Post by BCandScott on Feb 8, 2006 18:05:31 GMT -5
The show opens with the announcement that a survivor may be exiled to exile island and that they will have to fend on their own. We next see a shot of a meat eating bird fending on it's own by eating something red and juicy. We also learn that there is a secret hidden somewhere on the island that could give a great advantage to the person exiled there if they find it.
This year there are four tribes of four people each, Young Women, Young Men, Old Women, Old Men. While my first instinct is to root for my own kind....the old women, I'm trying to remain open minded. It's possible that the young women will all be really intelligent and adept, not just bikini wearing eye candy for the male viewer, and that the young men will actually do something besides whine about losing muscle tone. We shall see.
There's sharks...and neat little flying rays. I want one, they are so cute. Scott says "no".
Exile island has a big old skull thing on one end of it...and I mean BIG. Nobody lives on exile island as a tribe, but throughout the game, tribe members will individually be exiled to the island with meager supplies.
Jeff explains to the tribes that they are four tribes, young, old, male, female and Cerie complains that she thought she was young. One of the men complains about not having any women on their team. Jeff then announces that they will now compete for reward. One member of each tribe will run to a location on the other side of the island where they will find a pile of skulls. They must select a skull and break it on a big flat rock. Inside is a tightly wound ball of fabric. Inside only 3 of the fabric balls, there are amulets. The rest all have rocks in them. Upon finding an amulet, the tribe member runs back to the starting point. The tribe that fails to find an amulet loses the challenge. The three winning tribes receive flint. The losing tribe must leave one member on exile island for the night.
Austin, Danielle, Terry and Ruth Marie are the runners. This isn't so much of a race, IMHO, as it is who picks up the right skull. Terry is back first for the older men. Austin scores for the younger men. Finally, it's Ruth Marie for the older women and one of the younger women must stay alone all night on exile island...and they younger women do not get flint which means...no fire. They play rock, paper, scissors to decide who should stay behind. Misty confides she does NOT want to stay behind which of course means she is left behind. She will rejoin her tribe at the next immunity challenge.
Jeff now tells them that somewhere on the island is a hidden immunity idol. This is a very special idol because the person who has it can use it AFTER votes are announced. The person using the idol does not have to leave and the person with the next highest number of votes is voted out. This is really interesting because someone could be voted out UNANIMOUSLY and the pop out that idol...they don't go home and whoever they vote for would have the highest number of votes of those remaining and go home. Anyone on exile island would do well to spend time looking for the idol. He also tells them that there will be clues as they go along as to where the idol is on the island.
Jeff tells Misty that she has one machete, water and a lot of time to figure out why fate chose her to be left out there. He also tells her he has already given her the first clue. I HATE when they do that...if you're going to give someone a clue, give them a clue like "it's NOT in the big skull" or "you don't have to dig to find it". I have no idea what the clue was and I'm pretty sure Misty doesn't either, though she speculates about Jeff saying "why was it your fate to be left behind" and therefore the idol might be "behind where she was standing at the time. I'm thinking that's a pretty lame clue.
The tribes this year have better boats than previous years. In fact they have motors. I'm thinking the distances might be greater between the camps and competitions.
Cerie explains that she's dreading making camp because they have to clear an area to put their shelter and she really hates that part because of all the stuff that gets stirred up when you move stuff around. Tina starts a fire in about a minute. The old women actually sing Kum Bah Yah....argh. Tina chops bamboo to make a shelter, finds the water and is generally a quick choice for leader. Cerie says she hates leaves because there is so much scary stuff in and under the leaves. Tina wonders whether Cerie knows what show she is on.
The younger men are playing baseball with a bamboo bat and old coconuts, etc. Aras decides they need to worry about fire and shelter so he conducts some odd yoga ritual where they all put their hands near one another but not touching and they concentrate their energy on making fire. Nick expresses his doubt. Aras insists they have power in their hands. They proceed to use the flint and machete to try to make fire in their cooking and water pot. Austin admits they do not have a clue what they are doing. They make a sort of weird lean-to and can't make fire. Aras says, well, we don't want to peak first night. One might hope they will peak in the first 30 days.
Younger women are one person short. The three girls spend their first few hours like they are trying to decide between the pink pumps or the yellow sandals. They can't decide where to make camp. Sally gets a little perturbed because not only must they find a spot, they have to BUILD the thing and nothing is happening. They find a dead turtle and Courtney goes completely bonkers talking about how North America is turtle island and the turtle represents mother earth and that it's significant that they found it. She thinks they should return it to the ocean at high tide. Danielle thinks it's way over dramatized and that there is so much to do and so little time to do it. Pink pumps? Yellow Sandals? Sigh.
MY tribe, the older men build a big fire and boil water in about 2 seconds after coming to their camp. Dan and Terry bond almost instantly promising never to lie to each other. Dan admits he did more than just work on the space shuttle, but he flew on the shuttle. Terry admits he flew F 14 Tomcats. Meanwhile, samurai wood chopper makes fast work of stuff with the machete. HAI and he's got firewood. The only problem is Shane. He is used to smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day and has been without for 31 hours. He says the old guys want to work ALL the time and he's being eaten alive by what I think is probably sand fleas. He's pretty miserable. He doesn't think he fits in because, he says, his team is moronic. That's right, dude, the guys with doctorates and awards in hiking and black belts in karate and teachers and fighter pilots are all morons and YOU, "Mr. I made it through high school and promoted a band or two" is the brains of the outfit. Got it.
Next, Shane makes a blanket announcement that they should not worry about hurting one another's feelings. I'm guessing he figures by hour 40 without nicotine he'll be calling them all morons to their faces and wants to soften the blow. He is doing self pep talks "I can't lash out at anyone, I have to get through the detox." I keep singing "one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...."
Back on Exile Island, Misty passes the long night alone. The next morning she says she is tired, hungry and thirsty. It was her worst nightmare. She feels she will be a target to be the first one voted off if her tribe doesn't win immunity. She then decides that she is going to trick her tribe into believing she DID find the special immunity idol on Exile Island. This is VERY smart, IMHO because they would worry about voting her off, having her pull that special immunity out of her bag and then one of THEM would be sent packing. Also, since she hints broadly that she found it in front of ALL the players as they gather for the immunity challenge, it may keep someone else from bothering to search for it if they are sent to Exile Island next.
The primary immunity idol is unveiled. It has three parts to it since three tribes can win immunity. The challenge is a water and obstacle thing. They start on a platform out in the water. They have to climb over a wooden fence one at a time and drop into the water. They swim to a raft that is tethered to the ocean bottom and must be freed to continue. Once the raft is freed, they get on it and paddle for shore. At the shore, they race to a post with a robe and a metal ring. It's a brain teaser they must solve to free the ring. There is an explanation of how to solve the puzzle buried in a pit in front of the post. They can choose to dig for the explanation or they can try to solve the puzzle on their own. Once the ring is free, it must be thrown out to connect with a grappling hook laying in the sand. When the grappling hook is pulled forward, a flag drops. The first three tribe to drop their flags win immunity.
The older women are behind from the drop into the water. The older men are quick to free their raft followed by the younger women. Older women have trouble releasing their raft, but so are the younger men. The younger women take the lead with better paddling skills. The young men are still unable to free their raft. Young women and then older men quickly get to shore and start on the puzzle, two people digging and two trying to solve. Young men are just now making it to shore as the young women find the diagram to solve the puzzle. Young women free their ring first and hit the grappling hook first time to drop their flag. Dan finds the clue for the older men and the older women find theirs as well. Older men win immunity and it's down to the older women and younger guys (a combination I'm rather fond of...heheh). Young men solve the puzzle. It's over as the young men drop their flag and the older women are doomed to go to tribal council.
I am sort of disappointed by this. I had hoped to be able to root for the older women. At this point, between the declarations of Cerie about being afraid of leaves and their decidedly lackluster performance in the immunity challenge, where they sort of walked up the beach and stared at the puzzle diagram for ages while the younger men caught up and kicked their butts, I am just not able to muster much enthusiasm for them. I hope they do something redeeming at tribal council and get rid of Cerie and her leaf and bug phobia.
So, the Casaya tribe is in trouble. Cerie feels like she isn't the most physically fit person (she's not) and she's really worried. Tina is sitting out on the beach by herself and the others think that it's odd. What Tina has done is write her son's name on the beach in the sand. He was her only child, 16, and was killed in a car wreck just before she was scheduled to leave for Survivor. However, this alone time is seen as suspicious by the other women. Cerie sees an opportunity and starts talking to Ruth Marie and suggests that Tina needs to go home because she is "kind of proud" of the things she knows how to do, like start fire. Tina finds a HUGE fish the has been stranded by the tide up on the rocks. Cerie jumps up to clean the fish. They are all happy to have food. Cerie says that everything she does proves to Ruth Marie and Melinda that they can survive without the lumberjack lady (Tina.)
Still, Tina is obviously the best equipped to survive in these conditions with her abilities to start fire, her resourcefulness, and her understanding of basic outdoor living. She is actually comfortable living in the wild.
Tribal council proves interesting when Cerie announces that people like her watching on the couch need to "stay on the couch". Melinda says it's the hardest thing she has ever done and she is fairly miserable. Tina says she's completely comfortable and having a great time. She says she is pretty comfortable having lived outdoors all her life.
Jeff mentions that it has to be a huge comfort to have someone that knowledgeable on their tribe. Ruth Marie agrees and says they just let Tina take the ball and run with it. Jeff asks Cerie if Tina has moved into a leader position and Cerie says "yes, you can say that. She pretty much took that position. She did know how to start a fire, found the water...."
Jeff says those are HUGE things. Cerie responds that if Tina hadn't found the water or started the fire, she is SURE that one of the rest of them would have stepped up to do it. She says that Tina just stepped up and started to do those things, what should they do, break her arm and say don't start the fire, don't find the water?
When Jeff asks Tina if everyone is carrying their own weight, Tina doesn't think they are all pulling their weight as much as she'd like (BIG MISTAKE TINA) but that she has a HUGE work ethic and she feels like saying, "lets get more firewood" would put her in more of a leadership position than she already occupies.
Melinda says it's true that Tina is out there working but it's not like she is working and the other three are just sitting on their butts. All four of them are constantly doing something. You can tell that Tina has aggravated her with what is perceived as a slam on their work ethic....and in reality it was a slam, and not a smart one. Personally, I would still vote Cerie out because she is too afraid of every bug and stuff and later on, when it gets down to eating weird stuff, she's going to freak out. Tina is tough and strong. I would swallow my pride, admit that I'm not as strong as she is and make her my best friend.
Jeff mentions what I see as the biggest drawback to these small tribes, that there is no place to hide and one of them has to go home. Tina votes Cerie, Cerie votes Tina.
Melinda and Ruth Marie vote for Tina and she is cast off the island. Jeff says, you've been here three days in what you say is the hardest thing you've ever done and yet you vote out the one person who was able to make your life a little easier. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I agree, I think this was a big mistake and while I understand why they were annoyed at her, they were stupid to think that Cerie is a bigger asset to their tribe. I think I'll just watch this group from a distance....maybe from the camp where I am living with MY tribe. I can always phone my summaries in on the coconut satellite phone.
This year there are four tribes of four people each, Young Women, Young Men, Old Women, Old Men. While my first instinct is to root for my own kind....the old women, I'm trying to remain open minded. It's possible that the young women will all be really intelligent and adept, not just bikini wearing eye candy for the male viewer, and that the young men will actually do something besides whine about losing muscle tone. We shall see.
There's sharks...and neat little flying rays. I want one, they are so cute. Scott says "no".
Exile island has a big old skull thing on one end of it...and I mean BIG. Nobody lives on exile island as a tribe, but throughout the game, tribe members will individually be exiled to the island with meager supplies.
Jeff explains to the tribes that they are four tribes, young, old, male, female and Cerie complains that she thought she was young. One of the men complains about not having any women on their team. Jeff then announces that they will now compete for reward. One member of each tribe will run to a location on the other side of the island where they will find a pile of skulls. They must select a skull and break it on a big flat rock. Inside is a tightly wound ball of fabric. Inside only 3 of the fabric balls, there are amulets. The rest all have rocks in them. Upon finding an amulet, the tribe member runs back to the starting point. The tribe that fails to find an amulet loses the challenge. The three winning tribes receive flint. The losing tribe must leave one member on exile island for the night.
Austin, Danielle, Terry and Ruth Marie are the runners. This isn't so much of a race, IMHO, as it is who picks up the right skull. Terry is back first for the older men. Austin scores for the younger men. Finally, it's Ruth Marie for the older women and one of the younger women must stay alone all night on exile island...and they younger women do not get flint which means...no fire. They play rock, paper, scissors to decide who should stay behind. Misty confides she does NOT want to stay behind which of course means she is left behind. She will rejoin her tribe at the next immunity challenge.
Jeff now tells them that somewhere on the island is a hidden immunity idol. This is a very special idol because the person who has it can use it AFTER votes are announced. The person using the idol does not have to leave and the person with the next highest number of votes is voted out. This is really interesting because someone could be voted out UNANIMOUSLY and the pop out that idol...they don't go home and whoever they vote for would have the highest number of votes of those remaining and go home. Anyone on exile island would do well to spend time looking for the idol. He also tells them that there will be clues as they go along as to where the idol is on the island.
Jeff tells Misty that she has one machete, water and a lot of time to figure out why fate chose her to be left out there. He also tells her he has already given her the first clue. I HATE when they do that...if you're going to give someone a clue, give them a clue like "it's NOT in the big skull" or "you don't have to dig to find it". I have no idea what the clue was and I'm pretty sure Misty doesn't either, though she speculates about Jeff saying "why was it your fate to be left behind" and therefore the idol might be "behind where she was standing at the time. I'm thinking that's a pretty lame clue.
The tribes this year have better boats than previous years. In fact they have motors. I'm thinking the distances might be greater between the camps and competitions.
Cerie explains that she's dreading making camp because they have to clear an area to put their shelter and she really hates that part because of all the stuff that gets stirred up when you move stuff around. Tina starts a fire in about a minute. The old women actually sing Kum Bah Yah....argh. Tina chops bamboo to make a shelter, finds the water and is generally a quick choice for leader. Cerie says she hates leaves because there is so much scary stuff in and under the leaves. Tina wonders whether Cerie knows what show she is on.
The younger men are playing baseball with a bamboo bat and old coconuts, etc. Aras decides they need to worry about fire and shelter so he conducts some odd yoga ritual where they all put their hands near one another but not touching and they concentrate their energy on making fire. Nick expresses his doubt. Aras insists they have power in their hands. They proceed to use the flint and machete to try to make fire in their cooking and water pot. Austin admits they do not have a clue what they are doing. They make a sort of weird lean-to and can't make fire. Aras says, well, we don't want to peak first night. One might hope they will peak in the first 30 days.
Younger women are one person short. The three girls spend their first few hours like they are trying to decide between the pink pumps or the yellow sandals. They can't decide where to make camp. Sally gets a little perturbed because not only must they find a spot, they have to BUILD the thing and nothing is happening. They find a dead turtle and Courtney goes completely bonkers talking about how North America is turtle island and the turtle represents mother earth and that it's significant that they found it. She thinks they should return it to the ocean at high tide. Danielle thinks it's way over dramatized and that there is so much to do and so little time to do it. Pink pumps? Yellow Sandals? Sigh.
MY tribe, the older men build a big fire and boil water in about 2 seconds after coming to their camp. Dan and Terry bond almost instantly promising never to lie to each other. Dan admits he did more than just work on the space shuttle, but he flew on the shuttle. Terry admits he flew F 14 Tomcats. Meanwhile, samurai wood chopper makes fast work of stuff with the machete. HAI and he's got firewood. The only problem is Shane. He is used to smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day and has been without for 31 hours. He says the old guys want to work ALL the time and he's being eaten alive by what I think is probably sand fleas. He's pretty miserable. He doesn't think he fits in because, he says, his team is moronic. That's right, dude, the guys with doctorates and awards in hiking and black belts in karate and teachers and fighter pilots are all morons and YOU, "Mr. I made it through high school and promoted a band or two" is the brains of the outfit. Got it.
Next, Shane makes a blanket announcement that they should not worry about hurting one another's feelings. I'm guessing he figures by hour 40 without nicotine he'll be calling them all morons to their faces and wants to soften the blow. He is doing self pep talks "I can't lash out at anyone, I have to get through the detox." I keep singing "one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...."
Back on Exile Island, Misty passes the long night alone. The next morning she says she is tired, hungry and thirsty. It was her worst nightmare. She feels she will be a target to be the first one voted off if her tribe doesn't win immunity. She then decides that she is going to trick her tribe into believing she DID find the special immunity idol on Exile Island. This is VERY smart, IMHO because they would worry about voting her off, having her pull that special immunity out of her bag and then one of THEM would be sent packing. Also, since she hints broadly that she found it in front of ALL the players as they gather for the immunity challenge, it may keep someone else from bothering to search for it if they are sent to Exile Island next.
The primary immunity idol is unveiled. It has three parts to it since three tribes can win immunity. The challenge is a water and obstacle thing. They start on a platform out in the water. They have to climb over a wooden fence one at a time and drop into the water. They swim to a raft that is tethered to the ocean bottom and must be freed to continue. Once the raft is freed, they get on it and paddle for shore. At the shore, they race to a post with a robe and a metal ring. It's a brain teaser they must solve to free the ring. There is an explanation of how to solve the puzzle buried in a pit in front of the post. They can choose to dig for the explanation or they can try to solve the puzzle on their own. Once the ring is free, it must be thrown out to connect with a grappling hook laying in the sand. When the grappling hook is pulled forward, a flag drops. The first three tribe to drop their flags win immunity.
The older women are behind from the drop into the water. The older men are quick to free their raft followed by the younger women. Older women have trouble releasing their raft, but so are the younger men. The younger women take the lead with better paddling skills. The young men are still unable to free their raft. Young women and then older men quickly get to shore and start on the puzzle, two people digging and two trying to solve. Young men are just now making it to shore as the young women find the diagram to solve the puzzle. Young women free their ring first and hit the grappling hook first time to drop their flag. Dan finds the clue for the older men and the older women find theirs as well. Older men win immunity and it's down to the older women and younger guys (a combination I'm rather fond of...heheh). Young men solve the puzzle. It's over as the young men drop their flag and the older women are doomed to go to tribal council.
I am sort of disappointed by this. I had hoped to be able to root for the older women. At this point, between the declarations of Cerie about being afraid of leaves and their decidedly lackluster performance in the immunity challenge, where they sort of walked up the beach and stared at the puzzle diagram for ages while the younger men caught up and kicked their butts, I am just not able to muster much enthusiasm for them. I hope they do something redeeming at tribal council and get rid of Cerie and her leaf and bug phobia.
So, the Casaya tribe is in trouble. Cerie feels like she isn't the most physically fit person (she's not) and she's really worried. Tina is sitting out on the beach by herself and the others think that it's odd. What Tina has done is write her son's name on the beach in the sand. He was her only child, 16, and was killed in a car wreck just before she was scheduled to leave for Survivor. However, this alone time is seen as suspicious by the other women. Cerie sees an opportunity and starts talking to Ruth Marie and suggests that Tina needs to go home because she is "kind of proud" of the things she knows how to do, like start fire. Tina finds a HUGE fish the has been stranded by the tide up on the rocks. Cerie jumps up to clean the fish. They are all happy to have food. Cerie says that everything she does proves to Ruth Marie and Melinda that they can survive without the lumberjack lady (Tina.)
Still, Tina is obviously the best equipped to survive in these conditions with her abilities to start fire, her resourcefulness, and her understanding of basic outdoor living. She is actually comfortable living in the wild.
Tribal council proves interesting when Cerie announces that people like her watching on the couch need to "stay on the couch". Melinda says it's the hardest thing she has ever done and she is fairly miserable. Tina says she's completely comfortable and having a great time. She says she is pretty comfortable having lived outdoors all her life.
Jeff mentions that it has to be a huge comfort to have someone that knowledgeable on their tribe. Ruth Marie agrees and says they just let Tina take the ball and run with it. Jeff asks Cerie if Tina has moved into a leader position and Cerie says "yes, you can say that. She pretty much took that position. She did know how to start a fire, found the water...."
Jeff says those are HUGE things. Cerie responds that if Tina hadn't found the water or started the fire, she is SURE that one of the rest of them would have stepped up to do it. She says that Tina just stepped up and started to do those things, what should they do, break her arm and say don't start the fire, don't find the water?
When Jeff asks Tina if everyone is carrying their own weight, Tina doesn't think they are all pulling their weight as much as she'd like (BIG MISTAKE TINA) but that she has a HUGE work ethic and she feels like saying, "lets get more firewood" would put her in more of a leadership position than she already occupies.
Melinda says it's true that Tina is out there working but it's not like she is working and the other three are just sitting on their butts. All four of them are constantly doing something. You can tell that Tina has aggravated her with what is perceived as a slam on their work ethic....and in reality it was a slam, and not a smart one. Personally, I would still vote Cerie out because she is too afraid of every bug and stuff and later on, when it gets down to eating weird stuff, she's going to freak out. Tina is tough and strong. I would swallow my pride, admit that I'm not as strong as she is and make her my best friend.
Jeff mentions what I see as the biggest drawback to these small tribes, that there is no place to hide and one of them has to go home. Tina votes Cerie, Cerie votes Tina.
Melinda and Ruth Marie vote for Tina and she is cast off the island. Jeff says, you've been here three days in what you say is the hardest thing you've ever done and yet you vote out the one person who was able to make your life a little easier. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I agree, I think this was a big mistake and while I understand why they were annoyed at her, they were stupid to think that Cerie is a bigger asset to their tribe. I think I'll just watch this group from a distance....maybe from the camp where I am living with MY tribe. I can always phone my summaries in on the coconut satellite phone.