Previously on Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New
Our top 17 players competed in their 15th Immunity Challenge, with Kobara and Nevala winning, and Ulloo taking the L. What’s interesting is that 4 of Ulloo’s 5 players were the top 4 performers (Sasha, Bryan, Paul & Ruth). What lost Immunity for Ulloo was David C. finishing dead last. These types of choke jobs have been known to happen from time to time in our game, but they never feel good for that player, or for the others that did everything in their power to win.

It had been exactly 3 weeks since Ulloo voted out Shareed in the first vote after the live Tribe Swap. In that vote, Shareed had tried his hardest to convince his new team-mates that he no longer swore allegiance to old Nevala, and that, along with April he would join Bryan, David C. and Paul. The only problem was that Shareed had helped Ruth and Sasha out Damien, Jim, and Ian over the past 2 weeks. There wasn’t enough time for that trust to build, and with talk of an idol in play, the 4 player majority took the easy option.

Now that 3 weeks had passed, the dynamics in the tribe hadn’t changed much, despite efforts from Ruth and Sasha. They were making the case that Ulloo need to focus on challenge strength, and that David C.’s errors had cost Ulloo in each of the last 2 Immunity Challenges they lost – the Shareed on with “intestine” instead of “intestines” and now this one. David C. will always have issues with later challenges due to being 5 hours ahead of the rest of the players, but it’s an issue that hadn’t negatively affected Kobara but has now concerned Ulloo for 2 challenges in a row, and may be an issue moving forward.

Nobody knew exactly how many weeks were left until the merge, and so it would be completely reasonable for the majority on Ulloo to turn their sights on David C. The issue is that you need to have TRUST to build an alliance, or at least a consensus for a vote, and that trust was lacking between the 4 player majority and Ruth and Sasha. Since the Tribe Swap, Sasha had actually been Ulloo’s strongest performer (see below) but that wouldn’t matter if they didn’t trust her, and it would matter even less if they worried that she or Ruth had a Hidden Immunity Idol – which they did.

Average Rank since Ulloo formation: 
Sasha: 5.3
Bryan: 5.6
April: 8.2
Ruth: 8.7
David C: 10.6

The majority would need to decide what was more important between strengthening for the next few challenges or removing a long term threat. It was no secret that over Nevala’s first 7 trips to Tribal Council, Ruth/Sasha and April had been pushed further and further apart as April’s allies were summarily sent to Exile Island. That bond was probably never going to be built, but Paul and Bryan would need to consider long-term what would help their game. They could switch gears and form a relationship with 2 players that hadn’t wronged them at all, taking out a friend (but challenge liability) in David C., or they could stick with the plan they came in with.

One thing’s for sure, everyone is expecting a Hidden Immunity Idol to be played tonight, and so nobody can be certain about who will be leaving the game in 17th place. Watch Tribal Council now:

 

And if you just want to skip all that, the votes will be revealed below in short order. But before that, we must get to the matter of Hidden Immunity Idols. As mentioned earlier, it was widely expected that either Ruth or Sasha had won the idol the day before Shareed was voted out, but that fact had not been proven because it had not been used.

So would it be played tonight?

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Nope!

Whoever has that idol sure has patience too!

Let’s get to the votes…

First Vote:

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Second Vote:

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Third Vote:

We’re tied with Ruth, David C. and Sasha having 1 vote each. 

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Fourth Vote:

That’s 2 votes for Ruth, 1 for David C., and 1 vote Sasha.

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Fifth Vote:

That’s 2 votes for Ruth, 1 vote for David C., 1 for Sasha, and 1 for Paul. 

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Sixth Vote:

We’re tied at 2 votes each for Ruth and Sasha, with David C. and Paul each receiving just 1 vote. 

So we have our 3rd tie of the season. Bryan, Paul, David C. and April will now each vote again for the player that they would like to eliminate from the game – between Sasha and Ruth. With the players given a moment to send me their 2nd votes of the night, we are ready to get onto the re-vote results.

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First Vote:

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Second Vote:

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Third Vote:

That’s it, that’s enough. With all 4 votes against, Sasha becomes the 14th player voted out of the game. We started the day unsure whether Sasha or Ruth would be the ultimate target, and now we know. Sasha brought so much enthusiasm to all facets of the game, particularly the challenges and our video sessions, and I really appreciate it. This game was a learning curve for myself and all of Nevala and I’m glad that you got to experience it!

For everyone else – no rest for the wicked. Tomorrow is your next Immunity Challenge. Here’s Sasha’s episode of PLAYED! with Meg & Mike.

 

MH

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