'Survivor': Blitzkrieg Democracy
After four consecutive tribal councils, Ulong was desperate. And "Survivor: Palau" host Jeff Probst made the tribe's situation even more dire.
If, after 10 seasons of "Survivor," no one has published a rule manual, here's wishing someone would. Before Angie Jakusz, the tattooed bartender, and Willard Smith, the gray-haired lawyer, were voted off, two tribal councils and three votes were tallied — four if you count the tiebreaker. One vote was for immunity — for one member of the opposing team — after a surprise blitz by Probst.
Huh?
Here's the episode's play-by-play of Episode five.
On Koror, some love seems to have been budding while the "Survivor: Palau" cameras were more focused on Ulong's failures.
Jenn Lyon, the soft-spoken student from California, and Gregg Carey, the handsome midwestern boy, are getting close. "They have to think we're stupid if we can't tell that they're together." Coby Archa, the player with his shorts always rolled up a bit too high.
We left off from Episode four on going into the teams' 11th night on the island. After tribal council, Ulong returned to camp as a violent storm rolled in. The team left its shelter in search for a cave, but the three boys from Alabama and the two strongwomen got lost in the woods.
"We cannot quit. We cannot falter," James Miller, the steelworker said as they all zombie-walked (hands out in front of them) in the pitch-black wilderness. It was not a good night.
On Koror, Tom Westman, the dependable, steel-haired NYC firefighter, stayed awake, appropriately enough, to tend the fire. The only problem: it was Willard's turn. Tom and Gregg came to the conclusion that Willard was either: A) Slacking or B) Trying to run Tom down.
"In a way, because we've been winning all these immunity challenges, Willard has been getting a free ride and has been playing this game a lot longer than he should." Gregg said.
The Immunity challenge pitted the teams against each other in a search for undersea sake bottles. The goal: build a six-pack.
Speaking of six packs, Ulong's Steph is building her own as she loses weight but packs on the muscle. Koror's Janu Tornell, an already-trim Vegas showgirl, is looking plain waifish. Not cute-y Olsen-twin waifish, though — Janu is six-feet-tall and the black bags under her eyes seem to say she's not only having trouble eating, but also sleeping.
Ulong's muscular Ibrahem Rahman surprised his team by not being able to reach the bottom and pick up a sake bottle, even after multiple attempts. Meanwhile, Koror capitalized on their dolphin training member, Ian Rosenberger, and sent him out to the task twice.
This is becoming needless to say, but Koror won the challenge.
Their reward: dinner.
Their punishment: having to attend tribal council along with the losing team and also eliminate a member.
The bonus: They get to dine while listening in on the opposing team vote. Host Jeff Probst noted that, a game in which knowledge is power, Koror's members could possibly leave council with some valuable information about the players they've come into little contact with so far.
Before we get to the long, complicated tribal council, let's wrap up some episode outtakes:
Yes, Coby is amusing.
But Ken (a.k.a. Gregg) proved himself to be a power player by foraging alliances with both Tom and Coby. And he spoke for his woman. Jenn giggled (not kidding).
"Jenn and I are in the middle able to navigate which way we want to go. That's a luxury." Gregg said. "People look at me and Jenn and say, 'what a cute couple,' but I say, 'we're thinking a whole lot more than they are.'"
Willard said, going into tribal council, that people perceive him as the weakest link on the team. But he seemed to get watery eyes as the votes poured in for him to leave the tribe.
"I surprised myself by not being as strong out here as I expected," the 57-year-old lawyer from Bellevue, Wash. Sure enough. He got voted out.
Koror moved over to the jury box as Ulong filed in to tribal council. Then their reward for winning the earlier challenge was unveiled: biscuits, stew and root beer.
Ulong seemed saddened to the core. Angie sat with her hands over her face so she didn't have to look at the other team eat. Steph sighed.
Before Ulong got to vote, Probst broke out the "dum-duh-dum" surprise music and busted out another reward for Koror: each member cast a vote for a member of the opposite tribe whom they wanted to get immunity. Was this a surprise extra dose of democracy or pure sabotage?
Immunity went to Ibrahim, throwing off Ulong's plan to revenge him for not getting the sake bottle. Revenge…sake…this has sure been a bizarre episode.
Bobby Jon and Angie tied with two votes each. Then they sat out as their team members re-voted. Angie got at least two votes, and her torch was extinguished.
"I did a lot better than I thought I would." Angie said. "I definitely have more appreciation for the little things in life than I used to."
To hear more of Angie's story, and some words from the other castoff, Willard, tune in to Thursday's CBS' The Early Show.