Splitting or Splitting Up?

**Splitting or Splitting Up** is the 11th episode of *Survivor: Ecuador*.

## Story

### Night 29

The tribe returns from their two consecutive Tribal Councils under the cover of night, completely burnt out and shocked by the turn of events. Kinti can be sighing as she lays down in the shelter.

By the fire, Martina, Enrique, and Zachary sit down together, looking fully in shock still. Martina shakes her head as she stares into the flames.

Lauwanda lays back in the shelter tiredly, trying to fall asleep and covering her eyes with her arm.

Mellorie and Mitzi can be seen walking into the woods away from each other. They hug and grin at one another, giddy with how the night has gone.

### Day 30

The nine remaining members of the Curaray tribe walk out of the jungle into an open expanse of riverbank. They can see three canoes of different colors anchored out in the middle of the water, and three canoe stands on the top of the riverbank. Su greets the tribe, and asks them if they want to know what they are playing for. The tribe claps enthusiastically, and Su reveals that the winners will get to swim with sharks and stingrays before enjoying a seafood lunch. This excites everyone except for Lauwanda, who shivers and says she hates fish but wants to eat them more, making everyone laugh.

Su then explains the challenge. The nine castaways will be split into three teams of three. Two of these castaways will have to work together to pull a canoe to shore with the third person and puzzle pieces inside. Once they get the canoe fully on the beach, the third person may untie the puzzle bags and use the pieces inside to build a statue of a shark inside the canoe.

 1st

**Highlights:**

* The Brown tribe gets out to an early lead when the challenge starts. Martina is the heaviest of the three puzzlers, but Kara and Zachary make up for it in strength. Meanwhile, Lime does decently, lagging about five to ten seconds behind Brown. Green flounders in last, Enrique unable to be of much help towing and Mitzi struggling to do much without his help.
* By the time the Brown team reaches the beach, they have extended their lead over Lime to almost fifteen seconds, and Martina quickly begins puzzling, eager to use her short lead to beat out Mellorie. Martina already has a couple of pieces placed of the shark when Lime gets their canoe into the holder and Mellorie begins.
* Meanwhile, Green is still halfway from shore, with Mitzi tired out and Enrique struggling to help out. Lauwanda cheers them both on energetically, trying to encourage them to keep going despite the great deficit between them and the other tribes.
* The race tightens between Martina and Mellorie, with the two puzzlers neck and neck, only a couple pieces apart. Both of their teams cheer them on eagerly as they both have a half dozen pieces left to place on the puzzle.
* The women are almost in tandem, and they both grab their last two pieces at once and try to fit them into the sculpture. However, Mellorie tries to place hers in the wrong slots, while Martina fits hers in and then jumps out of the canoe shouting, having won.

Kara and Zachary hug Martina excitedly as Su announces they have won, while Mellorie looks a little upset but congratulates them. Kinti gives her a high five still while the Brown team celebrates.

Su has Martina, Zachary, and Kara head out for their reward while the rest of the tribe returns to camp. There is a timeskip, and the three are shown walking through an aquarium with their guide. They reach the end of the aquarium, and outside are a few of the stingrays and sharks that are native to the coasts of Ecuador. As the three suit up to go swimming in the tank, Zachary can be seen grinning.

Kara, Zachary, and Martina soon are shown swimming in the tank with the sharks and stingrays, amazed as they swim past them and brush over them. The three spend a good twenty minutes swimming around before emerging for their seafood dinner. As they sit down after drying off, beginning to dig into their blackened fish, Zachary and Martina mention the idea of gametalk, and Kara seems interested.

Martina and Zachary say they find Mitzi and Mellorie very shady, as they seem to almost be playing both sides from the last vote, and are slippery, quieter players. They propose that them plus Enrique team up with Kara's group since they are the biggest threats, and it will get them all farther in the game instead of letting Mellorie or Mitzi win out by slipping by. Kara says they've made some good points that she'll consider. They finish their food, and begin to walk back to camp once they're done.

The scene shifts back to camp earlier in the day, where the six losers are returning after the Reward Challenge. Everyone goes to relax. Mitzi, Mellorie, and Kinti sit around the fire and chat, while Lauwanda goes to wash off in the river. Veldt sits down in the shelter, tired out, but Enrique asks to talk to him, so he follows Enrique into the jungle.

The two men stop by the well, where Enrique begins to speak. He tells Veldt he understands that Veldt is in a hard position in the game now, with a lot of people seeking his vote. However, he says he thinks the two of them have a lot in common not only on a personal level but also a game level. He says they need to work together and shake up the game if either of them wants to win. Intrigued, Veldt says Enrique is right, and he promises Enrique that he isn't planning on gunning for him anytime soon.

Out by the river, Lauwanda is cooling off all alone. Mellorie walks by and asks if she wants to chat, but Lauwanda says its okay, and Mellorie goes back to camp while Lauwanda sits silently alone.

Back at camp, Mellorie walks back to find Kinti and Mitzi still chatting around the fire. She sits down, and the four of them chat animatedly, having a good time.

Zachary, Martina, and Kara return from their Reward, and everyone welcomes them with open arms. There is a timeskip to later on in the day. Kinti, Kara, and Veldt are sitting on the riverbank together under the cover of night, discussing the day's events. Veldt tells them about Enrique's offer, while Kara talks about Zachary and Martina's pitch. They all conclude that they are now squarely in the middle of the game, and Kinti can be seen smiling.

### Day 31

The nine members of the Curaray tribe can be seen walking into a grassy clearing in the jungle. They take their place on the mat, standing in front of nine structures consisting of a little platform to stand on, and then a cage above the platform supported by a beam. Su says that Mellorie must give Immunity back. She takes it off and hands it to Su, and then Su begins to explain the challenge.

The castaways will all be standing on a little platform above the ground, and they must hold their arms above their heads in order to hold up a cage that keeps their ball balanced between the beam and the cage. If you fall off or your ball falls, you are eliminated. The last castaway standing will win Immunity. Everyone gets into their spots, and then the challenge commences.

 TimeElapsed
 Castaways

**Highlights:**

* Some castaways struggled very early on. Enrique struggled to hold his arms above his head and keep his balance, and fell off less than a minute in. Lauwanda was too loose with holding up her cage, and her ball dropped not soon after. Mellorie made a similar mistake a little over two minutes in when she tried to ease the pressure on her arms, and her ball fell.
* Everyone else last till almost 5 minutes, when Veldt suddenly lost his balance and fell. Martina was visibly struggling at this point, but tried to push through it, while everyone else seemed pretty solid.
* Martina dropped out around 6 minutes, falling off of her beam. Mitzi suddenly dropped off moments later, having let her arms drop too low, her balling rolling out of the cage.
* The other three stayed strong. Zachary was desperate to win after being in the bottom, while Kinti and Kara wanted to keep their options open for the night. Eventually, around ten minutes, Kinti's arms began to shake and her ball rolled out of the cage.
* Kara and Zachary battled it out for over five more minutes, sweating profusely and now both visibly in pain, but neither willing to yield to the other. Everyone cheered them on. At over fifteen minutes, Zachary lost his balance, while Kara was the last one standing and the winner.

Kara grins and steps off of her platform with a cheer as her ball flies from its cage and into the muddy grass. She hobbles over to Su, who puts the necklace around her neck whilst congratulating her for being the first person to win Immunity twice. As the tribe leaves for camp, Kara can still be seen beaming.

The Curarays return to camp, and Kara hangs her necklace on the corner of the shelter. Zachary and Martina can be seen whispering once everyone starts to spread out, discussing their plan of action for the day.

Martina, Zachary, and Enrique walk off into the jungle to discuss their plans, leaving the other six members of the tribe at camp. The six sit down around the fire and discuss what they want to do that night, all agreeing to stick together. Kara says that Zachary proved how big a threat he is in the challenge today, and Mellorie nods, saying Martina has been very strategic lately and it is worrying. The group talks about what to do with the vote, and then they break up to not make it obvious. The camera focuses on Mellorie, who remains by the fire, staring into the flames.

There is a timeskip to later in the day, and Kinti and Kara can be seen sitting on the riverbank, talking together. Zachary and Martina approach from the jungle, sitting down by them and asking to talk about the game.

The four of them talk about the game, and they agree that they are all threatening players and that they need to look out for each other. Martina says that they're willing to act as shields for Kinti and Kara. They also talk about how Mitzi is a very threatening yet quiet player who could slip by, and how Mellorie is starting to play harder. Kinti and Kara nod, saying they definitely know that keeping Martina and Zachary around would help them out, and that they'll think about it. As Martina and Zachary leave, Kinti watches them leave, deep in thought.

Veldt joins Kara and Kinti by the riverbank, and the three of them talk things over. As the conversation is reaching the point of a decision, Enrique walks over and asks if it's okay he talks to them. They all tell him it is, and he quickly tells them he knows he is not the biggest or most threatening player, but that he will do his best to be loyal to them if they save him and his side tonight.

Enrique can be seen walking back into camp, and Mitzi watches with slight concern from the shelter where she is laying with Mellorie and Lauwanda. The three girls discuss their worries of how much the other side has been talking with Kinti, Kara, and Veldt. Mitzi in particular can be seen drumming her fingers on the shelter floor anxiously.

Eventually, the oh-so important trio returns from their long talk at the riverbank, and soon after it is time to leave for Tribal Council. As everyone grabs their torches, the camera focuses on Veldt, who seems rather calm as he picks up his torch and follows everyone else out of camp.

The Curaray tribe is shown entering the Tribal Council area. Once they are seated, Su welcomes in the four members of the jury: Erron, Peter, and the two new additions, Orlia and Everett. Orlia looks regal in a bright red dress, while Everett waves sadly at Enrique who grins at him. Su begins asking questions, and asks everyone how they feel after the tumultuous last Tribal experience, promising them only one person is going tonight. Everyone chuckles, and Lauwanda throws out that it was chaotic while Martina says it was traumatizing. Su asks Kinti how she feels now that the other captain is out of the game. She says it is definitely scary, especially since she got votes last time, but that she is not going to panic and is going to keep playing her game her way. Su asks Mitzi if she has started thinking about the endgame yet, and Mitzi says that she's been thinking about it all game, but that it is starting to get closer, and people need to start thinking about eliminating threats in the game. Zachary rebuffs this by saying that they still are six Tribal Councils off from Final Tribal Council, and that that is a lot of time to get rid of threats. Su asks Kara what her position is on this. She picks her words carefully, saying that she thinks threats should look out for threats but that she also wants to make sure people don't overstay their welcome. Mitzi is shown looking puzzled by that answer, while Kara looks nervous. With that, Su says it is time to vote, and Mellorie goes first.

Veldt is the last one to vote, and then Su asks if anyone would like to play their idol. The camera zooms in on Mitzi, who looks conflicted. Suddenly, she speaks up, darting her hand into her bag and telling Su that she has something she would like to play. Everyone watches in shock, even Mellorie and Lauwanda, as she tells Su that she has a bad feeling about tonight and just wants to make it through this vote. Su assures her that it is in fact a real idol, and no votes against Mitzi will count. Mitzi in fact has made a very intelligent decision; three votes have been cast against her, as Kinti, Kara, and Veldt have decided to flip, and split the votes between Mitzi and Mellorie with Zachary, Martina, and Enrique. The three votes against Mitzi are cancelled by the idol, while the other three for Mellorie stand. Meanwhile, Mellorie, Mitzi, and Lauwanda's votes are split 2-1 between Martina and Zachary, as they had still split in hopes of the group sticking together. Completely shocked to be voted out by only three votes, Mellorie staggers over to Su, who snuffs her torch. She waves sadly before leaving Tribal Council, and Lauwanda can be seen crying while Mitzi is blown away.

## Challenges

* Reward
* Immunity

**Team Reward Challenge:** *Shark Weak*
The nine castaways will be split into three teams of three. Two of these castaways will have to work together to pull a canoe to shore with the third person and puzzle pieces inside. Once they get the canoe fully on the beach, the third person may untie the puzzle bags and use the pieces inside to build a statue of a shark inside the canoe.

**Reward:** Swimming with sharks and stingrays with a nice seafood lunch

**Winners:** Kara Leibovitz, Martina Pelaez, and Zachary Heiffel

**Individual Immunity Challenge:** *Put Your Hands Up*
The castaways will all be standing on a little platform above the ground, and they must hold their arms above their heads in order to hold up a cage that keeps their ball balanced between the beam and the cage. If you fall off or your ball falls, you are eliminated. The last castaway standing will win Immunity.

**Winner:** Kara Leibovitz
## Tribal Council

### Voting Confessionals

*Kara's vote was not shown during her confessional.*

### Next Time on Survivor...

After Mellorie's stunning blindside, her allies reel...

...but the Survivor Auction just might be able to shake up the game.

## Trivia

* The episode title was said by Veldt Sherman was discussing before Tribal if he would be splitting the vote with Mellorie's alliance or splitting up from working with them.
* Martina had the most confessionals this episode, with 4
	+ Everyone except Kinti had the least confessionals this episode, with 2, while Kinti had 3.