Survivor Tocantins - February 19/09

We begin tonight's episode with Team Jalapao returning to camp, having sent Carolina packing. Sandy is confident that the tide will turn in her favour (favor, for our alphabet deprived New Hampshire friends) now that she has made it through one Tribal Council. She has been underestimated she tells us. But Spencer assures us Sandy has only had a temporary reprieve and is the next to go. The morning of day 4 finds the tribe, under the leadership of Joe, looking for protein. There is a discussion about termites while they wander through the forest looking for termite hills. Joe finds a termite hill, points to it and calls it a termite hill. He then kicks it over, releasing a torrent of bugs. In one of those moments that gives we blondes a bad name, Debbie looks at the river of bugs fleeing from the termite hill and asks "are those termites?" No Debbie. This is a special termite hill where only tarantulas live....of course they are freakin' termites! Meanwhile, Joe and Spencer have gathered around the termite hill. Spencer reminds us that he is a teenager and is not used to going hungry. He starts chowing down on the termites proving that teenagers will eat almost anything as long as they don't have to do dishes. The real treat, though is when they find a fat, juicy larvae. They pass it around and Joe, Spencer and Stephen each have a bite. Joe and Spencer seem ok with the menu but poor Stephen is doing a little gagging. I picture my good buddy Lynn doing her sympathy gag thing.

But enough about Jalapao. At Timbira they are unsuccessfully trying to light a fire but no one really seems concerned about it. Sierra is more worried about finding the hidden immunity idol as she is still feeling very threatened. Deciding she needs help to find the idol she confides in Brendon. Together they find a possible location on the beach for the idol and begin to dig. Back at camp people begin to notice they are missing so Debbie volunteers to go looking for them. She arrives at the beach to find Brendan and Sierra digging a massive crater in the sand. Believe me, the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs didn't leave a crater this big! Thinking quickly, Sierra tells Debbie that they are building a giant fire pit. At this point Debbie has her second blonde moment of the day saying "Oh good we can pretend we are on a beach somewhere!!". Uh, Debbie. You are on a beach. Somewhere. Don't make me come to Brazil and kill you. A little later on Taj confesses to the group that she is the wife of NFL running back Eddie George. Most of the men are in awe, Stephen is embarassed because he has never heard of Eddie George, and TJ decides he needs the money more than Taj.

Back at Club Timbira, they finally have a fire started and Candace is cooking. She wants to cook the rice and the beans together. Coach Benjamin thinks they should be cooked separately since they cook at different speeds. There is a little tension from which Candace walks away. Coach later comes over to apologize by....well...flirting with Candace and uh....licking her. Candace tells us that Coach's ego is bigger than Brazil and will be his downfall. I will point out that Rick had voted for Coach to win the million. At this point he turned to me and asked if he could change his vote.

Fortunately Rick's grovelling for a second chance was cut short by an immunity/reward challenge. Dimples arrived wearing a mint green shirt. Weird, I know! This challenge is a game of full body contact extreme three on three water basketball. With teams of three rotating through the game, the first team to score three baskets wins reward. This is nasty, but in the end the nerdy Stephen wrestles the ball away from a Timbiravar and scores the winning basket. And so Jalapoa wins reward - a set of fishing gear - as well as the right to send someone from the other tribe to Exile Island. They pick Brendan. Dimples introduces a new twist though, in that Brendan has to pick someone from the opposite tribe to go with him. He selects Taj.


Back at Timbira-Med they have to decide who to send home. Their perennial scapegoat, Sierra, is back on the block but some new names are being tossed around too. Coach didn't contribute much to the basketball game. Candace wonders what he brings to the table besides talk. Debbie (of "are those termites" and we can pretend we're on a beach somewhere" fame) rushes to tell Coach of Candace's plan. Coach immediate moves his sites away from Sierra and over to "the cancer in the tribe" Candace.

Things are more idyllic at the Jalapao camp where JT and Stephen are trying out the fishing gear. The two are bonding. Stephen calls JT his Tom Sawyer and admits that he is smitten with JT's "pretty country ways". Even JT doesn't hesitate to call this unlikely match a friendship.

On Exile Island (which is actually just a giant sand dune) Brendan and Taj find a note asking each of them to select one of two urns. Taj's is empty but Brendan holds a note telling him that the immunity idol is located in the Tribal Homeland. Brendan heads off to look for the idol and Taj wants to come along for the "walk". But they soon figure out that the clue is telling them that the idol is back at camp. Brendan's note also tells him that he has the choice of returning to either tribe, but he says no way is he going to go to the Jalapao team. When Brendan arrives back at camp he tells them that Taj got the clue for the immunity idol and that he is uncertain whether she found it or not.

Meanwhile the Jalapaogonians are still trying to decide who to send home. Candace and Erin want Coach gone but think maybe they should wait a while and let him dig his own hole. But Candace is plotting for nothing. When Dimples (still in his mint green shirt) counts the votes Candace has five and is the one heading home. Trotting along behind Candace is our pool's own Lorelee. Also crying in their rice and bean pilaf are Pam and Jack who both chose Candace to win the million.

And speaking of that little secondary contest, here are the votes for the final winner:

Pam and Jack \, in an unfortunate moment of poor judgement, voted for Candace
Lisa and Grace voted for Jerry
Barb and Selina voted for JT (wahoo, been a long time since anyone picked my guy to win!)
Lynn and Pat voted for Brendan
Cheryl voted for Erinn
Georgia voted for Tyson
Marie's kids told her she was voting for Spencer
Donna voted for Joe
Rick voted for Coach Benjamin and won't be allowed to change his vote
Lorelee voted for Sierra

That's it for this week. Until next time,
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Pat (aka JT Ain't I just the most loveable country boy you ever met Thomas)