In what will likely be the last batch of Survivor: David vs. Goliath press photos taken by a photographer, let’s marvel at the game, the scenery and the buffs.

There’s not a bigger pet peeve I have about modern Survivor seasons than the lack of variety in the buff colors. There have been way too many “purple vs. orange” or “red vs. blue” (and, possibly, yellow as an extra) expanding with green tribes, with the worst offender being the black merge buff. Thankfully, Survivor: David vs. Goliath merge episode press photos are a sight for sore eyes.

As indicated in a preseason leak on the CBS store, the merge buffs are aqua/cyan blue; as gorgeous as the Fijian oceans (when they’re not in the middle of a tumultuous storm). For the players vying to win a million dollars, the sight of the merged tribe is the most beautiful sight possible, as they are now ten eliminations away from a real shot at the money.

Let’s take a look at the Survivor: David vs. Goliath merge photos, starting with a momentous occasion.

Here’s one look at most of the players in the game walking up to camp to start out the next leg of the game. Interesting to see where players are in this photo, with Alison off to the side, Davie closest to Kara, Angelina off to the side and Elizabeth and Mike near the back.

As is tradition, the tribes have merged, and it’s finally time for everyone to introduce themselves. It looks like Outback Steakhouse is sitting out a merge feast sponsorship this season.

As always, Christian lights up the room, hanging out with four of the five remaining women in the game and Alec. He’s learning the Goliath water talk move.

A big part of the merge is making alliances and getting to know players you’ve never played with. These two haven’t been edited up with the “parent” edit, but these two are proud parents; that helps bridge the gap of unfamiliarity.

A big story heading into the Survivor: David vs. Goliath merge is the return of the “showmance;” Kara and Alec Dan. There’s another photo like this, as the two find it hard to hide whatever’s going on between them.

The “Next Time On Survivor” preview at the end of the last episode showed Alec pitching an unexpected partnership with Christian. Considering Gabby’s closeness with Christian and Nick working with her through the Mason Dixon line, this could be the “meeting of the (tangentially connected) minds.”

There’s not much of Angelina in small group shots at the merge, but she’s still working with her Jabeni Goliath buddy Mike, who helped save her in the last episode.

Seriously, Alec might as well write the words “I’m trying to flip the Goliaths over to the Davids” on his chest.

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Earlier in the set, Kara was sitting in that same hammock with Dan (although not on top of each other) in front of this “Davids plus Mike and Alec” group. It looks like the showmance might be the players on the outs, especially if they keep flaunting how close they are.

The merge episode Immunity Challenge is weird, unwieldy and requires a combination of dexterity, endurance and concentration.

Here are the challengers as they hear from Jeff Probst (offscreen) what the heck is going to happen.

This is what they’re vying for; the Immunity Necklace. It’s a solid middle-of-the-road design; a little bit of flair, a little bit tacky.

Despite looking at photos, I still don’t quite understand what this challenge is about. It looks like you need to move a swinging pendulum through two segments far away, with stations at a height to make each player at an equal distance. They’re also standing on two small wooden blocks.

Like, it looks like you have to keep the pendulum at one of the ends in the open rectangular section so that you don’t knock your idol over, but why are there two sides? Do you have to move it over at predetermined times? That’s my guess.

The rest of these Survivor: David vs. Goliath press photos are isolated shots of players at the merge, with the exception of Davie on Vuku. It’s infinitely cooler than the “hold up a string” shot that so many players’ have as their only option, and it wasn’t available until after the episode aired.