The Stakes Have Been Raised

The Stakes Have Been Raised is the season premiere of .
==Story==
===Day 1===
Twenty returning survivors are on a sailing vessel in the South Pacific Ocean. 
The castaways are told they each have just a few minutes to grab everything they can from the ship before leaping over to their raft. There, however, is a twist, both tribes have the chance to race out to a nearby buoy and be the first team to release their own buoy to claim a major toolkit to take back to camp. Ozzy immediately goes for the toolkit while Mana ignores it until Caleb catches up, but Ozzy gets the toolkit for Nuku. Back on the boat, Sierra finds a "secret advantage" envelope on the ground which was uncovered by Andrea unknowingly and she puts it in her back pocket. Nuku ends up gaining more from the marooning and both tribes paddle off towards their camp.
Mana arrives on their beach and they each greet one another with hugs.
As Mana settles in to figure out where to build their camp, Tony jokingly announces he is going to go looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol then takes off to the jungle making llama sounds, causing his tribe to distrust him.
Tony is very surprised that nobody is chasing him through the jungle. Meanwhile, the tribe decides to send Sandra and Caleb to watch after Tony.
Sandra and Caleb catch up with Tony who laughs about the fact that his tribe is now afraid of it. The three of them walk off together.
Over on Nuku, the tribe greets one another. Zeke, in particular, is very starstruck by his tribemates.
The tribe spots some goats and debates on whether or not they would be able to catch them. Tai and Ozzy both agree that the goats would be much too fast to catch.
Nuku opens their toolkit consisting of a hammer, nails, a rake, among other items.
Sierra decides to walk off and open up her "secret advantage" away from the other members of her tribe.
Sierra's "secret advantage" is a variation of the Legacy Advantage from last season and will grant her immunity when there are either 13 or 6 castaways left in the game. If she's voted out before she can use it then she must gift it to another castaway.
At camp, Sierra and Brad solidify an alliance and discuss pulling Ozzy in with them.
Sierra decides to solidify a relationship with Ozzy by going off to talk to him. Ozzy agrees that working with Sierra would be smart for his game. Ozzy reveals to Sierra that he's nervous about playing with Cirie and might want to target her early in the game.
===Day 2===
The next morning Nuku continues to work on building their shelter. Cirie realizes that having Ozzy on her tribe might lead to him targeting her early on and thinks she may have to smooth things over with him.
Cirie asks Ozzy if the past history between them would cause any sort of division and Ozzy tells Cirie that the past is in the past and they are still good.
Ozzy talks about Cirie with Tai and J.T., admitting that Cirie did not actually organize his blindside in but was complicit in it alongside the Black Widow Brigade. Ozzy states he would like to get rid of Cirie because "she's not a physical player."
Tai talks to Cirie while cleaning out the chicken cage near the water. Cirie asks Tai if she has to worry about the game and Tai tells her that the only thing she might want to do is to work things out with Ozzy. Cirie is taken aback by this, she did not realize that there was a division between herself and Ozzy. Tai reluctantly reveals that he's sensed a vibe that the two of them need to talk things through.
Over on Mana, Tony decides to evolve his "spy shack" from to the "spy bunker", a version of the spy shack where Tony is able to hide underground.
As Tony is digging Troyzan walks up and catches him digging in the sand.
Troyzan tells Malcolm about Tony's actions and word quickly spreads to the tribe. Concern builds that Tony might have a clue to the idol because he was digging in one distinct spot.
At the water well Ciera, Aubry, Hali, Jeff, and Malcolm discuss Tony's actions and Ciera discussing getting rid of Tony and splitting the votes or targeting Tony's right-hand man, Caleb. The idea of getting rid of Caleb is quickly shot down due to Caleb's strength in challenges.
===Day 3===
At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the tribes will each send seven of their castaways out into the water on a raft before all racing back to the beach. There the remaining three castaways will wait to assemble a puzzle with the first tribe finishing earning immunity and reward. Before the challenge starts, Jeff Probst reveals the Tribal Council vote twist. He explains there will be no re-votes and if there's a tie vote then they can debate in search of a unanimous agreement, but if that doesn't happen the castaways go straight to drawing rocks.
Ciera opted to do the puzzle portion of the challenge, wanting to make up for her loss back in . Nuku won the challenge after Ozzy crushed Hali in the swimming portion of the challenge and Ciera and Sandra could not make up time on Cirie and Zeke during the puzzle portion.
Back at camp, Tony, Aubry, Malcolm, Caleb, and Jeff discuss getting rid of someone who's a threat but is also weak. The group consensus seems to be that getting rid of Ciera is the best option. Malcolm reveals to Caleb and Tony that Ciera had thrown their names out and that strengthens the resistance against her.
Sandra walks up on the group and declares that she doesn't care who goes home. When Tony presses her for a name she simply says she would go along with whatever names were out there. They reveal to her that Ciera has been throwing out the names of Caleb and Tony. As Ciera walks over to the water well, the group decides to tell her that they are targeting Michaela.
Down by the water, Sandra tells Hali, Troyzan, and Michaela that Ciera is the name being thrown around most prominently.
In camp, when Ciera walks away Tony tells Michaela that Ciera is voting for her. Michaela is shocked by this and immediately is very against the idea of Ciera voting for her.
Michaela is shocked to find out that her tribemates had convinced Ciera that everyone was going to vote for Michaela and she is very nervous as to why her name was thrown around and what position she was in now.
Aubry talks with Michaela who reveals that she feels very bad about the fact that her name is around at all. Michaela requests that Ciera be coerced to vote for somebody else by the end of the day.
Tony discusses with Aubry, Sandra, Malcolm, and Caleb how he is afraid of Michaela's tendencies to freak out. Caleb states that people who are likely to flare up like Michaela need to go home.
At Tribal Council, the members of Mana discuss Tony's antics and the star caliber of the people who are playing on their tribe. Jeff Probst asks Sandra why people should go with her and she confidently tells him that people should go with her because no one would vote for her to win a third time. In the end, the vote comes down to challenge weakness and the fact that, as Hali put it, "loose lips sink ships," and Ciera is the first person voted out in a 9-1 unanimous vote.
===Day 4===
Normally, a 9-1 vote at the first Tribal Council unifies a tribe. For Mana, it unnerved many of them that the vote was so easy. Tony, in particular, found himself 'bored' at the lack of game-changing moves in the first Tribal Council of .
Knowing they need to solidify a real majority before anyone else, Tony and Aubry discussed recruiting Malcolm, Caleb, and Sandra, who they saw to be big threats like themselves.
Afterward, Tony and Sandra met up to discuss Tony and Aubry's idea for a threat alliance and how no one will let a former winner win this season unless it's three winners at the end. They agreed to make an alliance.
At the same time, Sandra asked to be assured by Tony that the physical players on their tribe will not be taken out and Tony told her they need physical players in order to win challenges and stay in the game.
At Nuku, Tai took care of the chickens as he did in . He spoke to Debbie about making sure the chickens are trained so that in a week or so they are able to run free around the camp similarly to Tai's famous pet "Mark the Chicken" from his previous season.
Tai, Debbie, Ozzy, and Brad grouped up to name the chickens together. Brad notably named one of the chickens "Monica" after his wife and two-time player Monica Culpepper.
As J.T. was getting corn for the tribe, Tai requested that he leave some on the cob for the chickens. J.T. was visibly annoyed by Tai's request and continued to get corn for the tribe instead of the chickens.
Back at Mana, the tribe had turned in for the night and everyone is sleeping except for Tony who stood above everyone else in the shelter.
Tony rushed off to the well where he had been previously caught by Troyzan and continued to work on his spy bunker or hidden spy base that is dug underneath the group. While he is doing this, Troyzan woke up and requested to go off somewhere to talk to Sandra alone. The two of them walked off toward the well.
As Tony realized the two of them were coming, Tony quickly crawled away from his spy bunker and crept on Sandra and Troyzan from behind. The two of them were having a conversation about the best path for them going forward and in the conversation, Troyzan told Sandra he doesn't think that Tony is any big threat going forward. Tony overheard this.
When Sandra walked off Tony approached Troyzan in an attempt to catch him in a lie. Troyzan told Tony that he and Sandra were just admiring the tide to which Tony began to laugh. Sandra told Tony that they were talking about a crate that Michaela had put too close to the fire but Tony doesn't buy any of it.
Sandra assured Tony that everything he thinks is going on is in his head but Tony insisted that there is plotting going on against him and grills Sandra as to what exactly was said.
===Day 5===
On Nuku, J.T. and Ozzy discussed the difficulty of the early stages of the game and the two solidified an alliance together. Cirie watches the two of them talk and began to worry about her position in the tribe.
Cirie talked with Sarah at the water well and assures her that she is not coming after her ever, she promised to only write Sarah's name down unless it is in the Final Tribal Council. Sarah agreed to this, however she did feel wary about going against the opinion of her tribe this early in the game.
Cirie then went and talked to Zeke about her position with him because she feels a great bond with him. Zeke assured Cirie that he "will not screw her" and wanted to work with her going forward.
Cirie told Zeke that he's a strong player and that he should keep his options open. Zeke told Cirie that they're solid, however he really believes that it might be too early in the game to align with such a target and such a power player in Cirie.
Next, Cirie walked with Debbie and revealed to her that the tribe thinks she talks to everybody more than anyone else and is someone the tribe wants to target early on. Debbie says she doesn't agree with this perception but thanks Cirie for the information.
Cirie told Debbie that if Nuku loses immunity they should target one of the guys and requested that the plan stay completely under wraps. Debbie nodded and quickly agreed with Cirie's plan.
Back on Mana, Sandra revealed to Hali that Tony is forming an alliance of five and that Hali is not a part of it. When Hali asks Sandra if she is a part of it she replies that Tony believes she is. Sandra told Hali the two of them need to turn the tables on the boss, Tony, and Hali agrees.
Sandra went around assembling a counter-alliance against Tony, revealing the plan to Troyzan who quickly jumps on board and to Jeff who was surprised to not be a part of Tony's alliance. Troyzan pulled in Michaela who was happy to be a part of the numbers alongside the other members not in Tony's alliance.
===Day 6===
Tony approached Aubry and told her he has a feeling Sandra is developing a group in order to take him out at the next Tribal Council. He told her that Sandra cannot be trusted.
Tony talked to Malcolm about forming a majority in order to take out Sandra. The two of them agreed that they need to keep the strong together and have to take out Sandra as soon as they possibly can.
Tony then pulled in Caleb who immediately hops aboard his plan, he is very nervous about how Sandra has been running around forming an alliance over the past two days. The two of them agreed that Sandra is bad news and that if she takes power they will both be voted out very soon.
Malcolm and Caleb agreed that if people go along with Sandra's plan to vote out a strong player like Tony they are making an idiotic decision. They noticed that Sandra already has everyone in his pocket and think if Tony goes home they're both likely to go very soon.
At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, each tribe will send six castaways out in the water, over a cage, and dragging back a huge "snake" filled with puzzle pieces. Those will be put back together for a combo puzzle and then leads to a ring toss that flips up paddles to spell "Immunity." The first tribe to finish wins immunity and a fishing kit with paddles and nets.
Cirie sat out of the challenge for Nuku and they won the challenge after J.T. made quick work of the ring toss, and despite Malcolm nearly catching up, Mana fell behind after they kept dropping the snake, and lost their second challenge in a row.
Back at camp Mana was extremely disappointed in their loss and cannot believe that they again have to go back to Tribal Council. Michaela was particularly upset to be on the losing tribe because she does not like to lose.
Sandra lobbied hard for Tony to be voted out, she began to hatch a plan in splitting votes between Tony and his alliance member Aubry to ensure that one of them goes home in case Tony does have the Hidden Immunity Idol.
Hali, Troyzan, and Sandra discussed gaining two more votes in order to have enough to split. They agreed that they needed to get Malcolm and Caleb to vote with them. Hali told Caleb that this is the best opportunity to get rid of Tony and that if Tony sticks around he will most likely get closer with Aubry than he will with him. When Tony approached them, Sandra told him that the plan is to get rid of Aubry. Tony was shocked but he did not disagree with the plan.
Tony and Caleb both decided that Sandra is too big of a threat to be kept around and Tony realized that Sandra getting rid of Aubry would be a terrible thing for his own position in the game.
Tony told Caleb that they had to pull in Michaela alongside them. He thought that Michaela would be the only chance for them to get the numbers and Michaela's hatred of losing would allow them to get rid of a weak challenge performer in Sandra.
Caleb spoke to Michaela and Jeff about keeping the tribe strong and utilized the case of winning challenges in order to attempt to sway them to vote for Sandra over Tony. Caleb stated that Tony was a big threat but that they needed to keep him a bit longer. Michaela agreed and said she wanted to win more challenges.
Jeff agreed with Caleb as well, however, he voiced his concern that Tony was such a strong and such a paranoid player and said that it may be in the tribe's best interest to get rid of him now.
Sandra made sure Hali is on board, however, Hali revealed that she is nervous that the vote may not end up going their way.
At Tribal Council, Sandra and Tony argued, and Jeff said that the idea of the night's vote would be to minimize paranoia and taking out those who didn't fit in. In the end, Mana (including Caleb, Tony's closest ally) decided to side with Sandra, and Tony was voted out. Before leaving, Tony called Sandra out, but Sandra fired back, saying that she had to do what she had to do to stay in the game. Jeff Probst offered his perspective, stating that groupthink had determined the past two votes.
==Challenges==
<tabber>Reward=Challenge: The MarooningThe tribes are to collect as much supplies as they can from a large ship. However, while the tribes are busy gathering items, several yards from the ship are two color-coded knots. Members from each tribe can choose to dive in and swim to the ropes to untie them. The first person to untie their tribe's knot will release a toolkit for their tribe.Reward: A toolkitWinner: |-|Reward/Immunity (Day 3)=Challenge: Blue Lagoon BustleTribes start out on the beach, with each tribe running into the ocean, swimming out to a net obstacle, climbing over it, going over a barrel roll, and swimming to a platform to retrieve keys. Three players from each tribe then solve their tribe's puzzle in the form of a captain's wheel. The first tribe to extend the flag using the wheel wins.Reward: FlintWinner: |-|Reward/Immunity (Day 6)=Challenge: Serpent TurfContestants must race out into the water and swim over to their respective tribe's bamboo cage. Once the entire tribe has arrived, each person must climb up and over the cage wall into the water. They will then retrieve a 30-foot long, 400-pound snake and bring it back to shore after crossing a balance beam before setting the snake on a table. Three remaining castaways will then retrieve six number tiles from the snake, and the tiles will be used to solve a number combination. Solving the combination frees 8 rings that one of the three castaways must throw at a series of targets that became progressively further from the contestants. The rings, when hit, will eventually spell out "IMMUNITY". The first tribe to spell out "IMMUNITY" wins.Reward: Fishing kit with a raft waiting at the winning tribe's campWinner: </tabber>
==Tribal Council==
===Day 3===
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VotedAgainst	Voter
 	
 	
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====Voting Confessionals====
Ciera was shown writing Michaela's name down on the parchment but did not give a confessional. Sandra's vote was not shown during her confessional.
====Final Words====
Ciera's final words were not aired in the original episode. They were uploaded online later.
===Day 6===
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VotedAgainst	Voter
 	
 	
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====Voting Confessionals====
====Final Words====
===Still in the Running===
									
									
==Trivia==
===Secret Scene===
* Caleb the Fire Starter: On Day 1 at Mana, Caleb Reynolds manages to quickly and efficiently start a fire, much to the delight of the tribe.
* Cirie Checks In With JT: In the middle of the first night at Nuku, Cirie Fields decides to take some time to check her relationship with J.T. Thomas, who had previously betrayed her in . Their conversation goes well, but both Cirie and J.T. remain wary and neither are completely confident in trusting each other.
===Unaired Confessionals===
*An Epic Disaster: Malcolm Freberg vents after the tribe's loss at the Immunity Challenge, believing that what needs to change to allow Mana to finally win a challenge is leadership in an incohesive tribe.
*Everything Fell Apart: Hali Ford expresses her disappointment at Mana's challenge performance. She then goes on to discuss why it might be a good idea to vote Tony Vlachos off while in the early stages of the game before he can assert control.
*I Don't Know What People Think Of Me: Tai Trang discusses how the rest of his tribe could potentially perceive him because of his outward "obsession" over taking care of the chickens at camp. He does not want to be seen as the "chicken guy" and wants to make it clear that he is not simply obsessed with the chickens.
*I Love Where I Am: Jeff Varner takes a minute to take in his surroundings. He finds peace in the Fijian islands, comparing the serenity to the stress and tension in .
*I'm Glad I Have These Two Rocks: Caleb discusses Mana's failure at the Immunity Challenge. He then discusses the two rocks he had been keeping in his pocket, which represent his wife and his daughter, and how he will be using them to remind him of home and to maintain his sanity.
*It Was Hard To Watch: Sandra Diaz-Twine talks about how badly Mana failed at the challenge, especially after they had believed their line-up would have beaten Nuku's handily. She recalls how stressful it had been to watch as their lead kept slipping from their fingers.
*Never An Easy Season: J.T. discusses the difficult camp conditions and harsh weather, and also his concerns of an impending tribe switch.
*This Is A Business Trip: Jeff hopes to finally make the merge and the jury, having failed to do so in his previous two seasons. He compares to a business trip before discussing how a paranoid and uneasy Tony makes things difficult for the tribe, and he says that he was even worse of a tribemate than Abi-Maria Gomes.
===Other===
* Jeff and Malcolm attend the first Tribal Council of the season for the third time, having done so in each season they participated in. Jeff mentions this trend in a confessional this episode.
* This episode's Tribal Council is the first that Caleb has attended as he was pulled from when his tribe had yet to lose an Immunity Challenge.
* This episode marks the first time Brad Culpepper won an Immunity Challenge, having lost all four he participated in prior to his vote out in .
===Episode Title===
* The title was said by Andrea Boehlke about the theme of the season.
==References==
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Episodes
Category:Survivor (U.S.) Episodes
Category:Season Premieres
Category:Survivor: Game Changers
Category:Game Changers Episodes