My Pinnacle of Power

**My Pinnacle of Power** is the 12th episode of *Survivor: Ecuador*.

## Story

### Night 31

The eight remaining members of the Curaray tribe can be seen returning late at night to camp. Martina rests her torch against the tree first, looking thoughtful.

Lauwanda is still in tears after that Tribal Council. Everyone tells her they are sorry, and that it was just a game move. She sniffles that she knows that, but she still is very hurt. Mitzi gives her a hug, and they go to sit alone by the fire.

As Mitzi is doing her best to console Lauwanda, she can be seen staring off into the night with a look of resolve firm on her face.

### Day 32

The Curaray tribes walks into an open clearing to find Su standing behind a counter, and a set of wooden bleachers opposite Su and the counter. The castaways sit down on the bleachers, where they find envelopes with $500 USD inside. Su explains that it is time for the Survivor Auction, which causes everyone to cheer ecstatically.

Su begins by pulling out the first item: steak, fries, and a beer. Zachary immediately bids $100, and no one else bids for it, so he gets it, and he begins to devour it in ecstasy. Su then pulls out the first covered item. A bidding war breaks out, but eventually Enrique gets it for $250. Su reveals that it is a small rolled parchment. Enrique thanks him and takes it. There is bidding for an ice cream cone, which Zachary also takes, and then another covered item. Kara gets it for $300, only to discover that it is a pile of cooked fish eyes. Everyone gags as Kara eats them anyway for the protein. Enrique and Kara take a glass of wine and a burger respectively. The next covered item is won by Kinti for $400, and she also receives a rolled parchment, but this one is bigger than Enrique's. Lauwanda breaks when the next food item revealed is her favorite, spaghetti, and she bids on it and wins. Then, the final covered item comes out. Martina, Veldt, and Mitzi all bid their $500 for it, and then Su draws rocks to see who gets it. In the end, it is revealed that Mitzi has won. She expects a scroll too, but Su unveils a piece of paper with the word "EXILE" stamped on it. Everyone is shocked as Su explains that after the Immunity Challenge, Mitzi will be exiled until Tribal Council begins, meaning she will miss the whole day of strategizing. Mitzi is in shock, unable to speak as she walks up and takes the Exile slip. With that, Su announces that the Auction has closed.

The castaways return to camp, and Mitzi still is deep in shock after receiving the Exile slip. Everyone tells her it's a crazy twist and they feel bad for her, but Mitzi seems lost in her own mind.

Kinti can be seen wandering into the jungle once everyone starts dispersing, eager to see what she was won in the Auction. On an empty path, she unrolls her parchment to reveal two slips of paper. One is a voting parchment, while the other tells Kinti that she has won an Extra Vote in the game. Eyes open wide, Kinti pumps her fist into the air excitedly as she reads that it does not carry over into a revote, and is usable until the Final 5.

The scene shifts to Enrique in another part of the forest, unrolling his own advantage. Breathless, he reads that he has won a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. He reads that it is hidden under a rock at the base of the tribe flag. Enrique grins happily, stuffing the clue into his pocket.

There is a timeskip to a little bit later in the day, and Enrique can be seen sitting by the fire with Zachary and Kara. Everyone else is either at the well, or out swimming in the river. Zachary and Kara say they are going to go swimming, and tell Enrique to come with them, but he says he is tired and pretends to go lay down in the shelter.

Once they leave, and camp is completely empty, Enrique rolls out of the shelter and jogs over to the tribe flag. He notices a large rock at the bottom of the right leg of the flag, and flips it over. He spots a dark brown parcel hidden underneath, and he grins as he puts the rock back into place. Just then, he sees Kinti returning from the well, so he hides it in his pocket. However, later on, Enrique is shown unwrapping the idol and staring at it in awe.

Down by the river, Mitzi and Lauwanda are shown getting out to go dry off back at camp, leaving Kara, Zachary, Veldt, and Martina swimming in the shallows of the river. As they swim around, they discuss the fact that Mitzi is going to be missing the whole pre-Tribal. Zachary, Martina, and Kara all sound off about how it will definitely make it easier to take her out this round.

As the three are talking happily about Mitzi's exile, Veldt looks a little concerned, and doesn't speak up much.

Later on, as night falls, everyone is in the shelter except for Mitzi and Kara. The two are talking quietly about their lives back home when Mitzi pivots the conversation to the game, and the possibility of sending someone like Zachary or Martina home this round. Kara sadly tells her she doesn't think it's possible to happen this round, as everyone is too focused on her.

Mitzi sighs, saying she understands, and Kara stands up to go to bed in the shelter with everyone else. Mitzi gets up and walks into the jungle, where she can be heard sniffling softly, crouched down on the path.

### Day 33

The eight remaining members of the Curaray tribe can be seen walking out into an open area by the riverbank. In a cleared space, eight oars, or paddles, are resting on pivots which are planted in the ground. Next to each paddle is a small table with five white balls on it, and the end of each paddle has five circular indents on it. Once everyone reaches the Curaray mat, Su tells Kara she must give Immunity back. Sighing, she turns around and makes Su take it off of her neck. He does so, and after he hangs it back up he explains the challenge.

Each castaway will be given a paddle resting on a pivot point, and five white balls. They must roll each of these balls down the paddle and land them in one of the five slots on the end of the paddle. The first castaway that can get all five balls into their holes without losing any or dropping the paddle will win Individual Immunity. The castaways take their spots at their paddles, and then the challenge begins.

 Castaways

**Highlights:**

* The challenge begins, and quickly several people begin to take the lead. Martina, Veldt, Zachary, and Mitzi all have a measured approach and begin to do well. Enrique and Kinti are a little slower, while Kara and Lauwanda both seem to struggle immensely rolling the balls down the oars.
* After a couple of minutes, Martina, Veldt, Zachary, and Mitzi are all neck in neck with two balls, while Enrique and Kinti have one, and Kara and Lauwanda have none.
* Veldt and Martina start to lag a little bit behind Zachary and Mitzi, who are racing to win. Mitzi is eager to save herself, and is zoned in, while Zachary is doing his best to outpace her.
* Soon, both Mitzi and Zachary have four balls left, with Zachary getting his in a moment before Mitzi. As he reaches for his fifth ball however, he loses balance of his paddle in his haste, and his balls all fly into the mud. Zachary yells in frustration as he runs to pick up his fallen balls.
* Martina and Veldt do their best to tighten the gap between them and Mitzi now that Zachary is back at square one, but it is not enough. Mitzi takes her time, and is able to roll her fifth ball onto her paddle soon after Veldt and Martina have gotten their fourth. This means Mitzi has won Immunity.

The moment Su declares Mitzi has one, she drops her paddle and falls to her knees in the mud, trying to hold back tears. Su walks over to her and helps her to her feet, asking her what this means to her. She says she knew she was going home without this necklace, and she is so thankful to have won. Su tells her she won it fair and square as he places it around her neck. Everyone else claps for her. Zachary has a sour look on his face, and Kinti looks disappointed, but they still clap. Then, Su tells Mitzi due to her advantage she must head out to Exile. Mitzi hands him her Exile slip and then walks off the opposite direction from camp, beaming with the Immunity Necklace around her neck.

Mitzi can be seen being driven on a motorboat to a small island in the middle of the river. There, she finds nothing but some trees, mud, and a small wooden box. She picks up the box once she gets off the boat, and opens it to find a parchment inside. The parchment tells her that she may be missing out on strategy for the night, but she in turn will be given an advantage: she will get to find out what other advantages were won at the Auction. Mitzi gasps as she reads that an idol clue and an Extra Vote were given out at the Auction as well.

The scene shifts back to the Curaray camp, where the other seven castaways are returning after the challenge. Zachary looks immensely frustrated as he slumps over in the shelter.

Zachary, Martina, and Enrique can be seen meeting up in the jungle to discuss the night. They all agree that the only viable option is to try to get Lauwanda on their side tonight, and take out Kinti, Kara, or Veldt.

Kinti, Veldt, and Kara can be seen standing by the shelter since no one else is at camp. They all discuss the vote and come to similar conclusions as the other alliance.

Lauwanda walks into camp, and the three ask her to talk to them. She seems surprised as they say they would like to work with her, and take out Martina or Zachary. A big smile breaks out on her face as she thanks them.

After their talk, Lauwanda walks back to the riverbank, and Kinti watches her go with a sigh, rubbing her temples in worry.

A bit later in the day, Lauwanda can be seen sitting in the shallows of the river, basking in the sun. Martina, Zachary, and Enrique approach her, and she climbs out of the water to talk to them. They tell her that they'd like to see Kinti, Kara, or Veldt go and are willing to vote with her and Mitzi tonight. Lauwanda can be seen grinning as she thanks them for their pitch.

The castaways can be seen laying around for the rest of the day, with Lauwanda still at the river while everyone else awkwardly sits around camp. Enrique checks that Lauwanda is still by out the river, and he looks annoyed.

An hour or so before Tribal Council, Enrique and Veldt can be seen walking to the well. Enrique asks Veldt if he trusts him, and Veldt assures him he does. Enrique says he is not happy with Lauwanda giving them the silent treatment and getting to control the vote, and thinks their two alliances should team up to take her out for being unreliable. Veldt nods along as Enrique explains his ideas, and says he'd definitely be interested.

Veldt can be seen whispering to Kara and Kinti about what Enrique has proposed, and they discuss it quietly among themselves. A bit later, Kinti can be seen grabbing her torch and leading everyone out to Tribal Council, her battered expression betraying the scramble of ideas in her mind.

The seven members of Curaray minus Mitzi can be seen walking into Tribal Council and taking their seats across the fire from Su. Su then welcomes in the five members of the jury: Erron, Peter, Orlia, Everett, and Mellorie, who is dressed in a stunning light green floor length dress. Lauwanda waves to her, and she waves back, but looks confused along with the rest of the jury to see no Mitzi and no Immunity Necklace. Their confusion is resolved when Su welcomes Mitzi to Tribal Council. Mitzi walks in with her torch as Su explains to the jury that she was exiled for the whole day after Immunity due to a punishment from the Auction. Mellorie grins when she sees Mitzi is immune and blows her a kiss, which makes Mitzi smile. Su then begins asking questions. He asks Mitzi what this round has been like for her. She says it has been a whirlwind, as she went from being resigned about going home to feeling as if she's on top of the world. However, she notes she still has no idea who to vote for, which makes everyone chuckle nervously. Su then asks Martina what it was like back at camp with only seven people. She says it was definitely strange, because Mitzi had been someone a lot of people had been looking at voting off, and it left everyone to figure out a new plan. Su asks Lauwanda what her experience was like at camp. She says she was very happy because people seemed to be willing to work with her, and she felt like she was finally having agency in the game. Su then asks who feels like they could be voted off tonight. Everyone except Mitzi and Lauwanda raise their hands. With that, it is time to vote. Lauwanda whispers something in Mitzi's ear as Veldt stands to go vote first.

Zachary is the last one to vote, and then Su counts the votes and asks if anyone would like to play an idol. The camera zooms in on Enrique, but he does not move, staring intently at Su. Su then begins to read the votes. Two votes have landed on Kara from Mitzi and Lauwanda, as Lauwanda had chosen to side with Martina, Zachary, and Enrique. However, the six other votes are for Lauwanda from the rest of the tribe, who decided to take the game into their own hands instead of letting Lauwanda have all the power. Completely blindsided, Lauwanda is brought to tears by her vote off. Mitzi gives her a long hug, and then Lauwanda staggers over to Su, who snuffs her torch. She walks off sniffling into the darkness, and Mitzi watches with a sad frown on her face while the rest of the tribe seems to be pleased that their plan worked out, and that they are all in the Final 7.

## Challenges

* Reward
* Immunity

**The Survivor Auction**
Each of the eight castaways will be given $500 USD to bid on potential prizes or punishments in the legendary Survivor Auction. If the bidding ties, Su will draw rocks to see who gets the prize.

**Individual Immunity Challenge:** *Paddle Out*
Each castaway will be given a paddle resting on a pivot point, and five white balls. They must roll each of these balls down the paddle and land them in one of the five slots on the end of the paddle. The first castaway that can get all five balls into their holes without losing any or dropping the paddle will win Individual Immunity.

**Winner:** Mitzi Vo
## Tribal Council

### Voting Confessionals

*Martina and Mitzi's votes were not shown during their confessionals.*

### Next Time On Survivor...

With only one episode left until the finale, some castaways feel like time is running out...

...and the bigger threats begin to wonder if their shielding strategy was the smartest move.

## Trivia

* The episode was named by Lauwanda when she was talking about how she felt very powerful when she believed she was the swing vote between the two alliances before Tribal Council.
* Mitzi had the most confessionals this episode, with 5.
	+ Kara, Martina, Veldt, and Zachary had the least, with 2.