Watching Survivor

Borneo: Episode 05. Original Airdate: Summer 2000.
12 people left - who will be voted off next?

(Sorry this one was a day late - had all that other news to get up, felt this could wait a day! Hope you don’t mind!)

We open the morning of day thirteen at the Pagong Tribe, where they slept late for the first time since they arrived. Everyone’s a little down, and Jenna gives her confessional laying sprawled on the beach. Greg has an ear infection, and Gretchen is still on the war path to clean up the site and get everyone to pitch in.

Back at Tagi, they’re using the parachute that was used to drop the last reward down to them as a big top parasol for extra shade. Kelly’s a little irritated, joining Sue in her observations that Sean and Dirk go fishing just to get out of work - they don’t catch anything, just float around. Kelly always has some little needlework in her hands, too.

Sean is a little irritated that they equate not catching anything to not working. They are determined to try though, but even Rudy says “bah, nothing.” The whole tribe agrees, but of course it’s Sue that comes right out and lets them know it’s a waste of time to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

Dr. Sean just wants to be happy, and have a good time. There’s a clear division, with those that work and those that loaf around and just want to have fun. Dirk says that he is there just to grow in his faith, and good ole Rudy tells it like it is. “A bible? only reason I’d bring a bible, and I’m religious, is if I needed TP.”

Reward Challenge!
Jeff is walking through the woods, and delivers Tree Mail, bringing practice supplies and challenge rules. It’ll be the First Annual Weapons Target Shooting Challenge - battle of Borneo.

1st round, blow gun
2nd round, sling shot
3rd round, spear tossing.

They must pick one person for each round, and have time to practice all night. At Tagi - Dr. Sean is pretty good with the blow gun, Rich is a pretty darn good marksman with the sling shot, and Sue throws the spear better then any of the guys in the tribe. She was hoping she’d be good at nothing and get to hang back, but she steps up to the challenge - there’s a chance she can dog some guy on national tv and that’d make her happy.

At Pagong, they agree that the spear is probably going to be their weakest event - the girls have the slingshot and blow gun down, but they’re relying on brute strength for the spear.

Time for the Challenge!
Any fruit they hit gets to go into a basket to take to the next round. It’s Jenna vs. Sean - both of which do pretty well filling the basket with fruit.

Next Round, the Sling Shot, it’s a timed trial - you have to knock the fruit off the vase or break or chip the vase - they have 2 minutes to hit as many targets as they can. Its Richard vs. Gretchen and again it’s a good round, with more fruit hitting the basket.

It’s time for Sue to show her stuff in the Spear throwing. It’s winner take all - whoever ends up with the spear closest to the target gets all the fruit in the basket plus a mystery food source they will discover later. Sue vs. Joel

They each get three tosses. Sue hits the outside ring of the target on her first through, Pagong hits closer to the bullseye, and Sue hits dead even with Joel for her second toss. For Joel’s second toss, he is inside that inner circle, really close to the bullseye. Sue can’t make it inside that mark, and Pagong wins reward!

The mystery food prize? Egg laying chickens in a crate! They decide to name the chickens: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pagong is riding high! They needed the reward to boost morale, for sure. Of course, the watermelon seed spitting contest the girls did helped a little too.

At Tagi, Sue is beating herself up a bit and was irritated she missed stomping a guy out on National TV - but she wouldn’t want to slaughter a chicken anyway. Richard wasn’t worried, he just went fishing and got them an eel. Kelly is proud they catch their own food, and don’t have it handed to them. Unfortunately the eel is really tough and overcooked. Eel is horrible, and they won’t do that again - it’s back to sting rays. and Rudy’d rather have chicken.

Pagong thinks that Greg is the leader, but he’s trying to avoid it. He just wants to play, but he is the most comfortable in the woods. He doesn’t sleep with the group, because it makes him nervous, so he often sleeps in the forest, away from them. He nests, and Colleen joins him in the forest to sleep often too, finding comfort away from the group. Oh how the talking starts. Colleen jokes and says “it’s all about sex. Totally passionate.” but she giggles and Greg says there’s no romance. It’s a friendship, and they like the play together.

Methinks they protest too much!

At Tagi - Richard finds a snake (EW EW EW EW) and he plays with it and chases it into the water - just so he could watch it swim. (EW EW EW EW EW EW EW) Richard admits they were told the snakes were deadly - but he’s more bothered by the horseflies.

Dr. Sean knew it was gonna be a good day, because he hadn’t had a bowel movement in two weeks, and finally had one. He’s happy! Go Sean, one of the Movers.

TMI people. Seriously.

People are concerned about Dirk, who seems to be wasting away to nothing, losing a lot of body mass. All of Tagi is trying to keep an eye on him. They have been starting to work more though, Sean and Dirk, but Sue ain’t buyin it, anymore then Pagong did with Ramona.

While Sean and Dirk go looking for Tapioca, Richard Kelly and Sue decide who they want out next. They figure Sean needs to go, because he doesn’t want to form an alliance or vote anyone out because “do unto others” type things.

Immunity Challenge!
One to row, the rest too swim. They have to choose one to row and Tagi feels they have an edge up because Kelly is a professional white water rafter, thus it’s her time to shine. Pagong chooses Gervase, because he can’t swim, so he needs to be the rower, and Kelli is confident she can beat him any day of the week.

Um. Foreshadow much? I can guess right now who’s gonna win - overconfidence NEVER comes out on top! Of course, Greg’s little song and dance number at Pagong could have been the reasons for their boosted confidence…

Today’s immunity challenge is called ShipWreck. Five members are floating on crates, and another member must paddle out in canoes, paddle to the outside of the buoy, then come back and pick up tribe members. Once they pick up other members, they can help row. there are three paddles, and a bailer because they would take on water. Gervase maintains that they originally picked him because he can’t swim, but then it was all about how he loves the limelight and it’s his turn to shine. Hrm. Interesting.

It should be noted EVERYONE is wearing life jackets, because the water is so rough.

Survivors Ready? GO!

Surprisingly, Gervase IS a rockstar, and takes off to a heck of a lead, picking up two members before Kelly gets her first rescue in the boat. Tagi never manages to catch up, and Pagong wins immunity!

Kelly is understandably upset “I got beat by a guy who can’t fuckin swim!” while Gervase is flying high - he said he liked the spotlight, and he wasn’t lying.

Back at Tagi, we see the results of Kelly’s needle point - a sign for the kitchen: Rowdy Rudy’s Diner. The mood is down, but Kelly’s bounced back, and is taking her embarrassment in stride. “That which doesn’t kill ya makes ya stronger.” Sean and Dirk both feel vulnerable, as does Kelly, though she has Rich and Sue on her side.

Tribal Council:
Kelli says the moral, personally, is really hard, but she wasn’t going to make excuses, she ate a little crow, but that’s allright. Sean admits he has no clue what he’s doing and hasn’t found his niche - just there to have fun. Jeff asks Dirk how much time he spends trying to become effective part of the group. He admits to failing at everything he’s tried, but he’s putting in the effort.

Jeff asks point blank if there’s an alliance that’s coming into play in the voting and Richard lies right to his face, and says there’s a 6 person alliance, and what looks like several small ones, is really partnerships just because it takes pairs of people to do things. Hahahah!

Time to vote!
Dirk votes Sue, because he can’t stand her complaining.
Sean votes Rudy, only because he worries about future athletic competitions.
Kelly votes Dirk, no reason given.

The complete list of votes, as read:
Dirk, Sue, Rudy, Dirk, Dirk - that’s enough, the last one goes unread (it was for Dirk as well)

Dirk is the fifth person voted off Survivor: Borneo.

Next week
Tagi goes NEKID and Gervase ruffles feathers with a sexist remark.

Survivor, Survivor: Borneo, Immunity, CBS, Jeff Probst, Reality TV, rewind