Many targets for possible voting show themselves in this second episode of Survivor: Africa. In Samburu, Silas is playing both sides of the field. In Boran, two members fail at crucial moments while another is sick and yet another still untrustworthy. With so many targets, who will get the boot? And who will drink the blood?
In the wake of another reality show dying (or at least going unconscious for a while), Survivor, well, survives. In the second episode of this third series, alliances are forming and already wavering, some appear trustworthy while others look like they would lie to their own grandmothers to win this game.
Speaking of Clarence, he begins this episode by telling us how horrible it was to go to Tribal Council at the end of the previous episode. He says it was horrible to have his name read by host Jeff Probst. Yeah, well, maybe – just maybe – he should have thought about that possibility by doing one of the most idiotic things ever seen on Survivor.
We quickly find out, via Lex, that the almost unanimous vote against Diane was no coincidence. They had all agreed to vote against her, but wanted one anti-Clarence vote to shake him up a bit. And shaken he was. Not only did he complain to the camera, but also to Jessie, claiming he was just “too nice” to Diane. He just can’t seem to get it through his head that giving Diane food wasn’t really the problem – it was that he ate the rest of it himself!
Over at Samburu on day four, we find that, like the Outback, it may be hot during the day but it’s damned cold at night. So they go to work on building a shelter. Well, some of them go to work. Frank (of course) takes charge. Lindsey (of course) complains about Frank taking charge. Frank complains about Lindsey complaining and her (along with Brandon and Kim P.) acting like this is some sort of vacation. Carl helps Frank pretty much every step of the way, but notes that others are not. Brandon sits on his ass and hangs out with the other young women. He says they are like two different teams, split by age. Sort of, but I think it’s more like two different teams, split by those who are willing to work and those who aren’t.
All of this is interrupted by the first reward challenge of the series. It involves each team having to carry a series of five logs, each a different size, to a tower and putting them into post holes to arrange a staircase. The first person to set it up and get a person on top of the tower wins. Oh, and of course they have to get the logs through an obstacle course as well. The reward consists of blankets, food, and all the stuff that was left behind on the first day. Linda sits out for Samburu since they have one more person, but Probst notes that the same person can’t sit out for two challenges in a row. This is an interesting point since I don’t recall him ever saying it before. So just like early discussion about tiebreakers in Survivor 2 foreshadowed several ties, I have to wonder if this doesn’t foreshadow a coming challenge where Samburu will want to sit out Linda but cannot.
Anyway, Samburu leads early, but both get pretty much tied for the second through fourth logs. In fact, they are tied for the fifth as well, until Kim J., running behind the rest of the group, falls on part of the obstacle course. The rest of her team cannot put the final step in until she is with them (that’s one of the rules) and meanwhile Samburu gets in that log and gets a person up to the top. Samburu wins, and Boran has an easy scapegoat – the oldest woman. Are we looking at Sonja or Mad Dog again?
As they walk back to camp, Kim J. admits that she screwed up (what else would she say? I guess if she were Clarence she’d find a way to blame somebody else). They all say it’s okay, etc., but she privately believes that no matter what they say, what they think may well be something very different.
The following day, still in Boran, we find out that Jessie has apparently not had a single drink of the spring water since they’ve been here. I find that a bit hard to believe, especially since she was throwing up and had to be even more dehydrated than the others, but that’s what they said. She sits there, bottle in hand, unable to just drink the nasty water. One look at her lips tells a story of how much she needs water. But like Kimmi, who wouldn’t bathe in the Australian river, Jessie cannot seem to bring herself to do it. Eventually she must, be we don’t see it.
Back at Samburu, there is some serious plotting going on. The workers vs. non-workers battle is heating up as whispering surrounds the camp. The group of Frank, Carl, Teresa, and Linda decide that they need to get Silas on their side to avoid a 4-4 tie vote, should they need to go to Tribal Council. Silas is the strongest of the younger crew and might actually do some work. So they rope him into a water trek and talk him into an alliance. One of the best lines of the night comes when Silas asks if they’re sure Linda (who isn’t with them on the water trip) is solid with them. Frank responds, “Linda’s so concrete she’s buried in the bottom of the Hoover Dam.” You can at least count on Frank for the good lines. So Silas signs on.
Later, as Frank and Silas are walking with their cart, Frank opens his big mouth about how they’re allied and Lindsey overhears. Lindsey says it really hit her then that they weren’t just out on some fun camping trip with her pals. In other words, Frank’s characterization of her all along has been correct – she is just here to have fun. Apparently, she’s an idiot and never watched either of the previous Survivors. In any event, she asks Teresa about the alliance and MS. I-Cannot-Tell-A-Lie fesses up. When Lindsey confronts Silas about it, he tells her to just trust him and they’d get rid of Frank first. We’re left not knowing who Silas is loyal to. He says he’ll do what it takes to win – if that is truly the case, he needs to stick with Frank’s team. We’ll see.
At Boran, Kim J. and Jessie talk about how the guys might want to get rid of the women because they are weaker. Meanwhile, Tom, Lex, and Ethan make a three-way pact, but Ethan isn’t really sure he can trust Lex. The alliance isn’t even a minute old and already there are trust issues!
The immunity challenge notice comes and everybody figures out that, as Kim P. says, it’s “our disgusting food challenge!” But they are ready for anything.
And they certainly get something unexpected. Rather than bugs or brains, they get milk. Well, milk mixed with an awful lot of cow’s blood, that is. Some of the locals show them how to make the drink. First, they take a cow and shoot it in the neck just enough so blood starts pouring out. They get enough blood, stop up its wound, and take it away. How pleasant. Then Probst pours the blood into a nice glass jug and mixes in a little milk.
From there, it goes into the usual disgusting food challenge mode. Each person will have to down a shot of the mixture. Anybody who can’t or won’t will be in trouble. First up is Lex vs. Frank (this means Lex will have to go twice, since Boran is down a member). Frank downs it quickly and then smears some of the extra blood on his face. Thank you, Mike Skupin. Lex says it’s “nice.” (The drink, not the war paint.) And so it goes. Even Ethan the supposed vegetarian drinks it without a problem. And Jessie, who wouldn’t drink the freaking water, downs this mixture without throwing up. At the end, since everybody drank it fine, they come to a tie. Each team picks one person on the other side for the tiebreaker. Since the Samburu folks don’t know Jessie has been sick, they don’t pick her, instead going for Kelly. Boran picks Linda, who had a little trouble getting her first shot down. This time, no milk, and nice big glasses. First to down it wins.
Linda has no trouble this time, out-chugging Kelly to give her tribe immunity for the second time in a row.
So Boran has to make the long walk again. And now there are plenty of targets. Clarence is still not trustworthy. Kim fell down. Kelly couldn’t chug. As Kim notes, there is lots of second guessing about who is valuable. Indeed, Clarence is doing his best to focus attention anywhere but on himself. He talks about how he can’t believe Kelly couldn’t chug beer, just after we hear Kelly saying she couldn’t chug beer in college and couldn’t chug blood here. Clarence says the women are the weakest link. The guys still say they need Clarence’s strength, but Ethan claims he’d vote off Clarence before any of the women.
When they get to Tribal Council, Probst hits them with a few questions. Jessie says she never expected anything to be this hard, but says she is feeling great now. Nice try, but I don’t think anybody’s buying it. Lex says that trust has to be one of the biggest issues because they need to depend on one another. Tom says he told Clarence what his feelings were and felt like “a father figure.” But Clarence has proven himself. Clarence adds that he believes those issues are in the past. No, that’s not belief, Clarence – that’s hope. Kim says she is, of course, worried that they might vote against the person who messed up, and Kelly says she feels terrible because it wasn’t a case of being unable or unwilling to drink up – she just couldn’t pull it off in time.
And so it’s time for the vote. Jessie votes against Clarence. Kim, who earlier had talked to Jessie about the guys wanting to vote off the women, votes against Jessie. Tom, who had just said Clarence had proven himself, threw another vote his way as “another reminder” to him. In the final count, Jessie gets five votes (though only four are shown) and Clarence gets two. Ethan apparently decided that he would, indeed, vote out one of the women before voting against Clarence.
In her final words, Jessie seems to understand that the tribe decided they needed a big strong person instead of a sick weak one, and says she’s okay with that decision. Jeez, women in uniform just can’t get a break on this show!
Next week, I’m guessing there won’t even be a Tribal Council. We see some scenes indicating that Lindsey hurts herself, which goes along nicely with the rumors of exactly that. Then again, it almost seems too easy, and Burnett doesn’t usually make things that simple. So I guess we’ll see in a week.
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