Survivor: Worlds Apart's merged Merica tribe eliminated Hali Ford during Wednesday night's seventh episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season. 

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Hali, a 25-year-old law student from San Francisco, CA, was the eighth person voted out of the game. Her Merica tribe got her out on Night 21 at the season's eighth Tribal Council session.

"I was shocked, like, I didn't think I was going home tonight. I thought we really had this girl-thing going, but I'm the sucker on that one. I honestly understand why [Sierra Dawn Thomas] -- and whoever else voted for me -- did. I think it's good gameplay. I'm ready to go take my first shot of whiskey and have a big bowl of ice cream," Hali said following her ouster.

The players still in the game at this point were Hali; Sierra, a 27-year-old barrel racer from Roy, UT; Mike Holloway, a 38-year-old oil driller from North Richland Hills, TX; Dan Foley, a 47-year-old postal worker from Gorham, ME; Rodney Lavoie Jr., a 24-year-old general contractor from Boston, MA; and Joe Anglim, a 25-year-old jewelry designer from Scottsdale, AZ.

Also still vying for the title of "Sole Survivor" were Tyler Fredrickson, a 33-year-old ex-talent agent assistant from Los Angeles, CA; Jenn Brown, a 22-year-old sailing instructor from Long Beach, CA;  Will Sims II, a 41-year-old YouTube sensation from Sherman Oaks, CA; Carolyn Rivera, a 52-year-old corporate executive from Tampa, FL; and Shirin Oskooi, a 31-year-old Yahoo executive from San Francisco, CA.

Rodney was mad about seeing Kelly Remington go. The Blue Collars' vote was apparently supposed to be Hali but Mike changed it at the last minute to Jenn in order to test Will's loyalty. Rodney called him an "idiot redneck."

With the numbers seven to four, Rodney asked Will "to ride" with him. Rodney said they'd let Mike continue running the show, but then once they get out Joe, Hali, Jenn and Shirin, they'd be gone.

On Day 20, Rodney hated how the No Collars thought they were in charge of the food and everything. He also called former White Collar Shirin "pointless" and couldn't wait to "weed out all free garbage."

The tribe then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

For the challenge, the castaways were required to make their way across a series of balance beams while untying and collecting bags of puzzle pieces along the way. Once they got a bag, they had to drop it off, go back and then do it again. The first three players to collect all three bags and cross the finish line would move onto the final round, where they'd use those pieces to solve an anchor puzzle.

Hali, Joe and Mike moved onto the final round and Joe ended up winning a ziplining adventure through the rainforest in addition to a pizza picnic. He picked Tyler to join him on the Reward as well as Will and Carolyn. He then got to choose one more person, and because Shirin is such a Super Fan, he let her come. Rodney was pissed he wasn't picked but announced to the group his alliance would still be seven strong.

Joe was undefeated in the individual portion of this game thus far. Mike assumed Joe would be getting a clue to the hidden Immunity Idol, and he began to worry about how he might beat Joe.

On Reward, Carolyn noted that Joe's picks were "interesting" because he didn't pick any of the Blue Collars -- clearly because they were all going after him. As Carolyn was drinking her soda, Joe saw a note at the bottom of the bottle. He said he wished he had more soda and then Carolyn generously gave him the bottle without knowing a clue was in it.

Joe tried to get the clue out as smoothly as possible, but Tyler caught him in the act. Tyler chose not to out him to everyone. Instead, Joe had every intention to share the clue's contents with Tyler, which would open up new options for him.

On Day 21, Joe shared the clue with Tyler and hoped it would bond them. Mike spied on the pair as they went off looking for it together. He didn't think it made sense for Joe to share his clue with Tyler unless he was trying to woo him over to his side. Tyler ran into Mike shortly after his exchange and realized Mike might've been listening or watching. As a result, he shared the clue with Mike as well to prove his loyalty.

Mike thought Joe needed to go next or he'd be in the line of fire. The two men then went off looking for the idol separately.

To put a bigger target on Joe's back, Mike announced in front of everyone that had found the hidden Immunity Idol even though he hadn't. Joe wasn't happy about that at first, but then he realized he could sit back and relax as if he had found the idol. Everyone thought he had it now, which to Joe, was just as good as actually having one in possession.

Meanwhile, Dan told Shirin her game was over because she just looked like a follower of Joe. Dan told her that she was a very easy target, but Shirin didn't care.

On Day 21, Mike was extremely determined to look for the idol. He told the cameras that people who find idols are the people working hardest in the game. In a stroke of luck and maybe genius, Mike ended up finding the idol. He said in a confessional that if Joe didn't win Individual Immunity, he'd absolutely be the next person voted out of the tribe.

On Day 22, Merica met with Jeff again for the Immunity Challenge, which required the castaways to move a puzzle piece through three slide mazes and then complete a slide puzzle.

Shirin was so excited the challenge was more focused on the mind than physicality. She thought she had a great chance to win, but in an unsurprising twist of events, Joe won immunity once again. It was his third individual win -- two of which were Individual Immunity Challenges.

Back at camp, Rodney was pissed Joe was still in the game instead of his buddy Joaquin Souberielle. He blamed Mike for making that poor decision.

The majority alliance then suggested voting out Shirin -- who assumed she'd be safe considering she was viewed as a very weak player -- in case she had an idol. However, Mike insisted Shirin was never going to win anything and so they should target another member of Jenn's alliance to watch the No Collar tripod crumble. The majority alliance therefore decided to go after Hali.

Meanwhile, Sierra was talking to the girls about forming an all-female alliance. They all hated Dan and found commonality in that. Sierra knew her Blue Collars were going to be targeting a girl, but she wasn't sure what to do. She liked the idea of having all girls in the end.

If Sierra flipped, the girls just needed one more vote to get Dan out. Shirin discussed the girls' plan with Tyler, saying they could weaken the Blue Collars by taking out "a kingpin" and them reassemble afterwards. Otherwise, Shirin claimed it was just the "Dan and Mike Show." Shirin wondered whether it might be their last opportunity to take a Blue Collar out.

Tyler knew there were big threats in his majority alliance, so he said in a confessional that he'd like nothing more than to take out Mike or Dan. He didn't mind going after them when they least expected it.

At Tribal Council that night, Dan said he felt uneasy because the game of Survivor drops bombs. Dan also announced that "flippers never win" -- a comment which Shirin openly disagreed with. Shirin said Tony Vlachos had won the game of Survivor after flipping on multiple groups of people multiple times. Shirin suggested Dan was just saying that as a scare tactic for his alliance.

Before Jeff revealed the votes, no one played an idol.

The votes were then disclosed. Four castaways voted for Dan and six players voted for Hali. Before she left the session, Hali whispered "what the f-ck" to Jenn, who subsequently said, "I'm sorry." The alliances clearly stayed the same following Kelly's ouster.

The episode's closing credits later showed that Will, Tyler, Mike, Carolyn, Dan, Sierra, and Rodney all voted for Hali.

Hali, Joe, Jenn, and Shirin voted for Dan.

About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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