Survivor One World - April 25, 2012

The Survivors return to camp on night 27. Leif has joined the jury, eight are left and Troy is feeling very alone. Even though the women are picking off the men one by one, Tarzan still feels his best hope is to win immunity or to side with the girls. Since the immunity thing isn't likely to happen...well lets just say that is one really hairy girl. Morning comes with tree mail. This one announces a challenge that is not physical but where skills of perception will help Survivors "get away". When they enter the challenge area they find an effigy of each Survivor, suspended by three ropes, over a fire. Survivors must answer a series of questions about their tribe-mates. The answers are all compiled by Dimples. Individual answers must agree with the majority of the tribe to score a point. Each correct answer wins the right to chop one rope. Once all three ropes supporting a players effigy have been cut they are out. The answers to the various questions are not surprising to us, but definitely catch some of the players off guard. Christina is voted as the one who least deserves to be in the game. Kim is voted as the one everyone would trust with their life as well as the one most would want to be stranded with on a deserted island. Kat is voted to be the one most in need of a wake-up call in life. Troy is voted the biggest poser. Sabrina is voted as the one who does the least for the tribe. Most tellingly, Troy is voted as the one most would never want to see again. One by one the effigies fall in the fire. Who chops whose rope is a clear indicator of where allegiances lie. In the end Kim wins reward. To further inflame hurt feelings, she has to choose two people to go with her. She chooses Chelsea and Alicia, leaving Kat devastated. Troy is quick to jump in and pronounce the trio as the final three. Kim tries to put the game behind as she, Chelsea and Alicia fly in a helicopter to a remote beach where they lay out a picnic lunch. But Kim is scared. Winning the challenge was a disaster for her. She has been outed as the one everyone likes and trusts. Not picking Kat was her first non-strategic move and she feels it may come back to bite her. Back at camp Troy is busy sowing seeds of unease with Kat, Sabrina and Christina. He works particularly hard on Kat who becomes quite upset when Troy tells her she isn't in the final three and that she is a follower. Sabrina follows Kat and tries to soothe her. Rejoining the group, Sabrina is interested to see where the weak links are. She asks Troy what his master plan is, and suggests that all they have to do is get two of the women to turn. Christina takes the bait and is ready to throw her lot in with Troy. Privately Sabrina tells us she has no intention of reneging on her promise to the other women, but Christina has just become even more of a liability. When Kim returns to camp an angry Kat can't even bring herself to talk to her. Kim take Kat aside and begs her to look at the bigger picture. Kat is afraid she will go down being seen as a weak player and the thought obviously scares her to death. Day 29 brings rain and a pig. The sow wanders into camp. Pandemonium ensues. Ropes are flung in a vain attempt to lasso the pig, who, though adept at escaping the rope, seems fairly unconcerned by all the mayhem. In the end Kim pronounces that she couldn't kill and eat the pig anyway and that they should keep it as a pet. Since they never actually are able to catch or restrain the pig, it appears the pig will decide whether to stay or go. We see it laying in the shade in a later shot, so it seems likely that pig has decided life in Survivorland is way more exciting than whatever farm boredom she has escaped. The immunity challenge involves slathering oil on Survivor bodies and sliding along a slippery surface to retrieve a ring. The ring then has to be thrown onto a peg. The first four to do this move on to round two, the same contest but with two rings. Chelsea, Kat, Tarzan and Kim move on to the second round and Chelsea and Kim battle it out in the third round. Kim is the ultimate winner but the big news is that Troy was ousted in the first round. He is mad. He pouts. He turns his back. Back at camp he admits he is disappointed but will never say die. Kim has a plan to split the votes with two people voting for Christina. The thought is that, if Troy really did find another immunity idol in the jungle, they will still be able to get rid of Christina. Sabrina explains the situation to Christina as a courtesy, but Christina does not seem to get the concept that, if Troy has an idol, she will be gone. Troy, not surprisingly, approaches Christina and suggests that the two of them should vote for Chelsea, just to mix things up. Christina uses the opportunity to tell Troy that she will be receiving some of the votes. Hmmmm says Troy. Now here is information I can use. For her part, Kim is scared. She knows Troy is playing hard, that Kat is angry and Christina wishy-washy. She is savvy enough to know that things could turn quickly. But when the votes are tabulated at Tribal Council Troy is the one heading over to the jury. With Troy goes Jeff from the pool. No one voted for Troy to win overall so Jeff is the only one crying in his beer this evening. There are seven Survivors left - Tarzan, Sabrina, Kat, Alicia, Chelsea, Kim and Christina. Will the women stick together and get rid of Tarzan? Or will they finally put Christina out of her misery? Or will an angry Kat make a move to upset the proverbial applecart. Stay tuned. Until next week... Outwit, Outplay Outlast Pat (aka Kat what do you mean I'm a follower not a leader Edorsson)

Survivor One World - April 18/12

Night 25 in Camp Tikiano. Jay has been sent over to the jury, a victim of the belief that cute girls that he likes wouldn't lie. Troy knows he is next unless he can work some magic. In front of the other women he asks Christine why she voted with the women when she could be one of the next targets. This puts the women on the defensive and there are heated "words". The exchange ends with Troy saying he is PO'd and that he is determined to win every challenge from this point on. The next morning Troy tells the women that people have been sent home who deserve to still be in the game. Maybe so, says Chelsea. But that is the game. She tells him to take a lesson from Jonas and take it like a man. Privately Troy tells us that the women are behaving just like they do in real life. They get their house and everything they need, then decide they don't need the man any more. Sure. That happens a lot. Tree mail arrives suggesting that they will spend cash in clever ways and their hunger will be done. They each get a "wallet" containing 500.00. At the reward "auction" Dimples is resplendent in (WTF!?) black. The first item up for auction is three donuts and an iced coffee. Chelsea picks this up for 160.00. Various items go on the block, including a shower purchased by Kim for $40.00. Dimples then produces a sheaf of letters from home. Without hesitation Alicia spends her entire 500.00 to purchase her letter from her dad. She reads it out loud and has the entire group in tears. Dimples opens the offer up to other survivors but few have all of their 500.00 left. Tarzan takes the deal but Troy is holding out for something that is going to help him survive (and it ain't food). His chance comes when a letter promising an "advantage" come up for sale. He bids against Christine who, in spite of urging from the other women refuses to go over 460.00 (apparently thinking that extra 40.00 is going to buy her some sort of goody). Not surprisingly Troy has no such concern and walks away with a leg up in the upcoming immunity challenge. Back at camp Troy reads the note which tells him he will automatically move to the second stage in the immunity challenge. He decides that his security would be further enhanced if he could find a hidden idol somewhere around camp. The girls see him looking and decide that they should look too. Amidst all this heavy traffic in the jungle, Troy fakes finding the idol by rolling up a piece of cloth and putting it in his pocket when he knows Kim is watching. Stage one of the immunity challenge involves untangling a length of knotted rope to retrieve a ring. This is the part that Troy gets to sit out. The first three of the other Survivors to retrieve the ring will move on to the second stage. Tarzan, Kim and Christina move on. In the next stage they must stand on platforms, bounce coconuts off a trampoline and try to knock out a total of three targets. Tarzan and Troy finish first and move on the the final stage. Here they must use a slingshot to lob coconuts at at board made up of 9 squares. The first to knock out three squares in a row wins immunity. Tarzan keeps it close but Troy is desperate and angry. He eventually wins immunity. On winning he throws out a lot of trash talk, causing Tarzan to take him aside back at camp and suggest he should be a more noble winner. So Troy is safe but has not made any new friends. He lobbies to get rid of Kim by trying to convince Leif, Tarzan, Christine and Alicia that they should vote with him and use the opportunity to get rid of some of the strong women. Alicia considers the offer, knowing that it makes sense. At Tribal Council there is another shoulting match, this time between Troy and Sabrina. Troy again urges the outsiders to vote for Kim. But when Dimples tabulates the votes, Leif is the one leaving along with the much taller Rick from our pool. So the women have stayed true to the girl alliance, the remaining men are in great peril and Kim, at least for the moment, seems to be in the driver's seat. Stay tuned next week to see if the women can hold it together to take out the rest of the men. Until next week, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast Pat (aka (Kat if we are bidding in multiples of 20, what comes after 20? Edorsson )

Survivor One World - April 11/12

On day 23 ten Survivors are left clinging by their fingernails to the hope of winning one million dollars. Tarzan is lamenting the loss of Mike because he believes the girls are plotting to remove the guys one by one. Troyzan is happy that Mike is gone but is also worried that he and Jay might be next because they are physically strong competitors. Treemail arrives announcing a do-it-yourself reward challenge. I suspect these are challenges put together for those times when Dimples is off charming the sponsors on the mainland. There is a stake with five cross beams numbered one to five. Survivors must throw two balls connected by a string. The goal is to get the most points by wrapping the string around the higher numbered cross beams. Survivors draw colored rocks to divide themselves into two teams. Ultimately the team of Jay, Kat, Troy, Tarzan and Alicia win reward - a boat trip followed by a barbeque on a different island. While they are waiting for a local chef to cook their seafood Jay and Kat have a chat on the beach. Jay is still angry that Mike was sent home, and wants to ensure that Kat is still on the same page. While Kat assures him that she is, Jay is not totally convinced. Meanwhile Kim tells us that she wants to be seen as calm, soft-spoken and forgettable until the jury gets around to recognizing that she was making the decisions. She believes Jay and Troy are too strong to keep around but wants both to believe they are safe. When she tells her female alliance though, Chelsea has doubts. She has looked both Jay and Troy in the eyes and told them that she will not vote for them. To betray them is "not me" she tells us. Alicia tells her she must take her heart of the game and use her brain, but Chelsea's integrity may have made her a target. Sabrina tells us they can't tolerate a crack in their alliance. "It is", says Sabrina, "time for the women to put on their big girl panties and make some big girl decisions". The women had an alliance from day one and she wants them to stick to it. Jay is of the same mind and wants to stick to the men's orginal plan and get rid of Alicia. Jay believes he is close to Kim and Chelsea and ultimately wants to take them to the final three. He admits he is tight with Troy but thinks Troy is too likeable and wiley to take to the final three. Meanwhile Kim tells Alicia that they are telling men Alicia is next to go but that it isn't true and she shouldn't panic. Jay is confident that the girls are telling the truth but Troy is not nearly so certain. For the immunity challenge Survivors must balance on a small wooden block with one hand tethered above their head to a bucket of water. If they lose their balance or lower their arm the bucket will tip, the water will spill and they will be out of the challenge. Dimples also promises to bribe them out of the contest with various food items. Before Dimples can even announce that the game is on, Tarzan spills his water and is out. Christina is also out, just before Dimples can mention the first food bribe. Sabrina dumps her water for two cookies and Kim and Kat abandon ship for some cupcakes. Alicia agrees to quit for a covered basket before she even knows what it is (a bowl of candy). After 45 minutes Troy loses his balance leaving Leif, Jay and Chelsea. Jay bows out for chicken wings and a beer (still believing he doesn't really need immunity). Chelsea persuades Leif that he will be seen as less of a threat if he lets her win. A very confused looking Leif finally agrees, takes a tray of burgers and fries and leaves Chelsea with immunity. This challenge showed a lot about who was whose side. The girls cheered each other on and actively cheered against the men, causing Troy to look dubiously at each of the women. After this challenge Chelsea admits that she can't go any further with Jay and Troy. Kim hatches a plan to split the votes to flush out Troy's suspected immunity idol and, unlike Chelsea, she has no trouble at all in lying to the men. When Jay asks her if he is going to be blindsided or if anything is going to go crazy, she tosses him her best Crest White Strips smile and tells him he needn't worry. Troy still feels that something is fishy in spite of repeated reassurance by Jay. He puts his immunity idol in his pocket and tells Jay he intends to play it tonight. This is the first that Jay knew of the idol. He seeks out Kim and tells her that Troy has the idol and is working to get Kim voted out. Kim is worried but has no time to talk to everyone before leaving for Tribal Council. She just has to hope that the women will follow the plan and give Jay enough votes to ensure he goes, should Troy play the idol. At Tribal Council Troy does opt to play his idol. The votes are actually split four ways. Kim gets one, Troy gets two, Alicia gets two and poor Jay gets four votes. And so Jay is heading off to the jury, taking pool member Jack with him. Kim has shown herself to be a wiley strategist and the women's alliance has so far held strong. Tarzan voted for Jay which I didn't really understand but....that's Tarzan. And so there are nine survivors left - Kim, Chelsea, Alicia, Sabrina, Christine, Kat, Troy, Tarzan and Leif. Who will be the next to leave? Will the women decimate the men or will their alliance crack under pressure? Check in next week to find out. Until next week, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast Pat (aka Kat I can't believe I'm still here Edorsson)

Survivor One World - April 4/12

It's Day 21 in Survivorland. Jonas has been sent over to be the first member of the jury. Troy and Jay reflect that they, along with Mike, had a pact to stick with the Salani group but are wondering if that was a mistake. Next to go, Jay concludes, must be a girl. Otherwise the men will be overwhelmed. Tree mail arrives containing a bottle of Seven-up. Big sponsorship dollars have been laid out here! The accompanying note tells the Survivors that the game is going downhill very quickly. It turns out that the Survivors will be divided into two teams via the hated school yard pick (Tarzan is the goofy kid left sitting on the sidelines because no one picked him). The rest of the survivors must slide down a giant vertical waterslide (Holy enema Batman!!) then must run out into the water to retrieve a heavy crate that doubles as a giant puzzle piece. As more team members make it off the slide there are more bodies to help with the crate. It is a close race but the team made up of Sabrina, Christina, Leif, Kim and Michael win reward and head off to a Seven-Up Oasis. There they have all the uncola they can drink along with bbq's steaks, burgers, hot dogs and all the fixin's. Sabrina and Kim steal a few moments together to discuss strategy. They feel a tight alliance of the two of them, along with Chelsea, is the way to go, and that Mike should be the next to go home. The girls back at camp are also discussing the merits of getting rid of Mike. But when someone broaches the subject with Jay he worries about the male/female numbers and how that might play out. Apparently Seven-Up has very deep pockets (...er...coolers), because the reward winners are allowed to bring an entire cooler of Seven-up back to camp with them to share with the other tribe members. Good thing they got the Seven-Up because they can use a little cheering up. A big rain and wind storm knocks down part of the wall of their shelter. According to Chelsea, Tarzan then takes part of the wall to use for firewood, even though there are other sticks all over the ground. Tarzan assures her his stick is just a random stick, not a wall stick. He senses Chelsea's doubt though, and an argument ensues. At the end of it Chelsea tells us she really wants to vote Tarzan off. But she is smart enought to know that the big threats have to be removed first and Tarzan is no real threat. Oddly, Tarzan comes to Chelsea later and asks if she dislikes him because he is a plastic surgeon. He tells her that many women have bad surgical outcomes and so hate their plastic surgeons. Chelsea assures him that her boob job is just fine and that is not why she is angry with him. All you scribe could say is WTF? Meanwhile Kim is working some girl magic. She tells Troy that Mike has been talking smack about him around camp. Troy doesn't like Mike and this gets him fueled up and itching to vote mike off. Kim has done her job admirably. For the immunity challenge, Survivors must move over a horizontal ladder while sliding a bag of puzzle pieces along a rope that is wound through the rungs of the ladder. The first four to get to the end move on to the next round where the puzzle assembly takes place. Kim, Alicia, Troy and Jay move on, but it is Jay who gets his puzzle done first. So back to the scheming. Jay wants to send Christina home to even out the male/female numbers. Kim confirms that she is cultivating both her girl alliance and her Salani alliance. Troy is still itching to vote for Mike since he believes Mike is out to get him. Chelsea talks openly to Jay in front of two women who aren't supposed to be in their alliance, thereby confirming Jay's fears that something is up in girl-land. Kim diffuses the situation by agreeing with the men that they should vote for Christina. Privately she tells us that the girls can vote for Mike or she can stick with her Salani alliance. Either way there is no going back and the move will be game changing. In the end though, with Jonas looking on from the jury box, it is Mike who is being sent on his way. Along with Mike goes Selina from our pool. Sorry to see you go Selina, especially since you never saw it coming. Until next week, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast Pat (aka Kat keep your head down Edorsson)