Ciera Eastin rocks back and forth in a hammock, swinging in the sunlight along with her friend. It’s a pleasant afternoon, aside from the fact that Ciera is lying through her teeth to save her mom’s life.
In fairness, the first fib comes from Katie Collins. She is the daughter of Tina Wesson, the second Survivor champion, the eighth Survivor first-boot, and one of two Survivors currently living on Redemption Island. Katie is on the extreme outs of her tribe, and if she does not act fast, she will join her mother in exile in just a few hours.
At least, that’s what she thinks. In reality, Ciera’s mother Laura Morett is the target du jour. This is not news to Ciera — this is the will of her alliance, and she is willing to sacrifice her own mom in order to move forward — but she doesn’t like it, either, and she wants to postpone the execution.
And so we have Ciera, fighting for her mom’s life, versus Katie, fighting for her own, at war with one another as the hammock sways. Ciera has allies on her side; Katie has none. All she has is her buff, and a bluff: “I’m playing my idol tonight.” She does not have an idol to play. Ciera smiles at Katie’s lie, and engages it with one of her own:
CIERA: “Did you find it?”
KATIE: “Yeah, I did.”
CIERA: “No, you didn’t.”
KATIE: “Why do you say that?”
CIERA: “Because I know you didn’t.”
KATIE: “How?”
CIERA: “Because I have it.”
KATIE: “…you do??”
Kudos to Katie for not falling out of her hammock, but the jig is up all the same. Best of all: Ciera does not, in fact, have the idol, but she has the stronger lie, and the greater ability to get her opponent to crack. In fact, she’s shocked at how quickly Katie backs down from the game. “That was easier than I thought it would be,” Ciera privately confesses a little bit later.
This is the first moment I think of when I think about Ciera Eastin. Forget the rocks. Forget what happened to her mom. It’s this moment in the hammock during Survivor: Blood vs Water, this spectacularly subtle act of deception, uttered with such nonchalance by someone so relaxed, without pause, without problem — it’s this little lie that tells me everything I need to know about what Ciera can pull off as a Survivor player.
If only it hadn’t come to this. Ciera and Katie began Survivor on the same Tadhana tribe with the same Tadhana problem: Brad Culpepper. Six days into the game, Brad and his Five Guy Alliance were hours away from voting out Rachel Foulger, an attempt to weaken her boyfriend Tyson Apostol, eventual winner of the season. Katie and Ciera were included in the plan, but they were suspicious of Rachel’s friendship with Dr. John Cody, the owner of an immunity idol clue, and someone who could wield that power against them.
Their solution? Put two votes on John. Even if he played his theoretical idol on Rachel, there would be enough votes on the good doctor to bounce him out of the game, and keep their torches lit another three days.
It was a promising sign of what the daughters of Laura Morett and Tina Wesson could pull off when put together, but the union was short-lived. Blame it on a tribe swap, blame it on the unusual dynamics of playing Survivor with and against loved ones — blame it on whatever you want, but the result is the same: Ciera and Katie were fast friends, but as allies, they never quite got off the ground.
Coming into Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance, Ciera does not want to let that opportunity fly past her again.
“Let me lay this out to you,” she tells me as she sits down across from me in my cabana at Ponderosa, not even bothering to dry off from the rain coming down outside. “In past seasons, the winners are normally someone aligned early on in the game: Tyson and Gervase, Natalie and Boston Rob, Russell and Natalie White. I’m trying to find someone early where I can say, ‘You and I, we can’t trust anyone — but we need to make it to the end.'”
In other words, Ciera Eastin is seeking a friend for the end of the world — or at least the end of the game. She has designs to emulate the play style of some of the great Survivor winners, like the ones she mentions, and even Katie’s mother Tina, who won her season thanks in part to her carefully crafted camaraderie with a certain cowboy.
Already, Ciera has her eye on a few Second Chancers she wants to spend 39 days with in the hypothetical hammock — but the two people I expect her to name aren’t on the invite list.
ON THE NEXT PAGE: Breaking Blood Bonds
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