$eason 17 Episode 03: “Sometimes The Benefit of the Doubt Just Shouldn't Exist”
Previously on $urvivor…
A $torm was brewing on San Juan… and so was a twist.
$PECIES:
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.
And with the Cave of Corruption was open for business, Alec and Spencer were the first customers.
JONAH:
You guys must decide which chest you want.
Tensions ran high at the impunity challenge, as Miramar’s tactics rubbed the other castaways the wrong way.
FIFI:
Guys, I hate the blue tribe. They are very annoying.
WADE:
There is no way they're coming away with the big boxes for free.
Miramar lost the challenge - and it was Wade and Aniya on the chopping block, with several alliances caught in between. After Aniya’s outburst at Tribal Council…
ANIYA:
I will continue to fucking rant because this challenge is UGH. There was so many fucking ways this challenge could have gone.
Miramar sent Aniya packing.
19 are left. Who will be voted out next?
Bayola | Condado | Miramar |
Cool | Anna | Alec |
Heidi | Awesome | Ari |
Luka | Fifi | Cow |
Nivy | Fones | Foxy |
Sachi | Sid | Iz |
Spencer | Yale | Wade |
Yousef |
NIGHT 7 - MIRAMAR CAMP
As the Miramar tribe unpacked after Tribal Council, Ari processed being on the wrong side of the vote, and seeing his biggest ally go home.
ARI:
So, yeah, the vote caught me off guard. I did think it was a little off when nobody was checking in with me much at all today. But I'm surprised that not a single person told me where this was going. Which means my name is definitely out there.
I'd really like to have one person that I feel like I can trust now, but I don't think there is right now. Iz was definitely the person I felt closest to, and, well, see above (and come on, she was the one that totally blew that negotiation.) And she was the only person that's messaged me since the vote. I haven't reached out to anyone yet, I'll probably just wait to see what happens.
DAY 8 - IMPUNITY CHALLENGE
With the third impunity challenge approaching, the code to the Idol Tokens was on everyone’s minds.
YALE:
I now have three of the letters just from people telling me their clues. So I’m ahead of literally everyone else just from people telling me about their clues. THIS IS WHY YOU FOCUS ON THE SOCIAL GAME PEOPLE!! My social connections are essentially giving me free idol clues because these people trust me. Now if people keep giving me information, I might be able to Russell Hantz or Tony Vlachos my way to this idol by finding it without purchasing clues of my own.
HEIDI:
Luka wants to get idol clues NOW and I'm like "Yes please!'' However if I don't do this carefully we can double up clues on accident. It's really important that I sort of influence the choice. I'm going to try Yousef's approach, I'm getting xyz "You can get qrs so we are twinsies" or whatever. Genius really.
Lowkey hoping I don't annoy Luka by telling him to wait on choosing an Idol clue... I don't think he'll be super annoyed but you never know. I just am really trying to get extra clues...I don't know how many other people have but I really want this idol in my possession if possible. I mean the flaw in my idol hunt is I'm using other people's clues which, they could be lying
And on Bayola, a strong bond was formed between Sachi and Yousef, after Yousef pitched the idea of a final two alliance.
SACHI:
We instantly vibed and connected because we're both homosexual and we're POC but that's not really the main reason. It's mainly due to the fact that we really just... connected just like that. Like I very much like his vibes and he really likes my vibes. I think it's great that I established that connection on episode 1 because now I know who I really 100% trust in this tribe.
We really made an F2 pact this early in the game. I don't mind. I mean it would be in my best interest to accept his pact rather than outright deny it. Though knowing me, I'm a stable and loyal ally not unless you cross me down the road then that trust will forever be gone and it would take an insane amount of trust building again to return it to where it was.
At the Impunity Challenge, the castaways were met with a surprise: $equester! After each castaway was separated, they had to make a choice about how much they were willing to give up in order to make sure their tribe was safe from Tribal Council. And if that wasn’t already stressful enough, $pecies revealed another twist was in the works.
$PECIES:
The tribe with the second highest average points will also win impunity. However, they will NOT be informed that they have actually won impunity and what their average points are until after they have cast their votes against one of their own. It's termed as a mock tribal as their votes won't end up being read at all for having won impunity and no one will be voted out.
Some castaways were generous with their $acrifices, in hopes of avoiding a trip to Tribal Council…
AWESOME:
So I just did the immunity challenge and I took 11/12 penalties because I wanted to win this challenge
The more I can stay out of Tribal Council, the better. But unfortunately, that means my iconic red default pfp will be temporarily replaced
...especially the ones feeling like they were in danger.
ARI:
I went all the way to the end until I didn't have an idol token. Really hope we get this immunity (and then maybe a swap at 18). And, honestly, didn't give any of them much thought. I have now a 90% chance of a single vote at the merge tribal, but... nobody needs to know about that! And nobody's going to plan a tied vote anyway, and I'm probably not the only one with an extra vote there. So I'm not gonna worry too much about it. Cost me $1700 now, another $1700 at F16, and $2000 at F13. $5400 total is more than I would've liked, but I really need to not go to tribal here. And I gave up a shot at immunity at F6, but if I get there maybe it'll be nice to be able to just save some cash at that point. So, it comes down to whether the rest of the tribe decides none of that is worthwhile and they can easily get rid of me.
But on Bayola, Spencer’s weak social game had some of his tribemates thinking they could avoid taking $acrifices in exchange for sacrificing his game.
NIVY:
I would have sacrificed more things/ sacrifices for my tribe if Spencer was not here in the tribe. I don't want to lose my money for an inactive. I talked to almost everyone from my tribe & they all told me that Spencer was not even trying to talk, he literally ignored & ghosted us all. I'm really aggrieved to see other tribes losing their active members, while this inactive thing is still here..
COOL:
I'm not gonna keep wasting my own money that I will need down the line to keep someone who I can't work with because they don't talk to me. I'm not sure if Spencer still thinks we're cool and I can't find out because HE DOESN'T ANSWER MY MESSAGES. It just kinda pisses me off I guess. We're all working hard to like do things for the tribe and he doesn't care. He's solidly at the bottom of my trust rankings at this point because I kinda hoped after the first challenge blunder he might come back. Wrong! Sometimes the benefit of the doubt just shouldn't exist. If it's a mock Tribal, whatever. Spencer is gonna be this tribe's easy target and we all know it.
Condado emerged victorious with the highest average amount of $acrifices taken. In addition to winning safety from Tribal Council - the tribe also earned the power to send one person to the Cave of Corruption. Awesome’s hand shot up right away - raising suspicions with his tribemates.
AWESOME:
So we were told one of us has to go to CoC
And by my calculations
I contributed to 28% of the total points we won
So I'd like to think I earned the right to get it
FIFI:
Awesome immediately (like IMMEDIATELY) jumped and volunteered to go to CoC
Like not even a minute after $pecies mentioned it
Even tagging me because I wasn’t there for like a few mins
Super hasty!
And i think people all kinda felt that
DAY 9 - CAVE OF CORRUPTION
Awesome’s boat approaches an unfamiliar skyline to him. As the boat nears the beach, he sees Mario emerge from the shelter just off the sand.
While Awesome picked the Champions’ brains about the game - Mario presented him with a task. If Awesome accepted it, an idol token would be his. If not, he would be fined $1700.
MARIO:
the task is
when you go back to camp
you must post
“grabs token from orbit of the $kull"
you can spread these words across as many messages as you like
so for example you could talk about how your brother grabs food off your plate
and then talk about how the arcade near you stopped using tokens
Awesome accepted the challenge and headed back to Condado camp, where he almost immediately dropped those words into conversation, earning him an idol token - and suspicion from Sid.
SID:
I ASKED HIM HOW WAS COC
He gave a generic answer
Something's weird
He's not telling what happened there
Please swap me away
Awesome could tell all eyes were on him after his return from the Cave of Corruption, so he “came clean” in his alliance chat, earning him some trust back.
AWESOME:
When I got back to camp I told Anna what happened because she/I have been working together so far. Then she told me sid was asking her a lot of questions being very shady of me (which isn't completely unwarranted but still). So I told Sid that because I said "grabs" twice. I failed and got 1700 deducted. Sid's been kind of distant towards me lately and Fones/I have caught him in another lie about the idol clues, so I don't feel too bad about that.
SID:
I think I might be wrong and I actually trust Awesome now.
The way he came to me in #fyas and come clean made me even trust him more.
I feel Awesome is a good ally for me to continue in the game since he has both power and influence.
Tensions on the other two tribes were running much higher with Tribal Council approaching, and no one was sure if the votes they were about to cast would be real or fake. On Bayola, the target continued to hover on Spencer, as the duo of Sachi and Yousef became a trio.
NIVY:
Sachi approached me with an idea to form a trio alliance with Yousef, me and her. Who would say no for an alliance? So ya, we 3 are a gang now.. I like Yousef, but I wasn't so sure if they would trust me.. because we never had a deep or long conversation like I do with others.. Now I know they both trust me.. and I trust them too. We 3 even exchanged idol clues with each other.
And on Miramar, Ari remained on the outs, as the majority alliance of Alec, Cow, Iz, and Wade planned to vote him off, and make some money in the process...
WADE:
easy vote is Ari though. But since it's maybe a fake vote I have to play nice with the little rat
I should have just not sacrificed any money tbh because him in the game is just straight worse for me
no way he's working with me in a swap, so like...i should have tanked to ensure we can get him out
but i didn't, because I'm a team player...stupidly
So it should be a 4-1 vote this time around for Ari
"Wait Wade...aka Wanda Sykes...4-1 you say? There are 6 on your tribe!"
Yeah, so Alec is gunna abstain to get a minority handout and then the #drivers-ed alliance is gunna split that $1000
...and Iz made another $acrifice in hopes of getting Ari to feel safe heading into Tribal Council.
COW:
We don’t know if this tribal is real so we need to make Ari feel like he has numbers and a group in case it isn’t
And as long as he’s comfortable with us, it’s better for the tribe if a swap occurs
And more importantly it’s better for me
Because now EVERYONE on my tribe has connections with me, and will fight to keep me in a swap scenario
IZ:
Ari wants to get everyone to blindside me Because he thinks I am masterminding the tribe right now and controlling the tribe and wants to take me out as a threat, but honestly, it was on him for just, not having good social connections and being a bit more inactive than everyone else during the marooning phase.
I mean this is fucking scary
but just got to trust them because blowing my game will just make it worse for me
NIGHT 9 - TRIBAL COUNCIL
But when Miramar headed to Tribal Council, they were in for a pleasant surprise.
$PECIES:
3rd person voted out of $urvivor: $an Juan......
No one from this tribal.
Bayola enters the Tribal Council area looking concerned. The cameras focus on Spencer, who looks calm as everyone takes their seats.
$PECIES:
Do you think that alliances have been formed now that you’ve all been together for more than a week?
COOL:
I mean at this point you have to assume there is some sort of alliances going on, whether they're official or not. In a game full of active people like this one, I do think that it's dumb to assume that there aren't any alliances or deals going on. I suspect everyone here is involved in something, but having to vote is going to test these allegiances for the first time. It's been really fun getting to know these people, but the honeymoon phase is over now.
$PECIES:
Spencer, a lot of you seem to agree that alliances are present in the game. Do you think that tonight’s vote off is going to benefit the whole tribe or a particular alliance?
SPENCER:
I don't think tonight's vote is going to benefit anyone's game on this tribe. We're going to be losing a member, and I just hate to see someone in Green be going home so early.
$pecies announces it’s time to vote.
Cool votes.
COOL (voting Spencer):
I really did like you when you were around... that just didn't happen very much. If we're gonna work together, I need someone who can offer me something in return. Simply put, alliances aren't a one-way street.
Heidi votes.
Luka votes.
Sachi votes.
Spencer votes.
SPENCER (voting Nivy):
I don’t necessarily dislike or distrust you the most, but you and I talk minimally, and I would rather keep the people I know better over the people I like better.
Yousef votes.
Nivy votes.
$pecies reads the votes: one blank vote, one vote for Nivy, and the rest for Spencer.
$PECIES:
Spencer, that's 4 and that's enough for tonight.
I'll need you to bring me your torch.
SPENCER:
Well guys what can I say, I had fun playing, but I guess green wasn’t my lucky color.
$PECIES:
Spencer, the tribe has $poken. It's time for you to go.
FINAL WORDS
SPENCER:
Welp, thanks to everyone who helped set up or organize the season in any way, I always like to show appreciation to the staff! I unfortunately hit a lot of different points of being busy as soon as the season started, and didn't really start playing until today. Nonetheless, I don't disagree with my tribe voting me out, and in the end, a game is a game and not everybody can win. I hope that either Sachi, Yale, Foxy or Alec win in that order, best of luck to them.
VOTING CONFESSIONALS
Spencer: Nivy, I am writing your name down tonight, because out of everyone in the tribe, I don’t necessarily dislike or distrust you the most, but you and I talk minimally, and I would rather keep the people I know better over the people I like better, and on top of that, nobody really wanted to take a swing at anyone other than you. I am praying that tonight is a mock tribal council, and that you’ll still be here tomorrow, but if not, it has been fun being in the same tribe as you. Best wishes :heart:
Yousef: I’m casting a blank vote/abstaining
Sachi: $pencer I'm voting you because you are the least active in this tribe. Also, I need to preserve my trio of me, Nivy, and Yousef. So $pencer, 0% chance of winning the game teehee.
Cool: Spencer, dude, I really did like you when you were around... that just didn't happen very much. If we're gonna work together, I need someone who can offer me something in return. Simply put, alliances aren't a one-way street.
Heidi: Low activity and contribution with no real effort to change that or stick around. To the :ghost: of Baylor!
Luka: Inactive. Doesn't reply. You just need to go to maintain the integrity of the game.
Nivy: I actually wanted to try the minority vote, but am expecting that many others who are greedy might try it as they would be expecting a majority vote on Spencer.
F19 Mock TC (Miramar)
Ari: I would've stuck with you, but you came after me first.
Alec: So since Iz is paranoid despite a 5-1 majority, it looks like I'm voting Ari. :rolling_eyes: Sorry man, you seem really nice, you're just not on the right side of the line in the sand.
Foxy: I'm cashing in my vote for a sweet 1k, sometimes not voting is the best thing to do
Iz: video -> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/778089521522802707/788130390186393640/video0.mov
Wade: Ari, this vote is for you because 100% believe Aniya that you lead the vote against me. I really don't know why, but nor do I care. I thought you'd be one of my closest allies based on the cast reveal, but whether that's on me, or you, I don't know. Bottom line, we never really connected much. Best of luck.
Cow: Ari, it's just the way the cards fell, sorry for lying to you this whole round, but if we swap I want you still with me.
Next time on $urvivor…
[Link to $17E04 ]