Survivor on the Net IX Episode 1

Two canvas hooded jeeps made their way down a side access road in eastern Argentina, near the border of Chile. Inside, sixteen strangers, about to be abandoned, forced to survive with the land, and each other. Every three days, the tribe that does not have the support of the immunity idol, Ahayuta Achi, will row to Caviahue, the Tribal Council of Survivor on the Net IX. For 39 days these people will vote each other out until only one remains claming the title as Sole Survivor.

The jeeps stop, the dust trail behind them still moving forward, slowly dispersing in the strong Argentinean wind. On a call from one of the hosts, sixteen people simultaneously remove purple and yellow buffs from around their eyes, and slowly adjust their eyes to the sun. Moving down, backpacks in hand, each tribe moved to a spot on each side of the two hosts, Steve and Stephanie.

"Welcome to Argentina," Steve began, "You are roughly two
miles from your camps, both of which will be on the edge of
lake Nahuel Huapi. This lake shares area in both Chile and
Argentina, however, you will be on the Argentina side. As you
notice, you have been separated into two tribes: Auca Pan and
Peuco. Each tribe has a map, connected on top of your
respective crate. When I say you may go, you need to get
your map, your supplies, and head off towards camp. On the
way, to your camp, there will be eight torches. If you notice,
your map does NOT show you the entire way to your camp.
After you get to the eighth torch, your map stops.

To figure out the rest of the map, you need to collect and solve
the eight clues, located at each of your torches. At the base of
your torch, is a small clay picture, with a torch on it. On the back, is a quote. The first letter of the movie, that the quote is from, will eventually, lead you to your campsite.

You need to balance speed with teamwork. All eight people, must give their clue, for the campsite, to be found. You have a nice temperature today, low 70s. However, it does look like it may rain.

The team who gets to their campsite, first will win the first reward."

Steve stopped for a minute, surveying their response and most of their nervous mannerisms.

"Wanna know what you're playing for?" he asked.

Eager yes's and nods came from the sixteen individuals.

Stephanie from behind her back brought out a small leather pouch, opening it and dropping a container into her hand.

"Fifty waterproof matches," she explained.

"And...with that, it's time to go," Steve said, excitement in his voice, "Survivor's Ready...go!"

Auca Pan - Day One

The trek was not very difficult, and pretty much a straight, downhill
shot to the shore. The only difficult part, was keeping up speed, and
making sure they didn't miss any of their torches.

Immediately, Jacob set himself out as the Tribal Cheerleader, coming
up with a little song for the rest of the tribe to march too:

" ---- Let's go yellow pumas, Let's go Auca Pan, I heard some little
rumors, A little birdie's never wrong. He told me "Auca Pan are the
zoomers, Peuco's not as strong. So we rejoice for all our tribemates: Chad, Josie, Chole, Travis, Hadley, Jacob, Marie, and John, And we dance around the campsite, To the tune of the Auca Pan song."

This uplifting attitude drew John to Jacob quickly.

The conversation centered around where both Survivor's live. John, living across from Detroit in Canada caught Jacob's geographical interest. Regardless of the talk, it was very calm, and in a getting-to-know-you mood.

John: ** When I first met all of my tribes, I thought this would be a really fun team, and probably is. So far I have talked to Jacob and he is really nice, I hope to get to know everyone else as well.

John, the social butterfly, moved up to Hadley and began chatting with her. John immediately noticed Hadley's British accent, and used it as a point to get the conversation going. About thirty minutes into the trek, Auca Pan had made quite some distance, and had found some torches.

Meanwhile, making up the back of the group, Travis and Josie introduced themselves to one another. Travis also buzzed with a strong, steady personality, and an eagerness much like Jacob's. In a playful mood, he played on his "secret government agent" occupation, and uplifted the mood even more. Needless to say, Auca Pan had plenty
of high spirited players.

When they finally reached camp, about two hours after their marooning, they cheered, and set off exploring the surrounding area, eager to begin this experience.

Peuco - Day One

Dave pushed his tribe towards the path on the map quickly, but gave up the lead for early socialization which he considered vital.

Dave clicked immediately with Andrew, with discussions of card games and role playing games they left back and home. With Nichole, he immediately found a similar style of humour and conversationalism. He was confident, with his personality and his effort, he could make himself a good spot in the tribe.

While Auca Pan's personalities flared with excitement, Peuco centered
more on getting to camp, and the task at hand.

In David, Andi saw another strong leader type, and was thrilled to
have his strong personality in the tribe with her. Their conversations
for the most part centered on various topics that made it obvious they
both endeared themselves to one another immediately.

As a group, they had found themselves calling themselves the "Purple
Hawks" as Peuco had yet found its place in their tongues and vocabulary.

Nichole and Andi, nearly an hour after marooning were chatting about their "California king sized comforter" and the difficulty it would be without it. The ground, in comparision to the comforter is sadly to say, much more depressing.

Valerie opened up quickly to Nichole, talking about her journal and pen luxury item, and the want of hers to be a writer. After chatting a bit, Nichole took a moment to talk to the camera.

Nichole: ** Not sure right now who is who, or who to trust or anything. I dont think I want any alliances or anything right now. I don't really like that people know each other, but that's expected! Um, I've talked to Valerie, Andi, Andrew, and um...Dave. So we'll see. So far the nicest was Dave. I'll give another confessional later when more is going on! I am putting my purple buff over my eyes, and going to sleep on my comforter! If only!

The addition of the quote challenge gave neither tribe much problem, as they had movie experts, or claiming to be, on both teams. Peuco took a very democratic group approach, while Auca Pan took a random,who knows this approach. In the end, it came down to a few people's quotes, giving the survivor's enough slip up, to give the reward to one tribe.

David seemed to take control with the quotes, delegating which quote lead to which path on the map. However, even with his help, Peuco did get to camp later. They however, did not know the results.

Later that night, most of the work centered around fire and shelter. Water was simply not a problem here, as the lake wasn't very polluted, so they could risk drinking it if it was necessary, and wasn't that far.

Reward results didn't really have time to be in their mind, as they knew it would be told to them, when it was time.

At Auca Pan, Marie, quiet on the trip up, had finished measuring up her fellow players, and was ready to begin talking. She talked to John on end about her various survival past background, and that was the key that John used to get into a good conversation with her.

And the proverbial bomb was dropped as the sun began to dip in the western sky. Marie, Jacob and John, about a hundred feet from camp, brought up the idea of an alliance.

Not really connecting with any of the others, the three of them felt it was obvious and right that they align. Whether it was necessary or not, the bond had been form, and a stone had been cast.

The water rippled in the Nahuel Huapi lake.

John: ** Marie offered me an alliance. I accepted of
course, and I'm glad. Alliances at the begining are
great.:) Jacob, Marie and I, the alliance of our tribe.

Back at camp, Travis and John worked steadily on a
fire, when they noticed the sound of an engine. Before
their eyes, a jeep, speeding by threw a crate towards
the camp. The first thought in Travis's government
agency mind was to drop, cover, and expect a bomb.

However, it was the reward. Most of the tribe gathered
around and opened the crate. In, survival gear ranging
from a tarp, to matches, and MREs. Together, Travis,
Marie, Jacob, and John fixed the tarp on their crude
shelter, while Josie and Hadley set the fire going.
The Auca Pan camp was warm, homey, and now dark.

Similar in age, and the way they think, the next morning had John in front of the camera's discussing his alliance.

John: ** I think that Travis, Marie, Jacob and I get along great, it is basically us doing all the work, no one else is making an effort to talk to us, Oh well, we will see won't we?

Travis woke, and also felt the urge to speak to the camera.

Travis: ** I've decided to go for a new strategy this time... I'm not going to be as blunt and outright in asking for alliances. That got me in trouble before. I'm going to just try to be nice and friendly and not get voted off, and if someone wants to approach me for an alliance, we'll see!

Besides the feelings of strategy, Travis also began to miss home on his first day in Argentina. Thirty-nine days seemed like an eternity away, and this was only the beginning.

At the Peuco tribe, the realization that they had lost the immunity challenge, led to a cold, dew-ridden shelter, and a mossy bed covering. Needless to say, they slept little. They managed a meager fire the next day, and with slow spirits, mostly due to no one in particular being the person to raise them, they moved in very organized lines, doing tasks requested of them by one another.

Andi and David, about midday, sat on a log, talking about the failure at the challenge and what they could do to make it better. Luke, they felt, and Valerie, had slowed the team down, and not contributed to much of the trek.

"Times will be good for those of us who wish to play the game," he commented.

Andi agreed, continued to talk about Luke and Valerie some more, and returned back to camp.

David had yet to speak to Lisa, so during the morning chores, he attempted, and whether it be from exhaustion, or tire, Lisa didn't respond.

A few minutes later, David was again talking about his fellow tribemates with Nichole, mentioning Adam, Valerie, Luke, and Lisa's lack of effort. Both were worried, this lack of work would end up costing their team in the challenge later that afternoon.

"I'm not too into Adam, and even though Luke isn't very talkative, what I have seen was very nice. And Valerie was nice, but isn't physically strong, like Luke. And as for you, Andrew, and Andi, I have no doubt you guys will make up the powerhouse of this team," Nichole explained.

"It will be hard to distinguish them, if we lose tonight. So, participation at the challenge is crucial," David noted.

Nichole nodded in agreement.

David: ** It is so annoying to find out that half of your team is lazy. Knowing that, myself, Nichole, Andrew, Andi and Lisa have to work harder at the challenge, which isn't fair for us. Our first reward challenge was apparently a failure, and I will not be surprised if we lose the immunity due to half of this tribe's laziness.

The people I have actually talked to are really interesting. Andi and I are extremely close, and I have no reason NOT to trust her, since she is so active.

Nichole or "Brite" as I call her, is a great person. She is the most active person out here, (except for me) and we have great chats and have a great potential for an alliance.

Andrew is another good person, even though he acts his age. We do have a lot of things in common though. I know, if I promise him jury, he will be buddy buddy with me, and I can use him in my favor.

No one really knows about the rest of this tribe, and even though many of them promise to work harder, they did screw us up yesterday, and that is a mark against them.

Before the immunity challenge, David and Nichole had a talk about lying to others in the game of survivor. David explained he believed in a "Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you." Nichole agreed and thought plenty of people did well in these games with that strategy. Nichole couldn't say for certain she wouldn't lie during the course of the game, and that comment surprised David, and did send him questioning her intentions.

~ EPISODE ONE ~

"Spinnin' my oars"

Episode One continued on the next page...

>>>EPISODE 1b>>>