Calm Before The Storm

This is the fifth episode of *Survivor: Tonga*

## Challenges

**Reward/Immunity Challenge:** *Idol Hands*

Facing off one against one in a fenced off circle, a castaway from each tribe would hold a wooden idol on top of a platform that they would hold in one hand. They would use the other free hand to attempt to knock their opponent's idol off the platform. The castaway whose idol hit the ground last would score one point for their tribe. The first tribe with four points win.

**Reward:** A Picnic

**Winner:** Ha'apai

## Story

### Night 12

Ha’apai comes back from voting Sarah out. Guylan says that the vote should bring the tribe together and they should start winning challenges. Evan agrees and goes to sleep. Will talks with Barbie about any future votes. Will thinks that there will be a merge with twelve people left and they should get rid of Guylan, who he sees as a physical and social threat. While Barbie agrees to Will’s idea, she has no intention of following through with it.

When Will falls asleep, Barbie goes to Guylan ad tells him what Will said. Guylan says that Will needs to go but it would be hard since Evan wants Will in the game.

Before the rest of the tribe could go to sleep, thunder began to roar and it started to rain, waking Evan up.

### Day 13

On Niua, it is still raining. Everyone was up all night due to the rain. Elliot is unable to get up due to his lack of sleep.

Franklin begins to swim in the ocean, commenting on how warm it is. Jamie and Christian join him and ask if he is open to switching sides. Franklin says he most likely will due to how Elliot is lazy, Jessica is annoying and Jillian is abrasive.

At the shelter, Jessica and Laura relax. Jessica then says it was stupid to switch allegiances overnight and would be the next to go. Laura rebuts by saying she switched sides because of how the others were treated poorly and didn’t want to be associated with bullies. Jessica scoffs and leaves.

Laura joins Franklin, Christian and Jamie in the water and tells them of her conversation with Jessica. Franklin states that Jessica is giving him more reasons to flip.

At Ha’apai, Nick and Mick discuss future voting options. Nick says that, while they still have the idol, it can only protect them for one vote but they could still split the votes. Mick says their best option would be Will since Evan and Guylan won’t vote for each other. Unbeknownst to them, Will is eavesdropping on the two.

Will meets with Evan at the well and tells him everything he heard. However, Will forgets to tell him about Mick’s idol. Just then, Guylan walks up and is told everything. Guylan is annoyed with Will and his sucking up to Evan.

Guylan then talks to Barbie and Bailey. Guylan wants to get rid of Will at the next Tribal Council yet Bailey thinks they need to stay in Evan’s good graces since he’s the captain. With Barbie being the deciding vote in the decision, she decides to wait until the next Tribal Council to make up her mind.

Nick then looks in their bag of rice to see they are nearly out. He says that someone has been having three servings instead of the agreed two servings. While everyone denies it was them, Evan doesn’t tell them it was him having the third serving.

### Day 14

On Ha’apai, before anyone can wake up, Bailey makes a carving in the tree to count down the days.

Bailey returns to camp where everyone has woken up. Looking at their food supply, Will suggests they skip breakfast in order to save on their rice. Evan, not liking the idea, ignores Will and cooks some rice anyway. Will then tells Evan that if they don’t save on their rice, they will starve by the time the merge comes. Evan tells Will to leave him alone and let him eat. Sick of Evan’s attitude, Will leaves in order to keep himself from lashing out on Evan.

On Niua, Franklin goes out fishing and comes back with four fish, much to the tribes’ pleasure. As they cook the fish, Elliot asks Franklin to a talk. While Franklin initially refuses, Elliot tells him it’s important and the two walk off.

Elliot says that he will give Franklin the idol in exchange for his allegiance. Franklin doesn't believe he will give it to him but Elliot takes the idol out and puts it in Franklin's hands, saying “Keep it”. Elliot then walks off.

Elliot meet up with Jillian and Jessica and tells them what he did. Jessica worries that it could screw them over.

Franklin returns to Jamie, Christian and Laura. Christian asks what Elliot wanted. Franklin says he was trying to convince him to flip, but left out the part about the idol.

### Day 15

The tribes come together for their next immunity challenge. Jeff reveals the picnic that the winning tribe will get, which causes excitement amongst the fourteen.

**Round 1:** The first round is between Elliot and Guylan. The two circle around the arena while making no movements towards each other. Guylan then tosses the idol in the air and knocks Elliot’s idol onto the ground, scoring Ha’apai their first point.

**Round 2:** The second round is between Jillian and Bailey. Jillian goes in aggressive but accidently drops her idol, scoring Ha’apai their second point.

**Round 3:** Round three is the battle of the tribe leaders: Franklin against Evan. Franklin assesses his situation and watches Evan carefully. He uses his idol as bait and when Evan goes in to knock it over, Franklin smacks the idol onto the ground, scoring Niua their first point.

**Round 4:** Christian and Mick go at it in the fourth round. Christian tries to emulate what Guylan did in the first round but fails, scoring Ha’apai their third point.

**Round 5:** Barbie and Jessica compete in the fifth round. Knowing that if she loses, she goes to Tribal, Jessica is extra careful, moving very slowly. However, this gives Barbie a chance to knock the idol over and win Ha’apai immunity.

Jeff congratulates Ha’apai on their win, gives them the picnic and directs them to head back to camp. Niua soon follows.

At Ha’apai, the tribe enjoys the picnic.

Mick then notices the idol clue in his napkin and when he goes to grab it, he puts it between his wrist and watch, which is hidden in his sleeve.

At Niua, Jamie and Christian come back happy, thinking they have the numbers.

Laura, Jamie and Christian solidify their vote as Elliot while Elliot, Jessica and Jillian talk about the vote. Jessica wants to vote Laura, Jillian wants to vote Jamie and Elliot wants to vote Christian. Elliot explains that Christian is a bigger threat because he socializes better than Jamie and can strategize, unlike Laura, who plays off her emotions. Jillian and Jessica agree. Franklin comes over and Elliot tells Franklin to vote off Christian and says that if he doesn’t, they will flip over to Ha’apai at the merge.

At Tribal Council, Elliot laments his position, telling Jeff himself, Jessica and Jillian were put in the minority since the last vote. Laura states it was because of their condescending attitude when they held majority. Jillian states that anyone with majority would get a little cocky. Jamie then says that Jillian didn’t get ‘a little cocky’, she got really cocky and she was gonna pay for it tonight. Franklin looks at both sides and makes his decision. Jeff then calls the tribes to vote. After Jeff collects the urn, he reads three votes Elliot and three votes Christian. The last vote is for Christian, which shocks Jamie, Laura and Christian while Elliot, Jillian and Jessica laugh and applaud with Jillian saying ‘Welcome back to the minority, bitches.’ Christian gives a dirty look to Franklin who doesn’t look up. Jamie asks Franklin ‘Why?’ but gets no response. After having his torch snuffed, a blindsided Christian leaves with Jeff commenting that the tribe is failing at the social part of the game and needs to fix it soon before the merge. The Niua tribe then heads back to camp.

## Tribal Council

### Still in the Running

 ~~Christian~~ | ~~Daniel~~ | Elliot

## Next Time on *Survivor*...

* Jessica begins making plans on blindsiding Franklin.
* A twist at the reward challenge could spell danger for one person
* Against a power alliance of six, Nick and Mick need a plan of attack or else they will be voted off.