Survivor Jackpot

Survivor Jackpot is the second episode of .
==Story==
===Day 7===
Mana and Nuku arrived on the beach where Nuku saw that Tony Vlachos had been voted off for the first time. They were shocked. Jeff Probst then asked what they think they're on the beach for to which Zeke Smith heartily replied, "We're about to swap!"
The castaways then draw covered buffs one by one, when they reveal them it is revealed that they have split into three new tribes, creating the new green Tavua tribe. The new tribes are as follows:
					
					
					
As the players revealed their new buffs they noticed a new third tribe, Tavua, had been formed. This tribe, much like the additional third tribes in the past, must start anew without anything more than basic supplies.
After the swap, ex- allies Caleb Reynolds and Tai Trang were reunited. Caleb greeted Tai by allowing him to kiss him on the cheek which Tai had attempted during their last season together. On the Nuku tribe, Jeff Probst pointed out that J.T. Thomas is in a 5-1 minority with all of his tribemates being from the old Mana. J.T. tells Probst that he will be alright. Similarly, Probst pointed out that Troyzan Robertson is in a 5-1 original tribe minority over on the Tavua tribe.
At Nuku, J.T. showed his new tribemates around his tribe, noting that the chickens were creating quite a mess but can be easily cleaned up. Malcolm Freberg was stunned by the quality of Nuku's camp.
Jeff Varner was stunned by the quality of the new camp as well, he notes how much better it is than the old Mana camp. J.T. tells his tribe he is happy about having swapped tribes however is a bit uneasy at being at a 5-1 original tribe disadvantage.
The tribe went fishing using the fishing gear that Nuku had won in a previous Reward Challenge. J.T. decided to use this as an opportunity to create a diversion while he searches for the Hidden Immunity Idol.
When Malcolm bent the tribe's fishing spear, J.T. uses it as an excuse to swim back to shore in a ruse to grab the pliers from the beach in order to fix it.
Back on the raft, Jeff commented about how it's funny that the old Mana now gets a chance to be alone, he says it's as if they've raided Nuku and hijacked it for the day. As soon as J.T. reached the shore, he began to dig and search in trees for the Hidden Immunity Idol.
The former Mana members on the raft quickly got suspicious. Aubry Bracco and Jeff deduced that he may have been searching for the Hidden Immunity Idol in order to save himself.
Back on the shore, J.T. frantically searched through people's belongings for the idol. In the end he was not able to find the idol in anybody's possession and cannot find the idol on Nuku beach.
Malcolm laughed about how J.T. has stranded them out in the ocean. At this point, his entire tribe was onto what he is doing. Jeff noted that doing this makes him a dangerous player in the game.
On Mana, Brad Culpepper began to make his new tribe Mana feel like a home by decorating it as he is an interior designer. He hung bulbs around the game, constructed some benches, and placed a red life raft on a tree to mark the Mana beach.
Caleb remarked to Hali Ford that he feels so comfortable with his new tribe, more so than he did on Mana.
Brad immediately solidified his relationship with Tai who remarks that their new tribe is very strong. Tai immediately requested to keep Caleb, offering to even get rid of Debbie Wanner, his ex-Nuku tribemate, over him. Brad was against this because he thought that Debbie would be loyal and wants to keep her around as long as he can, Tai was perplexed by this. Tai and Brad both agreed that they want to get rid of Hali before they get rid of Caleb or anyone else on the tribe.
On the beach, Tai approached Caleb and makes sure that the two of them were still a tight duo as they were in Kaôh Rōng. Tai told Caleb that he told Brad he would rather keep him over Hali and he thinks that he can get Debbie and Brad on board to keep him.
Tai asked Caleb who he is close with on the other tribe and Caleb told him he was only cool with Malcolm and Jeff, everyone else was against him. Tai told Caleb that the two of them should work together and have Caleb's alliance from the other tribe as an option for them moving forward.
The new Tavua tribe arrived at their empty camp, knowing that they needed to start fresh without any sort of camp set up. Troyzan told his tribe he was happy to be away from his very chaotic original Mana tribe.
Ozzy Lusth noted to his tribe that they have more supplies for a new shelter and might be in a better position for setting up a new tribe than they were over at Nuku.
As the tribe began to set up their new camp, Cirie Fields and Zeke solidified their bond from the original Nuku and felt good working with one another.
Cirie took the chance to cultivate a relationship with Ozzy, hoping to put behind any bad blood the both of them had from . She thinks that in a smaller time Ozzy is less likely to come after her because they have some sort of pre-existing relationship that could allow them to work together.
Meanwhile, Troyzan was nervous that he was the only person on the tribe who originated from Mana. He approached Andrea Boehlke, who tried to make Troyzan feel comfortable with his position.
Troyzan's conversation with Andrea only rattled him further, and he felt nervous about Andrea and his position in the new Tavua tribe.
While the rest of the tribe relaxed at camp, Troyzan snuck out onto the beach and began to frantically search for a Hidden Immunity Idol. After a bit of searching, he spotted a glass bottle, and when he opened it he found a clue directing him to grab the idol from the side of the puzzle table at the next Immunity Challenge.
===Day 8===
At Nuku, J.T. told his tribe about how he has seen a lot of goats around and he can get within about 20 yards. Sandra Diaz-Twine immediately becomes adamant about catching and eating one of the goats.
Sandra began to point out all the different goats running around their camp and the tribe notes how many there are so close to their camp.
J.T. spotted a goat near Malcolm and Sandra, Malcolm, and J.T. cornered it between them and a cliff. J.T. ran around the side of a cliff and managed to grab a baby goat. Malcolm was able to grab the mother goat and they brought the two back to the camp.
Michaela Bradshaw admired the cute baby goat but was shocked when Sandra immediately told her not to get attached to it because they were going to eat it.
J.T. told Sandra that he wanted to release the baby goat and just eat the mother. Malcolm was very against killing the goat and immediately it became clear that Sandra was the only one adamant about eating the goats they had caught.
The group decided that they would rather release the goat and its mother and try to in the future to catch another random goat. Sandra sat the tribe down and they discussed killing the goat, Sandra offered to help clean the goat after it was caught but Jeff, Aubry, Michaela, and Malcolm were all very against the goat's death.
The group came to a consensus to eat one of the chickens rather than killing one of the goats.
The tribe released the goats and watched them run away together.
===Day 9===
At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, the tribes had to send out three members to complete an obstacle course. The course required that the 3 members be tethered together and would have to climb through a series of obstacles before filling a bucket with water, crossing a teter-totter and filling a bucket that would lower a gate. After the gate had been lowered 1 member of the tribe had to untie a series of knots and the other two members would construct a puzzle of the insignia. The first tribe to finish would win immunity and a choice of reward while the second would win immunity and whatever reward the first tribe didn't pick.
Before the challenge, Troyzan was very nervous about having to go for the Hidden Immunity Idol in front of his entire tribe at a challenge.
Nuku was able to get an early lead through the obstacle course portion of the challenge while Mana fell behind early. At the gate, Mana and Tavua were dead even while Nuku continued to hold their early lead. Sierra Dawn Thomas is able to untie knots quickly, giving Tavua an early disadvantage at the puzzle portion of the challenge. The puzzle portion is neck and neck but Sandra and Jeff are able to hold the lead held by Nuku, allowing them to be the first tribe to win reward and immunity. Cirie and Zeke believe they have the puzzle correct, however they are incorrect, giving Hali and Brad a chance to catch up. In the end, Cirie and Zeke were able to correct their puzzle, allowing Tavua to win reward and immunity, sending Mana back to Tribal Council.
After the challenge Troyzan slumped himself over the puzzle table, appearing relieved to have won the challenge in such a close race but instead reached under the table after the tribe turned away to nab the Hidden Immunity Idol.
Mana returned to camp after losing the close challenge. The Nuku majority discussed whether to vote off Caleb, a physical asset with tight relationships, or Hali, a person who may not be as strong, but had fewer relationships.
Back at Mana, the tribe was bummed over their loss. Hali and Caleb, the two members of original Mana, were particularly upset because the two of them were outnumbered 4-2 by the original Nuku.
While Hali and Caleb worried, Tai, Debbie, and Sierra discussed voting off Hali as the weaker member of the original Mana in order to keep the four Nuku members together. Tai told the girls that he is friends with Caleb and wants to keep him around over Hali.
Brad, Sierra, and Debbie had a discussion on the beach where they talk about how Tai is sort of running the show at the moment and Brad puts out the idea of limiting Tai's power by getting rid of Caleb, a social threat, before Hali, who might not be as good in challenges.
In order to seem like he isn't in charge, Brad pulled Tai aside to talk about how him keeping Caleb could hurt his own game, or in other words how playing with Caleb could make them look like a strong pair and highlight him as a threat.
At Tribal Council, Mana continued their discussion on whether keeping physical strength was more important than eliminating social threats. Caleb attempted to defend himself, saying that Hali was easier to manipulate than he was, and that Hali had relationships with people on the other tribes. Hali spun this against him, saying that being easier to manipulate would be a good thing for the Nukus, who could use her as a pawn in the future.
In the end, Tai decided that his friendship with Caleb would only put a greater target on his back, and joined the rest of the tribe in voting Caleb off in a unanimous vote.
==Challenges==
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Austin's Elemental Obstacle CourseThe castaways from each tribe will be attached to each other with ropes attached to belts around their waists. They will begin by racing through a tunnel of hay. They will then make their way over and under a series of hitching posts. The next step is to grab a bucket, fill it with water, and make their way over a giant teeter-totter. They will then pour the water from their bucket into a larger bucket. When the larger bucket is full, it will lower a gate. The team will then race through the gate to solve a plank puzzle. The first two tribes to get it right will win reward and immunity.Reward: First-place tribe wins a tarp and has a choice between comfort items or seasonings; second-place tribe wins what the first placers did not choose.Winners (in order of finish): and 
==Tribal Council==
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VotedAgainst	Voter
 	
 	
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===Voting Confessionals===
Hali was shown writing Caleb's name down on the parchment, and Caleb was shown writing Hali's name down, but neither gave a confessional.
===Final Words===
===Still in the Running===
									
									
==Trivia==
===Secret Scene===
* Varner Wants A Chicken: A famished Jeff Varner is getting impatient with the tribe for keeping all four of its chickens simply because they were laying eggs.
===Unaired Confessionals===
* It Was Quite Comical: Aubry Bracco talks about the beauty of the Nuku camp, and she felt that the presence of Mana members felt almost like a violation of J.T. Thomas's space. She then discusses how J.T. had stranded the former Mana members in the middle of the ocean while he searched for an idol, describing the situation as "comical".
* My Fate Rests In This Package: Brad Culpepper discusses the chaos that erupted as a result of the tribe switch and how he felt relief when he saw that members of his old tribe landed on Mana with him.
* Not Your Average Survivor: Andrea Boehlke was pleasantly surprised that Mana had voted Tony Vlachos off their tribe, stating that was already shaping out to be high-stakes. She then discusses the tribe switch, where she felt she was unfairly placed on a tribe that had to start from scratch. She also talks about how Troyzan Robertson was an easy first vote for the Nuku-majority Tavua tribe.
===Behind-the-Scenes===
* Blue Lagoon Cruises
===Other===
* This episode marks the first time in each of their four seasons that Cirie Fields or Ozzy Lusth have swapped tribes pre-merge.
* This episode marks the first time in which The Obstacle Course has been used as a tribal challenge since .
* This episode marks Jeff Varner's first Immunity Challenge win since .
* This episode marks the only time where Caleb Reynolds has received votes cast against him.
* The title was said by Malcolm Freberg in response to seeing Nuku's camp.
==References==
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Episodes
Category:Survivor (U.S.) Episodes
Category:Survivor: Game Changers
Category:Game Changers Episodes