Last week on Survivor Hamilton… Fire & Ice came together as Hielo lost the Immunity Challenge, voted out Chelsea and Paul, who ultimately joined Fuego. Meanwhile, Peter and Bryan volunteered to move to Hielo beach. With new blood in each tribe, what would happen next?

Week 7 had been a rough one for Hielo. Not only had they lost the Immunity Challenge, but Tribal Council had been emotional as they said goodbye to a close friend in Chelsea and were surprised when their idiot host forced them to vote out Paul too. Those had not been easy votes, and to top it all off, they didn’t even leave the game, but went over to Fuego to be dealt with again another time. Still as the 7 remaining Hielos awoke, the sun was shining and it felt like a brand new day. A chapter had passed and Hielo was going to focus on working together so they could stay together.

Alex started on the rice for the group, while Tyler and Jonathan foraged for fruit, and Silas went to fill up everyones’ water. Hielo had been tinkering with the camp since the beginning, so not only did they have a lot of protection from sun and rain, but the comfortable seating area allowed Elliott and Cait some time to get to know eachother better. Since Elliott had been MIA in the challenges recently, it would be necessary for him to build whatever relationships he could or else his time would finally run out. At least that was what he was thinking until he saw Bryan randomly walk up the beach followed by Elliott’s bitter rival, Peter…

It had been tough for Fuego to see Peter and Bryan volunteer to leave. They had been connected to Chris, which would certainly put targets on their back in future weeks, so it was understandable that they would leave, though it didn’t make it any easier. What did make it easier was Chelsea and Paul, who were just so excited to get a second chance that they immediately started doing everything around camp. Jordan woke up groggily to the sounds of pots and pans. Luke was like what the hell’s going on? and Meg’s jungle cat strolled over lazily  to see what all the commotion was about.

Not only did the group wake up to a completely organized pantry, but Chelsea had raked the sand, and breakfast was already prepared. Good morning! I’ve already been up for 6 hours, whadya think? And they thought Good. We can live with this. Just then Paul returned with all of the waters refilled and coconuts spilling out of his pants. Graham said Yeah man! and Stevie said Bryan and Peter who? and everyone laughed and enjoyed the rest of the day until they remembered they had an Immunity Challenge to get to.

Come on in guys. Fuego, get your first look… oh yeah, you already know what happened with Hielo last week, you have Chelsea and Paul now! Hielo, you have Peter and Bryan. Everyone clear? Good, that’s the last time we talk about that. Fuego gimme back the Immunity Statue.

For this challenge you will all run out into the water to collect 50 orange and 50 blue puzzle pieces for your tribes, anchored down with rocks, some in areas where you can reach down and grab them and some farther out, where you’ll need to dive down and swim them to the surface. Once collected, you’ll need to run the piece back to your mat on the beach. Once they are all collected and brought back, you’ll work together to complete a puzzle depicting the logo for our season. The first tribe to complete their puzzle will win Immunity and safety for the week. The loser, a date with me at Tribal Council, where someone will become the 7th person voted out.

For Immunity.

Survivors ready?

Go!

It was a mad dash for the water, with the 18 remaining castaways pushing past eachother down the beach. Elliott was first (first!) to hit the water, but immediately tripped himself up and front-flipped, landing on his rear. Peter was running with his knees so high that he looked ridiculous, but effective! Luke meanwhile walked slowly to try and find the easiest pieces he could. He didn’t want to get wet if he could help it. It was a good hair day. Cait however looked like she was trying to get out to the deeper puzzle pieces to save her tribe the effort.

Soon enough, everyone was bringing pieces back at speed. With 100 pieces in the water to find, some were really close and easy to locate, and sure enough those were the first ones to go. About 5 minutes in, Tyler had already brought back 5 pieces, Alex 4, Chelsea 4, and Jordan was actually putting in an effort too! Silas was out there doing a mean breast-stroke. Stevie and Meg had worked out a strategy where they were tossing pieces back and forth to cut down on running time.

It was close, and maybe Fuego had a slight lead as the pace began to slow down. Graham let out a big groan as he headed back to the water. Rebecca was taking a short break on the sand to catch her breath. Claudia had really slowed down too, but Jordan was swimming with her, encouraging her along the way. Alex and Cait were still as fast as ever though, while Bryan and Peter tried to keep impressing their new tribemates with a decent performance. The most noticeably slow was Paul. After having a rough time in a water challenge last week, Paul had really wanted to impress his new tribe, but today wasn’t looking like the day.

Jonathan brought back what was looking like one of the last pieces for Hielo, while Stef, exhausted, kept trying to count up to 50 without getting distracted by all the commotion of the challenge. While Chelsea, JORDAN, and Graham (plus Stevie and Meg working together) had been able to keep up the pace, the rest of Fuego had really ground to a halt, allowing Hielo the chance to start the puzzle without their rivals. Tyler and Alex took the lead, and found that they were working together really well, while Cait and Silas helped pass them pieces, and Elliott had a lie down.

As Hielo plugged away at the puzzle, Fuego was trying to frantically count their pieces over eachother, worried that they were losing Immunity. They didn’t even notice that Paul was lying down on the beach, a puzzle piece tucked under him, the warm sand reminding him of his warm bed in Toronto. Not knowing whether they were counting to 49 or 50, Fuego kept on wasting time as Tyler placed the last blue piece, and HIELO WINS IMMUNITY and safety from Saturday’s Tribal Council.

That’s right, Fuego, please vote by 6pm on Saturday, and I’ll write the post that evening for you. Your host is leaving the comfort of his island cabana for a basketball game on Friday night, so you get another day to strategize.

Again, Fuego, please have your votes in by 6pm on Saturday. Game time.

This Week’s Top Performers: (3 fastest times yet!!!)
    

This Week’s Bottom Performers:
  
(It should be noted that Paul was FAR worse than Rebecca in this challenge. Sorry buddy.)

Check out the updated season Rankings

Go to Tribal Council.