Last week after the first team to “tap out” were Steffen and Mikhail when Mikhail suffered a knee injury, the team who was second to last, Ashley and Rhandi feared elimination.  This was due to the letter left in the food cache from the producers. It read that a self-elimination didn’t necessarily avoid a second elimination.

This week, viewers got to see that when Ashley and Rhandi arrived to the end crate, just after Kennedy and Nik who were waiting for them, there were indeed one last pair of medallions left for them which permitted them to proceed to the next race.

Prior to that, the ladies had set-up camp near Kennedy and Nik, and tried to form a game play alliance with the couple.  But, Ashley and Rhandi were quickly shut-down.  Kennedy later said in her interview that she’s there to make “enemies” not friends!

Upon traveling their own hilly navigation to that end crate, Ashley suffered an injury to her ankle.  We shall see how much further these ladies will be able to rough it with the injury as the weeks progress.

This week, Oliver and Corry maintained their lead and were the first to complete Race 2, followed by Ethan and Tyrie, then Ryan and Bronsen.  Fourth place was taken by exes Creighton and Paulina, who surprisingly are starting to get along better in this episode.  Kennedy and Nik were the couple who began bickering the most.

Kennedy conquered her fear of being on a high mountain after scaling over Maungakura ridgeline.  The good news was after all of their hard work, they, along with all of the teams, got to a survival camp with a lot more options for forging their own food.  Unlike the last survival camp which had absolutely nothing to hunt.

Pictured: (l-r) Spencer “Corry” Jones, Oliver Dev — Photo by: Brian Finestone/USA Network

Racers had options of catching eels in the river or trapping possums in the woods.  To assist with that, included inside the end crate rewards were an eel fishing kit, retrieved by Ethan and Tyrie; and a possum trap picked up by Ryan and Bronsen.  Oliver and Corry, who were first, got two steaks for their rewards.  Creighton and Paulina, got two camp chairs.

It’s Not Always Good to Follow:

Pictured: (l-r) Coree Woltering, Daniel “Jeff” Watterson — Photo by: Brian Finestone/USA Network

Earlier while deciding their navigation, Creighton and Paulina first had it right when their gut instinct told them to stay on the high ground to the food cache, over going low then hike up a steep incline.

But, when they saw Jeff and Coree, they opted to follow, until they realized that their first instinct was correct.  That paid off because although they had to backtrack one hour and 20 minutes, they beat Coree and Jeff to the food cache.

Forming an Alliance:

Once at the camp, upon seeing the huge eel that Tyrie and Ethan scored, Creighton determined that the fuel may just make the difference in the opposing team being able to catch up, and beat the forerunners Oliver and Corry.  So then, a plan was hatched.

Pictured: (l-r) Paulina Pena, Creighton Baird — Photo by: Daniel Allen/USA Network

Creighton came up with the idea to offer an alliance with Tyrie and Ethan.  He offered them their camp chairs in exchange for their eel fishing kit.  After discussing the deal amongst themselves, Ethan and Tyrie wanted “something more than chairs.”

Ethan and Tyrie struck a deal with Creighton and Paulina that they have to harvest and cook the eels that they catch and the teams split it 50-50. The main kicker was, Paulina and Creighton signed an NDA with Tyrie and Ethan NOT to speak of the deal that they struck between them to any of the other teams.

Well, that didn’t last for too long…because after the two teams came back to Survival Camp with the eel they had just caught, Creighton told everyone about their deal when he was asked about how the eel was caught!!

Oliver and Corry were worried over the newly formed alliance.

NEXT WEEK:
It looks like the Race will become more challenging and start to break more contestants.  In next week’s preview Creighton states: “It’s not a race to survive, it’s surviving the race!”

“Race to Survive: New Zealand” airs Mondays at 11 pm ET/PT on USA Network.