An “Insider” Look at Survivor: China Episode 7 - “It Was Worth a Shot”

Jaime starts out by saying she learned she’s probably too nice for the game of Survivor. But she made friends. She’s happy, but she should have fought a bit harder and concentrated on the game. She’ll miss Erik, but she’s glad he’s still out there. It was good having him there. He helped her when she got down. Hopefully, Peih-Gee will be able to help him soon.

Jaime says she tried to play the hidden immunity idol in the hopes it was really it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, but she thought she was getting voted out and might as well try it. “It was worth a shot.” She’s glad she tried it. She got some good reactions!

Jaime says she made a bad decision with James. He’s obviously not very trustworthy and she wishes they had gotten rid of him. Jaime hopes Peih-Gee, Erik, and Frosti find a way to get rid of some of the old Fei Long so the Zhan Hu can last longer.

Yes, Jaime can hope that, but it doesn’t look very good for them right now. Jaime is right that the only thing worse than playing the false “hidden immunity idol” would have been NOT playing it and finding out it was real afterwards. I guess you can’t fault the girl for trying!

Jaime, The Day After

Jaime starts out by saying that Zhan Hu at first thought they would merge soon, but by the time they went to the “reward challenge” that turned into a merge, they had convinced themselves the merge would happen later. It shocked them. “Now what?” Then the immunity challenge happened immediately, before they got to even talk to the Fei Long. And then Tribal Council was the next day. It was hard.

You start to make friends with people and then you have to question if people are really your friends or not. People are not there to make friends – they’re there to get a million dollars. She knew that going into the experience, but forgot about it for a while until the merge. It was stressful. People walk away talking and it freaks you out. “When we merged, I felt completely uncomfortable.”

Not eating was hard enough, but if she was not eating and worrying about the game all the time she never would have made it. She had to keep smiling to keep herself together. Not eating and dealing with the monsoons was hard. “You start hearing things in your head... and you can’t talk because your mouth is so dry.” If she had been worrying the whole time she personally couldn’t have made it through. She needed to bond with the others to make it. But if you’re worrying, you’re also strategizing. So it might have been better to worry some!

The rain the first four days was miserable. Day one she fell into the bushes and basically blacked out. No one expected the monsoons and constant rain the first four days. It was her birthday and she was with the Fei Long, who viewed her as an enemy and a spy. Jaime’s a girly-girl who loves to wear makeup and dress up. Out there, she didn’t even brush her hair or wear makeup, no clothes, and she never thought she could live “so gross.” Now she doesn’t care about makeup, clothes, or even underwear! She realizes how trivial that stuff is now.

It’s funny, they were the most miserable 21 days of her life, but she would love to do it again. She showed she was athletic and she did really well. “It was a great experience even though it was pretty miserable at the same time.”

Jaime seems content with how well she did in the game. She recognizes that she fell down on strategy, but says that it was necessary for her to make it under the conditions of Survivor. She might be right, but that kind of play usually doesn’t lead to winning. Still, she seems to view the experience as a real positive in her life. I think she should stick to wearing underwear, though.

Merge and Feast

This is the same clip we saw on the show. Zhan Hu sees that their former ally, Sherea, was voted out by Fei Long. Then, with a quick quote from the show’s current muse Sun Tzu, the tribes merge. The Probster warns the new tribe to pay attention at the coming feast. It seems like many chose to drink and stuff their faces instead. The members of Zhan Hu know they are in a precarious position. They have to hope Frosti and James are with them. It’s nice to hope.

Immunity Challenge: Retention to Detail

This is the same clip we saw on the show as well. Frosti claims a bad memory, but he manages to recall more about the feast than anyone else, winning immunity over Fei Long’s target, Jaime. If Jaime had beaten Frosti, I believe Fei Long would have targeted Peih-Gee, although Erik might have gone due to his closeness to Jaime.