Mental Warfare

Mental Warfare is the ninth episode of Survivor: All-Stars.

Day 24 (Night)
The final eight return to camp having just attended their first merged tribal council, where Sheamus became the first member of the jury.

Conversations continue around the stray fourth vote cast against William, as Isaiah begins to openly come under suspicion from his alliance.

Isaiah walks away from the rest of the tribe, clearly annoyed by the false accusations heading his way. Ben tells the others he'll talk to Isaiah, assuring them that it's simply another one of his 'meltdowns'. Ben sits by Isaiah on the beach, trying to comfort him after the fallout of the last vote. Unknown to Isaiah, it was in fact Ben who cast the fourth vote against William.

Day 25
Ben and Danni sit together in the shallow water discussing the future of the game. The two of them agree that staying together as a six is best for them, but Danni voices her concerns about Isaiah.

Back at camp, the others lay around relaxing during the afternoon. Isaiah still appears to be in a mood after the false accusations made against him. The others sit around talking, excluding Isaiah from their conversations. As the afternoon passes, Mina does her best to have conversations with others in the game, wanting to try and get ahead of Abbas on the totem pole, knowing that the likelihood is that one of them will be the next voted out. She tells both the Chapera and Saboga sides that it would be foolish for them to go down to 3 versus 3, and proposes that they keep her, telling both sides that she'd work with them against the others.

Day 26
Danni reads Tree Mail aloud to the tribe, with the message indicating both reward and immunity.

Abbas and Mina talk together before leaving for the challenge, knowing that if either win it will likely put the nail in the coffin for the other. Joking around with one another in order to keep their spirits high.

Reward & Immunity Challenge
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Big Bad-O Course

For the first half of the challenge, the Chaboga Mogo tribe will be divided into two teams of four, which would compete in an obstacle course. The first team to finish the course wins reward and the right to compete at the immunity half of the challenge. The immunity portion requires the players to solve a slide puzzle where they must have the piece with the knife be removed from the central slot. The first player to use the knife to cut a rope to raise a flag wins immunity.

Reward: Rain parkas, letters from home and eligibility to compete in the Immunity Challenge.

Additional Stipulation: The winner of the Immunity Challenge also wins their full video from home.

Winner (team reward): Light Blue Team (Adela, Ben, Isaiah and William)

Winner (individual immunity): William

Everybody sits down to watch William's video after his challenge win. The video features his wife Coretta, who had previously visited him in Marquesas. During the video, Coretta and William's family all wish him well, ending with his entire church congregation singing for him. William gets teary during the video, as do several other contestants. The final eight return to camp, with four now holding letters from home, and William a guaranteed place in the final seven.

Chaboga Mogo
The final eight return to camp, with the four reward winners breaking off privately to read their letters from home. Ben looks quite emotional reading his letter, but manages to refrain from tearing up. Isaiah cries reading his own letter, having felt lately that he's needed the unconditional love from family more than ever. Adela's letter is from her fiance, which causes her to break down. The four reward losers sit around the shelter, giving the others space whilst they read their letters. Mina heads off to begin collecting firewood, as Teddy goes alone to fetch water for the group. Abbas and Danni remain around the fire, talking about the follow days tribal council.

Day 27
Both Abbas and Mina get to work immediately on day twenty-seven, knowing that they're working against the clock to ensure that they're not the one voted out at tribal council. Mina continues pitching to both sides that she'd benefit them more than Abbas, hoping that notes aren't compared, as it would ensure her elimination from the game. Abbas sits talking with Danni and William, hoping to discover if the plan to vote out Mina will still be going forward. Midway during the conversation, Danni stands and decides to publicly summon her alliance.

The alliance of six walk together out of the camp, going towards the water well in order to have a conversation together as to who between Abbas and Mina should go home. Abbas and Mina sit alone at the shelter and begin laughing at the blatancy of their predicament.

The three ex-Saboga members and Isaiah return to camp, with Adela and Ben remaining by the water source to fill the canteens. They begin talking through their options, seeing if it would be too early to make a move against the other trio within their majority alliance.

Back at camp, Danni tells Abbas to still vote for Mina, and that she'll be doing the same. Lying to Abbas that she's doing her best to turn the numbers against her. Isaiah runs back to the water source, finding Adela and Ben finishing their conversation. Adela leaves and returns to camp after they reiterate that the vote will be against Abbas.

Throughout the afternoon, conversations take place between Ben, Abbas and Mina, as Ben tries to determine whether using them to vote out Danni or Teddy would be worth the risk. Abbas and Mina seem hesitant during the conversations, but ultimately both say they're willing to vote anyone if it gets them further.

At tribal council, Sheamus looks on with disdain as he takes his spot on the jury bench, keeping his eyes locked on Danni and William. Jeff asks the group how the fallout at Chaboga Mogo was after the first merged tribal council. Mina talks about how both she and Abbas are at the bottom of the tribe, and are ultimately aware that one of them is likely to be going home in the vote. She mentions that her trust had been broken by several people on the tribe, naming Danni and William as two of the culprits. Danni says she finds this unfair, as everybody has broken their word at some point in the game, pointing out that Mina herself betrayed Reniero. Mina says she owns that she broke her word to Reniero, and says that everyone eventually faces the consequences of their actions in the game. Isaiah talks about the stray vote issue, voicing his anger at being accused of voting for William by the rest of his tribe. He openly says that he voted for Sheamus (which gets a shocked reaction off the juror), saying that somebody else is lying about where the vote came from. Jeff asks the alliance of six if the stray vote has caused doubt amongst them, which they all agree it has. However, Adela says that one stray vote shouldn't break them apart, and that even if that person votes stray again they still have the numbers needed to vote either Abbas or Mina out of the game. Abbas and Mina are asked what their pitch to be kept safe over the other would be. Neither opt to make a plea, instead saying they've said their peace, and don't wish to 'bad mouth each other' in what could be one of their final moments. Mina says that her and Abbas have formed a friendship, and that it will always hold some value to both of them beyond the game.

Abbas sighs, looking over to Mina and giving her a half smile before the next vote is read as they continue holding hands.

The final seven return to camp, with the dynamics shifted once again, and three majority alliance members now feeling like they're on the bottom.