An Emerging Plan

An Emerging Plan is the eighth episode of .
==Story==
===Day 15===
During the night, it begins to rain and Courtney Marit has a horrible time sleeping between being soaking wet and dealing with Shane Powers's elbows.
===Day 16===
At Casaya, a miserable Courtney and Danielle DiLorenzo discuss getting rid of Shane, who adamantly wanted out of their alliance. While tidying up his rock garden Bruce Kanegai feels like he is the odd man out and he hopes that he can make it to the merge.
Sally Schumann looks for the Hidden Immunity Idol at Exile Island, and is happy to still be in the game. She wonders if Terry has already found the idol.
At La Mina, Tree Mail indicates that there is treasure to be found on the back of their beach. The three men take a walk to find it and discover a boat with a crate inside. A note tells them to pack up their things and meet up with Casaya where they can open the crate together. The tribe thinks it's time for the merge.
When the lazy Casaya tribemates see Nick Stanbury, Austin Carty and Terry Deitz coming, they quickly scarf down the rest of their rice so that they don't have to share it. They agree to go to the final six together. Upon Sally joining them from Exile Island, the castaways open the crate and it confirmed that they are now a merged tribe. They share all of the food within and La Mina is pleased with how well they have been welcomed by Casaya.
Bruce finds himself in the swing vote position, entertaining both an offer from Terry and leadership respect from Shane and Aras Baskauskas. While working on a new shelter, Nick cut through some rope and accidentally hit Bruce in the face with the machete, splitting his lip and chipping his tooth. Nick is mortified but Bruce is okay and doesn't let it affect his game.
===Day 17===
The former La Mina members attempt to recruit a fifth member into their alliance but Austin has no luck with Aras, and Terry has no luck with Shane or Cirie Fields. At the Immunity Challenge, Terry hangs on the longest and wins the first individual immunity.
===Day 18===
Casaya gathers together and debates on whether to vote for Austin or Nick. Shane annoys the former La Mina tribe members, earning their votes. Austin reveals his strategy to appear weak in the Immunity Challenge but ultimately Nick is voted out 6-4.
==Challenges==
Immunity Challenge: Vampire BatsThe castaways must use their arms and legs to hang onto a raised log for as long as possible. The last person left hanging wins.Winner: 
==Tribal Council==
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VotedAgainst	Voter
 	
 	
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===Voting Confessionals===
Austin and Courtney's confessionals were shown in the episode.
===Final Words===
===Still in the Running===
							
							
==Trivia==
* The two tribes merged on Day 16, setting the record for the earliest merge in the history of the show, tied with in . This record would be broken by in , where the tribes merged on Day 12.
* This would be the last time someone is voted out post-merge and does not become part of the jury until  in .
* The episode title is a pun on the word "merge".
==References==
Category:Episodes
Category:Panama Episodes
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor (U.S.) Episodes
Category:Survivor: Panama