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by Jim Van Nest Published: October 18, 2002
FEAST OR FAMINE We begin the show at the Chuay Gahn tribe the evening of Ghandia's boot. Clay is not really surprised that Ghandia had such an influence over Jan, but quite surprised that Jan actually voted against him. To him, that offense carries a stiff penalty... the next vote. Jan knows that her vote for Clay has likely put her head on the chopping block. Originally, Helen was also going to vote for Clay, but it seems that Helen switched her vote. And in doing so, essentially sealed Jan's fate as well as Ghandia's. Helen says she hated to do it and called it a "necessary evil." She just determined that staying in the game was more important than fighting Ghandia's battle. Smart move, if you ask me. Over at Sook Jai, the tribe is awakened bright and early by the crowing of a rooster. Stephanie and Jake see to it that there will be no further early morning alarms as Steph holds the rooster while Jake breaks its neck. After cleaning and boiling it, the tribe sits down to eat. Every single one of them goes nuts over this stuff. It's amazing what severe hunger will do to a person, isn't it? Anyway, the entire tribe just gorges themselves on this chicken. Especially Shii Ann, who pretty much eats whatever wasn't eaten by someone else. She's eating the lungs, heart, intestines, neck and just about every other part of the chicken generally tossed out. She pretty much grosses Robb out, not only because she's eating all those parts, but also because she keeps licking her fingers and then reaching into the chicken to tear pieces off, essentially getting her spit on just about every piece of chicken there is. The next morning at Chuay Gahn finds Clay out searching for crabs. And he's not having a bunch of luck. When he gets back, his entire haul is one crab. So, Ted and Brian decide to head on out and give the fishing thing a go again. Ted is saying their food supply is very low and they're in dire need of catching some fish. Writer's aside: It was at this point that I first started thinking, "Isn't this the tribe that had the 2 Red Berets helping them live off the land???" Oh yeah, that's right... I forgot... Ghandia was too busy stirring up a witch hunt for anyone to be able to pay attention to the soldiers. What an idiot! So, the help from the Red Berets seems to have been for naught as these clowns still can't feed themselves. Priceless. So as they're out "fishing", Ted decides to find out exactly where he and Brian stand. As it turns out, they both seem pretty much committed to sticking together down to the final 2. Sorry, Clay, but looks like you'll be the one tossed if you make it to the final 3. The conversation ends with a close up of them securing the boat (which Ted calls Betsy) on a couple sticks and some rocks. That shot seemed extraneous at the time... ROBB GOES DOWN AND SO DOES BETSY Back at Sook Jai, AR (after rooster) and we have a full, content tribe on our hands. In fact, they're feeling so good they decide to make today a play-day. Swimming, running and the like. So, we are coming up on the big attack we've heard so much about. And there he is, body surfing in the ocean in all his glory, Robb. As he's walking in from the waves, he all of a sudden lets out a scream and falls flat on his face. What was funny about it was Jake and Erin standing right there and they didn't even acknowledge his scream. They just assumed he was playing around. When he gets up on the beach they can see the blood flowing from his heel. Looks like something either bit him or stung him. The best guess is he stepped on a sting ray and the sting ray wasn't too happy about it. Apparently, whatever happened hurt pretty bad, but of course, that doesn't stop Shii Ann from calling him a big baby and using it as another reason to not like him. Writer's aside: Ok, I've officially had enough of Shii Ann. Robb makes a comment about how she seems to know everything about everything... well she certainly thinks she does, doesn't she? Never been stung by a sting ray before, but knows that Robb is overreacting to the pain. She is just one of the most consistently bitter people I've seen on Survivor. It's like she came with this big chip on her shoulder and it keeps getting bigger. She is the master of waiting until something happens and then informing us that she knew it would go that way and that she could have prevented it and blah, blah, blah. Quick note for Shii Ann.... No one's buying it, mmmkay? So that evening at Chuay Gahn it becomes quite obvious that the lack of food has finally started to get to the tribe. I think they're beginning to lose it a little bit. They're sitting around the campfire and clapping along while Helen sings Christmas songs, Sleigh Ride, to be exact. And as they're singing we get a camera shot that rivaled the one of Jed searching for a net that was only 50 feet away from him. This camera shot is of the ropes attached to Betsy (the boat) coming lose from the sticks that held them and the boat drifting out to see. The next morning we see Ted standing on the beach in complete disbelief as he scans the sea for Betsy. When he tells Brian that the boat is gone, he also makes mention that they had left the fishing net in it. Not that they were catching anything with it... but they sure as heck won't catch anything now. Jan takes the news rather well as does Helen, to their face. You could tell in her one on one that she was pissed about it, but she didn't let on. Clay was irritated not so much because the boat is gone, but because he thinks he would have caught a lot more flack had he been the one to essentially lose the boat. At this point we come to the second brilliant camera shot of this episode. We are zoomed in on their boat up against some rocks, and as we pan back we learn that the boat is WAY away from camp and is for all intents and purposes gone. The only way they get this thing back is if the producers of the show give it back to them. It's tucked up on the rocky shore of a separate island. So, we get back to camp and join the tribe, minus Jan, on a food search. They're all waist deep or so (well chest deep for Clay) looking for anything edible, when Jan comes hollering that they have tree mail. Inside the mail is $1000 in $20 bills. Jan is going absolutely nuts over the money. So much so that after being asked about a dozen times what the note says, she is still babbling on about the money. Finally, she reads the note and it's perfectly clear what happens next... FOOD AUCTION! WOO HOO!! REWARD CHALLENGE #4 So, here we are at the Food Auction challenge. The odd thing to me is that this challenge is generally saved for after the merge, when it's every man for him or herself. But apparently this time, it's a tribal thing. You bid as a tribe, you eat as a tribe. But that's not the only thing different about this challenge. With this challenge comes the moment every Survivor fan has been waiting for. When Jeff lets everyone know that he's going to ask them something and it will be an individual decision. He asks them not to say anything for at least 60 seconds after he asks. The question? "Does anybody here want to switch tribes?" They start panning the faces of the Survivors and you can tell right away some are considering it while others look completely shocked that this is even an option. At the end of everything, he asks Sook Jai if anyone there wants to switch tribes. As we wait, we hear the "thoughts" of Shii Ann as she wonders if they know how much she hates this tribe and about how tempting it was to switch. We also hear the thoughts of Stephanie saying that she might have a better chance if she switched. At the end of it, no one in Sook Jai wanted to switch. So, on to Chuay Gahn. We hear Helen say she thought about it, but felt it best to stay where she was. But if she were Jan, she would have hopped all over it. Then we hear Jan saying that this is her tribe and she'll either sink with it or swim with it. So, again, no one is interested in switching. Writer's aside: Whew! Do you know what a pain in the butt these charts are when someone switches tribes? So with the whole switch thing a real bummer, we move onto the reward auction. One thing I found indicative of this entire show so far, the Chuay Gahn tribe all shared in the bidding on items. For Sook Jai, Ken was the spokesperson and the only one bidding. Ok, first item up for bids is a big greasy hamburger, fries and all the trimmings. Bids start at $20 and increase by $20. Sook Jai buys this one for $120. (Look for Hardee's to introduce the new $120 burger...available for only $99.95 for a limited time.) The next item was a pitcher of lime-ade. I know, kinda sucky right? Well, Sook Jai thought so too and they let Chuay Gahn have it with the opening bid of $20. The third item for bids was also the first mystery item. The tribes seemed skeptical about this one and it went to Sook Jai for the low low price of $80. When Jeff lifted the lid he revealed a platter full of seasoned, baked grubs reminiscent of Survivor 1. Mmmmmmm...although to their credit, the tribe ate them, especially Stephanie. The fourth item is a nice sized bowl of spaghetti and meatballs and a plate of garlic bread. The bidding for this one is rough and it ends up going to Chuay Gahn for the bargain basement price of $400. Next up is our second mystery item. Determined to prove that they wouldn't load 2 "zonks" as mystery items, Sook Jai outbid to the tune of $200. And this time when Jeff lifted the cover, they were treated to a hit fudge sundae. And the final item of the auction was a big ole plate of nachos. And with the nachos came a mystery second item. The bidding was high for this one as well as Chuay Gahn came out on top to the tune of $320. The extra mystery item? A full pitcher of Margaritas. Needless to say, they were excited. PRE-CHALLENGE ROUTINES OF THE TWO TRIBES We wake up early with Sook Jai and Robb and Erin are talking about how good they feel and how well they slept. It's amazing what some full tummies have done for these folks. Stephanie, of course, has already been up and is handing out bananas to everyone as they wake. Penny discusses how Stephanie has changed over the last couple days. She is really joining the tribe and is doing quite a bit of work and is fitting in a lot better. Steph attributes both her change in attitude and the rest of the tribe's to the lack of hunger. They were so hungry for so long, people were starting to become irritated and ignorant. But, now that they're all fed, everyone seems to be getting along better. Over at Chuay Gahn we now have the problem of being out of water AND having an immunity challenge later in the day. Helen makes it known that they are needing to make a water run immediately. There's some concern that having to swim all that way on the day of a challenge isn't a good idea. But considering they're totally out of water, someone will have to make the trek. So, Helen and Brian set off to get water. And this is a really uneventful trip. The only thing we get to hear about is how important it is for them to win this challenge, and how if they don't Jan will have to be the one to go. Brian would hate to have to do it, but if they lose, there's not much of a choice. IMMUNITY CHALLENGE #5 So we get to the challenge and set up are two very large square bins (I'd guess about 5' by 5') and 2 sets of 4 large bowls on the sand. The challenge is pretty simple. In each of the 2 large bins is a huge pile of fish. 4 different kinds of fish. Squid, Barramundi, Travali and what they call little silver fish. (Apologies for the spelling of these names as I didn't have time to verify and went by how they sound.) Anyway, the whole challenge is to sort the 4 different fish into their designated bowl. First team done wins immunity. So, Erin and Ken sit out this one and the race is pretty boring and anti-climactic. You never can really tell whose winning, you can only chuckle at some of the things that happened. Example, Stephanie putting like 5 or 6 of the little silver fish in her mouth to get them to the bowl quicker. Clay throwing a pretty large fish at a bowl and accidentally hitting Brian in the head. Anyway, you could never really tell who was winning until Chuay Gahn filled their bowls. But wait...one of their fish wasn't sorted right. After a frantic search, Brian found the fish and sorted it correctly, thus earning Chuay Gahn immunity. One thing I noticed during the CG celebration...Ted actually kissed Brian on the cheek. Now, dammit, you'd think he would have learned his lesson after Ghandia, wouldn't you? I mean how many people is this guy going to sexually harass on one show? heh heh Back at Sook Jai, Stephanie is now really wishing she'd switched tribes like she thought about doing. She feels real vulnerable right about now. We also hear Erin talking about how the only real dysfunction in this tribe is Shii Ann and Erin is pretty sure Shii Ann doesn't even know it's there. Robb and Erin were discussing how they feel like Shii Ann needs to go and Erin was even heard saying, "I can't wait until she's gone." Jake, on the other hand, sees Shii Ann as a hard worker and that's good enough for him. He is seen giving her a nice little pep talk before the walk to TC. TRIBAL COUNCIL # 5 So we get to Tribal Council and Jeff's first question goes to Robb as he asks him what he thinks of the other tribe. Robb says that it seems like they all get along real well and are nice people. Jeff then casts the bait asking if he still feels like the Sook Jai tribe is the stronger tribe. Of course, Robb answers in Robb-ese with something like, "C'mon, bro." Jeff seems to be a little annoyed with that and suggests that Sook Jai isn't "kicking their ass." As Robb tries to respond Jeff is pretty quick to shoot him down again with something about how they're at TC and not Chuay Gahn. Writer's aside: For the first time in 5 seasons, I think Jeff may be getting a little too involved in the game. He's an outstanding host and has done a wonderful job keeping each assortment of idiots pretty much straight, but I think he kinda set the bait and hook for Robb this week. Seemed to me he went out of his way to make Robb look as stupid as he possibly could. To both the audience and his tribe. I just thought it was a little out of character for Jeff to see very much against a specific person on the show. He then asks Stephanie if she is contributing more now that she's not as sick. She says definitely. She's feeling a lot better and has been contributing a lot more. She then goes on to say how she's proud of the tribe for the way they've been going about business. Cause at first they were all concerned about the shelter and not about food. But now they've seen the light, is essentially what she is saying. I mean, if she didn't have a bulls eye on her before TC....stupid! Jeff asks Ken if he's surprised to her Steph say this. He basically says that he and the rest of the tribe were well aware of her opinions of their building the shelter, so no it didn't surprise him. Last question was did anyone actually consider switching tribes. And he went straight to Shii Ann with this one. Her response was that she thought about it for about 2 seconds but the choice was easy. And with that, we vote. They show 4 votes this time around. We see Penny's vote for Stephanie and she says that this vote is pretty much for the first week when Stephanie alienated herself and said and did some things that just didn't sit very well. We then see Stephanie voting for Shii Ann saying that she is a sweet girl, but just gets on her nerves. Ken also votes for Stephanie saying she is a beautiful person but that she alienated herself from the tribe. And the last vote we see is Robb's for Shii Ann. I'll go tally the votes. Not surprisingly, Stephanie is voted out of the tribe with a vote of 5-2. The five coming from Erin, Ken, Jake, Shii Ann and Penny. While She and Robb both voted for Shii Ann. So, it is firefighter Stephanie who is the 5th person voted off of Survivor: Thailand. QUOTE OF THE WEEK Well, there was quite a few good quotes this week, but I have to give the QotW to Robb for his speech when he cast his vote for Shii Ann. After writing her name down, he show the vote and says, "You get on my nerves and I don't like being around you. Nothing personal." Nothing personal?? You just took a shot at her..seemed personal to me. PREDICTIONS Ok, this is more like it. 5 people voted off and 3 of them are in my pre-season final 4. Wow do I suck at this portion of the game. So, since I suck at it, let's see what becca and Jakey have for us this week. Becca: Ewww! That immunity challenge was one of the grossest I've seen even though they didn't have to eat anything. I was screaming for it to stop already. I definitely would have floundered in that challenge. *wink* It was inevitable that my pick to win, Stephanie, was gonna get the boot tonight. First of all, it was my time since Jim and Jakey's winners were voted off already. Secondly, I noticed how MB played up Shii-Ann a lot and that's often a tease. Thirdly, she shouldn't have kept that moody attitude for as long as she did. She was looking good for a while tonight. Darn! I'm reeling about Ted's and Brian's alliance and I hope it's short-lived. I have a feeling it will be. I'm counting on Brian to stab him in the back soon. CG will lose the next IC and we won't see obvious Jan leaving...it will be Ted. It's not just because I want to see him go. I'm sensing that Brian will be successful in doing what he MUST do. Please! SJ will probably be safe next week, but if not, I'll predict in writing that it's Shii-Ann's turn to leave. This way, Penny will finally go. I predicted she would the last three times, but Shii-Ann is being voted off next at SJ! That's my definite prediction! You hear that? Writer's aside: I'd like to take a quick second to thank becca for her predictions this week, as she's on vacation. So, I know she has plenty to do that doesn't include contributing to this column, for free. So, kudos for getting such a lengthy peiece in this week. Thanks. Jakey: Hi Folks----So that was Ocean's Surprise eh? Were you surprised? I was. I can't believe how this show is going. This show is becoming like smoke, very irritating and it's impossible to get a hold on it. Actually I thought a more appropriate title would have been "Ocean's Revenge on Dummies." Betsy ran away, eh TED?? No, you moron, you set her free yourself! Twine does float especially over a 3-inch twig loosely anchored by pebbles at the low tide mark! The blank look on Ted's face said it all. Ted you won't even see the knife coming your way from Brian will ya? The island is full of mysteries-------yup and you're one of them. You may make the merge but keep your bag pack packed because you'll be in loser lounge before long. I killed myself laughing as Robb got stung and is flopping about like a flounder and screeching like a hyena on speed while the rest of the tribe ignores him! Poor baby got a boo-boo? I'm with Shii Ann on this one. What a wuss. After all the commotion is over and the wound is cleaned Robb saunters away with out barely a grimace. That's it? No gangrene, no medivac stretcher? BORING! Shii Ann has become a major blip on the radar screen thanks to the ranting of boy metal face Robb who seems to find the consumption of anything he wouldn't eat as a repulsive eating habit. Hey Bro/Dude ------what are you going to do if there is a gross food challenge? Scream out: "No way, it ain't from Subway." The food auction was a yawner except for the fact that Robb having complained of Shii Ann's eating habits is seen with the rest of the tribe double dipping his saliva soaked spoon into the community sundae. Guess it's different if you use a utensil? Go figure. Jan is squarely on the radarscope as the next target at CG. Her behavior is becoming more irritating with each second she is there. Clay certainly wants to drop kick her saggy butt back home. The looks he was giving her and his vocal frustration at her babyish behavior with the auction money were comic to the extreme. I don't know what Jim's quote of the night will be but I would vote on Clay's retort to Jan's whiney speculation that the reward challenge had something to do with gambling or something. An exasperated Clay muttered "No S#it Sherlock." The immunity challenge was interesting and showed these goofballs what kind of fish and the quantity possible to catch just a mere distance from shore. CG really put on the after burners in this challenge and smoked SJ's butt. Looked like SJ were out for a Sunday stroll. The worst visual of the night was Jan stuffing her mouth with fish like a pelican and then regurgitating them into the sorting bowl. YUCK. So ----Sookies sacked starving Steph! Surprise? Naw. It does look like Shii Ann is really in line of fire and it will be a toss up who goes if they lose IC again, Robb or Shi Ann but I would say Robb will go. Erin may side with him but I think the others will stay with Shii Ann. Robb should be banished on general principal after his dumb comments at TC. He called Jeff "Bro." Jeff was not amused! Love it! As for CG ; Jan will go next but if Ted does something else as dumb as losing the boat then his butt is bacon. Cheers! And here we have it, this week's voteing history chart. I'm ever so pleased that there was no big switch this week. As you can see, it has been updated with this week's info. As always, take care and God Bless!
Survivor: Thailand Recaps at The Trades: Preview | Ep 1 | Ep 2 | Ep 3 | Ep 4 | Ep 5 The S-Ratings at The Trades: Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 On the Internet: CBS.com | SirLinksalot.net | SurvivorNews.net |
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