Watching Reality TV

I wonder if everyone has been seeing cupid, love, and hearts on reality television? One thing is for sure February has been a strange month for television. So who has been showing love and who has been full of hate on our favorite shows?

Speaking of hearts, I found a couple of reality stars wearing the color of hearts and some nice heart designs around their neck. Paris Hilton looks like a cupid herself while wearing this lovely heart around her neck to The Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar Party.

I’m sure we all can remember Paris Hilton and her ventures on The Simple Life, which ran till August 2007.

On the other hand, Cirie looks like she just has love for herself on Survivor Micronesia. People are split when it comes to the team. With the expressions on her face when Yau-man was snuffed out, Cirie wouldn’t have it any other way. Perhaps it’s a ploy to driver her adversary and team member crazy, we will just have to wait and watch.

Hopefully, the Micronesian gods of Survivor will show me some hearts and love. It’s sad to say that I’m in place #22 with the Survivor Pool Party. Congrats to Lessa for keeping tabs with Watching Survivor and being in first place.

So who do you think is going to be the next one sent to Exile Island? Will it be a Fan or a Favorite?

Personally my vote is on Parvati, if she doesn’t step up and step out during week 4 then I have a feeling that her torch will soon be put out on Survivor Island.

Now it’s time to talk about a completely different love. The love of one contestant for another is getting strange on reality television. Yes I’m talking about Rock of Love 2.
What was the deal with girls giving up their chance with Bret for another girl?

I nearly fell out of my chair when Bret turned that pass around and the girl that walked out was going to be asked to leave anyways.

Now it’s time for the girls to say “Cowgirl Up!� It’s going to be interesting to see if the thing they’re going to ride is real or mechanical?

As we anxiously wait for the start of the new Survivor, the winner of Survivor China was kind enough to give a preview of what Survivor Micronesia will be like.

Will there be alliances between old mates?

Who will be using their sex appeal to win the game?

Who’s hoping to turn the cast against each other?

Is the host of Survivor right by choosing James to win it all? Remember he’s been wrong in the past.
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If you’d like to catch up on what happened on Thursday’s show, check out this post. If you want to look back at the entire last season, check here.

So here we are! Wow, I can’t believe it’s finale time already! Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was marveling over the gorgeous China locale and getting confused over who everyone was. Ahh, good times. Good times. But now? We’re down to the finale four; Denise, Courtney, Amanda and Todd. Who will be the ultimate Survivor? In two hours time, we will know!

8:00pm- We start off with your typical recap, watching clips of the Survivors first coming to China, getting divided into tribes and struggling out in the wilds. Except, not so much for the red tribe (have I already forgot the names??). The recap is, as always, unnecessarily revealing. But, it is nice to see some of the moments relived because I had forgotten some of these. And I’m reminded of how awesome it was when James didn’t use his immunity idols to save himself. That goes in the books, ya’ll. That was fabulous. Amanda’s idea, too! So yeah, if you hadn’t been watching this season, you should be well caught up by now. And I just lost six minutes of my life that I’ll NEVER get back.

8:11pm- Everyone returns to camp from Tribal Council, congratulating themselves for making the final four JUST LIKE THEY PLANNED. I pretty much only like Denise at this point, but I realize that it’s unlikely that she’ll come close to winning this thing too. The next morning, everyone wakes up and Denise starts feeling worried about her future. Treemail arrives and they’re unsure whether it’s reward, immunity or what. Sounds like reward to me. The challenge features a miniature Great Wall and the castaways must finish an obstacle course of sorts that is rife with puzzles. Ooho, the one puzzle it’s TOTALLY Tetris! The prize is comfort food (pizza, brownies, beer, soda) that brings Amanda to tears. The food, of course, will also offer strength for the immunity challenge so there’s that as well. While watching, I’m amazed at how little clothes some of these gals end up wearing. Courtney and Amanda, I’m looking at you. Even Denise is quite a bit skimpier than she started out. And Amanda wins! I’m glad, because she sure wanted that food. Jeff then gives her the choice of keeping the food for herself or sharing it with one or two other people. It’s all up to her. She ultimately decides to share with Todd. Denise looks like she understands, Courtney just looks dejected.

8:26pm- Todd is incredibly appreciative of Amanda taking him along. She wanted to talk to him and pick his brain a little. Mostly because she doesn’t trust him. And then she makes the massive mistake of TELLING HIM she doesn’t trust him. Which of course makes him immediately paranoid. And a paranoid Todd is a shifty Todd. Gah. Back at camp, Denise strips down to her skivvies to swim in the water and she has lost a lot of weight, looking quite a bit saggy. She reflects on not ever being popular. She is feeling mighty vulnerable. Courtney asks Denise who she wants to vote off. Denise answers “Todd” with NO hesitation. Having returned to camp, Todd is still feeling paranoid. He calls them all “his girls” which kinda skeeves me out some. He admits to being worried about “girl power”. Can I say “Gah” again or is it too soon? Courtney correctly calls Todd a “slippery little sucker”. Courtney goes to Amanda and tells her that Todd is confiding in Denise and how he’s being so shifty right now. Todd is getting a little “big brother” and not liking seeing people go off and talk together. Dude, decaf. He tells the camera he hates being paranoid. Coulda fooled me.

8:37pm- More treemail! This is the “remembering the past tribe members” schtick that we go through each finale. And it’s pretty much as tedious as it every time they do this. Everyone has to pretend like they are happy these people were voted out when you KNOW they aren’t because, dude, now they’re in the finale four! How can you be sad about that? They end up with Jeff Probst and go right into the finale immunity challenge. Wee!

8:51pm- The challenge is pretty much an exercise in concentration and focus. Sort of like endurance, but with the added bonus of potential broken china. They have to balance a stack of plates on the end of a stick. One by one, they add to the stack. Everyone does a pretty good job of holding their cool. But the day is hot and the stack of plates is getting heavier. And more precarious. Todd has the most difficult time holding it steady and drops his stack first and is out of the challenge. Courtney wobbles a touch, but holds it together. Barely. And then her stack falls and she’s out as well. Denise is more wobbly than Amanda, I think and will be out next. Denise tries to interest Amanda in a deal but she won’t have it. And there goes Denise. Amanda wins immunity and has a guaranteed spot in the final tribal council. Nice! Who will be voted out tonight? Like it’s even a question at this point.

9:02pm- Amanda is feeling the pressure of her win, because so much rides on her shoulders. Denise feels pressure and thinks she might be able to sway Amanda. However, she is upsettingly vague. Denise tries to play to her sympathies, pointing out that she has to go back to her minimum wage job and she could really use the shot. And that’s something no one wants to be against in the final tribal council. Todd wants to vote out Denise. Courtney is for it and Amanda seems to be for it as well. They decide they’ll just brush Denise off which of course will signal Denise that she’s going. Gah. Not very dignified at ALL. Todd continues being paranoid. It’s not very becoming on him. Courtney makes some APPALLING comments about how “this isn’t welfare” and that Denise doesn’t deserve the chance just because she “sucks at life”. I’m still trying to pick my jaw up off the ground. WHO makes a comment like that? Who would say such a stupid, ignorant, and small-minded thing? Oh, Courtney. Courtney, Courtney, Courtney. Anyhow. I think Amanda is damned if she do, damned if she don’t. I don’t think she could win against Denise and I don’t think she could win against Todd. So her decision is probably more moot than they’re making it out to be. Amanda assures Denise she won’t write her name down, but Denise isn’t comforted. Gee, I wonder why? The tribal council begins and the jury files in. Jeff grills the castaways and the answers are pretty stock. The jury looks annoyed, as usual with the majority of the answers. Amanda backs right out of her “deal” with Denise when she brings it up. But not before Todd catches it and Jeff points it out. Amanda looks decidedly worried. WHY? She has the idol! Gah. This is a sham. Denise knows it, as she goes up to vote. Everyone else votes in kind and Jeff does his tally thing. And, with no surprise whatsoever, it is Denise. She is gone like there’s no tomorrow. Gah. Well, I knew it was coming. Amanda at least has the decency to look sorry as she hugs Denise. I just wish Amanda could have grown a backbone there. Either tell Denise she wasn’t voting for her and mean it (and back it up in front of Todd) or admit to her she’s voting her out. She did neither and she suffers in my view because of that. So yeah. I’m actually thinking I’m rooting for Todd now. Scary.

9:23pm- Back at camp, Amanda is WAY on the defensive. She feels horrible and she should. She thinks Todd made her look bad in front of the jury when she made herself look bad. I think she knows she screwed over Denise and that’s why she’s freaking out about it. So yeah, her stock is plummeting here, people. Todd is confused over Amanda’s reaction. Of course he is, because she’s wrestling her own little demons there. Dawn on day 39 and everyone awakes feeling groggy and less happy than they should. Well, at least Amanda does. They find their final feast and the girls lose their beans over it. It’s complete with pancake batter and bacon and everything else. Oooh, mimosas. Courtney reflects that she should get some respect for having made it this far. My answer? No. Not likely. They make the customary bonfire of remaining belongings and supplies. It’s a cathartic exercise and blah blah blah fishcakes. Just like that, the day is over. They are back at tribal council. This time, for the last time. This time, to get yelled at by the jury. Always fun! But first, they have to stand up and make a speech about why they deserve to win the game.

Amanda tells the jury she feels blessed to be in the final three. It’s been a hard 39 days. She followed her strategy from the beginning, by aligning with Todd. But she is not proud of some of the things she did. Like voting out people she promised she wouldn’t vote out. JR, James and Frosti. NO mention of Denise.

Todd lays it all out there. He knows he was a jerk to a lot of people, but he played a smart game and he hopes they take that into consideration. PG looks bored during his speech and won’t even make eye-contact. He thanks them for the experience.

Courtney admits to not knowing a thing about what she was doing from the beginning because she wasn’t a big “Survivor” fan. Is that a good thing? She points out that she won an immunity (gah) and she’s very proud of herself. Then she says, “you have to give me a little credit.” Uh, no they don’t.

9:39pm- James goes first and promises he’s not going to be bitter. He asks Courtney what her favorite moment was. She says it was when they won the first immunity challenge. JR goes up next and says he has a problem. He has never made it a secret that he doesn’t want Courtney to win. And he promised Amanda and Todd that if they backstabbed him, they would not get his vote. So he asks Courtney what she did to deserve it. Her answer: she won an immunity. Gah. As for Amanda, she promised not to write his name down and then she did, so what was up with that? Her answer: she didn’t want to vote for him, but everyone else did. GAH. And then basically JR goes off as being a “bitter Betty” (thanks, James) on Todd. So Todd explains why he wanted to vote out JR and it was because he was a huge strategic threat. The jury cracks up because Todd’s answer totally shut up JR and that has never happened before.

PG is up and she asks Todd to prove he didn’t just “slide” into the final three. So Todd gives examples of how he worked hard. She accuses Amanda of looking at her with doe eyes. Which she is (can I slap her?). What did she do that was better than Todd? She answers that she was a better physical competitor and she puts herself up as the orchestrator of James’ ouster. Oy. That’s not happy. Erik goes up (hey, he shaved!) and asked what everyone’s biggest risk was. Milking it again, Amanda says putting up James. Erik doesn’t think it was risky, but rather a no-brainer. Frosti goes up and grills Todd on lying so much. Todd apologizes. And then he lays into Courtney. I mean, LAYS INTO HER. And it’s awesome. He felt close to her and then she lied to him so he was surprised. She tries to wheedle her way out of it and I’m not buying it. Neither is Frosti. Jaime goes up and asks them what dirty laundry they have about the other players. Courtney admits that Todd’s dirty laundry is redundant because he’s laid it out for everyone to see. She pressures Courtney to give a reason NOT to give Todd a vote. Courtney can’t give her one, so she moves on to Todd. Todd has no problem airing Courtney’s dirty laundry. He tells Jaime that he deserves it more because Courtney didn’t want to be here in the first place. Ouch! Amanda says she thinks Courtney is ungrateful (yes, she is) and didn’t put her heart into anything (no, she didn’t). And Todd, if he was such a great player, why didn’t he play people better than lying to them? Todd says he deserves it more because he did her dirty work. Amen. I’m a believer.

Denise has the floor. She pulls a pretty good guilt trip on them. She calls Amanda out on lying to her, JR, James and Frosti. Todd is so deceptive, you never know when he’s telling you the truth. She finds his conscience to be alarming. Courtney, she finds her very honest and open and she respects that. Yow. Sounds like she’s rooting for Courtney (which she wouldn’t if she knew Courtney said she “sucks at life”). Up next? Votes!

9:59pm- Is this show over YET??  Good grief.  Everyone goes up to vote.  We only see a few, enough to know Jaime votes for Todd, Erik votes for Amanda, and Denise votes for Courtney.  Gah.  Several people look like they have a hard time deciding.  I hear ya, buddies.   Jeff retrieves the votes as usual.  But no tallying tonight!  Well, on that night at least.  We go to Hollywood and everyone looks VASTLY different.  Courtney has SCARY hair.  Actually, they ALL have scary hair.  What’s with the mullet, Todd??  Courtney looks like she may have actually had something to eat.  No one claps for Courtney’s vote.  No one claps for Amanda’s vote either.  Everyone cheers for Todd’s vote.  And that’s how it goes.  Courtney gets another vote, but Todd is far and away the winner.  Is anyone really surprised?  Naw.  I’m not.  He cries, predictably.  But you know, I’m glad it was him.  I didn’t like any of the three of them that well, but he deserved it the most.  We’re going right into the reunion which I am NOT liveblogging.  You’re on your own there, people.

Happy Survivor-ing, thanks for joining me!

Care to see what happened on last week’s show (and how poorly I recapped it?)? Check out this post over here then.

Will Todd truly be a target tonight? Only time will tell! And, further, did you realize we’re looking at the finale being THIS Sunday?? I know. Where has the season gone? Tune in Sunday night while I liveblog the excitement. Pacific time, of course.

The end of this game has really snuck up on me. Denise wonders if she did the right thing by voting Erik out instead of turning on her alliance. I think NO ONE could have won against Erik, so it probably was a good idea. PG reflects that she is not very popular around camp. She admits that it is hard being the outside. She retrieves treemail and shares it with the rest. The reward challenge sounds intriguing, as always. It’s a “shoot out your enemies” style challenge, except it’s more of a “shoot for your friends” deal. Anyhow. Reward is a trip to the Great Wall. Oooh. PG received one arrow, cementing her unpopularity. Denise had 2. Todd had 6. Courtney has 12 and Amanda got 4. PG misses. Denise gets one arrow in her name. Amanda accidentally gets 2 in Denise’s name. Todd gets 5 into his name, impressing everyone. Courtney gets five in Denise and one in Amanda and two in Todd and one in her own. Yay! She selects Courtney to go (obviously) and can pick one more. She has a hard choice between Todd and PG but goes with Todd. Poor PG. She feels Denise dissed her after she took Denise on her reward. Cuz, you know, that’s how it works. Whatever. Bittercakes.

Back at camp, PG and Amanda are feeling mighty sorry for themselves getting left behind. She wonders at the significance (Amanda does) at being left behind. She and PG start talking, bury some of the grievances they have with each other. They bond over hunting down food while the other three board their private jet which looks mighty posh indeed. They have snacks and sip champagne. When they get to the wall, they are all amazed. Right there on the wall they get a massive feast. They have a ton of raw food that they cook in the pot in front of them. Courtney reflects to the camera that Amanda is less likely to stir up trouble back at camp, hence bringing Todd on the reward. At camp, the ladies are having great luck finding food. That night, they start to talk some strategy. Denise doesn’t come off too well in their conversations. PG has hope that she can crack the alliance. Over on the wall, they enjoy iced coffee and talk some strategy. What to do if PG wins immunity again? Denise hits the hay (a bed, right there, ON THE WALL), but she’s worried about her status in the game.

The three return home the next day and PG and Amanda were gone. Todd got a little nervous, along with the others. But then they spotted the girls and they greeted them cordially enough. However, PG and Amanda were annoyed at how much Todd and Courtney were complaining about the food. Denise didn’t get a lot of flack, because she brought them back nuts from the plane. Smart move, Denise! Treemail arrives for the immunity challenge and it looks like one of those “repeat amalgam” challenges. And, that is exactly what it is. I’m not going to do a play by play here, because I suck at that sort of thing. The important thing to know is: Denise choked (literally) on eating the balut and Amanda narrowly beat out PG to win immunity! Wee! Everyone is pretty happy that PG didn’t win, except PG of course.

It looks like Amanda wants to vote out Todd, a plan that PG is all for. Todd starts feeling uber-paranoid about this potential ouster. Amanda works on Denise, trying to talk her in voting for Todd as well. However, in the end, both Amanda and Denise decide to remain with what is familiar and comfy and vote with the alliance. Which means that PG is sent home rather unanimously at Tribal Council. It was inevitable, once she lost immunity. So it looks like our final four will be Amanda, Denise, Courtney and Todd. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I could have seen this one coming from the very beginning of the season. I’m not sure which of them I would like to see win. I like Denise because she’s normal, but I think Todd played the best game of all four of them. We’ll see on Sunday! Join me here and we’ll all squee together.

If you want to catch up on last week’s show, please read this post right here.

Everyone is reeling from sending James.  It was a singularly brilliant move that I still can’t believe they got away with.  The thing is, now Todd knows he’s a big target since he saw at least one vote against him.  PG is thrilled that she’s still in the game.   I’m rather amazed, to be frank.  She’s been doing better at challenges than I would have figured.  Todd wants Erik and PG gone, but he’s smart enough to know that he can’t trust anyone. And he admits that turning on him now would be a smart move on their part.

Time or the reward challenge!  It’s basically a giant maze, comprised of teams of two.  First team to make it through the maze (blindfolded!), will win.  And they’ll be paired with… loved ones!  Erik’s mom emerges and everyone gets really excited.  Amanda is joined by her sister.  PG gets to play with her dad.  Todd will be playing with his sister.  She tells him that their other sister miscarried her baby and OMG, how sad is that.  Courtney is joined by her father.  There isn’t a dry eye in the house.  Denise is greeted by her husband… awe.  Courtney’s dad is a little taken aback to learn he’ll be competing (he seems a little fancy).   Winner gets a boat trip and a call home.  I’m assuming the boat trip is with the loved one.  It’s an entertaining challenge.  And… Denise and her husband Robert win the reward!  I wish everyone could have won, spent more time with their loved ones.  But I’m glad she won.  Oh!  And she gets to pick two Survivors to come along with their loved ones!  She picks Todd (obvious choice) and Amanda.  They all bring their loved ones.  The remaining three look pretty beaten down to be saying goodbye to their loved ones.  The loved ones, after the boat ride, get to spend the night at camp!  Would be better if it were a resort or something. ;)  Just sayin’.

Everyone on the boat is just GORGING on their feast.  Denise is excited her husband came, since he’s afraid of flying.  Amanda loses her poop over the sight of chocolate cake.   Denise’s phone rang and it’s her daughter and she can barely understand her daughter for the crying.  It’s so sweet.  Back at camp, the mood is pretty somber.  PG is upset she wasn’t chosen.  Courtney and Erik both think that the story of the miscarriage was not true and was just played or sympathy.  Okay, bitter much?  It would suck if it weren’t true, but suck if it were true too.  Courtney better hope it’s not true, because she is looking like a MAJOR ass here.  Everyone returns to camp and the winners allow the losers to lick chocolate from their hands.  Okay, GROSS.  PG is still sulking and not wanting to talk to anyone.  She’s still upset that Denise didn’t pick her since she picked HER to go on her reward last week.  (insert much eyerolling here)  Todd admits he’s worried that people will think he’s lying about his sister.  He admits to the camera that it is true, every bit of it.  So yeah, Courtney is an ass.  I think Denise picking Amanda and Todd was SMART because they have more power in the game than Courtney and PG.

The next morning, the loved ones leave and it’s a tearful goodbye.  Todd comments that he can’t ever relax and trust people, he’s got to keep on his toes.  Denise tries to apologize to PG for not picking her for the reward.  PG isn’t entirely happy, but she appreciates Denise making the effort.  It’s time or another challenge!  It just never stops around here, does it?  It’s pretty much a puzzle type challenge.  Which isn’t to say it’s not physical at all, but it’s mostly mental.  If you’re good with the puzzles and trivia, you’re good to go.  First person to answer three questions correctly will win.  Woo hoo.  It’s neck and neck for a while, but PG manages to eke out a win and she is so happy that she cries.  She really needed it too.  I hope this stops her sulking about the reward challenge.

How does Todd get his hair to stand up like that without gel?  Todd is worrying about the vote that night.  Denise needs to put a top on or get a better bra.  That’s all I’m saying.  Anyhow, Todd wants to vote out Erik.  Erik, meanwhile, wants to vote out Todd.  Dilemma!  PG is with Erik and they plan to go to Denise and ask her to vote with them.  Denise finds herself in a very powerful position.  They give her a good argument, but as James said last week, it doesn’t make much sense to go with the minority over the majority, you know?  Todd still is stressing.  He asks Denise if they’re after her vote.  No pressure, of course. :P  She’s still unsure, as Tribal Council approaches.

Everyone marches in and takes their seats.  They get some hard looks from the jury, particularly James.  PG quasi-insults Denise by insinuating that she’s at the bottom of the pack, where she could really pull it out if she tried hard enough.   Anyhow, finally everyone gets down to voting and it goes pretty much as I expected it would.  Denise isn’t stupid and she votes with the group.  Todd gets 2 votes, Erik gets 4.  Erik gets sent to the jury.  Voila.

Now next week?  Amanda tries to unseat Todd.  Will she be successful?

If you want to catch up on what happened last week, too bad.  There was no new show last week (just one of those cheesy recap shows and that totally doesn’t count).  But to see what happened the week before, check out this post.

James is getting awfully cocky, isn’t he?  We start out where we left off, with Jeff’s little “cliffhanger”.  He excuses the jury from Tribal Council and then addresses the group.  They’re going to immediately participate in a reward challenge before going back to camp.  The winner: stay in Shao Lin Temple, get a kung-fu demonstration, a vegetarian meal and return to camp after.  It’s a trivia question challenge and everyone has “true and false” tiles to display.  Most answers right, wins.  Most of the answers were pretty easy, but some were pretty obscure.  PG wins and then gets to pick a friend to take along.  She chooses Erik and Denise (pity, perhaps?).  Everyone is dismissed back to camp, where PG, Erik and Denise will get picked up for the adventure in the morning.

The remaining players are actually kind of happy to have only four people at camp.  They plan to eat lots while the others are away.  James wants to frolic.  He wants to avoid getting cozy with PG and Erik.  However, no one else really feels the same way.  Amanda doesn’t want to go to the final four with any of them, for one.  Meanwhile, the winners on board the plane are strategizing as well.  They contemplate being the final three.   Denise is a little skeptical, but she prefers to wait and see what happens before ruling it out.  They arrive at the temple and it is rather amazing.  The kung-fu demonstration is incredible to watch.  These guys know what they’re doing.  That would be an awfully cool reward to get.  Denise, as it turns out, knows a little kung-fu herself.  Impressive!   Their feast, while vegetarian, is still sumptuous.  And I imagine, has to taste pretty fantastic.  They get to sleep inside the temple itself which… dang.

Back at camp it’s raining and everyone looks pretty depressed about it.  So much for enjoying themselves while the others are gone.  They return to camp and no one greets them.  Well, Amanda did.  The rest have no manners, apparently.  Courtney doesn’t like other people, namely PG, coming into “her” cave.  I think what she didn’t like was hearing about the fantastic reward.  Denise tells Todd that PG wants to vote him out.  Which pisses him off, naturally.  Erik also mentions voting off Todd to James.  James lets him know that he’s not sticking his neck out for no one.  If the five want to vote one of them two out, he’s going with the five.

They get a message about the immunity challenge and while reading the tree mail, Amanda suggests getting rid of James to Courtney.  The big deal being he needs to be blindsided so he won’t use his immunity idols.  It makes sense.  The challenge involves throwing Chinese throwing stars at cutouts of people.  Fun!  Good for getting that aggression out.   Points are awarded on what targets they hit and where on the target they hit.  PG goes first and does abysmally.  Todd goes and the bar isn’t too high.  He does better, and actually scores 3 points.  Erik is up and scores 6 points.  Courtney takes her turn and amazingly gets 6 points.  James goes and nails are bitten.  He scores 6.  Amanda goes and scores 6 as well.  Denise goes up and scores 2.  Amanda, James, Courtney and Erik then compete in the final round.  Courtney gets no points, Amanda gets 2, Erik gets 3 and James gets no points.  Erik wins immunity!  He’s very pleased.

Back at camp, much strategy is discussed.  Todd is open to suggestions.  Amanda and Courtney are still championing for voting James and Denise and Todd are up for it.  They tell James that PG is getting voted out and then do the switcheroo at the last minute.  They broach the idea to PG and Erik and PG is nervous.  Amanda warns her to keep her mouth shut and act like she’s getting voted out.  PG doesn’t trust easily though and tells Erik they should vote for Todd.  Erik isn’t sure.  PG packs up to leave camp, playing her part.  James will bring the idols with him, just in case he gets a bad feeling.

At Tribal Council, Jeff does the usual small talk.  The big deal is keeping things under wraps about voting James out.  It would appear that their strategy will work!  Jeff tallies the votes and everyone keeps their faces passive.  He asks for the hidden idol and James does not play it.  D’oh!  As Jeff starts reading the votes, James gets a look and he KNOWS.  That was slick.  It really was the only way to get him out.  I’m just amazed that it worked.

If you’d like to see my impressions on last week’s episode, please check out this post.

So last week, JR left the game and entered the jury and there weren’t too many wet eyes over his ouster, either.  He just had little finesse in this game, despite what he may have thought.  So a new dawn greets the merged tribe.  James is feeling more cautious and will take his idol(s) to the Tribal Councils from here on out.   James wakes the rest of the tribe with an off-tune song and everyone wakes up pretty happy because JR isn’t there.  Denise is still feeling annoyed at being left out.  She voted for PG, which is what she thought was going to happen and everyone else voted JR.  James cautions her to relax and she thinks sticking with him might not be a bad idea since he has the idols.

PG seems to be taking JR’s place as the bossy sort and then Courtney is flirting with Frosti, making old Fei Long members nervous.  Treemail!   Time for a reward challenge!  Two teams of four will have to keep a ball in the air, bouncing it off a drum as they navigate through a maze.  Three balls in a bin (three times through the maze) wins.  Reward is a cruise on the river and it sounds fabulous.  PG captains the red team, Erik captains the yellow.  They select their teams and get to work.  Yellow scores one before red can even get past the first gate.  Then they score another before red can get one ball in.    Geeze.  Yellow wins easily, leaving red embarrassed.  The yellow team will return in the morning, and it includes Erik, Frosti, Courtney and Amanda.

The losing tribe members are annoyed, especially at James.  Because it was him that dropped the ball the most.  Actually, it’s PG who does the accusing and James pretty much just tells her to shut up.  She’s upset because she’s never won a reward challenge.  She’s also having a hard time keeping her mouth shut.  James and Denise gripe about it and worry about Zhan Hu infiltrating the Fei Long tribe.  Meanwhile, the winning tribe members are living it up on their river cruise.  They talk about PG (popular topic!) and Erik is still stick up for her but just barely.  Frosti and Courtney continue their flirting.  Meanwhile, Amanda sorta has eyes for Erik, disturbing goat impressions aside.  They’re served fairly American-style food for dinner (fried chicken and mashed potatoes) and everyone just seems so danged happy.  You know this cannot last.

The rested and well-fed tribe members return back to camp and they pretty much just lied to them about what it was like.  Mostly about the food, since they felt there would be massive mutiny if they knew they’d had fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  Todd relays PG’s freak out to everyone.  Erik is a little nervous because if PG wins immunity, he may be a target.  At the challenge, their memories will be tested and it involves the Chinese zodiac.  Complicated, but simple enough.  (Confused yet?)  Jeff gives them the option to step out of the challenge and have some food instead.  Cheeseburgers, french fries, cold drinks and all the fixin’s.  Courtney, Todd, Denise and James sit out and chose to eat.  Probably a smart move, I doubt any of them are vulnerable.  Plus, you know, FOOD.  Interesting that Courtney chose to eat, seeing as how she just got back from eating on the cruise.  Erik is the first eliminated from the competition.   Amanda is out in the next round.  Last round, Frosti is out and so PG wins immunity.  Damn, she’s lucky.  At least she’s finally won something.

Frosti is sad that he missed out on the eating.  But he’s also mad at those who sat out and chose to eat.  Which is it?  He starts campaigning pretty hard to vote out Erik but Frosti also is on the block.  Erik is worried that Frosti is higher up the ladder with the Fei Long people than he is.  Todd confronts Courtney about being willing to vote out Frosti and she doesn’t want to give him a straight answer on it.  Hmm, being in the game longer or keeping around a guy you like to flirt with?  Tough choice there.

At Tribal Council, however, everything is more cut and dry.  Frosti votes for Erik and Erik votes for Frosti.  With five votes, Frosti is sent packing.  Sad to see him go, I sort of liked him.  But PG was safe so he was a pretty logical choice.  Before Jeff excuses everyone else, he tells them they have something else to do before going back to camp.  But what is it?  We won’t find out for TWO WEEKS because next week is Thanksgiving and that pretty much sucks.

If you want to know what I thought about last week’s show and the incredibly satisfying ousting of Jaime, then read this post.

You have to admit, it was great seeing Jaime get sent home last week.  Jeff tossing the “fake” idol into the fire was one of my favorite “Survivor” moments ever.  Hae Da Fung is the Chinese name for the new tribe and after Tribal Council, JR is feeling the effects of the ouster.  Relieved he was saved by the “fake” idol and nerve-wracked by so many people wanting him gone.

The new credits, by the way, are pretty cool.

James is concerned people aren’t trying to win the game, that they’re trying to win a high school friend contest instead.  Meanwhile, he’s hard at work fishing for the tribe.  Amanda recognizes that James is a strong player and because of that, is a threat.   The tribe arrives for a reward challenge.  They’ll be divided into two teams of four and the object is technical but it involves trying to sink the other teams boat.  The winners will win a trip to an ancient village where they’ll get to have an authentic Chinese meal.  They’ll also get another mysterious scroll to open in the village.  PG is captain of the red team, JR the captain of the yellow.  They divvy up the teams and then get to work.  At one point I do believe Courtney tells Jeff to shut up with his commentary which causes me to giggle.  Yellow team wins the first round after Courtney is literally sunk.  Yellow wins the second round too and thus Todd, James, Jean-Robert and Amanda win the reward and leave right away to this village.

The winners visit the village and and are impressed by the age of everything and the history.  The scroll is opened and it’s an idol clue.  But I thought both clues were already found?  So what’s the point of this?  So of this group of four, JR is the only one who is clueless and they all grin behind their hands at him.  The food is delivered and I have to admit, it looks damn tasty.   Some is a little less appetizing in appearance, but I’m sure these people are so hungry they could care less what it looks like.  Todd kind of makes fun of JR a little bit and the bunch of them enjoy taunting him about the idol and everything.  Which, you know, is kind of cruel.  I don’t like JR that much but come on.

Back at camp, the teams are eating food that looks a LOT less appetizing.  Denise is upset that she wasn’t picked for the challenge and she feels she wasn’t picked because she’s big and fat which makes me feel bad for her.  Denise takes this opportunity then, to talk up wanting to get rid of James.  They argue about who is should be gone, JR or James.  JR is the bigger target, obviously, because no one likes him.  Denise kind of enjoys the position of power she has as a potential swing vote.  The four winners return to camp at night and crawl into bed.  Jr is having a hard time sleeping so he gets up and looks for the idol.  Oy.  He takes a plaque off the pagoda, a la Jaime and saves them aside to study later.  So now he didn’t get any rest and doesn’t have an idol.  What a mess.

The next morning, everyone is having breakfast and talking about how hungry they are.  Somehow, this devolves into an argument.  Todd is annoyed with everyone.  He hates JR and James (and he doesn’t like James having both immunity idols) both.  Why won’t James offer at least one of the idols back to him, since he gave it to him in the first place?  He talks to Amanda about wanting to get rid of James.  The plan, apparently was to get rid of PG next, followed by Erik and Frosti.  Amanda is hesitant to deviate from the plan.  Todd tells Frosti about wanting to vote out James and he’s more than happy to play along as long as it suits him.  So the new plan is: not let James win immunity.  Cuz it’s that simple, apparently.

The tribe arrives at the immunity challenge and learn the challenge is largely endurance-based.  Sounds easy enough.  Also sounds to me as if a lighter person might have an advantage, but I don’t really know the physics of it all.  JR complains right off and gets a snarky comment from Jeff.  10 minutes in, JR is pissing everyone off by talking about how everyone must be so itchy.  He gets cocky, plays around, and falls off.  He’s out.  Denise is in the water next and is out too.  As I thought, heavier people are having a rougher time with the challenge.  20 minutes in and James falls in and is out.  Shortly after, Erik falls in and is also out.  Then, surprisingly, PG falls in as well and she is also out of the challenge.  Amanda accidentally touches the structure and is eliminated.   Todd falls in the water and it’s now Frosti versus Courtney.  Frosti fumbles and falls in and is out.  Courtney wins immunity!

Everyone is congratulating Courtney on her win.  PG is disappointed she didn’t win because she knows she’s a big target.   JR is feeling confident and tells Erik that he has the immunity idol so he’s not worried about Tribal Council.  Erik says he doesn’t think JR has it and tells JR what he knows.  Which is that James has the idols in his pack.  JR is stunned but recovers and wants to pull a fast one on James.  JR confronts James about having two idols and says no one told him, that he figured it out himself.  Riiiight.  He tries to intimidate James into working with him because it’s better than working against him.  And James knows it because JR has NO power in this game.  JR can’t stop talking and then talks to Todd about it and is against surprised that Todd already knew about James having two idols.  Lucky for him, Todd is all for voting out James.  However, he admits that he could change his mind in two minutes.  So he goes to talk to James and decides to toss JR into the fire tonight instead of James.  And let’s not tell Denise.  Why?  Not sure.  Courtney is fine with whatever they want to do.  She’d like to think he’s going home, but she knows better than to trust in it.  As James says, “You never know.”

At Tribal Council, everyone gathers and the first member of the jury is brought in.  Jaime looks good, all cleaned up.  But she’s still an idiot.  Jeff asks everyone the usual questions and the answers are the usual answers.  Nothing surprising here.  Everyone votes and I’m pretty sure we all know how it’s going to go so it’s rather anti-climactic.  Denise, of course, is out of the loop and votes for PG.   And I think JR voted for James.  JR looks surprised that James doesn’t play his idol before Jeff reads the votes.  And despite it being a close call for James, JR is voted out.  Todd can barely contain his glee.  And that’s that.  So much for tribal loyalty!

If you’d like to catch up on what went on last week, check out this post.

Zhan Hu is still in a precarious position despite having won (reluctantly) immunity last week.  Fei Long went to Tribal Council and Sherea was sent packing.  The plan to get rid of Jaime from Zhan Hu via James having the immunity idol failed.  At least for the moment.  We’ll see what happens this week…

Over at Zhan Hu, PG wants to trust James.  As does everyone else because they feel he might be harder to get rid of than Aaron was.  They also speculate on his strange behavior since coming back from the Fei Long tribe.  Meanwhile, James grabs the immunity idol from the gatepost so now he has both of them.  He also grabbed a “fake” idol, a blank piece of wood that LOOKS like the immunity idol.  At Fei Long, Courtney tries to clear the air with Todd and let him know that his sucking up to Jean-Robert bugs her.  (In other news, Courtney is scaring me, she’s so thin.  I can hardly stand to look at her.)  Courtney wants Todd to want to vote out JR but he obviously doesn’t because he wants JR on his side.  She isn’t liking that.

Jaime notices the missing plaque on the gate of camp and speculates.  They find the “fake” idol and Jaime hides it in her bag. She’s not sure it’s the idol but couldn’t hurt to hide it.  In the meantime, they wonder about James and if he has an idol in his bag.  Jaime rifles through it and find a similar plaque hidden in there.  They notice he has two.  This could turn out badly.  James sees the “fake” idol is missing and assumes someone picked it up, thinking it was real.  He hopes that she will keep it, thinking it’s real and try to use it because that would be the best day EVER.  I kind of have to agree with him.

The tribes meet up with Jeff and stand on their tribe mats.  And?  It’s a merge, ya’ll!  Sweetness.  Everyone seems very happy to be merged.  They will live on Fei Long’s beach and will have a new boat and some paints to make a new flag with.  Oh, and they get a feast and Chinese cultural performances.  Everyone celebrates while keeping in mind what Jeff told them about how the game is never on pause.  Fei Long is already contemplating who they’ll vote out.

At Fei Long’s beach, the new tribe brainstorms names for themselves.  They like “Black Monsoon” but the words for monsoon actually literally translate to “Fighting Wind” so they’re “Black Fighting Wind”.  As soon as they suss this out, a boat pulls up with Jeff onboard.  He’s brought them something.  A gift for someone.  And it’s the individual immunity necklace.  And it will NOT be physical this time.  They will be tested on how well they remember things that happened during the celebration feast.  So that’s what his warning was about.  Frosti is certain he’s toast because he has a poor memory.  It comes down to Jaime (noo!) and Frosti, and Frosti wins immunity.  Well thank goodness for that!  He’s practically a member of the former Fei Long tribe anyhow.

Around the campfire, everyone contemplates their strategies.  James tells Todd about Jaime grabbing the fake idol.  He also tells Amanda.  Todd and Amanda are thrilled with this news.  They think they need to target Jaime, as she’s somewhat of a silent leader.  Erik is a far lesser threat.  Plus, Jaime has this “fake” idol.  They’re worried about Courtney, however, because of her desire to vote out Jean-Robert.  They’re worried she might flip to the other side.  JR is worried about PG, of all things.  He also warns Todd that if he gets screwed over, he’ll hold Todd personally responsible and will campaign against him in the jury.  The former Zhan Hu tribe plans to vote for Jean-Robert, hoping they can at least catch a vote from Courtney if not more.  Jaime and Erik tell Frosti that they have the immunity idol.  He’s skeptical, of course, but they’re confident.  Jaime tries to tantalize Todd with clues about the immunity idol.  She’ll tell him tomorrow after Tribal Council.  Har!  This is classic.

We get to tribal council, unsure if JR or Jaime is going, but I think I can see the way this is shaping up.  JR thinks Courtney is going to make it to the end of the game because she’s no big threat. James thinks JR needs to stop talking.  Jaime seems very confident of herself which I think is just hysterical.  So everyone votes.  Jaime pipes up with her fake idol.  Jeff awesomely just tosses it in the fire.  Her big smile turns into such a ridiculous look of shock and Fei Long cannot resist laughing out loud.  Then?  She’s voted out.  Freaking AWESOME.  That seriously rocks.

Remember last week when Zhan Hu was naive and poor Aaron was booted out?  Good times.  Seriously, who throws competitions on purpose?  STUPID.  And they couldn’t even keep that under wraps.  Zhan Hu is ripe for extermination here.

We wake up at Zhan Hu to James getting busy and looking rather down in the mouth.  And you know, I would too if I were him.  I’d hate to be in a tribe full of a bunch of weenies.  He’s trying to keep busy and win the challenges because if they lose again, he’s gone.  Weenies!

Over at Fei Long, Jean-Robert is sawing logs, literally, while Amanda and Todd discuss the hidden immunity idol.  This idol is news to her, but she’s all on board for helping him find it.  His plan is to win reward and bring over Aaron or James (whoever survived) and have him give them the clue so they can find it.  And you know what?  It goes pretty much to plan.  Fei Long stomps Zhan Hu at the reward challenge, where teams had to find pieces of a puzzle.  Reward is a trip to a tea house, access to a shower and toilets and plenty of Charmin.  During the challenge, PG tries to get a message to Sherea that Zhan Hu is still allied with her and Frosti.  Sherea doesn’t say much in return, however. The competition is neck and neck but as I said, Fei Long wins,  mostly because they can actually finish a puzzle whereas Zhan Hu can’t.  And James is summarily kidnapped.

Apparently, the tea house is more than just “some refreshment” as Jeff promised.  Fei Long is just over the moon about the place.  They eat up over tea and laugh and have a great time.  Then they all settle down into their bathtubs and get clean (Amanda and Courtney share a tub).  Jean-Robert predictably makes a crude comment about it.  He gives Courtney the heebie jeebies.  James, meanwhile, shows off his heiney taking a shower and everyone cheers him on.  In stark contrast, the three remaining Zhan Hu members are sitting in their camp looking depressed.  Erik is tired of losing.  Maybe, just MAYBE, stop throwing challenges.  Might help with that a little.   They insist they threw the challenge to save Sherea and Frosti and now they’re not sure if that was a good move because Frosti and Sherea don’t appear to want to have anything to do with their former tribe.  And, can you blame them?  Todd approaches James about the hidden immunity clue, promising to save him.  James is very relieved to learn about this hidden immunity idol and he hopes it will save him, as Todd promises.

Back at camp, he shares the clue with Todd.  Todd knows exactly where it is then.  Amanda and Todd then Frosti joins in to help without really knowing what they’re after.  So they have to share the info with him.  And they have to trust him.  He promises them they can trust him.  Todd handed the idol to James.  The plan was for Zhan Hu to lose the challenge, they vote for James and he uses the idol so Jaime goes bye bye and her and Erik’s “bond” is severed.  Plus, he can grab the other idol at the other camp.  Todd shares the plan with Denise and Courtney, to encourage them to try as hard as they can at the challenge.

And what is the challenge?  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  It’s an eating challenge.  And not a happy eating challenge.  Traditional Chinese dishes.  Not General’s Chicken or Mu Shu Pork, either.  And no fried rice.  No, we’re talking about bird fetuses and chicken hearts and whatnot.  I’m not going to go into the details because I pretty much watched through my fingers.  I am pregnant here and my stomach isn’t as strong as it usually is.  The important thing to know is that Zhan Hu didn’t want to throw it, and try as he might, James couldn’t get it done for them either.  So Zhan Hu won the challenge and immunity.  Oops!

Denise feels awful for dropping the ball on the chicken fetus.  They are all pretty shocked and upset at going to tribal council.  And to them, the decision is a pretty easy one to make.  As much as they dislike Jean-Robert, he’s definitely loyal to them.  They don’t want to boot Frosti, after the whole immunity idol thing, so Sherea it is.  Courtney really wants JR to go but the rest of them aren’t feeling it.  I rather wish they’d keep Sherea and get rid of Jean-Robert, but I can understand their thought process here too.

Tribal council goes fairly predictably.  Courtney and Sherea vote for Jean-Robert while everyone else votes for Sherea and she is sent packing.  Boo!

Last time on Survivor: Dave was given the ol’ heave-ho by Zhan Hu.  And not one person was terribly surprised.  Right now?  I’ve got some recaps for you:

• MSNBC
• Buddy TV
• CBS.com
• TV Squad

Now for my impressions:  Zhan Hu wakes up and seems pretty happy to have Dave gone.  Gee, all the laying around they can do now!  Erik tells Jaime that his middle name is Taylor.  Hers is Nicole.  Why is this significant?  They’re flirting.  In another setting, they might go for something together.  And Erik tells her he’s still a virgin.  Hu-what??  Seriously?  Or is that just a line? Jaime wants to share information about the hidden immunity idol, which obviously he’s all for.  At Fei Long’s camp, Denise and James are working together.  He appreciates her work ethic.  And the fact she looks like a male truck driver?  (oops, did I just say that out loud?)  She wants to ride his coattails.  Nice strategy there.

They observe a boat coming ashore.  It is… fishermen.  They have a message.   They have to choose two “warriors” who best could win challenges and the fishermen will be sent to select two new tribe members for Fei Long.  What is the catch?  They speculate on that for a while, before settling on taking Frosti and Sherea from Zhan Hu.  Over at Zhan Hu, they’re doing the same thing.  Uh, duh.  They assume they will get two members and not give up any of their own, which is pretty foolish.  They select (predictably) Aaron and James.  I think they’re being pretty naive.  The boat comes to Zhan Hu and there is no one on the boat.  They’re confused.  They’re handed a scroll wherin they discover the “switch”.  Shocking!  LOL!  So Sherea and Frosti depart for Fei Long.  Over at Fei Long, they’re anticipating the switch and are unsurprised to see James and Aaron going to the other tribe.  They’re not happy though (and who would be?) because those are some strong guys.  This should definitely shake up the dynamic of the tribes, I would think.  Jean-Robert is the most upset, since James is his strongest ally.  Denise is pretty pissed too.  Jean-Robert takes this opportunity to plan to vote Sherea off when they (if they?) lose the challenge instead of voting himself off.  Because he’s knows he’s a big target.

Frosti and Sherea head to Fei Long and James and Aaron to Zhan Hu, passing in the lake.  The fishermen bestow the tribes with a little feast including some alcohol to enjoy.  James asks who the brain is.  They all are.  Of course!  Meanwhile, PG campaigns heartily for the “new guys” to be voted out.  Cuz that’s using your noggin.  Pick the strong guys to make your team strong and then get rid of them as quick as you can.  Frosti and Sherea get to Fei Long with their bounty and everyone is just thrilled to see the food.  Sherea is enjoying the switch so far, since she never felt a big bond with Zhan Hu.  Frosti is more nervous.  He was comforted to see how much the rest of the tribe seemed to dislike Jean-Robert.

Over at Zhan Hu, Aaron feels very comfortable with his new tribemates while James feels a lot more nervous.  So what does Aaron do?  He campaigns for James.  NICE.  Way to show some loyalty there.  PG feels that Aaron is pretty crafty, they’ll have to keep their eye on him.  She approaches Jaime for an alliance, since her current alliance partners are over at Fei Long.  She wants to vote off both James and Aaron.  She thinks the tribes will merge at five each and if they throw challenges and vote off their two Fei Long refugees, that gives Zhan Hu a distinct advantage after the merge.  Not bad strategy, but there’s a pretty big “if” in there.

It’s challenge time!  We’re going right to immunity, since the “switch” and the food that provided were sort of like a reward for everyone.  Sort of.  Whatever.  I didn’t produce the show, so I’m no expert here.  It’s an underwater challenge of sorts which I’ve always thought wouldn’t be so bad but then I don’t mind being underwater.  Will Zhan Hu throw it?  Amanda and Courtney sit out the challenge for Fei Long (shocker there) before the tribes get to work.  So far, the tribes look neck and neck and everyone is trying very hard.  Zhan Hu gets their boat loaded and on the way to the shore first (Jean-Robert nearly dumps their entire boats contents into the water).  Fei Long pulls into the lead and Jaime, with a secret smile on her face, is just taking her own sweet time with the puzzle.  Uh, yeah, they’re throwing it.  Obviously, Fei Long wins rather easily.  Only now does Jaime feign disappointment.  Jeff shames them on it before sending the tribes back home.

Aaron and James are disappointed.  James accuses Jaime of not being able to handle the pressure.  Jaime can hardly keep from laughing.  Same with PG.  OH GEEZE.  Could they BE more obvious?  And yet, they still don’t understand the challenge was thrown.  Erik is stumped as well.  He asks PG and Jaime about it and they tell him they threw it.  He’s shocked.  He’s not too happy about it either.  Not so happy that he won’t side with his original tribemates, but still.  Jaime thinks she can trust James more than Aaron, since maybe James doesn’t have as many ties at Fei Long (ha!).  PG tells James she can help him stay.  But he doesn’t trust them at all so PG thinks maybe he’ll have to go.  Aaron is pretty confident that James will go home and he plans to vote for him.

At tribal council, Jeff quizzes Zhan Hu about the switch.   Jamie is truthful in why they made the choices they did (to break Fei Long).  James admits to being upset to be separated from his original tribe.  Jeff calls them out on throwing the challenge and Jamie admits to it.  James looks infuriated.  James says he doesn’t understand their thought process.  They lose challenge after challenge and then lose a challenge on purpose.  It’s weak.  PG tries to say it’s about winning the war, not the battles.  James says (hysterically), “You’re not winning anything!”  HA!  So who will it be?  Jeff tallies the votes and the unlucky tribemember is: Aaron.  I’m surprised.  As vocal as James was, I expected it to be him.  Jeff calls them out on making assumptions that may or may not hold true before sending them back to camp.

I’m going to first treat you to some recap goodness.  Don’t you feel privilaged?

• Watching Survivor
• Buddy TV
• CBS.com
• MSNBC
• TV Squad

The short of it is that Leslie, the big Christian of Fei Long, was sent packing.

Jean Robert sure bugs, doesn’t he?  I think what rubs me the wrong way is the overconfidence.  Sometimes, it’s charming.  And sometimes it’s damn annoying.  He hasn’t figured out the whole charming part yet.  Courtney and him butt heads, moreso now that she knows he’s gunning for him.  I don’t know how I feel about her quite yet.  She seems decent but this early on it’s hard to tell.

Zhan Hu discovers their rice is rather moldy.  Uhm, EW!  Of course, they don’t have much choice but to go through, toss the moldy stuff and try to salvage the rest.  Sherea and Dave get into a little spat over the whole thing.  Okay, maybe the spat isn’t o little.  The rest of the tribe stands around and watches, expressionless.  Hmm.  Not the first time Dave has gotten into a spat with someone, is it?  The man is just plain hard to get along with, I think.  Frosti tries to tell him to tone it down, that he’s not doing himself (or anyone else) any service by being confrontational.

Fei Long gets a shock in treemail… both tribes are going to Tribal Council tonight.  Sounds as if it’s just a meeting through.  I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but there’ll be a competition (tomorrow?) and the winning tribe will get food.  Which makes them all very excited.  So both tribes arrive to find a cleared spot for a challenge.  It involves transporting fireballs and igniting fireworks.  Suh-weet!  They’re playing for a fisherman.  He’ll come to their camp and teach them how to fish and will make them a righteous meal.  Meh.  I’d rather have a steak dinner but that’s just me.  Courtney sits out while the rest get to work.  The fireworks are muy, muy fabulous.  A nice change of pace (and no nakedness, which is also a nice change).   It’s a pretty clever and interesting challenge, I like the ingenuity here.  Fei Long pulls off the victory, though Zhan Hu could really have used it.  They chose to kidnap Dave, of all people.  That’s sort of a reward for Zhan Hu if you ask me.

Back at Fei Long, Dave is adjusting to life with the reds.  He says he feels like he’s on vacation.  If I were him, I wouldn’t be so happy because the last person to get kidnapped got booted out.  Or one of them, at least.  Sure, he says he’s spying, but I’m sure Zhan Hu will see this as another excuse to boot him out.  Dave gets his clue and has to decide who to share it with.  Everyone, meanwhile, thinks Dave is a “nutcase” (according to Todd).  So he thinks he can trust Todd (?) and gives him the clue.  Dave thinks he has a “loose alliance” with Todd, and that if Zhan Hu wins the next reward, that if Todd were kidnapped that he’d share the clue with Dave.  That’s a lot of “ifs” there, Dave.

Zhan Hu is taking this moment to bitch about Dave.  They’re quite glad to be rid of him for the moment.  Of course, the mood around camp is rather relaxed, now that the taskmaster isn’t there.  They’re realizing that, gosh, there’s a lot to do.  And what is Sherea doing?  Taking it easy, yo.  She doesn’t want to waste her energy, conserving it instead for the challenge.  Riiiight.

Meanwhile, Fei Long’s fisherman (and his family) arrive amid much fanfare.  And apparently, Jean Robert knows Mandarin so communicating is much easier than they expected it to be.  Basically, they’re going to make the birds fish for them.  They tie their necks so they can’t swallow the fish.  Then the birds come back and spit the fish back out for them.  YIKES.  But hey, it works.  James starts to feel like Jean Robert is barking orders at him, but he didn’t really fault him too much because he really sort of saved their bacon with the whole language thing.  They were also shown how to fish with their net and found out they’d been using it all wrong.  So the family helps them prepare a pretty considerable feast and everyone is practically giddy with it.

So we return to watch the immunity challenge.  Dave rejoins his tribe (rather reluctantly).  As usual, it is a physical and mental challenge.  However, it requires wearing traditional Chinese armor.  I’m not going to do a blow by blow (because I sorta suck at that), but it was an interesting challenge to watch.  Fei Long wins, fairly narrowly.  Zhan Hu goes back to Tribal Council after having a week off.  (Well, a week for us anyhow.)

Who to vote out?  Hmm, that’s a tough one.  Gee, no one comes to mind…  Obviously, the big target here is Dave.  For show, the rest of the tribe is also considering Sherea who is about as useful as a lump of wood at the moment.  They make a good effort, discussing her and her virtues.  Sherea feels the heat of this and starts to worry.  But not worried enough to stop laying around all the time.  DUDE.  Get up and get working.  It’s not rocket science.

At Tribal Council, Sherea is encouraged to bitch a little about Dave and talk about how nice it was without Dave there for that one glorious day.  Erik says Dave has great leadership qualities, which makes Sherea roll her eyes.  This is a tribe divided.  Jeff asks Sherea about people pulling their weight and she says it’s getting better.  Everyone looks a little surprised at this.  She thinks challenges are more important than camp life, but Dave insists that camp life is just as important as the challenges.  I’d be likely to agree with him.  Anyhow, everyone votes and save for one for Sherea from Dave, the rest of the votes are for Dave and he’s booted.  Bubye, Dave!  It was inevitable.

First off, we gotta start with the recaps (as if we could forget last week!):

• Watching Survivor
• MSNBC
• CBS.com
• TV Squad
• Buddy TV

The show goes through it’s own little mini-recap and I’m reminded how messed up some of the episode was, especially where the yellow tribe was concerned.  And Ashley went bubye.  One of them HAD to go cuz it was ategetting ugly.

Now?  Over at the red tribe Jean Robert is snoring.  And snuggling up to the women.  And the women don’t like it.  He strikes me of kind of an ass.  Leslie backs up my assumptions by assuring the camera that if they ever go to tribal council, he’ll be the one booted.  Is that a promise?  That also sounded dangerously like foreshadowing to me.  Lord knows the yellow tribe could use a break.

The next morning the red tribe is fishing with their handy new gear.  Then they argue about how to cook the crab (one) they caught.  James is frustrated with everyone and he’s not the only one.  Meanwhile, over on the yellow tribe, Dave is hard at work.  And, like James, he’s frustrated.  Did they vote out the wrong tribe member?  Hmm!

Reward challenge time! And guess what, it’s physical!  The reward is comfort.  Lanterns, tarps, pillows, blankets… good stuff to have.  Courtney and Todd sit out while everyone else gets to work.  The yellow tribe (women vs women) wins the first “heat”.  This is another “barely clothed” challenge and Dave takes it to heart, stripping off his underwear and being all naked-like.  James meanwhile kicks ass and takes names.  Red team wins that one.  Back to women on women and this time it’s pretty much a free for all.  Brutal is the word.  Yellow tribe wins another point.  We have the men again, Dave tries to taunt James but that’s a poor move cuz James just makes quick work of him.  Once again, James is the last man standing and wins another point for red.  The women do it dogpile style and the yellow tribe wins another point (the red women just couldn’t hack it).  They steal Leslie (as per last week’s twist) and she’s given her secret clue thingie.

The yellow tribe is thrilled with their creature comforts (the women are particularly pleased with the pillows).  Leslie is impressed with the yellow tribe and their spirit.  She confirms that they are indeed a happier tribe than the red tribe.   Meanwhile, James and John Robert strategize right in front of Todd and Courtney (unknowingly of course), even mentioning wanting to vote out Courtney before anyone else.  Dudes, she CAN HEAR YOU.  The discussion starts to include Courtney’s ass (all 70 pounds of it) and whether James wants it or not.  OY.  This will not end well.

Leslie choses Jaime to share her clue with (this sounds familiar).  And once again, the clue goes entirely over her head (literally).

At the immunity challenge, Leslie rejoins her tribe.  Again, the challenge is a little physical and a little mental as with last week.  I’m not going to go into a play by play here.  The important thing to know is that yellow attacks with a vengeance and pretty much just creams the red tribe.  And a lot of it is due to Courtney and WHO thought it was wise to have her do the physical part first off?  Anyhow, yellow wins immunity for the first time, leaving red pretty humiliated.  It looks like Courtney is pretty vulnerable.  I wouldn’t discount Todd’s influence though.

Red tribe is in strategy mode now.  Leslie plays up the Christian aspect in explaining why the yellow tribe were such a great bunch of people.  And everyone else starts to get annoyed with her, since she seems untrustworthy.  Todd and Co. want to get Jean Robert out because he and James need to be split up.  Aaron doesn’t want to vote out Jean Robert out, however, he thinks they need him for challenges.  Leslie, maybe, is a better choice.  Todd is worried that he’ll eventually be competing against a bunch of muscle bound fellows and he knows they’d flatten him.  It would appear to me to that he is the only one who has his whole head in the game at this point.  At least he’s thinking ahead.

So we get to tribal council, where Jeff instructs them on the finer points of tribal council since this is their first visit.  The “therapy session” goes well and as is usual, doesn’t reveal too much.  At least, nothing we didn’t know before.  Courtney doesn’t like Jean Robert calling her weak and he tries to backpedal but Jeff calls him on it.   Ultimately, the vote is between Jean Robert and Leslie and Leslie is the one sent packing.  I can’t say I’m too disappointed, but it would have been nice to see Jean Robert go bye bye.  C’est la vie.

We’re back with more “Survivor” goodness this week!  If you need to catch up, check out these faboo recaps:

• Watching Survivor
• TV Squad
• Buddy TV
• MSNBC
• CBS.com

So we check in with our castaways and they don’t look like they’re doing so hot.  Zhan Hu is squabbling about shelter building and it’s all rainy and miserable.  Sounds like “Survivor” to me!  Dave is trying to run things and everyone is just sort of digging in their heels against him.  Doesn’t seem too wise to me to be making power plays this early on in the game, but what do I know?

Over on the “other” team (let’s just call them red tribe and yellow tribe, okay? so much easier for me), they’re complaining about Jean-Robert who is always tired and snores very loudly.  A little alliance is budding already, with two devious sorts, Amanda and Todd,  enlisting the more powerful Aaron to “do their dirty work” for them.  I was a little surprised that Aaron went for it.  J-R sticks up for himself and insists that he is NOT lazy.  He also insists that this is all part of the plan, because he’s a mad poker genius.  Yeah, how’s that working for you J-R?

Dave over on yellow tribe talks about getting the shelter built.  Everyone else is feeling pretty snarly about not having anything to eat.  I’d say “buck up” but I’m pregnant right now and if I have to go 4 hours without eating, I start getting DANGEROUS so I don’t have room to talk.  Ashley is parading around in an amazingly small amount of clothes.  I mean… wow.  I bet the men of the world are glad she wasn’t booted out last week.  Dave meanwhile is being a bit of a turd but he is trying to get things done.  So I don’t know.  Jury’s out.   I think he could be a little more diplomatic though.

So it’s time for a reward challenge.  Basically, the tribes have to push giant balls through a mud pit.  Fun!  Reward is fishing gear (wootness) plus a little twist to be revealed later on.  Of course, as they’re ready to begin it starts pouring rain.  Jeff notes that this is true “Survivor” environmental conditions and I can’t argue with that.  Dude, this is like mud wrestling or something.  Amanda’s pants are falling down, hee!  I’m such a child sometimes, I swear.  Jamie’s top falls down!  Hee!  Amanda is trying to pull off Sharea’s bra!  This is TOTALLY mud wrestling.  So the “red tribe” wins.  And I have to take a moment to recover from the laughing fit I had just watching that.  Oooh, they get to snake someone from the yellow tribe to come live with them until the next challenge.  They steal Jamie, which I’m not entirely sure WHY.  But okay.  She gets a private note from Jeff to read later on.

So after the challenge, the yellow tribe’s camp is all but washed away in the rain.  Everyone is surprised by how much it rains.  Uh, duh?  And apparently the red tribe took Jamie because she’s a “ray of sunshine” and without her, the yellow tribe is demoralized.  Huh?  She reads her secret scroll.  It’s a clue to a hidden immunity idol hidden at the red tribe’s camp and she has to pick who to give it to without reading it herself.  It’s convoluted, but it makes sense.  Aaron and J-R start bickering, right in front of Jamie and the rest of the tribe is like, “dude, keep it down! not in front of the spy!”

Meanwhile, Ashley and Dave continue their bickering.  Is bickering the theme of the week here? Ashley is sure that Dave will shoot himself in the foot while I think she’s not doing herself any favors by confronting him all the time.  He’s a de facto sort of leader for a reason here, you know?

Leslie is struggling.  Missing her bible, feeling sick, tired.  Jamie wants to give her clue to the “weakest link” so she picks Leslie.  Pretty smart, considering.  Leslie is convinced The Lord gave her this clue as an answer to her prayers.  The idol is supposedly in plain site (and the camera zooms in on an ornate decoration hung on their gate) but she can’t figure out where it is.  So for whatever reason she decides to enlist Todd’s help to find the idol.  Yeah, doesn’t make sense to me either.  Todd is astounded, as well he should be.  Naturally, he wants to find it and then boot off Leslie so it’s all his.  DUH.  Oh Leslie.  I’m so disappointed.  But shows that Jamie did her job right, didn’t she?

Jamie is sent back to the yellow tribe at the immunity challenge.  The challenge this time is a mix of mental and physical, as is the style of these early immunity challenges.  Jamie sits out the challenge for the yellow tribe and Courtney and Leslie sit out for the red tribe.  Dave is letting the log make him his bitch, for whatever reason so the yellow tribe isn’t doing so hot.  The puzzle sort of kicks everyone’s ass a bit, but the red tribe ultimately triumphs and wins immunity.

I’m just gonna guess that the names being discussed at tribal council will be Ashley and Dave.  Who’s with me?  Dave apologizes to the tribe at large.  Which was a good move on his part, to put out that fire before it grew any larger.  Dave is confident he’s not going and it’s obvious that he thinks Ashley is a goner.  She’s trying to figure out a way to get the target off her back.  The rest of the tribe agrees that both of them are pretty much a big hot mess.  They do agree that one of them needs to go, if only to reduce the conflict at camp.

So at tribal council Dave is put forth as the tribe leader, which Ashley disagrees with.  I’m wondering if Ashley would have been better suited to “Big Brother” than “Survivor”.  I know which show *I’d* rather go on.  Anyhow, things sorta dissolve and this tribe is just on a destruction course if you ask me.  Ashley comes right and says she’s voting for Dave.  No dancing around the issue for her!  It’s the only vote he gets, unfortunately.  The rest go towards Ashley, and it’s a shame because she’s rather enjoyable, if a little confrontational.  I think she and Evil Dick would have gotten along GREAT.  That or they would have killed each other.  Anyhow, Ashley promises Dave she’ll be seeing him soon.  I’d argue with that but she’s probably right.  Unless he straightens up his act, that is.

And so ends another fabulous week of “Survivor”.  You’re free to go about your business now.

It’s always fun to watch the first “Survivor” episode of the season.  You get to see these awkward people dumped out in the wilderness and learn who the nutjobs are (for the most part), you get to hear Jeff do the same old spiel he does pretty much every season, and you get to enjoy some pretty fantastic scenery.  And last night was no disappointment in that arena.  First off, let me get you a list of recaps of the show and then I’ll give you some of my quick impressions.

• CBS.com’s recap, video clips and full episode video
• TV Squad
• Watching Survivor here on 451Press
• MSNBC.com
• Television without Pity

Whew.  Now that that’s out of the way… what did I think?  I think the location is absolutely stunning.  Beautiful landscape and the buildings (few though they are) are beautiful.  Very nice!  Leslie got on my nerves first thing because she couldn’t take part in the welcoming ceremony.  Simply because she felt like they were worshiping Buddha and she’s all for Jesus, yo!  Ugh.  Way to make yourself stick out like a sore thumb first thing, lady.  You better hope your tribe gets immunity.  Then there’s the stuck up waitress from New York whose name escapes me at the moment.  I don’t mind her near as much but she’s gonna have to get off her high horse.  I know these people are a bunch of dorks, but you gotta adapt because otherwise they’ll vote your butt out.

Chicken annoys me from the get go because of his accent.  Sounds awful, I know.  I’m pretty ashamed of myself.   But I can’t deny that watching him made my skin want to crawl off my body.  I actually kind of liked Ashley, simply because I’m interested to see what she can do with herself once she gets over this little bug she has (and I’m sure she will, someone ALWAYS gets sick in the first couple days).  I like the grave digger guy and Frosti too.  Someday I’m going to be better with these names, I promise.

Anyhow, Chicken got the boot last night and I was a little relieved.  I didn’t want it to be Ashley or Peih-Gee quite yet.  It’s so nice when these reality shows do what I want them to do, you know?