Shields For Sale

**Shields for Sale** is the 9th episode of *Survivor: Ecuador*.

## Story

### Night 23

The Curaray tribe returns to camp after their first Tribal Council as a merged tribe. Kara can be seen looking defeated and pissed as she sets her torch against the tree next to their shelter. Kinti squeezes her shoulder, telling her it will be okay, but she says she just doesn't feel good right now.

Kinti watches Kara walk away and sighs, obviously disappointed as well.

By the fire, Zachary and Everett can be seen thanking Orlia for siding with them. She tells them it's not a big deal, and that they don't need to flatter her.

Once Orlia gets up, Zachary and Everett can be seen high fiving. Zachary is grinning in relief as the two celebrate their survival.

### Day 24

On the morning of Day 24, Kinti wakes up early and finds Everett sitting by the fire, the first one up. She makes her way over to him, determined to have a conversation with him about the game.

She sits down, and the two quickly begin to talk game before anyone else wakes up to interrupt them. Kinti asks him if there's any possibility of them working together, and Everett says he isn't sure but he would like to since he thinks he needs people like her as shields for his game. She tells him he's one of her only shots to stay in the game, and she's open for whatever. Then, people can be heard waking up, so Kinti walks away. As she does so, Everett watches her walk away.

Later on in the day, a lot of the tribe can be seen sitting around the fire, chatting and telling stories. Lauwanda can be seen laughing uproariously as Martina tells a story about her youth when she and her identical twin sister Londra would switch places.

Veldt, Kara, and Kinti can be seen laying in the shelter, watching the rest of the tribe swap stories by the fire. The three whisper quietly about strategy as they watch the rest of the tribe covertly. They agree that they're probably going to have to try to go for the other Charcas if they want to get back in the game.

Some time later, Enrique and Veldt can be seen walking through the jungle. The two men chat and laugh a bit as they walk.

The two men are soon deep into the jungle and far from camp, and Veldt turns the conversation to the game, asking him what's going on. Enrique admits that he doesn't know, and that he wanted to do a post-swap Cuevita alliance but that no one seemed interested, and that everyone just wanted to stick with original tribes. Veldt tells Enrique he felt the same way, and they both agree they need to look out for each other and make sure their voices are heard in the game.

On another side of camp, Mellorie and Mitzi can be seen sitting on a log by the river and talking about their lives back home. Mellorie has been telling stories about her several ex boyfriends while Mitzi has listened dutifully, and Mellorie asks her about her past. Mitzi sighs and admits she's had a rough life.

Mitzi admits that she hasn't spoken to either of her parents in almost a decade because of what happened in her childhood. They got divorced, and forced her to fly between their homes on opposite sides of the country, destroying her childhood. She says that she lost all her love for them, and is completely estranged from her entire extended family as well. Mitzi also says she has had very few relationships and none of them last long since she struggles to trust people. Mellorie comforts her and tells her it's alright, and thanks her for sharing about her past.

### Day 25

The Curaray tribe walks out onto a section of the riverbank, finding some obstacles on the bank and a finish line at the end. Su welcomes them, and asks them if they want to know what they are playing for. They all excitedly say yes, and he reveals that they will be playing for an Outback dinner with all the fixin's! People begin to celebrate as Su rattles off the delicacies they will get to eat, from steaks to mashed potatoes to Bloomin' Onions.

Once everyone has calmed themselves, Su explains the challenge. The twelve castaways will be divided into three teams of four. All four will have one of their hands tied with the other three's, and they must swim to shore in the river and then manuever through over under bars and a ramp to get to the finish. The first group to get all four members to the finish will win Reward.

 1st

**Highlights:**

* The challenge begins with a bang, as all four groups do their best to excel in the challenge. However, it is very clear who the frontrunners of the challenge are from the beginning. The Lime Team pulls into a commanding lead due to their very physical members.
* Meanwhile, Brown struggles to keep up with Lime, and Dark Green falls completely out of it, the slowness of Peter, Veldt, and Enrique in the water plus Mellorie's average performance keeping them from being competitive.
* Once they get to the riverbank, the Lime Team continues to dominate the challenge, flying over the obstacles, now thirty seconds ahead of the Brown Team and over a minute ahead of the Dark Green Team.
* No one is surprised when the Lime Team manages to win by a massive margin, showing off how their luck of the draw led them to have a very strong team that led them to a domineering win.

Kara, Kinti, Everett, and Mitzi all celebrate their reward win wildly, freeing their hands and then hugging and jumping up and down. A soaked Enrique can be seen shaking his head incredulously, and Zachary gives Everett a high five.

The scene transitions to the four reward winners walking across a new part of the jungle towards where a wooden hut with a thatched roof stands in a small clearing. Underneath the hut's roof is an expansive circular table covered in layers of food from Outback, and a waitress with a bar for all types of alcohol waits off to the one side of the hut. The four run excitedly into the hut, and Everett can be seen grinning as they all sit down around the table hungrily.

Before they begin to eat, the waitress asks them what they would like to drink, and soon they are all sipping on alcoholic beverages of their choice; Kara and Everett drink a beer, while Kinti has a glass of red wine and Mitzi drinks a gin and tonic. As they drink and begin to eat, Kara can be seen surveying everyone else with excitement and interest.

Once everyone has slowed down eating, Kara and Kinti turn the conversation towards the game. Kinti says that she thinks that they all have to be really careful moving forward; after their performances in the last two challenges, the four of them are clearly the strongest physical competitors in the game, and they could be easily targeted in the future. They need to look out for each other if they want to survive the game.

Kara also says that they need to start picking off some of the more weaker or weasel-like players while they still can, specifically pointing to how Orlia, Lauwanda, and Peter have been playing the middle and telling everyone what they want to hear. She says they're going to take all the power if they don't act to make a coalition against them. Mitzi and Everett both say they make good points and will think about it. As everyone gets up to leave the reward after that, Mitzi looks deep in thought.

Back at camp after the Reward Challenge, the eight losers can be seen quietly walking around and sitting down after their challenge. Orlia, Lauwanda, Martina, and Zachary sit down by the fire, and Zachary mentions that he's amazed by the Lime group's performance. Lauwanda says she thinks those four are so strong, and Orlia comments that she thinks this shows just how much they need to get out Kara and Kinti ASAP.

Martina and Zachary agree that they are big threats in the game, but once Orlia and Lauwanda get up and leave, Martina whispers to Zachary that she has a weird feeling in her gut.

Sometime later, Mitzi, Kara, Everett, and Kinti can be seen returning to camp after their reward. Everyone welcomes them back and asks how it was, and celebrates excitedly when Kinti reveals she's smuggled back a couple steaks in her pockets. As everyone digs in, Veldt pulls Kinti and Kara to the side and tells them what he's noticed while they were gone.

### Day 26

The castaways walk onto the dark brown Curaray mat on the morning of Day 26 for their second Individual Immunity Challenge. They can see twelve slanted balance beams with circular wheels and balls sitting next to them. Su welcomes them, and tells Kara he needs to take the Immunity Necklace back. Sighing, she turns and makes him take it off of her, blowing it a kiss which makes everyone chuckle.

Su then explains the challenge. Each of the castaways will stand on a slanted balance beam, and they will also have a ball in a circular wheel. They must keep their ball spinning in the wheel while staying on the beam. If they fall off or their ball stops spinning, they are out. The last castaway standing will win Immunity. With that, everyone gets on their spots and the challenge starts.

 Time Elapsed
 Castaways

**Highlights:**

* The challenge begins, with Lauwanda, Mellorie, and Veldt all falling off within the first thirty seconds, unable to get a hang of the challenge right off the bat.
* Peter loses control after about a minute, and Kinti makes it to two and half minutes very solidly until suddenly losing control and dropping out.
* A strong breeze blows through at about three minutes and forty five seconds in, sending both Zachary and Martina dropping moments apart.
* Kara, Orlia, Mitzi, Everett, and Enrique all last until almost seven minutes in, when Kara loses control and drops out.
* Enrique is the next to drop at 8 minutes, his arms giving out. Orlia has been very solid the entire challenge, but suddenly her ball falls at about ten minutes, leaving Mitzi and Everett to battle for Immunity.
* The two strong competitors are both incredibly focused, but Mitzi is able to outlast Everett, who begins to spin too hard once his arms begin to shake, and sends his ball flying out, making Mitzi the winner.

Mitzi grins widely once Everett's ball flies out of his wheel, setting her wheel and ball down carefully before jogging over to Su without loud celebration, just pleased to have won. Su congratulates her and everyone claps as he clasps the necklace around a beaming Mitzi's neck.

The tribe returns from the Immunity Challenge, and Mitzi hangs her necklace up on the edge of the shelter while everyone congratulates her. Lauwanda can be seen smiling happily as she hugs Mitzi.

Soon afterwards, Orlia and Peter can be seen walking into the jungle with Everett and Zachary, discussing what they want to do tonight. They all agree they should try to stick together and take out one of Veldt, Kinti, or Kara. Peter brings up the idea of splitting the votes, which everyone says they think is interesting.

They all agree they'll talk with others to lock down who the target is later, and then they go their separate ways. Once Orlia and Peter are gone, Everett tells Zachary they have to have a serious talk.

Everett tells Zachary what the four reward winners talked about over their Outback dinner, and how he feels like they could be in massive trouble if they don't change things soon. Zachary says he sees his point, and says that Orlia and Lauwanda and Peter have all been very paranoid and pushy ever since the last Tribal Council. Zachary also says he is worried they could play the middle to the end of the game, which Everett agrees with.

Enrique approaches the guys talking, and they bring him into the conversation about how they want to maybe flip the game against Orlia, Lauwanda, and Peter. Enrique seems enthusiastic about it, admitting that he has very little trust in those three.

Enrique finds Veldt a little bit later sitting alone on the riverbank, thinking over things. Enrique taps him on the shoulder and quickly begins to tell him that the tides may be turning against Orlia, Lauwanda, and Peter, and that he, Kara, and Kinti need to get on the campaigning trail. Veldt grins widely at this news.

After his conversation with Enrique, Veldt runs directly to the shelter where Kara and Kinti are lying. He tells them everything, about how people are considering changing up the game and they need to get strategizing. Kara leaps up in excitement, smiling happily.

Kinti and Kara find where Everett, Mellorie, and Mitzi are sitting by the fire, and begin to talk about what they've heard and how they are down to do whatever they want. Mellorie seems shocked by this news.

Everett and Mitzi tell them they feel like most of their people would be willing to flip, and they discuss details such as splitting the vote, targets, and more. Kinti can be seen grinning as they walk away.

Orlia can be seen walking back from the well, having filled up her canteen, when she sees the conversation breakup between Kinti, Kara, Everett, Mellorie, and Mitzi. Skeptical, she finds Peter and Lauwanda and expresses that she is very worried about tonight.

As everyone prepares to leave for Tribal Council, Martina can be seen whispering quickly with Zachary and Mellorie before picking up her bag and torch with a grim look set onto her face.

The twelve members of the Curaray tribe arrive at Tribal Council as it begins to softly drizzle. Once they sit down, Su welcomes the sole member of the jury, Erron, who smiles at Kara who waves to him. Su then begins to get into the game, asking Mitzi what it feels like to win Immunity. Smiling, she says it has been a big mood booster and has made her more confident in the game. Su then asks Kinti what the fallout was like after the last vote. Kinti admits that she was one of the people that stuck by Erron, and that she and her allies have felt like they were in trouble ever since then, but that they've been working hard to get back into the game. Su asks if anyone thinks the vote tonight is predictable, and no one raises their hand. He asks Mellorie how this is possible, and she says that everyone is beginning to play hard at this merge and that you can never know what will happen. Su then asks if anyone has anything to say. Distressed, Orlia implores everyone that they should stick together and continue taking out threats, saying she has felt the mood shift but thinks voting off her would be a mistake. After her passionate speech, Kara says that Orlia is a gifted gameplayer but she and her friends have also been playing the middle all game, and it's time for them to be taken down a peg. With that, the castaways go to vote, with Veldt going first.

Mitzi is the last to vote, and then Su asks if anyone would like to play an idol. The camera zooms first on Mitzi, who does not move, and then on Orlia. The psychology student sighs, digs into her bag, and then walks up to Su as people gasp. Erron can be seen on the jury bench with wide open eyes. Orlia says she is playing the idol for herself, because she feels like people have turned on her and her allies and she is the target. Su confirms it is a real idol, and no votes for Orlia will count. He then reads the votes. Orlia has made a very intelligent move; she has received five votes against her, which all do not count. Meanwhile, herself, Peter, and Lauwanda have voted for Kara in a bid to see the karate instructor go. However, four other votes have landed on Peter, surprising everyone when it is revealed that the quiet player will be the one going home. Disappointed, Peter brings his torch to Su, who snuffs it, and Peter leaves after waving goodbye to a guilty Orlia and a teary Lauwanda.

## Challenges

* Reward
* Immunity

**Team Reward Challenge:** *Hold My Hand*
The twelve castaways will be divided into three teams of four. All four will have one of their hands tied with the other three's, and they must swim to shore in the river and then manuever through over under bars and a ramp to get to the finish. The first group to get all four members to the finish will win Reward.

**Reward:** Trip to Outback Steakhouse Shack (steaks, potatoes, Bloomin' Onions, beer, etc.)

**Winners:** Everett Dax, Kara Leibovitz, Kinti Faith, and Mitzi Vo

**Individual Immunity Challenge:** *We Will Go Round*
Each of the castaways will stand on a slanted balance beam, and they will also have a ball in a circular wheel. They must keep their ball spinning in the wheel while staying on the beam. If they fall off or their ball stops spinning, they are out. The last castaway standing will win Immunity.

**Winner:** Mitzi Vo
## Tribal Council

### Voting Confessionals

*Zachary's vote was not shown during his confessional.*

### Next Time On *Survivor*...

Shock ripples after that explosive Tribal Council...

...and a brand new twist wrecks havoc on the game.

## Trivia

* The episode title was said by Kinti Faith when she was talking about how herself and her allies Kara and Veldt were shields that the strong members of the majority could use to protect themselves from being voted off.
* Kara and Kinti had the most confessionals, with 4.
	+ Peter had the least, with 1.