Episode 9 - “Old and New Bonds”

“Last week Greg was voted off.  8 castaways remain.  Who will be voted off tonight?” - Probst

Day 25

“Outright lying is absolutely essential especially when you have a host like Jeff who’s as bold as to ask “Well, so Sue, is there an alliance?” whaaat a question?” - Rich

“People flat out lied in front of a national television audience.  I mean they want a million bucks and they’re gonna get it.  And I love Jeff’s question, “Is a deserving person gonna win this money?  The answer to this question is NO.” - Colleen

“This whole alliance thing is getting too stupid and too crazy.  If we stick with it, it’s just like lining lambs to the slaughter…I don’t like it.  I’m not happy playing the game that way.  If I’m gonna win, if I’m gonna really be the last survivor, if I’m really gonna survive and really do this, then it has to be on my own. - Kelly

As the game resumes after voting Greg off it appears that a few things are clear.  One, castaways will lie or withhold information at tribal council if it can help their game in any way.  Sue and Kelly were pressed by Jeff about the alliance and they outright lied to him.  And they were bad liars too.  It seems impossible for anyone outside the alliance and actually listening to believe Sue and Kelly’s response.  Two, the tribe members outside of the alliance are aware of what is happening at tribal council AND ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT!  Colleen’s quote says it all.  She literally acknowledges the alliance and the fact that they will win the million dollars, but that doesn’t motivate her enough to take action in any united way with the other tribe members? How could that be?  I get that this is season 1 and there was no model for playing the game, but at some point the reality that you are playing for $1 million dollars has to push you to take action.  But, apparently it doesn’t.  In 2000, people were wired a different way.  Reality TV had not reprogrammed our brains to truly know what it takes or what it means to outwit, outplay, outlast the rest.  Lastly, despite the effectiveness of the alliance, the ability for it to take you far in the game, and nobody else in Rattana posing a threat to the alliance, it still doesn’t sit well with Kelly.  She doesn’t have the Gordon Gekko edge to her.  She can’t just bet the winning horse, the sure thing, and cash in her ticket.  Like the old saying goes, you can’t go broke taking a profit, but in the game of Survivor, it seems like Kelly is primed to challenge that notion.

RICH CONTINUES TO FISH

As Rich continues to set himself up strategically in the game through his spear fishing talent, there is a few ripples in that plan.  

“Nobody knew what to do with cooking the fish…half of the fish, half of the 3 rays were wasted, and that infuriates me.” - Rich

Rich’s fishing plan has been working, but hits its first snag when Rudy overcooks the latest catch.  The important take away is how Rich reacts.  He’s frustrated and shuts down.  He feels the need to do everything himself.  However, despite how this mishap is playing out, Rich is able to compose himself and think about his role and how he can use it, or not use it, to take his influence of the game to another level.

“I probably won’t get fish actually for a little while now anyway.  They need to appreciate it…We need to take a break and let them kinda hunger for it.” - Rich

Rich expresses his frustration but does it in such a way that conveys he is above the rest.  He is.  But this turn of events does expose a chink in Rich’s armor.  Only the young, green, and naïve Colleen seems to see it and express being bothered by it.  To this point, she is the only one to cast a vote for Rich.  Fortunately for Rich, Colleen couldn’t formulate a coup d’etat, even for a million dollars.

A SECOND SOURCE OF FOOD

Just when the women were on their last line and ready to retire from fishing, they pull up the traps to find success.  The team of women feel accomplished and ready to prove to Rich that they can provide fish too.  They are able to shut Rich up.  Even Sue likes that idea. 

“I think it might bother him.  In a way I hope it does.  I hope it bugs him.  Cause now he can’t say that no more.  Cause us girls caught this one.” - Sue

The look of joy on Sue’s face is telling of just how proud she is to prove Rich wrong and show him what she and the women can do to provide.  The alliance keeps Sue from fully jumping ship to an all women alliance but she holds nothing back when it comes to proving her worth and ability to provide.  This is an opening for the women and for someone like Jenna to create a change in the bigger game.  It may not be enough but catching the fish can get the conversation started.

REWARD CHALLENGE - Rope’s Course

The tribe is playing for a good old fashioned barbecue and some letters from home.  Jeff was ecstatic to share the reward for today, especially with Jenna, who was left out of the video from home.

To win the reward the survivor must retrieve 16 medallions spread out along a rope’s course.  The rope course is set in the jungle as the previous rope course challenge was.  WINNER - Colleen.

After a close finish, Colleen beats out Kelly to win reward.  She then helps right the wrong from the previous reward challenge when she picks Jenna as the one to join her for the barbecue and reading the letters from home.  

“See Sean’s the swing vote.  You know what I mean?  Me, you and Gervase could definitely do something.  They’re gonna pick people off until it gets down to them and then they’re gonna start eating each other.  You know what I mean?  But I’m saying why are we sitting back and watching it happen? - Colleen to Jenna.

Despite her age and perceived lack of wisdom, Colleen again proves the viewer wrong.  She knows what is going on and is using the barbecue reward to make her case to Jenna for how they can change the narrative of this season.  Coupled with this strategy move, Colleen helps Jenna, deservedly, connect with home via the letters.  This needed to happen. 

RICH’S BIRTHDAY

Rich turns 39 on the island and decides to celebrate in his birthday suit.  Colleen and Jenna are uncomfortable and Rudy doesn’t particularly care for it.  

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Red Squares Puzzle Game

A strategy game of stepping from square to square until the last person has a tile to step onto.  It comes down to the doctor and the 72 year old ex. Navy Seal. WINNER - Rudy.

PRE-TRIBAL COUNCIL

“The decision I feel that I’m left with is, do I interact with these people, have fun, and wait til my ticket comes up?, or, do I try and strategize and try and make a difference?” - Colleen

“We tried the be nice, honor way.  It didn’t work.  So don’t be stupid anymore.  It’s just we’re smarter now.  We gotta switch gears.” - Gervase

It is nice to see the other members of Rattana recognize what is happening in the game, come together, and make a play at shaking up the game.  Colleen, Jenna, and Gervase’s plans aren’t the only ones stirring around camp.  Kelly finds herself faced with an internal conflict.  Does she continue to vote with her alliance?, ally with the other women she has been getting along with from Pagong?, or chart her own course?  Ultimately, Kelly and Sean’s votes will determine who is voted off tonight, who becomes the 2nd member of the jury, and where the direction of the game is headed going forward.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

After Jeff explains how the jury will work to the viewers at home…

“Sean, I got to ask you about the alphabet thing.” - Probst

I think Jeff speaks for America here.  How can this be the strategy?  I get that you don’t want any blood on your hands and I get that you don’t have a malicious bone in you, but the reality is a public voting strategy can and will be used by other players that will not end with Sean having the million dollars.  I guess he really is there only for a fun, regret free experience.  

“Sue, what’s your take on that as somebody who might come up soon in the alphabet and get even a vote if Sean thinks you’re the best person here?” - Probst

It’s funny, despite how ludicrous Sean’s voting strategy is, and how much he doesn’t want his vote to hurt people in the game, the people he ends up hurting are all from Pagong.  All of the names from Tagi - Kelly, Sean, Sue, Rich, Rudy, all came alphabetically AFTER the Pagong names - Colleen, Gervase, Greg, Jenna, and even Gretchen who already has been eliminated.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  Or maybe was telling the truth about his plan all along.  Either way, I don’t see Sean being around long enough to finish his alphabetic strategy unless he can win some challenges.

“How important is Richard right now because he seems to be the only guy, at least of who’s left, who’s able to catch fish?” - Probst

The women jumped all over this question.  They showed how vulnerable Rich truly was.  His confidence and cocky attitude nearly gets him voted out, but thanks to Sean’s swing vote and the luck of the names of the former Pagong not being Wayne, Wendy, Xavier and Zoe.  Rich escapes from the vote.

VOTING

Gervase - RICH “My vote is for Rich because the longer Rich is on this island, the bigger of a threat he becomes to me taking that million dollars.  So, I figure if I get rid of him now, everyone else will be cake, so Happy Birthday Rich.”

Finally, Gervase bands together in an attempt to actually influence the game.  He had me nervous for a minute that he wasn’t going to do anything about the game being dictated to him.

Sean - JENNA “Continuing my alphabetic strategy.  Jenna, you know I love you.  No offense to this.  I hope you don’t get voted off.  You might have one vote or two votes, but nothing major, I hope.”

Sean’s alphabetic, don’t want to hurt anyone, want to throw away my vote for the second time ends up actually being a major vote.  The major vote. The deciding vote. If Colleen and her Pagong alliance could have swung Sean’s vote to be for Rich, then the history of Survivor ends up completely different. Wow Sean, wow.

Jenna - RICH “Fish or not, I think he’s getting near the point, he’s ready to go home.  Even though it is his birthday.” 

Jenna makes a last ditch effort to pursue a big game strategy.  She failed with the women strategy and now failed with swaying Sean to vote for Rich and change the game in her favor.  She doesn’t deserve to go now, but she ultimately is a threat to the alliance.

Votes - Jenna - 4, Rich - 3, Sean - 1

You may be asking, who voted for Sean?  That would be Kelly.  Kelly had been battling her morality in the game the last two episodes and it finally came to a head in this vote.  She went rogue and voted Sean.  My guess is she knew that with Sean’s alphabetic strategy meant he would vote for Jenna, and combined with Rich, Sue, and Rudy’s votes (4 total), no matter what, that would be enough to vote Jenna out, while also taking the blood off her hands for this vote.  In her mind, Kelly would be able to justify voting for Sean because of x, y, or z reasons but my hunch is she wanted to distance herself from the alliance to play a fairer game, so when she saw this opportunity, she took it.  My bet is that the alliance will not be happy about it.

PROBST’S CLOSING THOUGHT

“Jenna is now part of the jury.  She’ll return next week and join Greg.” - Probst

Jenna joins Greg as the first 2 members of the jury who will have the final vote for who wins the million dollars.  Would have liked to see Jenna last a little longer than some of the others from Pagong.  She deserved it.

JENNA EXIT INTERVIEW

“Well, I had a good time.  It was a great time on the island.  I felt like I was targeted because they knew that Sean would vote for me alphabetically, so they knew they’d get an easy off with me.  They were more powerful because Pagong went into it a little naive, so that’s it.” - Jenna

Jenna confirms my belief for how the voting went down.  I love her acknowledging that her old tribe was too naive to be able to sway the game in their favor.  My guess is that Jenna looks back at this experience with a smile for sure, but also with a sense of what could have been.  If only she could have swayed Sean, maybe she goes on to win a million bucks for herself and her kids.

CATEGORIES AND AWARDS

1 - Biggest Move

The biggest move of the episode has to be, believe it or not, Sean’s alphabetic voting strategy churning out a death blow to Jenna.  His attitude and mindset behind voting and making it well known to Rattana is swiftly manipulated by the Tagi alliance to ensure their power position remains in tact.  Sean is almost physically ill by the voting and each time wants his vote to bear no friction, but instead it continues to be a bull in a china shop.

2 - Biggest Mistake

Colleen and Jenna not being able to sway Sean’s vote.  If they could have been smooth enough to sell him on voting for Rich, like I said earlier, the game and history of the show may have turned out very differently.  Though we don’t see Colleen or Jenna scrambling around trying to sway Sean’s vote, I have to believe that they tried, but to no use.  The only other vote up for grabs was Kelly’s.  Her vote seems to have been a bit more calculated than an alphabetic strategy, but given the episode’s narrative on Kelly bonding with Colleen and Jenna, it begs the question of whether or not they could have swayed her to vote Rich and make this a women’s game.  

3 - Challenge Corner

Rope’s course 2.0 vs. Square Stepping Puzzle Game.  The squares game takes the corner today.  I liked how anybody could have won the game, even Rudy at 72. Fitting that he ended up winning it and earning immunity.  I’m sure it is tough to consistently create challenges that level the playing field for the contestants regardless of gender, age, physical strength, or any other easily unbalanced variable.  The other good part of this challenge was that it seemed like an appropriate challenge for the amount of Survivors remaining.  Some challenges definitely work better with a certain number of participants.  Lastly, although it wasn’t a particularly good challenge from a watchability stand point, I guess they must have done it for economic purposes.  It is still season 1 after all. The advertiser dollars will come.

4 - Trending Up

Sue.  She is part of the Tagi voting alliance that is controlling the game.  She is part of the group of women that catches a fish and proves that Rich isn’t invincible.  As a result she has more moves to make in the game than anyone else.  Will she?  We shall see.

5 - Trending Down

The remaining Pagong tribe members, Colleen and Gervase.  With Gretchen, Greg, and now Jenna voted out, they are the next easy target.

6 - Strategy Corner

May be too little too late but Colleen gets her first positive after winning the reward challenge, making Jenna whole again by bringing her along to enjoy the BBQ and letter from home, and she takes the initiative to try and swing the game by forming a voting alliance with Gervase and Jenna.  Her strategy falls a vote short, but we can give her points for trying.

7 - Best Screenshot

When the right person is chosen to share the reward.

8 - Best Quote

“See Sean’s the swing vote.  You know what I mean?  Me, you and Gervase could definitely do something.  They’re gonna pick people off until it gets down to them and then they’re gonna start eating each other.  You know what I mean?  But I’m saying why are we sitting back and watching it happen? - Colleen to Jenna.

You have to admire Colleen here.  She has been relatively absent from the narrative of the season save for her friendship with Greg and being the young and attractive girl.  But, she is much more than that.  The problem is she didn’t assert herself soon enough.  Perhaps she needed Greg, the leader, to be gone for her to be able to spread her wings of influence and potential in the game.  Unfortunately, her initiative falls short. Her spot on the jury awaits.

9 - Who won the episode?

I want to give the title to Colleen, but can’t because she lost the voting battle.  It’s like giving the MVP to a member of the losing team.  It’s tough to do. Colleen does her best Jerry West in the ’69 Finals here by winning the reward challenge, righting Jenna’s wrong, and formulating the only viable opposition to Tagi’s alliance, but in the end, despite her great episode, it wasn’t enough.  Instead this episode’s winner will go to the Bill Russell of the first season of Survivor.  The guy who shows up each episode, does his job, does what needs to be done in the trenches, and helps win the “championship”.  It may not always be pretty, like it wasn’t for in Russell and the Celtics in ‘69, but this episode wasn’t pretty for Rich either.  But, in the end, just like Russell, Rich gets it done in tribal council, where it counts most.  

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