The Merger

**The Merger** is the seventh episode of *Survivor: Patagonia*.

## Story

### Day 19

On Day 19 the tribes were instructed to send an ambassador, Barry from Leona and Katniss from Viedma, to assess their livability. For this will help the two decide which camp the remaining ten castaways will reside.

While at Leona, Katniss takes not of the tribe's dysfunction when Emma and Lucca continue to be dismissive towards each other.

At Viedma, Bubbles has completely isolated herself after Steven's elimination. Barry attempts to comfort her, and Bubbles reveals everything that had happened pre-merge and that she no longer trusts her tribemates. Bugs and Karen begin considering their voting options, and decide to pull in Louise to work together with Katniss in the merge.

After visiting both camps, Barry and Katniss paddled to the Sand Spit for a "summit" to compare both camps to decide on which of the two camps will the new tribe live. They were welcomed by Jeff Probst where he revealed that they will have an overnight feast while choosing their new tribe name, with two beds also waiting for them. They were also given a new tribe flag, ten new red buffs and some paint to decorate their new flag. Jeff also reminded that the tribe that will transfer camps must only take three items from their own camp before migrating. They ultimately chose the name the tribe "Caracara", after the native birds, and chose to live at the Leona camp.

### Day 20

At Viedma, Barry and Katniss arrived at camp, where they told the tribe that they have only five minutes to gather their belongings and luxury items and bring three of their supplies before moving to Leona beach. They decided to bring their mosquito net, the cooking pot and their blanket.

Arriving at the Leona camp, the tribes begin preparations for the merge. Emma is annoyed at the increased tribe population as it requires a lot of adjustments to their current camp. Otherwise the tribe gets along.

Katniss regroups with her alliance, along with the new addition of Louise, and comments on Leona's dysfunction. This is proven true as Bubbles, Karen, Leela and Lucca begin working on expanding the shelter. The girls were all set to work on the shelter while the boys split up the rest of the camp work, but Emma opted to rest. Lucca calls her out for her lack of work ethic, causing a minor argument between the two.

Meanwhile Louise and Freddie went out to try and catch fish, and the two shared stories and bonded over life experiences. Freddie comments how in such a short time he already feels a strong connection to Louise, but is also slightly worried about how strong she is socially.

During the night the tribe gathered around the campfire and shared stories. Katniss was disinterested and walked off, while Bubbles commented on how Katniss is only burning more and more bridges each day.

### Day 21

Rain began to fall overnight, and the tribe was forced to remain in the shelter for most of the morning. Barry and Emma spent most of the morning cuddling and flirting, much to Karen's chagrin.

Before the Immunity Challenge, Jeff congratulated them for making it to the merge. He revealed that future challenges will be on an individual basis, with the Immunity Idol being replaced by the Immunity Necklace. After the first round of the challenge, Emma, Freddie and Katniss advanced to the second and final round, where Emma became victorious by a matter of seconds, thus keeping her safe from the vote.

Going into the next vote, Louise attempts to gather the former Viedma tribe to vote as a unit. Though Bubbles refuses to join the conversation. Katniss suggests that the Leona's are so uncoordinated that they don't even need to worry about them, and the Viedma core could easily vote out Bubbles next for being uncooperative. This proves somewhat correct as Emma expresses that she wishes to vote Lucca out next to her allies. Barry on the other hand insists the Leona tribe stick together.

At tribal council, talk of tribal lines is discussed. As well as the inter-tribe tensions that are being noted. In the end The Viedma Core stick to their plan of voting for Bubbles, who ends up voting for Katniss once again. They are however proven wrong in their assumption, as the Leona tribe decides to stick together and they target Louise, seeing her as the heart holding the Viedmas together, eliminating her in a 5-4-1 vote.

## Challenges

**Immunity Challenge:** *Snake Island Relay*
All ten castaways submerged themselves underwater to see how long they could hold their breath. The top three castaways then had another competition of releasing buoys along a ladder submerged underwater. The first castaway to release all of their ten buoys would win immunity.
**Winner:** Emma Blackery

## Trivia

* This episode is the only time when both were in the game that Lucca did not cast her vote against Freddie.