategical player not working with us is better than taking out someone who is good at making enemies. If we take Ari out, that means we can have a better shot of safety if we go to TC again because Aniya might just blow her game again.
Alec was concerned that his time at the Cave of Corruption made him an easy target heading into Miramar’s first Tribal Council, so he started rallying support with his allies.
ALEC:
So my name is on the block already. It's not exactly surprising given I had to spend 24 hours away, but it isn't exactly ideal either. As I suspected, Ari and Aniya were the ones to bring my name up. Cow and Wade I'm very confident are voting with me. Which leaves Foxy and Iz as the deciders because of their "alliance" with Ari and Aniya. So what needs to happen is that I have to convince Foxy and Iz to stay on board with me and Cow and vote for one of Aniya/Ari. I'm like 80% sure things will be ok, but there's still a part of me that is worried.
And Aniya’s concerns were also running high, pushing her to form a last-minute alliance with Iz, Foxy, and Ari, in hopes of securing the majority. But her push to stay was coming off as too pushy to some.
FOXY:
So Aniya made an alliance with me-iz-herself and ari in it and just started throwing out names left right and centre, finally settling on wade to delete from the game. which i just don't get? then we have our other alliance the #financial-executives that want to delete aniya because she had at it at me, i told wade the plan because gotta keep this social connections strong, plus start building that trust you feel? im personally going for Aniya, you don't just try and pin something on me and expect to get away with it, fingers crossed
NIGHT 7 - TRIBAL COUNCIL
The seven members of Miramar enter Tribal Council, each dipping their torches into the fire in the middle.
With the stage set for a split vote, Aniya voiced her frustrations about the impunity challenge in public.
ANIYA:
Every possible fucking sabotage we could have done it wouldn’t have worked unless I can’t do math
the fact that green was already planning on sabotaging
Of course it was stupid to believe Fones the person who believes a fake player would start a fight because they didn’t like the fact that purple was following our plan. I’m not stupid okay maybe I am I could be spewing bs but the captains couldn’t vote NOR should have been in fights with players the first challenge IF YOURE FUCKING SUPPOSE TO BE AFK.
It was bs from purple
Of course I don’t understand green’s logic this challenge
You have an semi inactive player but you decide you let a chance happen because you believe they could come back with something. It doesn’t make sense, it would have made the most sense to take the small chests to 1. Gain the most money and 2. Lose a person who could be bad for your game
I will continue to fucking rant because this challenge is UGH
There was so many fucking ways this challenge could have gone
ALEC (private):
Which one of you gave Aniya a shovel? Because damn is she digging a hole for herself at tribal!
After the dust settled, it was time to vote.
Cow votes.
Alec votes.
ALEC (voting Aniya):
You're quite the firecracker and I appreciate your spirit. I don't blame you for throwing out my name, but actions have consequences.
Foxy votes.
Wade votes.
Aniya votes.
Aniya (voting Wade):
My reason for voting you is because it's a safer vote for the tribe as a whole. I'm so sorry Wade.
Iz votes.
Ari votes.
$pecies retrieves the urn and reads the votes.
To a surprised Ari and Aniya, the other five members of Miramar banded together to vote Aniya out of the game.
ANIYA:
Y'all must have hated me oof...Lol jokes
$PECIES:
Well, it wasn't an unanimous vote. Was one of you out of the loop on this vote or did they vote with Aniya intentionally for minority handout and her legacy of love? Guess Aniya will have to wait for awhile before she finds out. Either way, let's hope this vote will bring more unity to your tribe and we won't see you back again in the near future. Grab your torches and head back to camp. Good night!
FINAL WORDS
ANIYA:
Well I knew it, it was obvious sorry I couldn’t show more because I’m a dumbass but I had fun.
VOTING CONFESSIONALS
Ari: There’s nothing personal in this vote. I really wish there was an easier first vote somewhere on our tribe. You might have been a threat later on, and sometimes that’s all it takes.
Aniya: My reason for voting you is because it’s a safer vote for the tribe as a whole. I’m so sorry Wade.
Alec: You're quite the firecracker and I appreciate your spirit. I don't blame you for throwing out my name, but actions have consequences.
Foxy: You may have helped on the challenge but you tried to pin the loss on me then acted like it didn't happen, you are WAY to OTT for me and you just throw names out, you aren't to be trusted, bye <3
Iz: video -> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/778089521522802707/787446742983376956/video0.mov
Cow: Aniya, I don’t know what else to say, you came after my allies and attacked them at the challenge, I have no choice but to vote you here.
Wade: Aniya, I think you're incredibly sweet, but the way you were aggressive with some people rubbed me the wrong way. On top of that, I know you were throwing my name out. Best of luck.
Next time on $urvivor…