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Rhune
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Episode 3 Recaps
« on: Oct 4^th, 2002, 8:19am »

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High Drama Highlights on 'Survivor'
Fri, Oct 4, 2002 00:00 AM PDT
by Heather Feher
Zap2it, TV News

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Last week's "Survivor: Thailand" ended with a teaser indicating a physical confrontation between the two tribes and a sexual incident on Chuay Gahn. This Thursday (Oct. 3) we learn that one was barely serious, while the other was a drama-fest worthy of daytime television.

Chuay Gahn's Ghandia starts things off by saying how happy she is that Ted is on the island with her. He reminds her of her husband, she says, and he's a great hugger. The camera shows them lying on the beach, cuddling as they drift off to sleep. The next morning, she says that he was "grinding" against her in a sexual way and now she feels like garbage.

When she privately confronts Ted, he apologizes and says that he was acting out in his sleep and was not aware of what he was doing. Ghandia starts to cry and says that she was raped once before and was afraid that he would deny the whole thing. After she thanks him for his apology, she tells him that he's a good person, and they hug.

Think that it's over? Not by a long shot.

Meanwhile, the Sook Jai tribe continues its meltdown. Stephanie is still sleeping in the rain and no one can figure out how to work the fishing net they won last week. In one haul, they catch what looks like a goldfish and roast it on a spit. It's sad.

Tonight's reward challenge pays homage to the island's past as a pirate hideout and, oddly enough, the prize is 24 hours with two Thai Red Beret survival experts.

The two teams must walk on floating bamboo platforms to the other team's boat and steal ten items one at a time. Part of the platform is designated an "attack zone" -- the players may knock their opponents into the water, and whatever they are carrying won't be added to the total. There's a catch, though. If contact is made outside of the attack zone, the aggressors are kicked out of the game, and one item is removed from their total and awarded to the competition.

Sook Jai takes an early lead in the physical game, but things get ugly fast. Ted knocks Robb into the water and Ken violates the attack zone rule and gets kicked off. Lurch look-a-like Robb is quick to follow his Sook Jai teammate when he chokes Clay. After a peeved Jeff Probst tells Robb that he's gone, Robb taunts Clay, calling him a "little whiny baby." Sook Jai loses two more players when Stephanie and Jed both push Chuay Gahn players outside of the attack zone.

Chuay Gahn wins the competition thanks to Sook Jai's testosterone poisoning.

The Red Berets teach the Chuay Gahn how to eat just about anything on the island except for rocks and sand. Given time, the two men could probably build a "Gilligan's Island" coconut radio for the tribe. Instead, they get to watch high drama between Ted and Ghandia.

After some time mulling Ted's apology, Ghandia decides that it was "disingenuous" and therefore not worthy of mention when she relates the embellished incident to Helen and Jan. Not knowing that Ted admitted his responsibility to Ghandia already, Helen tells Brian that the three of them have decided to vote Ted out. Brian wants to hear Ted's story first, and then all hell breaks loose.

Word gets back to Ghandia that Ted has denied her version, and she throws a hissy fit worthy of "Survivor's" all-time highlight reel. She stomps away from camp, screams, and starts punching a tree while muttering obscenities. Later, she switches to throwing rocks into the ocean while muttering obscenities. The Thai Red Berets quietly start to wonder what the heck is wrong with Americans.

They wouldn't be terribly impressed with the Sook Jais, who have lost the fishing net that they won last week. Jed took a nap while he was on net duty, and it drifted out to sea. Proving that the camera crew won't help out in times of crisis, they pan out to show the bobbing net just behind Robb and Jed as they conduct their futile search.

Not surprisingly, Erin admits that Sook Jai might be better off losing the immunity challenge this time around. "We're ready to get rid of some people," she says.

Over at Chuay Gahn, Ted calls a meeting to clear the air about the Ghandia incident. He retells his side of the story, declares his devotion to his wife and child at home and apologizes to the team, asking for a fresh start. Well, he's not going to get it. Ghandia is on a roll.

Heading into the immunity challenge, both teams have a good reason to throw the game for a chance to get rid of someone. It turns out to be a logic puzzle, and the Chuay Gahn easily defeat the Sook Jai.

Afterward, Shii Ann admits that she could have helped solve it, but she's ready to boot someone out. Apparently, she overestimated her popularity with the group, getting three of the eight votes at tribal council. The lazy net-loser Jed gets five votes, however, and becomes the first Sook Jai to leave the island.

Chuay Gahn may want to consider throwing the next immunity challenge -- it looks like things are going to be unbearable between Ted and Ghandia for the next week.

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Rhune
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Re: Episode 3 Recaps
« Reply #1 on: Oct 4^th, 2002, 8:31am »

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Sex and Violence

Survivor Five delivers an episode that lives up to the hype.
BY DAVID MILLER
Friday, October 4, 2002

Been castaway for many a moon,
So far all they've done is spoon.

Now something is moving in the Survivor cave
Is it a monkey, a crab or a knave?

Ghandia says you betta watch it bub,
Ted claims she mustve rolled on Clay's golf club.

I don't find you attractive anyway
And I'm such a hunk, wouldn't you say?

Without a blue dress she has no case
Will Chuay Gahn be divided by this disgrace?

***

Tonights episode was the most anticipated Survivor in a few seasons. Many previews have looked promising, but few episodes have delivered like this one. The sex scandal diffused minutes into the show, with Ted and Ghandia imitating the conflict resolution training video they saw at work. It wasnt over.

On to the violence. The Producers were unfair to the castaways with the reward challenge. The survivors were placed in a position to wreak an undefined amount of violence on opposing tribe members in an undersized attack zone. Ted and Robb faced off first, with Ted getting on all fours so he would be better positioned to attack Robbs knee with his face. It got uglier from there. Robb tried to strangle Clay, which would have been fine except that he was out of the attack zone. Jed took a particularly aggressive run at Brian, again out of the zone. Chuay Gahn wins, almost entirely off Sook Jais penalties.

Sook Jai was much more in need of the reward - help from two Thai Red Berets. The only English the berets spoke was can eat, which applied to basically everything in sight. They pointed to the first tree they saw and said, can eat. They pulled something off a rock and fed it to Helen. Within an hour Chuay Ghan was begging Jeff to take them away.

Ghandia realizes that she failed to capitalize on her victimhood. Maybe she was playing the game, trying to get a womens alliance going. Or maybe she was just angling for a spot on the Jerry Springer Show. Ted was less adept in his defense this time, throwing out the unconvincing line I dont even find you attractive. Now who hasnt thought that on the morning after?

Upon hearing Ghandias allegations, the other women knee-jerkily form a Ted posse. Clay snipes from the sideline, and Brian comes out smelling like a rose. He did more listening than talking, and it was telling that the other Chuay Gahn players looked to confide in him.

The immunity challenge was a monster version of the Tower of Hanoi. For the record, a puzzle like this with six pieces would require 63 moves. This challenge must have been much more grueling than shown on TV. When Chuay Gahn finishes the puzzle, Sook Jai has about 61 moves remaining.

Back at Sook Jai, Jake slips a little too much Ritalin in Robb and Jeds canteens. They are sedated long enough for their fish net to wash out to sea. With tribal council ahead of them Robb says to Jed and Stephanie, Lets form an alliance dudes, theres three of us and only five of them. Inexplicably, the plan fails and Jed is the third person voted off Survivor Thailand.

David Miller is a software engineer and Survivor wannabe. Comments welcome at [email protected].

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chickmama
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Re: Episode 3 Recaps
« Reply #2 on: Oct 4^th, 2002, 10:05am »

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I love the humurous aspects of both of these interpretations! Nice.

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Rhune
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Re: Episode 3 Recaps
« Reply #3 on: Oct 8^th, 2002, 9:05am »

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http://www.manlythoughts.com/s5_episode3.html

Episode3: Conversations, Observations, and Way-Thorough Recap

The previews for this show were so thrilling I thought that I wouldn't have to make up crap for this article to be interesting. Ted and Ghandia were going to explode and Clay would be strangled. I buttered my popcorn and sat down for a nice evening of family entertainment.

The show begins with a little foreshadowing by Clay as we're shown various night images (the moon, stars, thousands of little ant-spider-things rushing to invade the camp), "We've lost several challenges, but we're happy. We understood each others' personalities. We like each others' personalities. It was an immediate bond. The personalities didn't clash - they clicked."

And then we're shown the personalities of Ted/Ghandia clicking and bonding; she leans onto his shoulder, wraps her arm around his head in a pseudo-sitting-next-to-each-other hug while Ghandia comments about how she misses her husband, "He's my best friend, my homeboy, my everything. And Ted brings that home to me. It's kind of like my husband's here with me chillin'. And he's so good to hu-u-u-u-u-ug. He's just... he's just cool."

(Note: Every quote is an exact quote unless it is italicized. If it's italicized, there's a possibility I might be maybe sorta kinda making it up. Otherwise, it's transcribed exactly from the episode.)

Night vision pans through the sleeping tribe and ends on Ted spooning Ghandia with his arm around her and her arm on top of his. During the brief moment, there was no movement so I'm left to believe they were just sleeping.

Meanwhile, a coalition of squid, primarily medical professionals and religious leaders reeling from the mass suicide a few days prior, have organized an emergency meeting to discuss the tragic event.

Sook-Jai: Day 7

Day breaks and it's raining. A number of rather nifty close-up shots of water dripping off of plants and the Sook-Jai flag causes me to wonder if these are supposed to symbolize something. During high school and college, I never understood symbolism. I always needed the really smart, well-read people to explain stuff to me. So, if someone knows what this means, please email me an explanation. Until then, I'm just going to think that it was cool.

Soup-Kitchen looks miserable. It's raining. They are all huddled beneath their shelter in their raincoats (except for Stephanie, who just loves that rain). It seems like it only rains on Team Skateboard's side of the island. I wonder if maybe Team Church Social unwittingly sacrificed a school of squid to the rain.

(Yes, the squid incident troubled me. I'm far from over it.)

Robb comments to the cameras about how entirely drained everyone is. Jake showed us a blister that was roughly the same size as a small puppy. Penny grimaces. Stephanie mopes. And once again, Shii Ann sums things up perfectly, "We're horrible campers. We're terrible outdoorsmen. We are starving! We're starving. Look at me, I'm like Ally McBeal size."

I really like Shii Ann. The whole show could be just her and I would be perfectly content.

Unfortunately for her and her tribe, none of them can figure out how to fish with a net. Stephanie and Jed dragged the net out into the water (it looked like it was pretty hard) and then dragged it back and found only one fish in the net. I'm thinking that the fish religious leaders and medical community made sure everyone took their medication - no more mass suicide. All but one fish listened. There's always at least one idiot.

Robb (notice the transitional element) says, "It's kind of strange to be out here and see where all the fish come from that I eat every day at home and not have any idea how to get it."

I honestly wouldn't know, either. I would think, though, that dragging the net straight out and then straight back in wouldn't really do it. They are expecting the fish to see the net and then go around the net over to the suicide side. Would it work if someone held one end of the net while another person paddled the canoe out in a big circle so that some fish would be trapped inside? Maybe a fisherman can email me with how this should be done (and if you happen to know about drop symbolism, all the better).

Ghandia/Ted Drama Begins

Back to Team Church Social. Ghandia says to the cameras, "I feel a little tired because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I just feel kind of depressed and I feel... I feel used." Blah blah... "last night, he threw his arm over me and pulled me close to him, which was kind of OK with me in the beginning, but uhmm... he started to like, really become very sexual. I mean, specifically, he was grinding against me. And he didn't stop and he kept trying to, in my opinion, try to engage me." "I, of course, didn't think to tell him to stop or at least say that this makes me a little uncomfortable. Instead, I'll just tense up and hope that he's psychic."

She went on to mention how he just had a baby and that he should respect her as a married woman. She later confronts Ted and they seem to have an adult conversation about the incident. Here is the exact word-for-word exchange:

Ghandia said, "You were up on me last night, tough..."

Ted explains, "That's just... that's like... You know what I do? Sometimes when I'm sleeping, you know, it's like in the middle of the night I'm not, like, totally clear. I'm thinking I'm sleeping with my wife. So, I think what we need to do is I'm not going to hug you. I'm not going to hold you because I keep on forgetting that I'm not in bed with my wife."

"Right, but... so it was really compromising for me and I just feel like trash today."

"Don't because, I mean when I do that I'm not thinking. I'm not, like, in my total mind trying to, like, start something with you. And I apologize if I offended you. I mean, it wasn't done maliciously. It wasn't done trying to start something or anything like that. Please, from the bottom of my heart, I do apologize."

She had started crying and he was concerned, "Why are you crying?"

"Because..."

"What's wrong?"

"Because it happened to me before."

"Did it? Really... honestly?"

"I was raped before in college..."

"Were you really?! Get out of here." Ted pauses. "Yeah, I think... I apologize..."

"... and I had people tell me that I bring it on myself and stuff. And for a minute this morning I thought you were going to try and pretend it didn't happen."

"Oh no, I was planning to talk to you later on, but I didn't have an opportunity to talk to you about it..."

"I'm really glad you apologized. That makes me feel a lot better."

"No, seriously, I apologize, a million times. Can you forgive me?

Yes."

"Thank you."

"You're a good person, Ted." Ghandia hugs and kisses Ted on the cheek.

"And don't worry, you don't have to worry about that ever happening again."

"Ok."

"You got it?"

"Alright."

There you go, the entire exchange word-for-word. I've decided to wait until the whole drama unfolds to comment. But for now, I found this written by Arthur Tiersky at www.survivorfire.com which explains much better than I what I was thinking...

"Yes, Ted's excuse sounded pretty lame, but I remain unconvinced that he had a conscious intention, knowing that he was on a national TV show and has a wife and newborn back home, to actually "get something going" with Ghandia.

"Whatever he DID do, whether or not there was biting, nibbling, poking, sneezing, Bible- thumping, Probsting, or any combination thereof, his apology, from where I was sitting certainly seemed sincere and heartfelt, and however disingenuous Ghandia thought his excuse was, it doesn't BEGIN to approach the disingenuousness of Ghandia hugging him and remarking "You're a good man, Ted," only to turn around and berate him to the rest of the tribe, to say nothing of conveniently forgetting to mention his apology."

After watching this initial exchange between Ghandia and Ted (especially after watching it many times as I transcribed), I got the feeling that it was truly over; that Ghandia accepted Ted's apology, that Ted was truly sincere, and that Ted would go out of his way to avoid anything like this even coming close to happening in the future.

Ted remarked to the cameras about how the tribe was like a family and, even though this incident exists within the family, that they can move beyond this and pull together as a team for the next challenge.

The mood was quickly changed as we saw Team Church Social stretching and doing calisthenics, getting psyched up for the challenge. I found it humorous, knowing that in the previews we saw Robb towering over the screaming Clay as he grabs him by the neck, to hear Clay say, "We've got some ass-kickin' to do, fellas!"

Reward Challenge

Jeff Probst explained, "Well, as you may or may not know, as recently as the 1960s, this island was ruled by pirates who would rob and steal from passing boats. That ties in to today's challenge.

"Today's challenge is a race along this bamboo course. At the end of this course, two boats, one for each tribe. Your goal, rob or steal 10 items from the other tribe's boat back to your boat. First tribe to do so wins.

"Here are the rules,

You can only take one item at a time.
You can only have two members on the course at any time.
If you fall off, you lose the item you are carrying and you go back to the start.
At the center of the course, there is an attack zone. It is clearly marked in black and gold. If you are in the attack zone, you can engage contact with somebody else who is ALSO in the attack zone and try to push them off the course into the water. If you are NOT in the attack zone when you engage contact, you're out of the game, and one item from your tribe's boat goes into the other tribe's boat."
The winning tribe gets two Red Berets (members of Special Forces - the equivalent of Green Berets here in the U.S.) for 24 hours to show how to live off the land, to help build shelter, help source food, and so on.

This challenge was actually pretty neat. If anyone fell off the thin bamboo they had to start over again. After a short bit, Team Skateboard had a quick 3 to 1 lead. Their athleticism clearly gave them an advantage.

But then Ted got wise. He got down on his knees near the attack zone as Robb approached "A showdown!" Robb said, "You gonna stand and try to bump me, bro?"

"I'll do what I gotta do, baby," Ted replied and I got scared just holding my remote.

Robb ran forward and Ted football-tackled Robb and knocked him literally 3-4 feet in the air, flipping him over into the water. Ted also fell in but it was pretty impressive to see Robb fly.

At this point, Team Skateboard leads 5 to 3 and Shii Ann faces off with Brian. Her team tries to explain to her to grab hold of him and pull him in with her. It doesn't happen and Brian grabs her arm and tosses her in like a weightless Ally McBeal (who I really miss, by the way).

On his return, Brian squares up against NYC policeman Ken and after a bit of a struggle, Ken outpowers him and tosses Brian in the water. Team Skateboard now leads 8 to 4 and it doesn't look so good for Team Church Social.

Ken stands guard in the attack zone and allows Penny through. Good strategy. Keep the strongest guy there to block everyone from getting through. Unfortunately for them, this one good idea burns out Team Skateboard's one good brain cell. Helen tries to get through Ken, but he wasn't in the attack zone when he first made contact so he disqualified himself from the game. We see Robb flip off Jeff Probst for insisting that his team follow the rules (and I wonder if Robb is a Democrat from New Jersey).

This changes the score from 8 - 4 to 7 - 5. Robb steps up. Clay hurries through the attack zone and is met with Robb 2-3 feet outside of the zone who grabs Clay by the neck and tosses him off screaming. (This is what we saw in the previews.) Robb very quickly stretches one foot forward so it's in the attack zone and argues with Jeff, pointing to his foot. Jeff clarifies, "Robb you were not in the attack zone when you grabbed Clay by the throat."

Robb throws a little fit and another basket leaves Team Skateboard into the other boat. The score is now tied 6 - 6 and the two biggest guys from Team Skateboard have disqualified themselves from the game. Robb continues to throw a fit as he swims back, "Bunch of little whiney babies."

Jeff states the obvious, "Soup Kitchen, you're self-destructing. Let's go. First one to ten wins."

Stephanie faces off against Ted and wisely sits down to lower her center of gravity (I learned this in physics). Ted still man-handles her into the water at which point Stephanie reaches up and grabs him by the foot and pulls him down. Jeff continues to speak to that group of playground bullies who for the first time in their lives are made to follow rules to win, "Stephanie, what are you doing? You were in the water. You weren't even close to the attack zone."

Shii Ann once again faces off against Ted while everyone on her team explains how all she has to do is grab onto him and pull him into the water. He reaches out with one hand and brushes her off into the water as if she were a stuffed animal. She clings to him as her team suggested and it was like clinging to the trunk of a tree: Ted didn't budge.

Brian heads back with a basket and Jed runs at him to knock him off. They both tumble into the water, but as the show turns into slow motion, it's clear that Jed's food is just barely on the gold trim. And since he needed to be in the black attack zone, yet another member disqualifies himself. Jeff reprimands, and it sounds like he's getting annoyed, "No! Jed! You weren't in the attack zone when you first made contact. Come on, guys. I'm like a broken record."

The score is now 9-4, Team Church Social winning. All that's left on Team Skateboard is Penny and Shii Ann, with a combined weight of maybe 195 pounds. Ted kneels down in the attack zone and Penny contemplates which would be the least painful way to be thrown off. Instead, Ted allows her through but only after Clay runs ahead with the tenth basket.

And for the first time we hear Jeff shout, "Chewie Gum wins Reward!"

Chewie Gum celebrates the fact that Team Skateboard consists of bullying dolts who handed them the win because they couldn't follow a simple rule of the game.

This was enjoyable to watch. Not only was it a fun challenge, but it was also a pleasure to see people actually lose because they break the rules. Too often this is not the case, especially when it comes to playground games and politics.

Bitter Robb Whines and Complains

After Team Skateboard got back to their camp, Robb admitted that he was very bitter about the loss. His team looked rather down and frustrated as we heard him complain, "He's a weak little whiney punk." His team tried to ignore him. "Backwoods hick. Did you hear him? 'WaaWaaWaaWaa!' He was screaming at me, Dude. I wanted to spit in his face."

(Just now, should I have not capitalized "Dude?" It's not really a proper noun, but then again, it's being used as a name. I tried to look up "Dude etiquette" in my Chicago Manual of Style but it wasn't addressed. I think I'll not capitalize it from now on. There is only one time it should be capitalized and that is when I discuss my aunt who is actually called Dude. I've never heard her real name and I couldn't tell you what it is. All I know is that when she was little, my mother and her sisters called her "Doodle-bug" and the nickname just shortened over time to "Dude." So, yes folks, it's true. I have an aunt named Dude and although this caused a bit of confusion while growing up as to what a dude really is, I'm quite proud of this fun Rob-family fact.)

Once again, I just entirely love Shii Ann's words, "Robb, idiot that he is, he talks so much. There is no way a logical thought goes through his brain, 'cause his mouth is always flapping."

Robb continues his rant as Erin and several others look at him like he's that embarrassing uncle at a wedding, "We got beat today, dude. But it wasn't by somebody better than us. Ok, I'm not going to be a sore loser. We lost, dude. We lost by a bunch of rules. You know what, though, who gives a sh**. Because I got a good shot at old homeboy from the backwoods and big Teddy wasn't so big. That's what I'm saying."

There are so many things in this one little paragraph to comment about! In the same breath, he mentioned that he wasn't going to be a sore loser and that they lost only by a bunch of rules. I guess that maybe he was hoping that his team could stand anywhere and push people off while the other team was allowed only to do it in the small attack zone. Damn those rules. Just like football and baseball. People should be allowed to just run all over the field and score touchdowns in either end zone and hit home runs from anywhere they wanted.

And then he had to somehow turn it around so that in his mind he won. "I lost the challenge but I pushed off a little guy a foot shorter than me and even though Ted flipped me 3-feet into the air, he wasn't so big. That's what I'm saying."

But it didn't end there. He played down the reward, like it wasn't really anything he would've wanted. "I was a little bit disappointed when I saw what the reward was. I mean it could've been useful for the Red Berets maybe help us with our shelter. But otherwise, I was hoping it would be like a big turkey or something."

It's so easy to make fun of Robb. And what makes it so easy is that I don't have to do anything except print what he says.

By the way, the "dude" count is at least 3 in this episode alone, not counting any that spewed forth during the challenge. I imagine fraternities have already devised a drinking game based on Dude Spewage.

Red Berets Arrive at Team Church Social

These guys were awesome. They wasted no time. Right in their camp area they pointed out several trees and plants whose leaves could be eaten. Helen said, "I swear to God, they can make ANYTHING with their knife and bamboo."

It was cool to watch. We saw plants eaten, spoons made, food prepared ("Everything in that wok is from right here on this beach."), hunting tools, bowls, other cooking & eating utensils, cups, broths, ropes, twine... Their boat leak was fixed. Give them another day or two and we probably would've seen DVD players and global positioning satellites.

And to think that Robb would've preferred a turkey.

After Brian tries a broth, he tries to confuse the genius Red Berets, and I quote EXACTLY, "Ooh, not bad. No good, good. Not bad. Very good. Thank you."

I'm pretty sure that he liked whatever it was he ate.

Ghandia and the mind of a Woman Whacked

Brian then sets the tone of the next sequence as he speaks to the cameras and invents a new word that I kind of like, "Once that genuinity goes away, or the lack of trust, goes away, then there's going to be problems."

In a hush-hush conversation, Ghandia (who has already hugged Ted, thanked Ted, and told Ted that he's a good person and who was given too much time alone to think and second guess that Ted didn't want to start anything with millions of people watching), details to Jan and Helen how Ted all but molested her in her sleep. The women, of course, unequivocally believe everything Ghandia said without once considering that there might be another side to this story and that they might be playing a million dollar game.

Ghandia said to the cameras, "I accepted Ted's apology to his face, but when I had time to think about it I kind of thought that the excuse he gave me was a little bit disingenuous... A LOT disingenuous. So I just started telling everybody in the tribe what happened because I felt that everybody in the tribe should know what he did. And I was a little hard on him in retelling the story to everybody, but every part of the story that I told was true. The only part that I think I left out was the part that he apologized."

Interspersed between all of this was her conversation with Jan and Helen. She detailed how he bit her on the shoulder "and once he did that, he was on."

To be honest, Ted's excuse is pretty hard to believe. Place a willing woman in the hands of the general man and it is very difficult for him not to fondle. And men can very easily enjoy a good fondle just for the pleasure and the newness of the fondled part without having even a remote emotional connection. Many men think nothing more of fondle pleasure than they would of getting a neck or foot massage with one of those electronic massage devices you can find at Sharper Image stores in the mall.

On the other hand, if you were to call and wake me up, you would quickly realize that for the first 5-10 minutes, I am totally out of it. I'll say and do things that you'll laugh about and later mention and I'll not remember at all. And although I've never spooned with a woman that wasn't my significant other, I can totally see myself being in a sleep stupor and not even realizing that it wasn't my partner. Sure, it sounds far-fetched, but how many people actually spoon with someone other than their significant other? I mean, it's not like Ted's explanation has been tested and proven wrong. And judging by my state of mind while asleep, I can totally see myself doing the same thing.

So, I'm making myself a mental note: If I ever have an opportunity to spoon a woman who isn't my significant other... DON'T because I'd probably end up fondling her without my realizing it.

As I replayed Ted and Ghandia's earlier conversation, Ted seemed entirely sincere. Sincere to the point of repeatedly apologizing for causing her to remember being raped. Ghandia just admitted that she embellished her story, "I was a little hard on him in retelling the story."

What I found interesting during their initial conversation was how Ghandia didn't really listen to what Ted was saying. Before he finished several sentences, she cut him off and continued with her train of thought, continued her sentence as though Ted said absolutely nothing. Scroll back up and read their conversation again. You'll see what I mean. Knowing this, it's not hard to believe that Ghandia later found his apology disingenuous - she didn't really hear it.

And so, with Ghandia now trying very hard to alienate the women against Ted, the plot thickens.

The Case of the Missing Brain... er... Net

Returning to Camp Skateboard, they are all asleep. Jed describes the scene to the cameras, "I wake up at the end of my little nap after I delegate my duties and there's no fishnet to be found."

(Note the words, "delegate my duties" which means I told other people to do my work because I'm a lazy-ass. Also notice the downplaying of nap to a "little" nap, thus trying to make it seem like napping wasn't such a big deal.)

"Me and Robb walked around the beach and searched for it. Basically, whoever last was watching it didn't delegate off duties and let it drift away."

(Hmm... The super-sleuth rubs his chin... the repeated use of the word "delegate" raises suspicion...)

Robb continues to live up to his reputation, "We figured if we left the net out of awhile, we may catch some fish and we might eat and feel good. Well, the damn net floated away. We don't know where the net is!"

The mystery is, who, in addition to Robb, was responsible for the net. Jed said that "whoever last was watching it," which tells me that maybe it wasn't him. But being that he and Robb were the most concerned about it being gone...

Let's ask Shii Ann, "Those boys took the fishing net out." She changed her voice to dopey mocking, "We're going to leave it out in the ocean for hours and hours." And then she solves the mystery, "Because Jed was asleep and unwilling to get up, the fishing net... went bye-bye."

This is so alliance dude. And Robb refuses to understand the concept of personal responsibility. "The damn net floated away," as if the net did it all on its own.

Robb is so entirely sitcom. This is exactly something Gilligan would do. Someday, I want to write a sitcom and like most sitcoms I'll have a duphus. What I'll do is simply hire Robb to just be there. I won't have to write anything. Instead, I'll ask, "OK Robb, what would you do in this situation?" Chances are it'll be funnier than anything I could come up with on my own.

In mild defense of Jed and Robb, the tribe didn't seem to have much of a problem with leaving the net in the good hands of the team idiot and the team lazy-ass. Also, why didn't anyone else help look for the net? If I were there, knowing how important the net was, I would've searched for the dang thing no matter who lost it.

So allow me to review. Robb and Jed thought that it would be a good idea to drag the net out into the water - this net which had little floating buoys on it - and take a long nap, trusting that the waves and the undertow and the constant movement of the ocean would just leave it where they dropped it off.

And then, in a classic Survivor cameraman/editing moment, as Jed leaves the water unsuccessful in his search, the camera pans up directly behind him to show the net less than 50 yards out. Another shot of the net from above shows it floating peacefully away to a new life of freedom. The fish all wonder if God put it there as some kind of sick joke.

The Red Berets continue to impress

Back at Camp Church Social, the Red Berets are still busy doing their thing. One of them is out in the water all by himself fishing or searching for something. (If I were there, I wouldn't allow them a moment alone. I would watch every single thing they did so I could learn and learn and learn.) The other is fixing the leak in their boat.

(I totally agree with a comment Margaret emailed me, "I wish we had seen more of the Red Berets doing their work, than of the other drama." Maybe the Red Berets could get their own show. Wait, I know! Shii Ann and the Red Berets. Make this show and I'd die happy.

I don't understand how come people don't study survival skills before their Survivor stint. A few days in the library would make life so much easier.)

Helen comments about how this is the first time she really feels like she is truly on Survivor. She was so wrapped up in learning survival skills that she forgot about the game. But once she remembered, she talked to Brian about the Ted/Ghandia ordeal and said that she and the other women wanted to continue their streak of idiotically voting off the stronger members by eliminating Ted. Last week I said this tribe sucked because they booted Tanya. It is now clear that the women need to be fed to Kaa, the large python.

Brian wisely said that he wanted to hear both sides of the story and went to have a conversation with Ted. Ted said this to Brian, "It's a long story... a long story. I'll just say it this way; I'm a man of my word. A mistake happened and I rectified it."

Brian responded, "So nothing happened."

"Nothing happened at all."

So, Ted said it was a long story and that nothing happened.

I perceived Ted's response to be something other than a denial. I heard someone who thought that a situation had been worked out and that he simply did not want to go into detail about Ghandia's business. I actually thought that Ted took the high road. He respected her privacy. He could very easily have said, "Whoa, wait a minute! What did she say? She was spooning back at ME! She grabbed my arm and held it around her. SHE is the one who's always touching me, leaning on me. She is the one who suggested we sleep next to each other. She was raped and now she is overreacting because she still isn't over that trauma." But he didn't. He just tried to let it die so that Ghandia's personal life isn't dragged out for the world to see. "It's a long story. A mistake happened and I rectified it."

And when he said nothing happened, I'm guessing that he meant that nothing happened that should be made into a big deal.

Brian told Helen that Ted said nothing happened. Helen promptly went over and relayed this to Ghandia.

Ghandia/Ted Explosion

Ghandia went nutso. One of her issues with Ted was that he was going to act like nothing happened. From what I understand about rape victims, not being believed or actually being blamed is far too common, unfortunately. It's an immense source of pain and it's easy to see why Ghandia freaked when she heard that Ted denied it.

Ghandia screamed and threw rocks and cursed and name-called and punched a log and chopped a piece of bamboo until the Red Beret took the axe out of her hand. Clay likened her to a 2-year-old throwing a fit who needs a good ass-whoopin'.

Ted stated what seems to be the general consensus of most people on the boards, "Ghandia was making an issue that was very, very small and could've been handled in a very professional, one-to-one manner and has exploded it into an issue that goes beyond me and beyond this game."

What she and many others like her don't understand is that when something like this happens, she is not able to think in a rational manner. I know I wouldn't. In her mind, she connected Ted with a horrible incident in her past and once this connection was made, no reasoning or logic could appease her.

I'm not saying that Ghandia's reaction was wrong. All I am saying is that she reacted irrationally but that her reaction was perfectly understandable.

The fact that she conveniently left out Ted's apology and painted him in the most negative light possible, well that's a different story. There's no excuse for that.

Ted and Ghandia called a tribe meeting. He described without the least bit of prompting or denial how he had grinded Ghandia in his sleep and that when he realized what was happening, he immediately stopped. He explained how he apologized to Ghandia and how it would never happen again. Ghandia mentioned that he had denied it to Brian, but she refused to hear that just seconds earlier Ted admitted to grinding her.

The argument then shifted to how he nibbled her shoulder and rubbed her hair. He emphatically denied this and said that he is "not even attracted" to Ghandia and that he is 150-200% happy with his wife. (Spoken like a true software guru. I guess this means that he's really happy with her.)

From Ghandia's actions (playing with the sand, eye contact only when she speaks, not directly responding to anything Ted said), I'm thinking that Ghandia refuses to accept Ted's apology and probably STILL thinks that Ted would like to "get with her."

Given the fact that the cameras were on them all night, I wonder why they didn't show anything Ghandia mentioned. Is it because Ted really did not nibble her shoulder and rub her hair? Maybe. Then again, recall Clarence and the bean incident. They could've showed this as well, but instead they chose to let everyone speculate just as they may be doing now.

Do I think Ghandia imagined the nibbling and hair rubbing? No.
Is it possible Ted grinded her without realizing it? Yes.
Could Ted unconsciously nibble and rub hair? I doubt it. This is quite a stretch.
Did I believe Ted was sincere when he apologized? Yes.
Will this happen again? No way.
Should Ghandia have simply stopped him when it first started happening? Yes.
Should Ted have done this in the first place? No.
Is either one of them perfectly innocent? No.
Are you as ready as I am to change the subject? I hope so.

The meeting ended. Everyone said it's a clean slate, yada yada, but I didn't feel like anything was really resolved. It seemed like Ghandia still thought what she thought and that some people still doubted Ted.

Either way, if I were in that tribe, even if I thought Ted DID try to get with Ghandia, I wouldn't vote him out because that would increase the chances of my tribe losing immunity challenges, which would, in turn, increase my chances of losing out of a million dollars. Call me selfish. Call me immoral. Doesn't matter to me. What happened between two people I've known but a week would be insignificant to bringing home mega-bucks for my family.

Erin Lives!!

Oh my gosh! It's the third episode, almost at the very end of this third episode, and Erin - you know, the girl with the boobs - actually speaks. I mean, she actually stated something to the cameras. And not only did she state something to the cameras, but she actually came across intelligent.

I'm not surprised at this spark of intelligence just because Erin has breast implants. Personally, I think women are smart to get breast implants (but not the huge ones) because it gives them power and control over the male species. I'm surprised because until now she has said nothing at all that was the slightest bit memorable. Plus, until now, she has been featured very often as the camera lingers on her beautilicious bod. But still, she hasn't really spoken until now.

After Jake read the tree mail announcing the next immunity challenge, Erin responded, "When we started off we didn't think we could've picked a better team. All I know is that the majority of us don't really care whether or not we win immunity. We're actually hoping we lose. We're ready to get rid of some people."

Immunity Challenge

The challenge is called Temple Transfer. "The temple is made up of 6 pieces. Each tribe has 3 platforms. Your challenge is to transfer your temple from platform 1 to platform 3. You can move only one piece at a time. In addition, you can never have a larger piece on top of a smaller piece."

I like puzzles. It took me 5-10 minutes, but I finally solved it. I imagine it would be much harder with full-sized objects than with pencil and paper. Team Church Social seemed to have more dialogue amongst themselves while Team Skateboard let Jed do all the thinking. I'd be interested in knowing how long it actually took to solve this puzzle.

Team Church Social finished MUCH faster than Team Skateboard. Robb and Jed were the only members of Team Skateboard that looked disappointed. Ted pointed to the heavens and thanked God and then gave Mr. Probst a big hug, briefly cutting off his circulation and ability to breathe.

Team Skateboard Discusses Possible Evictees

Before I discuss the possible evictees, I have a side comment:

Something I really enjoy about Survivor are those transition moments when we're shown quick snippets of animals, bugs, and nature in general. I think of these as Discovery Channel moments.

One such moment was when they showed bunches and bunches of crabs scurrying across the beach and rolling/burrying little balls. (Are these egg sacks? Supposedly people in Canada know what these are, but I'm clueless.)

How could a whole team of people not notice hundreds of little balls all over their beach? How can they be on a remote island and have no desire or interest in exploring anything other than their immediate camp area? I see so much boredom and just sitting around. If I saw a bunch of balls on the beach I would wonder where they came from and sit as still as possible until the little critters popped back out of the sand. And I would be thankful that I was given such an amazing experience with nature.

These people would suck to go on a vacation with. We'd go to Europe or Hawaii or to the Great Pyramids and they'd rather just sit in the hotel and watch TV.

So, Survivor producers... more Discovery Channel moments, please.

(End of side comment.)

Back at Camp Skateboard, Shii Ann comments to the cameras that she can do logic puzzles in her sleep. "I could've stepped in. Jake could've stepped in. But did we step in? No."

Robb said that Shii Ann gets on his nerves and that the majority of the tribe thinks she is their weakest member. Robb tried to explain to Ken about Shii Ann but then we heard Ken explain Jed to Robb, "I don't dislike like Jed, but I do think that for the most part he was lazy in the beginning and he did things that pissed a lot of people off."

To the cameras, Ken said, "Jed, it's not that he's not valuable, he's just flat out lazy. He doesn't do anything. He lays around all day. It's different to be lazy and not help us but he's lazy and hurting us."

While he said this, the cameras focused on Robb as he looked at his reflection in his sunglasses tidying up his hair and his Survivor buff head-cover thing. Yes, the producers tried really hard to make it seem like someone other than Jed might be booted.

Erin commented, "We need to have some kind of harmony while we're out here when we've got all the other odds against us: the rain, the heat, no food, not much water. So we need to have some kind of unity out here and with certain people we really don't feel like we have that, so we'd rather just get rid of them."

Tribal Council

As usual, Jeff asked his questions. Shii Ann was surprised most by the lack of food. Jed said that he would eat snails and whatever else if he had to. Robb said what everyone already knew, that he's a high-energy kind of guy, blah blah blah.

Stephanie said that people are getting grumpier without food and that people who are all buff, such as herself, are affected more than the others because their bodies need more energy. Jake said he was voting strategically.

"Alliance Dude" (Robb, Jed, and Stephanie) all voted for Shii Ann. Everyone else voted for Jed, who seemed rather indifferent to the whole experience as he walked away. Based on the confidence of Erin, Ken, and Shii Ann, it seems as though there's strong communication between all those except for Alliance Dude. Unless there's a switch, this likely means that Robb and Stephanie are next.

As much as everyone likes to dislike Robb, he is great entertainment. Stephanie has no personality and always looks like she wants to kick someone's ass. She's probably a really nice girl. I just haven't seen it thus far.

While Jed gave his monotone final words, we saw the votes. (The CBS site is wrong, if you happen to check the Tribal Council page.)

Next Episode

The tribes receive huge, and I mean HUGE (larger than Ted, according to Clay), voodoo dolls. Well, they look like voodoo dolls and I WISH they were voodoo dolls because wouldn't that freak out the world if such things were really true.

Also, surprise, Ghandia is still wigged out over what happened and has refused to accept the fact that Ted doesn't want to get with her. She's painting a large Vote-Me-Out symbol on her forehead as her tribe and the rest of the world wishes she would just go to therapy and get over it.

And I just realized something...

No animals died or committed suicide during this episode. The emergency meetings must have worked.

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Have any comments? Difference of opinion? Further insight? I can't imagine that everyone agrees with my opinionated self, especially when it comes to the Ted/Ghandia incident. Email me at [email protected].

« Last Edit: Oct 8^th, 2002, 9:13am by Rhune »

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