Survivor: Last Resort 2.6 - New Zealand Episode 6

Survivor: Last Resort 2.5 - New Zealand Episode 5
Writer: Chad Taylor

The morning after Bobby’s shock elimination, Jeff gathers the Tasman and Maori tribes together on the beach. He tells them to drop their buffs - they are merging tribes. In confessional, Earl smiles and says “let the games begin”.

The tribe arrives at their new camp and get to know each other. Jill notes in confessional that it is not lost on her that they are evenly split between their previous tribal lines. Thus, it’s going to be an intense next few days. Naturally, the two Ricks start to bond (along with Earl, the other older man). The three of them have overlaps in life experience that they enjoy talking about. As a working class man, Rick does not mesh well with Karin - which unsurprisingly gains the approval of Rick Bradley. Surprisingly, one person Karin does bond with is Sage - the oldest and youngest tribemates and two true opposites.

As they start to build their camp, there is subtle gameplay that is already happening under the surface. As Jill had done earlier, almost everyone recognizes that there has to be a defector or else they will tie 5-5 and this will lead to a random draw for who is eliminated. As a result, people are sticking with their old tribemates (even if they don’t like them), while also trying to pull in one or two from the other side.

The ten of them convene with Jeff for the first individual immunity challenge. Jeff displays a series of symbols to the castaways; they have to then recreate the sequence from memory. If a castaway chooses an incorrect symbol, they would be eliminated. The last castaway remaining would win immunity. The order of elimination goes as follows: Bradley, Karin, Alexandra, Sage, Rick, Kenny, Jill, Earl. This leaves the final 2 between two good friends, Amanita and Vinolia. Amanita wins the last challenge, winning the first individual immunity!

Back at camp, the doors are blown wide open as multiple simultaneous chess moves are being made. Jill tells Alexandra that she is confident that the five of them will stick together, plus Bradley and Earl might be able to pull in Rick. In their own conversation, Bradley and Earl - who have never really been close allies - echo similar sentiments. As far as targets go, they are worried about the clear duo of Amanita and Vinolia, who just dominated that mental challenge. Thus, Vinolia is an easy target because her competition performance merits the targeting and doesn’t burn the bridges of potential allies down the line (outside of Amanita).

However, they have lost track of Karin, who is talking to the other side (Sage and Kenny, in particular). Sage tells Amanita and Vinolia that she thinks they can get Karin on their side if they vote for Bradley, someone she has apparently clashed with in the past. Amanita says that is very doable, especially since he seems like he could be a physical threat. They relay this information to Rick, who they are unaware has been having conversations with the other side. In confessional, Rick voices his displeasure with his former tribemates for the Bobby blindside. He debates whether he should tell Bradley and Earl about Amanita’s plans. He hums “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and smiles.

They meet up with Jeff for the first post-merge Tribal Council. The first topic is how everyone is getting along with the other tribe and everyone says that they have meshed well. Getting to observe the tribal council earlier in the season gave good insight into who the others are. In talking about this, things soon turn to the way that the tribes have been split evenly 50/50. Sage says that this has caused the game to go pedal-to-the-metal as everyone knows someone needs to flip to get someone out this week. Alexandra agrees and says that no one wants a tie because they put their lives on the line as a result. Jeff asks how they are determining who to vote for and they say that it is hard to vote on gameplay since they don’t fully know each other yet. So a big aspect is challenge-ability.

Jeff tells them it is time to vote. After they have voted, he says that if anyone has a Hidden Immunity Idol, now would be the time to play it. Jill does not play hers. He’ll read the votes.

First vote...Vinolia

….Vinolia

….Bradley

…..Bradley

Two votes Vinolia, Two votes Bradley

….Vinolia

….Bradley

….Bradley

……..Vinolia

Four votes Vinolia, Four votes Bradley, Two votes left

…..Vinolia
……..Bradley

There is a tie. Jeff says that they will do another round of voting, without Bradley and Vinolia (those will be the two options). If they tie again, then they will draw rocks and the person who draws the purple rock will be going home. They vote again.

….Bradley

…..Vinolia

…..Bradley

…..Vinolia

….Bradley

…...Vinolia

…….The seventh person voted out of Survivor: Last Resort - New Zealand...Vinolia. The tribe has spoken. Everyone is looking around each other, trying to find out who voted how. Kenny looks disappointingly towards Karin.

In her post-show confessional, Vinolia is frustrated but says that the circumstances were against her. She performed well in the challenge but not well enough to win (not that she is mad that Amanita did). And losing in a tiebreaker situation also lessens the blow. She will be rooting for Amanita and Sage to win.

First vote:
Bradley: Amanita, Vinolia, Kenny, Sage, Karin
Vinolia: Jill, Alexandra, Bradley, Earl, Rick

Second vote:
Bradley: Amanita, Kenny, Sage
Vinolia: Jill, Alexandra, Earl, Rick, Karin