Episode 1: Girl Power
"This November, 16 strangers from 3 countries are going to have the experience of a lifetime," yelled a teenage boy from the deck of a boat speeding across a lake. "My name is Adam, and I'm the host of Survivor: Balkhash. Piloting the boat is the producer, Nick. Let's cut the formalities and meet the Survivors!"
Brandon is 16-year-old student from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Corey is a 16-year-old student from near Roanoke, Virginia.
Eve is a 25-year-old receptionist from Chicago, Illinois.
Frank is a 19-year-old web journalist from Ontario, Canada.
Hayley is a 13-year-old student from Australia.
Kim is a 15-year-old singer/student from New York City.
Lachlan is a 15-year-old student from Australia.
Matt is a 17-year-old student from Australia.
Michael is a 13-year-old student from Ontario, Canada.
Mike is a 17-year-old student from Bloomington, Indiana.
Missy is a 35-year-old mom from Roanoke, Virginia.
Ryan is a 15-year-old student from Manitoba, Canada.
Sean is a 13-year-old student from Canada.
Sue is a 40-year-old insurance broker from Ontario, Canada.
Wiil is a 16-year-old student from Massachusetts.
Zach is a 14-year-old student from Kansas.
These sixteen individuals will spend the next 39 days outwitting, outlasting and outplaying each other.
While cruising along the boat in Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan, Adam suddenly told all the women to step forward. Eve, Hayley, Kim, Missy and Sue went forward and were told to get a good look at all the men and think of who they would like to be their tribemates. Then, they were told to swim as fast they possibly could to Tribal Council, a spot about a mile away. The first two people there would get to choose who they wanted to be on their tribes. Immeadiately, they all plunged in the chilly water and raced forward. Eve and Missy were leading the way and in a dead heat and first, but Hayley, Kim and Sue weren't far behind. Near the end of the race, Missy took a slight lead on Eve, but eventually she began to tire out. Eve used this to make a last second surge and she arrived at Tribal Council first, just about fifteen seconds ahead of Missy. Sue, Hayley and Kim looked despondent for not being able to help choose tribes, but were quickly picked up by the boat. At the Tribal Council area, where Eve and Missy stood, each of them would get to pick three people to be on their tribe. Their picks would be combined into one tribe. As reward for being first, Eve would get to choose to whether she wanted the tribe to be located near an abundant freshwater source (Melkiy) or a part of the lake filled with fish (Gluboko). Eve chose water and then selected three men who she thoguht looked strong, Corey, Frank and Mike. Missy rounded out Melkiy by selecting Will, Ryan, and Brandon. The tribes were officially, MELKIY-Brandon, Corey, Eve, Frank, Mike, Missy, Ryan and Will; GLUBOKO-Hayley, Kim, Lachlan, Matt, Michael, Sean, Sue and Zach. The host tossed the members of Melkiy bright yellow buffs, while the Gluboko Survivors wore dark maroon buffs. "Now that you have your tribes," Adam began to explain, "you need a camp. What each tribe must do is be the first to get to their camp. Nick will be back at production camp watching the cameras, and the first tribe to have all eight members touch the tribal flag will win immunity. Because you obviously won't be at the same locations at the end of the challenge, a note will be left tomorrow telling you of the results- and the Immunity Idol will be there as well for the winning tribe! You will find a map to your camps right near your torches behind you- please grab all of your materials and head on out!" The 16 Survivors looked stunned for a moment, then kicked into gear. Hayley picked up Gluboko's map and led them screaming out the door. Melkiy was a bit more calm in gathering their things, and ended up giving Corey the map to lead them to camp. Eve and Missy were flanking Corey on either side trying to give directions, while Mike and the others were lagging a bit behind. Meanwhile, Gluboko was having troubles finding their camp. The North Americans and the Australians on the tribe had gotten into an argument over which direction to go, and ended up splitting and trying to get to camp alone. Zach took over control for the North Americans, while Hayley maintained control of the Aussie group. Zach's group arrived at camp first, and they all decided to start setting up a fire pit while waiting for Hayley's group to arrive. Unbeknownst to them, however, Corey and the two Melkiy women had just led their tribe to the Melkiy camp. After waiting for over an hour, Hayley's group finally arrived at Gluboko camp. Everyone at both camps settled down for the night, with dreams of immunity flickering through their heads. Before going to sleep, Matt of Gluboko gave a confessional to the camera. "The first day was hell... noone would talk to me. I felt so isolated from the group and from the start felt that I was gonna go! I did talk to a few people- the Aussies... HAYLEY & LACHLAN! Those guys just rock," he said. Despite his following the North Americans on the trek to camp, Sean also expressed his appreciation of Hayley's leadership: "I really like my tribe, particularly Hayley- who is a very important asset." Finally, everyone went to sleep. The next morning at Melkiy, everyone was awakened by a loud yell from Eve. "Guys! Come here, we've got a huge crate sitting next to our mailbox!" Brandon and Will grabbed axes and began to hack away at the box's lid. Everyone let out a cheer when one side fell down, exposing the Immunity Idol underneath. Mike yelled, "Way to go team!" Over at Gluboko, Zach was just waking up. He meandered over to the treemail box, and pulled out a short note. He read it, and woke up the rest of the tribe. "The Melkiy tribe has won immunity. You will all be expected at Tribal Council tomorrow night." Everyone began to go back to sleep, but Zach decided to keep them awake to tell them just one more thing. "It's kind of funny- I was actually an alternate for this game. Hopefully I'll be able to blend in just as well anyways, huh?" Zach winked at everyone, but everyone just rolled their eyes and laid back down. Later in the day, Gluboko finally woke themselves up and got to work. "The first Immunity Challenge sucked. Before we were even at the place it was over," lamented Hayley. Hayley decided to go along with Sue and Kim to the well-hidden water hole. She tried to make friendly conversation, but was blown off. "I tried to make an effort with the girls, but they haven't communicated with me once- but I hope they soon do," she said. At Melkiy, everyone decided to take the day to focus on building their shelter. "Eve picked an awesome location," said Corey. "There's all kinds of materials to build our new home with." The tribe of eight finally managed to put together a lean-to facing the lake, and realized that they still had several hours before sundown. While Will, Frank, and Brandon went out to find some indiginous food, the five remaining people lounged in the lake. Finally, nightfall came. At Gluboko, everyone was restless realizing that this could be both their first and last night playing the game. Sue decided it would be a good idea to start up a conversation between the tribe. They were talking about their lives back at home, their families, their jobs, friends, etc. However, Zach excluded himself from the conversation. He hadn't been feeling well since coming and was out trying to sleep on his own. Eventually, the rest of Gluboko went to bed, but Zach stayed up feeling sick. Very early the next morning, Lachlan was up early and tried to start a conversation with Zach, but Zach, in a bad mood, just shooed him away. When Lachlan returned, he found that Sue, Kim, Hayley and Matt had risen. They went on having a talk about Tribal Council and decided it would be best to vote out Zach, because of his isolation from the tribe. Later that morning, when Sean and Michael had arisen, they were unsure about who to vote for at Tribal Council and consulted Kim. Kim, betraying her previous word, told Sean and Michael to vote for Sue, and she was confident the votes would be there. By midday, Zach seemed to realize he was ostracized from his tribe and was going to try a last ditch effort of becoming friendly with someone who he considered to be the strongest tribe member, Hayley. The two of them had a long conversation, which eventually led to Zach telling Hayley he would vote for Sean, who Zach said he "randomly picked", and hoped Hayley would follow suit. She said she'd think about it. A couple hours later, Gluboko was off to their first Tribal Council thinking that Zach, Sue or Sean would be the most vulnerable. After the usual questioning, the players procceded to vote. Michael voted first and he scribbled SUE on his card and said, "Sue, tonight I'm voting for you, no one is really comunicating with me, and you're one of them, sorry, but I had to pick someone, see you on the other side". Lachlan, Sean and Matt voted next. Hayley approached her card and in big, block letters wrote ZACH on her card and explained, "I am voting for Zach. Although he has probably been the one whos talked to me most I feel as if hes not originally in the game since he just replaced someone. I know its hard for Zach to fit in so sorry bud, this votes for you. Good Luck and I'm really sorry." Zach was next to vote, and voting for SEAN, said, "I vote for Sean. Why? I don't know. I needed to vote someone, and I randomly picked you." Kim was the last to vote and stared at her card for awhile, eventually she wrote down a name and left. Adam then tallied and read the votes. They were:
"One vote each for Sean, Zach, Sue and Lachlan."
"Two votes for Sue and Zach, one each for Sean and Lachlan."
"Final vote:"
Adam explained, "We have a tie. Sue and Zach, you each received three votes. Here's how the tie-breaker works, the six people who didn't get three votes will each go re-vote, but before we do that, Zach and Sue, tell your tribemates why they shouldn't vote for you." Zach went first and explained that he could be a really strong member and apologized for not talking that much. Sue, thinking that Kim had betrayed her in the voting, spent her time talking directly to Kim that they could become good friends and possibly allies. After that, Matt went to vote first in the re-vote. In huge letters, he voted for ZACH explaining, "I'm keeping my vote with Zach because when I tell others I'm voting for Zach I keep my word and don't change my vote like others did in the last vote!" Lachlan, Hayley and Kim voted in sequence. Sean was up next, and voted for SUE explaining, "I originally voted for Sue because she is older and doesn't mesh well with the rest of the tribe so I am keeping my vote for Sue. Sorry Sue." Michael stuffed his vote in the ballot box and then it was time for the results.
First vote:
"Two votes for Zach and two for Sue."
The first person voted out of Survivor: Balkhash is:
Zach got up without even looking at his tribemates, and got his torch snuffed. The rest of Gluboko returned back to camp, hoping that their next three days would be better than the first three.
Next week on SURVIVOR:
At Melkiy, friendships start to turn into alliances.
MIKE: "I just formed an alliance."
Fights ensue at Gluboko over people lying and people playing the game too hard.
MATT: "Someone had betrayed me... lied to me!"
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