Surviving Samoa, Episode 9: “Am I That Damn Good?”

Last week, Erik’s world turned upside down when he went from wanting to eliminate Foa Foa to going along with a plan to oust Monica to suddenly being the target himself – all in the space of just a few minutes! This week, we’ve been promised that Russell could be in trouble and that there will be a plan that leads to a dramatic Tribal Council. Does this mean our villain is done for? Personally, I doubt it, but you never know. Let’s find out together!

It’s interesting – host Jeff Probst gives a lot of credit to Natalie for Erik’s ouster in his recap of events. I didn’t quite see it that way, but I wonder if this is foreshadowing of what’s to come…

Anyway, we return to the action at Aiga camp as the tribe is returning from Tribal Council. Russell tells us he had a strong feeling he would be the target and didn’t think twice about playing the idol. Now he’s really worried because he thinks he’s out next – he needs a miracle! Wait? Is that a whinny I hear in the background? Is a big white horse going to run up and save him? No, sorry, that was Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part I. Never mind.

The women (except Shambo) discuss the events that just took place and Laura tells us playing the idol was the dumbest move he could have made. No, not playing the idol if you’re the target is the dumbest move you can make. She says things could not have happened any better – they got rid of Erik and exposed who will go next. “Russell is going to be gone next.”

OK, this will now be one of two types of episodes. Either we will be led in one direction only to have a surprise change at the end, or we will be led towards Russell’s ouster in such an obvious way that we can all just sit back and laugh. I don’t know which it is just yet.

The following day, Natalie finds a mouse or rat while out on a walk. She takes the big stick she’s holding and clubs it… then apologizes to the now-dead animal. She brings her prize back to camp for dinner. Jaison smiles as he tells us how shocked they all were when this Southern belle came back in her itty-bitty bikini with the dead rat, which Natalie says, “tastes like chicken.” Of course it does. Jaison continues that he is very proud of her.

Russell tells us he hopes a new immunity idol gets put into play, because if it does, he’s going to find it. Normally, I’d scoff at such a statement, but he’s already shown he can do it, so I’m not going to argue with him! Oh, wait, he thinks it’s in Galu’s camp and he’ll find it today. Um, nope – that one left with Erik. Sorry!

Treemail! It must have to do with Monty Python, because it begins, “And now for something completely different.” Plus, it says, “You’ll work together with a bunch of nuts.” Could be! Eh, probably not – the reward looks like a feast rather than a holy grail.

The tribe arrives at the challenge and Probst greets them. He explains the challenge: They will divide into two teams of five (one will be randomly excluded). On go, they will race, two at a time, into a field to collect a series of poles threaded with white and black coconuts. Once they’ve retrieved the poles, they will arrange them in six rows so the white coconuts form a four-digit number. Each team’s number is different, so no peeking! Once they find the number, a blindfolded player must then find the same number on a series of number wheels using only their sense of touch. First team to do so wins reward – a trip to a one-of-a-kind natural rock slide plus a picnic lunch.

The teams are Jaison, Laura, Brett, Russell, and Mick (yellow) vs. Shambo, Kelly, Dave, John, and Monica (purple). Natalie sits out. Ah, but wait – she gets to choose one team to support and shares the same fate as that team. At first glance, I would say yellow looks stronger, but then you have to consider that all three Foa Foa members playing are on that team, so they probably have no chance. Natalie picks the yellow team anyway.

And they’re off! Brett and Mick start off against John and Kelly. The latter are in the lead (of course, they’re both Galu!). Dave and Shambo head out vs. Russell and Jaison. The latter surprisingly take over the lead. Yellow keeps the lead as Mick and Brett go through the knots quickly and return, but John and Kelly essentially tie it up. Shambo then blows it by lagging far behind Dave in her return to the course.

Yellow starts working on figuring out the number. Purple is behind and not helped by Shambo continuing to klutz around, dropping one of the poles. But as both teams try to figure out their numbers, purple – led by Dave – figures out their number first: 4673. Dave yells it to Monica, who is their blindfolded number-feeler.