Divide And Rule

Divide and Rule is the fifth episode of Survivor: Thailand.

Day 12 (Night)
The five members of Chuay Gahn return to camp, wasting no time in discussing the events of the heated tribal council. Vince thanks the majority of the group for keeping him, hoping that Gypsy's removal will grant the tribe the strength they need for future challenges.

Aaron tries to speak with Rachel, but she fluffs off his efforts, announcing to the group that she'd rather go to bed than deliberate the events of tribal council. The others respect her wishes, opting not to pursue her round the cave.

Chuay Gahn
Rachel goes off alone for the day, not wanting to be around the others in her tribe after the 'betrayal' that took place the previous night. The others remain by the caves, noticing her absence immediately.

Julius stands and goes off to find Rachel, leaving the others sitting in the cave, stoking the fire in turns.

Julius looks around the beach and jungle edge for Rachel, but fails to find her after twenty-minutes of searching. Rachel sits alone on a rocky area adjacent to the tribes section of beach, making an effort to dip her head when she sees Julius searching in the distance.

Sook Jai
The group get on with their daily chores, with the exception of one member; Rick. Rick remains sleeping for a large portion of the morning, failing to get up and help when requested by Ricardo. Kanda and Ricardo sweep the camp area, looking over to see if Rick will pitch in eventually.

Rick slowly sits up, wiping his eyes and looking at Kanda. He asks her what needs to be done, simply standing around and gently sweeping to pitch in, doing a minimal amount of work in order to conserve his energy. Phillip and Melissa, who have been sat by the fire, look at Rick, with Melissa shaking her head in annoyance.

After several minutes of 'work', Rick returns to the shelter to lay down, much to the annoyance of the rest of the tribe. Estan and Karen bring three eggs over from the chicken crate, cooking them up for the rest of the tribe. After Rick smells food cooking, he miraculously finds the energy to leave the shelter, joining the others by the fire ready to eat.

Chuay Gahn
Julius, Vince and Salma sit basking in the shallow water, with Rachel laying down in the shelter, still refusing to get involved with the rest of the tribe. Aaron returns to the group having just picked up tree mail, excited as he uncovers $1,000 alongside the instructions.

Aaron reads the instructions, indicating that the reward challenge will involve some sort of buying activity in order to win treats.

Sook Jai
Kanda and Ricardo collect tree mail together, reading the same rules given to Chuay Gahn, whilst counting the $1,000 cash. Kanda jokes that they should pocket the money and run off, before the pair return to the rest of camp. Eventually they read the rules to the rest of Sook Jai, bringing up the excitement at the idea of buying food rather than having to win it.

Reward
Both tribes sit on opposite benches, excited to hear what is in store for their reward challenge. Jeff explains that the group will partake in a tribal auction, bidding on items as a group, which then can be shared as a group if won. However, a bombshell is dropped on the tribe before the auction commences. Jeff informs the contestants that anyone wishing to leave their tribe and to permanently join the rival tribe may do so, giving everyone sixty seconds to consider the offer.

Challenge: Survivor Auction Before the challenge, the tribes were given $1000 via Tree Mail. The host will reveal various items, where some are remained covered until they sold. Tribes must outbid each other.

Chuay Gahn
Having enjoyed the change in format at the reward challenge, the group return replenished and ready to relax for the remainder of the day. However, the question of Rachel remaining with Chuay Gahn remains on everyone's minds, with no one certain why she didn't leave when given the option.

Salma puts her arm around Rachel, who surprisingly allows it, not shunning her away as she had done to the group the previous day. Spirits seem somewhat better around the camp, with the five members sitting and talking about the auction for some time, commenting on which items they liked the most. Eventually, Salma and Aaron depart to collect the fishing net, having left it out all day.

Sook Jai
Feeling they did better than their rivals during the reward, the group return with smiles on their faces, pleased to have all being given the chance to eat. The group begin settling down around their camp, talking about the food and how they enjoyed the break from a regular challenge. During the conversation, Rick goes over to the chicken crate and pulls out one of the birds, walking back over to the group and making a suggestion.

Melissa stands and waves her hand in Phillip's face, storming over to Rick and demanding he hands over the chicken. The trio argue, with Ricardo and Kanda stepping in to try and calm the situation, ultimately siding with Melissa, eventually getting Rick to hand over the chicken so that they can return it to the cage.

Phillip and Rick don't attempt to bring up chickengate for the rest of the day, realising that the group sided against them. The seven don't eat again until the evening, when they sit down to eat a small meal of snails that they collected on the beach.

Day 15
Both tribes receive tree mail in the form of a golden fish, informing them that their next task will involve fish, with the tribe that wins as usual avoiding tribal council, guaranteeing the group a place at the final eleven.

Challenge: Catch of the Day

On separate platforms, each tribe was given four different types of fish that had been mixed together in a massive pile. The tribes had to separate the four types of fish into four respective bins. First tribe to have successfully separated each type of fish into their corresponding bin would win.

Winner: Chuay Gahn

Information: For Chuay Gahn, Salma and Rachel somewhat struggle to get a good grip on the fish, but keep a steady pace whilst Aaron, Vince and Julius perform well. For Sook Jai, Kanda and Karen prove the best competitors, with Rick and Melissa keeping a steady pace behind them. Phillip however continues dropping fish, not noticing one falling under the tribes table. Sook Jai finish first, but Jeff notes not all their fish have been collected (due to Phillip dropping one), causing the group to frantically search. During this time, Chuay Gahn finish, having correctly placed all their fish, winning them immunity from tribal council.

Sook Jai
The seven Sook Jai members return to camp having just lost the challenge, meaning the group will get their wish to oust one member and bring a change into the camp for the first time in nine days. Rick and Ricardo head down to the ocean to wash their hands, hoping to rid the smell of fish. The other five remain around the shelter, deciding to commence conversation on the upcoming vote.

Phillip heads off down to the water, joining Ricardo and Rick, leaving the girls and Estan alone by the shelter. Phillip informs both Ricardo and Rick that the others are planning on voting for Rick, but that he's not going along with the plan, claiming they should vote for Karen for being the weakest member overall.

The trio agree on their decision, leaving Estan to head down to wash his hands. Ricardo jokes to Estan that the boys will try and speak to him to get him on side to vote Karen, which Estan says he will go along with to "humour them". Melissa and Ricardo remain at camp, talking about the implications of the decision to potentially blindside Phillip. Estan reaches the ocean, and as expected is approached by Rick and Phillip, who begin pitching their idea to vote out Karen.

Estan explains how the 3-2-2 split would work to the pair, giving almost a repeated speech that he previously just gave Ricardo and Melissa. The duo agree that Estan's plan works, feeling that they will be making the biggest move of the game by ousting Melissa from the tribe.

At tribal council, the tribe admit to Jeff that avoiding tribal council has had its downsides to the groups cohesion, with fights being "all too common" the past few days. Most of the tribe point out issues with Rick, feeling as though his behaviour (along with Phillip's) has caused friction between the tribe. Phillip and Rick point out the issue with scheming in the tribe, as well as feeling that the tribe needs to prioritise strength in challenges over camp life. Melissa responds by pointing out that in a majority of challenges, Rick and Phillip haven't been strong competitors, with Phillip being the reason the tribe lost the immunity challenge earlier that day. When asked who feels the vote will bring about positive change for the tribe, all seven members raise their hands, which Jeff points out will ironically not be the case when at least one of them is proven to be on the wrong side of the 'positive vote'. Rick begins the voting, confidently writing down 'Melissa' on his parchment. Others follow in almost identical pattern, with Karen happily voting 'Rick' once again. Estan also writes his name without hesitation, clearly feeling as though his final decision is one he will utilise to strengthen his game. Jeff brings back the urn, leaving the group ready to see who will be their second victim fifteen days into the game.

Melissa looks at Ricardo, clearly nervous that her name has come up, having expected to see Karen's name instead. Karen looks equally confused, although clearly relieved.

Karen and Kanda look in awe at the results, knowing that the current three way tie is likely to be broken by the seventh and final vote, wondering what happened to the groups plan to vote for Rick. Ironically, Rick, Phillip and Melissa are all seen to be somewhat eager to see the final vote, believing that the 3-2-2 result is about to go the way they intended.

Rick slaps Phillip's shoulder, unable to hide their excitement at the biggest blindside of the game so far. Melissa stands slowly, in a state at shock at being voted from the tribe at such an early stage. Ricardo stops covering his mouth in order to hug his eliminated friend, giving him a sense of deja vu to the first tribal council. After Melissa leaves, Ricardo, Kanda and Karen are seen looking around in confusion, putting together the facts to understand what has gone wrong at this tribal council. The remaining six head back to camp, knowing that with this blindside the outwit portion of the game has truly kicked off.