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Episode 9: Ashley realizes that she made a premature flip and now could have sealed her fate out the game because Kristina/Francesca and the rest of Ometepe are not pleased with her, but Zapatera is equally displeased with Stephanie/Krista for their own flip. All 3 of these players end up putting a lot of negative attention onto themselves because of their betrayals. Ashley wins Immunity this time, which means that Grant is open for elimination and most of the women decide to get rid of him for the threat he poses. Kristina concurs that since Ashley has immunity she will stay true to her word with Steph/Krista and take out one of the Ometepe guys. Matt wants to vote off Stephanie because they say they can’t trust her and since she flipped on Zapatera already, she would just as easily flip on Ometepe, but the girls say they’re not voting for Stephanie, they’re voting for Crystal because she’s the next biggest threat on Zapatera (and to hide the possibility of a women’s alliance). At TC, Matt/Grant both vote for Crystal, Ralph/Sarita/Crystal vote for Stephanie, and Kristina/Francesca/Andrea/Stephanie/Krista/Ashley  all end up voting out Grant. (Ashley apologizes for flipping and tries to get back in with the women, and since she has Immunity as well, they kindof take her back in for now).

[Just a side note here: Grant would probably end up going down as the worst character in any of my fanfics – UTR pretty much every episode with maybe 2 MORs thrown in there and possibly one very weak CP3 or 4 episode when he was a key part of a vote. I just find him to be incredibly boring and I struggle to see how I could make him interesting. He doesn’t have an exciting personality and is far from a dynamic player. Like the real show, throughout pretty much this whole season, he would just be “there” – maybe getting a narrative confessional or two – until he is voted off.]

Then there is a surprise when Jeff announces that this is a double TC and they’re competing for Immunity again.  Someone wins Immunity (let’s randomly say Andrea since she would do well at a quiz challenge). This is when things start to get crazy... Matt speaks up that he has no idea what’s going on and why didn’t people from Ometepe tell him what was going on? Andrea defends that they know he’s playing honestly and if he was told Grant was going, he would have spilled it to Grant and Matt acknowledges that this is true. Matt asks if he is going next, then, because it seems like all the guys are going home. Kristina et al are reluctant to admit that this is true but it certainly seems to be the writing on the wall. Ralph then speaks up to defend Matt, applauding him for how he is playing the game and saying that Stephanie should be the one going home for her betrayal, untrustworthiness, and general attitude around camp. Matt announces that he is voting for Stephanie as well, making an emotional and heartfelt plea to keep the Ometepe tribe together, that he would forgive their actions, and for him/Andrea/Kristina/Francesca/Ashley to stay united and vote out Stephanie. (Stephanie is, overall, seen as the more dangerous and outspoken of the pair between Stephanie/Krista). Because nobody has had any time to discuss anything, 4 fairly clear votes against Stephanie (Matt, Ralph, Sarita, Crystal) seem to be tipping the scales in that direction and people have to openly discuss their votes. Kristina whispers to Francesca to see if she wants to vote for Stephanie, and when it seems like everyone is jumping on that bandwagon, Krista makes a shocking announcement. She says that Stephanie has fought hard since the beginning and deserves to stay in the game and fight on and that she would leave the game so Stephanie is not voted off. She says that Stephanie has been like a sister and that between the two of them, she feels Stephanie has a better chance of going further and getting to the end. No vote is necessary, and Krista makes the ultimate sacrifice for Stephanie to stay.

[Another note: in one of the earlier episodes, maybe 6 or 7, there would be some kind of foreshadowing of this where Krista would have some hard day and question her will/desire/ability to get to the end of the game, and she would say some kind of comment like “If it was me or you that went further in this game, I would want it to be you.” It wouldn’t just come out of nowhere].

EPISODE 10: This is a very Stephanie-centric episode, focusing on her quest to stay in the game and not waste the new lease on life that Krista has given her. A lot of the dynamics and strategy is told from her perspective, although she does realize that she can’t stir up too much or else she will just go home next. She does speak to Matt a lot about his position in the game, and he openly reveals that Kristina/Francesca are probably the two calling the shots. She tells him that if him/Andrea want to go far that K/F have to go and Matt simply says that he’s not going to betray Ometepe. Stephanie asks him “Even if you’re the next to go?” And Matt says yeah. Stephanie gets upset with Matt’s stance here, saying that she feels like he’s not even playing the game. She tries to make amends with the rest of Zapatera and they say that, if Ometepe is united, the only chance they have is to try to swing Ashley back over. They realize that they have to set aside differences in order to get to the end because otherwise K/F have too much power. Sarita is the one who talks to Ashley, telling her that now is the time to break up K/F and the Final Five could be Ashley, Sarita, Ralph, Crystal, and Stephanie. Ashley sees herself as the person stuck in between both tribes at this point but says she’s going to make the choice that gets her further into the game. At the Immunity Challenge, Kristina pulls out a victory but doesn’t know that she’s really in danger. This puts Francesca in the hot seat back at camp, and the former Zapatera decides that if they can’t get Kristina, they will vote out Francesca instead, which will still weaken Kristina’s position. The Kristina crew decides between staying loyal to Ometepe or keeping the women together and voting out physical threat Matt, and this is yet another question that is left up in the air going into Tribal Council. In the end, Francesca sees no need to play her hidden Immunity Idol but is blindsided when Ashley makes another jump to Zapatera. The other 4 votes go to Stephanie. Think of this like Leann’s boot (I think Ami had Immunity so the sidekick went home?), and a little like Brenda’s boot also where she had been in control for a long time and things finally turn against her once it gets stirred up with the whole tribe.

EPISODE 12: Kristina’s words do have an impact here as Matt, Andrea, Stephanie, and Ashley separately consider whether or not Sarita, Ralph, and Crystal could have a Final 3 alliance or not. The common thinking is that those 3 are not even that close and no, they don’t have a F3 alliance. Perhaps this is not smart thinking. Sarita is perceptive of this, believing that Kristina mentioning their names is not good for business. Somehow people find out about Francesca having had an idol and a new idol being rehidden since she didn’t use it. Fears of the other 4 joining up causes Ralph/Sarita to look for it and Sarita to find an idol. Their fears are not unwarranted. The idea of M/A/S/A aligning as a four is brought up by Matt and Andrea, but Stephanie and Ashley decide that it would be stupid to go to the Finals with Matt and Andrea because they’re close and everyone on the jury likes and respects them. Matt ends up being targeted ahead of Andrea for the extra physical threat and it ends up being a 5-2 vote (Matt and Andrea vote out Sarita, as they feel that she is sneaky – similar to how she was viewed early on in the game). Sarita plays the idol as a “just incase” move so that she doesn’t go out with an idol like Francesca did.

ETA: There is also discussion in this one among Ralph, Sarita, Crystal if Matt deserves to stay more and they should just get rid of Stephanie. This is a positive send-off for Matt and it's clear that people like him and feel bad about voting him off but it is his time to go and he accepts that.