Episode One: Welcome To Kiribati

Kiribati, located in heavy isolation in the South Pacific, houses the island of Nikumaroro, the island where 16 strangers will be abandoned and left to survive. The sixteen players would be divided into two separate tribes. The Houaran tribe and the Penoua tribe will be competing against each other for the next thirty nine days, but today is only their first. The large shipping vessel that had been floating in the warm pacific waters for days, left from Fiji only four days ago, and was soon going to transport the survivors to their island. When the castaways were roughly about three miles from the shore the boat set down it’s anchor and stopped in the water. The tribes were brought above deck. The sixteen castaways were brought above deck and their eyes began to adjust to the bright light of the Kiribati sun light, and they each began to feel and adjust to the sweltering heat of the location. Once on deck, they were split into their two tribes. On the Houaran tribe were Amber, Ashton, Brandon, Fadey, Rachel, Ryan, Walt, and Zelda. Representing the Penoua tribe would be Adam, Aidan, Angela, Chris, Emma, Heather, Matt and last but not least Zoe. The sixteen castaways were given very little time to get to know each other before they were to begin their first immunity challenge as a tribe. The host greeted the second season of survivors and explained that shockingly their first challenge would start right away. The castaways were to gather all the equipment that they could in forty-five seconds and then dive off the boat and use a large inflatable raft to get them to shore. The catch was that they would not just be rowing to their camps, they chore was to paddle out the fastest that they could to a large purple marker on the beach in front of them. Once there, they would fine a crate with their tribe’s name on it that would provide their other supplies for the rest of their journey. Once they reached the crate they would find a small shell covered box that would contain eight small pieces to a map. The marker that they would paddle to was equidistant between the location of the two camps. The first tribe to put together their map pieces and use it to guide them and whatever supplies they could carry with them, and then reach their tribal camps would be the winners of the first immunity challenge.

The tribes were quick to jump off the boat with as many supplies as they could. Amber and Brandon were first off the boat for Houaran and were quick to inflate the raft. The other members of the tribe followed throwing pieces of equipment off the ship before them. The Penoua members were also quick in the water. They had all of their equipment and supplies that they could get in the short forty-five seconds off the boat. Zoe and Chris quickly dove off the boat and started to work on the raft. They were off. Equipped with paddles they raced to get to the marker. The Houaran tribe reached the large purple marker only a few short seconds before Penoua did. However Penoua quickly assembled their map with minimal effort and was off with all of their supplies. The Houaran tribe was trailing by only about a minute while they slightly struggled to put together their map. Once off the challenge was coming close to being finished. Both tribe were around a mile from their campsites and were getting eager. The Penoua tribe however decided to look outside of the box and decided to cut across a the center lagoon in the island while it was shallow to hopefully save them time. The Houaran tribe was still in the running while they quickly walked towards their camp. Both tribes had worked hard and worked as a team to figure out how to get to their camps, however they would not know who had won until the next day. When the got to their camps, their was a message knifed to a tree telling them that if they had won the first immunity challenge they would find the immunity idol and a set of waterproof matches waiting for them the next morning of their journey.

The tribes both arrived at their camps slightly defeated that they wouldn’t have the results until tomorrow, but they still knew the importance of trying to make fire and trying to put together a shelter as quickly as possible. While Houaran was trying to figure out a way to create fire, Amber and Fadey were out in the jungle patch on their beach trying to gather whatever large pieces of wood they good gather and other items for a shelter. Later in a confessional Amber indulged that she was enjoying the vibe thus far in the game. She said, “getting to know the seven strangers that I will be accustomed to for awhile was nice. They all seem nice and sweet. To me first impressions are everything.” The Houaran tribe labored for the rest of the day trying to build up their shelter and start a fire. Meanwhile on Penoua the atmosphere was equally as open and work hard. Emma noticed that there had been however a lack of effort from some tribe members while others had worked really hard on the last challenge and around the camp. “...there are a few people that I know really well, and a few people that I don’t know that well.” She also noted that “Zoe and Chris both worked really hard on the challenge.” However amongst the great atmosphere, the four days at sea and rigorous athletics on the first day, it had taken a toll on Penoua’s Matt, Adam and Heater. All of whom had to spent the majority of their first day taking a breather from the challenge. The tribes both managed to build a temporary makeshift shelter for the night while they would work over their time here on further fixing it and strengthening it to battle the elements on Nikumaroro. The sun began to set as the first day in Kiribati was coming to a close. Tomorrow morning the tribes would know if they had won immunity and would stay together as a tight unit of eight for another three days.

The first night in Kiribati proved to be a challenging one as the tribes were forced to spend their first night on the island wet. The light downpour was enough to ruin the first night. Bright and early on their first day the Houaran tribe awoke from their restless night and began to try and search for dry wood. However it was Ryan who first noticed that the Immunity Idol was not waiting for them. While Zelda was out collecting dry wood, she was the one who discovered a new message in their treemail box. The message instructed the Houaran tribe to be prepared for their first Tribal Council the next day. However on the other side of the island, the Penoua tribe was greeted in the morning with the smiling face of the Immunity Idol. Angela talked into the camera that morning expressing her joy for winning immunity, saying, “it feels so great to win!! I honestly didn’t think we were gonna do it! But Chris did an amazing job!!!” Similarly Adam, who was now finally feeling better after his first day of illness, was also very excited and grateful for the win. “Immunity, for me, was fairly important...I may have missed out on some of the first, ‘getting-to-know-you’ period.”

While mood was on an all time high at Penoua, the atmosphere was becoming very cutthroat at Houaran. All eight members knew the harsh reality that one of them would be leaving tomorrow, none of them wanted to see themselves leave. It was shortly have the strategy talk began that castaways noticed differences in strategies and the creation of a rift. “Well, Houaran is offical Samburu II. Split down the middle, but not by age...just lifestyle or attitude or whatever” said Zelda. Things reached a boil when Rachel was accused of being ‘confrontational’. She addressed the tribe saying, “if I said something that was out of line, you should have just told me, not just talk about me behind my back.” In a confessional one member of Houaran confessed that the accusations were the fault of one person, Ryan. “That’s just bullshit that Ryan made up...he’s an instigator” said the Houaran tribe member. The tribe spent the rest of the working on their shelter to prevent the depressing effects of the rain, and figuring out a strategy for the next vote. The Houaran tribe visited Tribal Council the next day. The eight members clad in aqua buffs walked along the coastline and finally wadded out into the shallow part of the lagoon and walked up the plank of a shipwrecked pirate ship. Once there, the castaways took a torch from the back of the ship and lit them in the fire pit in the center of the Tribal Council area. Once there the tribe was asked various questions by the host. When asked questions about the group’s unity most seemed to believe that there were strong relationships already, but no further mentions of a rift. “I think we have a great group here everyone I have talked to, I have been able to connect with on some level” said Walt. Finally the votes were read, the first three were for Zelda, making her slightly nervous, but finally the last five votes all read Ryan. The accused ‘instigator’ had suffered the price and has now become the first person voted out of the Houaran tribe and out of Kiribati.