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« Survivor: China
Feast or Famine?
Episode recap: Just Don’t Eat the Apple
Hi Survivor fans! Rhoda here with a special Thank you to Nina for filling in while I was on the road to North Carolina last week. And while I’m feeling grateful let me give a shout out to this On Demand world that we now live in. Yes, there was the VCR and then the DVR but this whole watching television whenever and – with my laptop – wherever thing is truly the best advance to come along since sliced bread.
At my leisure I caught the triumph of Courtney and the demise of Jean-Robert without missing a beat. Well, there was that hiccup with the buffering but we won’t talk about that. With a little refreshing I was able to catch up without having to tinker with a videotape or worry that I would return home to the dreaded blinking clock on the VCR courtesy of a random power outage.
Last week the tribe voted out Jean-Robert and then went on to sleep easy with him gone. But with that huge target no longer around each of these players ought to watch their backs or at least recognize that if they aren’t, Todd is.
Why is no one worried about Todd? I’ve said it before: He’s shifty. Yet, he’s the leader of the pack and to my surprise, I find that I’ve fallen for him. He amuses me to no end – mostly due to faces he makes and his habit of surveying his crew of misfits like he’s Lord Meerkat. Whether it’s Peih-Gee, expertly annoying James or Courtney and Frosti canoodling as if they were chimps in a grooming circle you can always rely on Todd’s face to quietly express his horror, disgust and/or frustration with those around him. I am completely delighted by the man and amazed that no one notices or is disturbed by the fact that he is constantly observing and plotting – or at the very least keeping some wonderfully sarcastic comment to himself. Were I playing this game, this guy would be at the top of my list of targets. Now that he’s won me over I worry that with every adjustment he makes to his strategy Todd will overthink himself right onto the jury.
I worry just as much for James who is not quite the shrinking violent we met in the early days of this journey. Remember how Leslie took him under her wing and we viewers all went, “Awww!” Now it seems he’s either telling Peih-Gee to “shut up” or that she’s “stupid”. Looks like he’s finally got that social game down.
Sadly, James has not excelled at following the bouncing ball. This week’s very cool reward challenge required two teams to navigate a mild obstacle course while bouncing a ball against several drums. It was like a Chinese version of paddleball, except the paddle was a bongo and there were no strings attached. The team of James, Denise, Peih-Gee and Todd was not adept at this game and lost 3-0 to their opponents who were rewarded with a river cruise and a feast. At camp sore loser Peih-Gee had “the nerve” as James said, to accuse James of not trying to win the challenge. Her accusations caused James to get indignant (which I loved) and handed out the verbal smack-down. Of course while these two argued Todd watched and plotted.
Th immunity challenge offered everyone a meal if they were willing to forfeit a chance at immunity. James, Denise, Todd and Courtney were confident enough to risk going home and devoured burgers and fries while Peih-Gee, Frosti, Amanda and Erik battled it out in a memory game involving the Chinese zodiac. It came down to Frosti and Peih-Gee. While James managed to eat seven cheeseburgers during the challenge, Frosti couldn’t recall the right sequence of tiles and lost immunity to Peih-Gee.
This was a difficult loss because it spared the outcast Peih-Gee from Jury duty and sent Frosti packing. What does this mean? It is clear you can’t trust the Fei Long folk anymore. They had allied with Frosti yet sent him home over Erik the outsider from Zhan Hu. The way things are going Peih-Gee has a real chance of making it past the next vote but in yet another twist there is “More business”. Tune in next week to find out just what Jeff has up his sleeve.
For more Survivor: China check out our Online Video Guide.
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Nov 15, 2007 11:46 PM
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I can't say I noticed James not hustling back to the start line in the drum challenge, but he really stunk at the control-the-bouncing-ball part. Pei Gei was not much better, as she kept launching the ball higher and higher with her tiny little drum. Why they didn't have Denise give it a try, I don't know. She had a drum with a wide surface, so might have stood a better chance. Frosti and Eric doing the lion's share of the work for the other team made sense, since they had it down right away.
Sorry to see Frosti go, but I don't think Todd and Co. really owed him anything. He was only brought into the "alliance" by being there when Todd and Amanda grabbed the hidden immunity idol. And with Courtney keeping herself a question mark, I'd try to break up that relationship too. Hopefuly Amanda won't let Eric turn her head either. Poor Todd's alliance doesn't seem too reliable these days. Maybe he should dump one of the girls and get Denise in his circle. She clearly wants to go with the group, if only the group would really involve her!
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Nov 16, 2007 2:07 AM
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Next to James, I really liked Frosti, but getting him out now was the smartest move. He would have been a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming immunity challenges, more so than James, who is strong but not necessarily the overall athlete such as Tom, Terry or Ozzy from seasons past.
For about 30 seconds, I got excited about the possibility of Courtney getting the boot, but sadly, that was just a red herring to try to create some "suspense" at tribal council (not!). It was fairly obvious that it would be either Erik or Frosti. Second favorite line of the night: James to Todd, doubting Courtney's loyalty to their alliance, "You sure?? Because she's loving the hell out of some Frosti". LOL!!
Other random thoughts:
-Todd's statement that Peih-Gee is the new "Jean-Robert". Personally, I think she is worse. Being that she was clearly on the chopping block at the time, brow-beating James probably wasn't the smartest move. If anyone needs to work on their "social game" it's her.
-Poor Denise. She was hurt and angry at being left out of the decision to vote out J-R. I was relieved that she wasn't chosen last in the "school yard pick"....that honor went deservedly to Courtney.
-I'm liking the different challenges this year, instead of recycling the same ones from past seasons.
-What is with Amanda's shorts? Is there a gaping hole or is she missing the entire back? Seeing a big blur there is really strange. Didn't they JUST get new bathing suits recently?
-This immunity challenge was tailor MADE for Peih-Gee. She really lucked out this week.
-I wonder what the "twist" was at the end of the show? Was anyone missing from the preview for next week?
Which brings me to my favorite line of the night:
"Just don't eat that damn apple -- be naked, be happy." ~ James (I love that guy!)
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Nov 16, 2007 2:24 AM
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Ha ha, Rhoda, loved the Lord Meerkat reference! Perfect for that little weasel Todd.
Why in the world is Todd the only one thinking ahead on this tribe? I lost all respect for Eric and Frosti last night. When Peih-Gee won immunity, they both knew one of them was next to go. Instead of scrambling to save himself, Eric was telling people goodbye. What?? He could have easily whipped together a makeshift alliance with Frosti, Peih-Gee, and a disgruntled Denise to try to take out Lord Meerkat and turn this game around.
And Peih-Gee? Just because she had immunity doesn't mean she should take a sabbatical from using her brain. She voted for Frosti! Doesn't she realize she barely survived tonight? She too should have been trying to pull together an alliance somehow. Does she seriously think she's going to survive next week if she doesn't grab immunity again?
I was intrigued by Jeff's maddening teaser at the end of the episode and obviously wondered if someone else was getting voted out. I did see Eric in the previews, however. Since he was probably number 2 to go after Frosti, maybe Jeff was referring to something else.
I guess we'll have to wait and see . . .
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Nov 16, 2007 6:24 AM
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I thought the reward drum game was pretty lame. One person on each team never even touched the ball.
I was also really disappointed in Todd. With PG winning immunity this would have been a great time to create a new alliance. Him and Amanda and Courtney and Frosti could have combined and become a very strong alliance. PG and Eric would have easily joined at least this week and they could have booted James before he used the HII. Worst case James uses it and Frosti or Erik goes home.
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Nov 16, 2007 10:00 AM
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I was so disappointed in the group that chose to eat especially James since he had 3 votes last week. But Courtney was also disappointing since she just had chicken and mashed potatoes the day before. Even if they weren't worried, part of the point of it is to try to keep someone else from getting immunity, namely PG.
PG is an idiot. Did she honestly say that she couldn't believe that James ever accused her of not working in a challenge? Did she just conveniently forget that she admitted that she threw a challenge? I'll grant you that James stunk at that challenge, boy doesn't know his own strength, but for PG to get in his face about it was just tooooo stupid. She is so lucky that she won immunity.
I was definitely surprised to see that Courtney wrote down Frosti's name, but I guess she was just playing with him. She seems the type.
Do not like the sound of the more business, but so long as no one else is getting voted out I guess it doesn't matter. Should be interesting.
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Nov 16, 2007 10:09 AM
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Welcome back Rhoda. Hope you had a great trip to NC. NC is one of the most beautiful states. I fell in love with it when I went to college in Tenn. Well enough of that....
It’s just like high school all over again - how do I get in with the cool kids? Poor Denise.
Frosti and Courtney - ewwwwww. Frosti thinking Courtney is totally out of his league was pretty funny, actually, I thought it was the other way around. I am really sorry he's gone. He was such a sweet kid.
Jest: I agree with you, Eric obviously gave up. He and Frosti missed a great opportunity to turn the tables on the “cool kids.” I was really hoping Eric, Frosti, Courtney, Phi-Gee and depressed Denise would get together and do something amazing, but to my dismay it was a pretty predictable ending. Frosti needed to go, he was physically and mentally the biggest threat. James is a threat, but only physically, pretty much anyone can beat him in a mental challenge. (Sorry.) I would have loved to see someone do something about James. Everyone (even Todd) seems to be completely ignoring the fact that James has two HI’s. Making him use them at tribal council should be everyone’s first priority. Does Todd have a plan to get one back? Probably, he certainly is a sneaky little fellow. At this point he may deserve the million.
Splotchie: I agree with you about being surprised more people didn’t take part in the immunity challenge if only to keep Phi-Gee from winning immunity... dumb, dumb, dumb.
Speaking of Phi-Gee...obviously her lack of winning ANYTHING EVER was the motivation for yelling at James. Not a smart move on her part, and she realized it afterwards. (Lack of food will do that to a girl). She needs to apologize quick - not that it’s going to save her, but that’s what I would do.
I thought it was funny at tribal council when JR came out - he is still mad - he’ll probably be mad until that million dollar check is given to someone else! Hahahahahaha!!
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Nov 16, 2007 11:13 AM
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It seemed like the way to do the challenge with the balls was to try to keep the ball going as slow as possible to keep the bouncing low. The winners figured it out right away. The other team just didn't get it at all. We were kind of wondering why they didn't make more than two teams since a lot of them didn't really do any part of it. And I agree that the drums with the wider surface were the best ones to use.
P G ~ I really really wish she hadn't won immunity. She is by far my least favorite of the people left. I could not believe when she was fighting with James. What an idiot.
k4 ~ They did show Amanda once from behind (she walked by with other people in the way) without the blurring. It looks like most of her butt is hanging out (over half!) and that is why I think they blur it out. It cracks me up.
I was really surprised that Denise chose to eat instead of compete for immunity. After last week not having been included in anyone's plans ~ I would have played. She didn't strike me as someone who would NOT compete anyway.
They also did not show if James brought the idols with him to TC. Again ~ After last week I would have been nervous.
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Nov 16, 2007 11:22 AM
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I EXPLODED into laughter when Frosti referred to Courtney as "gorgeous". If she really doesn't have an eating disorder than I pity her for having that type of body naturally. It hurts just to watch her... my boyfriend, who always honestly tells me if he thinks someone is hot, rolled his eyes when I asked him if he thought Courtney was hot. Plus, he personality sucks. She is rude, a complainer, and talks in a baby voice. Ugh! I want her gone next... GO TODD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Nov 16, 2007 11:48 AM
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Somehow I didn't think last night's show as as exciting as normally, and I no longer know who I like the best. Was disappointed we weren't told what the remaining "business" was and was hoping it meant voting someone out on the spot (with PG still having immunity??). Was surprised Cortney ate so much and maybe it was my imagination but I thought in one of the later scenes she didn't look that bony. Know it couldn't happen that quickly but still thought she looked better. Will look forward to next week's (is it on Thanksgiving??) to see if it gets shaken up more. That's the trouble. This time I thought there were opportunities to shake things up but didn't happen.
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Nov 16, 2007 11:51 AM
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A quick programming note:
Next week's episode will be a clip-show reviewing the season thus far so we'll have to wait two weeks to find out what's up.
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Nov 16, 2007 12:06 PM
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CRAP ~ I hate those clip shows! Thanks for the warning Rhoda!
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Nov 16, 2007 12:29 PM
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Yes, thank you Rhoda. I would've been worrying about how I could get the family to hit the road early if I thought it was a real episode! LOL
Oh and I loved the Lord Meerkat nickname for Todd - perfect.
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Nov 16, 2007 1:40 PM
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I was rooting for Frosti. Dang! Now it's down to Amanda or Erik.
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Nov 16, 2007 1:53 PM
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I haven't read it anywhere here, so maybe no one else caught it, obviously the editors didn't....
At the beginning, when James is cooking up the fish and he comes over to sing "Wake Up" to the rest of the tribe, one of the girls (couldn't tell who it was, maybe PG), without sitting up, reached up and flipped him off. I couldn't believe it, they edit out even the slightest image of a butt crack or cleavage, but a blatant middle finger raised in the middle of the screen completely gets missed by the editors. Pretty funny.
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Nov 17, 2007 1:26 AM
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