A Pirate's Life For Me

"A Pirate's Life for Me"	"A Pirate's Life for Me"
 	
Season 	Survivor: Pearl Islands
Episode Number 	1/14 (079)
First Broadcast 	December 18, 2018
Episode Chronology 	Episode Chronology
Previous 	Women Rule the Amazon(previous season)
Next 	Karma Will Favour The Underdogs
A Pirate's Life for Me is the season premiere of Survivor: Pearl Islands.
==Story==
===Day 1===
The sixteen contestants are gathered to the deck of their ship, sitting in one large group as Jeff reveals himself in front of them. Many individuals look confused, beginning to question the nature of this gathering.
 
With the sixteen contestants separated into two tribes of eight, Jeff begins explaining to them how the beginning of the season will work. The group is informed that for the first time ever nothing awaits them at their respective camps, and that instead they will be given money to barter with at a local Panamanian market. Combined with buying their own tools and supplies, the tribes must set aside enough money to hire a boat that will take them to their islands.
Suddenly, Jeff tosses the groups spots shoes into the water, along with a single life ring for each tribe. Without needing any more encouragement, the sixteen players run and jump off the side of the boat, beginning their adventure in the coastal waters of Panama. 
The Drake tribe reaches land first, running up a path towards the village market. Judith turns and attempts to speak to her tribe in order to ask for instructions, but almost the entire group run off in separate directions. Lang and Grace stay with her, also frustrated at the lack of planning the group has made.
The Morgan tribe all reach the land several minutes after their rivals, clearly more winded as they pull their life ring up towards Judith and Lang. Juan quickly takes control of the tribe, instructing Callum, Jamal and Savannah to go off in one direction, and for Emma, Marcus and Mina to follow him, requesting that Lucy wait with their belongings. 
Juan's group walk into a small shop where they find Michael and Duncan hustling for several pots. Duncan appears to be bickering with the shop owner, with the language barrier proving difficult.
Juan begins speaking to the shop owner in his native Spanish, proving to be an effective tool in bargaining a lower price, ultimately allowing his group to leave with their required items much quicker than the Drake tribe. As the group navigate around the village, Juan continues getting them better deals, cementing his role as an early leader for the Morgan tribe.
Realising that their tribe are falling behind, Duncan recommends that the tribe use flirtation to get better deals off the locals, notably picking out Danielle as having "the best rack".
Holly sternly disagrees with Duncan's suggestions, with Danielle standing alongside them in silence. Metres away, Grace subtly buys herself a small bracelet without her tribe noticing, shoving it in her pocket before joining the other three to defuse the situation.
Juan, Emma and Marcus return to Lucy, placing a large bulk of their items into their life ring. Juan and Emma quickly run off to organise their boat to their island, with Marcus deciding to use his remaining money to try and barter for extra knives. In a panic, Marcus demands that Lucy come with him, claiming that both of them looking for items will be more efficient. Although she hesitates, Judith assures Lucy that she and Lang will "watch over everyone's stuff", giving Lucy the confidence to follow Marcus.
Judith and Lang pull their now stacked life raft away from the area, going down the path towards the boats where Michael is negotiating with a driver. After several minutes, a price is agreed, and all eight members of the Drake tribe get on their boat and depart from the area. Moments after leaving, Judith and Lang explain pillaging items from the Morgan tribe, much to everyone's surprise. The group leave in laughter, glad to have taken the opportunity to get the upper hand on the Morgan tribe.
Savannah returns to the tribes life ring, confused as to why there is no one stood with it. She pulls the life ring and the few items remaining inside down to the dock. 
When the Morgan tribe all reach the dock, Callum begins questioning what happened to specific items. The group all stand in confusion, with bickering beginning between several members. Juan tells them that they're out of time, forcing them to take what is left and get on their boat, leaving for their individual island.
===Drake===
The group arrive at their beach, placing their items all down under the tribe flag before making official introductions to one another. Grace begins sorting through the groups items, causing everyone to congratulate Judith and Lang, realising how much they truly looted from the Morgan tribe.
Drake quickly get to work building a shelter, deeming it to be the most important task given that they don't have many hours left in the day. Michael leads the group in the building of the shelter, proving to have a good idea behind the design and construction methods. Whilst building, Duncan and Luke appear to be making themselves out to be the 'jokers' in the group, continuously acting in an over the top manner in order to garner laughs from their tribe mates.
As Duncan and Luke continue joking around, Grace and Michael quietly talk together, viewing themselves as the two most mature members of the Drake tribe.
Lang and Holly walk through the jungle together, using a map provided by Jeff to find their water source. After several minutes of walking, they come across the well, lifting the lid to find a large amount of drinking water inside.
As the sun sets over the Drake tribe's island, the group sit around their fire, passing around some pre-cooked chicken they had obtained at the market, whilst also hydrating themselves on the boiled water. Michael decides to make a small speech to the tribe, thanking them for working so well together, and trying to boost morale for the next few days to get the tribe off to a winning start.
The Drake tribe laugh at Duncan's ridiculous claims, clearly finding his entertainment value to be an asset early on. As conversations continue, Duncan turns himself to Luke, whispering that the two of them should "watch each others backs", which Luke agrees too, telling Duncan that they should get "the boys together".
===Morgan===
The Morgan tribe arrive at their respective island, walking through the shallow water onto their beach where they begin their proper introductions to one another. However, the introductions are quickly cut short when questions arise what happened to the items in their life ring.
Savannah continues to explain that she had no hand in losing the items, and that she was left alone with the items after a majority had already been lost. Lucy comes to her defence, pointing out that she and Marcus had momentarily left the life ring unattended.
Juan once again takes control of the situation, leading the group so that they'll begin building the shelter rather than waiting around discussing what to do. Emma and Savannah agree to go and collect the water, leaving himself and Lucy to plan how the shelter and surrounding camp should be built. Callum, Marcus, Mina and Jamal begin collecting suitable materials to build the shelter, trying to get use to their new lives on the island.
The three men clearly bond whilst collecting the materials, in particular Jamal and Callum, who have a similar sense of humour and mindset around the Survivor experience. Mina jokingly taps the two younger men across their heads whilst they joke, telling them to behave and continue with the work.
Back at camp, Juan and Lucy have cleared out an area of the beach by the tree line so that they can begin building once the materials arrive. After the entire group reconvenes, building gets underway. Despite tension still existing over who is to blame over losing the items from the market, the group work together reasonably well to put together a shelter. However, it is clear to the group that the shelter will not withstand harsh weather conditions, particularly with little materials around to strengthen its foundations.
The group lay in the shelter, which is proving uncomfortable, particularly when light rainfall begins over the camp. Most of the tribe are shown to be lying awake, barely catching any rest throughout their first night of the game.
===Day 2===
===Drake===
Light rain falls over the Drake camp on day two, with several of the members feeling fatigued due to the shelter of their roof not yet being waterproof. Lang, Michael and Holly spend the morning repairing the shelter, finishing it off so that it'll be more comfortable to live in.
Whilst the trio work on fixing the shelter, Luke and Duncan attempt to use the fishing spear that they bought at the Panamanian market. Danielle, Judith and Grace sit on the beach talking, comparing bug bites after the first night. 
Several hours later, the tribe gather around the shelter, realising that they have already gone through the water they collected the previous day. Michael volunteers himself, Grace, Duncan and Luke to get more water, and "explore" the surrounding beaches. The other four remain at camp, deciding to work out a way to make comfortable changes to their limited clothing.
Elsewhere on another beach, the other four members of the Drake tribe continue their exploration of the island. Michael and Grace each carry a canteen of water, whilst Luke and Duncan look around the shoreline for any signs of potential nutrition.
The foursome head back to camp, taking the water with them, not wanting to spread any suspicion that as a group they may have already began forming a core alliance within the tribe.
===Morgan===
The rain continues throughout the day, with it not appearing bad enough to prevent the tribe from working. Due to the lack of sleep, the group remain sluggish and in low spirits. Juan spends time working around the camp, realising that they haven't managed their fire-pit well enough to keep it dry, and therefore are without the means of making fire to boil the water. 
Mina stands in the rain helping Juan, trying to move wood around to keep it as dry as possible until the rain passes. Emma and Savannah join the pair, not wanting to sit around and do nothing when so much is expected to be finished.
Back in the shelter, Marcus seems less than positive about the tribes situation. He tells Jamal and Callum that until the rain passes they should all preserve their energy, suggesting that the four stood in the rain are going to "burn out" and be "useless" in the first challenge.
The group see Lucy sleeping next to them, having finally got some sleep after staying awake all night. Callum jokes that she has "the right idea", evoking laughter from the other two men.
Later in the evening, the tribe sit around the almost completely dark camp, with no fire lit to provide the tribe with some much needed light. The dampness caused by the rain has mostly passed, giving the group an opportunity to rest and set some wood aside for the next day. Before sleeping, a discussion begins over how the tribe should approach the first immunity challenge. Savannah suggests if a puzzle is brought up that she'd love to be the one to attempt it, causing concern from Marcus, who feels others may be better suited.
 
===Day 3===
Both tribes are informed that they will be facing their first immunity challenge. The tribes are aware that whoever wins will undoubtedly find themselves at an advantage over their competitors.
Immunity Challenge: Cannon Carry
Pirates had to protect the loot they plundered from other pirates by moving from an island to another island and transporting their utility with them and therefore the tribes would be demonstrating the same course of action. Located at Snapping Duck Bay, each tribe had a makeshift cannon with detachable parts and they needed to navigate and transport it through a series of hard obstacles. They had to take the cannon apart first and get it through two fences, then they had to clear a path covered with rocks everywhere to get it through, then they had to drag it through thick mud and then race to the finish with one member carrying the tribe flag and one member carrying the tribe torch. The tribes needed to cross the finish line first with all eight members and their cannon intact.
Winner: Drake
Information: For Drake, Judith holds the tribe flag whilst Grace holds the tribe torch, whilst for Morgan the flag is held by Mina and the torch is held by Emma. During the course of the challenge, Drake quickly take the lead with Duncan, Holly, Lang and Michael proving to be strong assets in pushing the cannon. For Morgan, Juan and Marcus both lead the tribe, trying to keep them in with a shot of winning, whilst Jamal, Callum and Lucy follow their lead. Danielle and Luke perform badly for Drake, with Danielle struggling due to a lack of strength, and Luke's foot injury causing him discomfort. Similarly, Savannah struggles for Morgan whilst moving through the obstacles, dropping pieces several time, slowing down her tribe. In the end, Morgan are unable to catch up to Drake, having to watch as they race ahead and claim the first immunity win for themselves. 
===Morgan===
The tribe return to camp having just lost the first immunity challenge of the season. After the loss, the tribe get to fixing the areas of camp which they haven't yet had a chance to concentrate on. Callum, Jamal and Juan talk whilst cutting down wood for the fire, agreeing that they need to keep the tribe as strong as possible.
Back at the shelter, the four women and Marcus patch up the roof, trying to best prepare it should the rain return later on in the evening. Marcus and Mina head off to collect more supplies, leaving the other three girls alone to discuss the vote.
As the day progresses, Mina is informed of the plan to vote for Marcus, with Juan eventually also being given this information. Elsewhere, Jamal and Callum speak with Marcus, agreeing that they need to vote for one of the women to keep the tribe safe. The group continues speaking in small groups, with several members clearly working out that they are swing votes in what will end up being a group decision, or else the likelihood is that the result may go down to a random draw of rocks.
At tribal council, the group sit down to discuss with Jeff for the first time since arriving at the Pearl Islands. Juan talks about being the leader, and is openly praised by a majority of the tribe, who say without him their situation might have been significantly worse. Savannah mentions her worries about the water situation, claiming that unless the group is able to "get fire tonight" that they'll undoubtedly start having to leave the game due to health reasons. The group generally agree that keeping the tribe strong, whether it's through cohesion or through physicality is the most important influence on the vote tonight. Jeff notes that out of all the tribes in seasons past, he would rate Morgan's start amongst one of the worst, highlighting their dire situation which they must rescue themselves from. After the vote, Jeff brings back the urn, with the eight votes inside that will determine who will be the first person ousted from the game.
Savannah shakes her head in annoyance, looking over at the tribe who generally avoid eye contact. Lucy appears shocked, having been the only person to side with Savannah during the vote, whilst the other six united against them. Once Savannah has left the tribal council area, Jeff throws the tribe a flint, giving them fire now that they've been to tribal council. The whole group let out a sigh of relief and celebrate, knowing that the flint will give them the much needed lifeline to proceed in the game. 
==Tribal Council==
Tribal Council 1:Morgan	Tribal Council 1:Morgan 	 	
VotedAgainst 	Voter 	 	
Savannah (6 votes) 	Callum, Emma, Jamal,Juan, Marcus, Mina	 	
Marcus (2 votes) 	Lucy, Savannah 	 	
VOTED OFF:Savannah 	VOTED OFF:Savannah 	VOTED OFF:Savannah	VOTED OFF:Savannah
===Voting Confessionals===
===Final Words===
===Still In The Running===
Drake 	Drake 	Drake 	Drake 	Drake 	Drake 	Drake 	Drake
Danielle	Duncan	Grace 	Holly 	Judith	Lang 	Luke 	Michael
Morgan 	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan	Morgan
Callum 	Emma 	Jamal 	Juan 	Lucy 	Marcus	Mina 	Savannah
===Trivia===
* The first half of the episode was written in June 2018, and wasn't completed until December of the same year.