Survivor Gabon - Dec. 4/08

Thanks to Lynn for doing the update this week, while I enjoyed Anne of Green Gables at the Globe Theatre.

After Tribal Council, Bob expresses his dismay at the way people laughed at Randy when he played the fake idol. Bob thought it was like rubbing salt in the wound. Bring on the shaker Bob! Corinne and Sugar also engage in some testy words. Later Corinne fumes to the camera about how she is so sick of being nice to these mutants. Really Corinne?? I haven't actually seen you be that nice to them. Bob & Kenny go out fishing and bring back a whopper. Despite the camaraderie brought on by this manly bonding, Kenny wants Bob gone. He tells us Bob has no game. Oh I beg to differ Mr Gamer. That was a pretty sweet fake idol. At the individual Reward Challenge, Jeff tells the Survivors they will be divided into two teams of 3. Each team must slog through a muddy swamp to retrieve giant puzzle pieces to assemble a mechanical puzzle. Before they pick their teams, Jeff shows them what they are playing for - video messages from their loved ones. Winner gets to see the full clip while chowing down on lunch. (There was a little pause in the action as Lynn runs to the kitchen for kleenex in preparation). Survivors dig into a bag to bring out a coloured rock. When they reveal their rock, Survivors learn the possessors of the red and the orange rock will be the team leaders. That's Crystal and Susie. Each picks their team with Crystal choosing Sugar and Bob. Susie picks Matty and Kenny. That leaves Corinne out in the cold with no chance of winning reward. Although Susie's team retrieves the puzzle pieces first, it is Bob the physics teacher who handily assembles the puzzle first. That sends the winning team into an individual puzzle showdown for reward. Bob wastes no time winning himself some lunch and some love. As he is watching the video, his wife says wait a minute I have something to show you. While Bob patiently waits for her to come back onscreen, she sneaks up behind him. Much joy! The two head back to camp to meet the crew. While they're all happy to meet Peggy, they're also looking over her shoulder trying to figure out if their family members are around. Sure enough, Bob whistles and over the hill they come - Crystal and Susie's husbands, Kenny and Sugar's sisters, Corinne's brother and Matty's girlfriend. We see Kenny telling his sister he's the Puppetmaster. We watch as Matty proposes to his girlfriend Jamie and finally, we see Sugar's sister give her some of their dad's ashes to spread in the water. Sugar gives a touching tribute to her dad and welcomes him to Africa. Lynn miscalculated the number of kleenex she would require for this episode. But the relatives leave and it's game on again. Bob & Corinne casually volunteer to collect Tree Mail. Bob tells Corinne he's got a plan. Here's the story they're going to feed the others - Marcus only pretended to throw the idol in the water. He actually pocketed it and hid it at camp. Bob was the only person that knew about it. He now has the idol. To make the story even more convincing, Bob is going to make another fake idol. As long as either Corinne or Bob wins immunity they can use the fake idol to recruit some turncoats and vote Matty out. Pffft says Lynn. Who would be stupid enough to fall for that? Bob just gave away a fake idol before the last Tribal Council. If Bob had actually had the real idol, he wouldn't have had to make a fake one last time. Pffft. The Immunity Challenge involves questions about Gabon. Each time a Survivor gets a right answer, they get a ball. When the questions are over, they stand on top of the hill and throw a ball down into a large circle divided up like a dartboard. The closer you get to the bullseye, the better your chance of winning. Sugar had the most right answers which gave her the most chances to win. Bob was in 2nd place, followed by Corinne. Although Matty took an early lead, Bob proved to be the most accurate winning Immunity. Check off step one of Bob & Corinne's plan. Now who to approach? with Bob's shiny new idol? How about GameBoy himself? Surprise, surprise, Kenny bought it hook, line, and sinker. He suggested bringing in Crystal as their fourth. But although he seemed totally fooled and I'm still shaking my head about that, he wasn't stupid enough to put all his eggs in one basket. Kenny made sure the votes would be split between Corinne & Matty forcing Corinne to play the idol. Except, Crystal was playing a little game of her own. I'm not sure whether she was totally convinced the idol was real, but she was definitely down with voting Matty off. Would Crystal stick to the plan or make a bold move against Kenny's wishes? At Tribal before the votes were read, Jeff asked if anyone wanted to play the hidden immunity idol. Kenny looked expectantly at Corinne who slowly shook her head. You could have knocked Kenny over with a feather. He couldn't believe the player had been played. Would he get another shock from Crystal? No, she stayed true to Kenny releasing Corinne from her ordeal with the mutants. Also sent to the sidelines by this move were our tribe members Cheryl Lendvoy and Marie Leurer who would never call their opponents mutants. In closing, may I just say that if Bob doesn't win Survivor, he's got a future making tribal jewellery! Until next time, Lynn (aka Gillian, I wish I was the token elder, Larson)