Hiding Wine Isn't a Crime

Hiding Wine Isn't a Crime is the seventh episode of Survivor: Thailand.

Day 18 (Night)
The remaining four Chuay Gahn members return to camp having just voted Rachel out of the game in what proved to be an emotional tribal council. The group remain looking sad, slowly gathering around the fire.

Chuay Gahn
The tribe awaken to tree mail and a selection of four different colour paints. The group are instructed each to select one colour to decorate their body, and to head over to a meeting point for both tribes. The group feel excited about the prospect of merging with Sook Jai, even though they remain concerned due to their 6-4 numbers disadvantage.

The group begin painting their bodies, finding the activity a relief from typical camp chores and paranoia. Julius paints his lips and eyelids in the style of his typical makeup, feeling as though the paint is bringing back his character.

Sook Jai
The Sook Jai six receive the same tree mail as their rivals, but due to their numbers advantage they are informed that they must have two pairs selecting the same colour paint (out of the choice of four). Estan, Ricardo, Kanda and Karen each pick their own colour, with Phillip eventually picking the same orange paint as Kanda, and Rick debating which of the other three colours to select.

Karen rolls her eyes, walking away from Rick so as to not cause an argument before the tribes meet up. The group remain very much split during the self-painting session, knowing that the divide will show when the groups merge together.

Tribe Meeting
The final ten reach the meeting point, finding Jeff in the middle waiting for their arrival. He welcomes the final ten, congratulating them for reaching this stage in the game. The contestants are informed that by selecting a colour, they have paired themselves up with an individual (or individuals) on the rival tribe. The first pair of Estan and Aaron are selected to head back to Chuay Gahn to scout the camp, whilst the second pair of Ricardo and Julius head off to Sook Jai. The third group of Phillip, Kanda and Salma head down the beach from the meeting point, with Rick, Karen and Vince sitting by the jungles edge. The pairs heading off to camp are informed that once the meeting is over, they must come to a decision as to which tribe the final ten will live at.

Kanda, Phillip & Salma
The trio sit on the beach by the water, opening their small basket of food to share between themselves. Salma starts by introducing herself to the pair, which they respond to by doing the same, getting the awkwardness of introductions out of the way.

The group sit silently for a few seconds, with Phillip's game related questions somewhat killing the mood. Eventually, Kanda and Salma get back to talking about their lives, leaving Phillip silent on the sidelines.

Karen, Rick & Vince
Elsewhere by the jungles edge, the other trio enjoy the contents of their picnic whilst trying to introduce themselves to one another. Vince immediately notices the tension between Rick and Karen, as the pair sit apart and avoid making any direct comments to one another during the entire session.

The group talk about the hardships of the game so far, avoiding talk about game related issues. Karen however subtly implies "difficulties" back to Sook Jai's camp, which Vince opts not to interrogate her further on, not wanting to seem too game conscious whilst at a numbers disadvantage. Beyond Rick and Karen's obvious disdain towards one another, both individuals seem to get along well with Vince, making an effort to talk about their lives back home and how they feel the game has developed their personalities so far.

Chuay Gahn
Estan and Aaron arrive on Chuay Gahn's beach, giving Aaron the chance to show Estan the tribes caves.

Estan and Aaron sit down by the fire to start on their picnic, with much of their conversation being about game related topics. Aaron reveals that Chuay Gahn has had some rough patches, but admitted that he felt those who caused problems have "since been sent home". Estan relates to this by revealing the split in Sook Jai, saying that since the previous tribal council there has been a lot of tension at their camp.

Sook Jai
Ricardo and Julius arrive at the Sook Jai camp, commencing their getting to know you session whilst on their tour. The pair talk through generic topics from their home lives, covering occupation and reasons for signing up to the show. They eventually reach the shelter, which Julius immediately points out as being less impressive than Chuay Gahn's.

The pair then head over to the water source, which Julius is astounded to see so close, commenting on the difficulty of rowing one mile each way to collect Chuay Gahn's water. Ricardo asks Julius if he feels travelling the distance for water is worth the protection of the caves, which Julius says he does, feeling as though he couldn't get use to the new means of shelter at Sook Jai.

The duo drink their wine and begin talking about personal topics and the game, wanting to use the opportunity to build a bond that they can use to their advantage at the first merged tribal council.

The pair continue their discussions, leading to Ricardo admitting that he and Karen hid the wine due to the issues with Phillip, Rick and Estan, revealing what actions the group committed to cause a divide between the six Sook Jai members. He tells Julius that he aims to vote one of the three at the next opportunity, hoping to see Chuay Gahn align with himself, Karen and Kanda, giving them a seven vote majority at the merge.

Tribe Meeting
The final ten all return to the meeting point, with Jeff once again waiting for their arrival. Aaron, Estan, Julius and Ricardo are asked to sit on one side in order to deliberate which of the two camps the tribes will move to. In what ends up being a short ten second deliberation, the four turn ready to give their answer to Jeff.

The final ten come together, hugging those who they haven't yet had the chance to meet, before all grabbing their things and heading off to Chuay Gahn for the remainder of the game.

Day 19 (Night)
The remaining ten players arrive to the new permanent residence at Chuay Gahn's original camp, getting to the shelter just as the sun begins to come down. The group prepare their meal, hoping to use the evening to bond together for the next stage of the game. Vince and Kanda do most of the cooking, talking together about their cultural heritage.

The group continue talking, eventually interrupted by Ricardo, who decides to make an announcement. He pulls the two and a half remaining bottles of wine from his bag, revealing that he'd like to share them with the whole group now that they've merged, as well as it being the night before Kanda's birthday.

The group goes back to having its discussions, with Phillip sitting next to Julius, allowing him to have a whispered one on one chat without others overhearing.

The group (minus underage Estan) drink all the wine, leaving both Karen and Salma particularly drunk. Salma and Karen start dancing for the tribe, eventually falling over in their drunken state, much to the amusement of several tribe members. Rick rolls his eyes at the behaviour, telling Phillip and Kanda that he feels they're making fools of themselves. After another hour or so of "partying", the tribe head to sleep, knowing that tomorrow will likely entail hangovers and regrets.

Day 20
The group awaken to the predicted hangovers and illness, with Karen dry heaving over in a corner whilst Vince rubs her back, trying to comfort her during the discomfort. Rick, Estan, Ricardo and a hungover Salma agree to go together to collect water for the tribe, heading off early in order to ensure that after the consumption of alcohol the tribe doesn't fall into serious dehydration.

The four head off on the boat, leaving the others back at camp to somewhat relax for the day. Karen finishes her dry heaving, thanking Vince for his assistance whilst wiping tears from her face.

Vince walks Karen over to the fire where Kanda is lying down, relaxing whilst making sure it stays alight. He wishes her a happy birthday, for which she thanks him, before heading down to the beach alone, eventually joining Julius in collecting clams and snails off the rocks.

Setting out the tribes fishing net, Aaron and Phillip continue the conversation about the vote that Aaron had started with Estan the previous day. Aaron tells Phillip that he feels confident the group can join the Chuay Gahn side, and make a smaller group within that in order to reach the final five. Phillip tells Aaron that the target should be Ricardo, as he is the "ringleader" of the other side, and that by taking him out they will be removing a social threat. Aaron claims that he still needs to speak with Vince and Julius about the vote in detail, but that he feels they will be able to pull through and vote Ricardo out.

Phillip urges Aaron to head over to Vince and Julius now, seeing the pair alone on the beach, giving him an opportunity to speak to them without interruption. Aaron agrees, heading over to the two men, leaving Phillip to return to the cave to sit with Karen and birthday girl Kanda. After reaching Vince and Julius, Aaron starts the conversation of the vote, which the pair say they haven't thought hard on.

During sundown, the group all gather together having replenished their water supply, sitting Kanda down by the fire in order to sing her a birthday song. Kanda laughs and blushes as the tribe sing, wiping tears from her cheek and hugging all nine tribe mates once it is done.

Day 21
The final ten receive tree mail informing them of their next challenge, which the group speculate will be for individual immunity. With no individual being obviously singled out for a certain elimination, everyone feels somewhat relaxed, unaware if they are or aren't at risk of being voted off should they fail to secure their own safety.

After reaching the challenge, Jeff has the group stand in a line, asking them how it has been living on the same beach the past two days.

Challenge: Jail Break

Shackled by locks, each team would be placed in a jail cell. Using the resources on the ground, the Survivors had to escape the cell by reaching for the keys that hung on posts outside of the cell. First tribe to have gathered the keys, unlock their shackles, and dig out of the jail would win.

Winner: Chuay Gahn

Information: For Sook Jai the entire tribe performs well, with only Karen taking a little longer than average to unlock one of the shackles. For Chuay Gahn, the entire tribe performs well, giving them the speed to finish the challenge first and win themselves immunity from tribal council.

After the challenge, the losing Sook Jai tribe are told that they must immediately head to tribal council, with no time to go back to camp in order to discuss the vote, leaving Chuay Gahn to return to tribal council alone.

Chuay Gahn
The group reach camp having won themselves immunity, with the four in slight shock that the merge has not yet occurred, and that they are still competing as rival tribes.

Sook Jai (Tribal Council)
At tribal council, the six Sook Jai members openly talk about their shock at the merge not yet being a reality, admitting that the past few days have been spent fighting for the support of the Chuay Gahn tribe. Ricardo openly talks about the split in the tribe, feeling as though there will now be a tie, with a tiebreaker being the only deciding factor unless someone is willing to jump ship. Phillip decides to openly pitch the vote to Kanda, saying that she should join his side in voting for Ricardo. Ricardo laughs, saying that Kanda isn't a puppet for him to control. Much of the talk then proceeds to Kanda being asked to act as a swing vote for either side, either forcing a tie or sending Ricardo home.

The group proceed to argue over treatment of Kanda, which causes her to laugh, feeling that people should be more honest about being on the bottom of both groups. Kanda then shuts down the arguments by telling the group she's made a decision on the vote already, and that she'd like to "get down to it". The group accept this, and begin voting one by one, sitting calmly as Jeff brings the urn back over.

Estan, Phillip and Rick sigh, seeing Kanda has opted to send the vote to a tie by voting against them. Jeff explains to the group that rather than for the tie to be broken by past votes, the group will draw rocks if the vote is deadlocked, with both Ricardo and Rick becoming immune in said rock draw.

Phillip and Estan look at one another, shaking their heads unsure as what to make of the new tiebreaker twist. Ricardo places his hands on the shoulders of the two girls, thanking them for their bravery in willingly risking their games for him. Rick speaks with Phillip and Estan, telling them that "they won't do it", implying he believes Kanda or Karen will switch their votes at the last minute. With time now up, Jeff signals Kanda to start the re-vote, leaving both Rick and Ricardo pondering whether one of them will lose out, or if their allies are about to make the biggest sacrifice in the game. When it comes time for the re-votes to be read, Ricardo re-positions his hands on both Karen and Kanda, hoping that one of the others flipped so that he doesn't have to see a third ally leave the game.

Rick shakes his head in disappointment, accepting a loose handshake off Phillip as he takes his torch over to Jeff. Karen and Kanda both let out sighs of relief, followed by tears as Ricardo hugs them in happiness, having finally overcome their adversaries without the help of Chuay Gahn's votes. The final five members of Sook Jai head back to camp, with both Estan and Phillip nervous now they've placed themselves knowingly in the minority, now knowing everyone to leave the game from this point is guaranteed to have made the jury that will have the final say on who becomes Sole Survivor.