Survivor 6.1 The Amazon :D The fun is back! :D

Girls rule! Boys drool!

Sorry boys, I just had to get that out of my system :D The boys vs. girls element had me worried, but it's really shaken up the tribe dynamics--and punished the pretty people on both sides, bwah ha ha. And the girls have won the first Immunity Challenge (and NO it wasn't a bake-off or a knitting contest), which will hopefully humble the boys enough to stop their insufferable "They don't stand a chance cuz they're girls" posturing, which would have sorely tested my devotion to the show had it gone on for weeks and weeks. Their internal politics are far more fascinating anyway. Maybe it's because it was 90 minutes long, but I can't think of a "Survivor" first episode where I was really able to distinguish all the personalities this early on--not that we're not in for some revelations and surprises, mind you, but I'm really fired up about this Survivor in a way I haven't been since Africa.

The season begins as always, with my beloved Jeff (we've made up) telling us how dangerous the new place is. The Amazon is very hot and humid, with rainstorms and crocodiles and piranhas and the anaconda, which Jeff describes as the most feared snake in the world. Does that mean there are people who would be relieved to see a king cobra instead? "Oh, never mind honey, I thought it was an anaconda, but it's just a silly little cobra, nothing to worry about." 39 DAYS! 16 People! One Survivor! Jeff begins dividing the group into two tribes. When he puts the fifth girl on the first tribe, everyone realizes that it will be men vs. women, and both groups seem pretty happy about it. Deputy DA Deena says, "I was glad it would be an all chick thing. We can let our hair down and we can pee in front of each other!" Erm...yeah. You know, I have lots of female friends who I feel quite comfortable with and...I can honestly say I've yet to pee in front of any of them and I think we're all pretty happy with that. Viet Nam vet Roger seems worried about the womenfolk, "They don't have the strength to survive out here without men. They may have the will but...it's pathetic!" Asian Texan weightlifter Daniel boasts, "There's no way a bunch of women are gonna beat us at anything! Physical, mental, anything. We're NEVER gonna go to Tribal Council. NEVER." And he says something to that effect in front of the girls because they are bitter about it.

Why do people trash talk, when all it does is fire up the other team? I began my Survivor Thailand opener review with a little chat about Aesop's fables and overconfidence and whatnot so I don't want to repeat myself but, honestly. Don't these people watch the show? Don't they know that there may be a tribe switcheroo and certainly (or, hell, what do I know, maybe not) a merge? So it's wise not to be a big jerk on day one to the other tribe? *sigh* I should teach a class on going on Survivor, I have so much to give.

The tribes listen to Jeff tell them how the Amazon got its name, "A Spanish explorer was exploring this region in the 1500's, and he came across a race of warrior women, so he named the river after them." Well, not exactly Jeff, unless this group of South American native women were *really* into Greek mythology, but we know what you're getting at at. He names the girls Jaburu (ja-buh-ROO) and the boys Tambaqui (tam-BAH-kee). I'm just gonna call them the girls and the boys until a switch forces me to come up with clever fake names, if its all the same to you:) The boys get waaaaaaaaay the heck down river before down-to-earth cutie Shawna can manage to untie the girl's boat--not a good omen, but getting to camp isn't a race and they're on their way...eventually.

Ryan the model sulks, "It sucks when you're as good-looking as me, and you *know* that your plan to totally charm the ladies into doing as you say is TOTALLY gonna work and then it turns out your tribe is one big sausage-fest, y'know?" Sorority gal and swimsuit model Jenna is equally bummed: "Every season on Survivor, there's like, a pretty girl? Who like, doesn't have to work very hard because the guys all like to look at her so they vote out the ugly people first? I was *totally* counting on being that girl."

The men arrive at their camp and open their supply crate. Before they can have at it, Hard Core Dave, a humorless and intense young rocket scientist intones, "Men! We are men of honor! We have the advantage and YES, I'm talking about our Y chromosomes and our precious, precious penises. We are the favorites, we are superior--" His speech is cut off by jocular computer guy Rob who states, "We'll look like the biggest pussies if we lose to a bunch of girls!" Ryan adds, "Bottom line--we're not going home if we lose because we CAN'T." To the camera, he adds, "Let's face it, a lot of the girls over there are eye-candy. Thanks for looking great in a bikini, but it's more important to be useful." THIS from a male model, people. Then he says the guys' "butts are on the stove," presumably meaning that the men in America are gonna collectively freak out or something should these 8 jokers lose some stupid obstacle course race to a bunch of girls. The guys open their supplies, and it's pretty stocked: water, fish hooks, lanterns, flints--and a locked mystery box with no key that we all need to file away for future reference--could it involve a future tribe switch? Anyway, the boys eagerly pull out the machetes and Butch warns them "Careful with the machetes, they can kill ya!" Butch is an agreeable middle-aged man and junior high school principal who tends to talk to his tribesmen as though they were adolescents and in *some* cases, it's a pretty appropriate response. They have a vat of yellow flour that good-natured triathlon coach Alex (a favorite of mine so far) assures us is full of carbs.

Elsewhere, the girls get to their campsite and Shawna proudly ties a nice slipknot to secure the boat (you watching this, Brian and Ted?). Christy informs the stunned group that she is deaf and hasn't heard any of their constant jabbering on the trip over. She wants to keep it from the boys if they can and she needs to be looked at directly when being spoken to, so she can read their lips. She wears a hearing aid and speaks very well--she's a hellava lot easier to understand than Big Tom or Clay. The girls all vow to make this interesting wrinkle work but Jenna frets to us, "Okay...like, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be able to like, work together with someone who like, can't hear me talk."

The boys discuss shelter strategies and Butch tries to tell everyone what to do but with suggestions, so he doesn't come off too "alpha." GRRRR, the men bash machetes to show friendship, GRRRR, they cut down trees! GRRRR! They are loving every minute of this so far. Dave explains, "We had kerosene for the lamp, so starting the fire was cake." Cut to all eighty previous Survivor contestants leaping off their couches in rage, "KEROSENE?? FREAKING KEROSENE??" It takes like, five seconds. Uptight Matt, a vaguely superior restaurant owner wonders if the *chicks* have started their fire yet. Pretty much all the boys refer to the girls as the chicks, which is fine, but when Matt does it, it's in "I don't usually use such vernacular" quotation marks. Roger thinks they have.

But they haven't. I'd like to say they think using the kerosene is cheating but honestly, it appears they never connect the fact that the fuel in their CBS-provided lanterns can be used to make fire. Instead, it's a big five hour fiasco ala previous Survivor seasons. District Attorney Deena, a stout, take-charge kind of woman says they need to decide what's important and the pixyish Heidi (aren't they all? Do parents get some sort of premonition that their daughter will be small and blonde with a little high voice so they name her Heidi?) says, "Like, shelter." and Deena inquires, ala Butch, trying to lead without leading, "And how do you suppose we do that?" Heidi is put-off and tells us, "Deena's kinda bossy? Like, if six of us had a really good idea, she'd be the one to say, "Let's not do that."" This is so far purely speculative because the girls don't actually come up with any really good ideas during their first three days in the Amazon. Shawna suggests that half of them work on shelter and half on the fire, so they sort of do that. Jeanne, a 40 year-old mother of three says wryly, as she struggles to machete down a tree, "We're Amazon women. We'll get through."

The men are quite rightfully proud of the shelter they have managed to build in a matter of hours (take that, Sook Jai). Butch unveils his luxury item, a banner he hung in the halls of his middle school to motivate the kids which reads "Believe In Yourself." Hard Core Dave takes it very seriously, "That's something to think about," he muses. Rob, who fancies himself the comedian of the group tells us, "We're getting along great, I'm sure the girls are having a difficult time. No WAY they can catch fish if our expert fishermen can't. They didn't have ANY idea they'd be doing this on estrogen alone at Camp of the Vagina Monologue." I didn't know you could *say* monologue in the Family Hour on CBS. No matter, for all his snarky talk about estrogen, he's hardly what comes to any woman's mind when they think of testosterone >:) Roger is also confident that the girls can't possibly be doing as well as they are--and make no mistake they AREN'T. But the men's constant obsessing over out-performing the girls at every conceivable task seems silly to me. I have a lot of male friends, and I can't imagine any of them sitting at home saying, "Yeah you'd damn well BETTER start a fire first!" But men, the guys at Tambaqui clearly are doing this for your approval, so I hope you appreciate it.

Night falls and the girls have fire but no shelter so they're sleeping on the bug and snake infested ground. They have a good laugh at how bummed some of the guys seemed when they realized they wouldn't be looking at boobies until the Immunity Challenge. Since it's dark, Christy can no longer follow the conversation and goes to sleep. The next morning, everyone is bug-bitten and grumpy. A tarantula is found near the vat of carb-loaded yellow flour and Deena tries to move it out of camp with her machete. Jeanne calmly steps on it--I like Jeanne. Had I been there, I would have shrieked like an infant, jumped in the canoe and paddled back to wherever the hell Jeff and the production staff hang out and beg to be sent home. I can't abide spiders. Deena decrees that they are cold, wet, bug-infested and miserable and they need a shelter and some food, pronto. They agree that six of them will go to get supplies while two remain to tend the fire, etc. Instead, everyone goes except Christy, who hasn't been told. She watches them leave and doesn't say, "Hey, isn't anyone else staying?" and they all walk away without anyone saying, "Hey, I'll wait with Christy." It's an odd moment. Christy is emotional and feeling left out--a typical day in the life of a deaf person, she tells us, and she's worried that the others view her as a liability. Heidi shrugs, "I haven't really bonded with Christy because of the whole *deaf* thing? I mean, like, if you can't communicate with the people around you, it's pretty hard to communicate." Uh...yeah.

A monkey watches the boys put on the roof to their shelter. Roger has taken charge of the project, which is rubbing the younger men the wrong way. Rob shrugs, "I just do what he says, I know how to play this game." Frankly, this is the part of the game that always confuses me. I mean, I'm a pretty defensive person and I don't like being bossed around--but I also know my limitations. If I'm out in the jungle with a guy who seems to know how to build us a shelter that's gonna protect us from rain and heat and anacondas and tarantulas then I'm gonna do what he says. Simple. I mean, if Ryan the model and Rob the computer guy and Daniel the jacked-up accountant had a better plan for the shelter, that would be one thing. But they clearly DO NOT, so listen to the guy who DOES. Sheesh. For his part, Roger is discouraged by pretty boys Ryan and Daniel, whom he considers useless slackers. Alex speculates that their "post-modern" Amazon shelter will soon be the subject of a Home & Garden photo spread. The other guys CAN NOT stop themselves from fantasizing about how badly things must be going for the girls. Ryan snickers, "I'll bet the girls are sucking at this!" Matt chimes in stiffly, "I find it most unlikely that the ladies...er, that is to say *chicks,* as you chaps say, have dismantled the forest quite so thoroughly as we." Rob guffaws to the camera, "I don't think the girls work well together. Their shelter won't be as good as ours. I see them all crying and panicking and trying to build a cell phone to call their boyfriends to come build them a shelter!" Yeah, it's official. If you're on Survivor and you're name is Rob, you are a total jerk--and yes, that's about the fourth or fifth word that sprang to my mind.

However, it's at this point in the episode that I started to vibe out the script, which Burnett "writes" through editing. I mean, I've seen enough Breaking Away and Mighty Ducks fare to know this is an underdog, come-from-behind kind of tale. Tortoise and the Hare. Would Mark Burnett *really* show all this footage of Rob's braying nonsense, of the boys gloating and the women positively sucking at all things practical just to have the boys annihilate the chicks at the Challenge? That's not dramatically satisfying. It was right as Rob said the thing about the cell phone, obnoxious as it was, that I began to have hope.

Which I needed to sustain me when we cut to *some* of the girls *sort of* building their shelter. Joanna, this year's only black contestant, seems to be the only one with much shelter building skill. Jeanne tells us woefully, "I thought we'd be more focused, I thought someone would take the leadership role. We look disorganized--its embarrassing. We're dehydrating--this could get bad." I'm reminded of something I read in college about the differences between the way men and women interact, socially. In all male groups, leadership and prowess are usually admired and followed. Men tend to look up to guys who prove themselves to be superior in some way. In clinical tests, men will speak favorably of others in their test group who took charge and knew what they were doing etc. In all female groups, the focus is on getting along and fitting in. A girl who takes the leadership role, who demonstrates superiority in some way is often resented. In the same clinical tests, she will often be described as bossy and stuck-up. "She thinks she's better than us." I don't have an answer in that for the women, but they need to come up with one soon.

Jenna has found a solution--she's devoting her time to boiling her underwear and buffs. "We stink, and that's like, attracting flies? Which is soooooo gross. Things can like...live on you? Like, especially, *down there* if you catch my meaning, because...you know how people say 'stick it where the sun don't shine?' That's like TOTALLY true! It's dark down there so I'm boiling our underwear--clean underwear is a BIG priority for us!" She and Heidi lay the hot buffs out to cool on the skeletal half-assed semi-shelter floor they've almost built. I think this is one of those "really good" ideas Heidi was talking about earlier. Deena complains, "We're having trouble focusing on one task, finishing, and then moving on to the next. So...people feel like washing their buffs and that's what they do. I'm thinking, SHELTER." But she's afraid to seem bossy, and nothing gets done. Christy encounters some boiled water on the fire and wonders what it's for. Nurse Janet, the eldest member of Jaburu at 47, answers, I think *they* boiled it to wash their *clothes* in," her voice oozing judgment. Deena snarfs, "Because you know, it's a priority out here--gotta have fresh buffs." Christy rolls her eyes, "Whatever." Deena and Christy share a commiserating smile. Nurse Janet and the Panty Princesses decide to go fishing. Jenna relates, "We went fishing? And Janet's like, dying or whatever? So she basically just sat in the boat and did nothing. If we lose a challenge? She could like, seriously be out of here." And you won't get any argument from Janet, who moans, "I can't do this! I've had it. I expected this to be hard, but it is BRUTAL." The girls don't catch anything and Janet gets discouraged and emotional. Jenna wonders if she's actually sick or just tired. Heidi is actually quite sympathetic as Janet wails, "I can't do a challenge--I can barely walk!"

Back at the men's camp, Rob makes a big show of donating his luxury item--a Magic 8-Ball--to the group. Don't get me started on how lame a luxury item this is, unless you use it to brain a tarantula (or Rob). He forbids the group from asking it about Immunity Challenges, so the boys start asking it if they'll score with any of Jaburu's hot babes (Heidi, Shawna and Jenna) and Magic 8-Ball clearly thinks they're sluts because it guarantees action for everyone. Rob rhapsodizes about the spirits at work in the Amazon and in Magic 8-Ball--he's almost too geeky to truly hate. Almost. I have to agree with him about the 8 Ball. Not as a luxury item, but I *have* seen the awesome predictive powers of this "toy" and I give you this warning: Do not ask a question unless you are truly prepared to hear and live with the answer.

Jeanne and Joanna go fishing with the net and manage to catch a razor spined fish that they decide to chop up for bait. Joanna has a habit of spontaneously singing out praises to God *very* loudly. Jeanne thinks its a kick. The two get so distracted by their fish that they don't realize they've drifted several hundred feet away from their oars. They handle the situation with calm and good humor and seem to make a good team. They manage to catch a silvery fish about the length of a finger, which they cook up in the edible massage oil that Jeanne brought as her luxury item. Joanna blesses the meal, thanking God for their opportunity to, "come together as civilized women, and eat like barbarian women." Shawna describes the meal's consistency as somewhere between vomit and snot--charming!

Immunity Limerick

It would come as no big surprise
if victory went to the guys
but despite all their talk
it isn't a lock
they're soon to be cut down to size

Roger chuckles, "We're the most macho, confident guys Survivor has ever seen! We don't think we can lose!" The girls can't match the men's confidence. Deena says hopefully, "I think we will win a few challenges, but the men *will* dominate, just because of strength." Jenna suggests that Heidi flash her (substantial) boobs to distract the guys--it might be their only hope.

The groups assemble at the Obstacle Course--because it's always an obstacle course and asks the men how they're doing and if they've caught any fish. The men lie and say yes and when Jeff says, "Really?" Daniel says, "Plenty of fish." Jeff asks if the girls believe them and they laughingly say no but relate the fact that they've eaten fish this morning, which the boys don't believe. It's all very playful and fun. Re-read this paragraph and establish the order of events--it will be surprisingly important later on.

Jeff shows everyone the (AWESOME!!) Immunity Idol and then explains the challenge. I usually don't go into this much detail but it's important this time. All 8 members will be belted together to go through a "tough nut," which is this maze of sticks you sort of have to crouch and crawl through. They unlock into two groups of 4 to get over a rope net thing. Then one of the foursomes from each team has to figure out a code using a dial on which letters correspond to numbers. When they solve the riddle they get a combination that unlocks a chest that contains keys to bring them into four pairs of two. The pairs have to balance themselves across a log without touching the ground--or you go back to the beginning. When all four pairs are across, one of the pairs has to put together a puzzle. When they accomplish that, they all unlock and one member swings to the last key on a flying fox trapeze, then races back to unlock a gate behind which the rest of their tribe is waiting to be free.

Both teams are dead even through the maze and rope crawl/run portions of the race. But when they hit the code-breaker part, the girls just totally bonk. The men finish well ahead of them and get most of their team over the logs. They are waaaay in front of the girls and it seems an insurmountable to the girls. It'd be like erasing a 25 point lead in the 3rd quarter of a playoff game--who could imagine such a comeback? ;) But Jeff implores the girls not to give up because Daniel and Ryan CAN NOT seem to manage this simple task. Matt and Rob had some trouble, sure, but managed to crawl their way across. Daniel and Ryan can't even manage THAT. This challenge really shows how useless those meathead kind of muscles of Daniel's are. He's so jacked up he can't control his own body. It also proves that saying: "Easy as falling off a log"? TOTALLY TRUE. The girls eventually get done with the puzzle and move easily over the log--all on their feet--just as Daniel and Ryan *finally* manage to hug the log for dear life and get across. It's tied again, and we get to the puzzle: The girls have the already proven team of Jeanne and Joanna, while the guys send Dave and Rob. The girls fly while the men flounder. Jeff mocks the rocket scientist and the computer guy for sucking so badly at a jigsaw puzzle. Heidi is on the flying fox while they're still scrabbling and the girls win. Jeff says, "Guys, just like the New York Giants, you had a huge lead and you squandered it on a national stage. Tonight, we'll see who you consider to be your team's Trey Junkin."

Back at camp, the girls are jazzed and exulting over their victory. They know the men were talking a lot of smack, and they know how demoralized they must be because they lost to a bunch of girls. Even Janet has been brought back from the brink of death and seems invigorated and strong. They believe in themselves.

CUT TO: Butch's Believe in Yourself banner hanging mockingly form the shelter as the men drag into camp, angry and humiliated. Butch admits, "We were a little cocky. No way eight chicks were gonna beat eight macho guys." Are there really eight *macho* guys? I count about three, maybe four. Matt says, "I believe those "chicks" really did catch fish." Butch chuckles at the banner and admits, "I think today we believed in ourselves a little *too* much." Maybe, but does it matter? They lost because Daniel and Ryan sucked at the balance beam AND because Dave and Rob sucked at the puzzle. They lost fair and square, actually. It's not a tortoise and hare situation--Daniel wasn't whistling and lollygagging over the log--he really tried. And Dave and Rob didn't guffaw and spot the girls a few minutes on the puzzles. In other words, I think their over confidence was unwarranted, but I'm not sure it actually led to their downfall, unless instant karma came into play.

Then Hard Core Dave decides to gather the troops and go off an insane rant :D "We were cocky ass*&%$'s," he begins, "We were baited with a question about how many fish we caught after the chicks were already asked that question and I think we answered with a cocky, arrogant answer! I am a man of character and integrity! Don't bring me down. Don't lie to them about how good we're doing--we're doing great. But don't lie to them." First of all, Dave is totally wrong about the events of a few hours ago. The guys were asked the question *first* and claimed to catch fish when they didn't before the girls said one word about it--they were hardly "baited." Secondly, as Daniel points out to us, it was done in a humorous, light-hearted way. Everyone was laughing and having a good time and teasing each other. No one was under oath, for crying out loud, it was all in good fun. Rob is secretly pleased that honor and integrity mean so much to Dave, "I'm a lying cheating snake, so Dave's insisting he's never gonna lie is only gonna hurt him in this game, nyah." Surprisingly, no one tells Dave to jump in the river or chill out or get over himself. Instead, there's a lot of fist bashing and mea culpas. Ryan begins, "Dudes, I just wanna say, about the balance beam...I kept falling and if I did anything wrong, I'm sorry." Is there anything more annoying than when someone apologizes to you by saying, "If I did anything wrong?" The "if" just hangs there to say, "I admit to nothing, I just want you off my back." Roger is in agreement with me and glares contemptuously at the young punk. Ryan laments to us that he has his ass to the stove, even though it was Daniel who kept falling off the log. I personally have never heard the phrase "ass to the stove" in my life and Ryan's said it twice in an hour. Is this a Maryland thing?

Roger begins stumping for support in his campaign to oust pretty boy Ryan, who's plotting against him. Mr. Integrity himself, Dave, tells Roger he has no problem voting out Ryan, but tells us he would never actually do that because they're from the same hometown--oy, he has some kind of "code." He wants to get rid of lollygagging Daniel. Ryan tells Daniel, "I won't kiss Roger's ass! He's not the boss of me and I'm tired of him ordering me around! Not that I'm complaining." Okay, and how is that *not* complaining, exactly? Sir Matt informs us, "Tensions were most definitely running high. There seems to be *quite* the standoff brewing between Roger and Ryan." Ryan, Daniel and Matt are just giddy with intrigue, putting their fists in a circle, saying Roger's name, and then vowing not to so much as make eye contact until Tribal Council. Preppy Matt is grinning from ear to ear, thrilled to have made friends with the cool kids--I think he sees himself as "Marty" to Ryan's "Spin." Rob is approached by both Ryan and Roger, and pledges his allegiance to both. "Ryan is fun," he muses, "But he's also loud and abrasive. He's really self-centered and we have to work as a team right now. Will I vote him out? Signs point to yes. But Roger is bossy, so maybe I'll vote him out. Cannot predict now, reply hazy, ask again."

TRIBAL COUNCIL

You know the fire drill, it represents your life in the game. Jeff takes great joy in rubbing salt in the men's wounds, "I'll bet this is real humbling," he grins, knowing this is great television. Roger smiles, "We thought we'd get beat on the mental side and they beat us on the physical side. That was a shock." Jeff corrects him, "No they beat you all the way around!" "They beat us fair and square," Good sport Roger agrees. Daniel owns his failure on the balance beam. Jeff asks if the men find any girl in particular attractive and Ryan says, "Hey, they're hot but none of those girls is worth a million dollars. That's where I stand." Jeff starts to take a little poll to see who's the hottest girl and Daniel thinks it Shawna. But Hard Core Dave has to jump in and clarify, "What Ryan was trying to say, but not crudely enough for my taste? The quarterback doesn't screw the cheerleader at half time. We're here to play a game." Rob nods like this is the coolest thing anyone's EVER said in his presence. Jeff's rather mortified and Roger chuckles, "You should hear what he says in camp." My notes to Dave on that colorful analogy would be that Heidi, Shawna and Jenna AREN'T cheerleaders, they're members of the other team who just kicked your ass, fool. That said, I don't quite hate Dave--he has the makings of a fascinating psycho, which is good televison, if ya ask me. I honestly can't wait to hear what he says next. Jeff carries on with his "Who's the fairest of them all" poll and Alex votes for Shawna while Rob professes his love and devotion to Heidi. Then Jeff turns on them and says, "You idiots came out talking more trash than I've heard from any team EVER. That's Sook Jai, the Baltimore Ravens and the LA Lakers COMBINED. Then you get beat and all you care about is hooking up!? You're gonna be in serious trouble!" This struck me as pretty lame on Jeff's part since he was the one who asked their opinion about the girls in the first place.

The men go to vote. Ryan casts his vote for Roger hissing, "My advice to you is don't hunt what you can't kill!" Ay Carumba. Butch votes for Ryan, "You're a good boy--but still a boy. Silence is golden." Ryan wasn't much of a talker on-camera, so we must have missed some fun moments. Dave votes for Daniel, "I didn't like your attitude at the challenge and how it reflected on the rest of the team." Man does this guy takes himself too seriously or what? The final vote is close: Daniel 1, Roger 3 and Ryan four. Ryan looks stunned at the news, and Rob does his best to appear surprised though he cast the deciding vote. At 24, Ryan is BY FAR the youngest person to be ousted first in Survivor and his elimination gives us three straight seasons of men leading the way out of the game after the first three seasons saw women holding that dubious distinction. He joins Sonya, Deb, Diane, Peter and John. I guess I'd like to say to Ryan, hey, thanks for looking so great, but it's more important to be useful! ;)

The men interest me in that, they all see themselves as capable and strong, so they aren't really concerned with keeping someone they dislike just because of his perceived physical strength. Dumbb Robb would have been so toast had they started this way in Thailand. It's a whole new ballgame and I'm loving it. The girls on the other hand are going to need to step it up in the survival department and fast--will a leader emerge before they're devoured by bugs in their shelterless sleep? Next week, I predict the boys will rebound and send the girls to Tribal Council. Daniel certainly hopes so or he's sunk. The scenes tells us a rainstorm threatens to drown the homeless women--but an even bigger threat to their team spirit appears in a mysterious item (food!?) that someone has tried to keep hidden from the rest of the tribe. I can't wait! It's hard to predict who might go without knowing just what this drama is and how betrayed the others feel and who's the culprit and are they caught, etc. etc.! I'm going with Panty Princess Jenna--I'll bet she smuggled gum to keep her breath fresh for all the boys she was planning to kiss :) Survivor: Thailand strained my love of this show to the breaking point but it's back, it's revitalized and I've fallen in love again :D

Peace, Christine :D