Previously on Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New
After Kobara dominated Nevala over the game’s first quarter to the tune of 7-1, a change-up was needed to breathe new life into the game. Sunday saw 21 players randomly shuffled into Kobara, Nevala, and a new 3rd tribe, Ulloo, while Kyle’s Reward Challenge win granted him the right to choose which tribe he wanted to join. Kyle decided to stick with Kobara in hopes of continuing their challenge superiority. Now onto the most exciting Immunity Challenge since the first week!

On Sunday we sat down to discuss the game so far, and it was clear at that point that the original Nevala players were burnt out from tribal after tribal, and the toll that all that voting took. Nothing in the challenges seemed to work, and for them it was clear that they needed some guidance from the veterans on Kobara. Speaking of Kobara, the returning players hadn’t really needed to play the game, except for their one time at Tribal Council. For them, the Tribe Swap was just the first bit of excitement since the game began, and with far greater numbers, they all hoped for a lucky draw. Let’s take a look at the tribes!

Kobara actually remained largely intact when all was said and done. Chelsea, Cowin, Elliott, Jonathan and Jordan were all randomly put back on their original tribe, which for most of them was exactly what they wanted. They wanted to keep the winning streak alive, and they couldn’t do that on another tribe. Dave and Sharon meanwhile, flipped over to Kobara from Nevala, and couldn’t be more excited. They had just been through 6 straight Tribal Councils, but had been voting together at least. So they each came over with at least one friend, and a bunch of challenge beasts to learn from. Kyle, who secretly won a Reward Challenge last week, was granted the choice from all 3 tribes, and decided to stick it out with Kobara in hopes of dominating the challenges. Only time will tell if that was the correct choice…

Five OG Kobaras were also randomly placed on Nevala, hoping to turn around the mongoose tribe’s fortunes. Amanda, Chris, Graham, James and Peter all made the jump to Nevala, and were joined by Andre and Jon who “get” to stay where they are. While Andre and Jon had likely been hoping for a change of scenery, they were just as likely to learn from these players as Dave and Sharon were – and it would just come down to the challenges now that all 3 tribes were a mix of veterans and rookies.

And then we had our brand new tribe, Ulloo, named after the wise old owl. Bryan, David C., and Paul came over to the new blue tribe from Kobara. Bryan and Paul had been consistent performers in Immunity Challenges for the whole season so far, while David C. only performed well when he participated. With the 5 hour time difference, he’d been sitting out every other Immunity Challenge, so hopefully he wasn’t rusty. In a weird twist of fate, half of the OG Nevala tribe made the move to Ulloo. April, Ruth, Sasha and Shareed actually made up a majority on Ulloo, and you’d normally say it was game over for the 3 OG Kobara players, but April had been on the opposite side of a number of Nevala votes, so it was anyone’s game.

And now we get to truly the most exciting Immunity Challenge of the season. I believe they are only going to get better as the season progresses, but that being said, this one will be tough to beat. As Kobara has 8 players to the other tribes’ 7, they would need to pick one player to sit out today. Since he had participated in all 8 Immunity Challenges so far, Kobara decided to give Elliott a rest.

During this phase of the Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New there will be 2 winners of Immunity at each challenge. The best 2 tribes will win safety, while the losing tribe will need to vote someone out at Tribal Council. Today’s Immunity Challenge would be a test of speed more than anything. Any time we use a really easy question, it levels the playing field. These types of challenges come down to who is paying the most attention to the website or their phone when the challenge hits. And it also tests who is most careful with their response, and who takes the time to read the question.

So take the time to read the question:

Use each of the letters in “NITES” exactly twice to form a 10-letter word (clue: it’s part of the human body). Send me that word.

Some people will get this right away, but others like me will simply type “NNIITTEESS” and “scrabble words” into Google, and trust our supreme technological overlord to provide the answer. Once we learn the answer is “INTESTINES” (a 10-letter word using each letter in “NITES” exactly twice), we must simply type or copy those 10 letters into WhatsApp and hit send.

But which randomly created group of 7 would get it done correctly and first?

Let’s find out.

So I posted the Immunity Challenge question and within seconds all 3 tribes had notified their teammates that it was posted, copied it in there, and in a few seconds more, the correct answers started rolling in. The following is a breakdown of which players got their answers to me first through last, with the accompanying WhatsApp screenshots attached below. This was a gooooooood one.

So like I mentioned, the answers started rolling in, and kicking off SH:OMN‘s second phase in 1st place was Chelsea, who after getting an answer wrong in the season’s 3rd challenge, has been downright unstoppable. Immediately following Chelsea was Jordan like a boss in 2nd place, and in the season’s first miracle, SHARON smashed through Nevala’s glass ceiling, extending Kobara’s early lead.

Kobara: 3
Nevala: 0
Ulloo: 0

With Kobara up to their usual tricks, I must admit I became concerned for everybody else. The challenge was literally 10 seconds old, and it was already looking like another Kobara blowout in the making. Kyle answering in 4th only confirmed that feeling, and the feeling that maybe Kyle had made the right decision. When the next two answers came from Ulloo (our new tribe’s first points from Bryan and Sasha! yay!), I was thinking, “where’s Nevala?” – which had become a bit of a running gag.

Kobara: 4
Nevala: 0
Ulloo: 2

Where’s Nevala would continue on into the next 30 seconds of the challenge, when the “KUU” cycle continued with correct answers from Cowin, Ruth and Paul. Ulloo had formally entered the game and were challenging Kobara neck and neck for this hugely important safety from Tribal Council. Nobody wanted to be part of this first vote, with so much uncertainty on all 3 tribes.

Kobara: 5
Nevala: 0
Ulloo: 4

So remember that this is a race to 7, and Kobara already had 5, and were miles ahead of Nevala by this point. Also remember that all 9 of those answers, and the next 8 were still within a single minute of Chelsea’s 1st place answer. When Dave responded next for Kobara, the challenge was over right? At least we had to have our first Immunity Challenge winner locked up right? Well that would depend on Jonathan. As did Kobara’s last Immunity Challenge loss back in the first week of the game. Our next answer came from Shareed, and then finally, Chris answered from Nevala, putting the lowly mongooses on the board.

Kobara: 6
Nevala: 1
Ulloo: 5

I mean LOOK AT THAT. So far the challenge was 45 seconds of utter domination, with Nevala looking completely out of it. Was Nevala cursed? How could it not be after watching this debacle? But then Jon joined Chris a moment later, with Nevala’s second answer, which was followed by April in 14th place for her second challenge in a row. Peter buzzed in next, and hey, maybe Nevala could at least be respectable after all? No one wants to be embarrassed.

Kobara: 6
Nevala: 3
Ulloo: 6

April’s answer had actually tied Ulloo with Kobara, with each tribe only needing a correct answer from David C. and Jonathan respectively. Those two players had been historically dependable in Survivor Hamilton Immunity Challenges right? Ulloo and Kobara had nothing to worry about right? Uh, that’s not the way this game works. Plus, Nevala was in the middle of storming back. Hard. Amanda answered. Graham got his response in later than he’d like (lending credence to a good reason not to live 4 hours away from me!), and James (from even farther away!) did too, leaving this climactic battle all tied up. Delightful eh?

Kobara: 6
Nevala: 6
Ulloo: 6

Can you believe it? If you can’t; well I have the receipts to show you. After 18 correct responses, evenly distributed across our 3 (suddenly competitive) tribes, we were only waiting on Jonathan, Andre, and David C. All three of these players had to have been feeling the heat BEFORE the challenge even began. Jonathan had made a gaffe or two on Kobara group chats already. Andre was in a minority on what used to be his own tribe. David C. had sat out half of the Immunity Challenges so far, and needed to prove he could step up week to week on a tribe (with 4 OG Nevalas) that desperately needs a win.

Well, our next answer did come from David C., seemingly claiming victory for Ulloo. It was followed in quick succession by Andre’s correct response to complete the comeback for Nevala, and then, in last place, which is where he vowed never again to be, was Jonathan. Somehow it happened. After going up on a 6-1-5 lead, Kobara was not able to cash in their 7th chip in time, meaning that Ulloo and Nevala win Immunity…

wait.

what’s that?

flag on the play you say?

Please don’t tell me that someone made a costly error. I’m sorry sir, but that’s exactly what happened. While some of our questions in the past have left a tiny sliver of room for interpretation, this was not one of those questions. Reminding me that even the clearest questions can sometimes yield responses you don’t expect, one of those 3 players, in haste, submitted INTESTINE instead of INTESTINES. Now, I know that the player knew the correct answer, or at least saw that the tribe had solved it, but what was sent was not really the correct answer. Furthermore, this question clearly stated that you must use each letter exactly twice to form a 10-letter word.

Since neither of those conditions were met, we’re sorry to say that the answer of INTESTINE had to be disqualified.

So because of this mistake (autocorrect or otherwise) our 19th place correct answerer now became Andre, completely completing the comeback for real this time, and handing Nevala their first true Immunity Challenge win since May 7th, 2020!

Kobara: 6
Nevala: 7
Ulloo: 6

I think you know what that means don’t you? Despite the 21st slowest answer (I know I know it was only 2 minutes but still!), miracles do happen sometimes, and everything I said a moment ago about Jonathan was quickly undone in the pressing of a WhatsApp send button. Due to the disqualification, Jonathan was moved up to 20th place, meaning that Kobara somehow wins the second Immunity of the night!

Kobara: 7
Nevala: 7
Ulloo: 6                       😦

And so you now know what I do. David C. unfortunately sent me INTESTINE, and I had no choice but to disqualify his answer, stripping Ulloo of their first win as a new tribe. I hate hate hate to do it, but making Ulloo happy would make Kobara and Nevala very unhappy, and I need to follow the spirit of the question. This one was all about forming a 10-letter word that uses each letter twice, and that’s not what I got.

Sorry David C., I know that’s not the start that you or Ulloo were looking for. That tiny mistake cost Ulloo Immunity tonight, and I know you just want to sleep. Heck, you probably are sleeping as I write this. That was an error that could have happened to anyone, though I’m sure your 4 tribe mates originally from Nevala were very much hoping that it wouldn’t happen to them.

So, just one day after being born, Ulloo the owl crew already had an appointment in their calendars for Wednesday evening. I’m sorry that it had to be on a DQ, and that a few of you have to go right back to tribal, but that’s the game, and every week will provide us new reasons that tribes lose Immunity Challenges. So don’t take it too hard. Please allow me to schedule Tribal Council for 6:15pm EST to help David C. with the time zone, and to allow me to video chat with the other newly formed tribes as well.

Here are the receipts I promised. Remember that the answers are in reverse order.

Happy strategy Ulloo friends.

HootHoot.

MH

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