Surviving Samoa, Episode 7: “Something Has to Give”

Last week, there were supposed to be two Tribal Councils and two votes, but instead there was just one person who left – Russell S., due to medical problems (which it appears were related to dehydration, as he told me when I interviewed him; the irony, of course, is that they were all complaining about too much water, in the form of rain!). Also, the winner of the challenge was supposed to get pizza, but it appeared neither team got it because the challenge was called off. Fear not, readers, as it appears host Jeff Probst said in his blog that both teams got the pizza, but there just wasn’t time to show it.

Now that we’ve got that squared away, it’s time to dive back in. There was some serious strategizing taking shape last week, so let’s hope it continues!

We begin at Galu on Night 15 as they arrive back from Tribal Council. Erik tells us losing Russell is a big hit because he had a lot of confidence in their chief. With Russell gone, the men don’t have a strategic advantage over the women. Ah, but they note that they can work with Shambo – if she help her out, they’ll at least bring her to the jury. “Even though she’s a chick, Shambo doesn’t fit in with the other girls.” I dare you to call her “a chick” to her face.

Erik continues that the only way this plan unravels is if the women lock up Shambo somehow. If the guys can get her, though, they’re “golden.” Then they can “burn her, no problem” at final five.

Normally, statements about how there is almost no way things can go wrong are almost always a foreshadowing of those very things going wrong. But in this case, I really cannot imagine the women bringing Shambo back into the fold! Maybe it’s something else that goes wrong instead…

Hey, it’s former winner Jenna Morasca in a commercial about helping the fight against breast cancer. I almost didn’t recognize her, and I see her picture every day because I follow her on Twitter. Anyway, I won’t be wearing the pink jackets, but I definitely support the fight as well.

Back to the show. The following morning at Foa Foa, the remaining Russell tells us he was stoked after Galu lost Big Russell and Foa Foa didn’t have to lose anybody. They figure they have a good chance to win at the next challenge. Russell says the tribe is stronger for not having had to vote out Liz. Even Jaison, who recently had been showing signs of giving up, is in an up-and-at-‘em mood.

Skipping back to Galu, Erik suggests to the other guys that they elect Shambo as tribal leader. He wants to be sneaky about it and will suggest individual votes where it just so happens that all the guys put down her names. Yeah, that’ll fool the other ladies.

Erik tells us that this is all part of the plan to get Shambo on their side. She will feel “so important and so flattered” that he will have her in his pocket. So Erik approaches Shambo and tells her she would be the best person for the job. So they suggest to the others that they take a vote (they assign each person a number and then put their hands behind their backs, pulling them out to count the votes).

Shambo gets four votes and nobody else has that many, so she wins! Monica tells us the way it happened was “stupid” and she can’t understand how Shambo won, considering Shambo was supposed to go home last night! She now wonders what really would have happened if there had been a vote.

Shambo says she wants her first act to be one of motivation and kindness. She did not ask for this position, but will do the best she can. Her leadership style is “night and day” from Russell but she will do her best not to be bossy even though she is a Marine sergeant and has a expectation that people will do the things she tells them.

Dave tells us the four guys plus Shambo is a good plan but Shambo “is just so dim” she could screw up the guys’ plans if they tell her anything.

Time for a challenge! The tribes file in and Probst welcomes them to a sunny day while noticing that Shambo is the new Galu leader. He asks if she is surprised and she not-so-modestly says, “not so much.” She has a lifetime of leadership skills.

Probst says those skills will be tested, as well as their memory and decision-making ability when it comes to wants and needs. Scattered around a field are 13 pairs of matching survival items. One tribe member at a time will pull the lids off two items. If they match, they score a point. OK, so it’s a standard memory game. Ah, but wait, there’s more. If at any time along the way, the tribal leader decides s/he would like to keep the items they match, they can do so at the cost of the point they earned. And to make things just a little more difficult, four of the items are dummies that don’t have matches.

The winning tribe will head out on a beautiful sailboat and a nice lunch. Plus they will send somebody to the losing tribe to do some spying. Galu has to sit out three people, but it’s a new cycle and they can sit out anybody. Kelly, Dave, and Shambo sit out. Because Shambo is out, she assigns Erik to make decisions on her behalf in the challenge. Dave then says no, it’s Brett! Shambo changes her mind. What was that all about?

And they’re off! Well, they’re guessing. Russell goes out first for Foa Foa and finds a fire-starting kit and rope. Galu’s John finds a cleaver and mosquito netting. Jaison picks a lantern and another fire-starting kit. Laura finds both fire-starting kits. Brett chooses to keep the kit (which also comes with a tarp) instead of the point (a decision with which Shambo agrees).

Liz heads out and finds a cleaver but can’t recall where the first one was, instead getting the second mosquito netting. Brett remembers where the first mosquito netting was and therefore gets both of them, keeping the point this time.