Redwood Blues

Plot
The episode opens up with Team Victory and Team Boss celebrating their victories together in first class. Caroline is spying on Camila, who is giggling at something John had said at the mini bar.

 Caroline (CONF):  Camila you have got to be kidding me, he's obviously playing you to get a leg up in the competition

Kacvinsky is catching up with Marisa. The two are chatting about what is going on with their respective teams. Kacvinsky warns Marisa, saying to watch her back with Caelan and Andy basically picking a team of allies, and she agrees and promises she will. She begins to fill him in on the happenings of the post-challenge dinner in Cairo.

Cassy is chatting with Rachel, Kalee and Joseph in one of the sets of chairs. They look out the floor-to-ceiling windows, talking about how lucky they are to be in the competition. Cooper is asleep on the couch, and Samantha is catching up with Eugenia, the two proud of each other for how they're doing.

 Eugenia (CONF):  This game has already been so hard, I imagine it's only going to get harder from here...

Nathan and Lizzie are sitting together on a seat, talking to Alex, Ian and Matt who are in the other seats.

 Matt (CONF):  I could not be happier with the team I'm on

Sam and Cohen are talking to Collin on the ground in the middle of first class, while Ian is talking with JP and John. Bailey is laughing at Emily who is doing funny dance moves, and Nathanael and Alli are sitting on the couch. Everyone seems happy, except for Caelan.

 Caelan (CONF):  I gotta take my team out...after how they humiliated me in the first two elimination ceremonies, they are going down

Kacvinsky then walks over and calls a secret alliance meeting. He decides they need to figure out who to eliminate if their team loses. Sydney suggests Bailey, because she's a threat.

 Cassy (CONF):  It's kind of concerning how quickly someone can just be put on the chopping block. This is a million dollars at stake, and in that five minutes we could have taken Bailey's chances away

Eugenia counters saying they're going to need to get rid of Camila before the teams merge or switch and she ends up connected with John.

In economy class, Ashton is reprimanding her team again for not taking the last challenge seriously.

She says she warned them that this was going to happen but no one listened to her earlier. Despite the fact people are getting annoyed Ashton has brought it up so many times they all agree, realizing that they haven't won a single challenge yet. They decide this would be their challenge and they would win.

 Justin (CONF):  I'm getting real sick of losing...

Over the intercom, Chris tells them he hopes they're excited for their next challenge. He adds that they can't land in this destination, so they would have to parachute in. Everyone seems extremely nervous.

 Sydney (CONF):  He wants us to...jump?

Chef hands out parachutes and a montage shows Chase, Brandon, Lizzie and Evan strapping them on, Sydney and Myra looking at each other nervously, Alma, Collin and Cohen getting sucked out of the plane, Kacvinsky, Bailey, Eugenia, Becca and Trevor falling, Cassy, David and Liz closing their eyes and pulling the string to their parachutes and finally Ellie, Emily, Ashton, Marisa and Cooper smiling and laughing as they glide into Redwood Forest National Park.

 Matt (CONF):  Ok this is breathtaking

While Alli is falling, she gets stuck in a tree high in the air, but no one sees her up there.

 Alli (CONF):  Um...what the hell

She tries to call down but no one can hear her. She wraps her legs around the trunk, finds a comfortable position for her arms and very slowly starts shimmying down the tree. Nathanael realizes that Alli is gone, but before he has the chance to look for her Chris begins to announce the challenge.

 Nathanael (CONF):  Uh Chris...

Chris gives everyone (but Alli) a paintball gun, and says that each is loaded with their respective color paint: gold for Team Victory, orange for Team Firecrotch, and turquoise for Team Boss. Chris then announces that today's challenge will be a paintball match, and whichever team has the last man standing wins and will enjoy a luxurious stay in either first class or the luxury cabin. Whoever's entire team is eliminated first loses and will be sending someone home.

He gives them five minutes to spread out, and once he blows his starting horn everyone bolts in different directions. A scene shows the stampeding contestants, with Cassy and Channing tripping over one another, Ian darting into the bushes and Serena and Katie seeing each other then immediately splitting for the opposite direction.

 Serena (CONF):  We need this victory

Chris then blows the horn again and the challenge begins. Lizzie and Nathan are spotted together by John almost immediately and a shootout ensues, eliminating all three of them. Sam sees Ashton run by, but shoots and deliberately misses. This angers Cassy who is right beside him, saying that he can't let crushes get in the way of the game.

 Cassy (CONF):  Look dude, Cassy told me what happened back in Egypt and that is not cool

Distracted, Chase, Connor and Liz sneak up on them and shoot them out.

 Sam (CONF):  Cassy has a point...

Liz and Connor hug and Chase cheers, but Liz shushes him saying she hears something. They all fall silent, and the gentle rustling of bushes is heard. After it's too late, Connor spots Kalee and Serena perched on a low-hanging branch in one of the redwoods and the two open fire, knocking the three out. Kalee and Serena slide down the tree, high five and proceed to find other competitors.

 Kalee (CONF):  This is more fun than I thought it would be

Ashton decides that she has had enough of her team losing, and goes on a shooting spree. While she ends up eliminating Ian, Collin, Andy and Channing in her blind rage, she also ends up shooting Ruchi and Evan. Ruchi shoots back in retaliation until she realizes she shot Ashton, and both were out.

 Ruchi (CONF):  Ok Ashton I don't know what you expect I mean you did shoot first

 Evan (CONF):  Jesus Ashton just needs to chill sometimes

Ashton gets angry, but Ruchi argues saying that she was shot at first. Caroline is walking alone, and looks up to gape at the giant redwood tree. While looking up, she physically bumps into Kalee and Serena, who smirk at her and immediately wipe her out. The two girls are confident, having eliminated three players, and go on to eliminate Camila, who was looking around for John, and Aaron who was trying to find some of his teammates.

 Aaron (CONF):  Damn it

 Camila (CONF):  *lifts up the toilet seat*...John?

Sydney manages to snipe Nathanael, before also getting shot out by Kalee and Serena.

 Sydney (CONF):  Wow those two seem to be doing weirdly good at this shoot-y challenge

The montage continues, showing Kalee and Serena brutally wipe out Clayton, before finally getting shot out by an angry Matt and Bailey. Bailey, now alone with Matt, decides to use the opportunity to try and form a secret alliance.

 Bailey (CONF):  Yeah I know I am in Caroline's alliance, but two alliances? I will be set, and it won't matter if I'm bottom of the girls alliance

Matt loosely agrees, and Bailey goes off to try to find more people for her second alliance. It turns out Alli was overhead, still shimmying down the tree she got stuck in when they parachuted in. She manages to climb down to an even lower branch, but can't get out of the tree. Kalee and Serena, who got lost trying to find Chris see Alli in the tree, and ask if she needs help. She declines, but asks for a paintball gun, and Serena tosses hers up to Alli, who catches it.

 Alli (CONF):  Damn, Bailey and Matt? Alliance? I wonder if anyone on my team is already teaming up

JP and Joseph end up wandering together, and eliminate the unsuspecting Alma, who was busy gaping at the beauty of the forest. T

he scene flashes over to Chris, and shows Alma approaching covered in turquoise paint. Also sitting there are Sydney, Kalee, Aaron, Serena, Nathanael, Caroline, Camila, Connor, Chase, Liz, Ian, Ashton, Ruchi, Evan, Collin, Andy, Channing, Nathan, Lizzie, and John. Chris laughs at how bad the contestants are at this game, noting that almost half of them are already out. He then asks Serena what happened to her gun, and she lies and says she lost it in the confrontation with Matt and Bailey.

The scene then flashes back to the woods, where Myra, Katie and Ellie ambush and eliminate JP and Joseph.

 Katie (CONF):  *waving at the camera* Bye!

Bailey stumbles upon Rachel, and decides to try to rope her into the alliance as well. Rachel "agrees" but soon runs off to find one of her own alliance members. She eventually finds Kacvinsky wandering with Emily and "accidentally" shoots Emily in the leg so she can talk to Kacvinsky alone. Emily is too nice to get angry, and begins walking to the eliminated area, leaving Rachel and Kacvinsky alone.

 Kacvinsky (CONF):  Damn Rachel, didn't know you had that in you...

Once Emily is out of earshot, Rachel blurts out that Bailey is trying to form a secret alliance and is using the isolation of this challenge to recruit numbers. Kacvinsky says they need to tell the rest of the group, hopefully ending any confusion about targeting Camila over Bailey.

Caelan, who is wandering with Samantha in a woefully awkward silence, come across Marisa, Catherine, Alex and Trevor. Marisa says she's glad they found each other, as they have strength in numbers this late in the challenge, but Caelan just rolls his eyes and said if she really thought there was strength in numbers then she wouldn't have blindsided Grant in the first episode.

 Marisa (CONF):  Ok Caelan needs to chill the fuck out

Samantha puts in a snide comment that maybe Anna could resolve the conflict better than Caelan could, prompting him to turn and shoot her. Marisa retaliates and shoots him, and soon the six remaining Team Boss members are in a full-out flame war.

The scene flashes to the six walking up to Chris, drenched in turquoise paint. He snickers, asking what the hell happened, and Alex says she doesn't want to talk about it.

 Alex (CONF):  I can not fucking believe that we just sent ourselvesto elimination

A montage shows Becca take out Kacvinsky and Rachel...

 Rachel (CONF):  Yeah that's probably karma for me wiping out Emily...

...Matt and Bailey snipe an unsuspecting Ilan, Justin and Myra...

 Ilan (CONF):  This challenge low key hurt

...Katie sneak up and ambush Cooper and Cassy...

 Cooper (CONF):  Wow, so glad we've had so many challenges that really rest our intelligence *rolls eyes*

...and finally Cohen take out an unsuspecting Becca.

 Becca (CONF):  So close

Ellie, Brandon and Katie stumble into one another, and determine they are the last three from their team left in the challenge. They devise a plan, and the scene flashes to the Team Victory members gathering in a clearing to discuss how to properly wipe out Team Firecrotch. Suddenly, Ellie, Brandon and Katie pop out of the bushes and ambush them, and after an exchanging of dozens of paintballs, only Ellie is left unscathed.

Chris is about to announce that Team Firecrotch wins, with Becca and Ilan already about to storm Ellie, when Alli appears from behind a different bush and snipes Ellie right in the chest.

Chris asks what happened, and Alli thanks him for noticing that she had been absent the entire challenge due to the fact she was trapped in a giant redwood tree. Chris chuckles nervously and says he knew all along that she was gone.

Chris (CONF): Which one is that one again?

Eventually, people start to piece it together - since Alli took out Ellie as the last move of the challenge, Team Victory is officially sent to their first elimination ceremony of the season. Caelan yells in frustration, not wanting to support his team, but disguises it as a cheer. The rest of Team Boss storm Alli excitedly, scooping her up and tossing her into the air. Nathanael gives her a giant kiss, to which a nearby Alex and Catherine "aww". Alli says that once she managed to get to a low enough branch, she took a leap of faith and jumped.

In the meantime, Team Victory dejectedly walks away as the scene flashes to dinner that night.

Kacvinsky sits at a table with Eugenia, Cassy, Cooper, Sydney, Rachel, Channing, Cohen and Ian. Rachel brings up she definitely thinks it should be Bailey going home that night, mentioning what Alli told her. Cooper counters saying at least that other alliance is within their team - if Camila sticks with John that's another number for Team Boss come a merge.

 Cooper (CONF):  We gotta be thinking end-game here

 Eugenia (CONF):  Jesus christ, if we don't vote together then Caroline and her gaggle of vixens are going to blindside one of us

In the meantime, Caroline is talking with Lizzie, Emily, Bailey and Camila a table over. Caroline talks about voting out Nathan, something Lizzie is vocally opposed to. Caroline, confused, asks why she's so adamantly opposed, and Lizzie looks flustered. Bailey, Camila and Emily all seem on board, with Bailey adding that Matt and Nathan are really close and severing that connection will be good for the future.

When Caroline gets up to leave for the confessional, Emily asks the other girls what they think about Channing not joining their alliance. Camila asks what she means, and Emily shrugs, just saying it seems shady.

Matt and Nathan sit a few tables over, confused.

 Nathan (CONF):  So, not a single person has come up to ask us about strategy

They go through some of the people on their team that they need to start talking to.

Caroline, in line for the confessional, is approached by Alli.

 Alli (CONF):  It's time we start to actually play this game

She tells her about Bailey's counter-alliance. Caroline looks shocked, wondering who else is in this secret side alliance aside from Matt, but before she has the chance to tell her alliance-mates, Chris announces over the intercom that it's time for the elimination ceremony.

--

At the elimination ceremony, the contestants are given the spiel by Chris: stamp the passport in the confessional bathroom of the contestant you want eliminated. As they are lined up to vote, Caroline attempts to get the message to the other girls about Bailey's betrayal. Unfortunately, Bailey is right behind her so she's not having any luck.

The other alliance is similarly fragmented, with everyone whispering about who to vote for without trying to be too obvious. Cohen nudges Kacvinsky and mouthes "Camila", but Eugenia shoots Cohen a look in response and says they need to stick to the plan.

 Caroline (CONF):  Ok wow Bailey, literally have been in an alliance for like four days and you already jump ship, let's just hope the other girls got the message *stamps Bailey's passport*

 Sydney (CONF):  So...*holds up two passports* what did we decide again?

 Bailey (CONF):  I'm glad you're going to be the first gone, you're kind of an asshole *stamps Nathan's passport*

 Cassy (CONF):  Honestly, just glad it's not me *stamps Bailey's passport*

 Nathan (CONF):  I guess...*stamps Camila's passport*...I don't know?

 Camila (CONF):  Bye! *stamps Nathan's passport*

Once the contestants return, Chris pulls out a tray with sixteen bags filled with airline-issued peanuts. He hands the first one in Team Glory history to...

Ian.

Ian cheers, catching the bag and popping a peanut in his mouth, before turning green and almost immediately vomiting.

Cohen. Eugenia. Sydney.

Cohen grabs it and hugs Kacvinsky, who's heart is beating intensely. Eugenia and Sydney smile at each other cordially.

Emily. Matt. Kacvinsky. Caroline. Rachel.

Kacvinsky sighs loudly with relief, while Emily's hits her in the face and Matt, Caroline and Rachel hug and jump up and down.

 Caroline (CONF):  Ok wow that feeling is exhillerating

Cooper. Lizzie. Channing.

Cooper looks a little surprised, knowing he's a bit on the outs even with his alliance, and Channing cheers and throws her hands in the air. Lizzie smiles, but can't stop staring at Chris in anticipation of Nathan's fate.

Sam. Cassy.

Camila.

Cassy jumps up and lifts Sam and Camila in the air, all celebrating happily. A few members of the big alliance look nervous.

 Cohen (CONF):  If we blow this vote, I'm going to be so pissed

That leaves the bottom two as Bailey and Nathan. Matt looks utterly confused, no one telling him either was a target. Nathan's usual smirk is wiped off his face, as Bailey's leg bounces wildly.

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Nathan.

Bailey looks absolutely shocked. She gapes at her team, and Camila, Emily and Lizzie exchanged worried glances. When Camila and Emily turn to one another, Lizzie lets out a loud sigh of relief. Bailey is about to angrily cuss her team out when Chef starts dragging her toward the exit and strapping on a parachute. In a last-ditch effort to stir the pot, she reveals John asked Camila out in the forest and she wasn't planning on telling anyone.

 Bailey (CONF):  If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging

 Camila (CONF):  What the hell Bailey I told you that in confidence

She then stops resisting, and is thrown out the plane into the Drop of Shame.

 Bailey (CONF):  Honestly this fucking blows, this was such a good experience and now it's over...

Chris laughs in delight at the tension, saying now they're four down and have plenty to go.

PARTY.