[Lara Álvarez]

Jajajaja, were you expecting the MERGE tonight?! I bet we caught you off guard – even giving you an unexpected day away from tribal! But now you have 13 other tribemates and an entire mess of connections to detangle and work through.


1. Your simple challenge ended up deciding your partner for the immunity challenge this round…but also your bounty for the next five. How do you feel about your partner? Do you plan to stay loyal and work together? Or are you itching to find out what’s in one of those mystery boxes?

2. As Jonathan said, all of the previous boots have been returning players. How does that news make you feel?

3. You have the weekend to reconnect with old tribemates and build connections with new ones. Right off the bat, who are your most trusted allies and primary targets? Any time this shifts – update us! Let us know how you plan to keep yourself safe at the beginning of this merge...and all the way through 'til the end.

4. Spill the tea! What’s the best piece of goss you’ve heard since merging? And who are your sources?

BONUS: An idol in your pocket and one more round to use it. Thoughts?



As always, you may submit guesses for the aliases of your tribemates, and the new player to gain coins! Due date at challenge results time, per usual.

[Ben]

Of course I wasn't expecting a merge! This is cool though. 14 people. If we had a few more we'd almost be like a Mexican family.

1. I like Tegan! I'm glad we picked the same number. I gotta figure out where she stands though with me. I plan to stay loyal to her for a while at least. I'm gonna be honest. I don't really give a shit about the mystery boxes. Just another layer to hurt my head. There a background thought for now. At the very least for this first vote. I feel like Tegan can be more beneficial to me as an ally over getting rid of her for a mystery box.

2. Indifferent. So far I've only known the alias of one person, Mark, who was voted out and I'll be shocked if there are more than maybe 2 more I know. I just worry about the bigass power the newbie has. It's gonna fuck me over, you fucking watch.

3. Allies- Jericho, Nova, Tessa & Sharn. We made our alliance before the swap and I hope it lasts a little while into the merge.
I like but am not necessarily aligned with Tegan, Michelle, Jarrad and already really diggin' Daisy.
I am indifferent to Kylie, Mat and Sarah because I just met them.
I'm almost certain David has an idol. That dude was way too calm last night about everything because he probably had the safety of an idol if shit went down.
And Baden exists.

4. Nothing yet. Everyone still exchanging pleasantries. But I'll let you know.

BONUS: I of course don't want it to go to waste so I'll definitely play it. I'm in a bit of a peculiar position, though. A few people have already mentioned to me that I am good at challenges. That's bad now that I'm at the merge. The "challenge threat" label is going to attach itself to me quickly if a few have already said this to me. I obviously want to win immunity with Tegan so we can both be safe, but if I do, that will further evident my challenge abilities so far. If I don't win, I'll play my idol which will give people another reason to think I'm a threat. DAMN MY AWESOMENESS! If I do win immunity I feel like I can play the idol for someone to get some good will from them. I assume we're going to see 4 idols with the two immunity wins, so 6 people will be safe I think.

I'm done guessing the newbie. I don't care anymore about that.