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Having said their goodbyes to Pat, who was medically evacuated last week, the David tribe is feeling low. Then the rains and wind come.
Things are just as bad over at Goliath, except of course, they aren’t missing Pat.
Both tribes are suffering. There are tears and trembling from the cold. Although the weather has by morning, all the wood is damp and no one can start a fire.
Christian and Nick go to gather bamboo and Nick complains that no one is talking strategy to him, which is because they all planned to vote him off before Pat’s unfortunate injury. The two agree to form an alliance, Team Mason-Dixon.
Tree mail arrives, along with a fire-making kit and a tarp for each tribe. A fire is started and everyone is happy, especially Dan, who has food and Kara sleeping next to him at night. Kara is worried that someone is going to find Dan’s hidden immunity idol.
Even though they think they are being careful, the entire Goliath tribe knows about the shomance, and they also know it’s one-sided.
Turns out that Kara was right to be worried about where Dan hid the idol (in a sock in the pocket of his jacket) because Jeremy does some snooping and finds it. He shares the information with Mike.
While Davie is out looking for food, he stumbles across another hidden immunity idol. He’s ready to put it to use.
At Camp David, Carl wants to vote off Lyrsa, who he identifies as the weakest member of the tribe. Elizabeth, who has an alliance with Lyrsa, tells her about it, and she’s pretty angry — angry enough that now she wants to vote Carl out. Apparently, the plan to get rid of Nick has gone by the wayside.
On Goliath, everyone is having fun except Natalie. She’s trying to get people to improve the shelter, but no one is interested. Dan, John and Alec talk about how Natalie is causing problems for herself because she’s so overbearing.
John tells Natalie that she might not be as tight with Dan as she thinks. Unlike Lyrsa at Camp David, Natalie doesn’t keep her mouth shut. She confronts everyone, asking how the senior citizen who doesn’t stand a chance of winning is being considered as the first one to be voted off the tribe, and demanding to know where they stand.
It doesn’t go well. Jeremy decides to tell her that she needs to be more self-aware. She tells him she is and she doesn’t need him defining it for her. Jeremy persists, saying they are both black, he feels a kinship to her and they should watch out for each other. Natalie isn’t hearing a bit of it.
Jeremy says that Natalie has been married for 24 years, so someone loves her the way she is and she’s not going to change. But he’s so frustrated with her that if they lose the Immunity Challenge, he’s leading the drive to get rid of her.
Immunity challenge
Jeff Probst decides to have a little chat before the challenge, telling them that, by the way, the storm they’ve just been through was a cyclone and it might not be over yet. Probst is always so helpful.
The challenge tonight involves retrieving bags of puzzle pieces and then assembling them on wobbling tables split into parts. Winning tribe gets fishing equipment.
The first leg of the challenge involves building a ladder while you’re climbing it. At the top is a key that unlocks the raft. The Goliaths take an early lead. The Davids are hopeless. While Bi is on the tower grabbing the puzzle pieces, the raft — with her teammates on it — drifts away.
The Davids make it back with the pieces, but they can’t figure out the puzzle or how to balance the tables. As a result, they keep dumping the few pieces they put in place.
Meanwhile, the Goliaths are working together like a machine, and they win immunity again. While the Goliaths walk away with all the fishing gear, the Davids walk away with a big pile of nothing.
At Camp David, the tribe speaks of the Goliath tribe as if they are invincible. Bi tries to give them a pep talk, but it doesn’t do much good.
Gabby is worried that if they vote off the weakest link, it could be her. Lyrsa is worried it’s her. Lyrsa and Elizabeth focus on Jessica, who they see as a threat because of her friendships with Bi and Jeremy. They pull in Gabby, who is happy to vote for anyone who isn’t her.
To bolster numbers, Gabby starts working some magic on Christian. “Do you want to play with me?” Gabby asks him.
“Play with you? In the sand?” Christian asks.
“No, in the game,” Gabby says, eyes downcast and focused on the doodles she is making in the sand. “Will you protect me?”
Hook, line and sinker.
Christian clues Nick in and the Mason-Dixon alliance is on the “vote out Jessica” bandwagon. For those keeping score, that’s five votes and that’s all it takes in a 9-person tribe. On the other hand, this is “Survivor” and you never know what’s going to happen.
Tribal council
Probst asks for a recap of how they’re doing. Lyrsa says it’s been horrible. Bi says it was brutal and she just tried to hold on to her mental health. They all think the storm helped them bond into a family — a family that is going to vote each other off.
Jessica says if you’re waiting until Tribal Council to start playing, it’s way too late. Bi says her vote is simple, based on how people perform at challenges. Christian says they all have opinions on how to play the game, but the votes have been lined up.
Jessica says everyone is nervous, but it’s sort of exhilarating. Christian says it’s like riding a roller coaster. If you know it’s safe and you’re not going to get hurt, it’s not as thrilling. But if you know you could fall and die at any second, it makes it interesting. Then it’s time to vote.
The first vote is for Lyrsa, then one for Jessica, who raises a startled eyebrow. Another vote for each, and then Lyrsa gets the next two. Jessica looks supremely smug, until the next three votes fall her way. Oops,Jessica’s roller coaster just jumped the rails.
Next time: Carl is feeling lonesome, Gabby and Christian strengthen their nerd alliance, and Jeremy and Natalie clash.