Watching Reality TV

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!