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Episode 1: "Question of Trust"
Tribes began fixing their camps, patching the thorn fences surrounding their camps, trying to find water and building a fire. The heat began to take its toll on the Survivors tempers. Samburu managed to put together a well organized camp, while the Boran camp still needed work.Water was an issue for both tribes. Some Boran tribe members tried to drank water from Gords that became tainted because the cap was left off, and became sick, which made a few of them start vomiting. Both tribes received their first "Tree Mail", with a message that told the tribes, to keep two people on duty at night to watch for wild animals.
As the tribes awoke the next morning. Samburu was the most organized, with several members of the tribe heading off to collect water, while the others tryed to start a fire. The Samburu tribe was able make a Fire for boiling their drinking water by using a lens, from a Telescope they had in their first-aid kit, meanwhile.. the Boran tribe had not yet started a fire.
The Challenge
At the first challenge, "Chariots of Fire", began well for the Boran tribe, as they quickly pushed their cart from Tower to Tower,with Samburu not far behind. Boran took the early lead, but as they headed over a hill both Lex and Ethan slipped and fell, several times into the dirt, allowing the Samburu tribe to take the lead. The Samburu tribe won, and was given the prize of Fire (Matches) and the Immunity Idol, while it was off to Tribal Council for the Boran tribe.
The next day, members of the Boran tribe prepared to go and find water, when Diane said she felt sick, so Clarence Black said he would stay behind to help her out. Some of other tribe members began to suspect, that maybe the reason Clarence stayed behind to help Diane, was so he could eat some of the food. Later, while members of the Boran tribe were resting under a Tree, they confronted Clarence who admitted that he did open a can of Beans for Diane, but he later apologised. Diane denied that she ever asked for anything to eat, while Lex Van Den Berghe, Gave the tribe a speech about the breaking of trust within the tribe, and how they need to rebuild the trust of the tribe. Later, that night the Boran tribe headed to their first Tribal Council, where Diane Ogden became the first Survivor voted out.
Episode 2: "Are you sick"
"Todays challenge is for reward", states Jeff. The way it works, is that each tribe has five logs waiting for them, each a different size. They had to get all of their logs to the tower, and create a staircase out of them. The first team to get all five logs in place and one member of the tribe on the twoer, wins the reward. The trick was, along the way were some obstacles that they had to overcome in order to get the log to the tower. They also had to stay together as a group. They couldn't put the log in the tower until all of their members had crossed a certain point. The reard would be some blankets, food and everything they left behind when they were dropped off by the truck. It was definately something each tribe needed! This physical challenge was tough, although the Boran tribe seemed to be slightly ahead as each log was placed into the tower. It was tricky at times, becasue their paths crossed and the team that was leading was able to pass through first while the other tribe had to wait. You could see that each member was beginning to get tired, some more than others. As the race went on, each tribes pace slowed down little by little. As they got to the last log, it looked as though Boran was going to win this challenge and take home the reward. The problem was, at the last obstacle, Kim J tripped and fell, this left Boran having to wait for her to get back up and cross the line before they could put the last log in. By that time, the Samburu tribe had put their log in and Kim P was standing on the top of the tower. Samburu won again, and it was beginning to take a physical as well as a mental toll on the Boran tribe. Not only were they defeted, but they used all of their energy and received nothing for it. So now they are getting discouraged, as well as getting weaker and weaker.
As the teams made their way back to camp, Kim J could only begin to feel vulnerable. She was now in the hot seat, because she was the cause of them loosing the challenge. She began apologizing and letting everyone know how she fealt, but they all responded with positive remarks. Tom even stated that he was proud to be on her team. This coming from the man that pretty much told Clarence that he would shoot him if he had a gun. Tom stated that we all make our mistakes, and we move on. Is this coming from the same man that is still holding a grudge against Clarence? Day 5 rose to the teams beginning to strategize and make their alliances. In the Samburu tribe, the older generation were tight and just needed one more on their side to sway the voting. They began working on Silas, because he is someone that can be swayed either way. Plus, Silas is a strong person and a hard worker, unlike the other 3 younger ones. As this aliance began to form, the younger generation began to get worried about their fate. Linsdey's paranoia was getting to her and she decided to do a little snooping around. Frank on the other hand was talking about this a little to loudly and sure enough, Lindsey overheard the plot to bring Silas in and get rid of her, Kim P, and Brandon. Lindsey decided to confront Teresa and ask what the hell was going on. Teresa, as open and honest as she is, could not deny what was going on. This sent Lindsey into a rage and she decided to confront Silas as well, who she thought was on their side. Silas promised her that he was just playing the older generation, and that he thought they should get rid of Frank first. At the other tribe, there wasn't as much going on, but there was definately enough paranoia to go around. This game brings out the paranoia in everyone, states Ethan. Lex and Tom were in this together, and they wanted Ethan on their team. It seemed as though Ethan was with Lex and Tom, but I couldn't get a good feeling as to if he would stay with them. I feel he is one that can go either way as well.
This weeks immunity challenge was the gross food challenge, as the Boran tribe put it. This week the tribes would feast like the natives had feasted for years. They rarely eat meat and they only eat vegtables. What they usually eat comes from a cow. They drink the milk from a cow and they drink the from the cow. This week, each tribe went shot for shot with a mixture of milk and from a cow. Jeff said he had spent a lot of time with the tribesmaen so he knows that they don't hurt the cows in any way. Cows are the tribesmen's main source of food, so they would do nothing to harm them. I would have to say that over the past few seasons of Survivor, this has to be one of the easiest food challenges. There is no chewing involved, which I feel makes it easier to get down. So, the two tribes went shot for shot, with the first member of Boran having to drink twice because they are down one member. None of the members seemed to have any troble getting the drink down, and so it ended in a tie. The tiebreaker was for each tribe to pick who they thought was the weakest member on the other tribe. Samburu chose Kelly and Boran chose Linda. This time, the shot was bigger and was pure and no milk. The first person to finish the shot would take home the immunity idol. The winner turned out to be Linda, and the Samburu tribe for the second week. Boran was going to tribal council again.
Anxiety and fear sets into more than just two players like last week. Kim J was feeling vulnerable because she was the one that cost them the reward challenge. Kelley cost them the immunity challenge, so she too was feeling as if she could go. Clarence deep down was still feeling as if he was a target, although he verbally stated that he feels his actions are in the past. As night falls and they arrive at tribal council, they all let Jeff know that they do not want to be there. Unfortunately, this is part of the game, and they are on the losing end of it. Although there were several that could have been voted off due to their challenge failures, the tribe decided to vote who they fealt was the weakest. This person was very week, that person was Jessie.
Episode 3: "Hot Tamale Fizzles"
Tonight's reward challenge was a little different than some that we have seen in the past, although it still falls into the physical activity, as apposed to the mental. Tonight the tribes had to push a giant boulder from one point to another. Sounds easy enough, tiring, but shouldn't be difficult. Here is the catch, they had to follow a certain path, that meandered around some of the terrain while going up and down hills, over logs, and through bushes. They also had to make sure that they went around the flags. If they didn't do this, they would have to push the boulder back and go around it. Tonight's reward was 100 gallons of water, enough for each tribe member to drink a gallon a day until the merge, and some organic shampoo if they wished to use the water for washing up. This challenge turned out to be very tough and extremely exhausting. As the tribes were pushing their boulders, members were falling and getting run over by the other teams boulder, and they were even getting run over by their own. Boran had maintained a small lead throughout the race with Samburu right on their tails. Samburu made the mistake of not taking their time though and ended up missing some of the flags and having to push the boulder back around through them. This proved to be their downfall, as the Boran tribe pushed their way to their first victory. Well deserved and worked for! This proved to be a major boost for the Boran members, but it also gave them the one main source for , water. The water is much needed for the members, seeing as last week Jessie was very week and dehydrated, and couldn't even drink the water they boiled because of the smell and taste.
This weeks immunity challenge was similar to one that has been used in the two previous series of Survivor. Tonight they had to use what they could to make the best distress signal possible. Jeff and two rescue experts would fly over each camp and the two experts would decide on who's they thought would be easier to find during a search and rescue operation. At the Samburu camp, they decided to use the O that has been formed by the fence around their camp, and then build the two S's on both sides. Throughout the day, each member worked very hard at gathering sticks, logs and whatever they could, to build the S's. Lindsey, who has bragged about her strength, became very dehydrated and in a lot of pain after she overexerted herself. She was not happy about this, because this showed weakness, and she did not want the older generation to see her in this state. At the Boran tribe, they decided to have a little fun with the challenge. They chose an area that was flat and open. They also took some paints and painted the mosquito nets different colors. As they were building their signal, the members decided to let loose and strut their stuff. Kim, walked around in her thong, as Clarence danced around in his white briefs. Tom decided to stick a feather down the back of his pants and show a little . If they were going to lose this challenge, they were going to have fun doing it. The time came when Jeff and the two experts took air to decide who's they thought was the better distress signal. Flying over the Samburu camp, one expert stated that it was big, but it looked like every other area of land surrounding it. It was hard to pick out, because they used logs and sticks from the land. As they flew over Borans work, they noticed it was smaller, but they pointed out that the use of color and open land would help to find them quicker. So, this weeks Immunity Challenge went to the Boran tribe for the first time. This gave them a reason to dance around in their underwear!
Tonight was the first time the Samburu tribe had to make the walk to tribal council. It was almost as if they didn't care, because they were split down the middle and each thought they would get the other. As they arrived, Jeff instructed them to each grab a torch, and explained that fire was the source of life at Tribal Council, without it you are gone. He also explained to them how things worked and what would take place while they were there. Then Jeff decided to put a couple of people on the spot, as he always does. The funny thing is, as the younger generation gave their answers, the older generation made faces, and vise versa. This was clearly a split tribe, and Jeff found that out soon. It was then time to vote, and each of them went up one by one casting their vote for who they thought should go. The voting ended up as a tie, big surprise! Both Lindsey and Carl were given the chance to plead their case to the rest of the members, and both of them did. What I didn't like was the comment Lindsey made about Carl having a lot of money and him not needing to win this game. She was out of line, and as I stated before, I am sure he worked hard for it, and deserves to be there just as much as the others. As the members went up to revote, you could only predict that there would be a tie again. This in fact turned out to be true. The tie breaker was a question and answer session where they both were asked the same question. The first person to answer incorrectly while the other answered correctly, would be eliminated. The loosing question was: True or False - Pouring hot water on a tick would loosen it from you. Lindsey - True Carl - False Carl was the first Samburu to leave the game. The answer was true.
Episode 4: "The Young and the Untrusted "
Vengeance was the name of the game as episode four kicked off with Samburu returning from tribal council. The last episode had Lindsey and Carl tied, with Carl getting the final boot off the show. Upon returning to camp, Lindsey vented her rage at being nominated by laying down the law, with the younger members in control, and further alienating the older tribe members."Tomorrow is a new day," Brandon says as he points out the obvious."Damn you Carl for leaving me with a group of misfits," Franks says observing he new situation.The next morning, the Boran tribe is up and cooking breakfast -- more grits. Tom is having a hard time keeping down the unflavored grits."It reminds me of something that rhymes with grits," the goat farmer says.Meanwhile, Clarence is walking around with blacked out eyes -- not that any explanation is given.On the Samburu side, the young 'uns continue their habit of sleeping in, despite the fact that they are dangerously low on water. Frank and Linda decide to let the misfits sleep in -- after all they are in charge now, right? Helping them make their point, they come across tree mail that says they have to be at the next challenge in 30 minutes -- leaving no time for getting water.Before they head out for the challenge, Silas attempts to bring the tribe together, at which point Linda launches into more new age "let's love another" rhetoric, trying to hug Lindsey, who couldn't look more put off. The tribe ends up further apart than they started.The challenge, which is for a food reward, involves running down a plank and climbing up a net to retrieve food items. Although both tribes are tied till nearly the end, Boran's Kim leads her team to lose by her slowness.While the rest of Boran comforts her after victory, many acknowledge that she will be the next voted off.Samburu come back to camp having to fetch water before it gets dark. While trying to heat the water, they break their remaining three pot -- leaving them no way to boil large amounts of water. Lindsey and Brandon sit around complaining. The next morning, Frank wakes the misfits up early to go get water again. The misfits again complain, acting like little spoiled children.Later that day, the two tribes prepare for the Immunity challenge, which has the two tribes each moving a camp while two others put it together. Since Samburu has an extra player, Theresa sits out the game.Thanks to good teamwork, Boran wins immunity pretty easily.On day 12, Samburu plans out their strategy for Tribal Council. Silas tries to order the older members, who know they're the next to get the boot, to vote for Lindsey, thereby making the team less susceptible when they merge. Frank laughs to himself in the background as he hears them -- I'm liking him more already. Teresa and Lindsey ask what they'll get by in return for voting Lindsey out. When it becomes clear the answer is nothing, they refuse.At Tribal Council later that night, host Jeff Probst questions the misfits strategy, asking them if it is so wise to alienate fellow tribe members when they will eventually be merging with another tribe. The misfits don't listen, instead telling Probst that they'll be fine. These guys are so dumb it's almost painful -- I say almost because they're so laissez faire that I can't make myself care about their fate one way or another.The elders get sneaky by casting their three votes for Silas, further weakening Samburu's chances after they've merged. Predictably, the misfits kick Linda off the tribe."Play nicely," she condescendingly tells them as she leaves.
Episode 5: "The Twist"
On Night 15, Silas Gaither, the 23-year-old bartender from Germantown, Tennessee, was voted out of the Boran tribe. Silas, leader of the young Samburu alliance, was thrown a curve ball when the unpredictable nature of SURVIVOR revealed itself. Each tribe was asked to select three of its "best" members, "best" meaning whatever they might interpret that to mean. When the three chosen members from each tribe showed up at a neutral location, they were informed that they were now members of the other tribe. Silas became a member of the Boran tribe, which intentionally threw the Immunity Challenge in order to vote him out. Leaving the Tribal Council, Silas looked back at his time in Africa, saying, "The twist in the game was amazing. I kind of had my cards lined up the way I wanted them to get through the merge. I couldn't recover from it. I was a threat to Ethan and the rest of the group. I planned on winning the whole thing".Night 14 Angered over receiving votes at the last Tribal Council, in which career counselor Linda Spencer was voted out, Silas returned to camp feeling vengeful, asking the elders why they decided to cast votes against him. Earlier, the younger Samburus had asked the elders to vote against Lindsey because she already had votes. According to SURVIVOR rules, when the Tribal Council is locked, previous votes are used to break the tie. Thus if the elders had voted against Lindsey, she would have remained the most vulnerable member of the younger Samburu faction because no other young Samburu would have previous votes against them. Frank explained the elders' voting tactic: "We are still a tribe divided; we are two tribes in one. They need us. They can't do it alone. We are going to keep fighting."In the morning, both tribes received tree mail notifying them that they must choose the three "best" tribe members to meet host Jeff Probst for what they thought was going to be a Reward Challenge. Boran chose Kelly, Tom and Lex; Samburu chose Frank, Teresa and Silas. Contrary to what everyone expected, a dramatic shift in the SURVIVOR game took place. In a shocking move, host Jeff Probst unveiled a dynamic, game-changing twist. "As you guys have certainly figured out by now," advised Probst, "the game of SURVIVOR is always changing, and it's about to change again." After asking both teams to hand over their team-colored buffs, Jeff Probst pulled the switch by telling Kelly, Tom and Lex from Boran that they are now members of Samburu, and Silas, Frank and Teresa from Samburu that they are now members of Boran. After picking their jaws off the ground, the astonished new members of Boran and Samburu headed back to their respective camps to their new and unsuspecting tribemates.Along the trek to their new home, Lex joked with Tom and Kelly that "we are part of 'Samboohoo' now." Disappointed with the Switch, Big Tom explained his frustration: "When Jeff said 'give me your buff,' I almost turned around and bolted. If he gave me the option to run back to camp with no water for two days, or give him the buff, I'd still be trying to run." Upon arriving at Samburu, the unexpected visitors were greeted by an excited Samburu tribe. However, soon afterwards the reality of the situation became clearer; Lindsey explained, "When they arrived I was excited at first, I was like, cool, what's going on? Then as reality set in, we all just panicked."
Commenting on the arrival of his new tribemates--Frank, Silas and Teresa--Ethan explained, "When I first saw them coming up, I thought they were going to try to steal our flag, or just check out our house." Upon arriving, Silas gave them news of the Switch. As shock set in, Ethan continued, "It was a switch. Everything I had worked for, all the bonds I had made, my two closest friends, are now gone. I am going to have to start over." As the newest members of Boran inspected the camp and enjoyed the plentiful water supply, all they could do was ponder what other twists in the game awaited them. Swapping tribe members forced the Survivors to rethink their strategies for . As Lex explained, "All of us have been so careful about arranging our strategies for our own security and well-being, and all of a sudden all of that has completely blown us under."
Depression hit Tom and Lex as they began to realize that the Samburu camp did not live up to the their old tribe's standards. Noting that little firewood had been collected and the water supply was diminished, Lex vented, "We were when we got there. It looked like a bunch of lazy people had been running the camp. There was a mound of ash a foot and a half high, they hadn't been taking care of their fire properly, and there was almost no firewood inside the camp. One of my first questions was, where is all the firewood?" After Brandon chimed in, "There just isn't much firewood around," Lex and Tom gathered an abundance of wood for the fire, remaining dismayed by the lazy attitude of the younger Samburu members.At the Boran water hole, Tom had spent days clearing out debris so that his tribe could obtain clean water, but the Samburu tribe had neglected their own water hole. After finally finding their way to water, Tom and Lex found themselves digging for clean water once again. Noticing how little effort the Samburu tribe had put into their water hole, Tom sarcastically commented, "They keep waiting for a mysterious thing to happen in Africa. Wood is going to fall out of the sky, there is going to be an Artesian water well come into the camp, and even a swimming pool. I feel like we have to get out there and pull the plow." The Games Begin Rejuvenated after the Switch and now away from the younger members of the Samburu tribe, Frank and Teresa spoke with Kim Johnson on what they perceived as their new opportunity to stay in the game longer. Teresa told Kim, "With all this that happened today, Frank and I looked at each other today and thought, you know, we are alive again." Later that day, the Boran camp received a visit from a family of elephants, which slowly made their way past the Survivors. Witnessing the imposing creatures in the wild for the first time, Frank added, "They are magnificent creatures, beautiful."As night fell over the Boran camp, and with Silas standing off in the distance, Frank and Teresa used the opportunity to bash the younger Samburu tribe members, revealing their immature actions and voting strategy. Over at Samburu, with the tribal lines still divided three to three, contemplating whom they should vote against was Lex and Tom's morning chore. Believing that Brandon had previous votes against him, Lex and Tom decided to vote him off. This was their obvious choice, because neither Tom, Lex, nor Kelly have had a vote cast against them. The tribes met host Jeff Probst at the Reward Challenge, where he explained the rules of the game: Forty goats are in a pen. Twenty are marked with the Samburu red and twenty with Boran yellow. The first tribe to get their twenty goats from the starting pen into their destination pens, one hundred yards away, wins. The prize: three egg-laying chickens and a rooster. A goat farmer back in Virginia, Tom Buchanan, along with his new Samburu tribemates, thought they had an early advantage over Boran. But as the gates opened, chaos instantly ensued, for the goats seemed to be uncontrollable. Lindsey found herself blocked by two of her ex-tribemates, Silas and Frank. Having difficulty guiding the goats, Silas used his brawn to get the job done as he picked the goats up and carried them into the pen. In the end, Boran carried the goats into the pen faster and emerged victorious. Back at Camp With four votes against her, an emotional and paranoid Lindsey Richter fought off the idea of being the next voted out of the Samburu tribe by demanding victory in the upcoming Immunity Challenge. Brandon explained Lindsey's predicament: "She doesn't think about strategy at all. She just runs her mouth. She is running scared that they are going to vote for her, and doesn't care that Kim and I are trying extra hard from keeping that from happening." Commenting on Kim and Lindsey's inability to sway the vote away from Lindsey, Brandon complained, "When you have to think of everything, and all they do is cry and whine and moan, it's such a great thing that I am gay, because I could not stand to put up with a crying woman now. I just couldn't do it."The Fix Is In With the Immunity Challenge just around the corner, Boran contemplated their next decision about whom they should vote off if they were to lose. Silas and Clarence realized that they may seem the most imposing threats to everyone else. Clarence, knowing how important winning the next Immunity Challenge would be, added, "Silas and I, we have bulls' eyes on us, not doubt. We have to make the most of having both of us on the same tribe." THE SWITCH: SILAS VOTED OUT (Continued)
In a tactical decision, Ethan approached Kim Johnson with the idea of throwing the game, losing intentionally in order to get rid of the more physical people and regain the power. Ethan told Kim, "It's going to be tough for me to do this. I am a competitor; I have never done anything like this in my life." Ethan later clarified: "The Immunity Challenge is a win-win situation. If we win the challenge, great, we don't have to go to Tribal Council. If we lose, I get to vote off my biggest threat." Immunity Challenge--Puzzle of Shields The Tribes reconvened with host Jeff Probst, who explained the rules of the Immunity Challenge: each tribe has twenty pieces of a puzzle hanging in the distance. The first tribe to gather the pieces and put the puzzle back together correctly wins Immunity. As the two tribes scurried to retrieve the puzzle pieces, it became clear which tribe wanted victory. Thinking she needed to win to stay alive, Lindsey of Samburu frantically barked out orders to hurry her tribemates along. Boran's strategy to throw the game became obvious as only Silas hurried to finish, while the rest of his tribemates took their time fitting the puzzle pieces together. Samburu finished first and thus won Immunity, sending Boran to Tribal Council. Jockeying for Position With Tribal Council looming, Silas campaigned to keep himself afloat. He entered into numerous talks with Ethan, attempting to shield himself from votes. Trying anything in his power to sway Ethan's vote, Silas first targeted Clarence. "Here's the deal," he said. "I've got Teresa and Frank, and I think I can get them to vote for Clarence." Later, he targeted Frank. Kim confronted Silas, inquiring about his strong connection with his former Samburu tribe members. As she uncovered his allegiance to his old group, she added, "He may be a nice guy in real life, but in our tribe I don't buy his schmoozing."At Tribal Council, Silas's fate was sealed as he became the fifth person voted out of SURVIVOR AFRICA!
Episode 6: "Hitting The Target"
Samburu tribe member Lindsey Richter found herself the latest victim of "Survivor: Africa," after she lost in a tie-breaker against Tom Buchanan. Following a three-three vote, Richter's four previous votes determined her fate.Richter, realizing her fate was sealed as soon as her name was read by host Jeff Probst, said before she left that she was "leaving with her pride" because she voted as the group had chosen, rather than trying to save herself and vote against one of her friends.
The Samburu tribe was the early winner on the night, taking a reward challenge based around Africa trivia. The winners helped themselves to a buffet of sandwiches, burgers and soda, but the meal left some of the members, especially Kim Powers, feeling sick after eating more than they could handle. While Boran couldn't take part in the feast, tribe members did enjoy cooking one of their chickens the next night.
The immunity challenge brought the tribes together in a battle of skill in which each tribe had to shoot burning arrows into targets. Though Samburu led most of the challenge, ultimately Boran took the upper hand and won, giving the three ex-Boran members on Samburu a chance to get an upper hand over their new tribemates. Though the group of three, Buchanan, Lex van den Berghe and Kelly Goldsmith, wasn't sure who to vote against, clues from their former Boran friends and an overheard conversation led them to vote for Richter.
The tribes may face the traditional merge next week, but teasers for the show leave some doubt as to whether it will actually happen.
Episode 7: "Will There Be a Feast Tonight"
Last time On Survivor Africa…the new Samburu wins a battle of wits (who knew?) to win a picnic lunch. The Brat Pack tries to hide Lindsey’s previous votes and ends up giving themselves away because they are unable to keep their big mouths shut. Ethan shoots flaming arrows! Brandon almost sets himself on fire! Boran tes the IC yet again and sends Samburu back to TC for the second week in a row. Lindsey considers betraying the lot of them and joining up with the Samborans, but instead keeps her morals and enjoys some fine whine and cheese with her exit. Happy Thanksgiving to y’all, even those of you in Canada and around the world who aren’t celebrating with us! I hope that you guys are all having a better than mine. I am stuck here at ND, forced to eat dining hall Thanksgiving turkey. Let me tell you it was just as good as the rest of the food that they serve here. Did you know that it would have cost me only \\$1275 to fly home to Connecticut this morning? Anyway, on to Survivor, the only thing that can rescue this day for me.The show starts. Crazy intro. Let me tell you know much I don’t miss Lindsey already. I am so happy that she is gone so that I don’t have to write that much about her. The only problem is that I have significantly less jokes now that both her and Silas are gone. Sigh.The show opens with some African chanting ambience back at the Samburu camp. I really liked that chanting, it was one of the coolest little snippets that they have played all season. Brandon whines about how much of a jackass Lindsey was when she left and how glad he is that she isn’t going to the merge. Brandon explains that he feels like he was protected; Tom states that now the Mall Rats Brandon and Kim feel vulnerable and that they made their bed and layed in it. Nice grammar there Tom. Brandon talks about distancing himself from Kim since he knows that one of them is going to go before the other one. Of course Brandon—you know, you can’t go at the same time as you only vote off one person at a time. I think this guy didn’t take a logic class in school.Back at Boran, Clarence is sick from the chicken. Oh God, I thought that we would be done with the “My leaf has a hole” stuff last year. When he looks up, he sees a ton of elephants and is afraid that he could have died in an embarrassing way. That is one of the things that I am afraid of too, dying while using the toilet.In the Boran camp, they are worried about whether or not they will have a reward challenge or an immunity challenge and what is going to happen with the merge. Afterwards, Mama Kim talks about how Frank doesn’t have any idea what the word brunch is. They all think that this is strange, but let me tell you, the last three years in the Midwest have taught me that there a lot of people like Frank who don’t know stuff like that. There are a lot of ignorant people in this neck of the woods, so it doesn’t surprise me that Frank is one of them.Brandon talks about not wanting to be with a team anymore; he wants the merger to happen so he can fend for himself. Personally, I think that he would do better that way as well. The Samburu tribe is also worried about whether the merger will happen.
Lex talks about making the Uber-Spoon, which is so weird and for some reason gives me a chilling Colby flashback. Kelly talks about how annoyed she is by Lex and his sucking up to everyone. She is annoyed by his talking to everyone like he is their dad and the amount of sucking up he does to Big Tom. She wants to get rid of Lex because he is weird. Hey, don’t mess with my Lex! Tree mail at Boran! IC time! I guess that they are having a merger this week after all. Joy, and I get to recap it! Then again, why is the IC so early in the episode? I wouldn’t think that they would have it in the first 15 minutes of the show, but whatever. Frank questions whether or not it is a tribal immunity or an individual. Kelly also questions the meaning of the “Last shower” clue.Challenge beach. Jeff takes the idol and explains that they are now one tribe. They get the new buffs, a nice teal, and they decide to live at the Boran tribe. No crazy new camps this year. Jeff then goes on to explain the challenge, which involves standing with your arm up in the air or else a bucket of water pours down on you and you are out of the game. I, personally, couldn’t do that. I have enough trouble with the feeling in my arms without having to stand with them over my head for long periods of time. I would just give up as soon as I saw that.Kelly is the first to go, then Mama Kim. They go pretty early, in the first 20 minutes. They start to talk after they are out. They decide that they don’t want Frank on the jury because he s women. Brandon and Kim are out, and then Big Tom. Frank drops his bucket just as Brandon talks about how he is near dropping out. That leaves, T-Bird, who is singing “Tomorrow” from Annie (annoying!), Clarence, Lex and Ethan.Jeff brings out a cheeseburger to tempt them all. Man, that burger looks good to me, since my Thanksgiving meal wasn’t that good at all. They all babble about how Clarence will be the one tempted first, but he doesn’t bite and the losers get the burger. Next, Jeff brings out the pizza. Oh man Jeff, stop torturing me! Again, they don’t bite and the losers chow down. I guess losing isn’t all that bad.Lex then drops his buckets minutes later. The old Borans talk about how they don’t want Clarence to win the necklace. Ethan drops his bucket and it is T-Bird versus C-Dawg.More tempting with the food; this time some beer is in the mix. T-Bird tries to convince he to get down, but Clarence tells her that he is gone as well if he gets down. They talk about alliances. Lex talks about how Clarence is trying to bait her down by looking over to Boran to see if they can cut a deal, but Lex says that when you are up there it is all about you. The Borans are definitely not all that supportive at all. Then C-Dawg busts out the rock, paper, scissors but loses. He pulls his rope and is out. Immunity goes to T-Bird and I am officially become the worst spoiler in the history of Survivor. Jeff gives her the world’s ugliest necklace and sends them home to create a new tribe, a new name and to get ready for Tribal Council.
Dear God, there is an NYSNC concert special now? MzWings, I think that answers your post.Walking back to the old Boran, now the merger camp. Frank has the funniest thing and they have this great musical effect in the background that makes it even better: “Imagine being invited to a Wagner family reunion and your last name is Smith.” Tee hee. They get a card and a great meal for the merger, but Frank doesn’t celebrate because there is work to be done—so he picks up work. Oh man Frank, don’t do this to me.Voting Booth of Dread. Clarence votes for Lex because he wants to make things hard for him on his way to winning. Brandon votes for Clarence, even though he claims to like him. Hmmm. Lex votes for Clarence of course, because he is here to win the game and some other drivel about his making too many mistakes. Kelly looks really, really smug as she places her vote. T-Bird votes for Lex because his leadership makes her nervous. Oh no, is the Illustrated Man gone? No, of course not, his story line with Kelly isn’t over yet…or at least I don’t think so.Jeff reads the votes. Clarence, Lex, Clarence, Lex, Clarence, Clarence, Clarence, Clarence. Clarence is the first member of the new Moto-Maji tribe ed out. Tribe has spoken, blah blah blah. Everyone is now guaranteed a spot in the jury, as if we didn’t already know this.Last words? Clarence says that everyone won fair and square and he is glad that he lost with integrity and didn’t do anything to dishonor his mom and that he lost because he was strong.
Surviving Africa, the Recap: "The last 21 days"
The recap starts 21 days earlier, when the contestants were all dropped off and had to hike to their camps. We do see a little bit more of the instant friction between Frank and Lindsey/Brandon. No big news. We also get reminded that the Boran folks (namely Tom) figured out immediately that they had to dig out the much from their water hole to get to the spring beneath it, but Samburu never did (well, original Samburu never did – when Tom came over, he fixed that right away).One piece of new footage gives us a bit more of Diane’s personality – and it isn’t good. While Tom is digging away at the water hole, she is standing watch and is sure she hears a lion. Nobody else did, but she is positive. She wants everybody to get moving, but Tom is more concerned with the water. Then she gets attacked by mosquitoes! My God, it’s a massacre! Basically, Diane is portrayed as completely paranoid, and Tom knew she was weak even before she fell apart physically in the first challenge and immediately after.Another piece of new footage gives us most of the Boran tribe making fun of Clarence and his war paint. He says it puts him in the warrior state of mind. The others say he’s just ridiculous. Kelly calls it a testament to his selfishness – who made him the tribe’s warrior? Indeed, she was in a sorority and says she never saw any as vain as Clarence. Ethan can’t believe how stupid Clarence looks when he paints his abs. Lex says it may not be cool to laugh at a tribemate, but he can’t help it when it comes to the makeup. He says at least having Clarence around is good for humor purposes.
But Clarence isn’t the only one being made fun of for ridiculous use of a luxury item. Frank brought two deer antlers, and before each challenge, he would go to where they were hanging on the tribe’s flag, and bang them together like deer fighting. The kids make fun of him and call him a redneck, and I’ve got to tell ya, it is pretty weird to watch.Also at Samburu, we find out that one of the rewards they won in the net-climbing challenge was an ostrich egg. We see them figuring out how to it and cook it, and they have a nice big breakfast.After the twist, we find out that the first night Brandon suggested doing watch with one original and one new Samburu. He and Tom pair up for first watch and have a fairly odd discussion, reminiscent of Kent and Bunky on Big Brother 2. Tom, the old redneck, asks Brandon if he’s gay. Why yes he is, good job of spotting that one! Tom says he’s never interacted with a gay man before – unless that man stayed in the closet around him. But he does say he ally went into a gay bar when he was in college (they have college for goat farming?). Brandon says he can’t get upset at anything Tom says because he says it with a smile on his face. It also turns out that both of them grew up on a farm, so they have some common things to talk about into the night hours.Back in Boran, when they get the treemail about the goat herding challenge, somehow they get the idea that it will be the tribe that’s herded, and so they blindfold themselves and have Frank guide them around (they must have figured it would be like one of the challenges in Survivor 2). Frank has them marching to a military cadence, and it is one of the more amusing moments in this week’s episode.Finally, we see both tribes preparing for the merge and wondering when it will come. Samburu packs up and waits. Boran goes to the water hole and does their laundry while Ethan stands guard.The show ends with various Samburu folks hiccupping. How exciting.And there we have it. As I said, it was extremely limited as far as new footage went. I know there isn’t action every second, but they filmed this 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they couldn’t even squeeze out 45 lousy new minutes to show us? Come on.Next week we go back to a new episode – even the preview is a rerun, showing us what they showed us last week. Notice how they didn’t advertise that this would be a recap episode? It’s like even they were embarrassed about it – as well they should be. I have to say, for a show that’s fighting to maintain high ratings, this was not the way to go about it.
Episode 8: "Smoking Out the Snake"
After a week off while Survivor had a rerun – er, recap – it’s time once again to look back at What African Survivors Should Have Learned and compare it to how Kelly (and the others) did in comparison.As always, we start by looking at whether she schemed and plotted. Indeed, she did. She was a key to helping the original Boran get an advantage. When Lex and Tom thought they should vote against Brandon in the mixed Samburu tribe, she found out about Lindsey’s vote and convinced the two men to switch. Even as she knew something had to be done about Lex, she kept it to herself so she could stay with her alliance.But she might have broken the second rule, and schemed a bit too much. Sort of. Really, she didn’t, because she refused Kim P.’s invitation to join their alliance. But there was the appearance that she did, and that – plus some misinformation from Brandon – was enough to convince Lex that she was the snake in the grass.Looking at the third suggestion – the voting order – we see that, in their minds, they were voting along schedule. They needed to vote off a strong person and Lex thought that Kelly was strong in that she was leading a coup against him. The others bought into it and went along.
What about the fourth rule? “Don’t backstab until you absolutely need to.” We can look at this from several angles. Kelly would have stuck by this rule and was not planning to join the Samburus to stab Lex in the back. Why? Because she would have been the fifth wheel. When she realized that Lex and company were going to target her, it did indeed become necessary to fight back. But what about Lex? Was it absolutely necessary for him to stab Kelly in the back? In his deranged mind, yes, it was. He had to root out the cancer. Was he right? No. He had Kelly right where he should have wanted her. She didn’t like him but was too afraid to move against him. And finally, we have Brandon. He was in the reverse position of Kelly. Was it necessary to stab his teammates in the back? No. In fact, it was quite stupid. He was a solid member of an alliance, where he probably could have ousted the Boran and eventually joined with Kim P. and Kelly to get rid of Frank and thus make it at least into the final four, if not more. Now he’s an untrustworthy turncoat who is a fifth wheel on an alliance that may be breaking itself apart.But let’s get back to Kelly. The fifth rule is to pretend to be nice. Kelly had this down pat. She couldn’t stand Lex, but she nodded and agreed whenever he spoke, and she pretended to be a pal. It ended up not mattering, and she obviously must have put out some signals to indicate she wasn’t happy with him – after all, both Kim P. and Lex figured she might be a weak link. But she was better than most in this regard.
She also managed to avoid forming emotional bonds. She was in an alliance, not a sorority party, and she knew it. When it was obvious that things were falling apart, she had no qualms about switching sides. As a side note, I have to say that Brandon did well here, also. He did it for the wrong reasons, but he showed a willingness to go against friendship for the sake of trying to win, which is a plus.Finally, we have the reminder that providing food wins allies and you shouldn’t be lazy. Kelly was definitely not one of the lazy ones, and it never came into play for her.So, let’s look at everything. Kelly did not stab Lex in the back, but he thought she had. Brandon helped this little picture get fully painted in Lex’s mind, and then took Kelly’s place in the Boran alliance. She was unable to counter this play and nobody saw Brandon’s manipulation coming. In the end, that is why Kelly lost.
Episode 9: "Dinner, Movie and a Betrayal"
Brandon definitely adhered to rule #1: scheme and plot. He plotted the demise of the elder alliance back in the Samburu days. He schemed to make the Boran/Samburus (Tom, Lex, and Kelly) think he had votes so they would aim at him instead of Lindsey, who really did have previous votes against her. And, of course, he pulled a coup against his old teammates by voting against Kelly instead of Lex last week. He must have thought he was this year’s Richard Hatch (which, if we went by other characteristics, he might have been).But he wasn’t. Why not? Because he violated #2 and #4 at the same time. He didn’t know when to stop scheming and plotting. To quote: “In the end, nobody will trust you and they’ll turn on you.” Sound familiar? Yes – that’s exactly what happened to Brandon. The only person who trusted him was Lex. Why? Because he had overschemed and stabbed his cohorts in the back while they could still do something about it. Quoting from #4: “Sometimes you have to keep the really annoying person if it means keeping the alliance (and therefore yourself) secure.” Brandon was more concerned about not being allies with Frank than he was about staying in the game.
Moving to #5, I advised that contestants must pretend to be nice. Brandon did that – to some extent. He couldn’t be nice to Frank (and Frank couldn’t do that with him). He did make “friends” with Lindsey and Kim P., but then immediately badmouthed Lindsey when she was gone and turned on Kim. Frankly, the latter was more important here. Like I said, pretend to be nice. Once Lindsey was gone, he didn’t have to pretend anymore. But Kim P. was still around, and he blew it with her.On the plus side, he did favor strategy over personal bonds, as noted in #6. But in this case, it was poor strategy, so that didn’t actually benefit from it.As far as #7 goes, he was not a provider and definitely was lazy. This was one thing that immediately got him off on a bad start with Frank and Teresa, and later with Tom as well. If he had been a hard worker, perhaps some of the others might have trusted him when he voted alongside their alliance. But because of the impression many already had of him, they were not inclined to see him in a good light.Going back to #3, we can look at what the others were doing in their votes. Right now, we should be in the phase of voting off the strong players who aren’t in your alliance. Sure, Brandon won the reward challenge (along with Frank), but I don’t think anybody would really consider him “strong.” If the Boran alliance was going to stay together, they should have targeted Frank. If the others were going to make a serious move, they could have targeted Ethan. But everybody (well, almost everybody) wanted Brandon gone. Since alliances are still in motion, it’s hard to judge if this was a good move or not. Time will tell on that front.As I indicated in previous articles, Brandon could have voted against Lex last week and coasted – perhaps into the final four. But he decided not to do that. In the final analysis, Brandon schemed and plotted too much, and backstabbed too early. These particular areas don’t necessarily come into play very often, but when they do, it’s obvious to one and all. Brandon decided he’d rather abandon his tribe, his friend, his word, and his chances of winning rather than align himself with Frank. That is why Brandon lost!
Episode 10: "We Are Family"
Many people thought it would happen sooner, but Frank is finally gone. He managed to pull it out not once but twice before when people were gunning for him. What happened this time? Why did Frank lose? As usual, we’ll take a look back at my article, What African Survivors Should Have Learned, and see if we can answer that all-important question.As always, the first item to look at is whether Frank schemed and plotted. With Frank, that’s kind of a tough question to answer. Certainly he formed an alliance early. Unfortunately, he misread Silas and actually believed he would stick with them – until it was made plain that this would not be the case. After the twist, Frank quickly plotted Silas’s downfall – a good maneuver, for sure. He tried to make inroads to the Boran alliance, but was not readily accepted, especially after the merge when all the old Borans were back together again. He simply could not hold up his end on the social front. He made friends with some of the Boran, but it apparently wasn’t enough to keep him around. Here the editing took over, for we have no real idea what made Tom decide it was time for Frank to go. I’m sure it was strategy, but it would have been nice to know for certain. In any event, Frank found himself on the wrong end of an alliance that broke itself apart. Brandon was unable to ally with him because they didn’t get along (or, depending on which statement of Brandon’s you believe, he wanted to re-ally himself after voting against Kelly, but nobody trusted him). This left his group with three and the other with four. Obviously, that’s not a recipe for winning. So did he scheme and plot? He tried, but he was simply not good enough at it.
One thing he definitely did not have to worry about was scheming and plotting too much. He made it clear that his handshake was his bond. There is no way he ever would have voted against Teresa, not even as a “strategy” vote, which is what she called her vote for him this time. In Survivor, though, such open honesty and honor can be detrimental. But at least nobody worried that he was double-crossing them. The same goes for the fourth rule, dealing with backstabbing. The fifth says players should pretend to be nice. To put it bluntly, Frank wasn’t terribly good at this. He let his feelings about the various people show quite clearly. This made him an outcast in many ways, though it was probably not the overall reason for his departure. While the editing made it seem that perhaps his discussion about gun control and the liberal media may have played some role, I really tend to doubt it. The Boran alliance was voting based on strategy, not on who supports the Second Amendment. Had Brandon and Kelly and Lindsay still been around, his personality might have been more important. But since he outlasted them, it was a minor issue. Although, I should note that Lex has been rather opinionated about Frank’s personality in the previous episodes. But he was likely the only one to whom it really mattered at this point.
The sixth rule says not to form emotional bonds. Frank definitely bonded with Teresa, and, as noted above, I don’t think he ever would have voted against her. Like I said, this can be a detriment in Survivor. To their credit, Tom and Teresa realized that they would have to put aside their friendship with Frank in order to progress in the game. When Teresa said hers was a strategic vote, she was right. If she voted against somebody else, she would have been targeted next (of course, she still might be). But by voting with the group, it gives her another opportunity to try to get Kim J. over to the all-girls alliance – she showed her allegiance to Kim. I don’t think it’ll work, but it’s a nice try.In the seventh position we have something that Frank definitely understood: Don’t be lazy. Frank was probably the hardest-working player. Nobody could fault him in this regard. Unfortunately, there were enough other faults to make up for it. Indeed, early in the game working hard was actually seen as a problem by the kiddy alliance!
What about the order of the vote? Right now we are in the phase where alliances should be voting off the strongest members of the opposing group. In the ex-Samburu, Frank was definitely in that position. Last week he missed winning immunity only because he ally touched the fuse. This week he was beaten by only seconds. The last thing the Boran probably wanted was to give him another chance at immunity. He had to go this time.So, as usual, it comes down to a combination of reasons. Lex probably targeted Frank in part because he didn’t like his personality. At this point I don’t know that the others would have simply gone along with him had it not been for the fact that Frank was a competitor and, not incidentally, on the wrong side of the Boran alliance. Frank was strong in many ways: He was physically strong, mentally strong, a strong competitor, had strong opinions, and a strong sense of honor. In different ways, all of these combined to make him the target that Boran shot at this week. That is why Frank lost.
Episode 11: "The Big Adventure"
Last night's episode began with a Reward Challenge that seemed more like the Newlywed Game than anything Survivor-like. The contest, which involved videotaped messages from the contestants' families, was designed to reveal how much or how little the players and their kin know about each other. After matching answers with his equally-inked wife, the tan and tattooed Lex won the game and the prize: a safari to see migrating wildebeest. Ever the politician, Lex picked Tom as his traveling companion, hoping the redneck cattle farmer would forgive and forget the illustrated man's alliance with Brandon. During their little adventure, Tom and Lex slept in a real bed, ate hot meals, got liquored up, rode in a hot air balloon, and watched a lion kill a wildebeest. Truth be told, the whole thing felt like a commercial for the Kenya Tourist Board, complete with a shameless Visa credit card plug. Talk about primetime filler. Who Got Booted: Kim Powers, the 29-year-old freelance marketer from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Kim's dismissal was a definite surprise, especially after an Immunity win by Tom left both Lex and Ethan — the two biggest physical threats — vulnerable and ripe for the picking. To her credit, Teresa realized this and tried to get Kim Johnson to vote against Lex, but ol' Kim went after lil' Kim and that was all she wrote. It's a mistake that will most likely come back to haunt her in the end.
Episode 12: "bye bye Samburu"
Day 34, only five contestants left from the original 16. The lack of food and other comforts is really starting to wear on the players. Kim says every little thing has a huge effect, and there is a real toll on their bodies. Lex lists various parts of his body that are falling asleep, including his ass and his shoulder; he never mentions his gut, which apparently fell asleep some time before the vote against Kelly. He does say he never thought it would be this hard. Hello? Did he watch Survivor 2? They suffered a lot more than these guys are.The crew goes to get water and finds, as we saw in the previews, that an elephant (or two) had taken a dump in their spring. But they get used to it and go ahead with their business of washing and collecting drinking water. Tom says he’s tried telling Kim that she washes in elephant poop, but she never listens. Still, he’s tried smelling her and she doesn’t smell like elephant. I’m sure she’s happy to hear that.
Tom, however, has feet that smell worse than elephant. Ethan keeps telling him to throw them out or at least put them somewhere far away. Some of the others want to burn his boots – I know this feeling. I roomed for a summer with a guy who had sneakers that smelled so bad they literally had to be left out on the patio. Finally, as the end of summer classes came near, we threw ‘em in the barbecue grill. Unfortunately we hadn’t counted on the smoke being quite as thick as it was, and the neighbors ended up calling the fire department, to whom we had to explain that there actually wasn’t a problem. But I digress. The big excitement for the day comes when a chicken escapes and Teresa tries to catch it. Eventually she sends it towards Tom, who is just lying there. With a sudden move, he lashes out his hand and catches the chicken by both legs. It really was quite a sight to behold. But my only question is Why the hell is the chicken still there?! They only have a few days left and they’re complaining about being hungry and weak. Eat the damned chicken! Anyway, after that they get some treemail that is actually worthy of excitement – letters from home. Each of them talks a little bit about what they got and they all tear up. The next day is the reward challenge. The notification says they will need a sharp mind and the winner will get a surprise visit. At first they think it might be somebody from home, but then they realize that it doesn’t say a surprise visitor, so maybe they are going someplace. They’re right. But first they have to find 12 Swahili words on a large word scramble. Each word links to one of the others, and once they get all of them, they use those linking letters to form an English word (they also get a clue to help).Lex gets and early lead and never looks back. He gets all 12 words while Ethan, in second place, still only has six. The word is AVALANCHE. Why did I boldface that? Normally I boldface sponsors that appear blatantly in the show. And indeed, that’s what we have here. Host Jeff Probst takes them for a little walk and they come upon a Chevy Avalanche, Lex’s prize for the reward competition. Lex doesn’t take the opportunity to give a full commercial like Colby did for his vehicle last time (which he ended up selling anyway), but Ethan talks about how jealous he is and how he tried to be happy for Lex but just couldn’t because he doesn’t want Lex to win anymore.But what about the visit? Well, the Chevy Avalanche is loaded up with boxes of medical supplies, and Lex will be an ambassador of goodwill (scary, eh?) to bring the supplies to a hospital that is totally run donations. With the supplies in the truck plus another truck coming along, there is enough medical equipment, HIV tests, AIDS , etc. for a year.
Teresa says that she started to get emotional because her brother died of AIDS, and she mentions that not much was known about the disease 11 years ago (which appears to be when he died).We get several shots of Lex driving the Chevy Avalanche to the hospital, including one showing the spacious interior as he tells Probst that he never really thought about what “survivor” means, and this is the perfect way to remind him. He discusses how among the supplies they are bringing are to help prevent transmission of HIV from infected mother to her unborn child. He tours the hospital, including the pediatric ward, where he plays with the kids and we see his softer side come out. After he leaves, he says he walked away a changed person.But how changed? We soon see that, at least as far as the game is concerned, not very. First, though, we get caught up on what’s been going on at camp while Lex was delivering medical supplies. Tom still apparently harbors a little animosity towards Lex, and says people keep asking him about an alliance to boot the tattooed one. Kim talks to both Tom and Ethan about turning on Lex. She says all the guys are skeptical of one another and so she has to figure out which is the most vulnerable. In other words, contrary to my earlier hopes, no, she has not entered into a secret deal that we didn’t know about – she just, for whatever reason, decided not to join Teresa and turn on her former allies when she actually could have done something about the outcome of this game.When Lex gets back, it’s obvious that something has been going on. He says there was a “thick vibe” and that the others were bummed that they lost and nobody wanted to talk. The “mojo” was “funky.”The next day, there is more funky mojo going on. Kim talks to Lex, Ethan says Lex has a lot going for him because he’s won so many trips away and extra food (remember, Ethan, you took him on one of those trips!). Kim claims Tom has tried to get Lex voted off several times (though we certainly never saw it).Kim also finally goes to Teresa and says she will vote against Lex if Lex doesn’t win immunity. She thinks Tom will vote with them. Teresa says Kim is finally thinking – she’s finally waking up a bit. Alas, it’s too late. She should have been thinking along those lines at the very least in last episode, and probably sooner.
So it’s time for the immunity challenge. This one is a combination of parts of various other challenges. First they have to put together the puzzle ladder, then they use it to climb and cross a net, they pull a cart with puzzle pieces and put together that puzzle, crawl a bit, pick up a bow & arrow, and the first person to shoot their target wins.The three guys are pretty even in getting the ladder together, while Kim falls behind and Teresa brings up the rear. Lex takes an early lead across the net as Tom falls down. When Kim eventually gets to the net, she looks more fragile than we’ve seen her look the whole time to this point. Meanwhile, Lex finishes his puzzle first, gets to the bow & arrow, shoots once, and wins yet again. He won’t be taking that walk today – those who wanted him gone blew their chance when he didn’t have immunity last time.This brings up an interesting point, though. I’m not entirely sure why they all think they need Lex out. I mean, sure, he keeps winning challenges, but he also appears to be the bad guy this time. Kelly and Colby won a ton of challenges in the first two series, and they both came in second place. Unless Lex is being made out to be a lot more evil to us than he actually has acted in camp, I’d think they would want to be facing off against him in front of the jury!
Teresa knows her time is coming, and she has only one chance to save herself – getting Lex and Kim to vote for Tom. She tells Lex to watch himself because even with alliances, people look out for themselves. She then comes clean about being the one to cast the early vote against Lex that sent him into a tizzy. But she also says that somebody suggested she watch out for Lex. Who? Not Kelly. Lex asks if it was Tom. She gives him a meaningful look. Kim adds that Tom has approached her on more than one occasion, saying she should vote against Lex. They say Tom wants Lex off, but wants other people to do it.Lex says that the jury won’t see this side of Tom, so it would be tough to go against him at the end. Kim says Tom is looking after Tom regardless of the effect it has on others (well, duh – that’s what you should be doing now, too!). Lex says he has “completely gone to cutthroat mode” and if Tom tries to screw him over, he’ll cut his throat. So much for the soft side of Lex we saw earlier.
So we go to Tribal Council. Last week, when the jury was shown, I said: “The jury walks in, including Brandon wearing a sarong. Um. OK. At least it wasn’t Frank, I guess.” But now my eyes almost fell out of my head when Frank did indeed walk in wearing a sarong! I was sure I had to be seeing things, but apparently I was not. Scary.But Frank is not the only one wearing something strange. Kelly has a shirt that says “Shameless” across it. Probst remarks that this apparently refers to Lex’s “walk of shame” comment in the previous Tribal Council and asks if losing is indeed shameful. Lex says it was just a phrase they all used and nothing was meant by it. He says there is no shame in being voted off. Yeah, well, I think you can pretty much count on not getting Kelly’s vote if you should make it to the final two, Lex. (Not that there was really ever a chance that she would vote for him anyway.)Probst moves on and asks Tom if he is more aware of what he’s saying in front of the jury. Tom says they all know him and know that if it’s in his brain, it’ll come out of his mouth. He’s too old to change for anyone.
Next up is Ethan, who is asked how acute his senses are He says he is not very sharp mentally or physically now. Big shock there. Probst points out that Teresa is the last of the Samburu and asks about it. Teresa responds that she was lucky to have been brought into the Boran tribe earlier and got to know a couple of them before the merge. Finally, Probst goes back to Tom and asks him about his plans. Tom says he doesn’t have any plans because you never know if you’ll be voted off.So with that, it’s time to vote. Did Teresa manage to convince Lex and Kim to get rid of Tom? Would she stick around?Of course not. While Lex casts his vote against her with a heavy heart, the important point is that it was cast against her. The Boran alliance stays firm and takes their place in the final four. Teresa is sent packing.Her final words talk about how this was the experience of a lifetime and she is thankful for it, etc. Pretty standard fare.Next week is the big two-hour finale. We are given absolutely no hints about what might happen, so I have no prediction as of yet. Watch the site in the days approaching the finale, though, as the RealityNewsOnline staff once again get together to make their predictions.
The show ends with a final promotional message from Jeff Probst –and one I don’t mind passing along. He points us to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, where we can find a statement from him about AIDS in Africa and the good work this foundation is doing. There is an easy link to make a donation, if you are so inclined.If you haven’t already read it, make sure to check out Why Teresa Lost.