Virgo's interview (unedited): We don't even know what to do. I think I was more prepared for this on the first day than I am now. I knew it would happen but we won so often it just started feeling normal. I honestly have no idea who we're going to vote for.

Shep's interview (unedited): Why is my luxury item an empty whiskey bottle? Because I'm a drunk. Ha ha just kidding. My grandma makes all sorts of weird moonshine and I like to help her with the heavy stuff. It's not illegal since we don't sell it.

Enzo Charmont- District Twelve male (18)

I could see Persi's nervous look as I rifled through the chest to fish out my luxury item.

"Don't worry, it's nothing annoying," I told her. "Just a kazoo." As she struggled to control her face, I found what I was looking for.

"There it is!" I held it up. "Just kidding! It's a soccer ball!"

She gave a sudden and incongruous laugh, quickly covering her mouth. "I thought it was going to be fireworks," she said.

I dribbled the ball on one foot. "I thought they probably wouldn't let me. Besides, you can only use them once. We can use this for the whole show."

"I do like soccer," Persi admitted. A few feet away from us, by our fire, Dorian was picking out some notes on his ukulele.

"So what'd you pick?" I asked as Perso bent over the box.

"Ta-da." She pulled out a washboard.

"A washboard? Boring," I said.

"You have your 'everyone can use it' and I have mine," she sniffed.

Birdie Seguaro- District Five female (14)

Looking fine. Looking fresh. Looking stylish.

I was pretty proud of my pick. It had both utility and sentiment. A spare late of pants out here was great for both my hygiene and my mental state. Also, the embroidered cactus flowers gave me a hint of home. Not to thumb my nose at my teammates, but my item was definitely best.

It was like New Year's Day all through the camp. Everyone was comparing presents and trying them out. Kallik and Trydan were trying not to watch his kettle as it boiled the leaves she'd gathered for tea. Yarrow was sprawled out under the sun with her pillow. Val and Shep were playing with Shep's jacks. And no one was going home tonight. Tonight, that was Ellekoner's problem.

Lana's interview (unedited): I know I'm definitely not voting for Rowena. She brought a camera for her luxury item. If we vote for her we won't be able to take pictures anymore.

Alara's interview: It's sad, but I have to think strategically. Physically, Dorian and Cactus are threats. Socially it's Amberlynn. I don't think anyone's gunning for me in particular. Guess I'll find out.

Alara's edited interview: It's sad, but I have to think strategically. Physically, Dorian and Cactus are threats. I know a lot of people don't like Cactus.

Isabella Disney-Busattil- Host

It was going to be another one of those days. Barring the unusual eliminations, it seemed like the tribes were almost voting at random. There hadn't even been any juicy secret meetings on our cameras. There were just scattered conversations and people trying to to figure out who the best pick was. It hadn't been half as dramatic as the original show. It seemed to me that these kids were so happy to be here and used to so much worse that they were just having a great time. The money was nice and all, but they really seemed to have bonded.

"So." I addressed the eleven kids on the benches in front of me. "This is Ellekoner's first time at tribal council. What happened?"

"We suck at geography," Enzo offered.

"Some of us," Cactus said archly.

"It had to happen sometime." Rowena spread out her hands.

"Any discussion on who might be going?" I prodded.

"I think we're trying to figure out who the biggest threat is," Alara said. "Kind of an obvious answer, sorry."

"And who is the biggest threat?" I asked.

Crickets chirped in the distance.

Amberlynn bailed me out. "Obviously you need a sound bite. Also you all edit these things so you can cut out the but I'm about to say. Since you need us to say something, I'm going to say someone random and you can just use the part where I say it." She paused to make the editor's job easier. "Dorian is the biggest threat since he's a Career. We're all scared of him."

"You're scared of me?" Dorian asked with concern.

"I just said it was fake for a sound bite," Amberlynn said with a little smile.

"It just sounded reasonable," Dorian said.

"Like, kinda, but I wanted to pick a reasonable person. No one would believe it if I said Lana was the biggest threat."

"Yeah," Lana agreed morosely.

"All right, then," I said. I'd known this all would be a strange experience. I just hadn't known the particulars. "If anyone would like to play an immunity idol, now would be the time to do so." There was a pause. "We'll begin casting the votes."

I wasn't surprised when I saw the outcome. Alara hadn't been wrong about the tribe trying to find the threats. It was a double edged sword, risking fewer wins by eliminating the strongest, but in the end there was only one winner.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final," I started. I unfolded the first vote.

"Octavia." She didn't react.

"Cactus." He almost got his disdain.

"Robbie."

"Dorian."

"Enzo."

"Robbie." Robbie looked around with a sadness that tugged my heartstrings. "That's two for Robbie."

"Amberlynn."

"Bruh?" she broke in, gesturing with one flat palm.

"Lana." Lana looked up in alarm.

"Persi." It really had been a mixed bag. If you asked me, the one going home was just from random chance.

One vote left. Those who hadn't put it together seemed to finally get it. It was an almost perfect split. Would it be a tie, or would it not.

I held up the final slip with Rowena's name on it. "The fifth person eliminated from Survivor is Robbie."

Robbie's face was ashen as he rose. He took his torch and walked to me with a slow, zombie-like gait. His eyes were on his torch as I spoke. I knew he wanted to see it flicker for those last few seconds.

"Robbie, the tribe has spoken." I gently laid the snuffer over his torch and his place in the game curled into smoke.

Robbie's final interview: Everyone seemed really surprised. I honestly think they meant it. I think we all kind of just picked someone. I think a lot of us tried to pick someone we thought no one else would vote

for so we wouldn't be the one who sent someone home. God, this sucks. I really didn't see this coming. I don't want to leave. I want to stay with my friends.

Fifth elimination: Robbie Emmers

Any eagle-eyed readers might not have been surprised by this, since Robbie and Josie had the same submitter (I didn't list them here but other CR stories probably did). Robbie did literally nothing wrong and since these are the dummy eliminations I don't want to give Tributes any strong positions, so I left it that his elimination was pure bad luck. These chapters have been kinda full for that same reason, but things should pick up now that he's the last inactive elimination I needed to do. Next time we'll actually get to vote and then I can add in juicy secret alliances and backstabs and all that.

For Tributes whose submitters didn't send a luxury item, I gave them one according to their form and personality. Submitters are welcome to still submit one and I'll retcon it. For now, the list is:

Robbie- frisbee

Rowena- camera

Cactus- massager (like those plastic ones with the metal balls you took over your neck)

Alara- sea lavender perfume

Virgo- hairbrush

Persi- washboard

Octavia- drawing from son

Enzo - soccer ball

Lana- stuffed animal

Dorian- ukulele

Amberlynn- backpack

Birdie- pants

Trydan- kettle

Kallik- carved ptarmigab

Shep- empty bottle of whiskey

Taylor- book of scary stories

Yarrow- pillow

Leonardo- Till We Have Faces (it's a Christian book but vague enough to pass censors)

Valerius*- jacks with family faces

Kendall-journal signed by sister and pen