Survivor Nicaragua - September 15/10

After carefully arranging my fitness classes to keep Thursday night free, it seems the Survivor gods have seen fit to foil my plans by moving Survivor to Wednesday. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to plan their life around Survivor, but it seems Donna selected an evening class on Wednesdays with the intent of keeping Thursday free for Survivor. Luckily Donna has a PVR and I have satellite tv with a 9:00 showing of Survivor from (of all places) Kenora, Ont. It will all work out.

Tonight's episode gets underway with two groups of Survivors hiking through the bush to a rendezvous with Dimples. He tells them that, hidden somewhere along a nearby lagoon, is a "medallion of power". The one who finds the medallion claims it for their entire tribe. Survivors scurry out to find the medal, but it is Brenda who finds it suspended in a tree. When everyone returns, Dimples reveals that the two groups who have hiked in together are not the actual tribes. He asks everyone over 40 to get in one group (Espada), and everyone under 30 to go to a second group (La Flor). Oh yes, and about that medallion of power. Since Brenda found it, and belongs to the La Flor tribe, they get to decide whether to keep the medallion with its as yet unidentified power,or trade it for fire and a trunk full of fishing gear. Being from a generation that is notoriously big on instant gratification, La Flor gives the medallion to Espada and takes the flint and fishing gear.

Back at Camp Espada, Jimmy Johnson muses about how he should handle his celebrity status. He knows some will be fans and some will not be impressed by his NFL coaching record. Holly runs up to Wendy tells her she likes her, trusts her and wants to be in an alliance with her, then runs away. Even Wendy is taken aback. Meanwhile Jane impresses the tribe by lighting a fire with her eyeglasses. By nightfall they are admiring a beautiful camp fire but the great Jimmy J. is loudly puking on a nearby grassy knoll. The next morning he gets up, sleepless, bug bitten and sick to tell us that he never imagined Survivor would be this tough.

At Camp La Flor Sash is admiring the beautiful women and the beach and the beautiful women. Jud, nicknamed Fabio by his tribe mates is dubbed a dumb blond by Shannon. Oh and lets talk about Shannon shall we? The man is obviously suffering some trauma from wearing a woman's name for his whole life. Or maybe he hates women because his mom was a woman and called him Shannon. In any case he says that the men can't let a woman win because they are already "owned in marriage' and next thing you know there is going to be a woman president. Kelly decides to get an awkward moment out of the way by revealing to her tribe that she has a prosthetic leg. True to form Shannon takes us aside and tells us that she has to be sent home early because if she shows up in front of the jury with that leg they will just hand her the money. Meanwhile Chase REALLY likes Brenda...so much so that he tells her about the all-guy alliance. Brenda just thinks Chase is clueless.

Speaking of clues, Alina and Kelly B. find a clue to a hidden immunity idol. They aren't able to unravel the clue so decide to keep it to themselves. This puts Alina in an unwanted alliance with Kelly B. (Alina also things Kelly will have to go home early).

Tree mail arrives announcing an immunity challenge. Before Espada leaves for the challenge, Coach Johnson gives his team a stirring locker room speech (except there is no locker room so I think he does it on that grassy knoll he puked on earlier).

At the Challenge, Dimples reveals the power of the Medallion of Power. It can be held and used for any challenge and will give the tribe who uses it an advantage in the challenge. If unused the tribe can keep it. If they use it, it passes to the other tribe to be used in a later challenge. Espada decides they don't need help for this challenge so they keep the medallion for a later date.

The challenge involves tribe members holding sections of a gutter in place while someone pours buckets of water down the trough and into a barrel. When the barrel is full it will release a bag of (wait for it....) puzzle pieces. The first tribe to release and assemble their puzzle wins immunity. It's a close one, but La Flor wins immunity

And so the strategizing begins among the Espadrilles. Jimmy T wants to get rid of Coach Jimmy. Coach Jimmy wants to get rid of himself or Wendy as the weakest players. Holly says what may become one of the great Survivor lines... "we have to keep the team strong. I wish I had thought of that before I made an alliance with Wendy". There is a group discussion and general agreement that it should be either Coach Jimmy or Wendy, but no one will outright say who they are voting for. But after Wendy babbles at Tribal Council about what a likeable person she is, she is the one having her torch snuffed. Wendy is represented in our pool by Jeff (no need to send the cash Jeff!)

Remember to get your votes in to me before the start of the second episode next Wednesday. Pick the person you think will win the million dollars and you might win a genuine Survivor Nicaragua buff.

Until next week,
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

Pat (aka Jill calm and cool Behm)