This Bottom Ranking Is A Fluke

 is the second episode of.

Challenges
Immunity Challenge A: Tribe Ranking. Each tribe was responsible for ranking their tribemates by submitting an ordered list of their favorite to least favorite castaway.

Immunity Challenge B: Fort Defender. According to the ranks, castaways were then assigned castle defender positions for the endurance warfare challenge Fort Defender. Castaways were responsible for making specific statements to attack the other tribe’s fort or defend their own. The tribe with the most correct attacks at the end of the challenge won immunity and a clue to the hidden immunity idol.

Winner:.

Kidnapping & Menengai
The winning tribe had their votes tallied. The castaway receiving the majority of votes would join their camp, skipping tribal council in the process, and would be responsible for selecting three members of their tribe for a rock draw. The castaway drawing the black rock would then face off against the kidnapped in a duel across the Menengai Crater.

Menengai
As a result of winning the duel, Nicole chose Prey Item #5 and earned a Cursed Vote that would allow her to cast a vote the first tribal council after her elimination.

Voting Confessionals
"torrobo"

- I just gotta say... if I weren't told that you've won a season I'd never guess it. you're one hell of a messy player, cheers

"torrobo"

- Ryan literally less than a week ago if I was voting you out it would've been for personal reasons and now I sit here sad to be having to do this!! I really hope it is just this simple unfortunately at your expense, but ya !!

"torrobo"

- Sorry my guy, you did change my perception about you but unless these people are insane and want to fracture a tribe before a potential swap this is my best bet, take care.

"torrobo"

- Every day is a good day to be alive, whether you’re in the game or not.

"torrobo"

- Go me

"torrobo"

- there’s a small chance you could have an idol and vote me out tonight. And that’s fine, and knew that was a possibility. But the truth is there’s no one in this tribe I would want to throw a vote on other than your ass so, if y’all idol me out, so be it... otherwise, next question. SEE YA!

"torrobo"

- im casting a vote so i know that at least if you some how win it won't be a perfect game!!! petty!!!!

Final Words
"torrobo"

- There's no hard feelings. It's important Chris knows that everything was real and I hope he believes me when I said Will started saying his name. I wish I could've spent time with Ashlee and Chris more! And finally I love Brittany Leanna Kirby so much. No ragrats.

Episode Summary
After tribal council, Ryan held a tribe meeting where he apologized for voting against Evan and relayed that his connection with Brittany was more important than falling in line with the tribe. The positive public response of the tribe created a facade of issues smoothed over, but the stress over the number of last-hour antics was predominant amongst many members of the tribe. Afterwards, Will and Ryan both blamed the other over the failed plan to oust Chris and quickly began working against each other behind the scenes.

Before the next challenge, the tribes were then told that they would be responsible for ranking their members for immunity. Each castaway developed a different strategy for this - some sought to place threats at the top to create shields, others randomized their results, and others delivered a sincere ranking. Amir and Gerda were placed at the top of Torrobo while Ashlee and Ryan were placed on the bottom of the tribe. On Kikuyu, Cassandra, Nicole, and Natalia were ranked at the top whereas Jino, Jack, and Alex fell to the bottom.

At immunity, the castaways were then assigned specific positions in accordance to their rank for the challenge Fort Defender, which tested endurance and battle strategy. Cassandra, who was voted the most useful member of Kikuyu, ran away screaming “Fuck wait”. After particularly strong performances from Natalia, Chris, Nicole, and Jino, Kikuyu came out on top and a tribe of predators were sent back to tribal to discover who would become prey. Despite debating over kidnapping Ryan due to speculation that he was on the outs, the bonds Ashlee built reigned supreme and Kikuyu spared her from tribal once again.

At Kikuyu, Trent compared notes with Nicole and Alex regarding the rock draw and discovered that Jack had lied about drawing a white rock. In order to discover more about the twist, Nicole then capitalized on her bond with Ashlee and replaced Alex in the previous line-up. At the Menengai, Nicole and Ashlee competed in the duel but it was Nicole who reigned triumphant, earning a cursed vote that she could cast if eliminated from the game. Before she left, Ashlee announced to the tribe that an anonymous Predator had told her she would be leaving if they lost, much to Kikuyu’s shock and disbelief.

Meanwhile on Torrobo, the Predators still sought to understand whether Will or Ryan should be dubbed the ‘rat’ that led to the minority-induced chaos. Chris continued to play Will and Ryan against each other as they explained their side of the story and effectively turned his former enemies into numbers against each other and for him. At the end of the day, Chris, Evan, and Nora determined that Will was the source of the minority plan but Amir and Gerda felt strongly that Ryan was the source of disunity on the tribe. Amidst this, several castaways noted the position of power Amir held, but they felt they could allow him to keep control for the moment if it did not endanger them directly.

Back at Kikuyu, Jino, feeling insecure over being ranked at the bottom, sprung into action and pulled together a majority alliance of himself, Natalia, Nicole, Trent, and Cali titled CCBD. While this grouping appeared to be unified, cracks began to show as Trent felt Alex was excluded and Jino felt Natalie was excluded. Furthermore, Jack and Jino began attempting to throw each other under the bus as the staple easy boot of the tribe, with the former suggesting a drinking game every time the latter appeared clueless. While the majority of castaways took Jino’s side, Nicole noted that it might be best to shift a target to Alex. Amidst the behind the scenes chaos, castaways began to feel better about Cassandra, whose weak social game might be a cost worth bearing if they had a free predictable number.

With tribal council approaching, Evan, Nora, and Chris weighed out their options. Despite feeling that Will might be the better move due to his erratic gameplay and unpredictability, they noted that Amir and Gerda had locked down into a solid group with him and if they were to use Ryan against Will, it would cause the Predators to fracture going into a potential swap. Accordingly, they would need Ryan to carry the legwork in order to flip Amir and Gerda.

Ryan, meanwhile, recognized his position on the bottom of the tribe and began promising his vote to anyone who would listen and contemplated the rumors he could spread about Will, Amir, and Nora to take a target off his back. When the votes were read, his efforts ended up being for naught and the Predators united to vote him out 6-1. Ryan cast his lone vote against Will to ensure he could never win a Perfect Game.

Trivia

 * The episode was named after Jack’s quote.