PREVIOUSLY ON SURVIVOR: At camp, Kass knew she had to do some damage control with Abi. Abi felt betrayed that Kass didn’t tell her about the idol. Natalie and Angelina were worried that this fight would be detrimental going forward, and maybe flushing out Kass’ idol or voting out Abi was their better move to make next. Domenick saw this unraveling, and decided to play it cool, hoping to make a move if he needed to. At the Heroes beach, the Heroes felt strong having won the past two challenges. “If we continue this momentum,” Malcolm said, “we could go into the merge with eight people if Tai or Danni win their way back.” Aubry hoped that Tai would return from Exile, and she could sway any Villains on the outs once they got to the merge. “I know I’m on the outs of this tribe,” Aubry said in confessional, “but as long as I’m still here, I am fighting and nobody’s going to stop me from doing so.” At the challenge, it was a relay race involving sandbags, knot untying, and a final slide puzzle. Aubry knew that she needed to keep the Heroes safe, and the slide puzzle was her place to shine. When the tribes needed to sit out two guys, and Keith was ineligible, Malcolm and Michael sat out, knowing their tribe could be doomed. When the challenge started, Kass and Abi were immediately slowing the tribe down, giving the Heroes a head start. Malcolm and Michael were nervous watching in the sidelines. At the knot untying, Sabrina and Jaclyn struggled, giving Natalie and Domenick some room to make up for time, giving them the lead again. At the slide puzzle, Aubry knew she had to pick up some slack, as Angelina worked on her puzzle. In a near photo-finish, Aubry finished first, giving her tribe the win. Aubry felt like she had proved herself and given her team the chance to go into the Merge stacked in numbers. Domenick was nervous, knowing he’d be the obvious boot, but figured he could use Kass and Abi’s fight to pit friends against each other. Back at camp, Angelina and Natalie immediately met and decided that Domenick was next to go, but Abi wanted to flush Kass’ idol out. Abi said she couldn’t trust Kass anymore. Kass thought it was stupid, and told Angelina and Natalie that they needed to go into the merge with the idol, and having Abi around may threaten that. Angelina didn’t want to have to split up the four girls, so she decided to try some damage control. “Listen,” she told Abi and Kass, “we four ladies need to stick together. Dom will easily go to the Heroes and give them information. We need a tight group that won’t turn on each other, so we can use the idol to make a move and get a big threat out come merge-time.” Domenick had talked to Angelina about possibly voting off Abi once and for all, and Angelina was honest, telling him that he was going home. Dom decided to talk to Natalie and say that Angelina was taking lots of credit for the moves they had been making, and while Natalie sort of knew this, she didn’t want to stir the pot anymore. At tribal council, Domenick laid it all on the line, saying that he would vote with whoever wanted to make a move. Abi told Dom that he was a disgrace, which confused even Kass. Domenick said that Abi was disrespectful and shouldn’t deserve a place in the merge. Angelina and Natalie knew that Domenick was a much more respectable guy, but in the end, they voted with Kass and Abi to vote Dom out, while Dom put his vote on Abi. Dom said he tried all he could, and was sorry that they had to put up with Abi any longer. The tribes expected to merge now that there were eleven people left, but they soon found out that they had one more challenge to play, as they wouldn’t be merging until 10 this season. Shocked, the contestants readied themselves for another few days on their own beaches.