Breaking Barriers

Plot
The episode opens with Team Waka back in first class for the first time since the trip to Thailand. Mary is in one of the sets of four chairs with Matt, Ani and Duncan, and given the chaos of going to Aspen, this is the first opportunity they've had to full debrief Abbey getting voted out.

Mary has assumed the unofficial leader position in her stead.

Mary (CONF): Ok I'm so sick of playing "win the swing vote"...it's time we either get Vani, Garrett and Brian on our side or get them out of here

Matt asks the other three if they'd feel comfortable bringing Ani into the alliance, but Duncan is hesitant, saying they'd have to make sure she cut her loyalty to Rourke. Matt nods his head in agreement, silently processing.

Matt (CONF): It's just had now because I have to worry about my safety and Ani’s safety...it’s time to play

In the other set of four chairs sits Vani, Suzanne, Paige and Phillippa. The three girls in Rourke’s alliance are thanking Vani for protecting Suzanne, which Vani awkwardly accepts.

Vani (CONF): I hope they realize this doesn't mean I'm a part of their alliance, ya girl is gonna be riding the middle for as long as possible

Rourke is at the mini-bar talking with Brian over mugs of tea, and Garrett is fast asleep on the couch. Things look a little emptier, given each team has lost at least five players by now.

*flashback to Rourke calling for a toast the first time the rode in first class, followed by Hank slamming down his mimosa causing Abbey and Mary to laugh*

Kelsey, Nico, Nick, Alex, Eli, Archer and Townes are sitting together eating bacon that's burnt to a crisp while sipping coffee, and sharing stories about their nights on the mountain. Kelsey tells them how she’s lucky she’s still in the game, given the bear that was attracted to the fish smell was brought by her and Clayton. Archer is telling the Sammi story about burning down the tent, and Alex is telling them how Izzy reacted to Kirsten's scary story.

Izzy eats with Helina a few tables over, asking for Helina for advice on what to do as she nervously sees Nick laughing along with Alex and Eli, two of her alliance-mates. Helina tells her it would be dumb not to stick with Glory’s main alliance, given she doesn’t have the numbers to flip, but Izzy argues she could try to fracture it from the inside and turn them against each other. Helina rolls her eyes, and tells her the only reason Rourke and Townes keep encouraging her to eliminate CK people is to keep the numbers from Chi Psi up.

Izzy (CONF): Alright...that is a little shady

Izzy pauses to contemplate Helina's theory, as the scene pans past Dan and Kirsten laughing at a table next to them, Gianna and Ranjitha scarfing down the breakfast even though it was gross at the next, and Colby, Annie, Zach and Beyla laughing at their own table.

In economy class, Fiona is with Lauren and Ryan, and the three excitedly discuss plans for an alliance post-merge. Unfortunately, Hailey overhears them.

Hailey (CONF): Ok did Lauren miss my great speech about team unity?

As Hailey eavesdrops, Chris suddenly calls all of the contestants into the mess hall. Once they arrive, they see on all the tables sits a mass amount of scuba gear.

Nick (CONF): Every time I look at some element of a challenge I get really nervous

Chris begins to describe their next challenge…scuba diving around the Great Barrier Reef! Ryan sarcastically asks if they already went to Australia, why they're going back...

*flashback to Cleo and Vani diving off the Sydney bridge and returning with gold buoys, then to the contestants skipping stones by the river outside the Sydney Opera House*

...to which Chris tells him to shut it. He explains that their challenge will be somewhat similar to the Easter Island challenge back in season one.

*flashback to Matt, season one Alex, Channing, Evan and Aaron cracking open eggs on Easter Island*

They will be diving down and searching for little balls of fake coral among the giant reefs that will be four colors – gold, light blue, light purple and light orange, representing the four teams. Once they find a piece of the opposing teams' color, they can break it open to reveal a name. That person is eliminated from the challenge. They also have the option of breaking open their own pieces of coral. If they find their own name, the team wins the challenge on the spot, but if not then whoever’s name is found is still eliminated.

Once everyone gets in their gear, Chris gives them time to strategize. In Glory’s huddle, Alex is explaining that they can’t make the mistake Team Victory did and turn on each other. Sam is telling the same to Team Booty.

Sam (CONF): Wow it’s kind of weird to think that last time I did this kind of challenge, Alex and I were on the same team

Myra explains the nuances of the task and how to succeed, but Frances has other plans.

Frances (CONF): Ok so strategically, if we lose "on accident" it will be easy to get rid of Dan, which would mean one less adversary down the road...it's time for a big move

Ryan loudly makes another joke to Nick about being back in Australia again, causing Chris to cut their time and push all of them out of the plane and into the water by the reef.

Upon entering the water, the contestants are greeted with a beautiful array of striking color and masses of coral swarming with vibrant wild life, ranging from fish all colors of the rainbow to sea turtles.

Yuri (CONF): *making excited noises* This is sick

Wilson (CONF): Absolutely breathtaking

Paige (CONF): You know, I’m really starting to like this game

Lauren (CONF): Ok I have to admit, this might be one of the most beautiful places we’ve stopped that’s not the town in Norway or the castle in San Marino

After a few seconds of pure awe, the competition is on.

The camera shows a wide shot of the area while the instrumental version of the theme song begins to play, and a still montage shows Alex and Nick swimming one way while Ryan, Gianna and Annie swim another, Beyla in the background staring at a pretty piece of coral, Ranjitha poking a hole only to find a giant, menacing fish that begins to chase her, Kirk and Paige, Myra and Suzanne swimming left in the back while Rourke and Eli swim right in the front and finally Sibu swimming to the center and turning to the camera, striking a pose and blowing it a kiss.

Frances begins to employ her plan, finding two purple pieces of coral.

Frances (CONF): *crossing her fingers* Please don't let these be me

Cracking open both, she finds the names of Gianna and Dan, who both angrily swim to the surface. She tells them over the mic that she is trying to find her own name, so if they find all ten to give them to her and they’ll win the challenge. Gianna and Dan look skeptical as they emerge at the surface. Awaiting them is a giant wooden "Bench of Losers" on a sand dune poking out of the water, and the two go sit on it.

Alex cracks open a Waka coral and finds Ani’s name, Beyla tosses a Booty one at Kirsten who jokingly hits it like she’s swinging a baseball bat, revealing Helina’s name. Kirk smashes a Team Glory and a Team Friendship one together, finding Izzy's and Sibu’s names.

Helina, Ani, Izzy and Sibu dejectedly swim over to join the bench. Sibu, Gianna and Dan curse at how poorly they're doing, as Myra and Ryan float to the surface. Dan asks what happens, and they both say “Frances” at the same time.

Dan (CONF): Ok she’s not even trying to cover up for the fact she’s trying to throw the challenge

Ryan (CONF): I just feel like this strategy is not going to work at all

Kirk throws another Team Waka piece at the actual reef, causing it to split open and reveal Brian’s name.

Kirk (CONF): This is sweet

Suddenly, a large fish emerges and chases after him.

Kirk (CONF): *slightly cut and bruised* Ok less sweet than I thought

Matt finds an orange one and takes a crack at opening it, crossing his fingers. Unfortunately for him, it’s Garrett.

Garrett (CONF): Ok look dude, I really like you, but first it’s losing us the “water” balloon challenge, then the bubble soccer one, and now this...

Matt swims to open another orange one and Garrett frantically motions for him to stop. Matt thinks he’s encouraging him, opening up another orange one to reveal Mary's name.

Garrett (CONF): *face-palms*

A montage shows Suzanne in awe of a school of brightly colored fish, as Rourke tosses her a Glory coral and opens one of his own, eliminating Colby and Beyla. It then shows Yuri cross his fingers and open a blue one, eliminating Sofia, Hailey eliminating Vani, Duncan eliminating Kelsey and Fiona eliminating Lauren then subsequently her own teammate Ranjitha. Finally it shows Phillippa and Paige frantically swimming away from an angry sea turtle, whose head they mistook for light blue coral, and Kathryn high-fiving Zach after he gets out both Grant and Fiona.

At the loser bench, a wet Grant and Fiona join the rest of the losers, as Suzanne floats to the surface courtesy of Nick, Alex courtesy of Annie, and Miller, again the handiwork of Frances. That leaves only Annie, Nico and Frances in the game for Team Friendship.

Frances (CONF): Ok this is backfiring; we may actually win now if Annie, Nico and I find the remaining three pieces of coral

Annie (CONF): This challenge is weird in that the more contestants you lose, the more likely you are to win because you have a higher chance of it being your own name, but you're also at a higher risk of being wiped out

Dan is pacing back and forth on the sand dune, angrily devising a plan to eliminate Frances if they lose.

A second montage shows Eli and Nick hugging underwater as they find two Booty pieces of coral, eliminating Townes and Yuri, Sam and Wilson admiring a large multi-colored fish swimming overhead, with Kathryn awkwardly tapping Wilson’s shoulder revealing a broken piece of coral with his name in it, Kirsten finding two pieces of gold coral and deciding to risk it and open both, eliminating Hailey and Nick, and Annie and Nico working together to try and wipe out Team Waka, having gotten both Matt and Phillippa both out.

 Nick (CONF):  Ok I actually kind of like this one

While Dan is pacing back and forth, Hailey has an idea. She pulls him aside, and whispers something in his ear. He smirks, and returns to the group.

Annie and Nico find a golden piece of coral hidden in a cave within the reef containing Eli’s name, and Kirsten opens another Team Glory one to find Zach’s.

All of a sudden, the sound of the air horn reverberates through the water. The scene flashes to Archer, triumphantly holding a piece of coral with his name on it.

The members of Team Booty on the loser bench celebrate wildly as Sam, Archer and Kirk return to shore, having not won a challenge since the season one tribute, which was like six challenges ago.

Another air horn blows, and Kirsten reveals after cracking all those Glory gold ones open, she finally found the one with her name on it.

Eli (CONF): Ok that strategy was a little…unorthodox but hey, we’re not going to elimination!

Frances, panicking at the prospect of going to elimination and frantically trying to back out of her plan, opens two orange rocks eliminating Rourke and Duncan. Paige and Frances spot the last piece of orange coral at the exact same time, and begin swimmingly hectically toward it.

Paige (CONF): Oh hell no, we are not going to another elimination ceremony

She manages to inch out Frances and crack open the piece, revealing her name and sending Team Friendship to their second elimination ceremony in a row.

At dinner, Team Friendship looks dejected. They are already down one member, and are now going to be down two from all the other teams.

Dan is putting Hailey’s plan in motion pulling aside Nico, Miller, Kelsey and Myra one by one. That is making Frances extremely nervous.

In the meantime, Frances is planning with Gianna, Annie and Sibu. She tells them the plan is to take out Dan at all costs. A montage then shows Gianna talking to Kelsey, Annie talking to Miller and Sibu talking to Nico.

Nico (CONF): This whole ‘playing two alliances’ thing is exhausting; Sibu and I may just have to pick a side soon

Frances goes to talk to Ryan, to try and get him on board with their plan. He looks only half-interested, calling her out on obviously trying to throw the challenge.

Dan sneaks out before the ceremony to find Kirsten. The two have their first real kiss; with Dan telling her he isn’t sure if he’s going to survive the night’s elimination ceremony. Kirsten jokingly tells him to try not to get eliminated, and he smirks. As Team Friendship walks into the elimination ceremony room, everyone looks nervous. A couple different names have been thrown around, from Miller to Myra, but no one is quite sure who is going to be taking the Drop of Shame that night.

~*ELIMINATION CEREMONY*~

Chris walks out. He scolds Team Friendship for losing again, and tells them that they remind him of Team Firecrotch from the first season. He ushers them one by one into the confessional to vote.

Sibu (CONF): Ok Nico told me what he thinks is the smart decision for this vote but…I’m still not sure

Annie (CONF): *stamps an unknown passport* I kind of like you but I gotta work some strategy here

Ryan (CONF): *stamps an unknown passport* Not too sorry to see you go

Miller (CONF): Fuck…I don’t know what to do

Dan (CONF):  Just trimming the deadweight, no hard feelings *stamps an unknown passport*

Myra (CONF): This is so hard, but Dan has a good point...

Chris walks out with a plate full of only nine barfbags. He says he's loving the drama from this vote, and that he thinks people are going to be surprised by the outcome. The first one is handed to…

Miller.

Miller cheers.

Annie. Myra. Sibu. Gianna.

Frances looks nervous as she watches her friends go up one by one to claim their barfbags. Annie and Myra hug, as do Sibu and Gianna, the latter of which is relieved to not be in the bottom two again.

Kelsey. Nico.

The two hug tightly.

Frances.

Frances looks shocked, fully expecting to be in the bottom two. She looks at Dan, who smirks. That leaves Dan and Ryan as the bottom two. Ryan looks extremely nervous, but Dan is at least trying to fake confidence. The last barfbag goes to…

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Dan.

Frances, Annie, Ryan and Gianna look absolutely shocked. Frances fully expected to be in the bottom two, and did not expect anyone to go after Ryan.

Dan (CONF): Hailey telling me about his future ‘alliance’ with Lauren and Fiona was gold: the second people thought he wasn’t loyal to the team, they were eager to vote him out - sorry dude but saves my ass for at least another two days

Ryan looks sad, and the other contestants go over to hug him. Lauren, Izzy, Fiona, Nick and Alex also run into the elimination room to hug him goodbye. Lauren looks devastated her best friend just got voted out of the game.

Ryan (CONF): The worst part is not getting to be with everyone anymore, this has been the best time of my life and I’m sure this has been said a hundred times but…I just didn’t see it coming like at all

The contestants don’t have a party that night, resting from the intense back-to-back challenges in Colorado and the Great Barrier Reef. Instead, Eli pops in the scary movie "It Follows" for them all to watch in the mess hall together.

It then shows Townes, Kirk, Wilson and Rourke cuddling, as do Yuri, Helina, Paige, Izzy, Ranjitha and Vani, Dan and Kirsten, the latter relieved to see Dan still in the game, Beyla, Archer, Nico, Kelsey, Gianna, Annie, Colby, Duncan, Alex and Miller, and Matt and Ani. It also shows an exhausted Mary and Sofia sound asleep on top of each other, and Myra completely hiding her face behind a blanket, refusing to look at the screen. Nick, Hailey, Frances and Kathryn keep scrambling trying to hide behind each other, scared to be too close to the screen, and Brian’s loud girlish scream causes everyone to laugh. It then shows Phillippa, Suzanne, Eli and Zach smirking as they walk out with huge bags of popcorn, making everyone psyched. Fiona jokingly throws one at Lauren that misses and hits Garrett, causing him to retaliate and accidentally hit both Grant and Sam. The contestants all laugh break into a popcorn fight as the scary movie plays in the background and the scene fades to black.

Trivia

 * As of this episode, over one third of the contestants have been voted out