Yuku free message boards

Tribal Council #9 - Babongo Tribe

<'Tally the Vote' begins to play, as the camera shows a fast-forwarded view of the darkening sky, and then fades into a faraway aerial view of the Gabonese village Tribal Council. A wide view of the nine Babongo members making their way towards the Tribal Council entrance is then shown, before the camera focuses in on Jeff. Charlie can be seen setting his torch down into its slot. The camera shows a rapid view of Ace, and then turns to both Randy and Paloma, as they sit down on their stumps. A prominent drumbeat is heard, as the camera shows another view of the entire Babongo tribe, before scrolling back over to Jeff again>

Jeff Probst: Well, I'll start by congratulating you on making it to the Final Nine. <The camera now shows a wide view of all nine Babongo members> Two of you will make it to the Final Two; <short pause> the other seven will make up the jury. <The camera then scrolls across each of the castaways, before focusing in on Ken>

Jeff Probst: So, you've spent a little bit of time together as one tribe. <Another view of Jeff is now shown again> G.C., <short pause> are you starting to see certain roles emerging for different people? <G.C. can be seen subtly nodding his head>

G.C.: Definitely. Um, my thing's kindof been the fishing, <A tense-looking Randy is shown listening intently> I mean, and even just keepin' people entertained; <short pause> keepin' people's spirits up, you know? <G.C. is then shown again> I've been rapping a lot, and <long pause> it definitely helps to have somebody in the group who can make people laugh because without that, it's even hard to smile after a while… <laughs> <A prominent sound is heard, as the camera shows Ace with a blank look on his face. Jeff is then shown again>

Jeff Probst: Tell me about the Reward, G.C. That had to have been an amazing experience…

G.C.: It was definitely real cool, you know, seein' all the types of crazy animals out here, <The camera now returns back to G.C.> but it's also kinda scary. You know, any time when you win a Reward Challenge away from camp, your paranoia takes over and you give people the opportunity to talk about you back at camp, <A glaring Randy is now shown> so even though it's a great experience, you know, it might not even be worth it… <Jeff is shown next>

Jeff Probst: Jacquie, <short pause> with nine people left, why do you think G.C. chose you as one of the people to go on the Safari Reward? <Crystal is shown with a harsh look on her face, as she sharply turns towards a perplexed Jacquie>

Jacquie: I'm not sure because we weren't ever really that close, <Crystal now tenses her expression> so <long pause> I didn't really ask, but I'm definitely so thankful that I got to go, and I told G.C. while we were there, like, if I ever win a Reward Challenge, I have to take him… <G.C. subtly nods his head, before the camera turns back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Dan, <long pause> a lot going on these last few days. <Dan now says "That's what I hear"> Hard to be away on Exile? <The camera focuses in on Dan>

Dan: Um, it's definitely hard in that there's no food, and no idol, <Ace can now be seen raising his eyebrows> so <short pause> there's not too much to do out there. <Randy is then shown staring ahead> Nothing good ever comes from being Exiled, <laughs> in my opinion… <The camera abruptly switches angles to show another view of Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <to Dan> Well, wait. You certainly had the choice of taking Comfort and spending two very relaxing days out there… <Dan is then shown again>

Dan: Comfort for two nights to possibly put myself out of the Immunity Challenge?! <Ace is shown with a calm look on his face> No, that's not worth it to me. <The camera shows a wide view of the entire Babongo tribe> I mean, I guess it depends if the advantage you'd gain from taking the Comfort is enough to outweigh the penalty, <A close-up view of a thoughtful Randy is shown> but <pause> my situation's pretty desperate, Jeff… <laughs> <The camera shows a view of a burning torch flickering wildly, and then scrolls back over to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Crystal, <short pause> there's two parts to this game right now. <Crystal is now shown listening intently> There's the physical aspect, and then there's the mental aspect, the strategic aspect. <The camera abruptly turns to Charlie> Which one are you feeling more right now? <Another view of Crystal is then shown next>

Crystal: The actual physical conditions, you know, the elements, and sleeping in the hut at night, that's okay; <short pause> I can deal with that, <Ace nods his head> but <pause> it's the mental part of this game with regards to the strategy and the alliances, you know, that you're fighting every day. <G.C. is then shown with a conflicted look on his face> That's the part that never lets up, but <long pause> at the end of the day, this is a game and I know what the game is about. <Charlie is shown, before the camera turns back to an intrigued Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <to Crystal> What's this game about? <Crystal is shown again>

Crystal: The game is about, in my opinion, is about keeping yourself alive longer than the person sitting next to you. <A mysterious shift in the music occurs, as the camera scrolls over to Ace, who is sitting next to Crystal. The camera then goes back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Charlie, <long pause> have you noticed a shift in how people are operating? <A close-up view of a thoughtful Charlie is now shown next>

Charlie: Most definitely, and especially now with the jury starting this evening, <The camera switches angles to show Paloma> I've noticed people are being very careful about what they say and how they act because they want to have those votes in the end to win, <A wide view of the entire Babongo tribe is then shown next> and <long pause> you know, anytime you upset people in the game, it's gonna hurt you in the long run because the jury has the ultimate say… <The camera shows Jacquie staring into the distance, and then cuts back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Randy, <pause> who would you say is the most different, maybe since the merge?

Randy: Um, G.C. <A prominent sound is heard, as G.C. raises his eyebrows> Quite frankly, he's not the person I thought he was back at the beginning of the game. <Crystal makes an annoyed face> He's spending a lot of time with the opposition; <short pause> he took one of them on Reward, <Jacquie can be looking towards Randy> so you know, I have a lot of questions about G.C., and <long pause> I'm not the only one… <A rapid view of Ace is shown>

Jeff Probst: G.C., what's your take on that? <The camera then scrolls over to G.C.>

G.C.: They can take it however they want, <Ken is shown turning his head> but I mean, we already had a conversation about it, and I don't want people to start getting the wrong idea about what's goin' on. <Another close-up view of G.C. is shown next> You know, they can judge me based on my actions, and so far I think my actions have been pretty good. <The camera now turns to Crystal> I've been pretty honest… <An eerie shift in the music occurs, as the camera shows a thoughtful-looking Ace, and then scrolls back over to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Randy, <short pause> how do you respond to what G.C. just said? <The camera abruptly cuts back to Randy again>

Randy: I understand what G.C.'s saying, <Randy shrugs> but <long pause> I'm not about to make friends out of enemies. <Paloma is then shown with a careless look on her face> He's doing that selfishly, and you know, that'll get you voted off, and fast… <Several prominent drumbeats are heard, before the camera shows G.C. shifting his expression, and then fades into a close-up view of a flickering flame. The camera then focuses back in on Jeff again>

Jeff Probst: Let's talk about the hidden Immunity Idol, <A wide view of all nine Babongo members is shown> which has yet to play at Tribal Council in any capacity. <The camera now turns back to Jeff> Ace, <long pause> worried at all that an idol could come into play tonight?

Ace: Not particularly… <A stern-looking Crystal is now shown looking towards Ace>

Jeff Probst: <to Ace> Why? <Another view of an overconfident Ace is shown next>

Ace: Because I'm about 99.9% certain Dan doesn't have it, <Dan is shown raising his eyebrows> and it's been abundantly clear since before merge that Dan's going home at the

first opportunity… <A quick view of Paloma is shown, before the camera returns to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: So Dan, <short pause> if there was somebody who you thought might have it, could it be a good thing at this point to force them to play the idol? <A prominent sound is heard, as the camera shows an interested Ace turning towards a fidgety Dan>

Dan: Um, <short pause> for me personally, I'm not sure I would want to get the idol out because, like Ace said, I'm getting the votes from Fang; <The camera now shows a view of Ken> that's the pattern, <laughs> so <short pause> you know, if there's someone who I think might have the idol, um, I'm gonna go out of my way to not vote for that person <Charlie can be seen subtly nodding his head> because if the idol is played, that would be me going home, and <pause> I don't want to go… <smiles> <A prominent sound is heard, as the camera shows Ace with a contemplative look on his face>

Jeff Probst: Okay; <short pause> with that, it is time to vote. <Jeff is shown again> Charlie, you have Immunity. <The camera switches angles to show an immune Charlie> If you wanted to give it to somebody, you could. <Charlie can now be seen shaking his head dramatically> No chance… <A prominent sound is heard, as the camera goes back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Charlie is the only person you cannot vote for. <A close-up view of Paloma is shown> Everybody else is fair game. <Jeff can now be seen pointing towards Randy> Randy, you're up. <Another wide view of the entire Babongo tribe is shown, as Randy stands up and walks past the central fire. The camera then scrolls over to a watchful Ace>

<A close-up view of a flickering flame is shown, before the camera focuses back in on the other eight Babongo members again, and then abruptly cuts ahead to show a clip of Randy holding his vote up to the camera: Dan!>

Randy: Second time. <The camera fades out to show a nervous Dan> Hope it's you tonight and not me. <The camera shows an unfazed Crystal staring into the distance, and then fades out to show Charlie arriving at the voting confessional and picking up the pen. A close-up view of a confident Ace is then shown, before the camera scrolls over to his burning torch. Jacquie can be seen placing her folded piece of parchment into the voting urn, before the camera shows an African mask, and then cuts ahead to show Dan holding up his vote: Ace>

Dan: <whispering> Just like the proverb says, "pride cometh before a fall." <An eerie sound is heard, as the camera turns to Ace> It's time for your fall, my friend… <A smiling Dan quickly glances at his vote and raises his eyebrows several times, before folding it in half. A close-up view of an unsuspecting Ace is shown, before the camera fades out to show Crystal folding her vote in half and placing it into the urn. G.C. can then be seen making his way over to the voting confessional. He uncaps the pen and begins to write a name down on his piece of parchment, before the camera shows a wide view of several Babongo members, and then abruptly cuts ahead to show Paloma holding up her vote: Ace J>

Paloma: I think my vote pretty much says it all… <smiles> <Ken can then be seen making his way past the central fire, before the camera shows a close-up view of an expressionless Crystal, and then cuts ahead to show Ace holding his vote up to the camera: Dan>

Ace: Dan, <Ace takes a long pause, as the camera fades out to show Dan looking around> I've been waiting for this night for a long time, and I think it's finally here. <laughs> Nothing personal… <A prominent drumbeat is heard, as Ace places his folded vote into the urn. The camera then shows a rapid clip of a snake, before fading out to show both Charlie and Paloma. Ace can now be seen returning back to the main Tribal Council area, as he sits back down on his stump, and the camera scrolls over to Jeff again>

Jeff Probst: I'll go tally the votes. <An eerie shift in the music occurs, as Jeff can be seen walking out of sight and the camera fades into another close-up view of Crystal. A confident-looking Ace is then shown glaring ahead, before the camera shows the central fire burning wildly, and then turns to show an eager Paloma, who has a subtle smile on her face. Jeff is now shown returning onto the screen with the voting urn in his hands>

Jeff Probst: If anybody has the hidden Immunity Idol and you want to play it tonight, <A wide view of several Babongo members is shown> now would be the time to do so… <Dan can be seen turning his head nervously, before the camera shows Ace staring into the distance calmly. Crystal is then shown looking around, as the camera turns back to Charlie and Paloma, and then shows rapid clips of both Randy and Ken, who stare ahead. Jeff is then shown next>

Jeff Probst: Okay; <short pause> once the votes are read, the decision is final. <The camera focuses back in on Ace> The person voted out'll be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. <Crystal is now shown with a tense look on her face> I'll read the votes. <Jeff is shown again, as he removes the lid from the urn and sets it down on the stand in front of him>

Jeff Probst: <Jeff is now shown pulling the first vote out of the urn> First vote: <He quickly looks down at it, and then reveals it to the castaways> Dan. <Dan is shown with a slight smile on his face, as he nods his head knowingly. A confident Ace is then shown staring into the distance, before the camera cuts back to Jeff, who already has the next vote in his hands>

Jeff Probst: <Jeff quickly reveals the second vote> Dan K. <The camera now switches angles to show another view of an expressionless Dan> Two votes Dan. <A close-up view of a stern-looking Randy is shown, before the camera turns to both Crystal and Charlie>

Jeff Probst: <The camera shows Jeff reaching back into the urn and pulling out the third vote. He unfolds it and then reveals it to the castaways> Ace. <A prominent drumbeat is heard, as the camera shows a surprised Ace raising his eyebrows. The camera then switches angles to show Ken shifting his expression> Two votes Dan; <The camera shows Dan again> one vote Ace. <The camera then returns back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <Jeff can be seen pulling the fourth vote out of the urn. A rapid clip of an eager Paloma is then shown, as he unfolds it. Jeff now reveals the vote> Dan! <Dan can be seen smiling and subtly nodding his head, before the camera shows G.C. gazing ahead> Three votes Dan; <short pause> one vote Ace. <The camera focuses in on a calm-looking Ace for a few seconds, and then scrolls back over to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <Jeff is shown reaching back into the urn and pulling out the fifth vote. He unfolds it, and then reveals it to the castaways> ~Ace~. <Another close-up view of Ace is shown, as he tenses his expression> Two votes Ace; <An eerie sound is heard, as the camera shows Randy with a contemplative look on his face> three votes Dan. <The camera switches angles to show a wide-eyed Crystal again. Jeff is then shown next>

Jeff Probst: <A quick view of Ken is shown, before Jeff reveals the sixth vote to the castaways> Ace. <Ace is now shown with a tense look on his face, before the camera zooms out to show all nine Babongo members> We're tied: <short pause> three votes Ace; <Paloma can be seen smiling> three votes Dan. <Charlie can be seen looking towards Dan. An anxious Jacquie is then shown, before the camera goes back to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <The camera shows Jeff reaching back into the voting urn and pulling out the next vote. He turns it over and then quickly reveals it> A¢e. <A prominent drumbeat is heard, as the camera shows a shocked Ace shaking his head dramatically> That's four votes Ace; <Randy and Ken are both shown exchanging troubled glances> three votes Dan. <Dan is shown with a delighted look on his face, before the camera zooms out to show a wide view of all nine Babongo members and then focuses back in on Jeff>

Jeff Probst: <The music softens, as Jeff reaches back into the urn and pulls out the eighth and final vote. He unfolds it, and then quickly looks down it> Ninth person voted out of Survivor: Gabon, <Ace is shown looking up nervously> and the first member of our jury: <An outraged Randy is shown staring into the distance, before the camera cuts back to Jeff, and he reveals the deciding vote> Ace J. <Another prominent sound is heard, as the camera shows Ace shifting his expression, and then shows a content Paloma grinning widely. Crystal is then shown with a satisfied look on her face>

Jeff Probst: <to Ace> That's five; <short pause> that's enough. <A blindsided Ace is shown again, as he immediately stands up> You need to bring me your torch. <Ace can be seen grabbing his torch, before the camera scrolls forward to show Randy shaking his head, and then turns to a stunned Ken. An angered Ace is then shown again>

Ace: <sarcastically> I appreciate that… <A close-up view of Dan is then shown, before the camera cuts ahead to show Ace placing his torch into the slot in front of Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Ace, <long pause> the tribe has spoken. <There is a prominent drumbeat, as the camera shows Jeff snuffing out Ace's torch>

Jeff Probst: <to Ace> Time for you to go… <Ace turns to look back at his former tribemates, before the camera switches angles to show Paloma smiling and waving dramatically>

Paloma: <to Ace> See ya! <A quick clip of G.C. is shown, before the camera turns to Crystal>

Crystal: <to Ace> Thanks for playing… <Randy then sharply raises his eyebrows. Ace begins to walk out of the main Tribal Council area, before the camera shows Charlie grinning, and then cuts back to Ace again, as he fades into the engulfing darkness. Dan is shown with a relieved look on his face, before the camera returns to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Well, that was a very big blindside. <An eerie sound is heard, as the camera shows Paloma winking> The only problem is, you are now voting people out of the game who will be on the jury, <A close-up view of a furious Randy is shown> and will ultimately decide who they feel is most deserving of the title of Sole Survivor <The camera now focuses in on Jacquie> and the million dollar prize that goes with it. <Charlie is then shown, as he subtly nods his head> Keep that in mind over the last fifteen days. <A wide view of the eight remaining Babongo members is shown, before the camera returns to Jeff>

Jeff Probst: Grab your torches; <short pause> head back to camp. Good night. <A dramatic music begins to play, as the camera shows several castaways standing up and grabbing their torches. A side view of the eight Babongo members walking out of the main Tribal Council area is shown, before the camera zooms in on Randy>

Randy - CONFESSIONAL: With this blindside of Ace tonight, me and Kenny are, uh, up a creek without a paddle, <A quick view of Ken is shown> but <long pause> if I'm gonna be one of the next two to go, I will get revenge on the people who wrote Ace's name down. <Both Dan and Charlie are now shown> And that's not a threat; <short pause> it's a promise… <The camera then scrolls over to a gleeful Paloma, who continues to walk with her torch>

Paloma - CONFESSIONAL: Ace was an arrogant know-it-all, who thought he was, like, the best thing on Survivor since sliced bread, <Another close-up view of a furious Randy is shown next> and now he got a blindside, so yeah, <long pause> no more Miss Nice Girl. <smiles> <A prominent drumbeat is heard, as the camera shows an overhead view of the Gabonese village Tribal Council. The screen then fades to black>

EPISODE 9 NOTES:

Here are a few important notes about Episode 9 and (possibly) future episodes in the story. I encourage you all to read them so that you have a better understanding of what is going on.

1) Just incase one blindside (Tyson's) isn't enough for you tonight, I decided to put the episode up now since I finished it this afternoon. I really love this episode, and I hope that after the month-and-a-half hiatus it will get you guys back into the story again. The game is far from over, and the last five episodes are going to be very eventful, like this one was. Things will continue to heat up even more and there will be some big showdowns coming up, and still a lot of big surprises!

2) One thing I have to say about this episode is that it was the longest one I've written in quite a while, and I had to cut A LOT of stuff out of it and shorten some scenes considerably from what I wanted. I even contemplated cutting Dan's Exile scene entirely, or the second Reward scene down, but I ultimately decided to shorten the Intro. I believe this is the first time I've ever done that, and it's hopefully the only time I will have to. There are some instances where there are several straight confessionals from Randy and Ace in a row and that's because the conversation parts that were supposed to come in between them were cut out. Also, there's a part cut from the beginning of the episode where G.C. was talking with Charlie and Dan, so if it seems kindof abrupt why Randy was all of a sudden suspicious of G.C., I apologize for that. I tried my best to stay at the 26-27 page length while still including everything that was absolutely essential.

3) I really like this recap, even though I know some things are edited a little out of order (ie. Corinne was never on the same tribe with Crystal and G.C., yet I included her with the "Fang alliance"). I also realize that devoting a large part of the recap to Ace getting the idols might have tipped some of you off to his boot, but I've had the part about Paloma and the idol in the last two recaps, so maybe not. Plus I would have to say that Ace also got an idol from Corinne regardless. My other hope was that it would make people think it was just misdirection and that Ace WOULDN'T end up getting blindsided. That's all I really have to say about the recap. I don't think the remaining ones will be quite as repetitive now.

4) As usual, the episode begins with the aftermath of Tribal Council, but I didn't want to turn this into a huge scene since nothing new really happened. There's two key things though: G.C.'s position really changes over the period of one day. On Night 21, he's saying that he feels great about where he is and will definitely be in the Final Five. By the next day, he's on the outs with Fang and they're ready to get rid of him. The other thing is that it was nice to get some insights from Jacquie, and I also wanted people to think that she might be vulnerable now that Marcus was gone.. In reality, Dan would definitely be targeted long before Jacquie.

5) The next Babongo scene begins with a clip of G.C. rapping to his tribemates, mostly the former Kota members. That was the best rap I could come up with; I know it's not perfect. Anyway, we see Randy, Ace, and Ken (the Villain group) talking and basically bragging that they will be the Final Three. Around Eps 5-6, the alliance was R/K, Crystal, and G.C., but over the last few episodes we've seen that shift towards R/K/A due to Ace having the idol and Ken wanting to stay with him. But recall that Ken also has an alliance with G.C. for Final Three with Randy, so there's a lot of different stories going around in that group right now. If I had to pick, I'd say that Randy and Ken are positioned the best in that entire alliance.

Also, when I have someone say that the order is Dan, Charlie, Paloma, Jacquie, you have to know that this will not be the order. I could see giving away one or maybe two boots like this, but definitely not an entire boot order of an alliance.

Randy's last confessional is really important for his character and I know it had been hinted at in previous episodes. Although the story never explicitly says it, it's meant to partly explain Randy's behavior towards G.C. (I'll elaborate on this later). I like his quote about his heart being a couple sizes too small because I think it does humanize him a little bit and make you understand him a little more. He hasn't had a lot of friends in his life, but yet he's still a big gamer and he wants the million dollars more. If he's lived so long without friends, he can continue to do so if he has to - or so he thinks…

6) Then we go right to the Reward Challenge. I know it's very early in the episode, but I had to cut out a lot of stuff at the beginning. This is a challenge that I had in Cook Islands and I had been wanting to reuse it again. I probably wouldn't use it again though (unless it was maybe Final Seven to Final Five); I discovered it's kindof boring, although I do think the concept is somewhat interesting. Basically, who do you want to give a Reward too? And G.C. was the least objectionable choice for both sides. Aside from Jacquie giving one rung to Randy, the three "Kotas" (since Paloma is now included as Kota) each gave one rung to G.C., which helped him to win the challenge. So why would they do this? Three reasons: (1) it allowed me to keep the challenge as short as possible; (2) it was unlikely that any of the Kotas were going to win it anyway (probably Ken would have won if not G.C.); and (3) although they had to sacrifice a Reward to G.C., it did cause some turmoil within the Fang alliance, which definitely worked to their advantage and may have been part of their plan. Charlie would have thought of this, anyway.

7) So G.C. wins. Sending Dan to Exile was probably pretty obvious. If any Fang member won, Dan was pretty certain to go, and if a Kota won, it was almost definitely going to be either Ace or Randy. The more difficult choice was deciding who to take on the Reward. Taking Crystal as his obvious closest ally would have given people an opportunity to talk about them both and possibly plot against them, so I think he was right to leave her back at camp. Ken was a good choice because Ken is someone who G.C. enjoys hanging out with, and they are allies but it's not as obvious as Crystal. It also wouldn't have been good to have three people all from his alliance on the Reward, so Jacquie was sortof a non-choice. She wasn't one of D/C/P, and she wasn't a Fang. She was the person who was all alone after losing Marcus, and taking her was unlikely to affect anything. At best, G.C. would gain a little bit of favor with someone that he wasn't close to.

8) Not much to say about the Exile scene. I like this scene, but I kept it as short and straightforward as possible, although the Exile stuff does build up to something interesting in the next episode. I could have shown Dan suffering a lot more out there, but there just wasn't room for it.

9) This is a Reward scene that I really enjoyed writing. First of all, I like the Reward and I would have loved to have seen a safari at some point in the real show. Obviously the amount of animals shown is probably a bit exaggerated here, but yes this is a fanfic and even the editing of the real show always tried to make it look like there were more animals. Anyway, most of the Reward focuses around G.C., as it should since he was the winner and I think he's the best narrator of the three. I made sure to give all three of them a confessional, but this was a scene that I had to shorten down. I supposed that was for the best though. It could probably get repetitive after a while.

Just another note, the scene in Ep 7 where G.C. and Ken both saw a monkey was supposed to lead up to this a little bit. That's why G.C. made a quick mention of it.

10) Day 22 is the scene where G.C.'s fate starts to change. Randy is pretty negative towards him and is definitely starting to become overly controlling. He thinks that just because G.C. is being friendly towards the opposing alliance that this makes him untrustworthy. What is the reason for this? I've tried to imply that Randy is, on some levels, jealous of G.C. because G.C. is able to befriend all of these people (even people outside of his alliance), whereas Randy only has the likes of Ace and Ken who are in the "evil" group anyway. We've seen that he has difficulty trusting people and he doesn't like people going outside of the circle of trust.

G.C.'s comment about Fang being like a gang is true in that once you're in it you're in it and you don't associate with the enemy. It would be like a Blood hanging out with a Crip, and if you try to leave the gang, you die. This is what Randy was saying. The only way you get out is if he votes you out, and that could happen to G.C. at this rate.

Crystal has to play the mother/big sister to G.C. and keep him in line, and she does this well. It was important to point out that G.C. doesn't like being told what to do but he *does* listen to Crystal. He swore on his cross that he would stick with Crystal, so he's likely to follow what she says. Plus she's just way more authoritative anyway and does sometimes intimidate people, as we've seen.

11) There's really nothing too special about the next scene, which is why I almost cut it. Probably either of G.C.'s confessionals could have been cut here, but I wanted to justify why Crystal was left back at camp. That's all.

12) The Night 22 scene begins with Crystal kindof mistreating G.C. for no reason. She was a little upset about not being taken on the Reward (although I didn't want to focus on this too much because a similar thing happened with Erik and Sherea in China), and she was just pissed off about the situation with Randy/Ace. You should definitely feel bad for G.C. here, because his closest ally is, for a moment, turned against him. But then she apologizes and it turns into a confrontation between G.C. and Randy.

Randy believes that G.C. is trying to befriend the Kota members simply to get their jury votes because everyone else on Fang is ignoring them or being nasty to them, so if G.C. is the one good person of Fang, he'd be the obvious one to vote for. While this is definitely true, I don't think it is G.C.'s conscious intention. I don't think he's enough of a gamer to think like that.

I like the argument between Randy and G.C., and I like G.C.'s realization that he's been "runnin' with the wrong crowd." This is clearly a pivotal moment that is meant to foreshadow him voting out one of the Fang people. The reality is that he 99% would have flipped even without Crystal being involved in it (post-IC, I mean). He was clearly mistreated by them and didn't belong in that Evil Alliance.

I really like G.C.'s confessional about the gang.

13) So we now move on to the Day 24 scene, which is narrated entirely by Ace while showing the tribe getting treemail. This is another scene that had to be as short as possible. Initially, Ace's confessionals came earlier on in the episode, but I had to shift the order around. I like this scene because it does show Ace's arrogance with the idols (he thinks no one knew about him having two, but Paloma did) and the fact that he thinks he controls everything. I think this is a scene that would be better to watch on the show, because the little "Checkers" part would have been interesting to see. My guess is that this scene made some of you suspect an Ace blindside - but my hope was that, because he was barely shown the first half of the episode, you would reconsider it.

14) The Immunity Challenge is based off of a challenge that was in Vanuatu, but I wanted to have them reconstruct African masks instead of a mosaic puzzle and I think it was a good idea. I know it's not the most exciting challenge ever though, but I hope you got through it okay. There will be some more physical challenges coming up that should be better to read. This one ended up being longer than I wanted too.

One important thing to note is Crystal saying that no one told her they had the idol. This is part of the reason why Dan and Paloma went to her and outed Ace, and part of what convinced her to go along with the blindside.

I really wanted to have Charlie and Ace as the last two in this challenge (and even Dan in there with them), but I thought that would be too contrived, so I figured Ken was an acceptable substitute since he was smart enough to make it to the end in this challenge.

Ace's confessional at the end of the challenge probably made it obvious that the vote would be between Ace and Dan.

15) Now we get to the big strategy scene. This is probably one of the best ones so far, in my opinion. It's weird that people like Charlie and Paloma were pretty much invisible up until this point, yet play an important part in the vote. I probably could have got rid of Charlie's first confessional, but I thought it was a good way to start the scene off. Anyway, Dan knows he will be getting the Fang votes again, and the discussion quickly turns to blindsiding Ace.

It's interesting that Dan says he's willing to lie "for a good cause," meaning getting rid of Ace, because "good" and "evil" are obviously subjective and Dan can lie, yet still maintain a positive image. And you can tell whose side the edit is on. And Paloma is right on board with it, and the editing is on her side because she's justified to get rid of Ace because of him stealing the idol from her. Right from Episode 6 there was foreshadowing of Paloma blindsiding Ace for this, so it had to happen sometime. It was one element of the "revenge" theme that really starts to come into play after this. Notice that everything Paloma says about Ace is right on.

16) The only way that blindsiding Ace would be able to work is with the help of Crystal and/or G.C. Dan and Paloma go to Crystal to try to get her on board. I'm not really sure why Charlie's not included in this. I think it's partly because I wanted him to have a cooldown and partly so the three of them wouldn't all corner Crystal, which would make it obvious to everyone that something was going on. Crystal says to "make it quick because she can't talk" (remember she said she wasn't even going to talk to the Kota people), but when they reveal Ace has the idols she suddenly becomes interested. Recall that Crystal and G.C. didn't even know Ace had one idol. I had to cut this part out, but Paloma was pretty instrumental in convincing Crystal that she was going to be fifth place (which she was), and that Ace would use the idol at five, which is why Crystal was never told about it.

I know she was pretty low-key for a while, even a little UTR, but Crystal is definitely playing the game for herself and I think this episode shows it. G.C.'s confessional here is actually pretty smart too. He fears that if he votes for Ace and Ace uses the idol, Dan would go home anyway, but because he betrayed Fang, he would end up getting voted out by Fang next. I think that's a fair concern.

We then have a brief conversation between Ken and Ace, and the fact that Crystal has been so gung-ho about Fang works to her advantage here because they don't suspect her to flip. (In pretty much every episode since the switch, she's said she's hardcore Fang and has snubbed Kota). And this is where Ace's flaw comes in because he believes it would be stupid for anyone to go against him and side with Charlie and Dan. This is why he doesn't bring the idols or play them. I got rid of the confessional, but G.C. had a line that it might not be the smartest thing but he would rather see Charlie or Dan win than Randy or Ace. This was the kind of logic that Ace didn't grasp. And, of course, he overestimates his self-awareness too by saying he had a great read on what was going on at camp.

At this point, I think the "blindside" was pretty obvious, but the big question would be whether or not Ace actually plays the idol. I liked Charlie's confessional about sneaking down to see your presents on Christmas morning, and at the end, I wanted to cause some doubt about the blindside by suggesting that Crystal or G.C. would tip Ace off to use an idol.

17) I really like this Tribal Council too. There's a lot going on at it and a lot of different subjects covered. I think most of it's pretty self-explanatory though. There's a few important things: (1) Jacquie saying she would take G.C. on a Reward if she won one (that wasn't shown during the actual Reward scene). (2) Dan pointing out that taking Comfort on Exile could possibly outweigh the disadvantage that you incur (ie. if you get tons of food and a good night's sleep, you might be stronger than everyone else even though you get a small penalty). (3) Crystal saying the game is about keeping yourself alive longer than the person next to you, and the camera scrolling over to show Ace beside her. (4) G.C. saying to judge him by his actions because he did send Dan to Exile and he has voted with Fang. Randy once again says that G.C. was making friends "selfishly" (to get votes) and that it will get him voted off. Randy doesn't want to keep someone around he would be more liked than him.

And the last part of Tribal Council is an instance of when Dan *did* lie "for a good cause" - in order to prevent Ace from playing an idol. I think this was very smart though. He says that if there was someone he suspected had the idol (ie. Ace) he would deliberately NOT vote for that person because he knows he would have the next highest number of votes. Of course, Dan knew full well that he was writing Ace's name down in about 5 minutes. Also, Randy's voting confessional shows that he thought he would more likely get Kota's votes than Ace.

So Ace does NOT use either of the idols. Surprised??

I really like the confessionals at the end of the episode between Randy and Paloma. I think they were both fitting. Randy got to say he's out for revenge now and Paloma got to gloat a little bit (deservedly).

18) ACE AS THE NINTH BOOT:

I'll talk a little bit about Ace now. I said after Episode 8 that I didn't want to have both Ace and Corinne going out in the same episode and lose both of my major villains in one episode. But with Ace having both idols, it was only a matter of time before he was going to be targeted. As Paloma said, it was his arrogance that was his downfall. He thought that people would see no better option but to stick with him (ie. it would be stupid to side with Dan or Charlie), and that is why he didn't play an idol. Also, he was also greedy in that he wanted to keep them intact until the Final Five/Four to ensure a spot in the Final Three. The other reason was that he thought Randy would be getting the Kota votes before he would because they voted for Randy last time, and because Randy was the one making waves with G.C. Now with Ace gone, Randy is going to quickly step into the role of villain so don't worry about not having a big negative character around.

I really enjoyed writing for Ace. I think he provided some good moments for my story, and I liked his constant CPN/MORN type of edit. I also had a fun time with his character and having him use big words to make him sound even more arrogant. The idol story with Paloma is still one of my favorite parts of the whole season, and I think him getting this kind of huge blindside like Ozzy and James was the perfect way for him to go out. Even though there was doubt about G.C. and Crystal, he never really suspected that he would be going out.

19) EPISODE 10:

If my predictions are right, Episode 9 is another episode that scores over 9. Episode 10 should do the same. I think the preview of it is pretty good, and if that doesn't get you excited, let me give a few more highlights. There are: arguments, a fun Auction, an actually good Exile scene, plots for revenge, and another great Tribal Council. It's interesting because Episode 10 was Randy's boot episode in the show that was centered around him, and my next episode is also pretty Randy-centric too. So I hope the Randy fans will enjoy it - if he's not voted off, that is.

PS: I like Kenny's use of the word "pwned!"

20) Finally, I really hope that you all enjoyed the episode, and I would once again like to offer my sincere thanks to you for reading it. I'm amazed to still have so many people reading into the eighth season (wow!). I would greatly appreciate it if you could spend a few minutes to leave some comments on the episode and let me know what you thought. Thanks in advance for all the replies!