No More Crying

This is the ninth episode of *Survivor: Congo*

## Challenges

**Reward Challenge:** *Styx*
Teams have to place poles of varying lengths into their holders to form a staircase, and then run up it. Then, they would then make their way through a multistory wooden maze. Once every team member had made it through the maze, one member would have to retrieve a key and use it to unlock a box of puzzle pieces. Two other team members would then have to use the puzzle pieces to solve a puzzle, which displayed three numbers. They then have to use the three numbers to unlock a combination that would enable them to raise their flag. The first team to raise their flag wins.
**Reward:** Trip to a Survivor spa
**Winners:** Adam, Emily, Neil, Sidney, Trish

**Immunity Challenge:** *Keep It Up*
The castaways would hold two poles on the tops of their hands up against a board over their heads. Any movement in their hands would cause the poles to drop to the ground. The last person who does not drop their poles would win immunity.
**Winner:** Adam

## Story

### KALA

The merged tribe comes back after their first Tribal Council. Russell explains that he was lucky he had that necklace around his necklace and that he would be the one going otherwise. Adam talks with Emily and Trish and says he is relieved everything worked out fine. In a confessional he explained how nervous he was during the whole council. Then, Trish leaves the two of them alone and Emily comforts Adam as they cuddle under the starlight. Emily says that she is fighting against her feelings just to play the game of Survivor. Adam says he is lucky since he found Emily. Yana and Finn talk privately and Yana still fights with Finn over their decision to keep Adam in the game. Yana confesses if it was solely up to her, Adam would be gone now, while Finn says he doesn't want to rush things, otherwise the target will fall on them. Russell is seen alone, while the rest of the tribe bonds in the fire place. He confesses he can't give up just yet, and that he will do crazy things to stay alive, so he hides some of the castaways personal's stuff wanting to create chaos in the tribe.

### KALA

In the morning, Hope talks with Leann, in the hope of seeing if the woman would help her out. Hope confesses she is scared of her fate, but she is seen being bad at strategizing with Leann, which leads to the librarian dishing her out and saying that she can't make a suicidal move. Meanwhile, at the main camp, the castaways are cooking and Adam is seen giving some of his food to Trish, as he explains in his confessional he doesn't care about helping others and we have a segment of Trish saying how Adam is a great boy, the dream one and then after this we have shots of Yana rolling her eyes and confessing how everything people like Adam makes her hate him for being so perfect.

It's time for the reward challenge. Neil and Russell start picking teams and in the end Leann is the one without a team.

TEAM YELLOW: Neil, Emily, Adam, Sidney, Trish

TEAM GREEN: Russell, Tyler, Yana, Finn, Hope

The challenge starts and quickly the castaways get together to put together the poles. The yellow team seems to be working well together, while the green team has no clear leader and people keep screaming around. The yellow team finishes their staircase and they start climbing it up, Sidney goes first as she is the one trying to solve the maze, while the other team members follow her. After some time, the green team also finishes the staircase and start following Russell's lead. Sidney gets to the end of the maze and works on the knot for her team, that quickly catches up with her. Right after Sidney releases the knot, Russell arrives at the final of the maze and starts working on his knot. The yellow team is rolling down the slider and then Russell catches up for his team, also releasing the passage. The two teams are neck to neck, rolling down, but yellow still finishes first as Hope stumbles and falls on the mud for the green team. Adam will be working with the key for yellow, while Yana goes for green. Yana is smaller and more agile, winning time for the green team, but still, Adam does a great job moving around the obstacles and keeps up with Yana. Both of them finish it together and start opening the puzzle chest. Adam opens it first and quickly Emily and Sidney pick up the pieces so they can start solving the puzzle. Seconds behind, Finn and Russell are the ones starting on the puzzle for the green team. Emily and Sidney make great work together as they are quick to understand the pattern of the puzzle, while Russell has some trouble figuring out where to place his pieces. Quickly enough, Emily and Sidney finish the puzzle, while the green team is far behind, they try the lock and it works, giving the yellow team the reward.

 Won
 Lost

The yellow team arrives at a reserved area in the middle of the jungle where a Survivor SPA was set for them, as they arrive they see a table full of snacks and juices and they start celebrating. Emily says she has never been to a SPA in her life and now would be the perfect first time for her. Trish say the game is taking a tool on her, but when the reward comes, it is worthy it. The castaways all group in the table to eat, Adam resents Tyler not being there with them as he confesses Tyler is his closest friend and ally after Emily, of course. The castaways cheer and promise to each other final 6 with Tyler. Sidney confesses she likes emily, but overall, she feels misplaced in the alliance, being very confused if she will actually stick to her word until the end. The castaways all shower and then they go to receive their SPA treatment. Neil and Emily are side by side when receiving a massage and Emily asks Neil if he is liking it. Emily says Neil is the best person she has met and that she would trust him her life. Neil is happy this game brought him friends, and that even if he doesn't know quite how to be a master in the strategy aspect, he is having unique moments he will always remember. Adam talks with Sidney in private as she shares her life story. Adam confesses he feels distant from Sidney, but that he thinks she is one of the strongest and tough girls in the game, and that he respects her a lot. Sidney confesses she is giving her hardest to open up herself to her alliance, but still, she wonders if she has a place there.

Back at camp, the mood is bad after they lost the reward challenge. Tyler confesses it sucks tio be at camp without any of his friends. Meanwhile, Yana, Russell, Finn and Hope meet to discuss the game situation. Russell gives his and Hope's case. Yana says she will help them and reveals hers and Finn's idol to Hope and Russell, leaving Finn to confess he is very mad at Yana for doing that, since they never discussed it. Russell likes his new chances. Back at camp, Leann is with Tyler and wonders where the rest of the tribe is. She starts looking fro them and as she find them she listens on their conversation, making her confess talking about how Yana and Finn are so screwed after this.

### KALA

By the morning, Leann talks with Adam and Tyler and tells Adam what happened at camp the day before. Adam confesses he is now scared of what those two are going to do. Tyler confirms what Leann said, saying the group was acting very suspicious. Adam goes talk with Yana and Finn and tries to calmly talk with them, Yana stresses out and screams at him, confessing she is over Adam and is hero attitude and can't wait to take him out of the game. Finn tries to calm things down, and confesses about how Yana has pushed both of them to the minority group and now they are in big trouble.

### Day 24

It's time for their next immunity challenge. The castaways star balancing their poles on their hands. Minutes into the challenge, Finn starts shaking and his poles drop, making him shake his head, angry that in such a decisive moment in the game he lost the challenge. We see the castaways sweating to keep going, some, like Russell, trying to adjust their poles and others like Yana, who are still like statues. After 10 minutes of the challenge Leann drops and then so does Neil. We see Trish struggling to keep the strength in her arms, so she also drops. Hope has been fighting since the first minutes of the challenge as she seems to be giving her hardest to stay alive, but is not enough as she crumbles to her knees after 30 minutes. Russell keeps losing balance, but he also knows he needs immunity, so he keeps fighting. Out of nowhere, Sidney drops her poles as she complains about her arm. After one hour, we see Tyler and Russell shaking and trying to adjust. Russell makes a move and saves his poles, while Tyler drops. Seconds after Tyler is out, Russell loses balance once again and this time he can't recover it, losing the challenge. It's down to Emily, Adam and Yana. Yana starts having trouble for the first time, while Adam is seen struggling, but with both poles balances. Emily is about to lose one of her poles when the other starts shaking, she tries to recovers it, but she lets the other fall, going out of the challenge. After some time, Yana can't resist once more and she drops her poles, giving Adam immunity.

 Castaway

### KALA

The eleven castaways come back to camp, some congratulate Adam on his immunity win. Adam say he is happy he got the necklace, now he knows no move can be made against him. Yana complains about how she got so close once again from the necklace, but she can't seem to win it. Emily says she is happy for Adam, but is also worried about Yana's idol and what move she will make. The majority alliance, of Adam, Emily, Trish, Neil, Tyler, Sidney and Leann meet to discuss the vote, Adam say they don't have the numbers to split the vote so they have to decide one of Finn, Yana, Hope or Russell to vote for. They keep discussing, as Tyler is worried that with Adam's immunity, he might be the target. While Sidney confesses She doesn't want Finn out, as he is a close friend to her, so she will make sure to keep him safe. Leann wants Yana gone, as she calls the woman a little sneaky rat. Meanwhile, the other four meet and decide what to do about the vote and the idol, like on who to play it for. Russell confesses he wants the idol to be played on himself, as he feels very threatened. Yana is unsure about what to do with her idol, as she ponders her options. it's about time to Tribal and Finn and Sidney meet, as they discuss their alliance members. Finn confesses he always thought Yana would be his girl, but things have changed since the merge. Sidney tells a part of her alliance plan to Finn and asks him to vote with her. Finn says he isn't sure about it, as her alliance doesn't seem to trust him. Finn confesses he liked the info Sidney gave him, and ponders whether to use it to save Yana, Russell and Hope, or just let it roll. Adam has a final confessional talking about how things are uncertain at this point and that he is taking his idol to Tribal, as he wouldn't mind playing it to save one of his allies. At Tribal, a lot is talked about blindside, but when it comes down to the idol play, nothing is certain. Yana stands up to play one of her idols on Russell, who thanks her, but then she grabs her second idol to play on herself, leaving everyone shocked. This leads to Adam to stand up and play his idol on Emily, trying to protect her. In the end, Adam move failed as the votes were directed to Tyler and all Yana's votes were cancelled. Tyler is voted out in a 4-0-0-0 vote.