All-Star Survivor: Hawaii Episode #10 The Spoiler

Manakai Tribe (white): Alicia Calaway, John Carroll, Gretchen Cordy, Colleen Haskell, Vecepia Towery, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, Tina Wesson

Click here to watch the All-Star Hawaii opening credits!

DAY 28

The sun just seemed to be shining a little bit brighter this morning. At least that's what Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien thought, as she stepped out of the Manakai shelter and took in the sight of the first glorious hopeful Keko morning. Ah, sweet freedom. This was nice.

The morning air sure did smell sweeter after the Great Keko Survivor Comeback.

Still intoxicated by the power shift that had taken place at last night's Tribal Council, and still stunned by the fact that Rob Mariano had been toppled at the very time when they had needed it the most, Kathy ambled over the firepit where John Carroll was already preparing the tribe's breakfast. John, ever the faithful cook, was already whipping up something special for the six females that remained in the game. And Kathy, holding up her hand to shield off the blinding sun, walked over and sat down next to him. She wanted to see what was up.

"Hell of a Tribal last night, huh?" John smiled over at her, once he noticed he had company.

"No kidding," said Kathy. "That was insane."

John just smiled and nodded, as he continued to stir the food. And that was when the smell of pineapple juice suddenly assaulted Kathy's nostrils. That was an unmistakable aroma around here. Pineapple was a luxury the Manakais just didn't get all that often. Kathy was intrigued.

"Wow, you got something new for us today?" she asked, smiling, as she continued to shield her eyes against the blinding sun. "What's in there? Pineapple?"

"Yeah," John nodded. "Pineapple. Passion Fruit. Plus some fish that Gretchen brought back. We're having teriyaki stir fry."

"Oh man, you're awesome," Kathy grinned. "Did we ever tell you how much we love you?"

"Hey, you can love me all you want." John smiled over at her, and winked. "All I care about is that you guys are happy. I'm just hoping the Kekos will want to keep me around for a while."

Kathy just laughed.

"Oh come on," she teased him. "It's not that bad. So Rob got taken out. Big deal. It doesn't mean you're next."

John just stared at her.

"Well yeah it's easy to say that," he responded, "But try to put yourself in my position. How safe would you feel if you were the last male, surrounded by six females? How safe would you feel if you were an Ahi living in a Keko house? If you were me, you'd be doing anything you can. I'm the last of my kind."

"Nah, don't sweat it," Kathy said honestly, under her breath. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"No?"

"Nah. Nobody wants you to go. Vee's next."

John just stood there and laughed, somewhat bitterly.

"Well you know," he started, "saying you'll get rid of Vecepia, and actually getting rid of her, are two entirely different things altogether. So watch out before you start writing her off. She's sneaky, and you know it. In fact... you probably know that better than anyone."

"Nah. Don't worry about it," Kathy shook her head. "I know all about her. And we've got her under control."

"Promise?"

"Of course. Would I lie to you?" Kathy grinned over, still squinting. "Come on, man. Rotu pride. All for one, one for all."

"Good, cause I don't want to sit here and mope for the next three days." John said. "I'm having too much fun to go home. I'd rather just sit here and hang out with y'all for a while. In fact," he gave his breakfast pot an attentive little stir, "hand me your bowl. Your teriyaki is ready, and it smells good. You're gonna like it."

"Oh rock on, JC," she smiled, calling him by one of his many Survivor nicknames.

She reached over and John scooped some of his breakfast creation into her little coconut bowl. Kathy tasted it. She moaned in pleasure. She was now in culinary heaven.

"See?" John said, smiling. "Keep me around for a while, and that's what you get. In fact," he smiled, "since you're my very favorite Survivor, I'll even give you seconds."

He gave her a little more.

"I thought Gretchen was your favorite!" Kathy accused.

"Nope. That changed. Now it's you. Gretchen's a has-been."

Kathy laughed.

"Man, you're good," she said, through a mouthful of pineapple fish, "You're a better butt-kisser than Mariano. I hope you know that."

"I'm not a butt-kisser," John feigned being offended. "I just love you guys. I just love feeding my Keko girls. You guys are my favorites."

"Yeah whatever, snake." Kathy snorted. Then she let out one of her laughs. HAW HAW HAW. Because despite his best efforts, John didn't fool her for a minute. She knew exactly what he was up to. The only problem was that she had been telling him the truth. The Kekos really did prefer to keep him over Vecepia. She hadn't been lying about that. If Tribal Council were to be held tonight, John-- despite being the last male standing, as well as a sneaky little bastard when he really wanted to be-- would be perfectly safe. He didn't have any reason to be worried right now in the slightest.

"Well you can call me a snake all you want," John added, "But just remember this. Who is the one who's been trying to bring you down all game? Who is the one who has been targeting you in particular since day one? Who was Rob's sneaky little sidekick for the past twenty-seven days?"

"I know, I know," muttered Kathy. "Vee."

"That's right," John nodded. "Vee. Not John. Just remember that. I'm not your enemy."

"Don't worry," Kathy assuaged him, quietly. "Vee isn't gonna be able to pull anything. I know how she operates. And I'm not making the same mistake twice. You don't have to worry."

"Good."

And with that, John Carroll felt like he had done his important good Samaritan duty for the day. Here, under the blazingly hot and exceptionally bright Hawaiian sun, he had successfully reinforced the idea that "keeping John Carroll around" was very much in the suddenly-powerful Kekos' best interests. He had just wanted to remind them that Vecepia was a hell of a lot more dangerous than he was, and that they would be fools if they ever forgot about her. Because the minute the Kekos forgot about Vecepia, well he knew who was next on the chopping block. And John was not about to let that happen.

Especially now, before he found an opening and had a chance to come back.

"Hey Kat," he now asked, slyly. "I'm not feeling all that well this morning. I'm not as hungry as I thought I would be." He looked over at her. "Do you want my portion too? Do you want thirds on your teriyaki?"

Kathy laughed. What an ass-kisser.

But John didn't mind. After all, as the lone male left in Survivor, this was not the time to be passive. If ass-kissing was what he had to do, that was what he would do. There was nothing shameful about it.

If you were the last man standing, surrounded by females, that meant it was time for some action.

^^

As the morning unfolded, the rest of the Manakai tribe eventually wandered over to join John and Kathy around the firepit. And if Kathy had thought it odd that the sun seemed to be just a little bit brighter today, she eventually realized that she hadn't been imagining that at all. The mood really was a lot different at camp this morning. Between Rob being gone, and the Kekos suddenly being the ones calling the shots, it seemed to be a much more relaxed atmosphere all of a sudden at Camp Manakai.

And the one woman who had been responsible for this-- Tina Wesson-- just sat there calmly watching the fire, her chin in her palm.

"Morning, Tina," said Gretchen, as she walked by the woman who had single-handedly rescued the Kekos at Tribal Council last night. Gretchen, who was looking as effervescent and as chipper as ever, was headed down to the beach to go hunt for shellfish. And as she passed, she patted Tina lightly on the shoulder. It wasn't a big tap. It was basically just a little friendly tap. She wanted Tina to know just how grateful the Kekos were for what she had done last night.

"Oh hey, Gretchen," Tina looked up and smiled, distractedly. She had just been sitting here and gazing at the fire, almost zoning out. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even noticed Gretchen walking by at all.

"Want to go gather coconuts with us after breakfast?" Gretchen asked her.

"Huh?" Tina still looked confused.

"I'm going out with Kathy after breakfast. Wanna come?"

"Oh, sure," Tina smiled. "Yeah, just let me know. I'll probably just be sitting here."

"Alright," Gretchen grinned. "Cool. Rock on. We'll catch you later."

And then she was off.

Kathy, sitting on a log to the left, just watched this exchange with a strange little smile on her face. Because since when did Gretchen actually use the phrase "Rock on"? That wasn't a Gretchen-ism, that was a Kathy-ism. Where on Earth had that come from? Kathy had never heard Gretchen say anything like that before in her life.

And that was when Kathy officially realized her assessment had been correct. The sun indeed was shining a little bit brighter today. It actually was a different type of day around here. She wasn't imagining it at all.

All you had to do was take a look at the mood around camp yesterday, and then compare it to the mood today, and you would be able to notice it.

^^





Kathy and the rest of the Manakais had expected to just hang around this morning and do nothing and bask in their newfound life without Rob Mariano. But unfortunately fate wasn't going to allow them that simple little luxury. Because things were about to get interesting around camp Manakai. Very interesting. After all, this wasn't a vacation. This wasn't the Kekos-All-Sit-Around-And-Enjoy-Their-Satisfying-Victory hour. This was Survivor. This game was supposed to be stressful.

In a game known for its twists, the unsuspecting members of Manakai were about to get blindsided by an especially nasty one.

"Get your butts off the sand, guys, it's challenge time!" called Vecepia, as she came traipsing down the trail from their treemail box. Sure enough, Vee had been tipped off by a producer that a surprise was waiting for them out in the jungle. So she had gone out to check, and now she was back.

"A challenge?" asked Alicia, surprised. "Already?"

"Yeah," nodded Vee. "And I don't like the sound of it, either. I'm not even sure it's for reward." She looked a little concerned. "It could be a twist."

"Shit," Alicia cursed.

Great. How wonderful. One day into the Great Keko Comeback, and now they were about to get blindsided with one of those world-famous Survivor curveballs. Well wasn't this just the hap-hap-happiest feeling in the whole goddamn world. All that comeback, all that work, all that drama, and now apparently for nothing!

Was Kathy actually right about the Kekos? Did God really just hate them? Were the three women of Keko just inherently cursed?

Vecepia walked over and showed her the treemail. Alicia knew she probably shouldn't, but she wanted to read it.

"You think you know the game," said the parchment, "but at times you get knifed in the back."

Alicia winced.

Shit.

"It's time to decide your own fate," it continued, "do you choose glory or do you choose tact?"

And that was it. That was the entire message.

Alicia didn't like this.

"This was in the box too," said Vecepia, as she held up a small bamboo-handled dagger. Even though it was small, it had a nasty-looking blade at the end. The blade couldn't have been more than two inches long, but it looked like it was sharp enough to do some actual damage. In other words, it looked awfully symbolic.

"What's that written on the handle?" Alicia squinted. "I can't read it."

"It says, 'Insert into back. Twist.'"

And sure enough, there was the word that Alicia had been dreading. Right there on the handle. Twist. The producers were giving them a hint. Things were about to change around here. Vecepia had already figured this out. And all Alicia could think about right now was how the Kekos were going to get around this. Because twists were never good. Not on your life, they weren't. Not when your alliance was in power, they weren't. If you were at the top of the totem pole, a twist scared the shit out of you..

"Hey that would be sort of funny if we twisted now, huh?" Vee grinned, mischievously. "And right after you guys turned the game around, too. That would be interesting."

"Oh, shut up."

Alicia would have loved to continue this fascinating conversation. But that would just have to wait.

Because time was running short. They were about to get hit with a twist.

And now it was time to warn Kathy.

^^

"Come on in, guys," said Jeff, as the seven members of Manakai slowly trickled out of the jungle. One by one, out they came, as they prepared to face what was already looking to be an interesting day today.

"Let's go, you guys are dragging," Jeff teased them, as Kathy walked slowly past him. "Let's go. Pick it up."

"You pick it up," Alicia teased him back. "We're scared shitless."

Jeff just laughed.

He waited for the players to reach their places on the starting mat. Then he walked over to a large wooden object which was covered with a tarp. This was part one of the big Hawaiian twist today. The players didn't yet know it, but they were actually going to enjoy this. Today's twist wasn't going to be scary at all. It was going to be fun.

Jeff pulled the tarp down off the wooden object, revealing it.

The players were greeted by their own faces, which had been artistically painted on the side of a wall.

"Oh, sweet," John laughed, from behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Today's challenge is for reward," explained Jeff, "And as you can see, it involves your own pictures. Because those faces are the targets." He pointed at the wall. "And these are what you are going to be hitting them with."

He held up a small, sharp little dagger. It looked almost identical to the one that Vecepia had held in her hand about an hour ago. It was small, but it had a sharp blade. It looked incredibly lethal.

"One by one, you'll be throwing daggers at those faces on the wall," Jeff continued. "If you hit a person, they're out of the challenge."

"Just one hit?" Tina asked.

"Yep," nodded Jeff. "Just one. If your face gets hit, you're done."

Tina nodded.

Then Jeff turned and faced them.

"You guys want to know what you're playing for?"

The players really didn't. At least, not those who happened to be in power. After all, changes in the game were always dicey to those who were in power. No matter what happened with this twist today, something new was about to happen, and for control freaks like Kathy and Alicia, that was a little bit scary.

"Hit us, Probst," Kathy sighed. "What's the damage?"

"Oh come on," Jeff teased her. "Buck up. This isn't bad. It's exciting. You guys get to be a part of something special today. It's a Survivor... first... if you will."

Kathy just shook her head.

"The goal today is to eliminate the other six players," Jeff smiled. "Of course, you've all done challenges like this before, so it's no big deal. But today we're kicking it up a notch. Because I think you guys have been too comfortable in this game. I know, you're the All-Stars, you're in Hawaii, you think you have it made." He paused, dramatically. "But more talented players should face a more difficult challenge, so that's what we're doing today.."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Power Bar.

"The first part of your reward is this," he said, holding it up. "It's not anything huge, but it will be a nice little energy bonus before tomorrow's immunity challenge."

"What's the second part of the reward?" asked Vecepia.

Jeff just smiled.

"Come on, Jeff," Gretchen protested. "That's not fair."

"Nope," grinned the host. "You'll find out the second part of the reward when you win the challenge. Right now, I think I'll just keep it a surprise."

There were groans all around.

"All I will say is that you don't want to lose a reward challenge from here on out," Jeff added, cryptically. "Starting today. Because this is going to be a recurring reward, and it's also going to be an incredibly valuable reward. So if you guys are used to saving your energy because 'it's just a reward challenge', you better start thinking again. From this point on, every challenge counts. You don't want to lose this one."

^^

It was time for the challenge to begin.

The players lined up in a single-file line about 70 feet from the large wooden wall.

They drew numbers to see who would throw first.

Tina chose #1.

"Okay Tina, you're up," said Jeff, as the petite little blonde woman stood up and chose a dagger. "Walk up to the line, and go eliminate somebody."

In the controlled silence of the Hawaiian waterfront, Tina walked over to the line in a sand and took her position. She steadied her feet. She raised one arm in the air. She locked in on one of the faces.

The players behind her tensed in anticipation.

And then, with a small grunt of effort, Tina flung the bamboo-handled dagger as hard as she could. It was a good throw. It would have been hard enough to bury itself in the wall. The only problem was that it sailed about two feet to the right and missed the wall entirely. Tina had failed to eliminate anyone.

"Nice arm," Jeff admired.

Colleen was next. She stepped up to the line. And she also missed. Her dagger plunked down harmlessly in the Hawaiian sand.

Kathy was the third player to step up into position. She took aim at the picture of John. She let it fly.

THWACK!

Her dagger stuck into the wooden wall but missed his face.

"Hey, come on, Kat," teased John. "Leave that beautiful face alone. What did I ever do to you?"

With three players down, and four to go, up stepped the ever-so-intense Alicia Calaway into position. With her eyes narrowed in concentration, and her dagger held by the tip between two fingertips, she prepared to eliminate the first player from this challenge.

And she did.

THWACK!

Alicia's dagger buried itself into the right cheek of Vecepia's picture on the wall. Vecepia Towery had been eliminated from the challenge.

"Do I at least get to throw?" asked Vee, curiously.

"Nope," Jeff shook his head. "Sorry. You're done."

With Vecepia out of the challenge, that meant that the available player pool was now down to six. And it was about to go down to five. Tina Wesson soon became the next victim. Gretchen nailed her face on the wall with her very first throw.

"Hey!" said the offended nurse.

"Sorry," shrugged Gretchen, a small smile on her face. "I was aiming for Colleen."

"Liar," Tina joked.

But that was that. Tina was out, and Vecepia was out. The player pool was down to five.

Next to the line was John Carroll. He was the last thrower of the first round. With a small smirk on his face, the only male left in All-Star Survivor picked up his dagger, selected his target, and fired away.

THWACK!

Kathy was eliminated.

"That's what we call payback," he grinned.

Kathy stuck out her tongue at him.





^^





With the first round having been completed, and three players having been eliminated from the challenge, that left just four players poised and ready for the second round. Colleen, Alicia, Gretchen, and John.

Colleen was the first person up in the second round, and she took her position.

"Come on Colleen," John encouraged her, from his seat on the beach. He clapped his hands, supportively. "Don't take me out. Take out a Keko. Remember who you're up against."

"Just be careful who you piss off, sweetheart," Alicia countered, a small smirk on her face. "Remember, there's lots of people who want this reward. Just be careful who you're aiming for."

Smiling slightly, Colleen just shook her head, trying to block out all the distractions.

Then she took direct aim for Alicia's target.

WHOOSH.

It was a good throw, but she missed.

With a sheepish grin on her face, Colleen walked back to the group and sat down. It was now Alicia's turn to bury her in response, and everyone knew it. You didn't mess with Alicia and not expect payback.

"I think Colleen just tried to take you out," Jeff said helpfully, as Alicia casually strolled up to take her place on the line.

"I think she did too." Alicia said, a small smile on her lips.

"Does that mean payback's a bitch?" Jeff grinned.

"Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't," Alicia shrugged. "But not now. Right now I'm just interested in winning this."

She turned and threw her dagger.

THWACK!

It buried itself in John's forehead.

"Ouch," laughed Jeff. "And with authority!"

The rest of the players laughed and applauded. That had been the single best throw of the challenge. John, however, looked a little nonplussed. Why had Alicia decided to take him out? Why hadn't she taken out Gretchen? After all, Gretchen was easily the best knife-thrower here. It was obvious. If Alicia really had been trying to win this challenge, that decision had been ridiculous.

"Your funeral, honey," John shrugged, somewhat sarcastically, as he went and sat down.





^^





With just three players remaining in the challenge, Gretchen Cordy stepped up and toed the line. And she considered her options. Did she want to take out Alicia? Or did she want to take out Colleen? In a challenge where strategy was everything, did she want to opt for victory, or did she want to show loyalty to her alliance? How important was winning this? For the first time all game, it was time to see just how far Gretchen was willing to go in the game of Survivor.

"Come on," Alicia silently purred from behind her. "Make the right choice. You don't want to hit me."

"Well there's no way I can possibly hit you," Colleen rebutted, helpfully. "If you take out Alicia, you'll win the challenge. I'm terrible at this."

Gretchen just stood there, arm poised in the air. She appeared to be debating her decision.

"It looks like we've reached a very interesting climax," Jeff observed casually, from his spot behind the players. "Who does Gretchen really want to piss off here? Does she want to take out a Keko? Or does she want to take out Colleen?"

Gretchen just stood there. She said nothing. She still appeared to be thinking.

"Hit Alicia!" John encouraged her, somewhat surprised by her indecision. "You're here to win, Gretchen! Play like it!"

"Alicia will hit you with her next throw," Vecepia concurred. "Don't give her the chance."

Gretchen just smirked, softly.

Meanwhile, Gretchen's best friend, Kathy, just stayed perfectly quiet. She knew full well that this was a horrible decision. There was no way she was going to get her hands bloody if Gretchen decided to take out Alicia and play a little bit dirty. So Kathy clammed up. This was Gretchen's decision, and Gretchen's decision alone. Kathy was going to stay out of it.

"Take out Alicia!" Tina now piped up, after a moment's hesitation.

"Okay, all of y'all need to shut up," Alicia turned and laughed at them.

But in the end, it didn't matter. Gretchen had already made her decision. She hated to do it, and she hated to be the one who was doing it, but if she was going to win this challenge, she had to take out her biggest competition. That was just all there was to it. Because Vecepia was right. If Gretchen didn't take out Alicia with this throw, Alicia was going to win the challenge. And Gretchen didn't want that. She wanted to win something for herself for a change. After all, she had yet to win a single thing for herself in the game of Survivor.

So without a moment's hesitation, she buried her competition.

THWACK!

Alicia was eliminated.

The other five players burst into applause.

"And just like that," Jeff said, with a smirk, "Gretchen shows she is a force to be reckoned with. She is here, and she is here to win this thing. Gretchen Cordy is a Survivor doormat no more."

Gretchen, a little embarrassed from the attention, just put her head down and chuckled.

"You know I won't forget that," Alicia grinned, good-naturedly, as she sat down on the sand. "You know I'm gonna remember this, Gretchen. I just want you to be aware of that."

"Hey, I gotta do what I gotta do."

So Alicia was eliminated. And even though the challenge wasn't technically over yet, in truth the ending was all but a formality at this point. Because like Colleen had said, there was no way she was going to hit Gretchen's target. Knife-throwing simply wasn't her thing.

Colleen threw, and she missed. Badly.

Gretchen came up, and she hit.

THWACK!

With one casual toss, and one steel-like gleam in her eyes, she buried her dagger into Colleen's chin. And just like that, Gretchen Cordy had won her first ever individual challenge.

"Gretchen!" announced Jeff, amid cheers from the players on the sand, "wins reward!"

The other players came over to congratulate her. Gretchen smiled from ear to ear.

"Nice shooting, deadeye," said Jeff, as he walked over to shake her hand. "That was impressive."

"Thanks," Gretchen laughed, somewhat self-consciously.

Jeff tossed her the Power Bar. She unwrapped it and eagerly dug into it.

"Want to know want the second part of your reward is?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know." She said through a mouthful of food. "Do I?"

Jeff just laughed.

"Well by winning this challenge," he explained, "you have now earned the right to act as 'The Spoiler.' And what that means is that at tomorrow's immunity challenge, you will get to pick one person who will have to sit out of the challenge. You can pick anybody you want, for any reason you want, and they will officially have no chance at winning immunity."

"Holy shit," said John.

"Yeah," nodded Jeff, "From this point on, we're raising the stakes."

"So wait. This is supposed to be a reward?" Gretchen asked, incredulously. Because she knew instantly how prickly this decision was going to be. She was basically going to end somebody's dream of winning this game, and she was going to do it alone. It was all going to be directly on her shoulders. The pre-school teacher inside her was already appalled at this.

Jeff just shrugged. "You can look at it as a reward, or you can look at it as a punishment. It doesn't matter to me. You can even look at it, more realistically, as a double-edged sword. All you have to know is that you will be making this decision tomorrow. You are the Spoiler, and you have to pick somebody to sit out."

"Can I pick myself?"

Jeff just shot her a sly grin.

"You can do whatever you want," he smirked. "If you feel that it would be best if you didn't personally compete for immunity, then have at it. Spoil your own chances. But watch out for the consequences."

Gretchen nodded. She understood. She didn't like the ramifications of this new twist in the game at all, but she understood.

No matter who she picked, or what she did, this game was about to get incredibly personal.

"So wait," asked Kathy, "We're going to do this for every reward challenge the rest of the game? We're always going to have a Spoiler?"

"Yep. All the way down to the final four," Jeff nodded.

Kathy scrunched up her face and bit the inside of her lip. Because Jeff wasn't kidding when he said there would be no more insignificant challenges the rest of the game. Starting from this point on, if you didn't go balls out in every single challenge, you could find yourself in serious trouble. If you somehow let your enemy win the coveted role of "Spoiler" when you didn't want them to, you could be cutting your own throat.

And Kathy wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to that.

"Okay guys," nodded Jeff. "You guys can head on back to camp. We've done all we need to do here."

The players nodded.

"And Gretchen," nodded Jeff, "you can tell me your decision tomorrow. Think about it for the day, mull it over, and then tomorrow let me know who you want to Spoil. Let me know who is going to sit out of the immunity challenge."

Gretchen just nodded once, grimly.

Yuck.

Here she was, only three minutes in to the first reward of her life, and she was already hating this.

DAY 29

It took a long time to hike all the way up to Halulu Point. And that's why Vecepia made sure to take plenty of water along as she walked through the jungle.

Halulu Point, or "the overlook" as it was known among the Manakais, was a small rocky plateau that jutted straight up out of the trees towards the center of the island. It was easily the highest point on the island of Ni'ihau, and for this reason it was a popular destination for a day hike if you really just wanted to go out and explore. Because if you hiked all the way up to Halulu, if you worked your butt off to get all the way up to the overlook, you would find yourself with a panoramic view of just about every single square inch of Ni'ihau. If you made it all the way up there, if you stood on that rocky platform, you could basically see everything on the island.

Although Vecepia had never personally hiked up there before, because it was an enormous pain in the ass.

"I just want you to know that I'm not doing this for my health," she turned and laughed, casually, to the cameraman. Because if she was hiking up to Halulu today, that meant that he was hiking up to the overlook as well. And as much as it sucked for her to be doing this, she knew that it probably sucked about five times as bad for the guy who was carrying the camera. She felt bad about it, and she wanted him to know that.

The cameraman just shrugged.

All he had been instructed to do was follow Vecepia. If she was going to hike straight up the face of a rocky cliff, well it was her funeral.

Satisfied that she had at least now fulfilled her ethical requirements to her walking buddy, she turned and started walking again. Her backpack in hand, a pair of dark sunglasses covering her eyes, Vecepia Towery moved off towards the large, imposing cliff of Halulu, to meet with her destiny. Because like she said, she wasn't coming up here for her health. She wasn't hiking all the way here because she wanted to.

She was hiking up to the overlook because that was where Gretchen was currently sitting.

It was time for Vecepia Towery to show the world how you won this game.





^^





So Vecepia hiked. She hiked, and she hiked, and she hiked. She hated it. She hated every single minute of it. But she continued to hike.

She did it because this was terribly important.

"See, the problem I have faced since day one," she was explaining to the camera as she walked, "is that people don't really seem to like me. I mean, I know it's not personal. I know it's not because of who I am. It's that people just don't really want to see me win again." She looked over towards the cameraman, as if expecting some sort of sympathy. "From day one, it has been pretty obvious that no one is ever going to let me win."

As usual, Vecepia was fairly accurate in her identification of the situation around here. She really wasn't expected to win All-Star Survivor. No way. Neither of the two former winners were expected to win. After all, as Vee had repeatedly pointed out to Tina, there was no way they could ever beat anyone other than each other. And the other players had been working around the clock to ensure that such a ridiculous scenario was never in a million years going to happen.

A former winner winning All-Star Survivor? Are you kidding me? That would be sacrilege. Vecepia and Tina had had the deck stacked against them right from the start. From day one, the two former winners had been screwed.

"But here's what really bugs me about it," Vee had explained to a producer this morning. Because there was one detail that really did get under her skin about this whole situation. One small detail that really did sort of get her riled up when she stopped to think about it. One thing that she did think was quite patently unfair.

"So let's say that Tina and me get to the final two, right?" she had casually mentioned in her earlier interview. "Let's say it's just me and Tina. Let's say we really do fool them all, and we pull it off." She paused for dramatic effect. "What do you think will happen to me in the final vote?"

The producer just shrugged.

"I'll tell you what," Vee replied. "I'll get stomped. It won't even be close. We're talking something like seven-nothing."

"Why?"

"Because people just like Tina more than me!" Vee replied, somewhat exasperated.

"Why?"

"I don't know why. They just do."

"So you think that Tina is unbeatable?"

"For anyone else, no. For anyone else, she's a former winner. Against anyone else, they'd kill her."

"But not against you?"

"Nope," Vee shook her head, somewhat bitterly. "I couldn't even beat a former winner. Even against someone who has won before, I'd probably get shut out. And it stinks."

"Well, you'd probably at least get Rob's vote," the producer helpfully pointed out.

Vee just snorted.

"Great. One vote. And it comes from the guy everyone hated. Let's see how far that gets me around here."

So this was the dilemma that Vecepia Towery was currently facing. Yes, Tina was definitely going to turn on the Kekos tomorrow. Yes, the Kekos were all going down. Yes, Vecepia had rigged it so that she was probably going to get to the end against a former winner. Yes, she had defied all the odds and was probably going to get to the final two.

But for what?

Just to get destroyed by someone who was essentially the exact same player as her, but took none of the flak?

Because that was the thing that got under her skin in this game. That was the one tiny detail that got under the normally unflappable Vecepia's skin, and tended to drive her insane. The fact that she and Tina did the exact same type of stuff, they played almost the exact same type of game, yet for some reason Tina was known as "Little Miss Sunshine Popular" and Vecepia was simply "Public Enemy Number One."

This hypocrisy had always infuriated her.

Why the heck did Tina Wesson-- a fellow religious woman, by the way-- never take any heat for being sneaky? Was it because she was just less open about it? Was it because she aligned with "nicer" people? Was it simply just a racial thing?

Vecepia knew what her friend Sean would say. He would waste no time in jumping right to the racial argument. He would flat out say that a white Christian woman would be allowed to get away with a lot more than a black Christian woman, and he wouldn't be subtle about it. Because that was what Sean liked to do. He liked to push peoples' buttons. He liked to point out hypocrisy.

But Vecepia? Well she was a little bit smarter than that. She knew full well that bringing up the race card was a bad idea in selling yourself as the winner. She had learned the first time around that the viewers didn't tend to appreciate that. You start playing the race card too early, and the audience hates you.

So even though she inwardly seethed over the Tina/Vecepia double standard, for now she was willing to keep her mouth shut about it.

But she would only keep it shut for so long, until she saw that it was starting to hurt her.

"So anyway, that's why I need to go talk to Gretchen," Vee explained casually to the camera, as she continued her walk up towards Halulu Point. "I need to talk to her because I think she could use a friend today." She turned and looked back at the camera. "She's been up there all morning, and it's probably because she could use someone to talk to."

And just why would Gretchen be feeling a little down in the dumps this morning?

Well because of "The Spoiler", of course.

Gretchen was still beating herself up over the ethics of having to sit someone out of today's immunity challenge. She hated it. She had been mulling over it all morning. And she had hiked up to the overlook to think over her decision. And that's exactly why Vecepia was here. She was here to be Gretchen's best friend in the world, and to give her an out. You see, Vecepia was going to volunteer to be spoiled tonight. It was time to be the hero for the first time all game.

After all, if Tina Wesson thought she would have an easy opponent at the end of the game, well perhaps Little Miss Sunshine had another thing coming. Because Vecepia Towery was not the type of player who took her fate sitting down. She was a former winner too, you know. Just like Tina. Vecepia also knew how to win Survivor, and it was time start getting personal.

Because right now began the all-important quest to start winning jury votes.

"After all," Vee smiled, "I'm not the one who's going to stab the Kekos in the back tomorrow, now am I?"

She turned and smiled one last time. And even though her eyes were hidden behind her dark sunglasses, it was impossible to miss the dancing gleam underneath. Because she was giddy about this. This was a moment she had been waiting for all game. From this point on, her entire mission in All-Star Survivor was to sabotage Tina.

"Tomorrow night at Tribal Council," she explained, "Tina is going to turn on the Kekos, and she is going to start with Gretchen."

Vecepia shrugged.

"And all I care about right now is making friends with a juror."





^^





So Vecepia Towery went up and she had a little chat with the leader of the Kekos.

It took her two hours to get up to Halulu Point. She lost her cameraman along the way, and wound up with a scraped elbow, a couple of banged-up knees, and a thirst the size of Rhode Island for her effort, but eventually she got to the top.

And that's when then she dropped the offer that Gretchen Cordy hadn't expected to hear.

"If you really want to sit someone out of the challenge tonight, you can sit me," Vecepia finally said. "I won't mind."

"Really?" Gretchen looked surprised.

"Yeah. Come on. Since when am I ever gonna have a chance at immunity? It's not like I ever come close."

"Yeah, but at least you try."

"I can barely swim!" Vecepia laughed. "I mean, look at me. I grew up in Oregon! I grew up on the Pacific Ocean, and sister can't even swim. How pathetic is that?"

Gretchen just laughed.

"So go ahead and sit me," Vecepia nodded. "I don't care."

"Really?"

"Nah. It's no big deal. I don't want you to have to sit yourself."

"Well that's what I was sort of leaning towards doing."

"Yeah, but that stinks," said Vee. "I mean, what if you sat yourself out, and then you got voted out? Wouldn't that be horrible? Would you ever be able to live with yourself?"

"Well I wasn't really planning on getting voted out," Gretchen said, with a sly smile.

"Well yeah, neither am I," shrugged Vee. "But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I mean, I'm not planning on going anywhere, but sometimes S happens."

Gretchen nodded.

"Besides, I'm technically the enemy anyway, right?" added Vee.

"Well, I wouldn't say enemy..."

"Oh please. There's four of you, and there's three of us. And heaven forbid you guys would ever vote out Colleen."

Gretchen laughed again. "Oh come on," she protested, still laughing, "We like Colleen, but come on. This isn't a soup kitchen. If she has to go, she has to go. That's the name of the game."

"Oh please, we all know it's gonna be me or John tomorrow," Vee explained. "You're not gonna touch Colleen. So what's the big deal? Just sit me. Sit me out of the challenge and don't even worry about it. I don't care. I know how the game works. You have to get rid of your enemies."

"Yeah, but wouldn't you call John a bigger threat?" Gretchen asked. "I mean, he's a guy and all."

"Of course," Vee nodded. "John is a much bigger threat than me to win immunity. In fact he's the person I would sit out if I were you. But guess what?" She shrugged. "I'm not the one making this decision. You are."

"What does that mean?"

"It just means that John will be ticked off if you sit him out of the challenge."

"And you won't be?"

"Nope," Vee shook her head. "You can sit me if you want, and I don't care. I don't take things personally like he does."

Gretchen just nodded.

Because as much as she-- and the rest of the Kekos-- distrusted Vecepia, the girl was absolutely right. John was a much more emotional player than Vecepia, and everyone knew it.

"In any case," Vee finally finished up, "go ahead and think about what you want to do tonight, and think about it, and make your decision. I just wanted you to know that if you did want to sit me out, I wouldn't mind."

"Well thank you," Gretchen nodded, gratefully. "I appreciate it."

"Hey, you gotta sit somebody, right?" Vee asked.

Gretchen nodded.

Vee smiled.

And just like that, Vecepia Towery had just laid the foundation for her second friendly juror.

^^

Back at camp, Vecepia didn't tell anyone about what had just transpired between her and Gretchen. They didn't need to know about it, nor did they need to know the reasoning behind it. And they certainly didn't need to know that Vecepia was positioning herself very well for the end of this game. All they needed to know was that Tina and Vecepia were about to ride the end of this game in a blaze of glory into the final two.

And that's exactly what Vee wanted to talk about with her final two opponent when she got back to camp.

"So we're still on for tomorrow?" she asked, as she sidled up to Tina near the Manakai shelter.

Tina looked up, surprised. She hadn't heard Vecepia approaching. Come to think of it, she very rarely did. Vee was just one of those people who happened to move very quietly.

"Hmm?" Tina asked, under her breath.

"Tomorrow night," Vee mouthed. "Gretchen?"

Tina just nodded. Just one quick nod, and that was it. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow was when the illusion of security was going to come crashing down on the hapless Kekos. Gretchen was going home, she was about to get blindsided, and the Kekos were completely unaware of this.

"We sort of need to..." Vee started to say.

But Tina immediately cut her off.

Because someone was coming.

Without warning, here came Colleen and Kathy. They were carrying water buckets back from the watering hole, just happily chatting away. They hadn't yet noticed Tina and Vee standing over by the shelter, and that was a good thing. Because if there was one thing that could cause a lot of panic around camp right now, it was to see Tina hanging around with one of the Ahis. If Kathy had even the slightest notion that Tina might not have switched to their side for good, then this plan could be ruined. Because Kathy was jumpy. And Kathy was observant. And Kathy could be trouble.

So Vecepia did what she did best. She slipped quietly and unnoticed into the trees.

"Hey ladies, you two need some help?" Tina called over, cheerily. She walked over to lend a hand. After all, water was heavy.

"Oh thanks, Tina," said Kathy, as she huffed and puffed her way over to the campfire.

Tina helped the two women unload their water buckets. Then she looked around, surprised. After all, there was one person missing around here. She knew where Alicia and John were. They were down by the water. She knew where Vecepia was. She was lurking in the jungle. She knew where Kathy and Colleen were. They were standing right here. But where was their last one? Where was their seventh?

Where was Gretchen?

"By the way, have either of you two seen Gretchen today?" she now asked, curiously.

"Nope," Kathy shook her head. "I asked her if she wanted to come with us but she didn't want to."

"Really?" Tina asked, incredulously. Here she was, all along, thinking that Gretchen had been with them.

She looked around, concerned.

"I think she might have gone up to the overlook," Colleen shrugged, trying to be helpful.

Three pairs of eyes suddenly turned towards the west, towards the large rock cropping that rose above the trees. And even though it was hard to make out any details from this far away, it was clear that nobody was up there. If Gretchen had been up there, she must have already left. Wherever she was at the moment, apparently they weren't supposed to know.

"She goes up there a lot," Colleen explained. "Especially when she wants to think."

"Yeah," nodded Kathy, agreeing. "And she's been thinking a lot too. Especially about that damn Spoiler. She already told me she hates it."

"Well I don't blame her," Tina nodded. "I wouldn't want to have to do that."

"Me either," Kathy shook her head.

The three women just looked silently off towards the overlook. From here, it looked incredibly lonely up there. From here, it was just a large, bleak platform of rock. It was the type of place you went if you just wanted to think for a while.

And Colleen, as the person who knew Gretchen the best, could feel nothing but sympathy. Because she had been there. She had been there herself recently. She knew how much it sucked to all of a sudden feel like you were the immoral outsider.

"Poor Gretchen," she finally sighed out loud.

Tina said nothing. And Kathy said nothing. All they could do was nod their head in understanding.

Because there really was no more you could say about it.

Just "Poor Gretchen."

For Gretchen, it was going to be a very long and frustrating day today.





^^





Gretchen came back to camp just before lunchtime. She had been off on her own for nearly five hours this morning, just weighing over her decision, and weighing over the consequences. Well, except for the time she had spent chatting with Vecepia. For those thirty minutes she hadn't been alone. But for the rest of the time, it had been all Gretchen time. It had been just her, alone with nature, getting in touch with her feelings.

But now she was back, and it was time for the Manakais to sit around and talk about this.

"Hey guys, you wanna come up here?" Gretchen called down to the beach, where Alicia and John were currently working on a crab trap. They heard her and came walking up.

Pretty soon all seven of the Manakais were standing around the campfire.

It was time to hear Gretchen's decision.

"I have decided," she sighed deeply, "after much deliberation, that I will not be spoiling myself tonight. I'm not going to sit myself out of the challenge."

"Good for you," Alicia reached over and patted her on the back. "You shouldn't have to. You've earned this."

Gretchen looked over and smiled, gratefully.

Then she turned back to the group.

"The person I am spoiling tonight is Vecepia."

Six heads immediately started nodding around the circle. Because, sure enough, that was a decision that everyone could agree with. After all, if the Kekos were in power, they had every strategic right to spoil an Ahi at the immunity challenge. That was just the way it was. As Gretchen would point out repeatedly over the next several hours, it's not unethical at all, it's just flat out strategic.

Even Vecepia seemed to be nodding.

"So you guys don't have a problem with that?" Gretchen asked, somewhat concerned. Because she really did want to know. If someone thought she was doing the wrong thing here, she wanted to hear about it. Because, really, why had fate decided to pick her as the first Spoiler? In this situation, why did she have to be the ethical guinea pig? It just wasn't fair.

"I don't have a problem with it," Vecepia shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

Gretchen nodded.

Part of Vecepia's request had been that Gretchen specifically not mention that Vee had actually asked her to do this. Vee had been very insistent about that. So Gretchen didn't say a word about their little conversation. She didn't say a peep. For now, she would just play the whole decision off like it had been completely spontaneous.

"Well then that's that," Alicia said, clapping Gretchen on the shoulder one last time. Well that had been easy. Alicia was surprised. The choice might have been hard, and Gretchen might have stressed over it, but she had made it without incident, and that was that. Vecepia was sitting out of the immunity challenge. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. End of drama. End of dilemma. Sophie's Choice was over. It was time to move on.

"Hey John, what do you have planned for lunch today?" Alicia suddenly turned and asked their resident cook.

"What?" John was caught off guard.

"Come on Pots and Pans, pay attention," Kathy teased him. "You got some hungry women here."

"Yeah John, we're starrrrrving," Colleen whined, overdramatically.

At that line, even Gretchen had to laugh.

"Oh fuck you," John waved his hands dismissively at them. "Fuck all of you. I aint cooking shit if you're all gonna start bitching about it. I cook every day. Make it yourself."

"But John," Colleen whined again. "My blooooood sugar. I'm flaaaaat-liiiiiining."

"Yeah, whatever. You weigh like fifty pounds. You probably haven't eaten in six years."

Colleen gasped. "Ouch! Our cook is mean!"

John just snickered at her. "Mean? You want to see mean? Well how about this? How about you get the crunchy patty today? How about you get the Mariano Special? Would you like that?"

"But that's not fairrrrrrr."

"Fair, shmair, what do you expect?" John snarked. "I mean, you were the one who was sleeping with the guy. You were the one he was slipping the Little Robfather every night. So it's only fair that you also get all of his hand me downs."

An audible gasp arose from the Manakais. Well, except from everyone but Alicia. Alicia started giggling uncontrollably.

"Oh, you did not just say that," Colleen stood up, feigning outrage. "You did not just go there."

"Oh yes I did," John teased her. "Rob fucker."

Colleen cocked her right fist, as if she were going to punch him.

John wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"Well, honey, just remember what they say," John continued baiting her. "A smart mouth is a lonely mouth. No wonder your Survivor boyfriend left you. You probably nagged his little ass right out of here. If you had shut up, maybe he'd still be here."

Colleen glared at him.

John just stood there and stuck out his tongue.

And then finally, screaming, Colleen came after him. She came running at him. John had been expecting this and, screaming at the top of his lungs, he turned around and fled. He scampered as fast as he could towards the safety of the jungle, laughing as loudly as he could, while little Colleen came racing after him like she was going to kill him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Manakais were all laughing.

"Oh God," said Gretchen, wiping her eyes. "That was classic."

She was cracking up. Everyone was cracking up. And Gretchen was loving it. Because here she was, thinking that today was just going to be all sadness and drama. Here she was, lost in her own dilemma, thinking that the mood around camp was going to be nothing but stressful. Apparently she had forgotten rule number one about living in Manakai: That her tribesmates were crazy.

As if to prove this theory, a faint male cry suddenly came floating out from somewhere in the jungle.

"No!!!"

Apparently Colleen had managed to catch him.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!"

There was the sound of a loud crash.

John screamed.

Trees shook.

"Stop!"

Another thud.

Meanwhile, the five remaining members of Manakai just stood here and looked at one another. They didn't really know what to say. Most of them were still lost in the giggles. That had been too funny. Just totally and completely random insanity. Colleen picking a fight with John, who would have expected it?

Apparently they had all been stuck out here a little too long.

"Well then," said Kathy, after a beat. She took a deep breath. "Anyone want to throw together a pot of rice? We need some lunch."

^^

Vecepia returned with tree mail about an hour later. It was time for the big immunity challenge. And that meant the Kekos had just one last chance to meet before all the post-challenge strategic politicking began. In other words, the joking was over. It was time to get serious.

"So what's the deal?" Kathy asked, once she had joined her other three co-conspirators down by the coastline. "We still on for Vecepia?"

Alicia, who was standing with hands on her hips, the wind blowing softly through her hair, just nodded her head. Yep, Vecepia. She had always been the next target after Rob. Nothing in the past twenty-four hours had managed to change that. Tomorrow, Vecepia Towery was checking out of the hotel.

"And none of you are concerned about sparing John?" Gretchen asked, curiously.

"Nah," Alicia shook her head, dismissively. "Vee's way more dangerous than he is."

"Absolutely," Kathy nodded her head. "Trust me, Gretchen. I know it's sort of counter-intuitive. But there's a hell of a lot better chance that Vee pulls something tricky, as opposed to John. With John, what you see is sort of what you get."

"Yeah I know that," Gretchen agreed, "But still, he's a guy. You're not the slightest bit worried that he could go on an immunity run?"

"He could," Alicia shrugged, "Anyone could. But I think we have to take that chance."

"I don't want Vee around for one more minute," Kathy reiterated. "Gretchen, I know you think it's personal, but it's not. I'm just talking strategy here. You simply can't leave her around."

"Okay," Gretchen nodded. "Fine."

"If the four of us manage to lose this game, it will not be because of John," Kathy finished. "It will be because of Vee. I can guarantee it."

"Fine," Gretchen nodded, one last time. "You know her better than I do. It's your call."

"It's the right one."

"Okay," Gretchen smirked. "But I'm holding your personally responsible if this doesn't work out." She grinned. "If John wins this game, if he kicks all of our butts at the end, I'm blaming you at the reunion. I just hope you realize that."

Kathy just laughed.

"Fine," she said. "If it makes you feel better, I'll take the heat. You'll have every right to call me an idiot. I promise."

And so it was decided.

"And hey, what about you, Tina?" Kathy suddenly turned and asked their newest member. Because for some odd reason Tina had been very quiet during this whole exchange. For reasons unknown, she had had very little to say at all. Which was odd, because Tina actually knew the people they were talking about. She had lived and worked with them for nearly a month now. She probably had more insight into this particular decision than anyone.

And here she had been standing here so quiet, that they had practically forgotten about her.

"Well whichever one you pick is fine with me," Tina just shrugged, "I mean, they both have to go. So it's not all that important."

"Yeah but which one would you vote out first?" Alicia asked.

"Oh, Vecepia obviously. She's trouble."

Kathy nodded.

"But they can't really do much without one another," Tina added. "You have to remember, they're both sort of tied at the hip. If you take one of them out, it's not like the other one will suddenly get super dangerous. If you take Vee out, John's helpless. And the same goes the other way around."

"Alright, good to know," Gretchen nodded. "That sort of makes it easier."

"But I'd still say Vecepia first," Tina shrugged. "Why mess with her if you don't have to?"

"Absolutely," nodded Kathy.

See, she knew there was a reason she liked this woman. She liked her because Tina was wise . Like Kathy herself, Tina Wesson was pretty much the definition of a logical businesswoman. She didn't play impulsively. She didn't make snap decisions. She always did what was right.

And that meant that unless something went drastically wrong in the next twenty-four hours, Vecepia was doomed..

^^

"Come on in, guys."

Jeff Probst smiled, as the seven members of the Manakai tribe walked up and took their positions on the assigned mat. It was time for them to compete in their next big immunity challenge. It was also time to hear what Gretchen had decided to do about her newfound role as the Spoiler. Jeff was curious to see if she had somehow found a way to politically deal with this.

"You guys ready for this?" Jeff asked them, once they were all in place.

"Ready as we'll ever be," shrugged Kathy.

"Good."

Jeff motioned to a large sandy area behind him, where the players were greeted with a large black and white gameboard. It looked like a giant checkerboard. Which, in essence, was exactly what it was. That checkerboard was the key to immunity today.

As if to prove this point, Jeff now slid a large stack of index cards out of his pocket.

Quiz cards.

"Today's challenge," explained Jeff, "is based on island knowledge, as well as basic survival skills in the wild. Today we're going find out which one of you knows the most about how you could actually survive out here on your own. So I hope you have been paying attention."

Six pairs of eyes quickly darted towards Gretchen. After all, she was practically a walking encyclopedia of survival skills. This challenge wasn't likely to be close. She was going to destroy everyone.

"But before we get there..." Jeff added. He nodded towards Gretchen. "Gretchen, you were the winner of yesterday's reward challenge."

Gretchen smiled, still looking a bit embarrassed.

"That means that you are the Spoiler," Jeff said. "You get the honor of sitting someone out of today's immunity challenge."

Gretchen nodded.

"So have you decided?"

"Yep."

"Who's it gonna be?"

Gretchen lowered her head, just looking at the sand.

She knew she should probably open her mouth and say "myself" right now. After all, wouldn't that be the wise thing to do? Eliminate herself? For God's sake, it wasn't like she was going anywhere tonight. She was going to be in no danger at Tribal Council whatsoever. So why deal with the stress of winning immunity when she didn't really need it? Why not let one of the Ahis actually have a shot at being safe tonight, so they would feel like they still had a chance in this game?

But then came the flip side to that argument.

I'm easily one of the biggest threats to win this game, Gretchen's inner monologue had been recently reminding her. Oh, they might not know it yet. They might think I'm this half-baked strategic nobody. But if I get to the final four I'm going to be the first one they come after. Because I'll kick their butts in the challenges, I'll kick their butts in a jury vote, and most of them know it.

"Come on Gretchen," prodded Jeff, "We need a decision."

Gretchen continued going over the pros and cons in her head for a moment. Sit myself? Or sit Vecepia? Which one will help me or hurt me the most in the long run?

"Let's go, Gretch," nudged Kathy. "Just pick Vee. You've already decided."

But Gretchen wasn't swayed.

Because the minute she saw what this challenge was going to be, she had instinctively known she didn't want any part of it. No way. She was way too smart for that. There was no way Gretchen Cordy was going to kick everyone's ass in an immunity challenge this tantalizingly close to the end. It just wasn't wise. As usual, she preferred that they all just forgot about her.

"I choose to sit out myself," she looked up and stated, confidently.

Vecepia and Tina's eyes quickly locked across the mat. Gotcha. The Keko leader had finally managed to slit her own throat.

"You're sure about that?" Jeff asked. "You want to spoil yourself?"

"Absolutely. One hundred percent."

"Can I ask why?" Jeff smiled.

Well the honest answer would be, "Because I'm the biggest threat to win this game and I don't want to remind them of that. I don't want to drive home the fact that I can beat most of these people with my eyes closed. Hadn't they all watched the knife-throwing challenge yesterday morning?" But Gretchen was a little too wise to say something like that. That would have been completely out of character for her. In fact, the other players would have been a bit surprised to know how casually confident she actually was.

Confident, and actually a little bit cocky.

"I just think the Ahis deserve a chance," Gretchen stated, quietly.

"And you don't have a problem taking yourself out of the running?" Jeff queried.

Gretchen shrugged.

"If I get voted out, then I get voted out." She explained. "If I was meant to go tomorrow, then so be it."

"And that's that?"

"That's that," Gretchen smiled.

"Alright," Jeff said, clapping his hands together. The die had been cast. Gretchen was eliminating herself from the survival trivia-off. And that meant that this challenge was suddenly about to get a little more interesting. All of a sudden, everybody else actually had a chance at winning immunity.





^^





Most of the squares on the gameboard were white.

There were, however, six black ones. And those were the squares on which where the players were instructed to stand. One by one, they all walked to a black square and took their place. Then Jeff brought out six blindfolds and asked them to blindfold themselves.

"There are six black squares on this board," he explained, "And six green ones. And your job as competitors is easy. When we finish this challenge, your job is to be standing on top of a green square. Whoever is standing on top of a green square at the end of the challenge wins immunity."

"What if no one is on a green square?" asked Alicia, from under her blindfold.

"Well then whoever comes closest," explained Jeff. "It's like playing horseshoes, guys. Closest one to the stake wins the game."

Jeff walked over to a nearby wooden platform. He climbed up eight rungs on a ladder until he had reached the top of it. Now he stood about ten feet above the players on the board. This was his perch where he could watch things unfold.

"Okay guys," he called down to the players, "I'll be asking you ten questions. For each answer, you will move a certain number of squares, in a specific direction. Depending on your answer, I will tell you which way to go. Got it?"

The six players nodded.

"After ten questions, we take off the blindfolds," Jeff finished. "And then we find out who wins immunity. Closest one to a green square wins."

Simple enough rules.

The players were ready.

"Question one," Jeff announced loudly, over the hum of the beachfront wind, "How many major Hawaiian islands are there?" He looked down at the players below. "Whatever your answer is, take that many steps forward."

Most of the contestants took eight steps forward. Alicia took seven.

"Question two. True or false? Cane spiders are poisonous. Take one step left for true, take one step right for false."

The players moved.

"Question three. When it is noon in New York, what time is it on Ni'ihau? Take your answer, and take that many steps forward."

Several players appeared to have difficulty with this one.

"Question four. Name the animal that was imported to Hawaii to eat rats, but ended up eating native birds instead. A. Snake, take one step left. B. Mongoose, take two steps right. C. Wild dog, take one step forward. D. Gecko, take two steps back."

On and on the questions went, with the difficulty increasing with each one. Sitting down to the side of the platform, Gretchen could only smile and shake her head, amused, as she watched her fellow players struggle to come up with the answers to most of them.

After question eight, both Jeff and Gretchen laughed out loud when Kathy and Alicia accidentally bumped into one another on the board. They had been trying to wind up on the exact same square.

"That's not good," Jeff teased, laughingly. "One of you guys is way off. Choose again."

"You got a hard head, Calaway!" Kathy laughed.

With two questions left to go, Jeff looked down and surveyed the board. It looked like only three of the players had a legitimate shot at winning immunity tonight. It was going to be John. It was going to be Tina. Or it was going to be Colleen. Even though they didn't yet know it, the other three players were much too far away from a green square to have very much of a chance.

"Question nine," Jeff announced. He looked down at his card. "Approximately when was Captain James Cook killed by the native Hawaiians? A: 1720, take two steps forward. B: 1750, take three steps forward. C: 1780, take four steps forward. D: 1820, remain on the same square you are currently standing on now."

Gretchen watched as only Colleen took the correct four steps forward. She was the only one who had gotten that question right. Colleen Haskell was going to win this challenge.

Well unless she did something stupid on the final question, that is.

"Okay guys," called Jeff, "Last question. This question is going to decide it."

He looked down at his index card.

"Question 10. Which of the four following Hawaiian plants is highly toxic? A: The carambola, take two steps forward. B: The fan palm, take two steps back. C: The tree fern, take two steps to your left. D: The oleander, take two steps to your right."

"Oleander", Gretchen silently repeated to herself. After all, who didn't know that? The oleander was one of the most poisonous plants in nature. This one was easy.

And she watched with shocked horror as Colleen stepped the wrong way. Colleen thought it had been the carambola.

"Tina's gonna win," Gretchen looked up and told Jeff. "Colleen got it wrong."

Jeff looked down at the board and nodded. It looked like Colleen had just made a last-minute mistake and cost herself immunity. In about half an hour, when she found out, she was going to kick herself.

"Okay guys," Jeff announced, "Blindfolds off. Let's see who won."

The blindfolds were removed.

Six players looked down.

Tina was two steps away from a green square.

Colleen and John were off by four.

No one else was even close.

"Tina!" called Jeff. "Wins immunity!"

Tina Wesson squealed with delight and thrust her fists happily into the air. "Thank you, God!," she called, loudly. Then she started clapping her hands together in delight. All around her, the other five players came over to congratulate her. Colleen Haskell still had no idea she had choked on the last question.

"Nice work, Tina," smiled Jeff, as he climbed down and handed her the immunity lei.

Apparently Tina Wesson was going to be safe at Tribal Council tomorrow. She would be perfectly safe from the vote, no harm could befall her, and that meant that her choice as the swing vote had suddenly gotten significantly less complicated.

Now as to what that meant for the safety of Gretchen Cordy and the Kekos...

... well that was a little bit harder to say.





^^






The afternoon sky was just starting to turn to dusk when the seven members of Manakai began their long trek back to camp. It was time to go back home and start dinner. It was time for John to put together whatever culinary idea he had prepared for tonight. It was time to wind down the day, sit around their fire, and get ready for tomorrow.

And that was when Gretchen Cordy got the news that something was possibly amiss.

As expected, the tipoff came from her once-favorite daughter, Colleen.

Gretchen and Colleen had been hiking back along the rocky trail, about a hundred feet or so behind the rest of the tribe. They had been walking slowly, just chit-chatting about the usual stuff, and that was when Colleen dropped the bombshell that the Kekos hadn't been planning for.

"Tina is still with the Ahis."

When she heard this, Gretchen Cordy's stomach nearly dropped to the ground.

One minute she had been telling Colleen how close she had been to winning immunity tonight, and the next minute Colleen had just turned the entire structure of this tribe on its hind end. Because if Tina was really still on Ahi, if she was really still with John and Vecepia, well that would make a significant difference in the planning for tomorrow night's vote.

After all, Tina had been talking all along like she was a full-fledged member of Keko.

"You sure about that?" Gretchen asked, low, under her breath.

"Yeah," Colleen nodded. "They just told me."

They, of course, referred to Tina and Vecepia. The danger twins. The one that Colleen was so wary of when they started chatting together.

"Who are they after?" Gretchen asked.

"You."

Gretchen suddenly felt like she had just been sucker-punched. And of all the nights to give up a chance at immunity. On the very same night the rest of them were plotting her demise! Ugh. This game drove you crazy sometimes!

"Well then you know what that means," Gretchen turned and said, quietly. "We need you."

"But I can't go with Keko," Colleen said, quickly. "I told you. You guys would slaughter me in a jury vote!"

"Yeah but..."

But Gretchen never had a chance to finish.

Because here came Vecepia, who had slowly been trailing behind.

Vee walked so quietly that, in the dark, you rarely ever heard where she was.

"Man, Gretchen, I'm glad you weren't in that challenge tonight," Vee smiled, as she edged close enough to get within conversation distance. "You would have slaughtered us."

"Well you did a pretty good job of slaughtering yourself," joked Gretchen. "At least from my angle."

Vecepia laughed.

But Gretchen and Colleen didn't. They just exchanged a quick nervous glance.

How much had Vecepia just heard of their conversation? And how much had she missed?

"Well in any case, it should be an interesting vote tomorrow," Vecepia said. "You know, with you guys comin' after me and all."

"Oh come on," Gretchen smiled, "What makes you think that? What makes you think it won't be John?"

Vecepia just smiled.

And all of a sudden, Gretchen realized that the next twenty-four hours were going to be a lot more stressful than she had previously believed.

DAY 30

The rain came down early on the morning of day 30, and it also came down often. Which was only fitting, since this was about to turn into the single harshest day in All-Star Survivor.

The players were stirred awake by the rumblings of a tropical storm just after 5:30 in the morning. Small pops of raindrop began hitting the roof of their shelter just as the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. These small pops were soon replaced by larger pops. And within fifteen minutes, the sky outside had darkened. And that's when the Manakais heard their first crack of thunder.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

The ground underneath their shelter shook violently.

"Awwwwwww mannnnnnn," Alicia moaned, from underneath her makeshift blanket, "I hate the tropics. I hate these fucking storms."

Then came the second crack of thunder.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

That one practically rattled their teeth.

Gretchen Cordy, who happened to be sleeping the closest to the entrance to the shelter, timidly peeked her head outside and looked around. Even though Gretchen was by far the most skilled outdoorswoman of the tribe, even she was a little nervous when the tropical thunderstorms inevitably showed up. Because when the rain came down in places like Hawaii, it came down hard. When you were sleeping about 200 feet from the open ocean, you were in for some pain.

There was some lightning.

Then more thunder. BOOOOOOOOOM!

Gretchen quickly ducked back inside.

"Well, there's good news, and there's bad news," she ruefully reported to the rest of the tribe.

"Please don't say the bad news is about my raincoat," Tina said, painfully.

"Sorry, T. It's toast."

"Dangit!"

In an attempt to dry out their personal items, some of the Manakais had hung up their jackets and assorted other warm clothing on a clothesline before they had gone to bed last night. It had been a calculated risk to do something like that around here-- after all, when rain came down, it tended to come suddenly-- but the last two days had been so warm, and so sunny, that it hadn't seemed like there had been much of a danger at all. The appearance of a sudden monsoon-type storm this morning had surprised everyone. There hadn't been any warning signs.

"So who all lost raingear out there?" Gretchen turned and asked them over the din of the rain. How many of the Manakais were going to be stuck inside until this storm passed? How many of them were going to be helpless to do pretty much anything for a while?

"Mine's out there," John said, "But I'll go out if you need me. Lord knows if I'll be able to cook anything though."

"My coat was hanging up too," Kathy ruefully admitted.

One by one, the hands shot up. Nearly everybody's warm winter clothing was still hanging out there, now saturated in rain. The only two people who had any sort of dry outerlayer clothing at all were Gretchen and Alicia. They were the only two people who would want to go out right now.

Although getting Alicia to go out in the rain was usually easier said than done.

"Well if you guys need anything out there, just let me know," said Gretchen, as she started lacing up her hiking boots. "I'm gonna make a quick run before it gets too bad. I want to make sure we have everything we need before we get rained in."

BOOOOOOOOOOM! More thunder.

She better be quick. This storm was gonna be a bastard, and everyone knew it.

"Just grab some fruit," Kathy suggested. "And maybe the water canteens. If we get flooded, I don't wanna lose those."

Gretchen just nodded. Check. She was already on it.

BOOOOOOOOOOM! More thunder.

With one final tightening of her hood, Gretchen pulled herself into a standing position and ducked herself out of the shelter. Where she was immediately met with the wrath of God. Gallons and gallons of water came down and attacked her, as she searched through the morning blackness for anything of potential value she could find. Sadly, it looked like the storm had already destroyed or otherwise absconded with just about everything.

All she came back with was one of their canteens.

"That's it?" Colleen looked up, worried.

"Sorry," Gretchen shrugged, as she wormed her way out of her raincoat. "Everything else is gone. This is all we have. It's already flooded out there."

There were assorted groans from the rest of the tribe.

Great.

Just the perfect start to what promised to be a terrible day.

^^

The rain didn't let up for most of the morning. It continued to pour down on the meager little Manakai shelter hour after hour after hour. And even though the players dreaded the thought of going outside today, they knew that strategic necessity pretty much said that they had to. There was no way they could stay huddled up here inside what was essentially a twelve by fifteen wooden box. There was stuff that had to be discussed in the upcoming hours before Tribal Council.

Even though it sucked, sooner or later most of them were going to have to go outside and get some conversational privacy.

"Fuck this," Alicia Calaway was the first person to be heard to say. Looking pissed as hell that she was about to walk outside into what the players would later jokingly refer to as Hurricane Mariano, Alicia took their one remaining canteen and slung it over her shoulder.

Someone had to get the ball rolling, and it might as well be her.

"I'm going on a water run," she announced defiantly, as if challenging the skies themselves to try and stop her. "We need water. Anyone wanna come with me?"

She turned and looked back, expectantly.

Any takers?

"Yeah, shit, why not?" said John Carroll.

Sighing forlornly, the only male left in the game pushed his hands against his creaking knees and stood himself up. Walking out into hell wasn't his idea of a comfortable Saturday but... oh well. That was just the way it was sometimes. He and Alicia had been working on some sort of a side deal and they needed to discuss it. It was time for the two bottommost rungs on their respective totem poles to meet and compare notes.

"Anyone else?" Alicia asked.

Nope. Not a one.

And with that, John and Alicia traipsed out into the rain to talk about the vote.





^^





"I'm tellin' you right now, I got a bad feeling about tonight," Alicia muttered, as she and John walked along the long, lonely muddy path through the jungle.

"Bad, how?"

"As in I think that Tina's gonna screw us."

Alicia looked over at John for some sort of confirmation. But John, if he knew anything, wasn't talking. He just nodded his head, as if taking it in.

"So what do you know?" Alicia queried. "Are we fucked tonight? Is Tina really sticking with the Kekos, or are we screwed?"

"I wouldn't bet five dollars that Tina would do anything you ever want her to."

"Yeah, I know. That's what pisses me off."

Alicia just continued to walk with her head down through the rain. Because she could feel it. She could feel it like it was sitting right there in front of her. Tina was running back to Ahi. And why wouldn't she? There was nothing stopping her. The minute that little bitch won immunity, she could do whatever she wanted. In fact, just the thought of what was destined to happen tonight was enough to piss the volatile Alicia off. She could already see it happening in her head.

"Damn, this sucks," she muttered.

"Well yeah, but it only sucks short term," John replied, cryptically. "At least, for you."

"Translation."

"I'm just saying," John grinned mischievously at her. "It might suck a little bit for you guys tonight. In fact, it might suck a whole lot. But just remember, I want you in the final four a lot more than I want someone like Tina."

"Oh don't even fuck with me, Pots and Pans."

"I'm not! I'm being serious!" John assured her. "Just shut you mouth, and go with whatever happens tonight. Just keep your mouth shut, and things will work out for you."

Alicia shot him a dubious look. But John appeared to be one hundred percent serious. Even out here in the rain, even out here in this shit, she could see it in his eyes. John had a devious plan in mind, and he was ushering her in.

"You promise me?" she asked one last time.

"I swear to God," John said. "Just... keep your mouth shut today and let everything happen that's going to happen. Just let nature take its course."

"And you're not going to fuck me on this?"

"Hey, if I fuck you, then I fuck myself."

Alicia laughed.

Well if nothing else, she liked the way he put things.






^^






Alicia and John came back to camp about half an hour later. And they looked drenched. Poor Alicia's raincoat was practically plastered to her skin, it was so wet. And as for poor John... man, he was so drenched to the bone he looked like something the cat dragged in.

The Manakais welcomed their two shivering tribesmates back into the shelter.

"Where's Gretchen?" John asked, suspiciously. Because either his head count was wrong, or they were missing a person.

"She went to go tie up the raft."

"Damn," John whistled, admiringly, under his breath. That woman had balls. Who wanted to go wander out into the ocean in the middle of a storm?

BOOOOOOOM!

As if in response, their shelter was shaken by a particularly loud crack of thunder.

Still shivering, John sat down and cuddled up next to Colleen. His sleeping buddy. His little kid sister on Ahi. She eagerly embraced his body warmth and cuddled right back. As you can guess, tiny little Colleen didn't do all that well in the cold.

And luckily, since they were sitting so close, John was able to whisper to her.

"Did you warn Gretchen that Tina was gunning for her?"

Colleen looked up in shock.

Huh? How had John known about that?

"What?" she whispered back.

"I just heard a rumor from Alicia."

John looked up to see if anyone had caught them whispering. But luckily, they hadn't. Tina appeared to have gone back to sleep. And Kathy had ducked her head outside of the shelter, and was looking around.

John now glanced over to see if Vecepia was watching. Of course she was. Vecepia, like Rob, tended not to miss anything. She was watching their every whisper.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Colleen whispered back to him. "Yeah, I was talking to Gretchen last night. But I didn't say a word."

"Nothing?"

"No!"

Colleen tried her best to look visibly hurt.

"Okay," John reassured her. "Never mind. Alicia was probably just talking out of her ass."

"Well yeah, she does that."

"She said that Gretchen warned her the Kekos were in trouble."

Colleen scrunched up her face into a grimace of disgust. Her? Warn the Kekos? Since when? The idea was absurd. She shrugged her most innocent denial. No way. Wasn't me.

"Okay," John was convinced. He smiled reassuringly.

But Vecepia wasn't convinced.

No way.

After all, she had seen Colleen's shenanigans firsthand. She had watched her playing both sides last night. Colleen had warned Gretchen. Right there in front of her. Oh, Colleen could deny it all she wanted to, and John could buy her explanation all he wanted to, but that didn't mean that Vecepia was going to as well. She was a heck of a lot smarter than that.

Vecepia Towery was now aware that the Ahis had a mole.

Her name was Colleen.

Colleen Haskell was playing both sides of the fence, and she was doing it well, but she was about to get caught.






^^






The rain finally let up just after what would have been lunchtime. And by "let up", that didn't mean the rain actually stopped. It just meant that you could walk outside without being blasted in the eyes with little water pellets. For the first time all day, you could comfortably walk outside without the threat of being blinded.

And that meant it was time for the Ahis to meet.

John Carroll pulled Colleen and Vecepia aside onto one of their local lava trails. Normally he would have called a meeting in the jungle or down by the ocean, but there was a great need for privacy today. This was a meeting that the Kekos weren't supposed to know about. So he called it in the one place you didn't want to walk if it was slippery. He went down to the lava rock.

"Is Tina coming too?" Vee asked nervously, as she shivered with her hands tucked under her armpits.

"Yeah, just give her a sec," John nodded. "She wanted to slip away quietly."

Vee just stood there, shivering. She looked miserable. Colleen didn't look any warmer. This all-important strategic meeting was destined to be short.

And here she came.

The tiny little form of Miss Tina Wesson started gingerly picking her way down the lava rock. And she did it with great care, too. After all, Tina was the first person who would be able to tell you what a nasty sprained ankle you could get from walking on such an unstable surface. After all, just like John, she was a nurse. She had seen what people could do to themselves.

"Come on, T, we're freezing!" John laughed up at her, teasingly.

"Oh hold your horses," Tina called down in her melodic sing-song. "I'm not gonna break my leg just 'cause John can't feel his toes."

Within five minutes, Tina had finally reached them. And that meant it was time to talk shop.

"First off, guys, there's something I have to get off my chest," Vecepia started.

"Yeah, go ahead," John nodded.

"I'm really wary about this vote tonight. I don't think we're targeting the right person."

Vecepia looked around the circle to see their reaction.

There was none.

"You're not down with Gretchen?" John asked, curiously.

"I was. But not anymore."

"Who then? Kathy?"

Vecepia just nodded.

"But we sort of talked about this," John pointed out. "We even discussed it after the last vote. Rob goes first, then Gretchen. And you were on board with that. You wanted to cut off the head."

"Yeah I know. But it doesn't feel right."

"Well yeah, because you've got a grudge against Kathy." John practically laughed. "I mean, come on, Vee. You can't stand there and bullshit us. You can't stand there and bullshit me. You have wanted Kathy gone since day one. We've even talked about it!"

"Yeah but Kathy is a much better player."

John just stared at her, in disbelief.

"If you guys want my opinion," Colleen suddenly butted in, "I actually think that Vee is right. Kathy is a better player."

Without meaning to, John shot her a nasty look. Well of course Colleen would want to save Gretchen. After all, Gretchen was practically her mother. Of course Colleen would pick Kathy.

"Look, you guys," Tina tried to step in as the voice of reason, "When I agreed to stick with the Ahis, it was for one reason and one reason only. It was because I wanted Gretchen out of this game. I've told you before, and I'll say it again. I don't want any part of her."

John nodded his head, agreeing with this.

"Gretchen is laying as low as she possibly can," Tina reiterated. "Look, you guys. I've talked with the Kekos. I've hung with them. And I can tell you as sure as the hair on my head that Gretchen is a far better player than she is trying to let on. From day one, she has been playing us all. She has been playing possum."

Tina just stood there, a tiny little figure atop the lava rock. Rain dripped down from her bangs.

"What Gretchen is going to do," she continued, "is get to the final five or six, and then start playing hard. She is going to sneak past every one of us, because most of us are going to forget that she's not just some innocent little pre-school teacher. We're going to forget that she was once an advanced survival training instructor. We're going to forget that she is probably a better athlete than anyone here."

Tina didn't know how much more she could possibly say about this.

If they wanted to leave Gretchen around for one more vote, these people were idiots.

"Who do you think Richard Hatch wanted out of this game the minute he had the chance?" Tina continued. "It was Gretchen. Gretchen was the player who scared the pants off of him."

"Well, actually it was Greg," Colleen pointed out.

"What?" John whipped his head around.

"Yeah," Colleen nodded. "Greg was the one who was supposed to go first. He was a much stronger player than Gretchen. Richard was scared to death of him."

The other three Ahis just stared at her, dubiously.

"Oh yeah," Colleen nodded, "You guys didn't know that? Jeez. I thought that was common knowledge." She giggled, without really meaning to. "Greg was supposed to be first, but he won immunity. So they saved him for second."

"So Gretchen wasn't the biggest threat then?" Vee smiled, confidently, already knowing what the answer would be.

God bless Colleen Haskell.

God bless someone for actually being the voice of reason out here.

"Please," Colleen laughed. "Gretchen the biggest threat? Over who? Guys, she couldn't even beat me in Monopoly."

Vecepia started chuckling.

"I mean, I love her," Colleen laughed, "But come on. You'd really keep Kathy over Gretchen? You really think Gretchen will know what to do when she has to vote out her friends? You think she'd have any idea how to deal with that?"

Now Vecepia finally laughed out loud. She didn't mean to. But she couldn't help it. Here John and Tina were building Gretchen Cordy up into some sort of Survivor boogeyman. They were building her up as being unstoppable. They were building her up into some sort of female version of Colby Donaldson.

And all this, over a woman who just yesterday had Spoiled herself?

Even John suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

Tina Wesson, who had long known that Gretchen Cordy was going to be going home tonight, suddenly felt three pairs of eyes turned in her direction. And even through the rain, she could feel their insistence. The Ahis wanted to change the vote to Kathy. They wanted to take out the person who was a much more obvious player, as opposed to a person who was more of a potential player.

They wanted to take out Kathy, who was more of a visible strategic threat.

"Oh no," Tina said, shaking her head, insistently. "No, no, no. Please tell me you guys aren't gonna do this to me."

"I don't know," John shrugged, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Kathy is a hell of a player, Tina. You have to admit."

"You guys!" It wasn't just the rain. Tina looked visibly pissed.

"I'm just saying," John admitted, "Colleen makes an interesting point. Gretchen isn't the least bit competitive."

"She doesn't care about winning at all," Vee interjected.

"Not now. But just wait. She's been playing us."

But there wasn't much Tina could do. It was three to one. She had been backed into a strategic corner, and she didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit..

And to think that, up to now, she had been a big fan of Colleen.

The Ahis never did come to a specific conclusion about whether to vote for Kathy tonight or not, but they eventually decided to disperse and head back to camp. After all, they could continue this later. There was only so long four people could disappear into the wilderness before they started to draw suspicion. Even in the middle of a rainstorm, one of the Kekos would probably wander over and find them.

So the Ahis dispersed.

But not before Vecepia pulled John aside.

"Hang on a second," Vee said, as she waited for Tina and Colleen to get out of visual range.

John hung back.

"What's up?" he finally asked.

"We've got a mole."

She spilled her guts. She reported what she had seen.

And just like that, the future of Colleen Haskell in this alliance had just been suddenly stopped short.





^^

It was only hours until the great Tina Wesson betrayal, and already the Kekos were starting to get jumpy. They didn't really know why-- after all, nothing concrete had been confirmed one way or another-- but already Gretchen and Kathy were starting to feel edgy.

"She's gonna screw us," Kathy muttered softly to Gretchen, as the two women returned to camp from an aborted fruit-picking trip. They had been out in the jungle looking for some type of dinner tonight, but it turned out it was still far to wet to be searching around.

"Who, Tina?" Gretchen asked.

"Yeah," Kathy muttered. "I can feel it. Something doesn't feel right about this."

Gretchen, who of course had already been given a warning about this, simply nodded her head.

The only thing that the Kekos knew for sure at this moment was that Colleen had warned Gretchen to watch out for Tina. Colleen had dropped a helpful little tipoff on the way back from the immunity challenge last night, and ever since then, things around camp had started to feel a little bit hinky. Ever since then, all eyes had been on Tina, as the Kekos had tried to construe this.

"How much faith do you have in what Colleen told you?" Kathy asked, quietly.

"Do you want a happy answer? Or do you want my real answer?"

"Shit," muttered Kathy. "That's what I was worried about."

Gretchen just nodded.

"Colleen would never lie to you, would she?" Kathy asked.

"I doubt it. She's a good kid."

Bugger. Now Kathy knew they were really in trouble.

"So then if we lose Tina tonight, what are our options?" Kathy said, as she stopped to sit down on a large rock. "Who can we get to replace her?"

Gretchen sat down next her. It was still raining much too hard to be sitting around out in the open like this, but since things were about to get exceedingly complicated, that meant it was time to get wet. Sometimes you just had to give your body up to Mother Nature, for the sake of the game.

"Okay, let's think about this for a second," Kathy continued, as the rain dripped down her blonde hair and into her face.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM! A thunder crash off in the distance.

"Well I told you we can't get Colleen," Gretchen pointed out. "It's not gonna happen."

"Never?"

"Nope. She said all three of us would kill her in the jury vote."

"Which is probably right," sighed Kathy. "Damnit. Damn us all for being way too likable. That was stupid of us."

Gretchen let out a tiny little bitter laugh.

"So what about John?" Kathy asked, hopefully. "Any luck there?"

Gretchen just shrugged. She had tried with John. So had Alicia. Hell, so had Kathy. So far, all the guy seemed to be interested in was hanging on to Vecepia. He had made it adamantly clear that he wanted Vecepia there at the end of the game, and he also wanted Colleen. Like Colleen, he wanted no part of facing one of the Kekos in front of a jury. He only wanted people he knew he could beat.

"That little booger's gonna win the game, isn't he?" Kathy suddenly deduced out loud. "Holy crap, Gretch. I never even realized it. He's got us in checkmate."

Gretchen just snickered. She, too, had failed to notice John's sudden rise to prominence as a power player in this game. One day he had been the camp cook, and the next day he looked to be suddenly unbeatable. How John had managed to set himself up against three unlikable females in the final four would be a mystery forever. All along it had seemed to everyone like he simply hadn't been trying.

"And we know Vecepia's not gonna switch," Kathy trailed off, pessimistically.

"Would you switch if you were her?" Gretchen asked, rhetorically.

They both knew the answer to that. Never in a million years. Vecepia was tied to Colleen and Tina. Those were the only two players she had even the slightest chance of beating at the end, and everyone knew it. Tina because she was a former winner, and Colleen because she was wishy-washy and because no one respected her.

"So if Tina really does go back to the Ahis..." Kathy trailed off. And there she stopped. Because she didn't like the rest of that sentence. She didn't like where this thought process was headed at all.

In recognition, Kathy suddenly rested her face in the palm of her hand, and looked down at the ground. She started shaking her head, sadly. Because she suddenly realized that everything they did over the next five hours was essentially pointless. Nothing they did or said in the hours leading up to tonight's Tribal Council was going to make the slightest bit of difference at all.

One way or another, whether it was Gretchen or Kathy leaving the game tonight, she knew the Keko comeback was effectively over. Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, who was usually the optimist of all optimists, had no way to argue with this.

And for the first time all game, she looked like she was going to cry.

"Oh come on," Gretchen sighed, sadly. She slung her arm around her friend's shoulders. "It's not like you're the one going home tonight. Colleen already told us they were voting for me."

"Yeah but..." Kathy couldn't help it. She was already crying. "We were supposed to be a team. We had them, Gretch. We had them. One more vote, and we would have been unbeatable."

Now Kathy was visibly sobbing.

"Yeah but you'll still get a chance to take them down," Gretchen offered, helpfully. "You'll still be here."

BOOOOOOOOOOM! Another blast of thunder. The rain continued to pour down around them.

To Kathy, it all seemed very fitting.

"Look," sighed Gretchen. She rubbed Kathy's shoulders. She wasn't the crying type herself, so she was doing her best to keep her poor teammate's spirits up. After all, Kathy still had a very good chance to win this game. She might not know it yet, but Gretchen wanted to remind her of that. After Tina's betrayal inevitably went down tonight, Kathy was still going to be here, and she was going to be pissed. And since Kathy had always arguably been the strongest player in this game, that meant the Ahis were in trouble. When push came to shove, you didn't want to mess with a desperate Kathy.

"All you have to do is remind yourself that they can only take out one of us tonight," Gretchen explained. "All they can do is take out me. They can't take out both of us."

Kathy continued to fight back tears. With her soggy white buff covering most of her face, she looked incredibly beaten.

"After they vote me out," Gretchen continued, "all you have to do is go up to Vecepia and talk some logic to her. Or go to Tina. Just explain to them exactly what we just talked about."

Kathy wiped her eyes. She was snuffling and she hated it. She hated breaking down like this. But she was listening.

"Just explain to them that John is putting himself in a position where no one can beat him."

"They already know that!" Kathy tried to rebut.

But Gretchen simply shook her head.

Nope. There was no way anybody would have noticed that. The Ahis were too self-centered and John was way too sneaky about this. There was no way that Tina or Vecepia or Colleen would have noticed the game he was playing. Only an outsider would have noticed. And insider would have been blind to it. He was simply too subtle.

"After I'm gone," Gretchen continued, very matter-of-factly, "just go to any one of the Ahis and explain why they need to get rid of John. Explain it very logically, and very emotionlessly. Don't come off like you're desperate."

Kathy just nodded. Obviously, this was a plan she probably would have figured out on her own, eventually. But being that she was practically in the middle of a nervous breakdown at the moment, it was nice to have help. Two heads were always better than one in this game, even if you were Kathy.

"You just gotta remember," Gretchen finished, helpfully. "final five is always better than final six. Buy yourself a couple more days, and anything's possible."

Kathy nodded her head one more time, extremely gratefully.

She still hated what was about to go down tonight. She hated it from the bottom of her heart. But sitting here in the rain, even soaked to the bone, she knew she was still in this game. There was no way they were ending her game until they snuffed out her torch.

Gretchen was right. There were still nine more days to play after Tina's betrayal.

In nine days, there was a lot that could happen.

"I think we should probably get back to camp," Gretchen said a little louder now, as she tried to talk over the splatter of the rain. "Alicia's gonna get worried. And I don't want her going off and doing anything stupid. You're gonna need her."

Kathy just laughed. Yeah, an impulsive Alicia on the night of Tribal Council was always a bad thing. Hadn't they learned that over and over for the past thirty days?

"Yeah, let's get back," Kathy nodded. "I don't want to have to undo any Alicia damage. My butt's gonna be pressed up against the wall enough as it is. I don't need her helping them press it."

Then she laughed. One last time. HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW.

Gretchen smiled. She always did love that Kathy-laugh. It was one of her favorite parts about playing this game. It always made her smile. Although she was a bit saddened when she realized that this was the last time she was probably ever going to hear it.





^^

Back at camp, the Kekos finally had a chance to meet up with Tina. They finally had a chance to pull her aside, and get her thoughts on what she was going to do tonight.

Even though they already knew the truth about what was about to go down, they wanted to hear it from her. Partly because it would be easier, but partly because they thought that, at the very least, she owed it to them. If nothing else, all they wanted right now was some explanation as to why Tina Wesson had decided to flip.

"I honestly haven't decided yet," Tina wishy-washed, as she stood there in the rain.

"Oh fucking whatever," Alicia retorted.

Gretchen winced. That wasn't the tone that was going to be helpful right now. If Tina had already made up her mind-- and apparently she had, from the Colleen report-- then the worst thing the Kekos could do right now was back her into the corner.

Unfortunately, backing someone into a corner was exactly what Alicia did best.

"What do you mean by that?" Tina looked at Alicia, warily.

"I mean exactly what you think I mean. I think you're a lying bitch, I think you've always been a lying bitch, and I think that you're fucking with us."

Gretchen put her hand on Alicia's shoulder. Calm down, tiger.

But it was no use. Alicia was livid.

"You're honestly going to stand there and tell me you have no plans to vote with the Ahis tonight?" Alicia asked, extremely accusatory.

"Well, sure, it has crossed my mind..."

"Then why don't you just tell us that?"

"Tell you what?"

"That we're fucked."

"Now come on," Gretchen interjected. She moved over and tried to position herself between the two women. Because this was not accomplishing anything right now. All it was really doing was killing a possible jury vote for either Alicia or Tina. And the thought of Vecepia and John standing off to one side, giggling with glee, was all that Gretchen could think of. This was exactly what the two of them wanted right now. They wanted the Kekos to implode.

"Gretchen, I swear to God," Alicia threatened, "If you weren't here..."

"Then what?" Gretchen turned and challenged her. After living with Alicia for nearly a month, she was sick and tired of this shit. It was always the same. If Alicia didn't get her way, she would try to bully you. She would do it through screaming, and she would do it through intimidation.

It had taken thirty days, but Gretchen Cordy was officially a little bit tired of her.

"Look, Alicia," Gretchen started, "Either Tina is going to vote with us tonight, or she's not. It's her decision. And it's not going to do us any good to have you start threatening her."

Alicia just crossed her arms and stared her down.

"What I want you to do right now," Gretchen continued, "is go over to the shelter and sit your ass down. Cool off for a while. And if you get the urge to stand up and start talking again, fight it. Because right now, I hate to tell you, but people are officially sick of you. You just need to shut up."

Standing off to one side, Kathy just put her head down and tried to suppress a laugh.

Man, Gretchen sure knew how to go out with a bang, now didn't she?

Alicia, of course, said nothing in response. She just stood there, arms crossed across her chest, and stared down the taller Keko leader. Rain continued to pour down in buckets all around them. No one said a word.

"Well if you want my honest answer..." Tina finally started, hesitantly.

"We don't," Alicia said flatly.

And that was it.

Gretchen had officially had enough.

"Alicia," she whirled to face her, "That's it. Sit down. Go away. And shut... the fuck... up."

Gretchen didn't like to swear, but enough was enough. Sometimes you just had to fight fire with fire. Unfortunately, Alicia Calaway was an artist who worked in profanity, and the only way to communicate with her was to sink to her level. And that's why for possibly the first time in her forty years of life, Gretchen Cordy-- preschool teacher extraordinaire-- actually dropped an f-bomb on someone.

Alicia said nothing. She just glared at Gretchen one last time, and then turned away.

After all, she already knew full well what was going to happen tonight. Tina was voting with the Ahis. John Carroll had already told her. It pissed her off like you wouldn't believe, but the plans were in place. The only consolation, of course, was that Gretchen and Tina would both be gone in a couple of days, so it really didn't matter.

In the end, Alicia decided that this confrontation really wasn't worth it, so she backed down and left.

"Man, that was nuts," Kathy said very quietly, once Alicia was far enough away to be out of earshot. "Gretchen, man, you got a death wish."

Gretchen just stuck out her tongue slightly and laughed. Apparently there was a first time for everything. She hadn't seen that one coming either. She had just opened her mouth and out it came.

"So what's the deal, T?" Kathy finally said, once cooler heads had finally prevailed. "You're voting with the Ahis, right?"

"Well of course," Tina admitted. "Wouldn't you?"

Kathy just shrugged.

"I mean, I don't want to lie to you guys," Tina continued. She continued to squint her eyes against the downpour of rain. "You guys have been nothing but honest with me, and I don't want to get your hopes up. But you have to see I'd be kind of suicidal to face three Kekos in the final four."

She scanned their faces, a little hesitantly.

"You guys can see that, right?"

As much as they didn't want to, Kathy and Gretchen had no choice but to reluctantly nod and agree with this. Tina really would be suicidal to try and beat a Keko at the end. She was absolutely correct. The only people she could possibly beat were Vecepia and maybe Colleen. And, heck, maybe even Alicia, if Alicia pushed too many wrong buttons.

Facing Kathy or Gretchen at the end?

Tina would have to be the stupidest player on the face of the earth.

"Well at the very least, thanks for telling us," Gretchen said. "I mean, it sucks. But nothing sucks worse than getting blindsided."

"Yeah," nodded Tina, sympathetically, "That's the way I felt about it too. I didn't want it to be a surprise. You guys have been good to me. It's just... this is just something I think I have to do."

Kathy nodded.

So did Gretchen.

Of course, the next question on their lips was "Which one of us is it going to be?"

But there was no way Tina could tell them that. She would have liked to, but she couldn't. After all-- in her mind-- the choice was still very much up in the air. The Ahis simply hadn't decided.

^^

Even under the best of circumstances, the walk to Tribal Council was incredibly difficult. Even under perfect conditions-- and perfect weather-- the walk to vote out one of your own was a little uncomfortable.

Tonight, of course, conditions were not perfect. With the rain coming down, and the chilliness surrounding the tribe and the vote in general, tonight's conditions were just plain downright miserable.

And that's what made tonight's walk to Tribal Council just a little bit awkward.

Alicia Calaway walked at the front of the tribe. As they trekked through the jungle, with rain pouring down upon on their heads, and the skies quickly turning the angry gray-black that signaled the beginning a long evening, Alicia walked all by herself about two hundred feet in front of the rest of the tribe. Her head down, and her rain jacket covering most of her body, Alicia appeared to want no part of anyone else in this tribe, so she walked by herself.

She had, in fact, not spoken with a single member of the Manakais in more than an hour.

"You think she's okay?" Vecepia asked John, curiously, as the two alliance mates walked slowly behind her.

John just nodded her head. No problem.

He knew Alicia. He knew the way she worked. She was probably just blowing off steam.

"I'm a little worried about her," Vee admitted, softly.

"Worried about what?"

"Worried that she's gonna cause problems."

John just looked over and scoffed. Alicia? The queen of predictability? Cause problems? For who? Alicia was as easy to read as a telephone book.

"I just think she's gonna be difficult to work around," Vecepia said, quietly.

John opened his mouth to say something, but luckily he didn't have a chance to. Because here came Tina, sidling up to them. Which was fortunate. Because if John had said something, he might have accidentally given away the super secret alliance between himself and Alicia.

And Vee definitely wasn't supposed to know anything about that. At least, not yet.

"You two set on a name yet?" Tina came over and asked, coyly.

She looked expectantly from one of them to the other. Who was going to get the hammer tonight? Who had they officially decided on? Kathy or Gretchen?

Tina knew who she wanted. She still wanted it to be Gretchen. But so far, she had always been in the minority.

As if on cue, there was a massive crash of thunder. BOOOOOOOOOM!

That time it was so close, Tina nearly jumped out of her skin. She always had been terrified of being outside during lightning storms. And this one was one of the worst.

"Come on guys," Tina pleased, half-laughing. She looked like she was shivering. "Don't leave me hanging. Give me a name. It's stressful enough just being out here as it is."

"Well you know my feelings on the matter," Vee shrugged, softly.

Vee wanted Kathy gone. Case closed. She had wanted her gone since day one.

John looked over at Tina with sympathetic eyes. Because he knew her position. And he also knew that it wasn't going to happen. No matter how much Tina wanted Gretchen gone, it wasn't going to happen tonight. No way. Tina simply didn't have the votes-- or the power-- to take control of this game. Nor would they let her.

John knew how frustrating it must be for her, but it was simply the truth.

"I think I gotta go with Vee on this one," he admitted, sheepishly. "Sorry, T. I just don't want Kathy to win. She's gotta go." He looked at her with rain pouring down in his eyes. He could see from the little scowl on her face that she wasn't very happy with this.

"Well I still think it's a mistake..." she said.

But that was that. There was no use arguing it now. It was simply too late to change. They would be voting out Kathy over Gretchen in about thirty minutes, whether she liked it or not.

"I'm sorry, T," John said, one last time.

She just scowled at him. With her raincoat pulled tight over her face, and standing barely over five feet tall, she looked like an angry little ten year old. At this moment, standing here soaked in rain, she looked to John like the world's wettest and most frustrated little fourth grader. She looked like a girl who wanted to play jump rope but wasn't getting her way.

"We do Gretchen next," John smiled, trying to soothe her. "Okay?"

"Promise?" Tina asked, with a sad look of resignation in her eyes.

"Yeah. No worries."

Tina didn't much like it, but this was apparently the best deal she was going to get. It was going to be Kathy, and then Gretchen. They were going to do it backwards. So help her God, the morons in her alliance were going to take Gretchen's head right out of the guillotine. They were going to give her a last minute stay of execution on the very night that by all rights, and all logic, she really should have been gone.

It was enough to make Tina feel sick to her stomach.

"You down with this?" John asked her, a little concerned.

"Of course," Tina replied, somewhat snippily.

"Good."

Tina retreated back into the anonymity of the rain, where she could walk all alone with her thoughts. Did John know that these thoughts included getting rid of him as soon as she possibly could? Tina didn't really know. Nor did she really care. Tonight all she could do was pout and go along with the plan. Because John was right. She didn't have the ammo behind her.

In any case, screw John. Screw him and Vecepia. Let them have their way.

There would be plenty of time to deal with the two of them later.

"Hey, I'm gonna go chat with Alicia," John murmured to Vecepia, once the vote had officially been decided. "I wanna go say something to her."

Vecepia just shot him a curious look.

Talk to Alicia?

Willingly?

Who did he think he was? Some sort of a masochist?

"I just want to make sure she knows what's gonna do down tonight," John added. "I don't want her to do anything stupid at Tribal Council."

"I don't think she's ever not done something stupid at Tribal Council," chuckled Vee.

"Yeah, I know. That's what I want to prevent."

So John sped up his pace. Walking through the dark jungle trail, he left Vecepia alone in the back. He walked past Tina. He walked passed the softly gossiping Gretchen and Colleen. He walked past a very downtrodden-looking Kathy. Maybe she already knew?

Soon, he was at the front of the pack. He was next to Alicia.

She looked over at him, warily.

She didn't look happy.

"Dude, your ass looks fantastic in those shorts," John teased her, as he often did when they talked by the fire. "You look super ripped tonight."

"Don't mess with me, John," Alicia said, wearily.

Oops. He took one look at her face and saw why she had been walking alone. Even under the rain, even through the stormy darkness, he could see the faint remnant of tears. Alicia had been walking alone because she had been crying.

Hmmmm. Now there was something you didn't see every day.

"You okay?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"You sure?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

John shot her one last suspicious look. He wanted to see if she was actually fucking with him. After all, eighty percent of the time, she usually was. Alicia happened to be a master of the awkward interaction. She was much more playful than the rest of the tribe liked to give her credit for. If you weren't paying attention, she would often play mindgames with you.

"Well I'm serious about your ass," John smiled. "It looks cut. I think you've lost weight."

John figured, if nothing else, he would just compliment her on her physique. It was something she was very proud of. She had worked hard on her body, and complimenting it nearly always worked.

This time, however, it didn't.

This time he got no response.

Alicia just put down her head and sped up the pace.

And just like that...

BOOOOOOOOOM!

More thunder. As if it were on cue.

This was going to be an interesting Tribal Council.





^^





The seven Manakais filed into Tribal Council and took their seats. And there they sat, wet and shivering, with their naked torches standing barren before them. The rain had soaked the wicks so bad that they were impossible to light.

The two jury members-- Frank and Boston Rob-- took their seats across the Tiki Lodge in the jury box.

It was time to begin.

"First off," Jeff said, with a small smirk on his face, "I have to say that you guys look horrible. All seven of you look completely miserable to be sitting here right now."

"We feel miserable," croaked a froggy-voiced Colleen, from beneath her parka hood.

"Why? Because of the rain?"

"No. Because God hates us. Apparently we did something wrong to Him recently."

Normally, a joke like that would have gotten a laugh, especially when it came from someone like Colleen. But thanks to the mood in the room it certainly didn't get a laugh tonight. It fell completely flat. Jeff was amazed to see that not a single player here cracked so much as a smile.

"Man," he said, with amazement. "I have to tell you. I don't really know what to say right now. Because you guys look like you do not want to here."

No one answered him.

"Gretchen," he turned and tried to address his comments towards somebody interesting. "What's the deal here? Why does everyone look so bummed out tonight?"

"I think it's just stress, mostly," Gretchen answered, honestly. She shrugged. "Stress, and maybe a little bit of rain sickness."

"Stress, because you guys have been living together for so long?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "And also because we had a couple of blowouts recently. A few people lost their tempers today, and it has made things a little bit difficult."

"A few people meaning who?"

"Meaning me," she frowned, looking down at the ground, somewhat embarrassed.

"You lost your temper?"

"Yeah. I sort of snapped at Alicia."

Over in the jury box, Boston Rob suddenly piped up. A Gretchen-Alicia blowout? Man, he would have loved to have seen that. Although he would have been stunned to find out that Gretchen had actually been the aggressor in said confrontation. Rob would have probably passed out in sheer amazement had he known that only one person had cried at the end of that fight, and it hadn't been Gretchen.

"Well tell me more about this," Jeff appeared piqued as well. "This sounds interesting."

"You know, Jeff," Gretchen sighed, "I don't really want to talk about it." She looked up at him. "I feel bad about it, but it happened once, it sucked, and now it's over."

"Well yeah," explained Jeff, "But you know I have a job to do. I sort of have to ask about this stuff."

"Well I think that your job sucks."

Over in the jury box, Frank cracked a visible smile.

"Okay then, fine," Jeff appeared to be a little bit annoyed "Alicia." He turned to his right to look at her. "Gretchen isn't spilling the beans. So let's go to you. What's the scoop? What went down between you guys today?"

Alicia, who had been lost in dream land somewhere, just staring at the fire, suddenly looked up, startled.

Hmmm?

Jeff shot her an exasperated look.

"I'm sorry," she said, softly, "I wasn't listening."

"What happened between you and Gretchen tonight?"

"We had a fight."

"And?"

"And it's over."

That was it. She wasn't going to elaborate. Like Gretchen, she didn't want to talk about this right now. It was too soon, and Tribal Council was neither the time nor the place. At the moment, she simply didn't want to rehash all of this.

"Okay," Jeff sighed. "Fine. Is that the way you guys are gonna be tonight? Nobody is going to put in the effort to talk to me?"

Apparently, yes. No one said a word.

Over on the left of the bench, Colleen remained huddled and shivering.

"Look," Jeff said. He stepped out from behind his podium and took a few steps towards them. He looked annoyed. "I know that you guys have been living in absolute shit for the past twenty-four hours. I know it, and I can respect it. I can't even imagine what that must do to your psyche. I also know that you guys, as All-Stars, probably hate it the most."

He shot a look at Tina. Like Colleen, she looked tiny, shivering, and miserable.

"But this isn't group therapy session," Jeff said, somewhat angrily. "This is Tribal Council. This is important. I mean, I know it sucks out there, but it has sucked for other players in the past too. So if you think I'm gonna cut you some slack, you can forget it. Grow up. Yeah, it's raining, and it's hard, but deal with it. You guys are the All-Stars."

He shot a look at Vecepia. She was actually nodding her head and smiling. She liked that.

So the Kekos got beat. Big deal. She was tired of the drama and everyone's collective little pity party.

"Vee," Jeff asked, "So what's going down tonight? Give me the scoop."

"It's gonna be a big vote tonight," Vecepia explained.

"How so?"

"Well I think that tonight we're gonna find who's really calling the shots."

Jeff shot her a sly smile.

"Well how sure would you be that you are part of that group?" he asked, smiling. Although even before she opened her mouth, he knew what the answer would be. Vecepia was always a part of the group calling the shots. That was just what she did. That was why she was so good.

"I like to think I'm part of the majority," Vee shrugged. "But you never know for sure. Heck, for all I know I could be going tonight."

"How safe do you think you are tonight? For real? Give me an honest. Scale of one to ten."

"Five."

Jeff practically grimaced. Well if that wasn't a Vecepia answer, he didn't know what was. Average, boring, completely down the middle and forgettable. Total Vecepia. This was exactly why he didn't talk to her much.

"John, what about you? Same question."

"Scale of one to ten?"

"Yeah."

"I'd say eight."

"You think you're that safe tonight?"

"Well I don't know so," John backtracked. "But I'd like to think so."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not a Keko."

Ah. And there was the answer that Jeff had been waiting for. Finally, his digging had struck gold. They were voting for a Keko. Over in the jury box, Frank and Boston Rob suddenly leaned a little closer in their seats. Now they were getting to the good stuff.

"So then Kathy," Jeff turned to face the most verbose member of the Manakais. "If it's going to be a Keko tonight, it could obviously be you."

"Oh, most definitely."

"Does that concern you?"

Kathy shot him a look. Was he on crack? Of course it concerned her. After all, she was paranoid old crazy-eyed Kathy. She saw danger in everything. Was there anything that didn't concern her?

"Well shyeah," she half-laughed, "Wouldn't you be concerned?"

"Well forgive my stupid question," Jeff pointed out, "But as near as I can see, you don't seem to be all that broken up about it. I mean, I look at Gretchen, and she looks as sad as can be. I look at Alicia, and she looks like her puppy just died." He smiled. "But I look at you, and you look like you're the same old Kathy. You've still got the same old smile on your face, same as usual."

"Well I'm just not really the moping type."

"Even if it could be your number tonight?"

"Well this is the way I look at it," Kathy mused. "If they want to vote me out tonight..." She shrugged her shoulders. "then what can I do? I mean, I tried my best. I made all the right moves. I pushed all the right buttons. But sometimes the numbers just don't work out for you."

"That sounds a little defeatist to me."

"Well what you call defeatist, I call practical." She shrugged. "If they're going to vote me out tonight, they can go ahead. What can I do? I can't do anything to stop them."

"Nothing?"

"Well other than point out that Gretchen is a much bigger jury threat than me. And that Alicia can kick anyone's butt in a challenge, if she ever put her mind to it."

Jeff laughed.

"Other than that?" Kathy frowned, "I don't think I can do anything to stop them. If they want to make the single stupidest move in the game, they can go right ahead. If they want to keep Gretchen and Alicia around, I won't stand in their way."

"Spoken like a true diplomat," Jeff chuckled.

"Hell, I don't care," Kathy shrugged, "They can vote me out if they want. Let's just get this thing moving. It's fricking cold over here, man. Colleen's about to pass out."

And just like that-- on that note-- Jeff announced it was time to vote.

^^

One by one, the Manakais walked up to the voting confessional.

One by one, they cast their vote.

It was time to reveal.

"The person voted out tonight," explained Jeff, "will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately." With that, he nodded his head. Then he reached into the bamboo ballot box and pulled out the first slip of paper.

"Vecepia."

There was Kathy's vote, written in her big, bold, unmistakable scrawl. As expected, the Kekos were all voting for Vecepia tonight. Kathy had made it her mission since day one that there was no way Vecepia Towery was going to defeat her again. No way. It just couldn't happen.

"Second vote..."

Jeff pulled it out.

"Vecepia."

That was Gretchen's vote. That was two.

"That's two votes Vecepia," explained Jeff, as he reached into the urn and pulled out the third vote. Sure enough, it was another one for Vecepia. Three Kekos, three votes for Vee. Exactly as planned.

Alicia had voted with the Kekos just like John had desperately requested her to.

"That's three votes Vecepia," Jeff announced, "Four votes left."

Vecepia Towery, who had only been looking on with mild interest up to this point, suddenly turned her head and made eye contact with her best friend in the jury. Because she wanted to tip Rob off before it actually happened. She wanted him to know that Kathy's obsessive mission to destroy Vecepia was about to meet an unkind and inglorious end. It was about to fail. And all thanks to her.

Vecepia had defeated Kathy yet again.

She knew Rob would like that.

Jeff pulled out the fourth vote, and that was when Vecepia mouthed the word to Rob in the jury. She mouthed the word "Kathy." Rob caught this, of course, and grinned. Exactly like Vecepia expected, he thought it was funny.

"Kathy."

On the far right of the player bench, Kathy suddenly let out a big sigh. She placed her hand over her face, and looked down. She shook her head. She looked surprised. Since when was she supposed to be the target tonight? She had been of the understanding it was supposed to be Gretchen.

Jeff pulled out the fifth vote.

They all knew who it would be for.

"Kathy."

Kathy just shook her head one more time.

Bugger.

Frigging Vecepia.

Second time in a row. Second time in a row. Kathy should have known.

"Sixth vote..."

Jeff pulled it out.

"Kathy."

"Yeah, yeah," Kathy muttered, under her breath. "Whatever. Let's just get it over with." She sounded annoyed.

In sympathy, Gretchen reached over and patted her on the knee. She felt bad for her friend, of course, but... dang. Why had the Ahis decided to switch targets tonight? Why had they decided to spare her? Why did this suddenly come out of left field? This vote was quite the surprise.

"That's three votes Kathy," Jeff announced, "Three votes Vecepia. One vote left."

But it didn't matter. Kathy was already reaching for her torch.

"Where are you going?" Jeff rebuked her.

"It doesn't matter. It's for me," Kathy said.

Jeff shot her a look. Kathy sat back down. But she didn't want to, All she wanted right now was to get this nightmare over with and get out of here. She wanted to get out of this Tiki Hut as fast as possible. She wanted no more part of sitting here and watching Rob grinning like a fool over in that jury box. It was driving her crazy.

And-- brother-- if she were to turn around right now and see Vecepia smiling?

No lie, she would probably punch her.

As Kathy tried her best to stay calm and stare at the fire, Jeff pulled the final ballot out of the urn. Kathy hoped beyond hope that by same miraculous twist of fate someone had actually written "Vecepia" on it, but sadly, miracles didn't often come to you when you were a member of Keko. Apparently the Kekos were destined to be crapped out and crapped on by fate, that was simply all there was to it.

"The tenth player voted out of the game," said Jeff, "and the third member of our jury..."

He revealed the ballot. It was written in Vecepia's distinctive lower case handwriting. Of course that was the one the producers would have picked.

Those bastards.


"Kathy."


Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, who all along had probably been the most skilled player in All-Star Survivor, simply turned her head to the left and smiled. Because on a certain level, you had to laugh. Didn't you? On a certain level, didn't you have to find it downright hilarious that Vecepia had managed to defeat her again? Wasn't there just some sort of cosmic irony in that?

Kathy tried. She tried to laugh. But it didn't sound right.

So screw it, she just brought up her torch.

"Kathy, the tribe has spoken."

The wild-haired blonde woman watched as her torch was snuffed. Of course it wasn't literally snuffed, since there had never been a fire in it in the first place. But it was symbolically snuffed, and that was close enough. The best remaining player on the Kekos had just been eliminated.

Kathy would be the first one to tell you that now the Kekos were doomed.

"Stay cool, guys. Rock on."

She turned and shot them one final little hand gesture. It was either a peace sign or a hang loose gesture. No one was really sure which one it was. Although, in either case, it would have been fitting. Kathy would be a hippie until the day that she died. They were going to miss her.

"Bye Kath," Gretchen raised one solitary hand.

"See ya, K.O." John called out after her.

"Stay out of the rain," Alicia called out.

And just like that, she was gone.

Her blonde hair was the last thing they saw in the distance, and then they were six.

"Interesting," commented Jeff. He looked over at the remaining players, watching as the gravity of losing such a prominent player began to finally sink in. After all, you didn't lose a spirit like Kathy that often in this game. In just the last sixty seconds, the room had suddenly grown quieter. It was like a switch had been flipped.

"Well I'll tell you what," said Jeff, as he looked up at the sound of rain on the roof of the tiki lodge, "From where I'm standing, I don't think this storm is going to end anytime soon. I think you guys are going to have a miserable walk back through this crap."

"Please say we can sleep here..." Colleen begged.

But she didn't have to ask. Jeff was already going there. For the first time in twenty-four hours, the players would be safe from the storm. They would be sleeping in the tiki lodge. They would have a dry roof over their heads.

They were all incredibly grateful.

"But do remember this," Jeff explained, with a grin on his face, "Remember, the storm might end tonight, but the game does not. Because remember, you have another reward challenge tomorrow morning. And that means that one of you gets to be our new Spoiler." He turned and looked at Gretchen. "Wasn't it fun last time?"

"I hate you."

Jeff just laughed.

How horrible. How ungrateful. How undignified.

And after all the work the producers had put into planning surprises for them!

- Read Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien's final words

- Read Mario's Episode 10 commentary notes

- Back to the All-Star Hawaii episode archive

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