Survivor: Samoa

Template:Infobox Television Survivor Survivor: Samoa is the nineteenth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season premiered on Thursday, September 17, 2009.

Applications were due by January 14, 2009. Approximately 800 might have been invited to be interviewed in several states. Following this, approximately 48 semi-finalists were invited to Los Angeles in April 2009 for final interviews with the producers. From there, 20 finalists were selected to be contestants in the show, which was scheduled to occur between mid June and mid-July 2009 in Samoa. Similar to Survivor: Tocantins, the minimum age requirement for this season is 18 for most states.

Contestants

Contestant	Original Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Marisa Calihan 26, Cincinnati, OH	Foa Foa		1st Voted Out Day 3	7
Mike Borassi 62, Marina del Rey, CA	Foa Foa		Removed Due to Injury Day 5	0
Betsy Bolan 48, Campton, NH	Foa Foa		2nd Voted Out Day 6	7
Ben Browning 28, Los Angeles, CA	Foa Foa		3rd Voted Out Day 8	7
Yasmin Giles 33, Los Angeles, CA	Galu		4th Voted Out Day 11	8
Ashley Trainer 22, Maple Grove, MN	Foa Foa		5th Voted Out Day 14	9
Russell Swan 42, Glenside, PA	Galu		Removed Due to Injury Day 15	0
Elizabeth "Liz" Kim 33, New York City, NY	Foa Foa		6th Voted Out Day 18	5
Erik Cardona 28, Ontario, CA	Galu	Aiga	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21	10
Kelly Sharbaugh 25, West Hollywood, CA	Galu		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24	4
Laura Morett 39, Salem, OR	Galu		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 27	6
Dave Ball 38, Los Angeles, CA	Galu
Brett Clouser 23, Los Angeles, CA	Galu
John Fincher 25, Los Angeles, CA	Galu
Russell Hantz 36, Dayton, TX	Foa Foa			01
Monica Padilla 25, San Diego, CA	Galu			2
Jaison Robinson 28, Chicago, IL	Foa Foa			3
Mick Trimming 33, Los Angeles, CA	Foa Foa
Shannon "Shambo" Waters 45, Renton, WA	Galu
Natalie White 26, Van Buren, AR	Foa Foa			4

The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

^1 Because Russell H. played the Hidden Immunity Idol, the seven votes against him did not count.

The game

Episode Titles	First air date	Challenges		Observer	Eliminated	Vote	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
"The Puppet Master"	September 17, 2009	Foa Foa	Galu	None	Marisa	7-3	1st Voted Out Day 3
"Taking Candy From a Baby"	September 24, 2009	Galu		Yasmin	Mike	No vote	Removed Due to Injury Day 5
					Betsy	7-1	2nd Voted Out Day 6
"It's Called a Russell Seed"	October 1, 2009	Galu		Shambo	Ben	6-1	3rd Voted Out Day 8
"Hungry for a Win"	October 8, 2009	Galu	Foa Foa	None	Yasmin	8-2	4th Voted Out Day 11
"Walking on Thin Ice"	October 15, 2009	Galu	Galu	Shambo	Ashley	5-1	5th Voted Out Day 14
"This Is the Man Test"	October 22, 2009	Neither2	None	None	Russell S.	No vote	Removed Due to Injury Day 15
"Houdini Magic"	October 29, 2009	Galu	Galu	Laura	Liz	4-1	6th Voted Out Day 18
"All Hell Breaks Loose"	November 5, 2009	None3	John	None4	Erik	10-2	7th Voted Out Day 21
			Laura
"Tastes Like Chicken"	November 12, 2009	Dave, John, Kelly Monica, Shambo	Laura		Kelly	4-01	8th Voted Out Day 24
"The Day of Reckoning"	November 19, 2009	Brett, Dave, Laura Natalie, Russell H.	Mick		Laura	6-4 (after revote)	9th Voted Out Day 27
"The First 27 Days"	November 26, 2009	Recap episode

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

^2 Russell S. collapsed during the challenge; Jeff cancelled the challenge with neither tribe winning the reward.

^3 There was no Reward Challenge due to the tribal merge.

^4 The observer rule was no longer applicable after the tribal merge, as there was only one tribe.

Episode 1: "The Puppet Master"

• Reward Challenge: A designated swimmer would swim out into the ocean to retrieve a key and swim back. The swimmer would hand the key to the designated strong person to unlock a chain around two bundles of heavy logs. The logs would have to be carried to the next station where a designated agile person would use the log bundles to climb on top of a balance beam. The agile person would need to pull a second key along a rope twisted around the balance beam while remaining on top of the balance beam. At the final stage, a designated smart person would use the second key to unlock a bag of puzzle pieces and use them to assemble a statue. The first tribe to assemble their statue would win.
  • Reward: Flint
• Immunity Challenge: Six members from each tribe would race across a series of three wooden A-frames carrying three coils of rope. At the end of the course, the six would use the rope to pull a heavy wooden crate across a ramp and up to the finish platform. The four remaining tribe members would disassemble the crate to use as puzzle pieces. The first tribe to solve the puzzle would win.

The castaways rowed ashore on four longboats in silence already divided into tribes called Foa Foa and Galu. Jeff instructed the tribes that they would elect a leader of their tribe without speaking to one another, handing out a parchment and pen to each castaway to record their vote. Galu elected Russell S. Foa Foa elected Mick. Mick and Russell S. came forward to make their first leadership decision by selecting participants in the first Reward Challenge. Jeff told the leaders to select their tribe's best swimmer, Jaison and John; the strongest person, Russell and Erik; the most agile, Marisa and Yasmin; and the smartest person, Liz and Shambo. Jaison gave Foa Foa a huge lead during the swimming leg of the challenge and they never lost the lead, though Shambo made up a lot of ground during the puzzle assembly. Dave and Erik were very disappointed in John's performance during the swim leg. Jeff gave the tribes maps to their new homes and sent them on their way. At Foa Foa, Mick ceded leadership of setting up their camp to Ben. Russell quickly made secret alliances with Ashley, Betsy, Marisa, and Natalie, though Betsy was suspicious and didn't trust him. At Galu, Russell S. kept going in his leadership role and took charge of setting up camp. John wanting to talk over how to build their shelter annoyed Shambo. Back on Foa Foa, Russell told a completely fabricated story to the tribe that he was a fireman, a survivor of Hurricane Katrina in Template:City-state and that he lost his German Shepherd in the storm in order to get their sympathy. In the middle of the night, Russell emptied all of the water in everybody's canteens and burned Jaison's socks in order to make the rest of the castaways miserable, thinking that if he could control how his tribe felt, he could control how they think, and further himself in the game. His strategy seemed to work when Ben and Marisa argued the next morning. Galu avenged their loss at the Reward Challenge and won the first Immunity Challenge. In addition to winning Tribal Immunity, Jeff also gave Galu a flint. Mike talked to others in his tribe that they should vote out the physically weakest, who he thought was Ashley. Marisa suspected Russell was up to something and she told him that she was uncomfortable with him, so he immediately targeted her for elimination. Betsy told Natalie that she didn't trust Russell. At the Tribal Council, Russell's plan to eliminate Marisa came together and she was voted out 7-3.

Episode 2: "Taking Candy From a Baby"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: In a walled off arena, three members of each tribe would battle for control of three balls. Once a castaway gets control of a ball, they would pass the ball to three other tribe members standing on a platform who would attempt to throw the ball through the opposing tribe's basket at the other end of the arena. One point would be scored when a ball is made in the basket. After every point, the tribes would change who was in the arena and on the platform. The first tribe to score three points would win.
  • Reward: Fishing gear

The day after Tribal Council, Betsy and Russell agreed that they didn't trust each other. Jaison and Russell formed an alliance. Russell told Jaison that he was assuming that there was a Hidden Immunity Idol around the camp and went searching for it without any clues or knowing that it existed. While his tribemates stood around watching him look for the Idol, Russell located the Idol hidden in the roots of a tree. He removed the Idol from its hiding place and hid it in his underwear without anybody noticing. Later, he showed the Idol to Jaison. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Jeff announced that there was a surprise twist to be read after the Challenge. After two very physical points and the score tied 1-1, Jeff called a pause to the game and announced that the tribes were "right on the line of getting ugly," that there would be no more warnings of being too physical, and that he would remove anybody from the challenge that he deemed made a cheap shot such as a head butt, choking, or a slap to the face. During the very next round, Jeff removed Ben from the challenge for tripping Russell S., forcing Foa Foa to play the round shorthanded by one. Galu took advantage and scored the next point. Galu scored again during the next round to win the Reward/Immunity Challenge by a score of 3-1. Ben was the first castaway ever to be removed from a Challenge by discretion, but he shrugged it off claiming he was an "outlaw" when questioned about it by Jeff. After handing over the Immunity Idol to Galu, Jeff announced that the twist would be that Russell S., as leader of the Galu tribe, would select one member of his tribe to accompany Foa Foa back to their camp and observe them through the next Tribal Council, returning back to Galu afterwards. Russell S. selected Yasmin. Jeff gave Yasmin a note that she would read in private after getting to Foa Foa's camp. After Galu departed the Challenge area, Jeff told Mike to stay so that the Survivor Medical Team could look at him as Mike had taken several hard hits during the Challenge. After examining Mike, the Survivor Medical Team determined that he would be unable to continue and was pulled from the game. Jeff announced that Foa Foa would still be going to Tribal Council. Over at Galu, Shambo said that spearfishing was her thing, but when she came back with no fish and having lost the mouthpiece to the swim mask, Laura felt that Shambo had "signed her own death warrant." At Foa Foa's camp site, after introducing herself, Yasmin announced to Foa Foa that she would help Foa Foa strategize for the rest of the game because she wanted to see a "fair fight" for the rest of the game and didn't want to "take candy from a baby" or be "a cake walk" over a weak Foa Foa tribe. This did not go over well at all with Jaison and Russell stated that Yasmin would pay for the disrespect she showed the tribe. The private note for Yasmin gave her a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol at Foa Foa's camp. Yasmin wanted a private conference with Ben about his "cheap shot" against her when he tackled her during the Challenge. The conference turned into a shouting match and continued on in front of the rest of Foa Foa, which Ashley and Russell thought made Ben look stupid and the rest of tribe not like him, respectively. Ben annoyed his entire tribe by chopping wood in the middle of a night while the tribe tried to sleep. Knowing that she was the next target for being voted out since she the oldest member of the tribe and perceived as the weakest in Challenges, Betsy lobbied for Ben to be voted off as he was disruptive to the tribe and his removal from the last Challenge cost them the win. At Tribal Council, the topics of Yasmin's visit and put down of the Foa Foa tribe and Ben's personality and actions during the Challenge were discussed. Betsy continued to lobby to vote out Ben. Yasmin left the Tribal Council area before the voting started. Betsy's lobbying proved ineffective and she was voted out 7-1.

Episode 3: "It's Called a Russell Seed"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: A pair of castaways from each tribe would swim out into the ocean to retrieve one of four crates. Between the beach and where the crates are located would be a "battle zone" marked off by four flags. Within this zone, an opposing tribe member would try to prevent the two castaways from crossing the zone and reaching the crate. Once the two castaways crossed the zone, they would bring a crate back to the beach and a second pair of castaways would go out to retrieve another crate. Once all four crates were retrieved, the crates would need to be stacked to solve a puzzle. The first tribe to complete the puzzle would win.
  • Reward: Comfort items of pillows, candles, mats, beach towels, and a hammock

The day after Tribal Council, Jaison talked to Mick about wanting to vote out Ben next because of racist comments he made about Yasmin when she visited the Foa Foa campsite and at the last Tribal Council. Russell told Ben that Ashley was trying to get rid of Ben, because Russell felt that he needed to keep Ben in the game and he wanted Ashley out. Ben confronted Ashley about Russell's story that she first brought up his name to be voted out before the last Tribal Council. Ben told Ashley that somebody told him about Ashley's plot, but he would not say who that somebody was except that it wasn't Russell. Ashley went to verify the story with Natalie, who denied she told Ben. Over at Galu, Shambo felt alienated from her tribe. At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, Galu never lost the lead and won their third consecutive Challenge. After the challenge was over, Jeff gave Russell S., as leader of the Galu tribe, an option of trading the comfort items for more functional items such as fishing gear, a pot, a lantern, and a tarp. Russell S. chose the comfort items because he knew it would make the women of the tribe happier even though he also knew the men would disagree with his choice. Russell S. was also given the decision on who to send to Foa Foa's camp to observe them through the next Tribal Council. This time, he chose Shambo. Shambo's visit with Foa Foa went well with them and she felt more comfortable with them than her own tribe. Shambo was excited about the two clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol, but she did not know that Russell had already found it. Back over at Galu, Russell S. defended his decision about taking the comfort items because he said that he was the type of man who believes he is supposed to take care of his women. His defense did not go over well with John and Erik. Jaison gave Ashley and Natalie an ultimatum that either Ben would be voted out at the next Tribal Council or he would quit, though he was not serious about quitting. Russell, Liz, and Ben wanted to vote out Ashley, but Mick was unsure if he wanted to vote for her or Ben. Russell made an agreement with Mick that as long as Mick would not vote for Russell, Ben would be next voted out after Ashley. To try to gain Mick's trust, Russell showed the Hidden Immunity Idol to Mick. Mick and Russell tried to convince Jaison to vote off Ashley using the threat of an all girl alliance that would vote out the Foa Foa men. At Tribal Council, Jaison and Ben argued over Ben's racist statements. In the end, the tribe decided to vote against Ben and he was voted out 6-1.

Episode 4: "Hungry for a Win"

• Reward Challenge: Three castaways from each tribe would play a game similar to bocce. A flag would be placed in the center of a circle. The castaways would take turns tossing three balls each at the flag. The tribe who throws a ball closest to the flag would win.
  • Reward: Three chickens
• Immunity Challenge: The castaways would race across a net run carrying wooden blocks to a platform. When all of the blocks were at the platform, they would need to be stacked into a tower. The castways would then cross a rope bridge to a second platform where two nets would be tied together holding more wooden blocks. After the nets were untied, the blocks would have to be stacked into another tower. The first tribe to stack both towers would win.

When Shambo returned to Galu, she wasn't happy as she felt more appreciated over at Foa Foa. At Foa Foa, Jaison felt as though he made a bad choice to apply for Survivor because he and the rest of his tribe were cold and wet and hungry. Erik talked to Shambo about the Hidden Immunity Idol clues she had received and she shared the clues with both him and John. The Tree Mail told the tribe leaders that they needed to select two castaways to join them at the next Reward Challenge. Mick chose Russell and Natalie. Russell S. took Shambo and Dave. When the six arrived at the challenge site, Jeff was nowhere to be seen and the castaways did not know what to do. After some hesitation, the tribes made a scramble towards a treasure chest and the cage of chickens. When they opened the treasure chest, they discovered instructions telling them that they were on their own to do the challenge. The challenge came down to Dave's last toss where he had to place his last ball or knock another Galu ball closest to the flag. Dave made the ricochet shot and Galu took home the four chickens. While his three Galu tribemates were at the Reward Challenge and the others were sleeping, Erik went looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol at his campsite and found it. When the victorious trio returned to Galu with the chickens, Russell S. assigned Shambo the job of taking care of them. Over at Foa Foa, Russell had doubts about Jaison's resolve to stay in the game, so he thought about changing his alliance to take Natalie all the way to the final two. On the morning of day 10, Shambo let one of the chickens escape. Kelly was upset at Yasmin for doing nothing around camp. Foa Foa broke Galu's challenge win streak at four when they came from behind at the second tower stacking stage to win the Immunity Challenge. Russell S. talked to Erik about voting out Monica due to her being slow during the rope bridge stage of the Immunity Challenge. Brett brought up Yasmin's name for doing nothing around camp. Shambo and Yasmin wanted to vote out Monica because of the challenge. When Russell S. was told that the rest of the tribe was leaning towards voting out Yasmin, he was upset that the tribe was not following his lead. However, at Tribal Council, he followed the majority and Yasmin was voted out 8-2.

Episode 5: "Walking on Thin Ice"

• Reward Challenge: A food eating challenge. Two castaways would face off against each other by spinning a roulette-like wheel with various food items on it that would be blended together and have to be drunk by the castaways. The castaway would score one point if they were able to drink the whole glass. The challenge would not be a race and there was no time limit on getting the food item down. The first tribe to score five points would win. The draw of the castaways and food items were:

Shambo	Jaison	Giant clam, Jeff's choice: octopus, sea snail, noni juice, seaweed
Russell S.	Russell H.	Jellyfish, milk
Brett	Mick	Giant clam, sea cucumber, milk
Monica	Liz	Sea urchin, sea noodle
Dave	Ashley	Sea slug guts, water

• Reward: Steaks, sausages, and onions

• Immunity Challenge: One man and one woman from each tribe would hold on to a rope that would suspend a net. The castaways from the other tribe would attempt to toss coconuts into the net which would weigh it down. The castaway who held on to the rope the longest without letting the net touch the ground would win for their tribe.

After returning to camp from Tribal Council, Shambo felt more alienated from her tribe as she was the only one besides Yasmin who voted for Monica. Monica felt slighted by Shambo because of that vote and wanted to vote her out next. Over at Foa Foa, Russell thought that Liz was trying to manipulate the next vote and he targeted her for the next vote as he wanted to be the only one manipulating the tribe. At the Reward Challenge, the first four pairs of castaways all succeeded in downing their glasses and the challenge came down to Dave and Ashley. Dave got his glass down while making various vomiting-like noises, which disturbed Ashley. After some taunting by the Galu bench, Ashley quit from the challenge before she could finish her glass and lost the challenge for Foa Foa. Russell had to choose an observer to go the Foa Foa campsite and he chose Shambo for the second time, which made her very unhappy. Russell stated to the rest of the tribe that Shambo had to pay for the loss of the chicken, but after this, the slate would be clean. While trying to start the fire to cook up their challenge winnings, Russell had trouble and argued with Dave about when Dave should step in to help with the fire. After a while, Dave stepped in and got the fire started. At Foa Foa, Shambo shared all of the clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol with Foa Foa. Liz thought that either Ben or Russell H. had the Idol and since Ben did not play it when he was voted out, that Russell H. had to have had it. She confronted him about it, he denied he had it, and then threatened Liz for confronting him. The rain started to pour during the night of day 13 and continued into day 14. At the Immunity Challenge, Foa Foa selected Liz and Russell H. to hold the ropes, while Galu selected Laura and Russell. Foa Foa had trouble tossing the coconuts into the nets while Galu was able to add many to Russell H. and Liz's nets. Russell H. was the first to drop his net. Liz dropped her net next, losing the challenge for Foa Foa. Back at camp, the rain was still coming down, forcing Foa Foa to huddle under their shelter and they could not strategize or scramble as normal before a Tribal Council. Russell H. originally wanted Liz out because she had confronted him (like Marisa and Betsy), but had second thoughts after seeing her strength in the immunity challenge. He also knew that Ashley was clearly the weakest link in the tribe. At Tribal Council, Russell H. put aside his vendetta and went with the rest of the tribe to vote out Ashley 5-1.

Episode 6: "This Is the Man Test"

• Reward Challenge: One castaway would be strapped into a wooden spherical cage and would have to guide two blindfolded castaways in rolling the cage through a maze through the forest. At the end of the maze would be a labyrinth-like table maze. The castaway inside the cage would then have to guide four blindfolded castaways in solving the table maze. The first tribe to finish the table maze would win.
  • Reward: Pizza while observing the losing tribe at Tribal Council.

The rain continued for the fifth straight day and the two Russells continued to work around their campsites while the others castaways tried to stay out of the rain. The rain finally broke on the morning of day 15. At the Reward Challenge, after Jeff described the rules of the challenge, he announced that both tribes would be going to Tribal Council that night to vote somebody out of the game. Galu sat out Dave, Kelly, Monica, and Shambo. Foa Foa selected Liz to be the guide with Jaison and Russell H. pushing the cage. Galu selected Laura to be the guide and Eric and Russell S. pushing the cage. Towards the end of the cage pushing stage, Russell S. became disoriented and struggled to make it to the puzzle table. Jeff noticed that Russell S. collapsed at his station on the puzzle table, called for a halt, and for the Survivor Medical Team to immediately tend to Russell S. The Survivor Medical Team reported that Russell S. had blood pressure even lower than Mike. Jeff made the call that the challenge was over, neither tribe would win, both tribes would go to Tribal Council, the medical team would tend to Russell S. and, if he was better, he would be at Tribal Council. The Survivor Medical Team made the decision that Russell S. was not fit to continue and he was pulled out of the game. Over at Foa Foa, Liz and Natalie knew that one of them was to be voted out and they each tried to lobby the men in voting the other out. At Galu, Laura plotted to vote out Shambo for being a potential threat to flip to the other tribe post-merger. Monica wanted to vote for Shambo in retaliation for Shambo's votes against her. The Galu men were thinking about voting for Monica instead of Shambo as Monica was seen at the weakest link. When the tribes arrived at the Tribal Council site, Jeff announced that Russell S. was pulled from the game but doing fine. The castaways discussed Russell S.'s departure, the hardships of playing Survivor, and perceptions about how the game was going. Jeff made a final announcement that due to the unprecedented circumstances of not completing a challenge, there would be no Tribal Council votes and nobody would be going home. Jeff told Galu that they would need to select a new tribe leader.

Episode 7: "Houdini Magic"

• Reward Challenge: The castaways would play a variation of Concentration with 13 pairs of survival items plus four unpaired dummy items hidden under covers. One tribe member at a time would uncover two items. If the items matched, they would score one point for their tribe. However, the tribe leaders would have the option of forfeiting the point and taking the uncovered pair. The tribe with the most points at the end of the challenge would win.
  • Reward: A sailing trip aboard a three-masted barque and lunch
• Immunity Challenge: The tribes would paddle out into the ocean to retrieve six sets of fish-shaped puzzle pieces. Once back on the beach, three tribe members would have to assemble the puzzle pieces. The first tribe to assemble their puzzle would win.

The men of Galu conspired to vote Shambo in as the new leader of the tribe to secure her loyalty to them, but kept her in the dark about their plans. At the Reward Challenge, Dave, Kelly, and Shambo sat out the Challenge. Shambo had to delegate her power of taking the matched pairs and announced that Erik would make the decisions, but Dave quickly made her change her mind and delegate Brett. Laura scored the first point of the Challenge by finding a fire starting kit, but Brett decided to keep the kit that was wrapped in a large tarp and forfeited the point. The remaining matched pairs were kept for points and Galu won the challenge by a score of 7-4. Shambo chose Laura to miss the reward and observe Foa Foa because Shambo wanted to "keep her guys strong for a challenge tomorrow". Kelly and Monica thought Shambo's promotion to tribe leader was going to her head and were not happy about the choice of Laura, and Laura thought she was sent because Shambo didn't like her. While at Foa Foa, Russell H. tried to make an alliance with Laura to go with to the final two. He also lied to Laura that the clue she received to the Hidden Immunity Idol was worthless as Ben had already found it, didn't play it when he was voted out, and was hidden at some unknown spot around camp. The Immunity Challenge was won by Galu when Brett, Dave, and Kelly came from behind during the puzzle assembly stage. Jaison's poor performance during the challenge made Russell H. consider voting him out instead of Liz. Liz thought she was safe when Russell H. told her that the two options at Tribal Council were to vote out Natalie or Jaison, but Liz was voted off 4-1.

Episode 8: "All Hell Breaks Loose"

• Immunity Challenge: The castaways would play a variation of tee ball with the men competing against the men and the women against the women. The playing field would be divided into sections with different point values. Each castaway would take one swing at the ball. Wherever the ball comes to a stop would be that castaway's score. The two castaways, one from each gender, with the highest score would win immunity.

Laura and Shambo had an argument over Laura's missing canteen that devolved into an argument about how they treat each other at camp. The treemail for day 19 sounded like a Reward Challenge announcement, but when the tribes arrived at the challenge site, Jeff was not there and only a closed treasure chest was on the beach. When the castaways opened the chest, they saw new blue buffs and supplies to create a new tribe flag. The note stated that the new merged tribe would move to the old Galu campsite and there was a feast down the beach for them. When the castaways returned back to their new campsite, they settled on a tribe name of Aiga which meant "extended family" in Samoan according to Brett. Russell H. showed Laura his Hidden Immunity Idol and told her that if she could take him to the top seven that he would give it to her. He told her nobody else knew that he had the idol and that the deal was contingent on two rules: the former Galu could get rid of any of the former Foa Foa members anytime they wanted, but that the first person to go had to be one of the former Galu men. Laura didn't go for the deal as she thought that Russell H. was working from a weak position. Turned away, Russell H. changed his plans to target Laura for elimination and offered the same Hidden Immunity Idol deal to Monica. Russell H. then moved to make the same deal with John and pushed to vote out Laura. Russell H. continued his strategizing by working on Shambo and her dislike for Laura. After explaining the Immunity Challenge, Jeff announced that there would be two Individual Immunity necklaces for this challenge with the men competing for one and the women competing for the other. John won for the men and Laura for the women. With Laura's win, Russell H. and Shambo's plan to vote out Laura collapsed. Laura told Erik that Russell H. showed her the Hidden Immunity Idol and he spread the news to John. Erik wanted to flush out Russell H.'s Hidden Immunity Idol. John wanted to break up the Laura/Monica alliance by voting out Monica told Erik that he should side with Laura and vote for Jaison as a ruse to distract her. The two then went to Brett and Dave about their plan. Erik then approached Jaison, Mick, and Natalie about voting for Monica, but to keep their vote a secret from Russell H. and to make him think he is the one being voted out so that he would play his idol. Jaison wanted to turn the tables on Erik and vote for him. Natalie told Laura about Erik's proposal and talked to her and Kelly about voting out Erik. Kelly told Monica about the plan to vote out Erik. Kelly and Laura told Dave that Erik couldn't be trusted and he had to go. Russell H. was concerned that the girls' story about voting for Erik was a ruse and that he was the actual target. At Tribal Council, Erik disparaged the former Foa Foa members. Before the votes were read, Russell H. played his Hidden Immunity Idol, however, not a single vote was cast against him. The girls' plan against Erik came to fruition. Erik did not see the blindside coming, so he did not play his Hidden Immunity Idol. Unknown to the rest of the tribe, the second Hidden Immunity Idol also left the game when Erik was voted out 10-2.

Episode 9: "Tastes Like Chicken"

• Reward Challenge: The tribe would split into two teams of five, with one castaway sitting out the challenge. Two castaways at a time, the teams would race out into a field to collect a series of poles with black and white colored coconuts. The poles would have to be arranged so that the white coconuts form a four digit number. One blindfolded team member would then have to use their sense of touch to unlock a multiple-dial combination lock using the four digit number. The first team to unlock their lock would win.
  • Reward: A trip to a waterfall rock slide and a picnic lunch
• Immunity Challenge: The castaways would have to toss a grappling hook to retrieve two bags with a wooden peg in each bag. The first three castaways to retrieve their bags would move on to the final puzzle round. In the final round, the castaways would untie the bags and try to insert one of the uniquely shaped pegs into board, which would release another peg. That peg would fit into another hole, which releases another peg, and so on until the board was completely full. The first castaway to complete their puzzle would win.

Back at camp after Tribal Council, Russell H. was worried that he was going to be voted out next and was looking for a miracle while Laura gloated over how the girls' plan worked out and Russell H.'s use of the Hidden Immunity Idol. The day after Tribal Council, Natalie caught a rat to eat, much to the surprise of her tribemates. At the Reward Challenge, the teams were selected by random draw. Natalie was the odd one out and did not participate in the challenge. However, she was told that she could select which team she thought would win the challenge and, if she guessed correctly, she would join them on their reward. She selected the yellow team of Brett, Jaison, Laura, Mick, and Russell H. who faced off against the purple team of Dave, John, Kelly, Monica, and Shambo. The yellow team held the lead throughout the pole retrieval stage, but the purple team caught up during the puzzle stage. Monica unlocked the combination lock, before Laura could, and the purple team took the win. While the purple team was eating their picnic lunch, they received a clue to a new Hidden Immunity Idol. The winning group, which consisted of five of the seven remaining Galu members, decided to keep the knowledge of a new Idol to themselves, Brett, and Laura, and secret from the former Foa Foa members. When the five discussed which former Foa Foa member to vote out next, Shambo's defense of Russell H. made Kelly suspicious of her loyalties. Back at camp, Russell H. got lucky again and found his second Hidden Immunity Idol without the help of a clue. On day 24, Russell H. showed his second Idol to Shambo in order to secure her loyalty to the former Foa Foa. She told him about the plotting against him. They planned to let the former Galu vote for Russell H., who would use the Idol, while the former Foa Foa would vote against Laura. Just in case Laura won the Individual Immunity, they planned to vote Kelly out. At the Immunity Challenge, Russell H. and Shambo's fear came true when Laura won immunity for the second time in a row by beating Mick and Shambo in the final stage. Russell H. and Shambo switched to their plan B. Russell H. told Jaison that he found his second Idol and told him to vote for Kelly. Jaison told Mick and Natalie and the old Foa Foa focused on getting the former Galu to vote against Russell H. During a discussion with Dave, John, and Laura, Monica brought up the possibility that one of the old Foa Foa might have a second Hidden Immunity Idol and they should compensate for that during their vote, but Dave and Laura didn't think any of them would have gotten lucky enough a second time. At Tribal Council, Dave and Kelly talked about why they voted out Erik, who was visibly upset by the comments. The former Foa Foa tribe's plan went perfectly when Russell H. pulled out his second Hidden Immunity Idol, negating any votes against him. The seven former Galu votes against him didn't count, leaving the former Foa Foa votes as the only ones that counted. As planned, they all voted against Kelly and she was blindsided by a vote of 4-0. The Hidden Immunity Idol went back into the game.

Voting history

	Original Tribes								Merged Tribe
Episode #:	1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Eliminated:	Marisa 7/10 votes	Mike No vote5	Betsy 7/8 votes	Ben 6/7 votes	Yasmin 8/10 votes	Ashley 5/6 votes	{{n Ratings U.S. Nielsen ratings Episode Rating Share Rating/Share (18-49) Viewers (millions) Weekly Rank "The Puppet Master" 6.8 11 3.6/11 11.66 #12 "Taking Candy From a Baby" 6.7 11 3.7/11 11.66 #22 "It's Called a Russell Seed" 6.9 11 3.7/11 11.54 #22 "Hungry for a Win" 7.0 11 3.4/10 11.69 #19 "Walking on Thin Ice" 7.1 11 3.5/10 11.78 #19 "This Is the Man Test" 7.7 12 4.0/11 12.88 #17 "Houdini Magic" 6.9 11 3.7/10 12.19 #15 "All Hell Breaks Loose" 7.3 11 3.7/10 12.44 #20 "Tastes like Chicken" 7.5 12 4.0/11 12.94 #18 References External links Official CBS Survivor: Samoa Website