Post by BCandScott on Sept 29, 2006 10:41:03 GMT -5
Flirting and Frustration
Sometimes I wonder if Survivor tries things and decides that it isn't working well and just stops and moves off in a different direction. Sometimes I don't think they give a new idea enough time to really know whether it's working or not. While I'm doing personal reflection here, is anyone else as creeped out by the Audrey Hepburn "Back in Black" commercial as I am? I don't think I like bringing back the dead to sell stuff much.
OK, back in camp, Aitu reflects on the tribal council where Billy announced his love connection with Candace. JP says he knows that everything he said was ridiculous. He just knows it isn't true. Some of them are wondering what really transpired between the two "lovebirds" at the challenge, but JP, he KNOWS.
Cao Boi apparently talks nonstop about Viet Nam and politics. Brad says that Cao Boi NEVER shuts up. Everyone is sitting there looking sort of sad. Brad thinks that Cao Boi just isn't all there and never will be.
Tree Mail:
Your biggest challenge yet,
won't require brawn
But if you're thinking wisely,
it could be the winning tribe you're on
Use your powers of observation
and your intuition too
You may get a better life at camp
Or get sent home feeling blue.
Jonathan expresses confidence in his tribe's ability to deal with any challenge.
Come on now, how many of you thought it would be really funny if when Jeff says, and now you get your first look at the new Aitu tribe, Billy having been sent home at tribal council, that Candace had screamed "OH NO!!!!" and started weeping piteously. Oh, well, it didn't happen, but it would have been really cool.
Yul returns from exile island and he is greeted by his tribe. Jeff takes back the immunity idol and says "Drop your buffs." They have been divided into 4 tribes based on ethnicity and now they will be integrated. This is like 8 days in. It doesn't seem to me that there was much time for the "great social experiment" at all. This is what I mean by not giving something enough time to see if it works, doesn't work, whatever.
The women are asked to come forward and stand in one line and the men stand in another. Each group, men and women, has a bag from which to draw tiles. In each bag there are two tiles marked with an X. The two men and two women with the marked tiles each become a different group leader. Cecilia, Parvati, Brad and Jonathan have the X tiles. These four then alternate choosing tribe members. The women choose women and the men choose men. They determine which of the two women chooses first by a game of rock, paper, scissors. Cecilia wins with scissors to Parvati's paper. Cecilia must select a woman NOT from her original tribe.
Cecilia chooses Jessica (Flicka), Parvati chooses Jenny. Jessica then chooses Sundra, Jenny chooses Cristina, Jenny chooses Cristina, Sundra chooses Becky, Cristina chooses Rebecca, Becky chooses Candace and finally Rebecca is left with Stephanie.
Brad wins the rock, paper, scissors with scissors over Jonathan's paper. They will choose using the same process.
Brad chooses JP, Jonathan chooses Yul, JP chooses Nate, Yul chooses Ozzy, Nate chooses Adam, and Ozzy must choose Cao Boi.
The four team captains step forward and are presented with an egg. When Jeff tells them to, they squish them and the eggs explode with colors, two blue and two red. The red women and red men join to become the new Aitu tribe, and the blue men and women join as the new Raro tribe.
New tribes roster:
Aitu who will live on Aitu's original campsite:
Cecilia
Jessica
Sundra
Becky
Candace
Jonathan
Yul
Ozzy
Cao Boi
Raro who will live on Raro's original campsite:
Pavarti
Jenny
Cristina
Rebecca
Stephanie
Brad
JP
Nate
Adam
All of the items they have accumulated will be joined together and distributed evenly between the two tribes.
The tribe mates at Raro are all excited to be joined with others. Nate says it's like they took them out of a ghetto and put them in BelAire. He was happy to throw out his stinky yellow buff. Stephanie says now it's less about race and more about who they are as people. Pavarti says they are back to a melting pot, like America, and it's great.
Aitu is also happy. The Aitu has a really good shelter. Flicka is thrilled to meet new people, says the new tribe has better vibrations. She seems to really like Cao Boi which is good because he needs a friend. Cecilia quickly befriends Candace and tells her the story of Billy declaring his love for her at tribal council and how he said they had exchanged promises of love at the immunity challenge. Candace explains that when they were standing there on the mats, he looked over at her and Parvati and said "I'm dead". She says they were like, "oh, we're sorry, we love you" as a comforting gesture, not "I love you" as in I want to hook up after Survivor and bear your little heavy metal children. She blushes bright red and they all shake their heads in amazement at this whole saga. Cecilia tells Candace that Billy said that Candace loving him was HIS million dollars.
JP, Nate and the other men gather rocks. Pavarti says it seems like they got all the really buff guys. She says she definitely plan on flirting with all of the guys. She does. She does it badly. She has this fake smile plastered on her face and stands about looking coy. It's so overt, it's comical.
Becky talks to Candace about the possibility of them forming a foursome alliance between Becky, Yul, Candace and Jonathan. These two pairs trust one another and the four of them could be a good solid group. They need a fifth for numbers and Jonathan suggests approaching Flicka. Flicka says she really isn't strategizing yet and she's not sure what to do, she's just making friends right now. He is using the idea that they were in an original tribe together and she says she didn't feel comfortable with her tribe then and not sure she wants to hang with them now.
Becky tells Yul about the possibility of making an alliance and Yul is pleased with the idea. They discuss other people besides Flicka. Yul then tells Becky that he really truly trusts her and he wants her to know that he found the hidden immunity idol on exile island and that he would use it to protect her if it became necessary. She is thrilled.
Raro tribe is looking for food. Nate spies and octopus and nails it with the Hawaiian sling. He yells HELP and Brad and JP go out to help him. The octopus is trying it's darnedest to fight them, even though it's probably dead already. Those things have a beak that is nasty and can take a chunk out of someone. The tentacles with the suction cups on them will continue to try to grab on to something, the muscles contracting and stuff for a while after the creature is basically dead. In fact, when chefs cut the tentacles off of the octopus, they will continue to squirm and stuff for a while on the cutting board. (I knew all those hours of watching Iron Chef would pay off eventually.) They haul the catch into camp and display it for the women. Pavarti poses provocatively by a tree, one arm up on the trunk to display her breasts and smiling that very plastic smile and ALMOST wiggling her eyebrows she says "That's a lot of meat." Nate waves the octopus at her and she squeals and giggles. Oh man, this flirting is really bad.
Immunity is up for grabs. The two tribes are out on a sandy island that is even less of an island than exile island. There is a oval course laid out in the water. Each tribe will be linked together and each person in the tribe will be given a 15 pound bag to carry. The two tribes are placed on opposite sides of the oval. The water is knee deep. They must race around the course until one tribe catches up to the other tribe and tackles one of it's members to the ground. People may leave the challenge by passing their 15 pound bag to another person still in the race. One person leaving means someone else will end up carrying 30 pounds, and so on. There is another factor to the challenge in a note that Jeff will reveal after the challenge is completed.
Running in that water takes a toll right away. (Having been doing water aerobics classes lately, I can attest this is harder than it looks.) The tribes put strong men in the front to lead and perform the tackle and strong men in the back to fend off the tackle. Almost immediately Aitu's women leave the challenge as a part of their team strategy. Cecilia, Sundra, Jessica, Candace and Becky all drop out leaving the men with 30 pounds each. Stephanie drops out for Raro. Cristina drops out for Raro, Jenny out for Raro. Jonathan ends up with 3 bags. Rebecca is the only woman still in the challenge. Jonathan is struggling so he gives 15 pounds to Ozzy. Raro is starting to close the gap on Aitu. Rebecca finally drops out for Raro. Cao Boi is being assisted by Yul. Finally, Yul says we can't outrun them, let's fight them off, but unfortunately, Cao Boi is the next to last man and Raro is able to throw him to the ground and Raro wins the challenge.
The note reveals that the winning tribe will send a member of the losing tribe to exile island. This means that person will miss tribal council and therefore cannot be voted out. Raro confers briefly and announces that Candace will go to exile island. This bothers Jonathan as she is his main ally and he can't figure out why they chose her. Yul suggests that they saw her as not being strong physically so Raro felt that making them keep her would make them send someone stronger home. This is probably the case.
However, this messes up the plans of the Yul, Jonathan, Candace, Becky alliance because they had figured on having those four votes plus Flicka or perhaps Cao Boi to give them the power to vote someone else out. Without Candace, they must work harder to keep their group in the game intact.
Cao Boi hugs Ozzy and tells him he will NOT be writing his name down. Ozzy says, thanks and adds that they will have to write someone's name down....and does not make any firm commitment.
Ozzy meets up with "the girls" and discusses who to vote out. He tells Cecilia, Flicka and Sundra that Becky doesn't seem to have the same "vibe" as they all do and probably should be voted out and they all nod, probably happy to have anyone be the target as long as it's not them. He assures them that Cao Boi will also vote for Becky with them. Ozzy tells the camera privately that they seem to have an agreement and they will see if it stands.
Jonathan and Flicka practically send up a signal flare to announce they are going to talk game by calling to one another across camp and then walking off huddled together while the others look on. Flicka tells Jonathan that Becky is going. Jonathan is stunned. Flicka says, "Just so you know...I'm not going to go against that."
Jonathan says, "What if I told you to vote for someone else? Would you vote with me?" (Is it just me or are some of these folks playing this game really ham handed here....I mean, it reminds me of Shane and his 'you are going this time or the next, so it doesn't matter...' These guys need to learn how to be slightly less transparent or at least a little bit coy, I think.)
Flicka says she just honestly doesn't have a good vibe about her. (OK, who said this was about vibes?
??) Jonathan is devastated and he says he's not sure if he can convince her to change her vote. He talks to Yul and they realize they need to talk to Cao Boi. They are planning to vote for Cecilia. They know if it doesn't work and Becky goes, they will be in a really bad situation. Jonathan goes to work on Flicka talking about them having a strong bond. Yul talks to Cao Boi who says that Becky is a bit of a "princess" out there. Yul defends Becky saying that Cecilia is not very strong either and that Becky is tough. Jonathan tells Flicka that if there are five votes for Cecelia and three for Becky, and she has voted for Becky, then she will be on the outside.
Cao Boi and Flicka discuss how they are not part of the crowds and that they are not playing a bad game but they must choose. Flicka says she knows it's a numbers game. Flicka says she just doesn't know what to do. She just wants to make friends.
Jonathan tells the camera that there are two ways to play the game "I love you and won't vote for you OR I love you but I have to vote for you" . It's a war.
At tribal, Jeff asks how they chose the new tribes and Jonathan said they tried to get the strongest people. He asks Sundra about being the only member of her original tribe on the new tribe and she says it makes her valuable or vulnerable because they all want her vote, but they also don't have original bonds with her. She says there is no way to guarantee either.
Yul says that some people have different priorities in being there. Some came to strategize and play the game, and some are just looking for a personal experience. Jonathan says that the reality of it is that those looking for the experience will play the game because it's happening and they can't ignore it and that those who are there to strategize and play will also be experiencing the personal fulfillment of surviving as well. So despite the differences, everyone will get some of both. He says that is what makes it interesting.
Jeff asks Flicka if the game is already more complicated than he anticipated and she says yes, it is. She says she is just really not ready to lose a tribe member.
Ozzy says after tonights vote he will know where people really stand.
Jeff explains the personal immunity idol. If the person voted out has the personal immunity idol, they present it after the votes are read and are back in the game and the person with the next highest number of votes will go packing. IF, Yul and group were unable to convince enough people to vote their way, Yul could have given Becky the personal idol to protect her. Then, by the three of them voting for Cecilia, they could send Cecilia home as the second highest vote recipient. IF, however, they have convinced enough people to vote for Cecilia, they would not have to use the idol at all. OR, Yul may have elected NOT to allow Becky to have it.
They vote: Ozzy, Cecilia, and Sundra vote for Becky. Jonathan, Yul, Becky, Cao Boi and Flicka vote for Cecilia. Almost everyone voting says that it's nothing personal, just strategy except for Ozzy who whines that Becky didn't try to get to know him at all. When the last vote is read, Ozzy is obviously unhappy.
It will be interesting to see next week if Yul was packing the idol or whether he loaned it to Becky just in case.
Jeff tells the tribe they are definitely not unified and that at 8 days in with a game that is this unpredictable it's certainly risky.
Next week, Cao Boi goes to far...apparently knocking a bird's nest out of a tree with a baby bird in it. Raro has a problem because the men don't seem interested in working and the women are getting tired of it.
Sometimes I wonder if Survivor tries things and decides that it isn't working well and just stops and moves off in a different direction. Sometimes I don't think they give a new idea enough time to really know whether it's working or not. While I'm doing personal reflection here, is anyone else as creeped out by the Audrey Hepburn "Back in Black" commercial as I am? I don't think I like bringing back the dead to sell stuff much.
OK, back in camp, Aitu reflects on the tribal council where Billy announced his love connection with Candace. JP says he knows that everything he said was ridiculous. He just knows it isn't true. Some of them are wondering what really transpired between the two "lovebirds" at the challenge, but JP, he KNOWS.
Cao Boi apparently talks nonstop about Viet Nam and politics. Brad says that Cao Boi NEVER shuts up. Everyone is sitting there looking sort of sad. Brad thinks that Cao Boi just isn't all there and never will be.
Tree Mail:
Your biggest challenge yet,
won't require brawn
But if you're thinking wisely,
it could be the winning tribe you're on
Use your powers of observation
and your intuition too
You may get a better life at camp
Or get sent home feeling blue.
Jonathan expresses confidence in his tribe's ability to deal with any challenge.
Come on now, how many of you thought it would be really funny if when Jeff says, and now you get your first look at the new Aitu tribe, Billy having been sent home at tribal council, that Candace had screamed "OH NO!!!!" and started weeping piteously. Oh, well, it didn't happen, but it would have been really cool.
Yul returns from exile island and he is greeted by his tribe. Jeff takes back the immunity idol and says "Drop your buffs." They have been divided into 4 tribes based on ethnicity and now they will be integrated. This is like 8 days in. It doesn't seem to me that there was much time for the "great social experiment" at all. This is what I mean by not giving something enough time to see if it works, doesn't work, whatever.
The women are asked to come forward and stand in one line and the men stand in another. Each group, men and women, has a bag from which to draw tiles. In each bag there are two tiles marked with an X. The two men and two women with the marked tiles each become a different group leader. Cecilia, Parvati, Brad and Jonathan have the X tiles. These four then alternate choosing tribe members. The women choose women and the men choose men. They determine which of the two women chooses first by a game of rock, paper, scissors. Cecilia wins with scissors to Parvati's paper. Cecilia must select a woman NOT from her original tribe.
Cecilia chooses Jessica (Flicka), Parvati chooses Jenny. Jessica then chooses Sundra, Jenny chooses Cristina, Jenny chooses Cristina, Sundra chooses Becky, Cristina chooses Rebecca, Becky chooses Candace and finally Rebecca is left with Stephanie.
Brad wins the rock, paper, scissors with scissors over Jonathan's paper. They will choose using the same process.
Brad chooses JP, Jonathan chooses Yul, JP chooses Nate, Yul chooses Ozzy, Nate chooses Adam, and Ozzy must choose Cao Boi.
The four team captains step forward and are presented with an egg. When Jeff tells them to, they squish them and the eggs explode with colors, two blue and two red. The red women and red men join to become the new Aitu tribe, and the blue men and women join as the new Raro tribe.
New tribes roster:
Aitu who will live on Aitu's original campsite:
Cecilia
Jessica
Sundra
Becky
Candace
Jonathan
Yul
Ozzy
Cao Boi
Raro who will live on Raro's original campsite:
Pavarti
Jenny
Cristina
Rebecca
Stephanie
Brad
JP
Nate
Adam
All of the items they have accumulated will be joined together and distributed evenly between the two tribes.
The tribe mates at Raro are all excited to be joined with others. Nate says it's like they took them out of a ghetto and put them in BelAire. He was happy to throw out his stinky yellow buff. Stephanie says now it's less about race and more about who they are as people. Pavarti says they are back to a melting pot, like America, and it's great.
Aitu is also happy. The Aitu has a really good shelter. Flicka is thrilled to meet new people, says the new tribe has better vibrations. She seems to really like Cao Boi which is good because he needs a friend. Cecilia quickly befriends Candace and tells her the story of Billy declaring his love for her at tribal council and how he said they had exchanged promises of love at the immunity challenge. Candace explains that when they were standing there on the mats, he looked over at her and Parvati and said "I'm dead". She says they were like, "oh, we're sorry, we love you" as a comforting gesture, not "I love you" as in I want to hook up after Survivor and bear your little heavy metal children. She blushes bright red and they all shake their heads in amazement at this whole saga. Cecilia tells Candace that Billy said that Candace loving him was HIS million dollars.
JP, Nate and the other men gather rocks. Pavarti says it seems like they got all the really buff guys. She says she definitely plan on flirting with all of the guys. She does. She does it badly. She has this fake smile plastered on her face and stands about looking coy. It's so overt, it's comical.
Becky talks to Candace about the possibility of them forming a foursome alliance between Becky, Yul, Candace and Jonathan. These two pairs trust one another and the four of them could be a good solid group. They need a fifth for numbers and Jonathan suggests approaching Flicka. Flicka says she really isn't strategizing yet and she's not sure what to do, she's just making friends right now. He is using the idea that they were in an original tribe together and she says she didn't feel comfortable with her tribe then and not sure she wants to hang with them now.
Becky tells Yul about the possibility of making an alliance and Yul is pleased with the idea. They discuss other people besides Flicka. Yul then tells Becky that he really truly trusts her and he wants her to know that he found the hidden immunity idol on exile island and that he would use it to protect her if it became necessary. She is thrilled.
Raro tribe is looking for food. Nate spies and octopus and nails it with the Hawaiian sling. He yells HELP and Brad and JP go out to help him. The octopus is trying it's darnedest to fight them, even though it's probably dead already. Those things have a beak that is nasty and can take a chunk out of someone. The tentacles with the suction cups on them will continue to try to grab on to something, the muscles contracting and stuff for a while after the creature is basically dead. In fact, when chefs cut the tentacles off of the octopus, they will continue to squirm and stuff for a while on the cutting board. (I knew all those hours of watching Iron Chef would pay off eventually.) They haul the catch into camp and display it for the women. Pavarti poses provocatively by a tree, one arm up on the trunk to display her breasts and smiling that very plastic smile and ALMOST wiggling her eyebrows she says "That's a lot of meat." Nate waves the octopus at her and she squeals and giggles. Oh man, this flirting is really bad.
Immunity is up for grabs. The two tribes are out on a sandy island that is even less of an island than exile island. There is a oval course laid out in the water. Each tribe will be linked together and each person in the tribe will be given a 15 pound bag to carry. The two tribes are placed on opposite sides of the oval. The water is knee deep. They must race around the course until one tribe catches up to the other tribe and tackles one of it's members to the ground. People may leave the challenge by passing their 15 pound bag to another person still in the race. One person leaving means someone else will end up carrying 30 pounds, and so on. There is another factor to the challenge in a note that Jeff will reveal after the challenge is completed.
Running in that water takes a toll right away. (Having been doing water aerobics classes lately, I can attest this is harder than it looks.) The tribes put strong men in the front to lead and perform the tackle and strong men in the back to fend off the tackle. Almost immediately Aitu's women leave the challenge as a part of their team strategy. Cecilia, Sundra, Jessica, Candace and Becky all drop out leaving the men with 30 pounds each. Stephanie drops out for Raro. Cristina drops out for Raro, Jenny out for Raro. Jonathan ends up with 3 bags. Rebecca is the only woman still in the challenge. Jonathan is struggling so he gives 15 pounds to Ozzy. Raro is starting to close the gap on Aitu. Rebecca finally drops out for Raro. Cao Boi is being assisted by Yul. Finally, Yul says we can't outrun them, let's fight them off, but unfortunately, Cao Boi is the next to last man and Raro is able to throw him to the ground and Raro wins the challenge.
The note reveals that the winning tribe will send a member of the losing tribe to exile island. This means that person will miss tribal council and therefore cannot be voted out. Raro confers briefly and announces that Candace will go to exile island. This bothers Jonathan as she is his main ally and he can't figure out why they chose her. Yul suggests that they saw her as not being strong physically so Raro felt that making them keep her would make them send someone stronger home. This is probably the case.
However, this messes up the plans of the Yul, Jonathan, Candace, Becky alliance because they had figured on having those four votes plus Flicka or perhaps Cao Boi to give them the power to vote someone else out. Without Candace, they must work harder to keep their group in the game intact.
Cao Boi hugs Ozzy and tells him he will NOT be writing his name down. Ozzy says, thanks and adds that they will have to write someone's name down....and does not make any firm commitment.
Ozzy meets up with "the girls" and discusses who to vote out. He tells Cecilia, Flicka and Sundra that Becky doesn't seem to have the same "vibe" as they all do and probably should be voted out and they all nod, probably happy to have anyone be the target as long as it's not them. He assures them that Cao Boi will also vote for Becky with them. Ozzy tells the camera privately that they seem to have an agreement and they will see if it stands.
Jonathan and Flicka practically send up a signal flare to announce they are going to talk game by calling to one another across camp and then walking off huddled together while the others look on. Flicka tells Jonathan that Becky is going. Jonathan is stunned. Flicka says, "Just so you know...I'm not going to go against that."
Jonathan says, "What if I told you to vote for someone else? Would you vote with me?" (Is it just me or are some of these folks playing this game really ham handed here....I mean, it reminds me of Shane and his 'you are going this time or the next, so it doesn't matter...' These guys need to learn how to be slightly less transparent or at least a little bit coy, I think.)
Flicka says she just honestly doesn't have a good vibe about her. (OK, who said this was about vibes?
??) Jonathan is devastated and he says he's not sure if he can convince her to change her vote. He talks to Yul and they realize they need to talk to Cao Boi. They are planning to vote for Cecilia. They know if it doesn't work and Becky goes, they will be in a really bad situation. Jonathan goes to work on Flicka talking about them having a strong bond. Yul talks to Cao Boi who says that Becky is a bit of a "princess" out there. Yul defends Becky saying that Cecilia is not very strong either and that Becky is tough. Jonathan tells Flicka that if there are five votes for Cecelia and three for Becky, and she has voted for Becky, then she will be on the outside.Cao Boi and Flicka discuss how they are not part of the crowds and that they are not playing a bad game but they must choose. Flicka says she knows it's a numbers game. Flicka says she just doesn't know what to do. She just wants to make friends.
Jonathan tells the camera that there are two ways to play the game "I love you and won't vote for you OR I love you but I have to vote for you" . It's a war.
At tribal, Jeff asks how they chose the new tribes and Jonathan said they tried to get the strongest people. He asks Sundra about being the only member of her original tribe on the new tribe and she says it makes her valuable or vulnerable because they all want her vote, but they also don't have original bonds with her. She says there is no way to guarantee either.
Yul says that some people have different priorities in being there. Some came to strategize and play the game, and some are just looking for a personal experience. Jonathan says that the reality of it is that those looking for the experience will play the game because it's happening and they can't ignore it and that those who are there to strategize and play will also be experiencing the personal fulfillment of surviving as well. So despite the differences, everyone will get some of both. He says that is what makes it interesting.
Jeff asks Flicka if the game is already more complicated than he anticipated and she says yes, it is. She says she is just really not ready to lose a tribe member.
Ozzy says after tonights vote he will know where people really stand.
Jeff explains the personal immunity idol. If the person voted out has the personal immunity idol, they present it after the votes are read and are back in the game and the person with the next highest number of votes will go packing. IF, Yul and group were unable to convince enough people to vote their way, Yul could have given Becky the personal idol to protect her. Then, by the three of them voting for Cecilia, they could send Cecilia home as the second highest vote recipient. IF, however, they have convinced enough people to vote for Cecilia, they would not have to use the idol at all. OR, Yul may have elected NOT to allow Becky to have it.
They vote: Ozzy, Cecilia, and Sundra vote for Becky. Jonathan, Yul, Becky, Cao Boi and Flicka vote for Cecilia. Almost everyone voting says that it's nothing personal, just strategy except for Ozzy who whines that Becky didn't try to get to know him at all. When the last vote is read, Ozzy is obviously unhappy.
It will be interesting to see next week if Yul was packing the idol or whether he loaned it to Becky just in case.
Jeff tells the tribe they are definitely not unified and that at 8 days in with a game that is this unpredictable it's certainly risky.
Next week, Cao Boi goes to far...apparently knocking a bird's nest out of a tree with a baby bird in it. Raro has a problem because the men don't seem interested in working and the women are getting tired of it.
