The Jury - Marisa, Russell S., Yasmin, Russell H., Monica, Ashley
Night 37, and only 3 players remain in the game. Coming back from Tribal Council. Kelly is stunned at the last vote - she asks Mike, "I thought you wanted out of the game," and Mike says, "Nope, just trying to split up yours and Ashley's votes." Kelly then says, "So I guess I'll have to win the final immunity, then" and Shambo agrees.
The following morning, the Medical Team returns to look at Mike's ankle. They take the cast off, and ask Mike to walk, and he does fine. "All better and ready for the challenge today," he remarks.
Before the challenge, Shambo approaches Mike and asks again if the plan is to vote off Kelly if one of them wins immunity. Mike tells her of course, and not to be paranoid.
Then Jeff arrives and tells the Final Three that they will walk along the shoreline honoring the torches of the 17 cast-offs that they outlasted, before they arrive at their Final Immunity Challenge.
Kelly, Shambo, and Mike do as such, comment on the people as they pass each torch - Ben, Laura, Dave, Natalie, Brett, Jaison, John, Betsy, Erik, Liz, Mick, Marisa, Russell S., Yasmin, Russell H., Monica, and Ashley. At the end of the walk, they take the name-plates they have gathered and burn them in a fire pit. After they have done so, they walk further down the beach and arrive at their Final Challenge.
Jeff announces that this will be a challenge of endurance. The three of them will be lying down on a large board at an incline, holding on to a handle above them. A barrel is located at the top of the board, and it has a small hole, so water will constantly be trickling on their face. Every 5 minutes, the board's incline will increase by 5 degrees. If you fall off, you're out; last one standing wins immunity and gets to pick who they sit next to in the Final Two.
They all get set up, and Jeff announces that the challenge will begin. For a while, everybody is silent except for the occasional answer to a question that Jeff asks. Kelly enters a zen-like state and closes her eyes. Shambo tries to lean to the side, so that the water hits her shoulder instead of her head. Mike has trouble finding a comfortable position and squirms around a lot. After nearly 45 minutes, Shambo is shown struggling a lot, lets go, and falls into the water below.
And then it was just Kelly and Mike. Mike is still shown struggling to hang on, but then regains his balance. He then startles everyone, especially Shambo, when he starts to speak. He asks Kelly, "If I promise to take you to the Final Two, would you let me win immunity?" Kelly replies, "Um, why can't you let me win if I agree to get rid of Shambo?" Mike insists that he needs to win one for himself. Without saying another word, Kelly loosens her grip and falls to the water below.
Mike wins Final Individual Immunity!
Back at camp, Mike is conflicted between his alliance with Shambo since early in the game, which grew stronger recently, and between his more recent deal with Kelly. "No matter what I do tonight," he says, "I'm breaking my word with somebody. Personally, I have more of a friendship with Shambo, but I'm looking for what gives the best chance of me winning. What move would the jury respect the most?"
He talks to Shambo and insists to her that he only made the deal with Kelly because he knew he would never outlast Kelly in the challenge normally, and if Kelly had dropped out first, there's no way that he wouldn't vote her out. Shambo is depressed, and pleads to Mike to honor their long-time alliance.
Kelly, too, talks to Mike, and pressures him to vote off Shambo. She insists that if he wouldn't, then the jury would never vote for him after breaking the deal at the immunity challenge.
At Tribal Council, Mike expresses his dilemma, and says he's constantly been going over the options in his head, and won't make the decision until he writes the name down on the parchment.
After Mike votes, Jeff picks up the urn, and reads the vote aloud...
18th person voted off and 7th and final member of the jury...
...
...
...
...
Shambo.
Shambo shakes her head sadly, saying "I knew it."
After all of this, we now have our Final Two, Mike and Kelly. To whom will the 7 members of the jury grant a million dollars? (If you have a guess, post it in the comments! :D)
Note: Until very recently, I had Kelly win the Final Immunity Challenge, but then I decided that this plot was more interesting. :) If I ever make another story like this, I definitely want to develop the characters' stories more, especially in the earlier episodes.
