July 03, 2001

This week marked the merger of the Divas and Kungaloosh into the green tribe. Each tribe brought into the new camp 5 members.

After everyone left their camps, all that was left was some discarded chocolate candy bar wrappers and several empty glasses with the remains of some kind of pink froth around the rim. Each member was removed from their former tribe list.

Aunt Binnie was there to greet everyone as they settled into the new camp. They took the week to get to know each other, they were informed that the only two things they had to do during the week was name their new tribe and fill out a questionnaire about themselves. Members offered up several name ideas such as Treelo, Divaloosh, and Kungiva, but they all agreed that the name "Mike's Red Hot Harem" definitely was not an option. They polled for a new name, but no one liked any of the choices, so they polled again. The name that finally won was "Kokoleka" which means Chocolate in Hawaiian. A few of the names that didn't make it were Hotdiggitydogs, the Greenbeans, and Surviving Binnie.

Later in the week, the tribe was given the official rules by Aunt Binnie and she answered any questions that the tribe had. After the questions were clarified to those that just wanted to make sure that there wouldn't be any doubt later, the tribe began to get settled. "Hi everyone, and a hearty hello to those Ex Red Diva things too!!" one member welcomed. "Oooh, you're starting already...." an ex-diva fumed. "Now that I'm here, where's the bartender? I need to actually try a Kungaloosh" one Koko asked, looking around the new camp. "Sorry, the bar is only up on chat nights. It's self serve any other time!" answered the former bartender. "That's OK. I'll make it myself then" the Koko replied. "Now, where did I see that recipe?" she wondered. "Not to fear. I'll come up with something interesting. It can be the official drink of the green team. Hmmmm.........what about a mint julep? It sounds green."

"Now Binnie's gonna be calling me Kiddie Koko! Lol" one Koko laughed. She, however, turned more serious when inquiring about immunity for the 3 weeks she will be unable to participate. Binnie reminded her she could use her one immunity for one week, but "For the other two, you will have to take your chances during the vote (Koko). I suggest you start making friends. LOL."

The two tribes filled out their introduction forms. It was nice to see the response each tribe gave to the other as they became one. The ladies of red, got the ball rolling for the others to start communicating. In true Diva style, the conversations in the new tribe started to pick up mid-week. They didn't really know what to say to each other; so one member suggested that they tell stories. Instead, it turned into a questionfest. One person would throw out a question such as why did you decided to get involved in the game or what have you learned from playing. People went around the campfire answering in their honest opinions.

One member remarked, "how well done all of the challenge "projects" have been. Seriously, both teams slammed each other's work, but I think all the submissions have been pretty darn good for the time we've had to put them together!" The others agreed. "I agree, I actually thought that at least one of the Diva projects was better than ours, (not that I admitted that to my other tribe mates at the time)" came from across the fire. "Boy, you guys are just full of questions! Now I have one: What one thing did you admire most about the OTHER tribe?" one Koko asked of the other tribe, "For me, it was the feeling that the Divas were more of a friendly group and it wasn't all about just the game." Answering for the Divas came "Their expertise with computers far exceeded ours. I was very envious." Another ex-diva chimed in "that is so true. I don't know if it's just a combination of personalities, but we certainly lucked out getting a team full of people that we all get along with. Frankly, as you may recall, I LOVED your name from the get-go....we had a real struggle with our name."

They spoke about previous challenges as well and got a lot of issues out in the open. "I was also surprised how close our projects came to each others like that challenge where we did the budget - they were practically identical!" one member commented. "Oh yeah - and I was envious of whoever thought of 'faking' the missing hidden Mickey - I only wish that I had thought of it too!" she added. The guilty ex-kunga admitted, "That would be me, since my site was in the bookmarks folder, I figured I'd give you guys a scare with that one. I assumed it worked." "Made Auntie a little mad though" he added with a laugh. They all complemented each other on the previous challenges.

Other members were overheard to say about each other "(I liked) your enthusiasm! You all were right in there posting on the MFL digest with your team name and cheers. You jumped right in with all the fun we had with the 'pink drink' and the 'drunks'." The Queen of Nicknames liked "that they didn't discriminate against the Kiddie Kokopuff for her age. I'm impressed that she's got what it takes to stay in the game!" There was a great sigh of relief as the members started to get along, despite the trials of the earlier tribal postings.

A few of the opposite tribe members hit it off, they even agreed with each other. "I think that every person booted out in the last half of the game should write a paragraph or 2 on why they think they lost or should not have to be presented with the weekly update from Bonnie" one suggested. "LOL- that could open a BIG can of worms, (koko)!! Let's do it!" another agreed. On a more somber note, one member said "I think the hardest part of this game has been watching people turn on each other at a moments notice over the silliest things." The first member then added "I mean, kind of like an exit interview. Voice your opinion on how you feel about being axed. DD never gets to actually hear from the survivors." This will be an upcoming feature going forward.

Aunt Binnie sent the group another reminder of the rules towards the end of the week just letting the tribe know what will and what won't be allowed for the remainder of the game. It will be interesting to see how the new tribe sets up their alliances and decides who will be voted off in the coming weeks.