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by Scott Wyatt Published: October 9, 2005
Day 9 begins over at Nakum and we get a great shot of symbolism as we start with a couple of monkeys just lying in the tree under the hot sun. Cut to the players who are just lying on the ground under the hot sun. Gee, this is exciting. We listen to Cindy talk about how hot is every day and how it just sapping their strength. Even Dr Quinn is worried how the heat is playing on her patients. The only other thing they can complain about is the mosquitoes, which are the size of the old Herbie-Volkswagens. Even Judd chirps in and compares the bugs swarming techniques to that of the Killer Bees. Is the heat frying their brains already? We then get a series of shots showing all of the bites on the players. Anyone losing their appetite? Brandon tells us this place changes you between starving, the heat and the bugs is just zaps you and he finds it easier to just lay around and do nothing. He says he can’t imagine how the other team is feeling since they’re losing and having to deal with the environment. Cut to Yaxha, who are at the edge of the water trying to catch a meal. Gary and Rafe have put the bowl with bits of cornmeal in the water and the minnows are in frenzy around it. They jerk the bowl up and get one or two minnows each time but it’s an effective way of catching some protein. Rafe, in his delusional state, considers himself and Gary a finely tuned fishing machine. Meanwhile, they see very large croc hanging around offshore and when he suddenly eats a nearby fish, it’s a wake-up call. It’s enough to make them realize that there are dangers in the water. It plays on Jaime’s mind so much that when a fish nibbles on his toes later, he jumps. Big Baby! As the crocs eyes drop below the water, we are whisked away to the reward challenge. REWARD CHALLENGE The tribes arrive and Nakum sees that Brianna was sent home with no real reaction. Hey, it’s that Jeff guy again! He explains that this challenge really isn’t a challenge. They’ve decided to give them a break. They will get the chance to learn a little bit about what their tribe mates think about them and at the same time get a peek into the other tribe. He will ask a series of questions and you will write your answer down and reveal them to Jeff for all to see keeping in mind your answers will have a direct impact on those players but you cannot vote for yourself. This is something a little different Question 1: Which tribe member is in most need of some nourishment? Nakum chooses Danni unanimously. Yaxha chooses Jaime in the same fashion. Jeff brings them up to the table and pulls out two huge green apples. He tells them it’s not a race and to enjoy them. Question 2: Which tribe member is the smelliest? Nakum says its Bobby Jon. Yaxha gives Gary that title. As they approach the table, Jeff redirects them to the side where 5 gallons of fresh water and a bush shower await them. We then get a not-so-good view of these two showering in front of their respective tribes. Thank God for the blurring. Question 3: Which man and woman from your tribe are most deserving a picnic lunch atop a Mayan ruin and returning to your tribe later in the afternoon? Yaxha picks Gary and Amy. Nakum selects Judd and Margaret. Jeff reveals a huge basket of chicken, potato salad, chocolate chip cookies and iced tea and tells them to enjoy because they cannot bring anything back. The lucky four take their basket, thank their tribes and head out for their lunch. Do I have to point out how the rest were drooling? Question 4: Of the people remaining, which tribe member has the most tribe pride? Who bleeds Yaxha blue and who bleeds Nakum yellow? Yaxha chooses Brian. Nakum chooses Cindy. Jeff tells Brian that since he has the most tribe pride that it’s only fitting that he remain on the Yaxha tribe. The light bulb goes for Steph. Jeff tells Jaime, Rafe, Lydia and Steph to drop their buffs – come get yellow ones and head over to the yellow mat because they are now members of Nakum. Cindy is then told to meet her new tribe members. Jeff further goes on tell the old 5 from Nakum that because they have one extra member, one of them will remain with Nakum. They will draw for that spot. Danni goes first and draws blue. Brooke draws the yellow one and will stay with Nakum. Brandon, Bobby Jon and Blake are all now Yaxha. The four on the picnic will return to a bit of a surprise. Head back to camp and get to know each other. I like this switch. You literally swap half of the tribe and effectively wipes out a lot of alliances while forcing everyone to reevaluate their strategy. Kudos for this twist! I love it! New Nakum is Judd, Margaret, Cindy, Brooke, Steph, Rafe, Jaime, Lydia. 4 old Nakum and 4 old Yaxha. New Yaxha is Brian, Gary, Amy, Danni, Blake, Brandon, Bobby Jon. 3 old Yaxha and 4 old Nakum. This really throws a big monkey wrench in the game. The bulk of the strength has now moved over to Yaxha and left Steph on the notably weaker tribe again. Aww, I’m sure we’ll hear about it. This is bound to send everyone into a strategy frenzy regardless of who goes to Tribal Council. We wanted a shake-up – well, we got it! While the tribes are swapping players, the picnic four are gorging themselves on the food and enjoying the view. Gary continues to deny that he’s an ex-football player to Margaret and Judd who point out that Danni has called him on it in their tribe. Amy tells us that if she finds out that he’s lying and he’s already a millionaire then she’ll kill him. This is a cop talking here. They take one last look around and talk about how good the food was to eat. It’s time to let them in on the fun again. Brian leads his new tribe back to their camp. The one without the tarp they just won back at Nakum. As they get back to the fire pit, they see a big bowl of fruit has been left for them. It’s hugs around and Brian immediately tries to worm his way into the pow-wow. He tells them that the old Yaxha was so tired and BJ tells him not to over do it and to relax. Brian tells us that he’s screwed because of the numbers now with the 4 Nakum folks around. Amy and Gary return with words that I cannot type here. Amy looks at Gary and he looks back and they both look the same. We’re screwed! Immediately, the football deal comes up between Gary and Danni. Gary continues to play it all wrong by denying who he really is even though Danni knows he’s lying. Gary says he’s keeping his strategy no matter what happens. This is really stupid. Danni knows who he is and it’s obvious that Amy and Brian doubt him as well. Gary needs to fess up and try to salvage his game. Danni, on the other hand, has a huge nugget if she uses it right. It’s called blackmail but since she’s already shot her mouth off to everyone she may have blown that chance. Over at Nakum, Judd and Margaret are returning to find their world has turned upside down. While Margaret is busy with repeated “Oh My Gods”, Judd is getting friendly with Jaime and he kind of has to since they will be the only real male strength on the tribe. Rafe doesn’t count for much in the physical challenges. Margaret is now really nervous with her place in the game. With it starting to rain for the first time, she is scrambling at trying to figure out what to do from here on out. Later, when Margaret and Judd take a walk and discuss the turn of events, Judd tells her it’s no biggie to him. Who cares? This a big hint Dr Quinn – will you hear it? It turns out Judd never felt comfortable with his old tribe so this is just what he was hoping for to help with his game. He is stoked that he is now the big gun in the tribe. Gotta love the male ego however stupid it makes him look. He even says it makes him feel like King Kong as he beats on his chest. We then see a real monkey do the real thing. I’ll take the real monkey. Later, Jaime and Steph are sitting on top of the ruins talking strategy. They seem to settle on booting Brooke but they still consider Lydia a weak link. Wrong but then again, we’re talking about Steph’s decisions here. Ultimately, they decide to push Brook to keep the numbers in their favor. Steph tells Jaime to let the old Nakum players approach them as she continues to talk as if she knows better. Jaime then tells her that Judd already told him that he’s got his back. Speak of the devil, here comes Humpty Dumpty up the ruins to sit on his wall and prepare for his great fall. Judd proceeds to throw his hat to Jaime and Steph blindly and says he’ll do whatever they want him to do. It sounds like they want it to go Brooke, Lydia, Margaret then Cindy. They also say that Rafe will do whatever they tell him to do. I don’t doubt them but they are sounding mighty cocky. Margaret notices Judd on top of the ruins but continues with her discussion. Judd says he’s done with his old tribe. We rejoin Yaxha on Day 11 and Amy is really worried with the tribe mainly because of the 4 old Nakum players. We get a really sweet shot of Danni laying in the water. She knows they can pick them off one by one. Next, we move to Blake and BJ talking strategy while taking a leak. We could have done without that visual. Who’s editing this season? They decide that Amy is the first target followed Brian and finally Gary. Amy unwraps her ankle and it looks bad. It’s swollen around the anklebone and black and blue along the edge of her foot. Amy admits the foot causes her more pain than she is trying to let on but she isn’t going to give them any real reason to kick her out. She’s walking without a limp but she knows if she doesn’t do well in the next challenge then she’s history. IMMUNITY CHALLENGE Hey, it’s that Jeff guy again! He takes the idol back and no chitchat but straight into the challenge. On his go, both tribes will paddle out and retrieve three bags from three floating buoys. They will then race back to shore and empty your bags into your basket. In the bags are Mayan War Clubs. You will then throw the clubs at three targets, which are 30, 40 and 50 feet away. The first tribe to break all three targets wins immunity. No one-tribe member can break more than one tile. If you aren’t having any luck, tag out and let someone else go. Nakum sits out Lydia and we are ready to play. Go! Both tribes get to their first bag with no problem but on the way to the second buoy, Nakum rams and pushes Yaxha off the course. No rule against it. Yaxha gets to their second bag as Nakum gets their third and heads back. On the paddle back to the beach, Nakum gets there first with Steph throwing first. Steph breaks the first target as Yaxha begins to throw with Brian. Judd is next up for Yaxha and starts missing badly. Brian switches out with Danni who nails the first target with her third throw and we’re now tied. Judd refuses to switch out as Blake hits target #2 for Yaxha and they are now in the lead. Brandon begins to throw for the last target as Judd finally connects and we’re tied again. It comes down to Brandon for Yaxha and Jaime for Nakum. Brandon clips his target but it does not break. After near misses from both, Brandon finally connects for Yaxha and they win immunity! Steph’s tribe loses again! Jeff hands over the idol to Yaxha and tells Nakum that the new mixture of people should make for an interesting afternoon. He’ll see them later tonight. Back at Nakum, the whining is in full gear by some but others are looking at the vote. Rafe knows it’s 4-4 but he hopes they are successful at flipping Judd. Steph tells him they are set but Rafe isn’t that confident. Margaret has gathered Brooke and Cindy but not Judd to go over strategy. It’s obvious that they are targeting Lydia. They aren’t entirely sure about Judd so Margaret decides to handle him. Judd gets Brooke to tell him that they are targeting Lydia right behind Rafe and Bobby Jon. Not even trying to hide it for some dumb reason. A little later, Margaret makes her move on Judd and reminds him that if he sides with Steph then they will have the numbers advantage and could pick them off quickly. Judd, either that dumb or a great acting performance, looks he just lost his dog as he realizes that he could be maneuvering himself into a corner. The best part of this exchange is the monkey watching above and tapping his hand on the branch. It’s as if he knows better than Judd how to play this game or he knows how we are beginning to feel. Judd really seems conflicted at what to do since Margaret pointed out that the old Yaxha could be playing him for a fool. While Rafe is decorating Lydia’s back with wet leaves, they discuss whether Judd is really going to turn to their favor. The best they can do is hope. Steph approaches Judd and asks if he’s still cool with the deal and he claims he is but tells us he is worried about being played by Steph and Jaime. It looks as if Brooke heard her name spoken and walks to over to join Steph and Judd who suddenly shut up. Judd continues to us that he is torn and won’t decide until they get to Tribal Council. TRIBAL COUNCIL Jeff is waiting for them at Tribal and goes right after Steph pointing out that her record is 1-7 this season and overall at 4-21. He asks if Steph is the bad luck? Ouch! Salt in the wound and I’m the shaker! She admits she has thought about it and wonders if there is a black cloud that follows her around. No honey, it’s just you. She’d like to think it’s not her but she always seems to end up on the short side of the stick. Jeff then moves to Margaret and wants to know about the new tribe dynamic. Did she notice pairing off or any groupings? She immediately says there wasn’t much pairing off except for Judd going off with Steph and Jaime. Jeff asks if she thought something was going on and she replies that she hopes it was just socializing but she doesn’t sound so sure. Turning to Judd, Jeff asks him if he knew that someone was watching them. He replies he was taking in the view and hanging out. No one seems convinces. Over to Lydia, he wants to know if she is more comfortable with the new tribe or just as vulnerable as before. She answers that she feels vulnerable because they don’t know her but she isn’t ready to leave. Brooke is asked what makes her feel vulnerable tonight. She says if you have brute strength then your safe. She says the women, in general, are more vulnerable because of the nature of the challenges. Jeff goes back to Judd and asks in his profession, he deals with all kinds of people, he wants to know how important it is to be able to read people and make a decision on the spot. He says it is very important and he can tell right away if he connects with you. He further says he can pick people off like that. Not sure if that was a great thing to say. Time to vote! We see Brooke vote for Lydia based on the need to win challenges. Rafe votes for Brooke because of strategy and his chances to go farther in the game. Margaret votes for Lydia because she gave her word and she isn’t going back on it. Jeff goes to tally the votes and the first four votes out are 3-1 for Lydia. However, the final 4 votes go against Brooke and she is voted out of the tribe. Judd won’t look at Margaret as Brooke’s torch is snuffed. After she is gone, Jeff warns that tribal lines and personal loyalties are gonna shift throughout this game. Every time you shift, you make it harder to trust. Grab your torches. QUOTE OF THE WEEK As much as I am hoping Judd falls off his high horse, he gets the line this week. After pledging his loyalty to Jaime and Queen Stephenie, he said, “I’m done with my old tribe. They have to get out of my jungle. Go. See you later.” I loved the tribe swap this week. It threw everyone for a loop and sent all of them scrambling to cover their backsides. It allowed others to come to the front of the game and allow others to sort of fade into the background. Gary is screwed at this point because of his identity deception. No one is going to trust Judd the rest of the game. However, there are still many unknowns in the game. Blake isn’t puking anymore but still relatively unknown. Cindy seems to be window dressing. I think the monkeys have gotten more air time than she has but it’s going to be interesting to see if the season will continue to pick up some speed or if it will die a painfully slow death. Be sure to check back next week for another edition of Lost and Delirious. Until next week, take care and God Bless.
Episode 4 Boot – Brooke (Nakum) Episode 3 Boot – Brianna (Yaxha) Episode 2 Boot – Morgan (Yaxha) Episode 1 Boot – Jim (Nakum) |
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