Survivor Redemption Island - Feb. 16/11

We begin Survivor Redemption Island with our 16 newbie survivors on a helicopter flying over Nicaragua with only the clothes on their back (lots of itsy-bitsies and a couple of suits - who the hell wears a suit when they are going to Nicaragua to be on Survivor??). We meet Phillip who identifies himself as a former special agent, Ralph who identifies himself as a redneck and Mike who identifies himself as a former marine who has served two tours in Iraq. This all sounds very impressive but none of them impressed your jaded scribe. So the first helicopter lands and they stand on a soggy beach while Jeff aka Dimples points out a second helicopter that is about to land. All eyes expectantly turn to the second helicopter, The first to emerge is Boston Rob who is greeted with cheers and general excitement. Next to emerge is Russel Hantz who is greeted by an awkward silence followed by a smattering of polite applause. When the group is asked for an opinion on this turn of events Francesca pipes up and says that Rob and Russell "are sizing them up like prey" which gets her a significant look from Boston Rob. The Survivors have already been assigned to tribes. Rob and Russell draw buffs to determine which tribe they will belong to. Dimples advises the tribes to listen to the wisdom of these two career Survivors and accept them as leaders.

Dimples then takes a few moments to explain the other twist in this season of Survivor. When someone is ousted at Tribal Council they will not go directly home. Instead, they will go to Redemption Island where they will have the same supplies as the other camps but will have to live and find their food alone. When another person is voted off and arrives at Redemption Island they will have a "duel", the winner of which gets to stay. The loser will be sent home. At some point in the course of the game, whoever is on Redemption Island will be allowed back into the game to wreak havoc with anyone responsible for voting them out.

So the tribes head off to camp. Russell and his Zapatera Tribe arrive to find that the camp is equipped with a tool kit, rope and other useful stuff. Redneck Ralph quickly takes charge of building a shelter, but Russell declares himself the true leader of the group. He tells us he is "bringing it" and that he is no longer a rookie at the game (I guess not!). At the Ometepe camp the girls flutter around Rob like moths to a hot poker. Someone describes it as Camp Harmony, that is until Phillip opens his mouth. He bosses people around and wastes no time in revealing his big secret. He is a former federal special agent. He tells them he is an expert in analysing behaviour (behavior for my US friends) and knowing when people are telling the truth. He claims he was reluctant to tell them all this, but since it only took him about an hour to do it I rather think he was bursting at the seams to tell everyone. Meanwhile Boston Rob catches Krisina rooting through the camp gear. He rightly assumes that she is looking for a hidden idol. Rob and Phillip have a chat about a possible alliance and Phillip and Kristina also discuss an alliance.

At Camp Zapatera, Russell is flirting with Stephanie, telling her they will travel together to the merge. The pair is noticed by Mike and David who seem to recall that Russell has a history of attaching himself to cute little girls. They quickly decide that Russell needs to be gone as soon as possible. Similarly Kristina has noticed that Rob is busily gathering up all the pretty young things at the Ometepe camp, and that even the guys admire him. Knowing the danger in all of this she commits to finding the hidden immunity idol that she knows must be around somewhere. She looks for landmarks and pokes around trees and under rocks, not unlike Russell in past seasons. And, like Russell, she finds the idol! She quickly relocates it in a new hiding spot. She seeks out Francesca to discuss getting rid of Rob. The two also talk to Phillip. Phillip, however, needs corroboration. " Where are the numbers? Don't interrupt me when I'm talking. No I'm not finished. Blah blah blah blah". This guy is like some weird hybrid between Archie Bunker, a tough old high school principal and the Ayotollah.

The tribes are called together for a combined reward/immunity challenge. The winner gets fire in the form of a flint. The loser gets to go to Tribal Council to vote off their first member. The challenge involves moving four very large, very heavy stone blocks into position against a wall.The team must then climb the rocks and use a machete to cut through several ropes. This releases a set of steps. The then climb up to the next level where they solve a three dimensional puzzle to create a mini-pyramid.Ometepe falls behind early, nearly recovers during the puzzle part of the challenge, but eventually loses to Russell and the Zapaterians.

Now its game on at the Ometepe camp. Kristina tells Francesca about the immunity idol, still bent on getting rid of Rob. Francesca wants her to think about getting rid of Natalie instead, keeping Rob around for his strength in challenges. Kristina then goes to Phillip. She can't get the man to shut up so she takes his hand and leads him, still blathering, to the idol. We don't need numbers, she says, we have an idol. Phillip is now entirely down with getting rid of Rob since he can then be the leader. Boston Rob tells us that he initially wanted to vote Francesca off because of her early comment that Rob and Russell were sizing them up like prey. To Rob that indicated that she knew he was sly. Now that he has seen Kristina looking for the idol though, she has become his target. He tells the others that he thinks she may have the idol and suggests that the girls vote for Kristina and the guys vote for Francesca. This will get rid of one of them and possibly flush out the idol.

At Tribal Council all hell breaks loose. Phillip interprets some comment as a change in plan. He freaks out and in the process tells the group that Krisina and Francesca wanted to vote out Rob and that Kristina has the idol. It is not difficult to see why this man is a former special agent. Who the heck would trust this man with information that was even remotely sensitive?? Rob asks Kristina if she does have the idol. When she admits she does, he asks her to give it to him and she will be safe. She refuses. In a show of either courage or stubbornness, she also chooses not to use her idol but continues to clutch it in her hand as the votes are counted. In the end Phillip gets two votes hastily cast by Francesca and Kristina after his outburst, Kristina gets three votes and Francesca gets four. And so Francesca heads off to Redemption Island. Francesca is represented by Kathy in our pool. Since Francesca technically has not been sent home yet we have to assume she is still in the game. So Kathy, you may get your money back, but then again, you may not! Stay tuned to see how Francesca does in her first duel.

Remember to cast your votes for the Survivor that you believe will win the million. I will take votes up until the start of next week's show. The winner will receive a Survivor Redemption Island buff in the colour of MY choice hehehehe.

Until next week,
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast
Pat aka Matt who? Elrod