Survivor: China - Episode 9

Day 25.

Dawn. James cleans a fish and then wakes the others by loudly singing Good Morning to You. Courtney is so happy her nemesis Jean-Robert was voted off the previous night that she opens her eyes and cries “It’s Christmas.”

Around the breakfast campfire, Denise, who was left in the dark by her alliance partners regarding the decision to oust one of their own, looks like she’s wondering if she will be next. Titular alliance partners Courtney and Amanda discuss Denise. Both can see she’s feeling threatened but do nothing to assuage Denise’s fears. James and Denise get a moment alone and he tells her they didn’t let her in on the change because they were afraid she was flipping. Who put that bug in people’s ears, PG or Courtney? At the end of their conversation it looks like Denise is betting the farm on James’ loyalty, primarily because she knows that, with his strength and his 2 immunity idols, he can’t be beat.

Day 26.

Tree mail for the challenge arrives. PG identifies herself as “the most losingest” Survivor still in the game.

Challenge: an obstacle course, 80 – 100 yards long, I’m guessing, divided in three parts by gates similar to the ceremonial gates at camp. 2 teams of 4. All 4 team members carry a drum. One member starts bouncing a hard rubber ball on their drum and walking forward. The team must keep the ball bouncing while walking down the obstacle course. At the far end is a bin the ball must be bounced into. If the ball touches the ground along the way, the team must re-start at the last gate passed through. First team to 3 wins an overnight river-cruise.

Red team is James, Todd, PG and Denise, Yellow team is Amanda, Courtney, Erik and Frosti. For once, James is a liability. His strength is not needed and his fine motor skills are not up to the task of keeping the ball under control. Yellow wins, 3-0.

With the winners heading off on their cruise, the losers head back to camp, where PG decides to point out James’ shortcomings in the challenge. He’ll have none of it. She walks off in a huff. While she’s gone Denise sooths James’ wounded ego.

Out on the cruise, Frosti and Courtney are a couple, giving Amanda ideas about herself and hottie Erik. How can Frosti – or anybody - find concentration camp inmate Courtney attractive? Oh, and last recaps’ crack about every food reward being a traditional Chinese feast? This week they get fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Day 27.

Frosti, Courtney, Erik and Amanda return to camp. They tell the others they had Chinese food because, in Amanda’s words, “If they knew we had fried chicken and mashed potatoes and bread and butter, they would have hated us, for sure.” Later in the day Todd tells Courtney, Frosti and Amanda about PG vs James.

At the immunity challenge, players are given a choice between participating or eating burghers and fries for as long as the challenge lasts (are the survivors getting more food this season than others?). James, Todd, Courtney and Denise go for the food. I can see James, Todd, and Denise – they didn’t get the food the previous day that Courtney did. But Courtney? If she’s not careful, she’s going to be the first Survivor to gain weight while on the island.

PG, Amanda, Frosti and Erik fight it out for immunity. The challenge is a memory game, with Jeff giving an ever-longer list of Chinese Zodiac signs that the contestants have to then select from a board of Zodiac signs. Erik’s out at 3, Amanda’s out at 5, and PG beats Frosti for immunity at 6.

First talk at camp is that it will be either Erik or Frosti, as the only other Zuan Hu member left is PG and she’s immune. Erik figures it’s going to be him, given that Frosti has been pretty successful in integrating himself into Courtney/Fei Long. Frosti tries to convince Todd to go after Erik. Todd agrees that Erik is a threat, but he also thinks Frosti is too good at the challenges to keep. In seems like it may come down to whether Amanda protects Erik better than Courtney protects Frosti.

And it’s a slaughter. By a vote of 7-1, Frosti is out, with even Courtney and PG voting against him. Nobody wants to buck the others.

But there’s a twist – as Frosti walks off into the night Jeff tells them they have more work to do before tribal council is over. An immediate vote on another eviction? To be continued.