Night 18, The Sook Jai tribe came back to camp heavy-hearted. The previous Tribal Council was hard on them having to vote Robb off. According to Erin, It was the hardest Tribal Council ever for her. That same night, she talked to Penny about how she thinks Ken and Shii Ann can't be trusted. She told Penny that the two might be building an alliance. Meanwhile, Ken and Shii Ann were talking about their distrust for Penny. Ken imparted the reason why he and Robb fought. It was Penny who told Robb that Ken was lying to him. Shii Ann, for her part, expressed her concern about Penny. She said that Penny has been wanting to vote her off for a long time. Ken agreed. Furthermore, both Ken and Shii Ann had the same opinion that Penny is being manipulative. According to them, she is playing "hard ball" and is very sneaky.

The next morning, the two tribes received tree mail. With it came five cans of paint with different colors. According to the mail, the castaways have to choose one color which they will paint their body with. They can only paint their body with that color and cannot share with that of their tribemates. The castaways of the two tribes followed the instructions and then went to meet each other. They were expectant of a merge going to happen. Upon meeting Jeff Probst explained what the two tribes are going to do. Each castaway from each tribe will pair up with the castaway from the opposite tribe having the same color of body paint as they have. The pairs will then have to choose one from five baskets and go to a place where they can get to know each other. Two of the baskets have further instructions that the pairs who chose them must follow. The pairs were: Clay and Shii Ann (red), Erin and Ted (gold), Brian and Penny (orange), Helen and Ken (blue), and Jan and Jake (light blue). The pair of Clay and Shii Ann as well as the pair of Helen and Ken chose the baskets with instructions. The others just had some fruits that they ate while on their little picnics.

Following the instructions, Clay and Shii Ann went to the Chuay Gahn tribe while Helen and Ken proceeded to the Sook Jai camp. Upon reaching Sook Jai, Ken toured Helen first around the place after which, they had a conversation. Keeping in mind that Helen is still the enemy, Ken opted to just listen more rather than talk. The same went for Helen though, so there was little information exchange during their chat. According to Helen, she doesn't want to be the one exposing all of her tribe's information to the cop. Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Shii Ann was amazed with the Chuay Gahn camp. Sitting inside the cave, the pair had their conversation. Contrary to Ken's strategy though, Shii Ann opened herself up to Clay. With it came all the information about Sook Jai: their life at camp, the conflicts between people and the trust and distrust she has for people in her tribe. Clay, meanwhile, listened attentively to what Shii Ann had to say.

After getting to know each other, the pairs went back to where they first met. There Jeff asked the castaways about their experiences. When asked, Shii Ann expressed her excitement about the Chuay Gahn camp. She told her tribemates about the Chuay Gahn camp's cove, the cave, and how beautiful it was. Jeff then further explained what will happen next. First, he said that the two tribes will now live in one camp. Next, he addressed the pairs of Clay and Shii Ann, and Helen and Ken. Jeff said that having randomly chosen their basket, they instantly became their tribe's ambassadors. And having seen both camps, he asked the four castaways to decide where the tribes will live together. The four came up with the concensus that they will go with the Chuay Gahn camp.

Upon arriving at Chuay Gahn, the castaways were delighted to see food prepared for them. They then quickly jumped on all the food they were given. Later, Shii Ann suggested that they wash their body paint off in the ocean. The whole tribe agreed. While having fun cleaning theirselves, Ken can't help but notice Shii Ann smiling again after a long time. He commented that he was happy for her after having received beatings from people back at Sook Jai. Penny, on the other hand, was trying to gauge how she's going to fit in with the other members. Erin also had the same thoughts. She also expressed how grateful she was to the Chuay Gahn members for welcoming them and helping them cope easily with their new home.