Survivor Gabon - Ep. 9

SURVIVOR BRINGS COLONIALISM BACK TO AFRICA
Probst: "Gorillas were first discovered in 1844, right here in Gabon."

Night 30.

The tribe returns from tribal council where Randy wasn’t just eliminated, he was humiliated. Sugar is heard describing Randy’s eviction as, “the best tribal so far for sure.” Ken is heard agreeing. Someone asks Bob if it was his idea to give Randy the fake immunity idol and chuckles at the memory. Bob shouts, “Don’t laugh,” shocking the others. He goes on to tell them he is ashamed to have been part of Randy’s unnecessary humiliation (which Bob went along with to curry favor with the five person alliance he and Corinne find themselves up against). This redeems Bob, in my eyes. It’s nice to know he is as ashamed by the wanton cruelty as I was ashamed to be watching it.

Sugar, who pressed Bob to help her humiliate loser Randy, apologizes to Bob, but tells the camera she has “not a bit of an iota,” of regret for what she did. She even goes so far as to call what was done, “Hilarious.” That old Northern Pikes song comes to mind, She Ain’t Pretty (She just looks that way).

Morning, Day 31.

Bob and Ken haul in the fishing net. The catch includes an 8-10 pound catfish. We listen to Ken in voice-over as we eatch clips of Bob working around camp. Ken tells us, “Bob isn’t here to play the game; he’s here to build stuff.” Ken also repeats what we already know – that Bob is the next target of Ken’s alliance.

Challenge (and product placement) Time.

Seven sprocket wheels of various sizes wait on the other side of a marsh. The tribe is split into two teams of 3. The teams must retrieve the sprockets, install them in the correct order and turn them to raise a flag. First team to raise its flag wins stage 1 and goes on to stage 2, a simple slide puzzle. The prize is a video message from home that has been loaded on a cell phone (hey product placement reps – I’ll mention the name of your cell phone and network for a price) and some pizza, beer and brownie’s to chow down on while you get all weepy over people who are alive and well and safe while you are playing a game. It always surprises me how much the grown-ups on Survivor act like Cub Scouts away from home for the first time.

Before they start everybody gets to watch a little clip of the video from home. They pick the teams. 7 contestants, 2 teams, 3 a side: the math means someone has to sit out. Stones are picked from a bag. Crystal and Suzie get the colored ones that make them captains. Rock, paper, scissors makes the first pick Suzie’s. She selects Matty. Crystal takes Sugar. Matty picks Kenny, Sugar picks Bob and Corinne is left out of the game with no chance to compete for the message from home.

Matty, Ken and Suzie get their sprockets across the marsh first. Kenny is in charge of assembling the sprockets correctly for his team; Bob is in charge for his team. Bob, with far less time, gets the sprocket puzzle assembled first. He now competes with Crystal and Sugar in the slide puzzle and wins that, too.

The others head back to camp, leaving Bob to stuff his face and fill his heart in private. As he watches his wife on the cell phone home video, she steps out from behind him, live and in person, as they say. They seem a great couple.

Bob and the missus return to camp. He introduces his wife then whistles. Over a hill come the loved ones of the other tribe members. Lots of clips of the tribe members having quality family time. Matty’s visitor is his girlfriend, to whom he proposes marriage. She accepts. Is this a first for the show?

By the way, Matty is third on the Kenny – Crystal – Suzie alliance hit list, after Bob and Corinne but before Sugar.

Back at camp Bob gets Corinne alone and shows her a second fake immunity idol, which he intends to pass off as the return of the idol he and Marcus supposedly threw out to sea the day the tribes merged. The idol is another great one – better looking than some of the real ones. If this guy ever gets tired of teaching high school he has a definite career as an immunity idol maker.

Immunity Challenge Time.

They assemble at the edge of a steep hill, almost a cliff. At the bottom a large target has been made on the ground. People win balls in a quiz. Once the questions are over they will take turns throwing down at the target. Closes to the center wins immunity.

The first question is likely the stupidest post-colonial true-false question that could be asked in Africa: “True or false: Gorillas were actually discovered first here in Gabon?” The correct answer as formulated by Mark Burnett Productions is, “True. Gorillas were discovered here in 1847.” And were the locals ever shocked to learn there were giant apes in their midst that they didn’t even know existed!

Evidently Mr. Burnett doesn’t think things really exist until they are seen by Europeans. Booooooooooo!

Bob wins the most balls. They go to the target. At the end of the competition Bob is closest with only Sugar still to throw. She hits the center, but the ball rolls out and Bob wins his second challenge of the day.

Back at camp Bob and Corinne perfect their story. They will let it slip that he has given Corinne the immunity idol that he supposedly threw into the sea at the merge. They select Kenny to slip it to. Corinne tells the camera, “We’ve come up with a ridiculously hairbrained idea that shouldn’t work at all, but it just might actually work.. It just shows the level of incompetence we’re playing with.” It only shows that if it works, girl. If it doesn’t, does it mean you are ridiculous and hairbrained? I say yes.

Bob then goes to Crystal and tries to get her agreement to join him, Kenny and Corinne in eliminating Matty. Crystal promptly tells Kenny. They dance. To them Matty will soon become as big a threat as Bob is, so it really doesn’t matter which one goes. Ken also wants to make certain the idol gets played. He tells Crystal to vote for Corinne with the others. That will make the vote 4 for Corinne and 3 for Matty. If Bob and Corinne are telling the truth, Corinne will play her immunity idol and Matty will go. If Corinne and Bob are bullshitting, Corinne goes and Kenny is still someone Bob thinks he can trust.

And at tribal, that’s exactly how it plays out. 4 votes to evict Corinne, 3 to evict Matti and no hidden immunity idol. Corinne is out.

Will Bob tell Ken that he decided at the last moment not to give Corinne the hidden immunity idol?