A Crummy Moral Situation

**A Crummy Moral Situation** is the eighth episode of Survivor: Taiwan

The episode title was said by Hayden, talking about how he doesn't know where to vote, and feels he is in a difficult position.

## Story

### The Frogs

The episode starts with some not-so-nice confessionals about Hayden. Kate, Avery, and Audrey all share some harsh words about him in their confessionals, as they're frustrated he ruined the plan. Kate exclaims that the first rule of Survivor is to not let the enemy know where you're voting! Meanwhile, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony are glad that Natalie managed to stay in the game, despite receiving the majority of the votes. Alyssa gives a snarky confessional about how dumb Hayden is, and how his mistake of telling her where he voted made her tell Natalie to play her idol. Natalie is beaming in her confessional, extremely happy that Alyssa told her to play the idol. She never expected on Day 1 for Alyssa, of all people, to save her, but here they are. Hayden is very sad in his confessional. He sheds some tears as he feels he let his alliance down, and that was the last thing he wanted to do when coming into this game. In the morning, there are many conversations. The alliance numbers are now 4-4, so Natalie goes to work convincing the other alliance to turn on themselves. She pitches to Kate, Avery, and Audrey individually, trying to get them to turn on Hayden after his mistake last night. The three are still angry at him, so are somewhat accepting. Seeing their conversations with the other side, Hayden pulls his alliance in to talk. He apologises profusely for what he did, saying that his biggest fear in life is letting people down, so this goes beyond the game for him. The three women sigh and say they forgive him.

### Challenge

Today the castaways are playing **The Gross-Food Eating Challenge**. The castaways will be given unappealing Taiwan delicacies, which they will have to eat. There will be three rounds. In the first, the first five castaways to eat their food and show an empty mouth will move onto the next round. For round two, this number will be shortened to three. In the final round, only the first castaway to eat their food will win immunity.

For round one, the delicacy is coagulated pig blood. Some people try to eat theirs as quick as possibly, while others struggle. Avery takes a bite and ends up vomiting. The first people to finish (in this order) are Natalie, Jon, Tony, Kate, and Alyssa. Next, they must eat a duck head. Everybody is grossed out, but try to down theirs in one bite. A few people, namely Alyssa, look disgusted. Jon, Natalie, and Kate make it to the final round. Finally, the castaways must eat a thousand year old egg. The three cover their noses, looking grossed-out. Jon is the first to go for it, but ends up gaging and slowing his progress. In the end, Natalie is the first to finish her egg, winning immunity and breaking Kate's streak.

### The Frogs

Everybody congratulates Natalie on her win, and admires her ability to eat the food items. She laughs, and everybody splits to talk about tribal. The alliance of Natalie, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony come together. They agree that their best chance at survival is when they stick together. Hayden is the most likely to flip from the Dumbass 4 Alliance (as Alyssa calls them), especially after what happened at the last tribal, so they should work on him. Alyssa talks to Hayden and says that after voting for Natalie, the least he could do to make it up to them is vote for Kate now. She's a big threat, and definitely doesn't want to work with him after he ruined her plan. Hayden seems distraught, wondering if Alyssa is right. Alyssa continues to try and make him feel guilty for voting for Natalie, which seems to be working to an extent. Finally, Alyssa says that Hayden surely doesn't want to go to rocks, so he should flip unless he wants his game to come down to random chance. Hayden sighs, saying he doesn't want to betray his friends, and Alyssa gives a confessional about how Hayden is being a whiny baby and needs to toughen up and play the game. Later on, the alliance between Kate, Audrey, Avery, and Hayden meet up. They all say that they should remain loyal to one another, even if it means for it coming down to a rock draw. They all agree to vote for Tony, as he's the smallest threat and they would feel safe giving him immunity in the case of a rock draw. This once again puts Hayden in the middle of the tribe. He gives a stressed out and whiney confessional, saying that he feels like he owes Natalie after betraying her, but turning against Kate and her alliance again would hurt really badly. There's also the chance of a rock draw to consider, and all of this is making him feel overwhelmed.

### Tribal Council

**THE FROGS**

**THE JURY**

Alyssa-Mae, Audrey, Avery, Hayden, Jon, Kate, Natalie, and Tony all walk into the tribal council area, followed by the members of the jury. This tribal has a very clear tone, with everybody knowing where they stand in terms of alliances. The idea of a potential rock draw is brought up. A few people say that it is a very real possibility if Hayden doesn't vote with Natalie, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony's alliance. Once the time to vote comes, Hayden takes a deep breath. Once all the votes are counted, Jeff asks if anybody would like to play an idol. Alyssa wonders for a moment, and then stands. Most people look surprised. Alyssa explains that if she negates votes tonight, then that's perfect. If she doesn't then it's protection from rocks. Jeff confirms that her idol is real and begins reading the votes.

First vote...

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

That's two votes Tony, two votes Kate.

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

Some people look disappointed, but nobody is overly surprised that the vote has tied. Jeff explains the rules of a revote: everybody, except for Kate and Tony, will vote once more. Those voting can only vote for Kate and Tony. If the votes tie again, they will go to a rock draw where both somebody is randomly eliminated. Kate and Tony will become immune, and since Natalie has immunity and Alyssa played an idol, they will also be except from the rock draw. This means the four people eligible to draw rocks are Audrey, Avery, Hayden, and Jon. Before they vote, Alyssa looks at the opposing alliance and says that if any of them know the definition of the word 'odds', they would know they should flip and vote Kate out. Everybody votes, and since idols cannot be played on revotes, Jeff goes straight into reading the votes.

First vote...

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

That's two votes Tony, two votes Kate, two votes left...

**KATE.**

**TONY.**

We are tied once more, and thus are deadlocked. Everybody expected this, but Natalie, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony are still annoyed at Hayden for not flipping to their side. Jeff repeats the rules of a rock draw and come around with a bag of four rocks: three are white, and one is black. The person to draw the odd rock will be eliminated. Audrey, Avery, Hayden, and Jon all look extremely nervous.

Audrey has drawn the... **WHITE ROCK.**

Audrey drops the rock, extremely relived.

Avery has drawn the... **WHITE ROCK.**

Laughing to herself, Avery pumps her fist.

Hayden has drawn the... **WHITE ROCK.**

Hayden breathes a sigh of relief.

This means that Jon has drawn the... **BLACK ROCK.**

Jon, along with his alliance, all look devastated. Meanwhile, Avery starts laughing when she sees who drew the odd rock. She says that they were so confident they had the odds in their favour, but *her* alliance made it out untouched! This pisses off Jon, who shoots her a dirty look. Audrey and Hayden look relieved to have survived the rock draw, along with Kate. Jon wishes his alliance good luck and gloomily walks out of the tribal council area.

### Final Words

"Out by a rock, eh? *(chuckles half-heartedly)* Not the way I was expecting or hoping to go, but alas. There was only *one* person from our alliance eligible to go home tonight, against three of them. *Of course*, it's me who goes. *(shakes his head)* Avery's laugh on my way out was a bit of salt in the wound, so I'm not feeling too kindly towards her. Natalie and Alyssa have both been with me from day one, and Tony's a good kid. Hoping the best for the three of them."

*-Jon Penny, 8th Place*