Watching Survivor

Ooooooooooh things are heating up, just like Jeff Probst promised! We open with Mookie and Alex lamenting the fact that Dreamz doublecrossed them. Dreamz speaks to Stacy, and Earl, and they convince Dreamz that they were worried that Dreamz had been fed bad information about who had the idol, Alex or Mookie, so they took the safe route.

Dreamz totally buys it. Duh.

Earl and the rest of the Alliance celebrated, as they are 6 strong. And we have proof that Stacy is done being nice and back to her nasty self with the whispered comment “We don’t have to even stress it. They’ll be lucky if they get fed.” So sweet, that Stacy…

Day 28 opens with Mookie and Alex still complaining about Dreamz and his double cross, calling him a true traitor. Dreamz comes up and asks why they weren’t hanging out anymore, that they all got outwitted the night before. They accuse him of turning on them, and he defends himself with his usual getto lisp that we could hardly understand, and said he didn’t know what was going on. He declares in secret that he’ll need their votes at the end, so had to make nice.

We’re whisked away to the Reward Challenge. They’re divided into two teams, and one teammate will launch the balls, while the others slip and slide and dive into the mud to catch the balls in a catch basket. Doesn’t matter which ball they catch, they all count. First team to five wins reward - a ride on a seaplane to a shower, food and bed and sending one loser to Exile Island.

The teams:
Orange: Yau-man launching to Boo, Cassandra and Mookie
Green: Stacy launching to Dreamz, Earl, and Alex.

First launch: Yau-man goes too deep, and Stacy goes directly to Earl, who has it but lets it bounce out.
Second Launch: Boo out reaches Dreamz, and grabs an orange point from Yau-man, Mookie steals the green to get another point for the Orange team. Score Orange 2, Green 0.

There’s several misses, and the game gets physical, including a chokehold by Cassandra on Earl who’s shocked and complains. Jeff tells them it’s up to them to decide how physical they want to get, and all hell breaks lose with pushing and shoving and the like.

Boo makes a diving attempt, but comes up short, and Stacy goes high and long, connecting nicely with Dreamz to get Green’s first point. Boo and Alex go after the next on together, Boo slips and starts yelling in pain. The Med team is called in, and Boo’s certain its his “ACL or something” in his right knee. He stands up to see if he can hold his weight on it and we hear it pop back into place. EVERYONE cringes. Me included. He bounces around and slides around on it a little bit to be sure it’s back in place, and declares that “Yessir” he wants to keep playing.

The next launch sees Boo going for it full throttle, knocked away by Alex, while Dreamz catches another point for Green, tying the score once again. Mookie yells “Yau!” and gestures wildly with a look of… well, disgust or annoyance on his face. Yau-Man then goes short, hitting Mookie to put Orange back in the lead, 3-2 - which wipes the annoyance off Mookie’s face.

Dreamz catches the next one and ties it up again, and Mookie starts screaming at Yau again. Alex tries to catch the next one, and Cassandra trips him, but misses it. Yau hits Mookie way left, and Orange leads 4-3. Mookie gestures for Yau-man to watch for the break and go right back to him again, Yau-Man does and Alex sneaks in and steals it, tying it up yet again, 4-4!

Boo has a shot, and misses, and Stacy goes deep to Dreamz who wins reward for Green team! They decide to send Boo to Exile Island because he’s been living the life of Luxury, then hands Stacy, Alex, Dreamz and Earl the basket of bath supplies and shoos them off to the plane and their reward, while the others return to camp to bathe with the Water Snakes. Oh Goody!

On Exile Island, Boo gets the first clue to the re-hidden idol. (Snake Sighting! I guess I can’t complain, it has been a couple weeks…) He admits that he is glad that it’s back at camp, as his knee hurts, as does his ankle. He’s out of water and nearing heat exhaustion.

We join team green at the reward, on the plane, where Alex declared he’s going to weasel his way back into the alliance. Then they head straight to the shower where we get to listen to Stacy moan in the shower and Earl declare he’s getting his sexy back. Stacy’s voice over admits that it was awkward having Alex there. At dinner, he says that he’s been a gentlemen in game play, and minimizing his showboating to which Stacy adds a single word: Sometimes. Ladies and Gentlemen - we’ve got our bitch back!

Alex then goes to talk to Earl, and do his best to flip a couple opinions, stating that a Lion is most dangerous when backed against the wall. He asks what the voting order will be, and Earl won’t give it up, because the game isn’t over. Alex says that Mookie wants to go, and Earl just smiles “that’s why he might not go first.” That Earl - he’s a smart one!

The next morning, the winners return and are told they smell like apples and strawberries and he could smell them from the beach! He knows the trip was great, but didn’t want to hear it. He knows he’s in danger, but declares his heart is still in it.

Later, Mookie and Dreamz are talking, and Mookie decides that Yau-Man must have the idol, as he’s the only one in camp. He takes Alex over while Yau-Man is out fishing and goes through his things, and discovers the Idol. Wild theorizing begins as they try to decide what they can do with the information - they sneak off to strategize, and unknowingly sit right next to Cassandra and Stacy who are toasting being the last two girls and a long prosperous game together with pineapples. They hear the boys coming and crouch down and listen.

Alex and Mookie try to figure out how they can use the information to their advantage, and they decide they want to prove Yau-Man a liar, ask him if he has it, and when he says no, make him turn out his pockets and him reveal he has it. Alex celebrates two great brains working together to at least go out swinging. I don’t see how this plan could work at ALL - and it quickly goes downhill when one of the girls moves, and they are found out. Alex and Mookie go rushing back to camp to put their plan into action early, and go directly to Yau-man, and threaten to tell everyone if he doesn’t.

At this point it seems they’re just hoping to stir up the pot, and go down swinging. Alex declares “we’re screwed” and he’s never been more right.

As they’re rushing back, Stacy admits they couldn’t really hear what was saying - which is hysterical! They think they’re busted, and now they’re going to tattle on themselves!

So they go to Yau-man, and gives him their ultimatum. Yau-man just tells them to do whatever they deem necessary, because he feels he’s at a point he doesn’t really need it yet as he’s in the majority alliance. But Yau-Man does decide to tell the alliance about it. He tells Stacy that he has it, they found it, and are now trying to blackmail him. Stacy is offended that they went through Yau-Man’s things, and blames Alex, even though we know it was Mookie. She tells several of the others that her “heart is hurting” because of it, and Cassandra is pissed as well that they went through personal belongings. Earl is amused (as was I!) that everyone is more pissed off about the fact they went through Yau-Man’s things, rather then the fact that hello! Yau-Man has the idol and told no one! Though it does put a crimp in things because it’s now wide-spread knowledge. Time for plan B. Yau-man says the worst that could happen is Mookie and Alex win personal immunity, and get Boo and Dreamz to vote with them and force a tie at Tribal Council.

And of course that means it’s time for the Immunity Challenge!
Boo rejoins them from Exile Island for a game that will involve memory and strategy. They each will secretly select three squares in a row, then it’s a giant game of battle ship as they name squares and try to knock each other out. On the board they are looking at to declare their moves, they only get to see an X for a hit, nothing for a miss, and memory comes in immediately because they have to remember who was hit where to work the board strategically. Last Tribemate standing wins Immunity. We’re shown where they all choose via graphic, and they all start guessing.

Dreamz hits right away, and hits HIMSELF, Earl and Boo. Whoops!
Cassandra hits and ALSO hits HERSELF and Yau-man. Whoops times TWO.
Mookie hits Earl.
Earl hits Mookie, Cassandra and Alex
Yau-Man hits Boo, Dreamz and knocks Earl out of the game.
Stacy hits Boo and Dreamz and knocks them both out of the game. Watch out guys! She’s thinking!
Alex misses.
Cassandra misses.
Mookie hits Cassandra and knocks her out of the game.
Yau-Man hits Mookie and Stacy
Alex misses.
Stacy picks a square already picked - a mistake, or on purpose?
Mookie hits Alex.
Yau-man hits Mookie and takes him out of the game.
Alex hits Yau-man.

At this point, Yau-man has two, Alex has two, Stacy has one. Stacy proves she was paying close attention and makes the BEST move on the board - she hits herself, and in the process takes both Yau-Man and Alex out of the game, and thus wins immunity! She might be a bitch, but that was WELL done!

Back at camp, Alex admits his back is against the wall, and he and Mookie decide if they’re going down, they’re gonna start a little hell first. (Snake sighting 2! EW!) Dreamz and Earl are discussing who to vote for - they want Alex, because he’s stronger, and Mookie has checked out mentally and thus is easier beaten. Earl then goes discuss the idol clue with Boo. As a group they worry that it might be easy to find, and they don’t want to risk the fact that they’ve got one and decide to split the vote three and three, and force a tie. Then they can make a choice when no idol has been played and vote Alex. Earl doesn’t like it - but goes with the flow. Good boy!

Alex says that they’re going out swinging, and he’s got one vote, so he’s got to make it count. At this point, I turn to the kids and go “OMG! He’s going to vote for MOOKIE and save himself!” The kids’ eyes get wide and they declare I’m the SMARTEST MOM EVER, and we eagerly watch it play out at:

Tribal Council.
They start talking about the Reward Challenge, and how things have shifted a bit, and that the rats and snakes had come out. Mookie talks about the backstabbing of the last TC, and we get a shot of Yau-Man and Earl grinning. Jeff asks Mookie “Mookie, what did you do?” And he admits that he ‘found’ an immunity idol in Yau-Man’s bag. And Jeff points out that this comes out right after hearing about snakes and rats, and declares it as “snaky and ratty as you can get, going through someone’s personal belongings.”

He asks Yau-Man what he feels about it, and while Yau-Man agrees it’s pretty bad, he makes a bold statement, that it won’t matter for the next few rounds anyway. Jeff is surprised, and Yau-Man clarifies “the next couple, anyway.” and admits he will have to change his strategy. Earl admits that he’s pissed off, because it was a serious abuse of Trust. Jeff asks Dreamz something about how its hard to know who’s been lying, and Dreamz just says he’s trying to find out where he stands.

Alex agrees that yes, there are people are coasting, and folks will find out that Karma is immediate, and they will have to answer to others about how they got so far in the game. And it’s time for the vote.

And they show only Mookie - who votes for Boo, and then Alex, who puts down MOOKIE! I was RIGHT! HA! He says he’s “Just trying to stay here another day, buddy. Good Luck.” Jeff goes to tally the votes, no idol is played, and the votes are read:

Alex, Alex, Mookie, Boo, Mookie, Mookie, Alex, and the 11th person voted out and the 5th member of the jury, Mookie.

Jeff says that based on what was heard tonight, there’s a strong alliance of 6, and Alex, which makes him odd man out, or very valuable. Mookie’s last words: “You know I’m pretty relieved, though it would have been nice to be back in the game” and that he wishes he was back there making life hell - it’s a grass is greener type of situation, but he is glad he’s out.

While this wasn’t QUITE as good as last week - it was still a fantastic episode, with lots of twists and turns, betrayal and backstabbing - the basics for any good Survivor Episode!

Next week:
Alex goes undercover like a ninja, Boo annoys everyone -even Dreamz, and the reward challenge gets primal.

Survivor, Survivor: Fiji!, Moto, Ravu, Bula Bula, Immunity, CBS, Jeff Probst, Reality TV, Mookie