Water Problem To Have

Indeed, the Goblin and nobody in particular were right, for someone was drowning.
And someone should help.
And what had happened, was that as the dinghy, canoe and raft were battering and battling their way down the raging torrent, the three boats had managed to strike each other simultaneously with enough force that the raft (admittedly the most shoddy of the three) had fallen to pieces, with the rope and boards flying in all directions, and tangling the other two boats together. Suddenly, all three boats had become a mutanteous combination floating vessel, jeopardising the safety of everyone on board, and also making it impossible to determine which duo would be crossing in second, third, or fourth place.
As this collision had taken place, Trixie and Randy's inexperience on the water had been shown, with their lack of sea-legs resulting in a lack of balance, which had resulted in them being thrown facefirst into the base of the canoe part of the mutant vessel, and their legs waving in the air comedically. This had caused the first exchange between the duo who had already finished, namely:
"Look at Randy and Trixie!"
"Inexperienced twosome."

The mutant vessel had then struck another rock and lifted momentarily into the air, revealing the broken rudder below it, leading to the exchange:
"Haha! That boat's rudder's broken!"
Sniiffff! "Shoddy workmanship."

As the vessel continued careening down the river in a frankly alarming manner, all six remaining competitors began huddling together in the middle of the boat out of fear (the fear being so strong that even Desmond was included in this huddle without comment being made regarding his odour).
And this caused a problem.

Up on shore, the Steven Evanses called a quick emergency meeting.
“This is no good! There are six of them together on the one boat!”
“How can we decide which two to send home?”
“They're rotating so quickly, and so mixed up that the audience would revolt if we chose one group over another.”
“But we can't send them all home, the game would be over too quickly!”
“And the novel would be too short!”
“Our sponsors would kill us! Drink Professor Paprika Cola!”
“Yes, they've paid for at least five more rounds.”
“Including the grand final live elimination.”
“And reunion special.”
“We have to separate the boats!”
“But how?”

Various Evanses began running in all directions, looking for anything with which to prise the boats apart.
As in any good reality show, the aim was to keep the illusion that they were in no way directly influencing the outcome, while making sure that they directly influenced the outcome, and so, as the competitors continued hurtling down the river, a suspiciously large number of rockslides, falling tree branches, and even the occasional live monkey began raining down on them, seemingly at random.

“Come on! One of these has to break the boats apart!”
“Throw another monkey!”
“Can you get a good shot?”
“I think if I just lean out here a little further.... WHOOPS!”
SPLASH!

At this moment, the third exchange began:
"Who's that in the water?"
"Can't see."
"They look in some trouble!"
"Tough luck."
"They're drowning! Someone should help!"
"Not us."

The hapless Evans was indeed drowning, as he was not a water-round specialist, and had a number of bodyguards who would keep the water at bay if ever he had been in trouble, and had therefore never learned to swim.
Now however, he was adrift in the raging water, surrounded by crocodiles, rocks, rapids, and even the occasional damp and very annoyed monkey.
The Evans was a clone, like all the other Evans (no one knew if Evans Prime even existed, or if he was just one of those stories made up to scare small Evanses), but he was no less scared of dying.
They said that when you died, the great Evans took you home to the hEvans, a thought which comforted Evans somewhat, but he was still in no hurry to meet his old Evans, and former Evans friends that had gone before.
“Help!” he gargled, attempting to wave his arms frantically and going under once again as a result.

Up on the conglomerate boat, Trixie looked out from the fear huddle into the rapids, and spotted an Evans in trouble. Instantly her tightly-honed Private Investigator training kicked in – someone needed her help!

Leaving the huddle, and with nary a thought towards her potential elimination, she abandoned ship, swimming with powerful strokes (the good kind, not the medical kind, or the band) over to the soggy sinking Steven. Efficiently and professionally, she helped him stay afloat, and guided him through the raging torrents to the vessel. She pushed him out of the water to the helping arms of the other contestants, and then climbed out herself just as the craft passed through a final dangerous section of river, that would likely have killed both of them had they remained floating, and then crossed the finish line, sliding to a gentle stop on the sand next to the Goblin's ketch.

The Evans coughed up some water, a fish, and a very frightened monkey, and then looked across at Trixie gratefully, and with a hint of surprise.
“You... you saved my life!”
Trixie smiled and opened her mouth to respond.

Before she could, however, a dozen other Evanses ran up to the ship, wrapped towels around the wet Evans until he resembled some sort of flannel-based mummy, and then rushed him away from the contestants.

“Are you ok?”
“Don't mix with them!”
“That was a close one!”
“Did they try to hurt you?”
“Remember the plan!”
“Stick to the plan!”
“Quick, lets get away from them!”
“Eat Benjamin's Chocolate Buttons!”
“What happened?”
“Tell us all about it!”

Trixie looked at the other five contestants who had crossed the line with her, and each wondered what the outcome of their collision would be.
Who would be going home?
Who would stay?
Who was going to win?
What had the Evanses meant by 'The Plan'?
What about the Evans Trixie had rescued?

There was no time to ponder these questions though. A cannon sounded, a trumpet played, and a voice crackled over the Peavey PA system, “Would all contestants please enter the Tribal Circle.”
It was time to find out.

Chapter Twelve *** Chapter Fourteen