Malcolm went back from tribal council feeling really down, he just lost Denise, now he loses Chrissy, he's now on the bottom of the tribe, he can't even really trust his old hero allies, as they just took out his closest ally. But nevertheless, he never gives up in this game, he will just have to work harder to win immunity, and make sure he gets to final tribal council and win the game.

Abi was really happy that they got Chrissy out, Natalie was a little hesitant about voting her out, but she decided that Abi will be a bit easier to control than she was... soon, they lock in a four person alliance with Lauren and Rodney, they should throw the next immunity challenge, and take out Malcolm while they can. And once they go on to the merge, they'll recruit Marty, Victoria and Sophie as a villains alliance, and see where that will take them.

Rodney and Lauren, played along with the idea, as they do believe this is the better option to go on for the short term. But once they see an opportunity to flip the game in their favor, they will take it.

Later on, a small letter arrives in tree mail, and they read it:

"For Twenty Long Days you have been living alone in this island, fighting each other to remain in your tribe, but the game is only just beginning, as company will be arriving soon."

Joy and Glee were on everyone's faces as the 14 remaining castaways all arrived at Cagi beach. Everyone greeted each other and were really happy about making it to the merge. The castaways soon find a crate with a note on top:

"Today is the day, where four become one,

The game is now individual, tribes are now done,

What else are you waiting for? Go have some fun.

Because the game has only just begun."

They open the crate to find... a "merge feast". But it was somewhat disappointing, as it only contained a someone decent amount of extra supplies to possibly last them the next 19 days; bread, nuts, a whole bunch of fruits, a bottle of wine, an extra bag of rice and beans, their new tribe buffs, and tribe flag making kit. Which they aren't going to complain, but it's definitely not what they were expecting... but... a few people... were expecting an clue or an advantage of some kind... and they were right on the money... as on the four corners of the lid of the crate, are four buttons, one of which, is an idol.

(Let's leave it that that for now... we are... still trying to brainstorm the dynamics of this huge tribe... there's just so many layers of alliances and relationships to consider for the dynamics of the merge vote. So we'll leave this open-ended for now...)

(The next order of business... is the merge tribe name!!! Like last time, we'll let you guys decide on it, comment down below what you want the merge tribe name to be (preferably Fijian, but we'll consider other names as well). You guys can like each other's suggestions if you like or agree that that should be the name. And for those that want it, the color hex for the merged tribe is: FFCC00.)

(Well, we are now officially, half way through the season!! It's been a wild ride so far, and we can't wait to see how the post-merge turns out.)

As everyone gets their extra supplies from the crate, Victoria, Natalie and Fabio have their eyes on the buttons of the lid, and all three quickly went over to grab them, Natalie pulled two out, while Fabio and Victoria both pulled one. And then left the direct vicinity to check if the idol's real or not. Natalie and Fabio's were all blank, however Victoria's is not, and it says that it is a real hidden immunity idol. Victoria was really happy about having found it, she's been looking for idols ever since day 1 and she's been coming up short every time, this is a game changer for her now that she's in the merge, and she'll keep it hidden from everyone, even Sophie and Mike.

After a while, the tribe broke off into groups... Mike, Janet, Devon and Fabio all had an 'outsiders' alliance in the old Heroes, and they had the numbers to be the core four of the eight-person Heroes' alliance, with the other Heroes; Malcolm, Keith, Andrea and Lauren. While, the villains are down to six, and the core duo Natalie and Abi-Maria, are pretty concerned as everyone else left of the villains all have other relationships and would probably not stick as Villains strong. Victoria, Sophie, Rodney and Marty were not particularly keen on working together as villains. But they still agree to work together to vote a few of the threats on the heroes out.

The former Covu tribe of Fabio, Marty, Andrea, Keith and Sophie had a plan to lay low for the first few votes, pretend that they're not really a cohesive unit that everyone's been thinking of, and let things play out as Heroes vs Villains, while making sure all five of them survive until the the final 9 and work together until they're the final 5.

While the majority of the former Cagi tribe; Natalie, Abi, Rodney and Lauren, agreed to work together as a unit, not only to take Malcolm out, but to get each other to the final four. However, Lauren and Rodney were only sticking with them for now, they will jump ship to other people if they feel like this one is a sinking ship.

And the Vaka and Vura duos; Mike and Victoria, Janet and Devon, met up at the water well to discuss that they should form an form an alliance, mainly to have the underdogs stick together being that both their tribes came from unfortunate circumstances. Mike brings up the Day 13 reward, and said that he and Victoria were after the idol hidden in tribal council, and they should use that to their advantage, however, Devon reveals to them, and he already has it. Mike and Victoria both breathe sigh of relief, as its better off with someone they could trust. And that the four of them will use it, to get themselves far in this game. Starting by getting revenge and taking out the Mutineers; Natalie and Lauren.

(And we're back!! The Merge tribe name is officially Veitavalu, from the two most requested names "Ivalu" (war) and "Veitaqata" (chaos). Surely that name implies that the rest of this game will be a chaotic war. We can't wait to see what will happen.)

The VakaVura alliance set their targets toward the mutineers; Natalie and Lauren. But they'll prioritize Natalie for her being the bigger threat between them. They gathered the Heroes' Alliance to go take her out, under the impression that it is still Heroes vs Villains. Malcolm reveals that Abi has an idol and could save Natalie, and so they set up a split vote plan, but in case anything goes wrong, they'll have Lauren as their back up safety vote.

Natalie (through Lauren) catches wind that she's being targeted and gathers the villains (and Lauren) to unite against Mike whom she perceived is the one targeting her for revenge, the other villains all agree that he's a physical threat that should be taken out asap. But Victoria disagrees, and reveals it to him and now Mike doubles down on taking Natalie out.

Sophie catches up with Victoria, and tells her about some of the Covu dynamics and about Marty's Idol so that she could rebuild some trust with her. Later on, Natalie asks Victoria if she has the idol from the merge feast crate, she lies and says it's just also a blank and it's worth nothing. But she does reveal that Marty has an idol and maybe they could just try to take him out instead as he is the safest vote out of everyone.

And so, that became the plan, Natalie gathers the numbers, while Victoria goes to talk to Mike to smooth things out with Natalie and have simple blindside against Marty tomorrow. Mike then questions how did Marty get an idol, and confronts Fabio about it, Fabio answers honestly and says that he gave it to him to build trust. Which makes Mike question Fabio's loyalty toward their alliance, and realizes that Fabio is playing really hard, he has all these idols, and is very good socially and physically, and is very much a big threat. Maybe he should be taken out instead.

Fabio realizes that the Jig is up, the Covu Alliance must assemble and get ready... for War.

Alright, are you guys ready to get to your first individual immunity challenge as a new tribe? Firsts things first, I have to take back tribal immunity, because it is no more, the individual immunity necklace, is what you want in this game, if you have it around your neck, you are safe from the vote, cannot be voted out of this game, and in a season very cutthroat and chaotic such as this; you will need it. Worth playing for? Alright for today's challenge:

The castaways must balance on a narrow perch while having one arm above their head with their wrist tethered to a bucket of water on top of a platform. If at any point, they tip their bucket, fall off their perch, the water drops, they are out of this challenge. Last person left standing, wins immunity.

And today, it will be the last man, and the last woman left standing, both will win immunity. Big stakes, we'll draw for spots, we'll get started.

This challenge, is on!!

Challenge: https://strawpoll.com/347bz2x1h

(Alright, first individual immunity challenge, two people will win immunity, let's see how it goes. Challenge Advantages have been completely reset, every reward and immunity win will now count dearly. Each reward win is worth a certain amount of challenge advantage points, while winning immunity decreases it by ten for each win. Big stakes for a big season, let's see how it will play out. You can vote for as many players as you want, please vote on who do you think should realistically win this challenge, these polls will end at 12:00 mn EST. Good Luck!!)

5 minutes in, we have our first causality, Marty is out, Rodney right behind him, we are down to five men competing for one immunity, while all seven women are still in it for the other. Janet drops, Abi drops, Keith loses balance, and just like that we are down to four men, and five women.

This challenge is tough, and it's showing in your faces, how long are you willing to stay like that for immunity, the merge tribal council is always a crazy one, you never know what is going to happen, having immunity around your neck is one way to guarantee you're not in trouble. Looks like Sophie is struggling, she drops, we're down to four for the women.

All of a sudden Mike drops, it has only been 15 minutes, Devon trying to get his balance back, but no, he couldn't. We are now down to Fabio and Malcolm for the men. Victoria drops, she is out. While Fabio is struggling, doing his best to keep his arm up, but he can't!! Malcolm wins Immunity!!

We still have three women, Natalie vs Andrea vs Lauren, who will outlast the others for that immunity necklace? It has been 20 minutes, all three women are looking focused, but only one of them will win. And all of a sudden Natalie drops!! Lauren loses balance, they are both out!! Andrea wins immunity!!

Malcolm, Andrea come on over, once again individual immunity are yours, you are both safe in tonight's tribal council, cannot be voted out of this game, congrats. As for the rest of you, tribal council tonight, where somebody will be the eleventh person voted out and the first member of our jury. Big stakes, grab your stuff head back to camp, I'll see you all at tribal.

After returning from the immunity challenge, the whole tribe immediately set off to scramble, after all the events that transpired yesterday, no one is taking any chances.

The Heroes Alliance of Mike, Devon, Janet, Fabio, Malcolm, Keith, Andrea and Lauren all stayed at camp, while the Villains Alliance of Natalie, Abi, Rodney, Victoria, Sophie and Marty went off to the woods and strategized there. The Heroes have decided to bring in Victoria, Sophie and Marty split their votes 6-5 between Abi and Natalie to flush their idol out. While the Villains' plan was to bring over Lauren, Andrea, Keith and/or Fabio to get a few more numbers to take out Mike, the huge challenge threat while he is still vulnerable. Later, Lauren goes to the Villains to tell them about the Heroes' plan, while Victoria and Marty does the same as they reveal the Villains' plans to the Heroes. Forcing everyone to come up with a plan B.

Mike, Devon and Janet all figured that it is Lauren being a double agent, and decided to let her become the safe vote between her, Natalie and Abi, in case anything goes wrong. And they gather the heroes to put her on their radar as the third and safe vote tonight.

Natalie, Abi, Lauren and Rodney noticed that with Malcolm immune and Mike's name being thrown out publicly, they thought now could be a good time to blindside Devon whom she perceives as a close ally of them both and could weaken them going forward, as they would only need at least a 6 vote plurality to pull it off, as she knows the Heroes are splitting their votes, she gets Marty, Sophie, Victoria and Andrea. But Victoria doesn't like the idea, she wants to protect her new VV alliance, but does not want to be on the wrong graces of the Villains, so she just simply alerted Devon to bring his idol tonight save either him or Mike if they needed to.

Fabio and Mike got into an disagreement yesterday about their alliances, and although they have mostly made up, the wounds have been dealt and the war is on. Mike knew that he should take advantage of all the chaos happening at this vote and spook Fabio and Marty into playing their idols to flush and weaken them, he gathers his VV alliance and a few of the Villains, to get them to put some votes on them and flush one of their idols out. Fabio knows that only Mike and Victoria are the only ones who knows about the Covu alliance, and so wants to keep them shut, by having the Covu five join forces with the villains on their cause to take out Mike or Victoria as he tattles to them about Victoria's duplicity. Because of this, the Cagi four realizes that Victoria has been leaking information to other people ever since they merged, putting her loyalty into question, and her name on the chopping block.

And with that, the sun began to set, everyone is still uncertain about their plans, so they all took a deep breath, picked up their weapons and readied their alliances, hoping for the best as they all headed for war.

(Yeah, even we in the production team had trouble keeping up with these dynamics... so we'll be putting these charts up, as a bit of Behind the Scenes, and to help you guys better understand this upcoming vote. We tried.)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Krzu9q0MBlaLxos9fS0fOw5gNERX7vf_

The merge brought with it intense gameplay as everyone fought hard to strategize their gameplay for the rest of the game with their alliances formed during the first 19 days.

There came to be a Heroes' Alliance with Mike, Devon, Janet, Fabio, Malcolm, Andrea and Keith, and then a Villains' Alliance with Natalie, Abi, Rodney, Victoria, Sophie, Lauren and Marty. While a second set of sub-alliances were also formed during the tribe swaps, with Covu having Fabio, Marty, Andrea, Sophie and Keith, Cagi with Natalie, Abi, Lauren and Rodney and lastly Vaka's Mike and Victoria and Vura's Devon and Janet joining forces to take out the mutineers.

Mike and Malcolm organized the Heroes to a split vote plan to take out Natalie or Abi, but fear of Abi playing her idol made them put Lauren as third and safer option. While Natalie instructed the Villains to put their votes on Mike to take him out before he goes on another winning streak or Devon to weaken Mike and Malcolm, as he is their mutual closest ally.

But there is also conflict between Mike and Fabio regarding their loyalty to their alliance, they then set targets on each other and their closest allies Marty and Victoria, leaving Natalie's crew to be the split vote in this situation.

I am also as confused as a goat on AstroTurf. This tribal council is so crazy, with so many alliances and strategies going on, it's genuinely hard to keep up, and when the fog clears up, someone would've already been voted out. Who will it be?

It is time to vote:

Abi-Maria: https://strawpoll.com/xqc51vw1d

Andrea: https://strawpoll.com/f4313q3gk

Devon: https://strawpoll.com/yvcwj6akx

Fabio: https://strawpoll.com/qrqw1vjke

Janet: https://strawpoll.com/f5bwafs88

Keith: https://strawpoll.com/k3g773j3u

Lauren: https://strawpoll.com/szd7y8ppf

Malcolm: https://strawpoll.com/r922jdc4a

Marty: https://strawpoll.com/9rb2wb26h

Mike: https://strawpoll.com/kv3rq2vj4

Natalie: https://strawpoll.com/a9c1yufce

Rodney: https://strawpoll.com/52q78e6ga

Sophie: https://strawpoll.com/kkbouvfhc

Victoria: https://strawpoll.com/85adf43z3

Advantages:

Abi-Maria - Idol: https://strawpoll.com/68drekbrb

Devon - Idol: https://strawpoll.com/f3dw4kv65

Fabio - Idol: https://strawpoll.com/sg78xw6oy

Marty - Idol: https://strawpoll.com/csb1usv39

Victoria - Idol: https://strawpoll.com/2eehgw9g4

We'll give you guys an extra two hours on this one. These polls will close at 12:00 mn EST, make sure to vote wisely.

I'll go tally the votes.

If anybody has a Hidden Immunity Idol, and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.

Abi: Yeah... a LOT of names came up for tonight, Jeff. So I am here to keep my alliance safe, but I only have one, so... sorry guys but I've gotta look out for myself first. This is for me.

This is a hidden immunity idol, any votes cast against Abi will not count.

Alright, once the votes have been read, the decision is final and that person will have to leave the tribal council area immediately, I'll read the votes.

First vote, Natalie.

Mike

Natalie

Mike (we're tied, two votes Mike, two votes Natalie)

Mike (that's three votes Mike, two votes Natalie)

Natalie (we're tied, three votes Natalie, three votes Mike)

Mike (that's four votes Mike, three votes Natalie)

Natalie (we're tied again, four votes Natalie, four votes Mike)

Natalie (that's five votes Natalie, four votes Mike)

Mike (we're tied again, five votes Mike, five votes Natalie)

Mike (that's six votes Mike, five votes Natalie)

Mike

The eleventh person voted out of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains and the first member of our Jury; Mike.

That's 8, that is enough, you need to bring me your torch.

Mike, the Tribe has spoken, time for you to go.

Well, this has been quite a tribal... one of the great challenge performers just left and there is still a lot left unsaid. Clearly, this game has only just begun, now the question is, how are you going to play it? Grab your torches, head back to camp, good night.