As the 7 that remained expected, it was time for Fuego to say goodbye to their beach. Everyone knew what was coming, and they took some time to remember their fallen comrades whose tales were told on the orange sands of the beach. They remembered how Jon overlooked how fast the game could move, and in Week 1 nominated himself to be eliminated. They remembered how Chris couldn’t choose a side, sacrificing his brother Iain’s game, before he himself was blindsided by those he called allies. They recalled how Paul was given a second chance to play the game, but put in little to no effort to ingratiate himself with his new tribe.

And so close was the pain that some of the tribe felt from last night’s blindside. Graham had big plans for the merge, but it was his decision in week 11 to choose Fuego over Hielo that ultimately put him in the position to be blindsided by Alex’s idols. So once Fuego got the note to pack their meager things for a new beach, Meg, Stevie, Rebecca, and Luke realized they were going to miss this place and all the fun times they had. Alex, Stef and Tyler were excited to see their old tribemates and experience what would come next.

Hielo was just ready to get going with the merge. This tribe had been through so many votes, so many lost Immunity Challenges, and the swaps had such an impact on direction of the tribe that these 5 castaways were ready to get to the individual portion of the game. When the members of Hielo were announced before the game started, it was expected that Hielo would come together as a tribe faster, and as a result perform better in the challenges. In Week 1, it looked that way, but Fuego bounced back in a big way in Week 2. The resulting Tribal Council changed the complexity of the game as Cowin went rogue by making his own plan, shattering the initial trust in the tribe, sending Silas’ close ally David home, and painting an immediate target on Cowin himself and his closest ally Chelsea.

The vote had also put a perennial target on Elliot, who was in the conversation of every vote to come. So once Cowin and his new friend Greg were voted out, the 3 main castaways on the outs were Elliott, Chelsea and Paul. Elliott survived a huge Tribal Council that sent both Chelsea and Paul not home, but to Fuego, and returned Peter and Bryan. This brought Peter and Elliott together – 2 castaways with a long friendship, but also Survivor Hamilton rivalry that ultimately led to both of their eliminations from the game. And then the swap… Chelsea coming back to Hielo after being voted out by her tribe gave her two choices. Join up with those that voted you out, or try something new. Her controversial decision to flip (understandable too!) sent Hielo’s challenge leader Cait home, but also led to Chelsea’s elimination the following week. We personally believe that the Hielo Saga perfectly encapsulated the stress of the real game of Survivor, and for the 5 remaining “Hielos” Silas, Jonathan, Bryan, Jordan and Claudia, the merge could not come soon enough.

So 7 castaways in orange buffs carrying their Fuego flag met 5 castaways in blue buffs carrying their Hielo flag on a new beach. With the sounds of the tide rolling in and out, and a warm wind in the air, there were cheers, hugs and kisses (a few too many from Luke) two tribes became one and the game would begin again. So without further ado, I introduce you to the new, merged tribe, RELAMPAGO! Translated from “lightning” in Spanish, Relampago symbolizes the coming storm. These 12 castaways have all come through so much to get to this point, but over the spring almost all of them will be voted out of the game; their hopes dashed. It should make for excellent programming. You want to see the flag and new individual logos? Of course you do.

           

Relampago! Guess what? Your Immunity Challenges will now be for Individual Immunity! So it is no longer the last-placed person that loses Immunity for their tribe. The winner of Individual Immunity each week will be the first person to respond CORRECTLY to the Immunity Question. Because of this you will need to wait until the Immunity Challenge post each week to know who is immune from the vote. Your first Immunity Question will be posted sometime between the publishing of this post and Wednesday night at 11:59pm. Feel free to post questions below or contact your host directly if you have any questions. I cannot cover assumptions made about the game. Check with me if you have a big plan and you’re unsure of the rules. An intro email with your details will follow. Now onto some news about the END of the game…

You’ll all be getting an email/text about this, but Sandra and I are also happy to announce our 1st Annual Survivor Hamilton Finale BBQ at our place (Lawrence/Dufferin) the day/evening of June 23rd! This will be an opportunity to question the finalists and for Jury Members that attend, we will actually hold and reveal the vote. This is the weekend before Canada Day so hopefully the majority of us are available and we can put it in our calendars.

So Relampago, game on…

Go to the next Immunity Challenge