Episode 7: The Fat Lady Sings
As the new Gluboko tribe walked back to their camp, they contemplated their dwindling numbers. The four remaining members (Brandon, Eve, Sue, and Will) had just eliminated the new Aussie Alliance, one of the most controversial in the game up to that point. Sue, in particular, was especially happy about how the tribal council had turned out- she had turned against her former Gluboko tribemate, Matt, and helped secure herself a place on the tribe she suspected would merge soon. Over at Melkiy, the Survivors were quietly settling down to sleep, confident in the fact that the loudest and most agressive member of Gluboko had just been eliminated earlier that night. The Survivors' eyelids all finally closed, but not long afterwards the sun made its first appearance of the day on the eastern horizon. Sean and Kim were the first members of Melkiy to awaken, happy that they had just made it to Day 19- one day short of the game's halfway point. Sean began to heat some water for breakfast, while Kim gingerly stepped around large piles of snow to check and see if any treemail had arrived overnight. When she arrived at the tribe's mailbox, she saw a small piece of parchment sitting inside. Groggily, she took it back to Sean, who was chatting with Missy, who had just woken up. Kim told the two that she was going to wait for Corey, Mike, and Michael to wake up before she pulled the string off of the message and read it to everyone. The three late sleepers finally arose, and Kim began to read the message with great gusto. "Congratulations," she read, "on making the merge! The ten remaining players must all meet at tribal council, where they will find directions to their new camp. All personal items (including torches) must be brought along- you are forbidden from taking the survival items from your camp! New water jugs, machetes, and rice will be provided for you at the new camp. Good luck!" Melkiy sat silently for a second, unaware that the members of Gluboko had just finished reading the same message. The members of Melkiy grabbed their things quickly, the prospects of a new part of the game shaking them out of their still-sleepy state. Melkiy was the first to arrive at tribal council, and Kim noticed a marked difference. She shivered as she saw the fire pit in the middle completely devoid of flame, and grimaced as she saw slight flurries of snow blow across the seat she had sat in a week before. Suddenly, the mood was lightened as the small Gluboko tribe arrived. Everyone cheered and gave each other a hug, glad to be all together again. Will walked up to the fire pit, and began to poke around in the ashes. "Hey, guys- look at this," he said suddenly. He pulled a map out of the soot, and began to brush it off with his hand. He laughed when he found his hand was covered in black, and he began to chase after the other original Melkiy guys, threatening to wipe the soot off onto them. As the four of them ran outside the desolate building with laughter, Missy and Sue shook their heads and picked up the map. They gestured for Eve and Sean to go collect the wild Survivors outside, and told everyone to pick up their things and head on out. As Will saw the main group leaving, he wiped his hand on a nearby pile of snow and grabbed his things. When he caught up with everyone else, Missy and Sue were leading the way to the new camp. The original Melkiys smiled, seeing that the path they were taking was in the direction of Melkiy camp. They knew that they held the majority, and would most likely be able to propel one of themselves to first place. After a grueling walk, the ten Survivors arrived at their new camp. Sitting on the beach was a large wicker basket with a sign on top. Mike and Corey ran up to read it, then pulled off the lid and threw it into the lake. Corey pulled out 10 new cobalt blue buffs, handing one to each member. Mike rummaged around in the basket, pulling out the new survival supplies. The tribe looked around and realized that the beach was completely empty- they would have to create their own new world from scratch. As most of the Survivors gathered materials to build a new shelter, Mike and Sue began to collect rocks to encircle their new fire pit. Once they had all the rocks together, they began to dig side-by-side. "Sue, we need to talk," said Mike. A stern look passed across Sue's face, as she knew this moment would come. "You helped Melkiy eliminate Hayley and Matt, and we were hoping you might jump on the Melkiy bandwagon in the future," Mike whispered under his breath. "We did know each other before, but I took out Matt and Hayley because I disliked them," Sue said quietly. "Although we knew each other in the past, I want to evaluate my options with the original Glubokos before I reach a decision. Once I do, though, you'll be the first to know." Mike managed a false smile, hoping that Sue would help them in the future. The two worked in silence until the fire pit was done, when they went their separate ways and helped the rest of the tribe with the shelter. After an exhausting day of work, the sun finally dipped below the horizon and the Survivors collapsed into their newly-constructed shelter. The next morning, the Survivors were astonished to find a treasure chest sitting outside their camp. However, it was locked and there was no key to open it. However, Corey discovered a tattered note attached to it. On it was a cryptic note telling them where the key was. As a bonding exercise they were all going to work together to find the key. They qucikly deduced that the key was hiding in something-but what? Soon afterwards, Will figured out it was in something they looked in a lot. After sitting around for a few minutes, exhausting themselves over what it could be. Kim boisterously yelled, "TREEMAIL!" Unfortunetly, Mike was sitting right next to Kim. Mike fell over from the ringing pain of Kim's yell. Kim apologized but didn't stay to see his reaction as she, as well as the other eight contestants began sprinting for the tree-mail box. Sue was lagging behind the others, but Mike called her back. He was primed to discuss strategy with her. Sue told Mike she still hadn't made a decision, but they would talk again. Mike nodded and Sue ran off to the others, who were returning with the key. Kim was holding the key since she figured out where it was. She emphatically stuffed the key into the keyhole and yelled as they found a chest full of food. They found trays of fruit, cnady, chocolate and vegetables. However, Sue, Eve and Missy were excited when they reached the bottom and found two bottles of wine. One of which was Sue's favorite-Spumante. Sue persuaded the other two adults to drink the Spumante first and then the other bottle. As Sue, Missy and Eve drank the wine, Kim stumbled across something. She found a note at the bottom of the chest telling them to report to tribal council THAT night. She tried to get the others attention, but they were too busy eating and drinking. Kim was getting very frustrated trying to get their attention, so she suddenly slammed and shattered the other bottle of wine against the treasure chest. This got everyone to turn around and look at her. She then read the note telling them to report to tribal council that night. After the inital shock was over, Eve became irate that Kim broke the other bottle of wine. Sue began to grow angry too, but Missy sided with Kim, persuading the other two ladies that it was okay and too much alcohol would probably be bad for them. They laughed, Kim apologized, and they decided to save the rest of their Spmuante for a later occasion. However, now that the survivors were all full their attention turned to tribal council. Kim, realizing she had made enemies by being a Mekliy and somewhat brash and boisterous over the past hour, decided to confront Mike. She told him that she knew one of the original Glubokos was gone and begged him to make sure it wasn't her. Mike told her he hadn't reached a decision yet, but called a huddle between all the former Melkiys. Most of the Melkiys seemed to want to get rid of the quiet Sean first, but Corey and Mike led the charge that it was Kim's turn to go. Meanwhile, Kim and Sean began to suspect something was up with Sue because she wasn't trying to talk to them or Michael about tribal council. The three former Glubokos confronted her and told her their only chance of surviving was to stick together. Sue nodded and left. Before heading to tribal council, Mike and Sue discussed the boot clandestinely and then the tribe disembarked to go to their second tribal council in as many as days. When they got there, Adam cracked up as he saw the nervous looks on the Glubokos faces. Kim asked Adam why he was laughing and he said that they weren't here to vote anyone out, just to, if they had an idea, to go forward and on the placard write down what they thought the merged name should be. The Glubokos let out a sigh of relief, and Corey looked upset that he had just lost the opprotunity to vote out Kim. "Alright," the host said. "Who wants to suggest a name?" One at a time, the Survivors stepped up. Kim got up and wrote "Ayakaral", while Corey suggested "Mai Kai" and Mike decided on a clever James Bond spoof, writing down "From Russia With Love". Once all the Survivors who wanted to had suggested answers, Adam grinned at the Survivors and said, "I'll see you all tomorrow night!" He walked off into the voting confessional to check out what the Survivors had suggested as the ten members of the merge tribe walked away. Suddenly, on the walk back, something odd struck Sean. "Wait- did he say tomorrow night?" he asked Kim. "What about the immunity challenge?" Kim looked puzzled for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh well," mumbled Sean. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see!" When the Survivors arrived back at camp, they saw the sun just setting in the west. Nobody was tired yet, because the effects of the day's emotional roller coaster had not yet worn off. The final ten were all sitting around camp just talking, and at a lull in the conversation, Mike started singing. He pulled off a nice rendition of Madonna's "Die Another Day" and the others begged for more. He thought for a moment of which song he should sing and started singing his favorite song, "Copa Cabana", which to Corey, he had sung almost non-stop since he got here. Corey tried to tolerate this, but eventually he yelled out, "Enough" and then blushed. He apologized to everyone, but they were too busy laughing. All the singing that night prompted Kim to tell everyone about her aspirations as a singer. She began to sing some tunes of her favorite artists, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera and J. Lo. During a particularly slow song, others found themselves beginning to get sleepy. Everyone decided to pile into the shelter to protect themselves from the cold, and went to sleep. When everyone woke up in the morning, they were shocked to find an unseasonably warm and beautiful day. Kim put on her swimsuit for the first time the game, some of the guys wore t-shirts and shorts. The nice weather had almost everyone feeling better, except the four former members of Gluboko. They felt that one of them would be gone this tribal council. Sue knew she made enemies because it was no secret that she had gravitated towards Mike and his alliance, but felt reasonably safe. Michael was perceived as being the smartest and most deceptive Gluboko and wondered if that would hurt him, however he didn't think he made many, if any enemies and hoped that would secure him another three days. Kim knew she had been somewhat brash, boisterous and pushy recently but hoped she had bonded well enough Missy to make the Melkiys consider voting for someone else. Sean also felt vulnerable. He had been by far the quietest Gluboko and was not that close with any of the Melkiys. However, Sean was the only Gluboko who was looking out for the others too. He remarked, "I am pretty worried that the original Melkiy tribe is going to pick us off one by one but I just have to hope for the best." Despite the tensions regarding the unknown results of the immunity challenge and the tribal council that loomed directly ahead of them, the Survivors spent the day taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Kim dragged Corey, Mike, and Eve into the water, and engaged everyone in a giant splashfight. Sue laughed as she watched from the shore, but then yelled in mock anger as the four in the water splashed Sue with a giant wave. Soon afterwards, the entire tribe of 10 was splashing in the water and having a great time when the four former Glubokos realized they had spent most of the day not even thinking about strategy. Michael was the first to realize that, and after taking a last splash at Will, swam ashore with Sean, to "re-kindle" the fire. Michael's true excuse was to think up a plan for tribal council. He told Sean that he knew one of the Glubokos was gone tonight, and he hoped that it wasn't one of them two. Sean added that he really hoped they could pull something out, for he really liked Kim and Sue too. Michael eventually realized that one of the switched Melkiys would have to have previous votes on them. He called Sue, who had witnessed the two switched Gluboko tribal councils, to help with fire. When she got over there, Michael blantatly asked "Who on Melkiy has previous votes?" She replied, she "knew Eve got a bunch of them, but she didn't know who else had any". Michael immeadiately said, "We need to vote Eve tonight, if we want to have any iota of a chance of making it far." Sue and Sean nodded, and Sue went back off in the water to talk to Kim. When Sue got in the water, she realized most of the frockling had stopped and everyone but Mike was getting ready to head back to camp. Mike wanted to linger for a moment more, but when he saw Sue, alone, it was time to talk about the vote. As soon as Sue swam out to Mike, he asked her, "Are you going to vote with us or them tonight?" Sue was confused, but Mike replied "us" was Melkiy and "them" was Gluboko. Sue said for this tribal council at least, she'd want to vote with Gluboko, even though it wouldn't make a difference. Mike became irate and told her, "This means we could vote you out next, and don't think you stand a chance of being in the final 2 with me!" Sue hastily headed back to camp, shaking her head, leaving Mike abandoned in the water as the sun was starting to go behind a cloud. He went back to camp to meet with the five other former Melkiys. As Mike arrived, the five survivors were already engaged in a heated discussion about who should go. Missy and Will were saying that Sean, the quietest and maybe strongest member of Gluboko, should go, while Corey belived that to calm camp life Kim should go. Eve, who had been quiet in the conversation, asked Mike what he thought. Several thoughts raced through Mike's mind. He thought about the prospects of voting Sue out, since she had announced she wasn't going to vote with Melkiy. However, had Sue not betrayed her tribe, Gluboko might be in the advantage now and he just didn't feel comfortable voting for her. The next thought was for his original target, Kim. He knew Kim could be brash, but deep down inside he liked Kim, as did the rest of them. However, when Eve pressed him for an answer he muttered "Kim", and after some more debate, the 6 Melkiys put their hands together and yelled in unison "Final 6", just as a high wind swept through camp. While Melkiy was having their debates, Gluboko was finalizing their loyalties to vote for Eve. They kney none of them stood much of a chance of surviving, but Eve and her previous votes, would be their best bet. After all the contestants regrouped, they sat around the beach, motionless, afraid to talk to anyone individually. Eventually, the high wind picked up again, and they found a tree mail note blown to them telling them it was time for tribal council. When they arrived at the building for the third time in as many days, they saw a tall pole standing next to Adam's podium at the front. Once the Survivors sat down, Adam walked out with his hands behind his back. Suddenly, he revealed to the Survivors what they had been waiting for- the individual immunity necklace. "Now, I'm sure you're all curious about who won immunity," said Adam jovially. "However, the results have not been decided yet. In fact, they won't be until just before you vote. First, though- another pressing issue. For the past three days, you have lived as a tribe without a name." The Survivors looked stunned for a short moment, suddenly realizing that the host was right. Now, what you must do is choose a name that you like best! In the voting confessional is a list of all the names suggested- you must write your top choice on the colored piece of parchment next to the list. You cannot choose you own! Corey, you go first." Corey stood up, hoping that this vote was going to be for more than just the new tribe's name. One by one, the other nine all got up and cast their votes- except for Eve, who said that she honestly didn't care what the name was- she was just glad to be there. Adam walked to the voting confessional, and came back with only a simple notecard. "I'm not going to read each vote," he said, "but I will tell you the results. With four of nine votes, Mai Kai is the winning name! Along with the name comes a reward for its creator- the first individual immunity!" Adam took the necklace off the pole and placed it around Corey's neck. A grin crept across Corey's face. "Corey, you have a guaranteed spot in the Final 9- so no matter what, you're here until the end. Everyone, it's time to vote for real. Missy, you're first." Missy slowly walked to the voting confessional, and scrawled "KIM" on her piece of parchment. As she held it up to the camera, she said, "Nothing personal, just part of the game.... I enjoyed getting to know you and I wish you all the best in your singing and in the future." She folded her vote and placed it in the urn. Corey was up next, and wrote his vote down quickly and placed it with Missy's. Michael, the next to vote, wrote "EVE" on his card and said this: "God, I am so sorry for this, it's just an act of desperation, it is our ony chance. You probably won't go anyways- Good Luck!" Finally, the rest of the Survivors voted. Adam gave a last solemn look at the Survivors, and went to tally the votes. When he got back, he said, "For the first time in the game, it takes six votes to leave. I'll tally the votes..."
"That's two votes Kim, one vote Eve."
"Three votes apiece for Eve and Kim."
"That's five votes Kim, four votes Eve. The first person voted out of Mai Kai..."
"Kim, that's enough. The tribe has spoken." Kim smiled at her tribe and brushed away a small tear as she had her torch snuffed and left tribal council. "The rest of you now will either be in the Final 2 or on the jury that decides their fate- get ready for a wild ride," Adam said. "You can head back to camp."
NEXT TIME ON SURVIVOR:
One ally stabs another in the back.
SUE: "God help me..."
Lies fly back and forth.
MICHAEL: "You lied to me!"
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