…
Day 7
Fourth Place, 12-14
Camp
Men: Joe, Killua, Kirito, Kyon, Lucian, Mayuri, Prussia, Spike
Women: Alice, Ami, Haruhi, Jasmine, Karen, Konata, Michiru, Mine, Misty
Lucian sees the tribes coming back from Tribal Council, and he immediately notices that Cato isn't there.
"Amazing work, fellows," he says. "You pulled this one out. Thank you."
"No problem," Killua replies.
"I'm confused," Joe says, pulling aside Killua and Kirito. "Why did you use the Safety Without Power if everyone was going to vote Cato anyway?"
"Because they weren't," Kirito says.
"Huh?" Joe says.
"You see, Cato still had influence over others in the tribe," Killua says. "There was a strong possibility that, had we not played that advantage, Cato would have reunited with Lucian for the sake of voting one of us out."
"But how?" Joe says. "They only had four – Spike, Kyon, Lucian, and Cato."
"Prussia was on the fence," Kirito says. "There's a lot of stuff that you didn't see. We needed to unite the tribe against Cato, and we did that by playing that advantage."
"I see," Joe says.
"I was totally floored by what happened last night," Joe says. "I didn't understand a thing that was going on, but it worked out best for our alliance. Now we've got to figure out what we're gonna do now that we've got zero Fire Tokens left."
"Joe doesn't realize how close we were to disaster last night," Killua says. "Cato had plans on pulling off a blindside of one of us if he still had Lucian. By separating Cato and Lucian, we took away any chance those two had of teaming up with each other. Now Cato's gone, but we're still in trouble. Mayuri and Prussia are wild cards, and Kyon and Spike could team up with them to go up 4-3 on our alliance."
As the Men go to work on finishing their rebuilding of the shelter, most of the Women are thrilled with how the vote went down.
"We got out their biggest threat, and we didn't need to move a muscle!" Alice says.
"Now we're going to dominate in these challenges," Mine says. "I can see us winning the next seven in a row."
"Let's try to keep perspective," Michiru says. "It's not over yet, but I do like our chances."
"Don't be a party pooper," Misty says. "We are set up to win!"
"This couldn't have possibly gone better for us," Misty says. "The Men waste a lot of their Fire Tokens just to save Lucian, and then they go on and vote out Cato. What was the point of that, to lose the next five or so challenges in a row? I don't know what they were thinking, but we're going to dominate from here on out."
"The Men are just plain stupid," Mine says. "They vote out two of their best physical specimens in the first two votes. We only got rid of Sabrina, who is worthless without her psychic powers. They're going to have to buy the Medallion of Power non-stop in order to have a chance now."
But Karen is not so happy.
"This sucks," she says. "I purposely tried to throw that challenge in order to keep Cato alive. Now he's gone, and he was my best ally over with the Men. I have got to make sure Lucian isn't next. The only way to do that? Throw the immunity challenge. I just have to make sure they don't sit me out of the challenge."
A little later, Ami is hatching a plan with her alliance (Michiru, Misty, Jasmine) along with the Men who they have been working with (Killua, Joe, Kirito).
"That vote turned out very good for us," Ami says. "As I'm sure it did for you too."
"Absolutely," Killua says. "We needed Cato out of here. It was too dangerous a situation to risk Lucian and Cato staying together, which is why I used that advantage to send Lucian back to camp. Now our goal is to stay strong and start bouncing that other alliance out of this game."
"That other alliance is, who again?" Misty asks.
"Spike, Kyon, and Lucian," Kirito says. "They're the three that voted against us in the first vote. We need to get them out, one by one."
"I'm a little concerned, though," Joe says nervously.
"Why is that, Joe?" Michiru asks sweetly.
"Cato was our best competitor in challenges," Joe says. "We might lose a ton without him. And I know that helps you guys out, but should us three get eliminated before the jury, you guys aren't going to get our jury votes."
"I see," Jasmine says.
"I don't think it makes a big difference," Killua says. "Cato may have been good, but he was also just a massive target. Now that he's gone, it makes it easier for us to focus on eliminating the remaining Woman Haters."
"What about Prussia and Mayuri?" Michiru asks. "Are those two on the fence?"
"Sadly, yes," Kirito says. "They haven't fully committed to one side or the other. We thought they were with us, but there were rumors of a coup which is why Killua pulled the trigger on that Safety Without Power."
"Our strategy must be to stack up Fire Tokens that we can exchange between our two tribes," Ami says. "If you win the challenge, you share some with us. If we win, we share some with you."
"Hey, don't forget!" Killua says. "You guys owe us Fire Tokens."
"We'll get them to you whenever we can," Jasmine says.
"It is really difficult to nail down these Women toward giving us more Fire Tokens or even just paying us back the ones we're owed," Killua says. "Nevertheless, they're the only ones on the Women Tribe that we can trust. Hopefully we can get them to do our bidding."
Lucian finishes putting together the last part of the shelter along with Spike and Kyon. He sits down and catches his breath.
"I promise you, if I had known I'd have to put this back together, I would never have followed Cato's orders," he says.
"Oh, I'm sure," Kyon replies sarcastically.
"Whatever," Spike says. "This can't be any worse than life on the Bebop."
"I've said before that I hate three things – pets, kids, and women with attitudes," Spike says. "But there's one more thing I hate – pathological liars. Lucian is one. He has claimed that it wasn't his fault for his own action of burning down the shelter. It's amazing what a bad liar he is. He isn't even fooling the dumber people of our tribe."
Spike points off into the distance, where indeed Lucian is talking with Prussia, and not even Prussia is falling for Lucian's lies.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't my fault!" Lucian says.
"Riiiiight," Prussia replies.
"Totally not awesome to burn down the shelter!" Prussia says. "Lucian says he didn't mean it, but he's a worse liar than even Russia!"
Mayuri, Spike, and Kyon start having a discussion as to how to proceed.
"Lucian is a lost cause!" Mayuri says. "If he is allowed to remain in the game, we're just going to keep on losing!"
"I agree," Kyon says. "We're going to lose this next challenge on purpose just to get rid of him. Then we move on from there."
"Right, we need to move on already," Spike says. "The longer Lucian is in the game, the longer we're gonna suffer."
"Lucian is toxic," Kyon says. "He's like a president of the United States from the recent past, from say around 2017 to 2020. No one wants anything to do with him. Heck, I don't want anything to do with him. But somehow I'm afraid this is going to get back to Haruhi, in which case I'm screwed."
Haruhi and Konata indeed pick up on the situation.
"Everyone hates Lucian," Haruhi says. "Especially those on the Men Tribe."
"Then there's only one option!" Konata replies.
"Keep him around!" the two cry out in unison.
"If Lucian is killing their tribe, what better way to keep our tribe from losing than to make sure he stays in the game?" Haruhi says. "We need to get him advantage, idols, anything it takes to keep him alive."
"You've heard of Chaos Kass, right?" Konata says. "Well, I'm Chaos Konata! I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure Lucian pulls down his tribe like a giant anchor. And that means pooling my Fire Tokens with Haruhi's so that we can get advantages to Lucian!"
But Karen has her own plans.
"I'm going to throw these next couple of challenges," she says. "I'm in a great position, being the swing vote between the goody-goodies and the crazy ones. Whoever I want to stay around will get to stay, and whoever I want to go will go. But I don't want any Fire Tokens messing that up! So, I'm going to throw even the reward challenge coming up here in a couple hours. It's going to be such a shame when the crazy Konata and Haruhi don't get any extra food to fill their bellies."
Ami, meanwhile, reiterates her plan to the three in her alliance.
"We're directing the votes to you, Misty," Ami says.
"And why me?" Misty asks.
"Because you're probably the most outgoing of all of us," Michiru says. "You are someone who says what she means. All you have to do is say something to anger Mine or Alice."
"I see," Jasmine says. "Then those two get the others to all direct their votes toward Misty, and then Ami pulls out her idol to use on her."
"It's risky," Michiru says. "But it's also the best option we've got."
"And if it works, I'll give you any Fire Tokens I have left," Ami says. "Sound fair?"
"Yeah, I guess," Misty says. "I'm just a little nervous about it."
"We all are," Jasmine says. "If you go, then so do the rest of us. We're tethered together."
"I'm a little worried about our plan… well, not even our plan, more like Ami's plan," Misty says. "She wants me to get everyone to vote for me, then she promises to pull out the idol and save me. I don't know how much I can trust her. Maybe she's still as cold and calculating as she was in past seasons, or maybe she's changed. But I really feel like this is our only way out. Convincing Haruhi and Konata is not feasible."
Alice and Mine hang out by the fire, eating some of the rice that Alice has cooked.
"I don't know why the heck I ever had a problem with you," Alice says. "You're actually pretty cool, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, save it for when I am in the Final Three," Mine says. "That'll be when I need it."
"Mine, look at me," Alice says.
Mine turns her gaze over to Alice.
"I'm sorry for everything that happened last season," she says. "I really am."
"I'm sure you are," Mine says.
"But I really mean it!" Alice says. "Look, my sister Erina and I didn't get along for some time. But then we made up and now are on the same side."
"And your point is…?" Mine says.
"That we can be friends," Alice says.
Mine gives Alice a blank stare.
"Acquaintances, then," Alice says.
"Yeah, whatever," Mine says.
"So, you forgive me?" Alice asks.
Mine pauses for a moment. "I guess so," she says. "Now stop it with the mushy stuff and let's move on to the gameplay!"
"Oh, you're so funny!" Alice says, squeezing Mine with a hug.
"I said, enough with the mushy stuff!" Mine yells with a blush.
"I'm glad I've made up with Mine!" Alice says. "The two of us just needed a clearing of the air after all that went on. Now we're on the same page. I'd love to see her come along with me far into this game. In fact, that might be the only way one of us makes it far – if the other of us is along with her."
"Okay, okay, I guess I'm fine with Alice now," Mine says. "She's apologized and made up to me. But it doesn't matter whether I finish in fourth place, 12-14 days, or next one out. It's all a failure if I don't win the million."
Reward Challenge
"Come on in, guys!"
The two tribes march over to Jet, who is standing in front of a big truck.
"You guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?"
"Yeah!" Haruhi exclaims.
"But what's the truck for?" Konata asks.
Jet chuckles. "You'll soon find out. Everyone jump in the back of the truck!"
The 17 remaining players all hop into the back of the truck, where they find it to be pitch black.
"What's the matter with you?" Mine says, as someone climbs on top of her.
"What's with it?" Prussia says.
"It's dark in here," Mayuri says.
"I can see the darkness!" Kyon exclaims, as someone steps on his face.
He reaches up and feels a girl's skirt.
"Oh, it's you!" he complains, realizing it's Haruhi. "Get down out of here!"
"I don't like darkness!" Prussia says, stepping on Spike.
"Just shut up and get down," Spike says.
The players sit in the back of the truck, with some of them sitting on each other, for about half an hour, before the truck reaches its destination.
"Come on out, guys!" Jet shouts, as the door of the truck opens.
"Where are we?" Joe wonders, as the players climb out of the truck, seeing a pond in front of them.
"You are on another side of the island," Jet explains. "This is where you'll be competing, in a challenge known as Getting Tired. Now, are you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?"
"As ready as we'll ever be," Kirito says.
"The challenge is called Getting Tired, because you'll be getting tires," Jet says. "On my go, you will swim across this pond over to a haunted house. Inside the house you will find colored tires. Yellow tires are worth one dollar, orange tires are worth three dollars, and pink tires are worth five dollars. The higher-priced tires require you to solve a puzzle to unlock them. Collect as many dollars as you can by putting the tires onto one of your tribe's poles. After an hour, the tribe with more dollars wins reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"
"Of course!" Alice exclaims.
"Winning tribe gets a picnic back over here by the shore. Losing tribe is forced to watch the picnic from the haunted house. Winning tribe also gets to keep whatever dollars they earn in the challenge. In addition, winning tribe gets one Fire Token for each player. Finally, each tribe must pick one player to go on a journey and make a decision. Those two players will arrive back to camp tonight. Worth playing for?"
"Why not?" Misty says.
"Women, you have one extra member, you must sit one person out. Keep in mind that you cannot sit out the same person in back-to-back challenges. Who's it gonna be?"
Karen immediately raises her hand.
"Karen? Okay, Karen it is," Jet says. "The rest of you I'll give a moment to strategize, then we'll get started."
"I wanted to sit out this challenge so it forces me to have to compete in the immunity challenge," Karen says. "Then I can do my damage to my tribe as I please. If the Women happen to win me a Fire Token and some food, I won't mind, but I'll still be cheering against them."
The players line up on the edge of the pond.
"For reward!" Jet shouts. "Survivors ready? Go!"
All 17 players hop into the water and begin swimming across the pond. Killua is out there in front, but Mine is right behind him. Lucian gets halfway in and starts to struggle.
"Someone help me out here!" he calls.
Kirito gives Lucian a helping hand and helps him get across the pond, well after all the other players have made it across. The players enter the haunted house, which has scary messages like "Jet was here" and "Jet is watching you."
"Gotta start collecting those tires!" Jet shouts.
Killua starts figuring out a puzzle to unlock one of the pink tires. He directs his tribemates to get some of the orange ones.
"Come on, guys, we've got to get the highest-priced tires!" he exclaimed. "Solve puzzles if you need to!"
The Women, on the other hand, are just going for whichever tires they can find.
"We'll beat them if we just grab more tires than them!" Misty says.
"Shouldn't we try for higher-priced tires?" Mine asks.
"No, keep this up," Ami says. "If we gather a ton of tires, it doesn't matter how high priced their tires are."
As a result, while the Men all try to figure out puzzles, the Women are grabbing all of the lowest-priced tires and tossing them onto their poles.
"Half an hour to go!" Jet shouts.
Killua notices that his tribemates are struggling with the puzzles. He finishes his puzzle and grabs a pink tire, before running by Joe and Kirito with it.
"These puzzles are hard!" Joe exclaims.
"Yeah, let's just go for the lower-priced ones," Kirito says.
"No," Killua says. "We've already put too much time into these puzzles. Figure them out."
The Men continue trying to figure out their puzzles, but the Women are grabbing more tires while they do.
"We're going to run out of time!" Prussia shouts.
"Figure out the puzzle!" Killua shouts. "It's not that hard!"
As he sees Prussia horribly screwing up the puzzle, he rushes over and takes the pieces off him.
"Here, you go grab some lower-priced tires," he says. "I'll finish this."
Mine and Alice grab two yellow tires each, with Misty and Jasmine in tow behind them with one tire each.
"We're going to outwork them to win!" Jasmine says.
"Fifteen minutes left!" Jet shouts.
Michiru and Ami come rushing over with two tires each, and Haruhi and Konata have one each. They start stacking some very impressive towers of tires. Meanwhile, the Men are still struggling.
"Come on, guys, get it together!" Lucian shouts.
"Yeah, let's get faster!" Killua says.
"We're just solving as fast as we can," Spike says.
"Five minutes left!" Jet yells.
The Women continue their strategy of getting the lower-priced tires. The Men solve some of their puzzles and get some of the higher-priced tires over to their stacks.
"This is hard!" Prussia exclaims.
"Just shut up and grab another tire," Kyon tells him.
"One minute to go!" Jet shouts.
The Women do some last-second stacking, while the Men grab some higher-priced tires and throw them up on the stacks just in time.
"And that's it!" Jet screams. "Come on back!"
All 17 players walk over to Jet. Konata wipes some sweat off her forehead, while Lucian huffs and puffs.
"Counting up the dollars you have collected, Women, you have 120 dollars. Men, you have…"
…
…
…
…
…
"… 110 dollars! Women win reward!"
Michiru and Ami give each other high fives, while Haruhi and Konata do a secret handshake. Killua frustratedly pounds his fist in the dirt, and Kyon simply shakes his head.
"Women, we will start setting up your feast back on the other side of the lake. We will provide a ferry to take you over. In addition, you each get one Fire Token, and you'll each get $120. A hundred twenty dollars an hour isn't all that bad a day's work. Men, I got nothing for you. You can go have a seat in the haunted house, where you can watch the Women eat."
The Men shake their heads and walk back over to the haunted house, while the Women get picked up by a ferry and head on over to have their feast.
Feast
Haruhi bites into a chicken leg, while Konata stuffs some mashed potatoes in her face.
"We won, we won!" Haruhi exclaims.
"Yeah, yeah," Karen says. "You guys got lucky. But I'm not complaining."
The Women eat all the food, which includes fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, coleslaw, and caffeinated beverages. Ami keeps an eye on everything on the table, looking to see if she can find some sort of clue.
"I know from the past that they hide clues to immunity idols and stuff everywhere," Ami says. "That's why I'm looking very carefully to see if I can find anything."
But Ami is unable to find anything, and the discussion switches over to the competition with the Men.
"We've got to clean their clocks," Misty says. "I want us to dominate down the stretch."
"Yeah, we need to keep winning," Mine says. "Can't let them get any enjoyment out of this game."
"I realize how difficult this is going to be," Misty says. "We don't just need to win, we need to win big. Because if there are any Men left at the end, they will have a greater shot at winning if the final Man is up against two Women. In that case, the two Women would split votes and give the victory to the Man. We've got to make sure that never happens, preferably by winning every challenge the rest of the way."
Jasmine and Michiru try to make connections with Konata and Haruhi.
"What do you want to do most in this game?" Jasmine asks Haruhi.
"Beat that Kyon!" Haruhi replies. "I beat him the other time we were out here together. I want to beat him again."
"And how about you, Konata?" Michiru asks.
"Hey, I'm just out here to hang out with my idol," Konata says. "Hopefully we get to hang out for 39 days."
"It's only 26 days this season," Haruhi says.
"Oh, right!" Konata says. "26, then."
"Well, we are willing to work with you two," Michiru says.
"Yeah, we can vote how you want," Jasmine says. "As long as you're not going after Ami or Misty."
"We'll take it under consideration," Konata says.
"I don't have any reason to work with these other people," Konata says. "I just want to hang out with Haruhi! And the two of us are having a great time so far."
After the meal is over, Jet addresses the Women.
"You must send one person to go on a journey," Jet says. "They will be back before midnight."
"Who are we picking?" Alice asks.
"I'd like to go," Karen says.
Ami looks suspiciously at Karen, but says nothing. No one protests Karen's request.
"Okay, Karen it is," Mine says. "You can go ahead. Bring us back something nice!"
Karen shakes her head as she walks over to Jet.
"Karen will be joining one member of the Men on this journey," Jet says. "Let's go find out who that's gonna be. The rest of you can go get back in the truck, where they'll take you back to camp."
"Not there again!" Haruhi complains.
"Yep, too bad," Jet says, before he and Karen hop in the speedboat to the other side.
"Do we really have to sit on top of each other like before?" Misty says. "This just seems like overkill."
"It could be worse," Ami says.
"How so?" Jasmine asks.
"They could force us to something really crazy," Ami says. "Like having to solve a Sudoku puzzle on top of a freezing cold mountain, for instance."
"That's too farfetched," Mine says. "They'd never have anything like that on a reality show."
Haunted House
"Come on out, guys!" Jet shouts.
The Men trudge on out of the haunted house, seeing Karen standing next to Jet.
"The Women have selected Karen as their representative for this journey," Jet explains. "Now we need one of you Men to join her."
Killua discusses things with Joe and Kirito quickly, while Lucian raises his hand.
"I'll go," he says.
"Wait a moment," Killua says. "We want one of us three to go."
"Interesting," Mayuri says. "Because I'd like to go myself."
"Why you?" Kirito asks.
"Yeah, we can't trust you," Joe says.
"Excuse me?" Mayuri says.
The Men start getting into a big argument with each other, with all eight players getting into it. Karen watches with a big grin on her face.
"Okay, okay," Jet says. "Let's sort this out. Who wants Kirito to go?"
Killua and Joe raise their hands next to Kirito.
"Who wants Mayuri to go?" Jet asks.
Only Mayuri raises his hand.
"And who wants Lucian to go?"
Lucian raises his hand, and Kyon, Spike, and Prussia sheepishly raise their hands.
"Very well then, Lucian is going to join Karen on this journey," Jet says. "At the end of the journey, they will make a decision. They will arrive back at camp before midnight. The rest of you, you will be picked up by the truck you came in. Head on out."
Lucian hops into the boat with Karen, and the two are sped away.
Journey
Karen and Lucian begin their march up a mountain full of green plants. Karen breaks the ice with Lucian pretty early.
"Our LUCK alliance kind of died," Karen says. "You could say we ran out of LUCK."
Lucian sighs. "Well, at least we've got the two of us," he says. "The two of us can still find a way to the end."
"That's right," Karen says. "All we need to do is keep on surviving. I've got three Fire Tokens here. I'm going to use them to help us. Because we need one of the two of us in the Final Three."
"Or both," Lucian says. "That would give us a 2/3 chance of winning."
"Well, don't make any dumb decisions, okay?" Karen says.
"Sure thing."
The two split up, and they reach the ship wheels with choices of "Protect Your Vote" and "Risk Your Vote." Karen reads the instructions very carefully.
"So, I take it that it's the classic prisoner's dilemma," he says. "If I choose to protect my vote, there's nothing to worry about. But if I choose to risk my vote, I have to hope that Lucian didn't also risk his. If he doesn't risk his, then I earn an extra vote. Otherwise, I lose my vote."
She thinks about it for a few minutes.
"I couldn't care less about Lucian," she says. "All I care about is myself. Would it hurt him more than me if we both lost our votes? I think I'd rather screw with him than play it safe. If I lose my vote, so be it, Jedi."
She twists the ship wheel over to "Risk Your Vote."
"Now let's see if that guy is the coward I think he is."
Lucian, meanwhile, thinks about what move he wants to make. He picks up the piece of paper that holds the instructions, folds it up, and puts it in his pocket.
"I have no Fire Tokens on me," he says. "And the only way I'm going to get any is by winning challenges, or… Karen bequeathing hers to me. And what better way to make that happen but by taking away her vote. I'm going to take a big risk here. If I win an extra vote, then I've made a BIG MOVE in Jet Black's mind. And if I don't…"
He spins his wheel over to "Risk Your Vote."
"… then screw you, Karen."
Camp
Men: Joe, Killua, Kirito, Kyon, Lucian, Mayuri, Prussia, Spike
Women: Alice, Ami, Haruhi, Jasmine, Karen, Konata, Michiru, Mine, Misty
Karen and Lucian arrive back at camp late that night. They notice that practically no one wants to talk to them when they come back.
"Is everyone hiding from us?" Lucian asks. "They're all in the shelter."
"I think everyone's pissed off over what you did a couple nights ago," Karen says. "We are both persona non grata."
"Hmmm…" Lucian says. "I guess there's a couple options."
"Please don't tell me one of them is burning down the shelter again," Karen says.
"No, there are other ways of messing with them."
He pulls out the piece of paper with the instructions about the ship wheel choice.
"I'm going to be an agent of evil," he says. "Time to start some paranoia."
"Agent?" Karen asks. "How is that gonna fool anyone?"
"I'm going to hide it in the woods, and then see if someone finds it tomorrow morning," he says. "And I just might doctor the document a little bit in order to confuse them."
"This is not going to work," Karen says.
"It doesn't matter if it doesn't work," Lucian replies. "All that matters is getting these sheeple off their game."
"I want to play this game as hard as possible," Lucian says. "Yes, I'd love to bring home a million to my Queen Cynthia, but if I can't do that, then I'll make sure I go out with a bang."
"Lucian has lost his mind, he has absolutely lost his mind!" Karen says. "Did he not learn anything from the last incident? Now he wants to try to create even more chaos? This guy is nuts! I hate that I got attached to him. Hopefully he starts playing logical again before he gets himself booted early."