Thursday, March 01, 2007

Survivor: Fiji -- Episode 4

The tribe that won the reward and immunity challenges on this episode of Survivor: Fiji also lost two of its members. Meanwhile, the tribe that lost both challenges remained completely intact. Huh?

Ravu started the episode still reeling from its fifth consecutive loss. Earl's suggestion that the tribe clear the air and talk about their problems resulted in Rocky launching a volley of insults against Anthony, whom Rocky blamed for the team's failures.

Privately, Anthony tearfully confessed to being hurt by the comments, but he vowed to continue. Earl admitted that, while it was becoming harder to protect his friend, he wasn't ready to give up on Anthony just yet.

The Reward Challenge was another rehashed Survivor classic: one at a time, contestants had to move past their tribemates, who were standing side-by-side on a balance beam over the water. The trick is to lean back while holding hands, allowing you to effectively swing slowly past your teammate, as you counterbalance each other.

As both teams struggled early on, Jeff Probst said that there was a learning curve to the challenge. But nobody figured out the lean-back-and-swing tactic. Instead, the members of Moto squatted down and let one person at a time crawl over them. Crude, but effective.

Moto won a big, fluffy bed and pillows for their camp, along with some fish and a selection of spices. They sent Yau Man to Exile Island, where he learned that the Hidden Immunity Idol is buried directly under the highest point of Ravu's cave.

Moto didn't have much time to celebrate their victory after returning to camp. Gary's health woes finally became too much for him--he couldn't breathe and had been lightheaded for days -- so the medical boat ferried him out of the game to a facility where he could receive proper treatment.

Meanwhile, at Ravu's camp, Michelle and Rita suffered a totally different kind of pain. They witnessed Rocky's plan for boosting team morale before the next challenge: walking around camp naked. Rita winced as she recounted the horrors of seeing cocky Rocky's Equus audition.

Losing a member didn't hurt Moto at the Immunity Challenge; in fact, shedding the physically unfit Gary may have helped. And Rocky's striptease did nothing to help his team. Ravu quickly fell behind, as both teams raced across styrofoam squares to rescue tribemembers from floating cages, and a last minute surge wasn't enough to earn them their first win.

But Jeff Probst had a trick up his sleeve: a note with special instructions for the winning team. Moto was given the choice of retaining their immunity but switching camps with Ravu, or surrendering immunity to Ravu but staying at the nice camp.

Moto chose comfort and agreed to head to their first Tribal Council. Because of Gary's departure, the choice to stay at the nice camp meant that, after Tribal Council, both teams would have an equal number of members (seven).

Dreamz, mistakenly believing that no one had formed alliances yet, suggested that they choose between voting out Cassandra or Lisi, the tribe's weakest challenge competitors. However, Lisi had already formed a partnership with Stacy, Edgardo, Alex, and Boo, and they weren't going to vote for her.

Lisi and Stacy suggested that their alliance vote for the flirtatious Liliana, the only woman with any chance of breaking up their alliance. Alex and the other men said that it was foolish to eliminate the strongest woman on the tribe.

That's when Lisi and Stacy made it clear that voting for Liliana wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.

At Tribal Council, the men of the alliance caved to the pressure, and Liliana was eliminated. She was stunned (as was Cassandra, who clearly expected to go home), and told Jeff on her way out that voting her out this early was the only way any of her tribemates could've beaten her.

Next week, Yau Man searches for the Immunity Idol, and Rocky reignites his feud with Dreamz.

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