The Windows To My Escape Are Closing

"The Windows To My Escape Are Closing"	"The Windows To My Escape Are Closing"
 	
Season 	Survivor: Thailand
Episode Number 	9/13 (061)
First Broadcast 	December 28, 2017
Episode Chronology 	Episode Chronology
Previous 	Put Your Faith In a Rock, Not a Person
Next 	When Girls Come Together No Man Is Safe
The Windows to My Escape Are Closing is the ninth episode of Survivor: Thailand.
==Story==
===Day 24 (Night)===
Once again, the Chuay Gahn four wait up around the fire for Sook Jai to return from tribal council. The group speculate whether it is Estan or Phillip who has been voted out, knowing that the likelihood of any of the other three leaving is close to impossible.
Minutes later, Sook Jai walk back into camp without Estan, receiving hugs from Chuay Gahn who try to act somewhat surprised by their decision. 
The group get prepared to sleep, having short conversations about the vote, whilst also congratulating one another on the confirmation that they have all at least made it to the jury.
===Day 25===
In the early hours of the afternoon, Ricardo, Karen and Aaron set off in order to collect water for the tribe, leaving the others back at camp to sit around, with no tree mail giving any indication of a challenge or a merge. Kanda and Phillip lay inside the cave, discussing the constant boredom waiting for the merge to occur. Phillip also begins to question Kanda over her position within Sook Jai, noting that Karen and Ricardo are a close pair, and that she will be voted out should they lose two more immunity challenges.
Salma, Vince and Julius stand in the water together laying out the fishing net. As the trio head further into the ocean to lay out the net, Salma loses her grip, causing the net to somewhat drift forward, almost being lost if not for the quick reactions from the two men. 
The group are forced to head back to beach, fearing that any further attempts may result in the net being lost completely. As they place the net down, Julius mutters under his breath whilst Salma apologises, feeling irritated that her slip up may have cost the tribe the chance of getting fish for the day, as the tide now comes further in and the waters less steady. 
Julius begins to untangle the net, with his comments leaving both Vince and Salma confused, unsure whether he is joking or truly annoyed with Salma. Salma asks Julius what he's talking about, causing him to reply "it doesn't matter". 
Julius tells Salma to "forget about it", apologising if he upset her before heading back towards the cave. Vince looks at Salma and shrugs, clearly baffled by the behaviour of his closest ally.
Vince and Salma head back into the water, hoping to prove Julius' sudden outburst wrong. Out further in the water, Ricardo, Karen and Aaron reach the island that contains the groups water source. After collecting the water, Ricardo questions Aaron on his thoughts over Estan's exit. Aaron attempts to react nonchalantly, showing little to no care in the fact Estan has left the game. 
Later on in the late afternoon, Salma and Vince return to camp after a long day fishing, having successfully managed to catch two medium sized fish despite Julius' doubts. The entire group congratulate the pair, leaving Ricardo and Julius to clean and prepare the meal for the camp. Julius apologises for his comments, which Salma accepts, cementing the apology with a hug between the pair. 
===Day 26===
The tribe begin their day with Karen bringing tree mail back for the tribe, lowering their spirits by reading what sounds like another tribal challenge. Both tribes of four begin preparing themselves, believing that which ever tribe loses will be down to just three members after the next tribal council.
===Reward===
The final eight arrive at the reward challenge, separating into their two tribes as they sit down on the floor. Jeff begins by telling the tribes that they will be playing for love from home, but in the form of a video rather than having their family on the island. He goes on to speak of the tribes assumption that eventually a merge would come, putting an end to the assumptions with the revelation of eight gold coloured buffs. The group break into cheers and hugs upon the announcement of the merge, glad to have made this later than usual milestone in the game. Once the group has settled down, they are randomly paired up for the challenge, facing off against other pairs until only one of them is left to claim the reward. Before the challenge begins, each contestant is shown a twenty-second long teaser of their video.
Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay
Pairing up, each group of Survivors would race through an obstacle course, with various tasks to perform along the way. First team to successfully complete the course and cross the finish line wins and moves on to the next heat. This continued until the final round, where the last remaining pair would compete against each other on a puzzle. The first person to complete the puzzle would win reward.
Reward: A video of the winner's loved ones from home.
Winner: Ricardo
Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay	Reward Challenge: Wicker Ball Relay
Result 	Winner 	2nd 	3rd 	4th 	4th 	 	 	 	
Castaway 	Ricardo 	Vince 	Aaron, Julius 	Kanda, Phillip 	Karen, Salma 	 	 	 	
===Merged Tribe===
The group return to camp after the reward challenge, somewhat grateful for all being given a short snippet of their loved ones, whilst also trying to seem happy for Ricardo after his win. Having finally merged after waiting six days longer than usual, the final eight all seem in high spirits, now knowing that the game is individual, without the shackles of tribe boundaries.
Straight away the tribe get to painting their tribe flag, also coming up with a name for their new tribe. Ricardo, Kanda, Karen and Julius do most of the decorating for the flag, whilst the others get on with chores so that the group can relax later in the day and celebrate the start of the individual game.
Whilst painting the tribe flag, the four decorators talk about both the reward challenge and their lives back home, having been reminded of them through the videos.
Ricardo continues to question Julius on his supposed wealth, much to Julius' annoyance, knowing it is going to (intentionally or not) place a target on his back over the coming days. Julius gives short responses to the questions, allowing the conversation to run dry so that he isn't quizzed any further on his financial situation. 
Phillip and Aaron stay together whilst completing their chores, knowing they need to talk to one another now that the merge has officially been confirmed. The duo both speak about their seemingly poor position within the factions of their old tribes, knowing that had either lost another tribal immunity that they would likely have been the next to join the jury. 
Getting no nearer to a definite answer, the pair agree to leave the discussion for the following day, wanting to wait until nearer tribal to find out where others are thinking of sending their votes.
Later on in the evening, the group sit together and celebrate the merge over a basic meal of steamed clams, all excited to take part in the first individual immunity challenge of the season the following day.
===Day 27===
The final eight gather their things in order to head to the first individual immunity challenge, knowing that for once they will only rely on themselves to win safety from tribal council. 
Challenge: Thai Numbers
The Survivors had to compete in a mathematical test. First, a simple elimination round tested the Survivors' memory skills, matching Thai numbers with numbers in English. The second round requires problem solving, using Thai numbers as coordinates, the contestants had to find ten buried tiles. Each uncovered tile revealed the location of the next tile. The first contestant to recover all ten of their tiles wins immunity.
Winner: Karen
Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers	Immunity Challenge: Thai Numbers
Result 	Winner 	2nd 	3rd 	5th 	5th 	 	 	 	
Castaway 	Karen 	Kanda 	Salma, Vince 	Aaron, Julius, Phillip, Ricardo 	 	 	 	 	
Chuay Jai return to camp, with Karen now wearing the individual immunity necklace, guaranteeing her safety through to the final seven. The four men who went out in the first round laugh at the result, admitting that they weren't ready for such a difficult test of memory at this stage of the game.
The three ex-Chuay Gahn males stand together in the cave as they place their things away, using the time alone to quickly assert between themselves that Ricardo is their target.
Aaron heads down to the water where the other five are bathing, just missing out on a conversation started by Ricardo, in which he is speaking of the benefits in voting for Julius.
Ricardo repeats his arguments for voting off Julius to Aaron, hoping to get through to him that as a six they can control the game, and get rid of Julius and Vince at the next two tribal councils.
One by one, the ex-Sook Jai members eventually head back to the camp, leaving Salma and Aaron alone in the water to discuss the vote. Both admit they see value in the plan, but Salma remains hesitant, feeling as though it weakens her personal position.
With tribal drawing closer, Phillip and Aaron get together to discuss the vote and finalise their decision, still unsure whether to take out Julius or Ricardo. They try and weigh up the implications of both votes, opting to go for whatever seems more beneficial for creating an alliance after the result.
At tribal council, the newly merged Chuay Jai tribe begin with standard political responses to Jeff's questions, not wanting to give too much away about the groups game play beyond the obvious 4-4 split in tribe numbers. Ricardo mentions that he expects to get votes, but that he has pitched the case to take out "a big threat", and hopes that others will look beyond tribal lines when making their decisions for an "individual game". Vince talks about the fractures within Sook Jai, feeling that if the vote is a 4-4 tie, that Phillip has too easily forgiven the people that would have voted him out had they lost again. The other three Sook Jai members speak up to deny this, claiming that Chuay Gahn would've done the same to Salma or Aaron, and that their tribe has been nothing more than Vince and Julius calling the shots. During the commotion, Salma leans over to Aaron and whispers in his ear, which he responds to with a nod and a quick facial gesture towards Phillip. Julius catches Aaron sending signals to Phillip and impulsively decides to put him on the spot.
After several more minutes on the topic of certain individuals needing to flip on their tribes, the first merged vote is commenced, with each member writing their vote in confidence without any signs of hesitation. As Jeff collects the urn, Karen jokingly claims that she'll scream if the first merged tribal comes down to a rock draw.
Ricardo laughs and throws his head back, sighing before giving both Kanda and Karen a hug, easily deducing that Phillip opted to flip on the group, just as Estan had warned he would. Estan is seen silently laughing on the jury, whilst Julius thanks his tribe members and Phillip for siding with him. Ricardo wishes the group luck, claiming there are "no hard feelings", receiving praise off the group as he heads over to Jeff with his torch. After Ricardo departs the tribal council area, both Kanda and Karen look disheartened, with the latter sending glares over to Phillip, ready to tear into him for his decision to turn on his former tribe. The final seven grab their things and head back to camp, ready to see how the fallout of the vote will effect tribe dynamics moving into the final twelve days of the competition.
==Tribal Council==
Tribal Council 9:Chuay Jai	Tribal Council 9:Chuay Jai 	 	
VotedAgainst 	Voter 	 	
Ricardo (5 votes) 	Aaron, Julius, Phillip,Salma & Vince	 	
Julius (3 votes) 	Kanda, Karen, & Ricardo 	 	
VOTED OFF:Ricardo 	VOTED OFF:Ricardo 	VOTED OFF:Ricardo	VOTED OFF:Ricardo
===Voting Confessionals===
===Final Words===
===Still In The Running===
Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn	Chuay Gahn
Aaron 	Gypsy 	Harper 	Julius 	Rachel 	Salma 	Vince 	West
Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai 	Sook Jai
Estan 	Joan 	Kanda 	Karen 	Melissa 	Phillip 	Ricardo 	Rick