Week Eight

Kichagani Tribe

Happy almost New Years everyone! So here it is, the first of the three new tribes. Kichagani was comprised of Scott and Kyle from Kichanga, Jill and Chelsea from Margani, Cowin and Graham from Hartolo and Mandy and Micah from Breema. It is interesting because you could say that Scott and Kyle ran Kichanga while Jill and Chelsea ran Margani. Cowin and Graham were secondary allies of Kyle’s brother Chris in Hartolo. But Mandy and Micah were not part of any alliance in Breema, and therefore are pretty lucky to still be around. So when these eight new tribemates got together to discuss tribe life, it was interesting to see peoples’ reactions to eachother. Jill was Graham’s mom, so that made life for Graham a little more stressful. Neither of them knew if they needed to ally with eachother or if they would be able to vote eachother out. Mandy was pretty close with Kyle, and because she never really had an alliance in this game before she enjoyed having a close friend by her side. Micah decided to talk to everyone and make a whole bunch of little alliances. People liked him so he felt pretty good. Cowin enjoyed getting the new camp ready, and making food and stuff. Cowin knew that he was very good in the challenges so far, and that he probably wouldn’t get voted out yet. He was strategic, but that part of him had not taken hold yet. He would strategize when he had to. Scott was not used to sharing his alliance with Kyle with Mandy, but he took the time to become friends with Chelsea. Chelsea was allied with Jill, and maybe Graham, but she welcomed some new opportunities.

Margolo Tribe

Elliott and Beckie from Kichanga, Steve and Greg from Margani, German and Tyla from Hartolo, Nathalie and Jord from Breema. This was the new Margolo Tribe. Steve, Greg, German and Tyla had not chosen eachother so it would be interesting to see who they allied with. Nathalie, Jord, Beckie and Greg all had the connection of going to church together before the game. Elliott, German and Steve all had the connection of Camp, so they were already pretty tight. That left Tyla who really didn’t know anyone other than German in her new tribe. That meant she could either lay under the radar, or she could be the person that alliances try to use as the swing vote. Either way, it did not seem that she would be one of the first people voted out. So the natural alliances met at either side of the new camp and tried to decide what they should do in the case that they may have to vote. It was a long day of strategizing for Margolo.

Harteema Gang

Dirks, Tyler, Chris and Silas may each have their own partners in Hinton, Lauren, Cait and Trotman, but they had a connection through college that was forged before they each even met their partners. This made some of the partners very wary of this foursome. But just because they had a connection didn’t mean that these four guys were just going to abandon their partners. They each had their plans and they were not going to forget their promises made earlier in the game. This is also the only tribe where each pair was chosen specifically. Each partner picked eachother which also made the pairs a lot stronger in this tribe. So needless to say, this would be an interesting tribe to watch.

Immunity Challenge

The first challenge of the second part of the game would not contain any teamwork at all. Its another obstacle course. The thing is that its an individual course. One member from each tribe will compete against two from the other two tribes. It is not a purely physical course, there are ways to sabotage the other competitors. By observing the course as a whole, there are ways to drop bridges, and release sandbags to knock the other competitors into the water. The whole course is above the water.

The attribute weightings are as follows:
Speed: 30%
Strength: 30%
Problem-Solving: 10%
Strategizing: 30%
Teamwork: 0%

Each person will compete twice against random people from the other tribes. A win is worth 3 points, second place is worth 2 points and third is worth 1. Here are the results. If you feel you would have done better in an obstacle course, you were probably beaten by someone using strategy to sabotage you.

1st: Cowin 2nd: Greg 3rd: Dirks
1st: Elliott 2nd: Hinton 3rd: Micah
1st: Silas 2nd: Steve 3rd: Graham
1st: Chris 2nd: German 3rd: Jill
1st: Scott 2nd: Nathalie 3rd: Lauren
1st: Trotman 2nd: Mandy 3rd: Tyla
1st: Cait 2nd: Beckie 3rd: Chelsea
1st: Kyle 2nd: Jord 3rd: Tyler

After the first set of races the standings are:
1st: Harteema 17 pts
2nd: Margolo 16 pts
3rd: Kichagani 15 pts

1st: Cowin 2nd: Silas 3rd: Elliott
1st: Chris 2nd: Steve 3rd: Micah
1st: German 2nd: Graham 3rd: Lauren
1st: Trotman 2nd: Nathalie 3rd: Jill
1st: Scott 2nd: Cait 3rd: Tyla
1st: Tyler 2nd: Mandy 3rd: Beckie
1st: Jord 2nd: Dirks 3rd: Chelsea
1st: Greg 2nd: Kyle 3rd: Hinton

Final Standings:
1st: Harteema Gang 34 pts
2nd: Margolo Tribe 32 pts
3rd: Kichagani Tribe 30 pts

That means that the Harteema Gang wins Immunity! Also, it means that Margolo and Kichagani must both attend Tribal Council this week.

Keys to Victory (defeat):

Harteema Gang: While Lauren came last both races, and Dirks and Hinton did worse than expected, the rest of the tribe stood up and did very well. Chris and Trotman won both of the races they were involved in, while Silas, Cait and Tyler each won one. It was a good effort and this new tribe should be proud.

(Margolo Tribe): While Jord, German, Elliott and Greg each came first once, no one else in the tribe was able to win a race. Steve and Nathalie came second twice, While Beckie only came second once, and Tyla came last both times, the rest of the tribe just couldn’t find any consistency. German, Jord and Greg each won, and came second, while Elliott won, and came last.

(Kichagani Tribe): Cowin and Scott each won both their races, while Kyle won once, and came second the other time. Mandy came second both times, and Graham came second and last. That left Micah, Jill and Chelsea who each came last both races. Its not totally fair to judge solely on standings, because some people had to race against better competitors, but simply stated a tribe can’t win if their people don’t win any races.

So these are the people who need to email me their votes by Wednesday, January 3rd 2007 at 11:59:

Kichagani Tribe:
Cowin
Micah
Graham
Jill
Scott
Mandy
Chelsea
Kyle

Margolo Tribe:
Greg
Elliott
Steve
German
Nathalie
Tyla
Beckie
Jord

Note: No longer will I be allowing people to change their vote up until Wednesday night. If you vote once, it must remain the same until Tribal Council. Also, in earlier challenges when a tribe had extra people the other tribes got to choose who to sit out, now the tribes themselves will get to sit out their weakest member. That means that strong tribes will get even stronger as the challenges progress. That being said, you must begin to choose wisely when voting people out. If you make the wrong choices, your tribe could continue to lose, and the whole tribe could be eliminated before the merge even happens. Good Luck.