Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

**Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes** is the seventh episode of Survivor: Taiwan

The episode title was said by Alyssa-Mae to Hayden at tribal, talking about how he made a dumb move telling her where his vote was going, and now he has to live with the consequences.

## Story

### The Frogs

After tribal council, everybody is glad they all voted together and were on the same page. Kate explains in a confessional that even though there were many fancy blindside plans floating around, it made sense to go with the least consequential option as it's early days, and they want to gain the trust of Natalie's alliance before her alliance blindsides them. Throughout the day there is a lot of relationship building and alliance strengthening. Ironically, Natalie and Alyssa start becoming really close. After putting their differences aside they realised that they really get along and play the game in a similar style. Eventually, Natalie says she wants to reveal a secret. Alyssa looks intruded and Natalie says she has an idol. Alyssa looks shocked, and exclaims that she also has an idol! The two women are both excited about their two idols, and Alyssa says they can use them like lightsabres and make it all the way to the end. In a confessional, Alyssa says that as much as she trusts Natalie now and is comfortable with revealing one idol, she wants to keep the other as her little secret.

### Challenge

Today the castaways are playing **Domino Effect**. The castaways have to stack dominoes in a line to reach the end of a beam. Once they have lined their dominoes, they must push the end and have one of the dominoes hit a gong. They must do this while navigating and stepping over a wooden frame that, when touched, will cause the dominoes to fall. The first castaway to have a domino ring their gong will win immunity.

The castaways begin. After getting a good line-up, Avery knocks her stack over, as well as Jon. The two front runners in the challenge are Natalie and Kate once again. Audrey starts picking up the pace, along with Alyssa. Hayden and Tony seem to be in last place, when Natalie trips on her wooden frame, resetting all of her progress. Natalie is frustrated, which gives Kate time to move slowly and steadily. She does this, and manages to line up all of her dominoes. Once the pushes the first in the line, the dominoes fall perfectly and hit the gong, proving Kate's dominance in the challenges as she has now won twice in a row.

### The Frogs

People are impressed with Kate after her second challenge win in a row. She thanks everybody, and people split off to talk strategy. First of all, Natalie and Kate meet up. As they're both the leaders of their alliance, they both agree that they should work together for a little while longer. They talk about who to vote for, and Benny's name is thrown out. Natalie is suspicious of him, as he didn't vote for Tony when Natalie asked him to. However, she makes up a lie to Kate, saying that Benny said he wants to flip to their side as he was on the bottom of the original Kinmen tribe. Kate doesn't believe her lie, as she recognises that Benny was likely the most well-integrated into their original tribe socially. So, Kate reports back to her alliance with Audrey, Avery, Benny, and Hayden. Benny looks shocked when Kate informs them, and assures Kate that he never said he wanted to flip. The five of them all agree that tonight is the right time to blindside Natalie, as she's strong, smart, and made up a lie. Natalie talks to Tony later on in the afternoon. Tony is scared to align with the original Kinmen alliance, as they all betrayed him when voting out Joel. Natalie uses this to her advantage, trying to sway Tony to her side. He's apprehensive at first, as he's scared Natalie may use an advantage on him again. However, he is eventually convinced to vote with her alliance. Pleased with herself, Natalie gathers her alliance with Jon, Alyssa, and Hayden. With Tony, they have five votes. Natalie explains that the other alliance should be voting for Benny, which is good for them as he is untrustworthy. Everybody agrees to vote for him. This leaves Hayden in an awkward position, as he's a part of both alliances and is scared to betray anybody.

### Tribal Council

**THE FROGS**

**THE JURY**

Alyssa-Mae, Audrey, Avery, Benny, Hayden, Jon, Kate, Natalie, and Tony all walk into the tribal council area, followed by the members of the jury. When asked about the chaos last vote, everybody agrees that things seem more settled. There are clearer alliances now than when the merge first hit. Jeff then asks Hayden a question about who he's voting for. Hayden looks stressed, and gives a flustered and vague answer about how he's sticking to the people he's loyal to. Alyssa raises an eyebrow at this. Everybody then votes, and Jeff asks if anybody would like to play a hidden immunity idol. Alyssa, suspecting Hayden, turns around to him. She asks if he voted against them, for Natalie. Hayden sighs, and says that he had to do what is best for his game, and what his alliance wanted. In a dramatic moment, Alyssa jumps out of her seat and points to Hayden. She calls him a liar, and tells Natalie to play her idol on herself. Everybody looks shocked, including Natalie. She follows Alyssa's advice and plays her idol on herself. Hayden looks devastated and asks Alyssa why she did that, and Alyssa smirks. She tells him that if he plays stupid games, he'll win stupid prizes. Once everybody has settled, Jeff reads the votes.

First vote...

**NATALIE.** (Does Not Count)

Natalie, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony all whoop.

**NATALIE.** (Does Not Count)

Natalie hugs Alyssa tightly.

**NATALIE.** (Does Not Count)

**NATALIE.** (Does Not Count)

**NATALIE.** (Does Not Count)

Now, the alliance of five start to look nervous. Kate stares blankly, Benny is sweating, and Avery groans.

**BENNY.**

Benny scrunches his face up.

**BENNY.**

The seventh person voted out of Survivor: Taiwan, and the third member of the jury...

**BENNY.**

Benny looks heartbroken. The alliance of Natalie, Alyssa, Jon, and Tony are all celebrating their victory, meanwhile the other alliance are all disappointed and angry. Hayden deeply regrets telling Alyssa who he voted for, as it resulted in losing his ally.

### Final Words

"I'm done. I'm done. *(scoffs)* Girl, I'm pretty f\*cking pissed, to say the least. Of course, Mr. Can't Grow a Pair Hayden couldn't *fathom* voting out one of his friends, despite them being on the *opposite alliance!* So what does he do instead? He tells Alyssa the plan, and gets me idoled out by Natalie! Take me out of here, I need some wine or something."

*-Benny JoRyce, 9th Place*