Season 2, Episode 10: Honeymoon Or Not?

“Alicia was voted out becoming the first member of the jury. 8 are left. Who will be the next to go?” - Probst

Day 25 - Barramundi Tribe

Torrential rains create a domino effect of issues at camp. Rainwater is trickling into sleeping quarters, fishing hooks are washed away, runoff has made the river murky and more difficult to fish in, rice is becoming more relied upon, Nick has enlarged tasted buds and thus trouble eating and drinking, and there are still 8 mouths to feed. The actual fire at camp may have been put out because of the rain but the issues of camp life seem to be only getting hotter.

REWARD CHALLENGE

Tree mail brings news of a partner challenge for reward. The tribe has to pick partnerships. So, how do you decide who is partnered with who? Do you find a “fair” way to determine teams (pick at random) or do you speak up and stack the odds of you winning in your favor and push for picking your own partner? Remember, this is Survivor, and a reward at this point will significantly boost the winners via food, energy, and morale in a diminishing camp life.

The tribe wants to pick names out of a hat except for one tribe member. Jerri. Shocker, we know. Jerri wants to be partnered with Colby, one, because she has the “hotts” for him, and two, and more importantly, he is the best competitor. In the end, Jerri is outnumbered, random partner pairs are drawn, and Jerri ends up with Colby anyway. Advantage Jerri.

The reward is a snorkel trip and lunch at the Great Barrier Reef. To win, an obstacle course race. Keith/Amber beat Rodger/Tina. Colby/Jerri defeat Nick/Elisabeth. In the final Colby/Jerri out army crawl, out balance beam, out swing step, out water pit jump, out tire crawl, out wall climb and out rope bridge Keith and Amber for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The challenge is not very complex but does skew toward Colby and Jerri being young, athletic, and strong. No puzzle aspect or mental obstacle within the course to “level” the playing field. Begs to make you think in this rewatch that the producers/challenge creators hadn’t quite figured out how to make reward challenges equitable.

As Colby and Jerri board the helicopter that lands at camp, Amber comments that this is something they will remember the rest of their lives. Change of scenery, waterfalls, a break from the game, and a meal not made up entirely of rice is truly a great afternoon on day 25. After the chopper lands, a boat takes them to their lunch filled with a basket of fruit, sandwiches, Doritos (shameless advertisement), champagne, and some cameras that scream 2001 technology! Jerri holds the camera up to her eye and snaps the picture. It may as well be 100 years ago. It feels ancient to see her snap that picture, see the flash, and then not be able to “check the pic” like you can with today’s tech. To end the scene, Jerri shares with the viewer “I even looked at him at one point and was like ‘this is one hell of a first date Colby’” while Colby described Jerri as “quite giddy” on the reward while the cowboy was thrilled to just have a break from the game and rice.

But, regardless of the inside look into Colby and Jerri’s first date, the major highlight of the reward was seeing the ocean, the setting, the dated technology (LOL) and some of the Great Barrier Reef. No doubt about it. Not everyone is fortunate enough to experience what Colby and Jerri did at the GBR. They were the lucky 2 of the 8. But, that is one of the best aspects of the show. Through two seasons, Survivor was able to take the viewer to remote locations in Borneo or Australia, and as a result, elevate the show to even greater heights. By providing rewards like this one, Survivor is able to connect the audience to places the overwhelming majority of viewers can only dream of seeing/experiencing on top of the drama and action of “the game”. It’s a win for everybody. I hope to get to experience the GBR one day and have an afternoon like Colby and Jerri did.

THE GAME RESUMES

Colby returns baring gifts. A piece of coral for everyone and a message of “I wish you all could have been there.” This is a lesson to all future Survivors. The reward is won by you but it also presents an opportunity to connect it to everyone who didn’t get the reward. Colby saw the opportunity and seized it. Jerri, not quite.

Heading into the Immunity Challenge Kucha is outnumbered but more significantly, Rodger and Elisabeth seem to be relatively upbeat and very much still “in the game”, but not the same can be said for Nick. The episode has pointed to his fate being in the hands of his performance at the Immunity Challenge.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

Balance. Suspended in the river are 3 different balance challenges. In a overly friendly 1st duel, Rodger ends Keith’s chances at a 3-peat. Next, Nick uses Jerri’s aggressiveness against her and sends her into the water. Colby toys with Tina before out witting her in the challenge. Round 1 ends with Amber defeating Elisabeth.

Round 2 is the “shaky beam”. Colby flashes his cowboy skills to send Rodger into the water and Nick defeats Amber setting up a final round matchup with Colby.

Round 3 puts Colby and Nick on small platforms suspended in the water and the rope is back again from round 1. This round is by far the most difficult. Though the episode has convinced the viewer that Nick’s time would be surely coming to an end, he sends the heavily favored Colby into the river and sends Nick into another 3 days at camp.

PRE-TRIBAL COUNCIL

So let’s set the stage for the upcoming Tribal. Shall we? The former Ogakor outnumbers the former Kucha 5-3. Ogakor’s voting plan from the beginning of the episode was a pretty straight forward “Pagonging” to vote Kucha tribe members out 1 by 1 by 1. Nick (Kucha) was being pointed at all episode as the “next to go” if he didn’t win immunity, but Nick ruins that plan by winning the Immunity Challenge. So, who’s next in the pecking order? Elisabeth or Rodger? Both are equally likeable and thus equally eliminateable (not a word but whatever) at this point, so long as Ogakor stays true to the numbers and Pagongs Kucha.

However, Elisabeth is not going down without a fight. We see her approach Tina and sell her on voting for Jerri. Elisabeth tells Tina that they (Kucha) are going to vote for Jerri, that she brings everyone down, and the way she talks to people is not welcomed by even the Ogakor tribe.

Tina is caught between the safe vote (Rodger or Elisabeth) and the tough vote (Jerri). Her alliance of Colby and Keith have to decide which route to go. Keith wants to get rid of Jerri because of the rocky relationship they’ve had for 27 days but Colby sees it differently. “I can’t imagine getting rid of Elisabeth over her, but it’s the right move.” Colby wants to get rid of Jerri, knows they should get rid of Jerri, and knows life at camp would be a heck of a lot better with Elisabeth around instead of Jerri. But, Colby is a loyal guy, a stand up guy, a man of integrity. He sees it as they can get rid of Elisabeth, play it safe, and then get rid of Jerri later so long as the three of them (Colby, Keith, and Tina) stick together.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

After introducing the jury (Alicia) and explaining to viewers and players alike the guidelines of Tribal Council with the jury piece of the game now part of it, Probst begins Tribal by asking Nick, “Nick, on a scale of 1-10, how important was immunity for you today?” Nick replies correctly with, 10. Nick knows that he would have been the next person, the easy vote, for who would have been voted out next.

Next, to Jerri “Have you surprised yourself with the way you acted out here?”. Questions like this remind you how Probst has been able to host this show and navigate Tribal Council so well after 20 years and 40 seasons of Survivor. Jerri’s actions are defining her place in the game and in the minds of viewers. The way she has talked to and treated people has made her the first true “villain” of Survivor’s first 2 seasons. She is unapologetically brash despite her awareness of those actions. She points to hunger or stress as the cause words coming out that she wishes she could “suck back in”. Jerri knows the bed she has made and despite her villain persona and rough exterior, there is a great deal of learning and self reflection in Jerri.

Last question to Elisabeth. “You’re probably a target at some point.” Elisabeth knows everyone is a target but the reality in the final 8 vote of season 2 is Survivor is a numbers game, and Elisabeth is on the wrong end of the numbers.

“Elisabeth this is going to be the hardest vote yet and the hardest vote for the rest of the game.” - Amber

Amber is voting the safe and loyal way. She clearly reveres Elisabeth, just like America, and is playing a loyal game. Should Amber have said to Jerri, “hey let’s team up with Nick, Rodger, and Elisabeth and vote out Colby or Keith” probably. Long term it would have been in her best interest to make big moves, but that just wasn’t Survivor down under.

“Most days she gets up in a good mood, but Ohhh baby, look out if she gets up in bad mood.” - Rodger

Kentucky Joe says it as only he can and does it in a way that makes you like him even more. How could you not like and root for Rodger?

Voting

Jerri 6, Elisabeth 2

PROBST’S CLOSING THOUGHT

“Based on that vote, maybe the game has changed, and the new tribe finally has been born, Barramundi is alive and kicking.”

Well said Jeff Probst! We have our first, dare I say, non-loyal and tough vote over the safe tribal line vote since Greg’s controversial vote for Richard to win season 1. There are a couple lessons to learn from Jerri’s exit.

LESSONS FROM JERRI’S EXIT

1 - You can be voted out by your own tribe, even if it goes against the numbers.

Jerri was with the Ogakor’s numbers. It was 5 to 3. In season 1, we saw the birth of Pagonging as the Tagi tribe whittled down Pagong 1 by 1 until the final 5 were all Tagi. But, that strategy will not be repeated in season 2. Which brings me to lesson 2.

2 - Being unlikeable eventually can catch up to you

Coming into this episode we knew Jerri was the villain, feather ruffler, and creator of hostility at camp. This is magnified by a perfect storm of the rest of the Barramundi tribe consisting of very likeable and kind hearted people like Elisabeth, Rodger, Colby, and Tina. People wired like this can tolerate Jerri’s personality for only so long. The storm continues with Nick winning immunity and thus removing himself from the chopping block or easy vote potential. The final nail in the coffin is Ogakor can vote Jerri out and STILL have the numbers advantage 4-3. At this point in the game the risk of voting out one of their own was not as compromising.

3 - Know when you are on the bottom

Jerri was at the bottom of the Ogakor alliance. She was number 5 of 5. I know it is only season 2 and it took this long for a tribe with numbers to finally vote one of their own off, but Jerri missed the boat of flipping to the other tribe to stay alive.

4 - Being good looking and flirtatious COULD work

Jerri came into this season the young and beautiful actress from Los Angeles. Sporting her blue bikini and made for TV smile combined with an appetite for cowboys and openness to conveying to America how she “really felt” about Colby made Jerri a memorable character. However, her courting attempts with Colby were a spectacular failure. Colby didn’t bite, or even nibble. He seemed immune to this season’s vixen but gives way to this character type as a possible pathway to making it far in the game. The young, good looking, and flirtatious girl is a legitimate threat, but not Jerri and not on this season/cast.

5 - One comment can turn everything upside down

In Jerri’s exit interview she claims to have seen this coming after her remark about “how this game wasn’t fair” when it came to wanting to be partnered with Colby in the reward challenge. She’s right, it did set everyone off, but the truth is that everyone was already set off by her since basically day 1. This comment was the wrong comment at the right time to push Keith, Tina, and Colby over the edge to vote Jerri out, but this a long time coming. Jerri’s game played out as long as it could.

Her exit feels like baby bear’s porridge, just right.

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