…
Episode 9
The Mine Five
Previously on… Survivor…
Alice was furious over her cousin Erina seemingly taking over the game…
"What the #$*% were you guys thinking?" Alice complains to Utena. "Do you really want my cousin to win the game that bad?"
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Utena replies.
While Jet Black took back his role as host…
"I thought you got the coronavirus!" Aqua exclaims.
"I had a health scare, but I'm all right," Jet says. "I didn't actually ever have COVID-19. However, I do recommend wearing a mask, like I am right now."
At the Survivor Auction, Erina won an advantage in the next immunity challenge, and she'd go on to win it. Chaos ensued at Tribal Council…
"No!" Ais says. "I'm telling you, we've got to play it safe! Hestia!"
"Guys, we've got to come up with something," Utena says.
"It's Alice, and that's final," Erina says.
In the end, Erina got her way, and her cousin Alice was sent to the house. Nine are left. Who will be voted out tonight?
Day 25
Covid Tribe
(Ais, Aqua, Chiyo, Darkness, Erina, Hestia, Mine, Tomo, Utena)
Upon getting back to camp, Mine and Ais are very thankful to Utena.
"You saved her," Ais says. "And I'm not going to forget it. I'm not about to turn on you because you made a move that benefits your chances at winning. You deserve a ton of credit, and I'm going to support you."
"Same," Mine says. "That was a ballsy move."
"Thanks," Utena says.
"Ais and Mine are very close, and when I saved Mine, I sort of saved Ais too," Utena says. "But my move wasn't made just to support their romance. My move was strategic, to get out a mastermind in Alice Nakiri, while keeping my alliance in the majority. Hopefully Ais and Mine will remember this if they're on the jury and I'm in the Final Three. Moreover, making a big move like that will win me jury votes."
That day, Erina, Mine, Ais, Utena, and Chiyo all talk about their next move, sitting six feet apart from each other in a circle.
"We have the numbers now," Ais says. "What we've got to do is make sure that no one from the other four has an idol."
"Even if they do, I have this Idol Nullifier," Chiyo says. "I can use it on one of them if we think they have an idol."
"I don't think there's anything to worry about," Mine says. "The chances of those dimwits having an idol are slim to none. We'd be better off saving that until we get down to the Final Six. Then we ensure ourselves of surviving instead of playing a game of Survivor Russian Roulette."
"Shouldn't we make sure, though?" Utena wonders. "If we get too confident, we run the risk of becoming overconfident and then getting blindsided."
"Nonsense," Mine says. "You're thinking too short-sighted. We need to think long -term here. Do you want us cannibalizing each other at the Final Six or Seven because the others have idols?"
"No…" Utena says.
"There's no chance all four of them have an idol," Ais says. "We use the next three days to force their hand and find out if any of them has one, then we vote for the one we feel doesn't have one. Mine is right about it."
"That's right," Mine says. "This is all about long-term goals over short-term ones. I'd gladly risk getting idoled out if it means a better chance at winning this game."
Utena looks nervously over to Chiyo.
"We'll all follow Mine's lead!" Chiyo exclaims. "We're no longer ACME, now that Utena has joined us. We're the Mine Five!"
"Like, whatever," Erina says. "As long as it isn't me going home, I couldn't care less."
"I know exactly what I'm doing here," Mine says. "Yes, I want to protect Ais. But both of us have idols, and we're waiting until the last second to use them. The last time we can use them is the Final Five. That's when Erina, Utena, and Chiyo-chan would band together to get us out. So, we wait on using them until then. I'm thinking super long-term here. Not short-term like Utena is."
"I think Mine is overconfident," Utena says. "She's risking all of our lives in this game on the idea that there's no chance of our opponents having an idol. But what if they do? Are we really ready to risk everything on a whim? It just doesn't make sense to take that chance, especially not now."
However, Erina is still upset over Chiyo's exit from Tribal Council the previous night.
"You were a coward, getting up and leaving Tribal like that," Erina says. "You were only thinking about yourself."
"I'm sorry," Chiyo says. "I just had to do what was right for my game."
"Yeah, and that 'right' move would have sent home one of us," Erina says. "You need to be one hundred percent on board with us. Long-term over short-term, like Mine says."
"I understand," Chiyo says. "I'm going to be loyal to you guys to the end."
"Chiyo-chan exited Tribal last night in a situation where if Utena doesn't pull out the Superidol, then Mine goes home, our alliance is doomed, there's no Mine Five anymore. Then we get picked off one by one. I can't believe she allowed that to even become a possibility. I don't fully trust her, but I have to hope she doesn't do something similar again. Because if she does, we're like totally screwed."
"I really screwed over Erina and the others in the Mine Five by going home early last night," Chiyo says. "But I'm still here, and so are all of them. Erina can't stay mad at me forever, because ultimately I'm the one keeping her in this game. We have to all band together as one, even if we have to social distance from each other."
Reward Challenge
(Covid)
"Come on in, girls!"
The nine remaining players enter the reward challenge area.
"You girls ready to get to today's reward challenge?" Jet asks.
"Yeah!" Aqua yells.
"First things first, I want to tell Erina, that you ARE Best Girl, and as a result, you win a bonus $10,000," Jet states.
Erina simply crosses her arms. "Like, whatever," she says.
"Now, let's get to today's reward challenge. For today's challenge, you will be split up into three groups of three. On my go, you will swim out to a platform, where you will have to dive underwater to retrieve a ring. Once all three of you have retrieved your rings, each of you will then toss them onto a post located behind the platform. First two teams to land all three rings, win reward. Want to know what you're playing for?"
"Of course!" Tomo shouts.
"At this point in the game, there's nothing more valuable than these," Jet says, rubbing a couple of Fire Tokens between his fingers. "First group to finish, wins two Fire Tokens each. Second group to finish, wins one Fire Token each. Final group, nothing. Worth playing for?"
"Sure, why not?" Darkness says.
"We'll draw for teams, then get started."
The players draw for teams, and they separate into their three groups. In one group is Mine, Ais, and Tomo. The second group is Hestia, Darkness, and Utena. The final group is Chiyo, Erina, and Aqua.
"We have our three groups!" Jet shouts. "For reward! Survivors ready? Go!"
Mine, Hestia, and Chiyo head out into the water. They swim toward the platform, with Mine taking a lead, and Chiyo falling behind because she is so poor at swimming.
"Chiyo-chan!" Aqua calls. "Do you need a life preserver?"
Chiyo takes a gasp of air. "I'll be fine!" she responds.
Chiyo gets to the platform after the other two, who have already dived underwater to find their rings. Chiyo takes a big breath, then makes her dive. Hestia comes up first with her ring, and Mine is only a couple seconds behind. Chiyo finally comes up with hers, a whole thirty seconds after the others.
"Next ones out!" Jet shouts.
Darkness is the first one out, with Ais very close behind her. Erina goes out after Chiyo is on the platform, nearly a minute behind the other two. Darkness gains even more time, swimming effectively and quickly. She gets out to the platform first, then goes underwater to get her ring. However, she stays underwater longer than the other two, while Ais and Erina are able to make up the ground on her to retrieve their rings first. Finally, Darkness comes up for air.
"What the heck is going on here?" Hestia says, as Darkness climbs on to the platform.
"Oh, I was just…" Darkness says, as her face turns red. "I was enjoying suffocating!"
Hestia facepalms, while Erina laughs.
"Last ones out!" Jet yells.
With a lead, Tomo and Aqua both flail in the water as they try to swim across. They both give away that lead, as Utena catches up quite quickly. Utena is the first one to dive under to get her ring, while Tomo and Aqua continue to struggle.
"Come on, don't you know how to swim?" Hestia complains.
Utena comes up with the third ring, while Tomo and Aqua dive underwater.
"Start tossing those rings!" Jet exclaims. "If you miss, you've got to have someone swim out and retrieve them!"
Tomo and Aqua come up with their final rings, and the tossing begins.
"Utena connects on the first throw! That's one for her team!"
Utena reaches for the next ring, but Jet quickly corrects her.
"No, Utena," Jet says. "You can't throw them all for your team. Instead, all three of you must land one."
"Okay," Utena says, as she hands the ring over to Darkness.
Aqua takes a wild shot, and her attempt is so far off that it ends up landing on Utena's target.
"Hey, does that count?" Hestia wonders.
"Not this time," Jet says. "But Aqua's got to go get it and bring it back for her team."
"But they'll hit me by throwing their rings!" Aqua protests.
"Too bad," Jet replies.
Aqua swims out to grab her ring, just as Darkness's toss comes flying down to the target. She ducks to successfully avoid getting hit, and she heads back to the platform.
"That's two for Utena's team! All that's left is Hestia!"
Meanwhile, Ais throws her ring, and she lands it on the target.
"That's one for Ais's team! Remember, we will have a first and second place!"
Hestia lines up and aims her ring. She then tosses it toward the target.
"Hestia…
…
…
…
"…hits it! And her team wins reward!"
Hestia is about to hug Darkness, when Jet calls her out on it.
"Remember, social distancing," Jet says.
"But we're out here on this platform next to each other!" Hestia protests.
"Get that buff over your nose and mouth," Jet adds.
As this is going on, Mine lands the second ring for her team.
"Mine's team is just one away! All they need is Tomo to land one!"
"Fat chance that's going to happen," Mine whines.
Aqua finally gets lucky on a throw, and she lands her first ring.
"Aqua's got one! Now it's up to Erina and Chiyo-chan to catch up!"
Erina grabs a ring and throws it as fast as she can, not taking the time to aim it.
"Erina hoping to land one quickly… and she does! It's down to Tomo vs. Chiyo-chan!"
But before Chiyo can get away a throw, Tomo throws the ring sky high. With an enormous amount of luck, the ring splashes down right on the target.
"And that's it! Tomo's team wins reward!"
Tomo gives air high-fives to Mine and Ais. All the players then swim back to shore.
"Congratulations, Hestia, Darkness, and Utena. You get two Fire Tokens each."
Jet doles out the Tokens to the winning players.
"And congrats to you too, Mine, Ais, and Tomo. You get one Fire Token each."
He passes out the remaining Tokens.
"As for Chiyo-chan, Erina, and Aqua – I got nothing for you. You can head on back to camp, I'll see you soon enough for the next immunity challenge."
The players head on out.
"I'm not sure what to buy with these Fire Tokens," Ais says. "Mine and I have a bunch, but we've already bought idols. We don't have enough for the Superidol, though. It's too bad we can't put them in a bank. We could use the interest."
Covid Tribe
(Ais, Aqua, Chiyo, Darkness, Erina, Hestia, Mine, Utena)
Hestia, Darkness, and Aqua– now in the minority alliance – try to figure out what they are going to do now that the Mine Five has the upper hand.
"We're screwed," Aqua says. "Time to give up!"
"Oh, come on," Darkness says. "We have hope. Don't you have an idol?"
"Who cares about the idol?" Aqua replies. "I just want to give up because I'm not getting to drink that wine tonight!"
Darkness and Hestia facepalm.
"You do realize…" Hestia says. "We all have idols now, thanks to Alice dropping that idol and Aqua picking it up. We can all use one, and the only way we go home is if someone has an Idol Nullifier."
"Surely no one's purchased one of those," Aqua says.
"But what if they have?" Darkness wonders. "What would we do in that case?"
"I've got an idea," Hestia says. "Could one of you give me a Fire Token? I'll pay it back in due time."
Darkness shrugs her shoulders. "Sure, why not?" she says. "Here's one."
She hands over a Fire Token to Hestia.
"Now, I'm going to buy a Superidol," Hestia says. "Here, producers!"
Producers and camera people come walking over, as does Tomo.
"There you are!" Aqua exclaims. "Where the #$*% have you been, Tomo?"
"Oh, just filling up my stomach on some turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, crescent rolls, John LaFoots…"
"Okay, that's enough," Hestia says. "You're going to make us all hungry, and those hunger pangs aren't any fun."
"Maybe for you…" Darkness says, putting her hands on her now-red cheeks.
"Anyway," Hestia says. "Here are fifteen Fire Tokens. I want the Superidol."
A producer hands over Keroberos to Hestia, along with a note.
"Congratulations, you have the Superidol, Keroberos," Hestia reads. "With this Superidol, you can play it after the votes are read to cancel out all votes against any one player. This Superidol must be used before Jet snuffs out the torch. The Superidol cannot be bought by another player until it is used at Tribal Council."
Hestia then squeezes Keroberos in between her giant breasts.
"Oh, this is wonderful!" Hestia says. "I'm going to shock the world by pulling this out next Tribal Council. But I'm not going to sit on my laurels. I'm going to work to break up that Mine Five. If I can break them down to three against two, then us four will have the advantage, and I won't even need to use the Superidol. The possibilities are endless!"
Day 26
Covid Tribe
(Ais, Aqua, Chiyo, Darkness, Erina, Hestia, Mine, Tomo, Utena)
Tomo is going mad that morning, causing trouble for everyone else.
"What the #*$% is wrong with you?" Erina asks.
"I'm starving!" she shouts. "The producers kicked me out of camera camp and said I have to now play the game like everybody else. That's so unfair!"
"Just shut up!" Mine yells. "We all have to suffer with little food. Just go eat some rice!"
"No, I don't like rice!" Tomo complains.
"Shut up and eat!" Mine shouts.
She grabs some rice in a shell, then pulls down Tomo's buff from over her face. She then opens Tomo's mouth and stuffs the rice in.
"Now chew!"
Tomo begins to cry as she chews. "This is so bland…" she cries. "I can't believe they're making me do this…"
Ais pulls Mine aside. "I think you should leave her alone," she says.
"Why?" Mine asks.
"Well, look."
Tomo starts coughing like crazy, and the other girls back away from her immediately.
"If you've got that virus, I suggest you quit immediately!" Hestia shouts.
"Nonsense!" Tomo replies. "I was just trying to scare the rest of you."
Mine looks furious. "I'll give you something to be scared of," she says.
She grabs a coconut and hands it to Tomo. "This is a coconut. And before we're through, we're gonna run it down your throat, if you don't start acting sane. Start slicing that thing open."
Tomo grabs the machete, and begins slicing.
"Now, drink the coconut juice, and shut the *$#% up," Mine says.
"Mine is so mean!" Tomo says. "Forcing me to eat this bland and uninteresting food… it's not right! The stupid producers won't let me goof off any longer, and that absolutely sucks! I may actually have to start thinking strategically. That's so unfair!"
"I'm seriously thinking about voting out Tomo," Mine says. "Whether she has an idol or not, I don't know. But she is annoying the %$*# out of me, and as a result, she's got to go home soon."
That afternoon, Hestia is trying to get Tomo to act sane enough to talk strategy.
"Look, it's us four against their five," Hestia says.
"There are four lights!" Tomo shouts. "Not five!"
Hestia rolls her eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"We should call our alliance the 'Four Lights'!" Tomo exclaims.
Hestia shakes her head, but Darkness and Aqua give a thumbs up.
"Fine, then, we're the Four Lights Alliance," Hestia says. "We all have idols. I have a Superidol. We just have to play them right. Who are we going after?"
"I would suggest to go after Erina," Aqua says. "She's got way too much power in this game. Right now she's dominating everyone else."
"She is?" Darkness says, as she puts her hands on her now-red cheeks. "In that case, I want more!"
Hestia facepalms. "Whatevs," she says. "We might be better off with someone else, though. I'm thinking Ais."
"And why Ais?" Aqua asks.
"Because I know Ais," Hestia says. "She's the type of person who could win this thing. We've got to get her out now. I don't want to be sitting next to her hoping to win a million dollars. She'll beat the tar out of me, or even one of you."
"Oh, please let it be me!" Darkness exclaims.
"I'm not exactly sure who's playing this game and who isn't," Hestia says. "But if half the people remaining in the game aren't going to play Survivor, that opens things up to someone like me who actually is playing the game. Alice is gone. She was a real player. The goal is to keep eliminating actual players. If I'm not mistaken, the only real players left in the game are Chiyo-chan, Ais, Utena, and myself. The rest are either insane or angry all the time. I've got to get rid of the real players so I can sit next to two crazies at the Final Tribal Council."
Later in the day, the Mine Five gather together to try to figure things out.
"Do you think Hestia has an idol?" Utena wonders.
"I don't know," Ais says. "How about Darkness? Does she have one?"
"What if they all have idols?" Chiyo offers.
Everyone gives Chiyo a blank stare.
"I'm serious," she says. "If all four of them have idols, then I've got to use my Idol Nullifier to cancel out someone's idol."
"But then who do we vote out?" Ais asks.
"I'm getting awfully sick of Tomo," Mine says. "I think we should go after her now. Get that insanity away from me as quickly as possible."
"But that's not the right strategic move!" Chiyo says. "We need to go after someone strong, like Darkness."
"Oh, whatever!" Erina says. "As long as it's not me, that's literally all I care about."
"This is going to turn into a test of wills," Ais says. "Chiyo-chan is thinking with her brain, while Mine is thinking with her heart. Who are we going to vote for? We may not even know until the very last second."
That evening, Utena and Chiyo are talking together, just the two of them.
"I like you, Chiyo-chan," Utena says. "And you're the only one out here thinking with your brain instead of your heart, or even worse, your stomach. That's why I want to know what you think is going to go down at this next Tribal Council."
"I like you too, Utena," Chiyo says. "I can't tell you what's going to go down for sure, but here's my best guess. Whoever we vote for, we play the Idol Nullifier on. My pick would be Darkness because she's such a big physical threat. We put in five votes for Darkness and play the Idol Nullifier on her. Then she goes home. And after that…"
"Hold on, hold on," Utena says. "What if there's another Superidol?"
"What do you mean?" Chiyo asks.
"If someone's holding that Superidol, they could potentially pull off a blindside," Utena says. "We may survive one vote, but not two."
"Oh, I see what you mean!" Chiyo exclaims. "We vote out Darkness, but next Tribal Council someone pulls out the Superidol and we're totally screwed. I get it!"
"Which is why I think we need to…" Utena says.
"…leave the Mine Five!" Chiyo exclaims.
"Exactly," Utena says. "Mine, Ais, and Erina are not thinking rationally or strategically. If we follow their lead, one of us two is going to get blindsided."
"So, we team up with the other four, and then split the votes three and three on two of the old Mine Five," Chiyo says.
"Right," Utena says. "It could be three votes on Mine and three votes on Erina. Or three votes on Ais and three votes on Mine."
"Let's think really hard on who we want to vote out," Chiyo says. "Erina is arrogant, Mine is mean, and Ais is the glue that holds them together. We've got to figure this out."
"Plus, we've got to let the other alliance know that we've split off from this Mine Five – without Erina, Mine, or Ais knowing," Utena says.
"How about this?" Chiyo says. "You fill in the other alliance since you were friends with Aqua and Darkness. Then I'll calculate things out and figure out who we need to vote for."
"That makes sense," Utena says. "Now let's split up before someone sees us."
Day 27
Covid Tribe
(Ais, Aqua, Chiyo, Darkness, Erina, Hestia, Mine, Utena)
"Where the *#$% is Tomo?"
Mine sounds very annoyed as the players wake up for their breakfast of coconuts, served by Erina.
"She said she was off to see the producers again," Hestia says. "There's not much we can do about it."
"That little #$*%&!" Mine says. "It's no fair that she's off having all these rich and creamy foods while we're out here doing the Daniel Diet."
"Daniel Diet?" Ais asks.
"Yeah, from the Daniel Plan from a famous megachurch pastor," Mine says.
"Never mind that," Erina says. "Just enjoy your coconuts and go away!"
"This tribe is, like, totally pissing me off," Erina says. "I'm ready to break off from this Mine Five. I don't like Mine, and I don't like Ais. Those two lesbian lovers are sharing open-mouthed kisses while the rest of us have to mask up due to the virus!"
That afternoon, Utena and Chiyo are trying to talk to Darkness, Aqua, and Hestia about their plan.
"We want to break out of the Mine Five," Chiyo says. "We want to join up with you guys."
"But why?" Hestia wonders. "Utena, you used a Superidol to defend Mine. Why turn on her now?"
"It would be the perfect time to blindside one of them," Utena says. "We're double agents. Our goal is to win this game, not just finish second."
"And our best chance is if we're able to split up Mine and Ais," Chiyo says.
Darkness nods her head. "I'm in," she says.
"You really believe them?" Aqua asks. "I think they're just trying to siphon off votes to someone they know has an idol."
"Honestly, we aren't," Utena says. "You can trust us on this."
"I'm not sure…" Aqua says.
Utena then pulls two Fire Tokens out of her pocket. "This is all we've got."
"Awesome!" Aqua says, grabbing both Tokens out of Utena's hand. "Producers! Come get me some wine!"
Hestia shakes her head while smiling. "If we're going to do this, then you've got to give us a name."
"How about two names?" Chiyo says.
"Two?"
"Yeah, we'll split the votes. Hestia, you vote with Utena and me. Aqua and Darkness, you vote with Tomo."
"I'm afraid she hasn't come back," Darkness says.
"You'll have to get her at Tribal," Utena says. "Just make sure she makes the right vote."
"Okay, this makes sense," Hestia says. "But one thing to consider: do they have idols?"
Chiyo pulls the Idol Nullifier out of her pocket. "I have this!" she says.
Hestia immediately glomps Chiyo. "Chiyo-chan, you're a genius!"
Chiyo smiles. "I get that a lot."
"Hey! Social distancing!"
The five girls look over to see Tomo, having returned to camp.
"Tomo, we've got to fill you in on this," Hestia says.
"Cut the chat," Tomo says. "Producers told me that it's immunity challenge time. Let's get going."
"But what about-"
"It's Jet's orders!"
Immunity Challenge
(Covid)
"Come on in, girls!"
The nine remaining girls waltz into the immunity challenge area.
"You girls ready to get to today's immunity challenge?"
"Yeah!" Aqua shouts.
"First things first, I will take it back. Sit!"
Erina goes flopping to the ground, causing everyone else to laugh hysterically.
"Looks like the chef has spilled her food!" Tomo says.
"Or maybe she's… cooked!" Aqua says.
"Like, whatever!" Erina says, tossing the Immunity Beads of Subjugation over to Jet.
Jet grins. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. Today, it's the return of that venerable series. The good old challenge where you have one hand chained to a bucket over you. If you lose focus for even a second and drop your hand, you will get splashed by the colored water in the bucket, and you will be out of the challenge. Last one remaining, wins immunity, guaranteed a one-in-eight shot at winning this game. Losers, Tribal Council, where after 27 grueling, tough days, someone will be the tenth person voted out of this game. We'll draw for spots, then get started."
The nine players all get chained to their buckets.
"This challenge is underway."
Only seconds into the challenge, Aqua yawns, then reaches down to scratch an itch. She gets pelted with blue water.
"Just like that, Aqua is out!"
Aqua begins to cry. "This water is too cold! Now I'm soaking wet!"
"Oh, put a sock in it," Mine says. "You're just a big cry-"
As Mine says this, she loses concentration, and she pulls down the bucket on herself. Purple water spills all over her.
"And just like that, Mine is out!"
Erina looks over at Darkness, hoping to get her to crack.
"Hey Darkness," she says. "You're, like, really enjoying this pain, aren't you?"
Darkness responds in a hushed voice. "Quiet," she says. "You wouldn't want anyone interrupting you when you're…"
"Okay, that's enough," Hestia says. "We don't need to hear about your fan-"
And Hestia makes the same mistake as Mine before her. She spills down white water on herself, and she walks away in frustration.
"And we are down to six!"
Tomo suddenly drops her hand, and she gets spilled with red water.
"I don't need it anyway!" she says. "I'm a CBS plant, after all!"
"And now we're down to five!" Jet shouts.
The five players remaining all stand perfectly still, save for Darkness, who is enjoying this too much. After about fifteen minutes, Jet gets restless.
"This isn't fun if no one's dropping," Jet says. "So, I've brought out this TV."
He pushes the TV out on a cart, then touches a button on a remote control.
"This TV will play various scenes that ought to get a reaction out of you."
The first clip played on the TV is a scene from the movie Caddyshack.
"Noonan! Noonan! Noonan! Miss it! Miss it! Noonan!"
Ais laughs. "You're going to have to do better than that!"
"Next clip," Jet says.
The screen turns dark, then a mysterious scene over a desert appears, with heavy organ music and only one lyric: "Koyaanisqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi. Koyannisqatsi."
Chiyo shakes her head. "Already seen it," she says. "One of the best films ever, but not going to trip me up."
Jet switches to the next clip, a music video.
"Take my revolution!" the song says.
Utena immediately reacts, her arm jerking, and her bucket of water spilling pink water all over her.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Utena complains.
"We put these clips in random order," Jet states. "Here's the next one."
"Welcome to 'Cooking with Soma'! Today, I'm going to teach you how to make Eggs Benedict… the right way!"
"You little…" Erina yells.
She yanks down her bucket to get splashed by orange water. She then rushes over to the TV and makes some hand gestures to it.
"What are you doing?" Ais asks.
"I'm wringing Soma's neck!" Erina replies.
Ais starts to laugh, and as she does, she brings down her bucket upon her head, splashing her with yellow water.
"And now we are down to two," Jet says. "Chiyo-chan vs. Darkness."
He pushes a button on the remote control and turns off the TV.
"The rest of the way, you'll have to outlast your opponent without any help," Jet states.
Another fifteen minutes go by, without either player talking or even looking at each other.
"You've been up there for over half an hour," Jet states. "At some point, one of you is going to give in."
Both players are feeling pain in their arms, but Darkness is enjoying the pain, and Chiyo is not. Finally, Chiyo gives in and drops her arm, splashing herself with green water.
"And that's it! Darkness… wins immunity!"
Darkness brings down her bucket, with yellow water coming down on her. "Oh, the pain!" she shouts. "I revel in it!"
"Congratulations, Darkness, this is for you."
Jet puts the Immunity Beads of Subjugation around Darkness's neck.
"You are safe at tonight's Tribal Council. As for the rest of you, after 27 grueling days, one of you will be sent to the house. You've got tonight to figure out who that's gonna be. Head on out; I'll see you for Tribal."
The players walk out back to camp, with Darkness beaming.
"It is so important to have immunity," Darkness says. "That way, I can't be hurt by anyone else's votes… Wait a minute, I don't mind being hurt!"
Covid Tribe
(Ais, Aqua, Chiyo, Darkness, Erina, Hestia, Mine, Tomo, Utena)
On the way back to camp, Chiyo whispers to Utena.
"I'll figure things out with the Mine Five," she says. "You figure things out with the Four Lights."
"Sure," Utena says. "But wouldn't it be bad if I get seen with them?"
"I'll just tell them that you're trying to figure out which one of them has an idol," Chiyo says.
"Okay," Utena replies. "Makes sense."
When the players come back to camp, Chiyo and Utena carry out their plan. Chiyo discusses the voting plan with Erina, Mine, and Ais.
"Who are we voting out?" Ais asks.
"It depends on who has an idol," Chiyo says. "I sent Utena out on a recon mission. She's figuring out who has one amongst the Four Lights right now."
"I think it should be that Tomo," Mine says. "There's no way she has an idol. She's too stupid to find one."
"Whatever," Erina says. "I think the game is rigged, like the U.S. presidential election. The producers may be feeding idols to Tomo."
"I think we'd be better off using Chiyo-chan's Idol Nullifier," Ais says. "That way, we don't have to worry about who has an idol."
"Wouldn't it be nice if I didn't have to use it tonight, though?" Chiyo says.
"I think we can't take any chances," Ais says.
"Chiyo-chan seems a little off to me," Ais says. "Like she might be a double agent. She's really smart, so I believe she could pull it off pretty easily. I may have to play my idol after all."
Utena, meanwhile, is trying to figure things out with the Four Lights alliance.
"This has got to be on the lowdown," she tells Darkness. "If I get caught with your alliance, the gig is up."
"I understand," Darkness says.
"Let's do this!" Aqua says.
"So, I'm with you and Chiyo-chan," Hestia says. "And the other three are a different vote."
"That's right," Utena says.
"I'm trying to be a double agent," Utena says. "I'm part of this Mine Five thing while also trying to play with the Four Lights alliance. Chiyo-chan and I could go either way. One thing's for sure: there are going to be some angry people after this vote."
Tribal Council
(Covid)
The nine remaining players walk into the Tribal Council area with their torches ablaze.
"We now bring in the members of our jury," Jet states. "Anthy, Mio, and, voted out last Tribal Council, Alice Nakiri."
The three jury members march in, with Alice wearing a scowl on her face.
"Let's get to it," Jet says. "By a show of hands, how many people here are worried about someone else having an advantage of some sort?"
Seven players raise their heads. Only Aqua and Tomo hold out.
"Okay, Tomo, I can understand not being worried," Jet says. "After all, she's a CBS plant and she's only around for good ratings. But what about you, Aqua?"
"Yeah, all I really want is another bottle of wine," Aqua says. "Who cares about idols?"
Jet chuckles. "As for the rest of you, what kind of advantages do you think are out there?"
"Idols, obviously," Erina says. "Like, why even ask?"
"Also, Idol Nullifiers," Ais says.
"And don't forget the Superidol," Utena says. "I used it last time, and it may be back in someone else's possession."
"Who knows, there could be a twist that none of us know about," Hestia says.
Jet smirks. "So, let me guess, there's utter paranoia going on at camp."
"Not really," Mine says. "Everyone knows where they stand."
"Oh?" Jet says. "And how would that be?"
"There's the Mine Five, and then there's the Four Lights," Chiyo says. "There are two alliances going head-to-head."
"And who's in which?" Jet asks.
"It's Chiyo-chan, Erina, Mine, Ais, and myself as this Mine Five," Utena explains. "Hestia, Tomo, Aqua, and Darkness make up the Four Lights."
"Looks pretty hopeless for your cause, Hestia, doesn't it?" Jet asks.
"We'll see about that," Hestia replies. "What if we've all got idols? Then what are they going to do?"
"Good question," Jet says. "What will you do, Mine?"
"Hey, don't ask me," Mine says. "I'm just dead set on getting out Tomo."
Jet looks taken aback. "Really?" he says. "You're making your intentions that clear?"
"That's right," Mine says. "I've had enough of Tomo's antics. It's time for her to go."
"Tomo, what do you think about that?" Jet asks.
"Why should I care?" Tomo says. "I'll just ask the producers to do a vote dump. Bring in all these votes way after Tribal Council, all marked for Biden. Only in this case, they'll cross out Biden and put in Mine. Then the Supreme Court will step in and make Mine go home."
Mine shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Too many advantages. Just like there are too many guns."
"Ais," Jet says, "how many advantages do you think are in the game right now?"
"I'd say about twenty guns," Ais says. "Or, I mean, advantages. There are Fire Tokens flying back and forth. We have no clue what's going to go down in this vote."
"I agree," Erina says. "Let's just get to it, like, now."
"Is everyone ready?" Jet asks. "Usually we'd have people breaking off into huddles. Are we not going to do that this time?"
Darkness sighs. "Fine, we'll do it."
She huddles together Aqua, Hestia, and Tomo. They go over their options. Mine looks over at Ais and Erina and begins mouthing names. Utena and Chiyo look at each other with a bit of panic, before nodding their heads at each other. Darkness then breaks up the huddle.
"Okay, we're ready now," she states.
"Very well then," Jet says. "Darkness has the Immunity Beads of Subjugation, so you cannot vote for her. Joe Biden has Donald Trump as his opponent, so you cannot vote for him either. You must vote for Trump, or he will get the military out and enforce martial law in order for him to stay in office. It is… time to vote. Ais, you're up first."
The Tribal Council theme "Tally the Vote" plays as the contestants go to vote.
Ais goes to vote.
"Really hoping this goes as planned," she says.
Aqua goes to vote.
Chiyo goes to vote.
Darkness goes to vote.
Erina goes to vote.
Hestia goes to vote.
"If this works, I'm going to jump for joy," she says.
Mine goes to vote.
Tomo goes to vote.
Utena goes to vote.
"This is the biggest move of the game yet," she says. "If this doesn't work, then Chiyo-chan and I are doomed."
After the players are finished voting, Jet addresses the players.
"I'll go tally the votes," he says.
He walks over to the voting booth, mixes up the votes in the voting urn, then returns to his podium.
"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol, and you would like to play it, now would be the time to do so."
Everyone looks around frantically. But in shocking fashion, not a single player gets up to play their idol.
"Okay then. Once the votes are read, the decision is final, and the person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes."
He takes out the first vote.
"First vote… Mine."
Mine shakes her head upon seeing her name.
…
…
…
"Ais."
Ais looks nervously over at Mine.
…
…
…
"Ais."
…
…
…
"Ais. That's three votes Ais, one vote Mine."
…
…
…
"Tomo."
Tomo looks shocked to see her name. "Is this even allowed?" she asks.
…
…
…
"Tomo."
"You can't vote for me!" Tomo exclaims. "I'm a CBS plant!"
…
…
…
"Tomo. We're tied, three votes Tomo, three votes Ais, as well as one vote for Mine."
…
…
…
…
…
"Tomo. That's four votes Tomo, three votes Ais, one vote Mine, one vote left."
…
…
…
…
…
"Tenth person voted out of Survivor: Best Girl, and the fourth member of our jury, Tomo Takino."
Tomo shakes her head. "I can't believe it!" she shouts. "I thought I'd be around a lot longer!"
"You will."
Everyone looks over at Hestia, who made that mild statement. She pulls out Keroberos, the Superidol.
"This is the Superidol, which I purchased with my Fire Tokens," Hestia says, as she walks over to Jet and hands over Keroberos. "With it, I can cancel out all votes against a single player after the votes are read. I choose to play it on Tomo."
Jet grins, while Ais's mouth opens in shock. Mine shakes her head angrily.
"The rules of Survivor state that if a Superidol is played, the person with the second-most votes is eliminated. In that case, it will be you, Ais. You are the tenth person voted out and the fourth member of our jury."
Ais tearfully hugs Mine, then the two enjoy a kiss. "This isn't the end," Ais tells her.
She gets up and grabs her torch, bringing it over to Jet.
"Ais, you are NOT Best Girl," Jet says, snuffing out her torch. "The tribe has spoken; it's time for you to go."
Ais blows a kiss in Mine's direction before heading on out. She then finds a table at the end of the path.
"You must bequeath your Fire Tokens to another player," she reads. "Hmmm…"
She then drops all eight of her Tokens in Mine's box.
"Easy choice," she says.
The camera then pans back over to Tribal Council.
"Advantages, advantages, all around," Jet says. "But if you don't use your advantage wisely and timely, you will find yourself like Ais, the victim of a -hashtag- #blindside. Grab your torches, head back to camp, good night."
The players take their torches and begin their trek back to camp.
"I didn't find a million dollars, or the title of Sole Survivor," Ais says. "But I did find true love, in Mine. I hope that she and I can find a way to live together outside of this game. I wish I had used my idol; now I just take it home as a souvenir. Good luck, Mine, beat the Four Lights!"
Who voted for whom:
Ais – Tomo
Aqua – Ais
Chiyo – Tomo
Darkness – Ais
Erina – Tomo
Hestia – Mine
Mine – Tomo
Tomo – Ais
Utena – Tomo
Fire Token Count:
13 - Mine
5 - Erina, Tomo
2 - Darkness
0 - Aqua, Chiyo, Hestia, Utena
Scenes from our next episode:
Hestia is furious at Utena and Chiyo for voting with the Mine Five:
"You two, you lied!" she says. "You said we were splitting the votes. Then what the $*#% was that? Why did you go back to that Mine Five?"
Another player buys a Superidol:
"I'm trading in fifteen Tokens for a Superidol. And I'm not handing it to anyone else no matter how much they want it."
And it's time for a little love:
"Erina, here's your loved one, Soma."
"Like, what?!" Erina shouts. "It was supposed to be my aunt!"
"She died, dude," Soma says.