The Best Thing To Happen

**The Best Thing To Happen** is the fifth episode of Survivor: Taiwan

The episode title was said by Hayden, talking about how swapping to a tribe with Kate, Avery, and Audrey was the best thing to have happened to him, as he feels as if he has finally found his footing in the game.

## Story

### Matsu

After tribal council, the gorlz alliance (along with Hayden) are closer than ever. Hayden feels bad about voting out Robert, who was his ally. However, he didn't want to go against the group and disappoint Kate and the rest of his new alliance. Vay now knows she’s officially on the bottom, so she talks to Audrey to try and change that. However, her efforts don’t end up going anywhere as the alliance is simply too tight to be broken apart. To make sure the alliance doesn't split, Kate makes sure strengthen her relationship with everybody. This works, and Audrey, Avery, and Hayden consider Kate to be their closest ally.

### Kinmen

The alliances are still tight on the Kinmen tribe. Alyssa and Natalie have agreed to put aside their differences, and are working closely with Jon. Benny and Ciera are already tight, so Benny tries to continue his damage control work on Tony, after the blindside of Joel. Tony is still hesitant to work with him, so it's becoming clearer to Benny that he needs a plan B. He goes to Natalie and starts becoming more open to her, letting her know about the Joel blindside and the consequences this has on Tony. Natalie thinks this is interesting and tries to sway Benny more to her side.

### Challenge

Today the castaways are playing **Finding The Key**. Buried in a sand pit are multiple keys. Only one of these keys can unlock a chest, which will contain a word puzzle. When arranged correctly, the letters will spell out "*Safe From Tonight's Tribal Council*". As the Kinmen tribe have an extra member, Ciera sits out.

When the challenge is being played, it starts off fairly even. The Kinmen tribe are the first to find the correct key, which makes Matsu panic as they don't want to go to tribal again. They pick up the pace and find their key, starting on the word puzzle. The Kinmen tribe have the words "*Tribal Council*", but aren't quick enough. The Matsu tribe solve the puzzle first.

### Kinmen

Instantly, there is a lot of scrambling in preparation for tonight's tribal. Benny pleads Tony to put the past aside and vote together, and Tony finally agrees. Ciera joins in on the conversation and the three agree to stick together as an original Kinmen alliance. They decide to vote for Natalie, as she's the biggest threat, possibly in the game. Natalie, Alyssa, and Jon also agree to remain loyal. After much discussion, they decide to vote for Ciera as she's a social threat who is too likeable to keep around. Realising the alliances both have three people, Natalie goes to work on trying to convince Benny to flip to their side. Benny asks who she wants him to vote for, and Natalie tells him Tony. Benny considers this, and is unsure whether to keep his vote on Natalie, or to vote against Tony with Natalie's alliance. In a confessional, Natalie explains that she told Benny that the vote was on Tony, when in fact, they are voting for Ciera. This is because Natalie has a Steal-a-Vote advantage, and can use it to vote out Ciera regardless. If she sees one vote for Tony tonight, she will know if Benny trusted Natalie enough to vote for who she told him to.

### Tribal Council

**KINMEN**

Alyssa-Mae, Benny, Ciera, Jon, Natalie, and Tony all walk into the tribal council area. There is a lot of discussion about tribal lines, as it seems to be the three original Matsu members against the three original Kinmen members. When it comes time to vote, Benny is questioning if he should vote for Natalie or Tony. Once all the votes have been casted, Jeff asks if anybody would like to play an idol. Natalie stands up. She says she doesn't want to play an idol, but instead a Steal-a-Vote. Alyssa laughs, as she knew about this advantage. However, everybody else is shocked, especially Benny. Jeff confirms that her advantage is real, and she steals Tony's vote. He sighs, and Natalie votes once more. Jeff reads the votes.

First vote...

**CIERA.**

Ciera grimaces.

**CIERA.**

**NATALIE.**

**NATALIE.**

Natalie puts a finger to her mouth, showing her thinking. She realises that Benny did not vote with her.

**CIERA.**

Benny looks disappointed, realising that Natalie was never voting for Tony and lied to him.

The fifth person voted out of Survivor: Taiwan, and the first member of the jury...

**CIERA.**

Ciera looks disappointed, yet happy to be a part of the jury. Natalie realises that Benny didn't vote for Tony, and knows that he didn't follow what she had said. Benny shakes his head and looks forlorn, realising Natalie tricked him. Ciera sighs as she grabs her torch, wishing everybody good luck.

### Final Words

"This was a weird tribal, for sure. Natalie had a steal a vote, but she got to play it after the votes were cast! So I guess her alliance was going to win the battle no matter what. Oh well, this was fun while it lasted! At least I'm a part of the jury! I'm hoping my friends can end up winning this thing, Kate, Audrey, Avery, Benny... I hope they all do well."

*-Ciera Rookway, 11th Place*