Thursday, March 12, 2009

Survivor Tocantins - March 12/09

Its Day 13 (or maybe 14, I can't always tell because the tv station likes to put upcoming shows in the corner where the day is which makes me really grumpy). Anyhow, its some kind of day in around the two week mark. Sandy has left the scene with barely a ripple. At Jalapoa, Taj is excited about the secret Exile Island alliance. She and Stephen discuss it while Stephen scratches Taj's back. Now if that ain't an alliance I don't know what is! Wait until her NFL husband gets hold of Stephen's pencil-neck. First Stephen doesn't know who famous hubby is, now he's scratching the little woman's back. Focus Pat, focus. So Taj and Stephen head off to look for the idol and, as expected, find it hidden in the skirts of the tree mail god. Taj has no pockets so she gives it to Stephen to keep. Privately Stephen tells us that the idol is in his possession now and he might not give it back. At Timbura, Brendan and Sierra finally find some time to be alone. Sierra is ticked that Brendan never told her about the plan for the Exile Island Alliance. Brendan smoothes it over though, assuring Sierra that he meant to tell her (which is true, he really did).


Dimples shows up in a dusty blue shirt for the reward challenge. This is a puker challenge where a member of each tribe sits on a turntable clutching a centre pole. A tribe-mate takes a rope wound around the turntable and runs. This causes the turntable to spin, much like a top, making Pat feel very ill. It also makes the person on the turntable very dizzy. Once they have completed the spin the dizzy spinee must get up and hurry across a balance beam to cross the finish line. This is repeated over three rounds and the tribe who wins two rounds wins reward. Jalapoa wins reward, a visit to the Cafe Charmin (can you say sponsorship opportunity?) where they have access to coffee, juice, pastries, soap and (you guessed it) Charmin. In addition to winning the reward, Jalapao gets to send someone from Timbira to Exile Island (Brendan). Brendan then gets to pick someone from Jalapao to go with him. He picks Stephen thinking he would like to get to know his new ally. Little does Brendan know that his tribe is a little suspicious of his choice and concerned about the amount of time he is spending with the enemy. Tyler is particularly worried about Brendan and feels he should be the next to go.


At Jalapao there are similar concerns about Taj having been away from the tribe so much. But this time she isn't at Exile Island. She is at the Cafe Charmin and loving every minute of it. Things get even better when JT finds tree mail with letters from home for everyone. I'm thinkin' a lot of that Charmin got used to wipe up tears rather than wiping bear bums.


At Timbira there is more talk about Brendan and how he must go. There is also a great scene from the "Coach is an ass" collection where Coach goes on and on about how there is a storm rolling in. Not to worry though, says Coach knowledgeably, since it is going to head off to the west and juuuuussst miss them. The next scene is of the camp being drenched by a torrential downpour.


On Exile Island Brendan introduces Stephen to his "vacation pad". They talk about their alliance and Stephen reveals that he and Taj found the immunity idol hidden at their camp. Privately Stephen tells us that Brendan is obviously a strong strategic player and Stephen has no intention of putting his whole faith in the Exile Island Alliance. Editor's note: This Stephen is a wiley if somewhat nerdy fellow.


On Day 15 Sydney is telling Spencer about a dream she had involving her boyfriend, earthquakes and salsa. She woke up from the dream knowing this is the man she has to marry. Huh? She engages Spencer in a conversation about relationships, after which he tells us privately he is gay. Editor's note 2: I was wondering where the required Survivor Gay Guy was hiding this season. Apparently Spencer is reluctant to reveal the fact, particularly to TJ who is a good ol' southern boy and may have some strong opinions on gay guys. Editor's note 3:Not MY guy!!


So its on to the immunity challenge. This one involves shooting balls from a giant slingshot and catching them in a fish net. Members from each tribe are paired up to both catch the ball and prevent their opponent from catching it. JT is amazing in this challenge. Editors note 4: He made me soooo proud. He catches four balls for the Jalapoaloaves, even breaking a front tooth in the process. When he takes the tooth out and throws it into the water, Dimples retrieves and keeps it for him. Ewww. In spite of JT's efforts though, Timira pulls a win out of their - uh - back pocket. JT has a little temper tantrum, feeling that Spencer didn't do his job as a defender during the challenge. Spencer must go, says JT.



Back at camp the Jalapaolites lick their wounds and prepare for tribal council. Joe and JT are beat up and Taj is angry at herself and, for reasons that I couldn't establish, at Joe. She bawls him out and leaves Joe wondering if Taj should get his next vote. Stephen is wondering the same thing. He is better off if Taj goes home and leaves him with the idol. On the other hand Taj is the connection with the other half of the Exile Island Alliance. Hmmm. What to do?


Off they trek to Tribal Council. Apparently they have a new wardrobe person on the Survivor set because Dimples arrives wearing a chartreuse green shirt. This is the second non-blue shirt he has worn this season. There is no telling what crazy mischief these Survivor people will get up to next! But when Dimples tallies the votes we learn that the youthful Spencer is heading home, taking our own Kathy with him. Leaving the "pick the winner" contest tonight is Marie, whose girls told her to vote for Spencer. See where getting outside help gets you?

Speaking of crazy Survivor mischief...Survivor is skipping next week and will return Wed. of the following week. This is probably due to accomodate March Madness or some such thing. So until the next episode...
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Pat (aka JT I caught a ball while spitting out a tooth Thomas)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Survivor Tocantins - March 5/09

As Survivor Stardate Day 10 dawns on the Brazilian highlands, Jalapao is concerned about poor Taj going off to Exile Island and having to endure such hardships. Little do they know that Taj is using her visits to Exile Island to plot their demise. And speaking of alliances, Taj continues to cement her friendship with Stephen, asking him if he wants to be part of the biggest Survivor upset in history. If Taj and Stephen link up and keep their secret alliance with Brendan and Sierra from the other tribe, they will be unstoppable when the tribes merge. Stephen is not turning down an offer like that.


Over at the Timbira camp Brendan is worried because he hasn't had a chance to pull Sierra aside and tell her about the proposed alliance. They all head off to the reward challenge where Dimples explains that three members from each tribe will be selected to hold a bar across their shoulders. The other tribe can then determine which of the three will have two 10 pound sandbags added to their bar. The tribe with the last man or woman standing as weight is added will win reward. Jalapao weighs Brendan down and he is out first, but only after tieing a Survivor record for most weight supported in this particular challenge. One by one the men are loaded up and drop out of the competition until only Taj and Debbie are left. Taj eventually wins the fourth consecutive challenge for Jalapoa. The reward is that Jalapoa gets to raid the Timbira camp and take any two items. They also get to select a Timbit to go to Exile Island (Sierra) who then gets to select a Jalap to go with her (Taj). As Brendan watches Taj and Sierra walk away together, he is fervently hoping that Taj will explain the plan to Sierra.


At the Timbira camp, they are awaiting the arrival of the Jalapao raiders and speculating on what they will take. As expected, when JT and Joe arrive they head straight for the beans. Realizing that they could at any time be sent to this camp, Joe and JT wisely decide not to take all the food and take one bag of beans and a water can. When they return to camp Sandy is ticked that they didn't take all of Timbira's food (gee and she seemed like such a harmless crazy lady). Sandy goes on and on about the "fartin' beans" and generally drives her tribe-mates crazy, thereby painting a large target on her back. But Sandy, after nearly drowning in a puddle of male saliva, figures that Sydney should go because she is using her considerable beauty to short circuit the men's thought processes.


At Exile Island Taj gets the next clue to the wherabouts of the hidden immunity (the one at her camp, because, as you will recall, Brendan has already found the one at Camp Timbira). She also has a chance to tell Sierra about the alliance between Taj, Brendan, Stephen and Sierra. Sierra is delighted, having clawed her way up from the bottom of the heap on day one to the top of the heap on day 11.


At the Timbira camp they are relaxing and generally not looking like a tribe who has lost all of the last four challenges. Tyson makes himself a loincloth and models it for the tribe, wondering if he can reintroduce the loin cloth to civilized man. Erinn is not joining in the fun though. She tells us that she can't seem to connect with her tribe. She is recovering from a bad break up and she feels if she talks to anyone it is sure to come up and she will cry. Meanwhile the others are noticing that Erinn prefers to be on her own and that is seldom a good thing in Survivor. Its far better to be with the group where you can be suitably annoying and conniving.

For the Immunity Challenge Survivors must race, one at a time, along a course to untie and unclip long puzzle pieces. When all eight puzzle pieces are detached and returned to the start line, they must be laid out in the right order and rotated in the right way to spell out a secret phrase. Timbira nails this one and finally wins a challenge.

As the Jalapaolubians begin their pre-council deliberations, Sandy naturally becomes a topic of conversation. But Taj suggests that Sandy may be stronger than Sydney. Even Stephen and JT have to take their eyes off the pretty shiney thing for a moment to give this one some thought. Their decision is made even harder when Stephen asks Sydney what she loves most about the game and she answers "the sneakiness". There is a collective hmmmm among the men in camp who apparently have never thought of Sydney as a sneaky pretty shiney thing. But when tribal council is over and Dimples counts the votes there is one vote for Joe (cast by Taj..what the hell?) one vote for Sydney and 4 votes for Sandy. And so the dynamic duo of Pam and Donna will be turning in their buffs and Pam will not be repeating her win from last season.

Until next week,
Outwit, Outlast, Outplay
Pat (aka JT I'm just the cutest little country boy ever Thomas)