I've Never Cried So Much Before

**I've Never Cried So Much Before** is the penultimate 13th episode of *Survivor: Ecuador*.

## Story

### Night 33

The seven members of Curaray can be seen returning to camp and setting their torches and bags down by the shelter. Kara looks relieved as she does so.

Martina can be seen sitting down in the shelter with a sigh, looking very tired.

While everyone is laying down and going to sleep, Mitzi can be seen sitting alone by the fire, staring intently into the flames.

### Day 34

The seven remaining castaways walk out onto the muddy riverbank where Su is waiting for them. Su welcomes them, and then tells them that he has a surprise for them. Everyone gets incredibly excited. Immediately, Enrique begins to sniffle, his eyes welling up, and Veldt pats him on the back. Su asks him why he is already crying, and Enrique tries to laugh, saying he knows it is time for the Loved Ones visit.

Su says Enrique is right, exciting everyone even further, and since Enrique is so excited to see his loved one, she will come out first. Su shouts, "Come on out Valerie!" and Enrique falls to his knees sobbing as his wife runs out to him and helps him to his feet, also crying hard.

Everyone is silent as the two weep in each others arms, kissing and hugging each other tightly. Enrique murmurs "I missed you so much" as the two continue to cry. Su asks them what this is like, and Valerie sobs that they have never been apart for more than a couple days for their whole forty year long marriage, and she has been in pain ever since Enrique left for Ecuador. Enrique struggles to talk as he says that he almost didn't come on the show because he didn't know if he could live without Valerie for thirty nine days. He tells her he has thought about her every day, and Valerie kisses him, saying she has done the same. Everyone can be seen looking emotional as the older couple give each other their last goodbyes before Enrique goes back to the mat.

Su then asks Kara if she is ready for love. Teary eyed, she nods, jumping up and down as her mom jogs out onto the riverbank. Kara runs up to her, and the two hug tightly, Kara burying her face in her mom's chest.

The two cry a little and hug each other. Su asks Cassy what it's been like to be apart from her daughter for so long. Cassy says it's been hard, because she has had a rough life but Kara has always been with her through it, and they talk to each other almost every day on the phone. Smiling, Kara says that her mom and her have been through divorce and poverty together, but that she is her best friend in the whole world, and she is so happy to see her again. They give each other one last hug before Kara goes back to the mat.

Su asks Veldt if he wants to see his wife Annelie, and he nods excitedly. He grins and runs to his crying wife as she stumbles out of the jungle.

The two kiss passionately once they meet, eliciting hoots from the laughing Curaray tribe. Annelie, wiping her tears away, tells Su that Veldt is the most handsome and romantic man she has ever met, and she has missed him so much. Veldt grins, telling Su that he knew Annelie was the one the moment he saw her. Annelie is his true support system, and without her he would always be a total mess. He also says he always told her he'd bring her on an international vacation, and now he's finally done it, making everyone laugh again. Veldt wipes a single tear out of his eye before kissing Annelie one last time.

Next, Su calls out Mitzi's best friend Larry. The 70-something man with white hair staggers out of the jungle, smiling happily, and Mitzi runs to him, giving him a tight hug.

Mitzi is crying as she hugs Larry, and he looks surprised. He tells Su Mitzi is never this emotional, and he begins to tear up as he hugs her back. Mitzi sniffles as she tells everyone that she really doesn't have any relationship with her actual family, and she doesn't have many friends either. But Larry saved her from her depression and helped her find happiness in glassblowing at the lowest point in her life. She tells Larry she loves him and this journey has made her thankful for him, and Larry can be seen being teary too, telling everyone that he didn't expect Survivor to melt Mitzi's frozen heart, making everyone chuckle.

After Larry and Mitzi have one last hug, Su calls out Zachary's older cousin Bryan. Zachary laughs and runs out to Bryan, and the two bro hug hard.

Bryan tells Su that he is proud of his younger cousin for getting so far in the game, even though he doesn't really watch Survivor much. He knows that it's a hard experience and he's proud. Zachary laughs, saying that Bryan doesn't give out compliments easily. Getting a little emotional, Zachary tells his cousin that he missed him and that it's cool to hear a compliment from him since he's always looked up to him throughout their lives. Bryan chuckles and hugs him, telling him he cares a lot about him, but that he better not go soft on him when they get home, making everyone laugh.

Next, Su calls out Kinti's little sister Dinsi. Kinti begins to tear up a little bit as her youngest sister runs out to her and jumps into her arms practically, almost making them both fall over.

The two laugh as they stand up. Su asks why Dinsi came out this time, and Kinti laughs. She said that her mom, who was her loved one for *Namibia,* wanted someone else to go. It was supposed to be her dad, but for her eighteenth birthday Dinsi asked to go, and her parents let her. Dinsi giggles, saying she has always looked up to Kinti as the oldest of the five Faith girls, be it in playing tennis or doing well in school. Kinti tears up when she hears Dinsi praising her, and the two hug really tightly.

Finally, Su asks Martina if she is ready to see her twin sister. Crying, Martina nods, and runs out to meet her identical twin Londra.

The two hug and cry into each other's shoulders before Su begins asking them questions. Su asks them what it's like living with an identical twin, and Londra laughs, saying it can be annoying sometimes, but that she loves Martina to death. Martina laughs as well, telling the rest of the cast that believe it or not, Londra is actually even more of a cold blooded analytical person than her, which makes everyone laugh. Londra hits Martina's arm, telling Su that Martina always calls her a robot, and the two begin arguing a bit before they realize what they're doing and start laughing. They give each other one big hug, and then they separate.

Once Londra is back with the rest of the loved ones, Su begins to explain the challenge. Each castaway will compete with a loved one, and they must work together to cross a series of water and land obstacles while tied together by several strings. On each of the strings are keys; when they get to the end of the course, they must work together to untie their strings, free the keys, and use the keys to unlock a box containing a heart token. The first two castaways to individually grab their heart token will win Reward with their loved one, and will get to share it with one other castaway and their loved on. The three winners will have a lunch at camp with their loved ones, and their loved ones will spend the day at camp. Once Su explains the challenge, the castaways pair up with their loved ones, and then they begin the challenge.

 Castaways

**Highlights:**

* Immediately, Kara, Zachary, and Kinti's groups all start off strong, with Zachary and Kinti leading due to having the youngest and fittest loved ones. Kara and her mom Cassy keep up as well since Cassy is in great shape for her age.
* Martina and Londra as well as Veldt and Annelie get off to a shaky start, falling behind the frontrunners but not falling completely out of it.
* Meanwhile, Enrique and Valerie as well as Mitzi and Larry struggle to get across the obstacles, but both teams are laughing and having fun, knowing they are not going to win this challenge.
* Zachary and Bryan are the first team to get off of the course, followed by Kinti and Dinsi, and then Kara and Cassy right behind them. All three teams begin untying. Dinsi struggles to do so, slowing her and Kinti down, while Zachary and Kara's teams are untying swiftly.
* Zachary and Bryan get their keys first, and quickly unlock their box, being the first team to win the Reward. The two high five hard, laughing.
* Kara and Kinti's teams are neck and neck, as Dinsi's ditziness has cost their team the lead. Kara and Cassy are able to get their last key first, unlocking their box and grabbing the heart token, being the other team to win the Reward.

Cassy hugs Kara tightly, excited to get to spend the day with her. Dinsi looks a little upset but Kinti calms her down, telling her it's alright. Everyone collects back on the mat, and everyone besides Cassy and Bryan seems to be getting ready to part from their Loved One. However, Su tells Kara and Zachary that they get to choose one more person to participate in Reward with them.

The two talk it over, and then they say that they'll be bringing Enrique and his wife Valerie back to camp with them because they know how hard it has been for them. No one seems upset that Enrique and Valerie get to have the Reward since everyone understands how difficult their separation has been. Valerie and Enrique both break out into tears, and they hug each other tightly.

Everyone else says goodbye to their loved ones, getting last hugs. Dinsi, Londra, Larry, and Annelie walk off into the jungle while the rest of the tribe plus Bryan, Cassy, and Valerie joins them for the day. When the tribe gets back, they find a low table with sandwiches, pasta salad, vegetable kabobs, chocolate cake, and more spread out on it. The other four members of the tribe go away so they won't feel hungry while Kara, Zachary, Enrique, and their loved ones sit down and dine. Kara grins as she stuffs a half of a sandwich into her mouth, making her mom laugh.

After they all finish their meal, the castaways and their Loved Ones split off to explore camp and talk about the game together. Kara and Cassy are shown walking through the jungle, hugging each other tight as Kara finishes telling her about her close alliance with Veldt and Kinti, and how this round could be the pivotal one in everything going down. Cassy tells her that Kara is so much braver and smarter than her, and she is so proud of her work ethic in the game. Kara hugs her mom tighter, sniffling a little bit.

By the river, Zachary and Bryan can be seen walking, with Bryan updating Zachary about all the sports news he's missed and everything going on with their families back home. Once that's done, Zachary tells him he knows he doesn't understand the game of Survivor, but that he's getting close to making it to the Superbowl, which makes Bryan laugh.

Enrique and Valerie can be seen sitting in the shelter, taking a load off, while everyone else is out of camp in order to give them privacy. Valerie tells him all about how their kids and grandkids are all good, and then they begin to talk a little bit about the game. Enrique tells him about his allies and how the game has gone, and Valerie warns him to not let his friendships cloud him from what needs to be done to get the million dollars.

Martina, Zachary, and Bryan can be seen walking into camp, and joining Enrique and Valerie in their strategic talk. The three talk about the future of the game, and how the tensions are mounting between the two alliances.

In the jungle, Kinti and Veldt can be seen walking together. They both talk about how it sucked to miss out on more time with their Loved One, and Veldt looks a little emotional.

Kinti and Veldt find Kara and Cassy in the jungle, and the four talk about the game together, having a similar conversation as the other alliance did earlier in the shelter, agreeing that it might be time to try and make a move against the other alliance.

A montage is shown throughout the rest of the day of the rest of the tribe being very kind to Mitzi, bringing her food and chatting with her. Valerie and Enrique tell her stories about their life, while Bryan climbs a tree to get her a fruit, impressing everyone. As night falls, everyone says goodbye to their Loved Ones. Mitzi watches as Valerie, Bryan, and Cassy walk away with a small smile on her face.

### Day 35

The castaways can be seen walking onto the riverbank of a particularly deep section of the river. Out in the river, which is slowly rising, is a long grate divided into seven sections. Everyone immediately recognizes this painful and iconic challenge. Su asks Mitzi to return the Immunity Necklace, and she takes it off and hands it to him. Once that is done, Su begins to explain the challenge.

The castaways will all be floating underneath a grate suspended above the water. The water level will slowly rise over time, pushing them against the bars and making it harder to breathe. Whenever a castaway lets go and gives up, they are out. The last castaway left holding onto the grate will win Individual Immunity. Once the rules are explained, the castaways swim out and take their places under the grate, and the challenge commences.

 Time
 Castaways

**Highlights:**

* The castaways all start out strong, with no one struggling immediately. Everyone makes it through the first half hour pretty easily. Around the half hour mark, the water has risen enough where the castaways are close to the grate now. A bit after the half hour mark, Mitzi lets go, seemingly throwing the challenge as she didn't seem uncomfortable.
* At around 36 minutes, Enrique can be seen struggling to hold himself up to the grate, but there's not enough room to relax. The water level is pretty high now, and Enrique lets go, unable to hold himself up. Martina has similar struggles, her arms giving out around 38 minutes.
* Everyone makes it to over 40 minutes, and now their faces are pressed tight against the grate. At 42 minutes, Veldt can't take it anymore and lets go.
* Kinti, Kara, and Zachary all last till the 50 minute mark, where the water level is so high that there's almost no room to breathe. Kara freaks out and gives up, leaving Kinti and Zachary.
* These two struggle for the win, both with their lips barely peeking out above the water to breathe. They both make it to 55 minutes when Kinti can't hold out anymore and swims out, meaning Zachary has won Immunity.

Zachary swims out from under the grate, gasping for air once he gets to the riverbank. By the time he catches his breath, he is smiling, and Enrique and Martina hug him while Kinti looks upset to have lost after fighting so hard for the win. Su places the Immunity Necklace around Zachary's neck, congratulating him, and Zachary can be seen grinning as he leads the tribe back to camp.

As the tribe returns to camp, Kinti can be seen looking a little worried. She sits down in the shelter and sighs, wanting to rest by herself for a little bit.

Everyone can be seen sitting around camp very tensely, unsure of how to break the ice. Eventually, Martina breaks the awkward silence, and asks if Mitzi would like to go on a walk with her. The two women walk off into the jungle together as everyone else watches in apprehension.

Martina makes her pitch to Mitzi, explaining how Kinti, Kara, and Veldt have been underdogs since voting in the minority at the merge vote, and yet all three of them have survived this long through their cunning, wit, and strength. She says she thinks they're easily the three most popular people on the jury, since themselves plus Enrique and Zachary have betrayed many of the people left on the jury. She also says that she knows Mitzi is great in challenges, and by taking out someone like Kinti or Kara instead of herself or Enrique, she elevates her chances of winning late game Immunities. As Mitzi walks back to camp after that conversation, she seems deep in thought.

While Martina and Mitzi are still out in the jungle, Kara and Kinti go to the river while Zachary is laying in the shelter. Sitting by the fire, Veldt asks Enrique if he would potentially bypass the idea of giving Mitzi all the power tonight, and vote with his group. Enrique admits he doesn't think it's best for his game, and he asks if Veldt would vote with his group. Veldt sighs and says he feels the same way, but he won't vote off Enrique himself tonight.

Mitzi finds Kara and Kinti in the river, and the three girls sit on the riverbank and talk about the vote. Kara and Kinti pitch to Mitzi that the three of them still need each other here, as the three strongest challenge competitors so far. Once one of them goes, the other two will be targeted one after the other, and they need each other to beat Zachary so he doesn't win more challenges. Kinti and Kara also talk about how they don't have a lot of connections on the jury since they're from Charca and a lot of the jury is from Cuevita or were Charcas they turned against. They also talk about how Martina, who they'd intend to vote out since Zachary is immune, is the biggest strategic threat left.

Kara goes back to camp because dinnertime is nearing, but Mitzi asks Kinti to stay out with her.

Mitzi asks Kinti what she got at the Auction, and Kinti lies, saying it was just an idol clue but that she hasn't been able to find anything. Mitzi looks at Kinti for a moment and then says that's all she wanted to know, and wishes her good luck on her search. As she walks away, Kinti watches her with nerves.

Back at camp, Martina can see that Kara, Mitzi, and Kinti have been out for a while, and she pulls Zachary and Enrique off to the side to talk to them. She asks if either of them has found the idol.

Both Zachary and Enrique say they don't have anything, and Martina sighs, saying she hopes Mitzi found it and not one of the other alliance. As they go to have their dinner, Enrique looks a little guilty.

Later in the day, the sun is beginning to set, and the tribe grabs their things and begins to walk off towards Tribal Council. The camera follows Mitzi as the tribe disappears down the trail to Tribal.

The seven remaining members of Curaray walk into Tribal Council, setting down their torches and sitting across the fire from Su. Su welcomes the six members of the jury: Erron, Peter, Orlia, Everett, Mellorie, and Lauwanda, who is in a cute dark green pantsuit. She forms her hands in the shape of a heart to Mitzi, who grins. Su begins his questioning, asking Zachary what it was like to win his first Immunity. Zachary smiles, saying that it was a great feeling to finally earn what he's been working so hard to get, and that he can check off one more Survivor accomplishment. Su then asks Enrique what it was like seeing his wife for the Loved Ones visit. Taking a deep breath, Enrique says he still feels emotional about it, and seeing her reminded him why he came out here to play the game and reinvigorated him. Su then asks Mitzi how it feels this round, as she had a rollercoaster last round with the Exile pass and Immunity. Mitzi says she is actually very surprised because her good luck has kept up, and she finds herself poised between two alliances. Su asks Martina if this is true, and she nods, saying that there are two three person alliances on the tribe that have been working together recently, but that both sides want to pounce and need Mitzi's vote to do so. Su then asks Kinti if everything really is on Mitzi's shoulders, and she sighs and says yes, that she is hoping Mitzi is with her group. Su asks Mitzi how you side on such a momentous decision, and she says that it's definitely a hard thing to do. With that, it's time to vote. Veldt is the first one to vote.

Kara is the last one to vote, and then Su tallies the votes and asks if anyone would like to play an idol. The camera focuses in on Enrique, but he does not move, and Su begins to read the votes. Kinti's allies have remained steadfast beside her, putting three votes onto Martina as planned. However, Mitzi has joined Martina's group, and they have put their four votes on Kinti, eliminating her for being a huge threat to win and also because Mitzi knew of her Extra Vote, and Kinti wouldn't own up to having it. Disappointed but not absolutely shocked, Kinti hugs both Kara and Veldt and wishes everyone else good luck, congratulating them on good gameplay. She takes her torch to Su, who smiles sadly as he snuffs it, telling her it's time to go. She disappears down the path with one last wave, and both Veldt and Kara can be looking shocked to have lost their closest ally. Meanwhile, Martina is smiling, and Enrique thanks Mitzi quietly. Su congratulates the tribe for making the Final 6 once Kinti is gone, and promises them that these next four days are going to be wilder than they could ever imagine.

## Challenges

* Reward
* Immunity

**Individual Reward Challenge:** *Heartstrings*
Each castaway will compete with a loved one, and they must work together to cross a series of water and land obstacles while tied together by several strings. On each of the strings are keys; when they get to the end of the course, they must work together to untie their strings, free the keys, and use the keys to unlock a box containing a heart token. The first two castaways to individually grab their heart token will win Reward with their loved one, and will get to share it with one other castaway and their loved on.

**Reward:** A day with their loved one back at camp, as well as a special lunch for winning castaways and their loved ones.

**Winners:** Kara Leibovitz and Zachary Heiffel

**Shared With:** Enrique Salazar

**Individual Immunity Challenge:** *Last Gasp*
The castaways will all be floating underneath a grate suspended above the water. The water level will slowly rise over time, pushing them against the bars and making it harder to breathe. Whenever a castaway lets go and gives up, they are out. The last castaway left holding onto the grate will win Individual Immunity.

**Winner:** Zachary Heiffel
## Tribal Council

### Voting Confessionals

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

### Next Time on Survivor...

It's the season finale of *Survivor: Ecuador*, and six castaways are left competing for the million dollar prize.

With three more Tribal Councils and the all-important Final Tribal Council left, there is certainly much more game to be played.

And with only four days left to play, no one is going to give up on their dream of becoming the 12th Sole Survivor.

## Trivia

* The episode was named by Enrique when talking about how much he was crying when his wife Valerie came out for the Loved Ones reward.
* Mitzi had the most confessionals, with 5.
	+ Veldt and Zachary had the least, with 2.