Episode 8: Jury Duty
As the nine members of Mai Kai left their first tribal council, a strong wind began to pick up. As the flames of the torches were buffeted about in the gale, they began to blow out one by one. Finally, Mike's torch remained. "Now that's what I call symbolism," Missy laughed. Corey, Missy, and Mike all smiled and walked ahead together laughing, while the other six tribemates lagged behind, the image of Mike's flaming torch still pounding in their heads. When everyone finally arrived at camp, Sue meandered off to give a confessional. "This is one hell of a weird freaking game," she said, "and I am nowhere near it." Sue finally walked back to the new shelter, ready to lie down to bed for only the third time as a member of Mai Kai. When the tribe woke up in the morning, the three members of Gluboko groggily walked off together to discuss what was going on in the game. "We're the final three Glubokos," Michael pointed out. Sean and Sue nodded silently, with grim looks on their faces. Meanwhile, Eve, Brandon, and Will decided to check for treemail, just in case. Eve was the first to arrive, and she involuntarily let out a quick gasp when she saw that something had actually been left for them. She pulled nine large pieces of cobalt-colored fabric from the mailbox, while Brandon and Will removed large cans of paint. Carrying all they could, they ran back yelling to the rest of the tribe. The other six came running to meet them, when Mike spotted a small message hanging off the lid of a can of paint. He snatched it off, and read that they had to paint flags for the new tribe. Brandon took charge of handing out cobalt-colored pieces of fabric to everyone, while Eve handed out brushes and set out the jars of paint. The nine members of Mai Kai sat down into their three groups- the three Glubokos; Mike, Missy, and Corey; and Eve, Will, and Brandon. Brandon started out his flag by painting a few trees and the shore of the lake, then included the names of each member of the tribe. Mike began his flag by copying the Survivor: Balkhash logo off of his new buff, but soon realized that that would prove harder than it first appeared. "Aww, screw it," he laughed. He dipped his brush in the green paint and flung it at Corey, who laughed as he tried to shield his flag with his body. As Brandon and Corey hid their drying flags in the shelter, a paint war broke out among the nine tribemates. "Take this!" Eve yelled as she threw a brush covered with purple paint at Sue. Will snuck up behind Eve, cupping some white paint in his hands. He dropped it on Eve's head, causing Eve to scream with mock rage as she spun around and wiped the paint from her hair onto Will's back. Corey and Brandon rejoined the fray just in time to drench Missy with red paint, while Missy retaliated with a brush full of blue. The three Glubokos each dipped a brush in the orange paint and started adding that to the multitude of colors already on the Melkiy's backs. Finally, after a long afternoon of flinging paint in every direction, the group happily collapsed together. As Missy crawled off to do an inventory of the paint they had left for the future, Mike realized something. "Guys, look at our flags..." he said quietly. The seven flags sitting out on the ground were drenched with every color of the rainbow, with none of them even showing the original cobalt background. "Hmm..." muttered Eve. "At least now we've got some decorations to liven this place up. It was like a funeral home before." This elicited a chuckle from Sue and Michael, while Corey smiled. "Wait," Sean said. "I only see seven flags. Where are the other two?" Corey and Brandon sauntered over to the shelter and pulled theirs out, with neither one showing any extra paint. All of a sudden, Adam walked up behind everyone. "Hello, everyone. It looks like all we need now is LeVar Burton, and we've got a Reading Rainbow," he quipped. The Survivors laughed, not quite sure what Adam was doing there. "Some of you may have guessed that the flags you were painting were for a reward challenge," Adam explained. "Before we bring in our judges, everyone who wishes to submit their flag for consideration must now lay it out in front of the entire group. The judges must not know which flag belongs to each person." Brandon and Corey stepped forward and laid their flags down on the ground. As they stepped back to their spots in the group, everyone noticed the sound of a motor off in the distance. As everyone stood silently, the shape of a boat could be seen approaching their beach. Finally, the boat ran aground and Adam motioned to the boat's captain. "I will now introduce your judges. First is Jon, the fifth-place finisher from Survivor: Tonga." Some of the Survivors grinned broadly, as Jon had been one of their favorite players from the previous season. "Next," continued Adam, "is a fan of the SCOGH Survivor Series. Her name is Katie." As Katie walked out, the expression on her face mirrored that of the Survivors who had just seen Jon a moment before. "Some of you know this last judge," said Adam. "Come on out, Zach." From the inside of the boat, the first contestant voted out of Survivor: Balkhash walked out. He glared briefly at his former Gluboko tribemates, but smiled as soon as he realized that they were outnumbered 6-3. "These will be the three judges," said Adam. "The judges will now take their ballot and place it on top of the flag they like best. The flag with the most ballots wins. Judges, take it away." As the judges perused the duo of flags, Corey and Brandon watched nervously. The first individual reward was at stake, and the winner would have their flag flying above the heads of their tribemates for the rest of the game. Finally, the three judges stepped away from the flags. Two of the three ballots lay on top of Brandon's flag. "Congratulations, Brandon," said Adam. "The Survivor: Balkhash crew will have your flag up momentarily. Corey, yours will be taken away." "Will it be auctioned on eBay?" he cracked, although the disappointment was clear on his face. As the other Survivors laughed, Adam smiled and shook his head. "Brandon, you have earned the first reward. Here it is." Adam felt around in his pocket for a few seconds and brought out a closed fist. He extended it, and opened it slowly. As the entire tribe tried to get a glimpse of what was inside, Adam revealed the reward- a dart. "This may not seem like much now, but save it- it will come in handy in a few days." Brandon scratched his head, puzzled at how a dart could ever be able to help him. "I'll see you all at the Immunity Challenge," said Adam as he joined the three judges on the boat. As the nine members of Mai Kai watched the boat motor off into the distance, they realized that sunset was upon them. They all decided to wash off the paint go to sleep, except for Sean- who wanted to stay up to tend the fire. "I want to congratulate myself for making the jury," he whispered to himself. "This game is very hard, with all the lying and the backstabbing." Finally, he fell asleep sitting next to the fire. The next morning, Missy woke up early. Instead of rousing her allies, Missy decided to surprise them. She took out the rice they had been given and began to cook breakfast for everyone. When Mike woke up, he walked over to Missy and smiled. "That's my job," he laughed. Missy smiled silently and handed him a leaf with some rice on it. As Mike savored his 'meal', the other Survivors woke up. "I'm glad it didn't rain last night," said Eve. "Otherwise we would have lost our new banners!" Everyone turned to the paint-splatted flags, wondering what to do with them. All of a sudden, Sue's face brightened up. "I know what to do," she said enthusiastically. "Trading Spaces!" Everyone cheered, knowing that the day was going to be a fun one. Eve drafted Mike, Brandon, and Sean to help her design one half of the camp. Missy decided to be the other designer and asked Michael, Corey, and Will to help. Sue announced that she would be the host, making sure that the camp would turn out nicely. After spending all morning and afternoon scrutinizing all the different possibilities, the two teams were finished. Sue brought them together, and announced that the two sides would have to see how things turned out. As Missy's team walked around the shelter, Corey screamed in mock terror when he saw a paint-splattered banner hanging from the side of the camp's shelter. Missy jokingly cried out in agony, "What have they done to my house?" Meanwhile, Eve's team was having similar reactions and Sue was rolling on the ground laughing. When dinner finally rolled around, Missy stepped up to cook. "Hey, wait-" said Mike. "You stole my job this morning, now it's time for your just rewards!" He laughed and started to help Missy prepare the rice for dinner. Once everyone was done, they all decided to sit around the fire telling spooky stories until long after the sun went down. One by one, they all headed off to bed, but Sue, Missy, Mike and Corey remained around the fire. Sue decided it was time to let them know her secret-she had known Mike prior to the game. Missy and Corey gave a quizzical look to Mike who said, "It's true." Corey remarked, "this changes everything" and then Sue started to talk again. She said that she respected their alliance and wasn't going to intrude it into it, just because she knew Mike beforehand. She also apologized for voting for Eve at the previous tribal council, and that if they kept her through this vote, she'd vote out Michael and Sean with them. Missy and Mike looked at each other for a moment, before Mike replied, "OK, that sounds fair." However Corey interrupted, "How about making this the final 4?". Everyone looked at each otehr and nodded there heads in agreeance. They shook hands and quitely slipped off to bed. When they all woke up in the morning, Sean and Michael decided to check for treemail. They brought back a bullseye painted in maroon and yellow stripes. As they read, Brandon fingered the dart in his pocket. When the tribe arrived and stepped onto the cobalt blue mat at Challenge Beach, Adam greeted them. "Hello," he began. "This challenge will have two parts. First, I will ask a series of 10 questions about the game so far. For each question you get right, I will put a dart in your marked basket next to me. I'll explain the rest of the directions from there. Brandon, you can come up and place your dart in your basket- you get a freebie because of the reward." Brandon dropped his dart in his basket, and rejoined the group. He picked up his pad of paper and marker as Adam began to ask the questions. Will, however, stopped Adam. "I'd rather not play this one," he said. As Will went and sat down next to the baskets, Adam shrugged and began to read the questions. After all ten had been read, he announced the results. "Brandon has the most darts with 11. Corey, Mike, and Missy all have 10 each. Michael and Sean have 9, while Eve and Sue have 8. Will, of course, has none." Will jokingly shook his hands over his head, making the gesture of the champion. "Now comes the second part. Each person will have a target, and you will be allowed to fire darts at any target you wish from any distance- accuracy doesn't really matter in this challenge. The person with the least number of darts will win immunity- and don't forget that you can't fire at Will's target." The Survivors stepped up one at a time and threw darts at each other's targets. Finally, Adam announced the results. "Eve is in last place with 21 darts. Brandon has 11, Sean has 9, and Corey has 8. Mike and Missy tied with 7 apiece, and Michael is in second with 6. Thus, with 4 darts, Sue is the winner of immunity!" Sue stepped up and accepted the necklace, glad to be safe until the next Immunity Challenge. "You can head back to camp now," said Adam. "I'll see you all at tribal council tonight." Back at camp, Eve approached the Melkiy Trio about her 21 darts. "Somebody really has a vendetta against me," she said. Mike, Missy, and Corey all assured her that they had done their best to spread their darts evenly. Aftewards, Eve mumbled, "21 hits-how lovely." When they got back to camp, it was around midday, and the Survivors decided to devote the rest of the afternoon to strategy. Michael, and Sean felt they were the most vulnerable, because they were original Glubokos and hadn't aligned with Melkiy. They approached Sue, and the three of them decided it would be best to vote for Eve once again. Sue also said she would try to convice some of the Melkiys to vote off Eve with them. After the Gluboko chat broke up, Sue asked Mike to go out fishing together. Mike accepted and on the boat the two discussed the impeding tribal council. Sue started out by bluntly asking who was going to go. Mike told her, "we're not sure yet, but it's obviously going to be Michael or Sean." Sue groaned and decided to change the subject immeadiately. She presented Mike with the idea of voting for Eve. She told him, if Eve went, that would be a further guarantee their final 4 alliance would succeed. Mike nodded in understanding and told Sue, "I like your idea, but let me talk to the others." When they got back, Sue immeadiately told Sean and Michael that Mike was going to try to get rid of Eve with them. Meanwhile, Mike had pulled Corey and Missy aside to discuss the vote. He supported the idea of voting for Eve and lobbied for her departure. Missy said she'd go either way, but Corey was adamant that Melkiy should stick together. He knew disaster could ensue if one of their own went. They made a decision and then broke off. Before heading to tribal council, Missy had a brief chat with Will, Sue and Brandon, and Mike talked to Sue. At sundown, the Survivors picked up their torches to head to tribal council. When they arrived, Adam greeted them. "The nine of you are here tonight- and at every tribal council from this point onwards, it is the nine of you who will be present. You may be here as a player, or as a member of our jury." Everyone smiled, despite being extremely nervous. After the usual session of questions, Adam announced that it was time to vote. Sean stepped up first and wrote "EVE" in large letters on his card. "This is for no particular reason," he explained. "Just strategy." Mike, Missy, and Eve voted next, followed by Will. Sue was next. "God help me," she muttered as she wrote a name down on her card. She walked away as Michael approached the voting booth. Once Corey had voted, Brandon approached the final card. Without saying a word, he wrote "MICHAEL" in big letters. When he returned, Adam went to get the voting urn. Once he had returned, he took off the lid. "I'll tally the votes."
"That's two votes apiece for Eve and Michael."
"Four votes for Michael, two votes for Eve. The first member of our jury..."
"Michael, the tribe has spoken." Michael got up, tears in his eyes. He looked angrily at Sue, knowing that she had voted against him. He mumbled "you lied to me"! He waved goodbye to Sean, Missy, and Eve as he left. Adam finished, "It's sad that these three days, which have been a great bonding experience for all of you, have to end like this. You can head back to camp."
NEXT TIME ON SURVIVOR:
A twist rocks the Mai Kai camp.
COREY: "I was stunned!"
A special reward challenge reveals friendships.
EVE: "Why was I not surprised?"