Sook Jai Not Fed, Jed Is Dead; or Why Jed Should Not Have Been Voted Off

In this very intense episode of Survivor: Thailand, The losing tribe (and they are losers in much more way than one) decided to toss the Jed, the dental student, proving what idiots they really are. Oh boy, I hope you are ready for a rant. On the first episode, Jed tried to get food for the group, but some people thought that wasn't a good idea, even though Jake suggested Shii Ann should do it too. Their perception of Jed was that since he was not doing the same work they were doing, he must be lazy. Have we seen evidence of this beyond him not completing the shelter? Have we seen any evidence in the second or third episode that proved Jed was lazy?

Hmmm, let's see. When he was trying to fish with the net a few times, where was everyone else? Looked to me like they were sitting in the shelter comparing blisters. Since when on Survivor is only one person responsible for the food and water? Five people went snail seeking, once, but we saw no one else try to get fish after the shelter was built. We saw no one else, aside from Stephanie get water. In fact I saw no one else try to even crack open a coconut, besides Jed.

Somehow, Jed became responsible for losing the net. How is it his fault? He made sure someone else was watching it when he napped and that person fell asleep. On The Early Show, Jed said that he and Robb had put the net out and were watching it for a long time, and then Jake and Penny took over checking it so he went to sleep. When he woke up, he saw that everyone was sleeping and ran out to check the net, but it was gone. They blamed him because they said he brought it out and should have brought it back in. Jed said that for three days, they all worked on the shelter, but no one stopped to get food. Once the floor was built, Jed decided the tribe needed to eat so he started gathering food and water for everyone else, along with Stephanie and eventually Robb. Did the rest of the tribe expect manna to fall from Burnett? Did they think Buddha would come back as a rabbit and throw himself onto their fire for their sustenance? Why did they wait almost a week to think about food?

NYC Cop, Ken, said that Jed was telling people what to do, but not helping them. Mark Burnett must be messing with the editing again, because what I saw was Jed saving the immunity challenge in the first episode by managing to do the puzzle fast enough to completely overtake CG's lead. I also saw Jed dive in without hesitation when Penny could not compete her part of the floating lotus flower puzzle and he once again kept CG from taking over and winning the game.

In this episode's immunity challenge, Jed was the only one attempting to figure out the Towers of Hanoi puzzle. Shii Ann said they tried to throw the game because, why? To get rid of Jed for losing the net? He didn't actually lose it, but was a decent enough guy not to bitch and moan about how he asked someone else to do it and they screwed up. He could have raised a major ruckus, and in fact, he didn't even name names in the confessional. So Sook Jai got rid of the only person who has made the difference in the challenges, a strong swimmer, someone who attempted to fish and provide sustenance while they were perfecting their imperfect shelter. Someone who was branded as "freaking lazy," but viewers were never shown any evidence that Jed was any lazier than any of the other tribe members. There is no way Jed should have been voted out at this point.

So then who should have been? Stephanie. For whatever reason, Stephanie has chosen to stand off from the rest of her tribe. My hunch is that she knows how important food is to the tribe and tried to find her niche there and once she stepped away, she became an outsider. Once she was an outsider, it fed upon itself. The shelter alliance saw her as snubbing the shelter, when she probably was just trying to hook up with Jed or something and she thought sleeping next to him under the stars would be a cool thing to do – until it rained. The question is why she did she continue to sleep outside even in the rain? Maybe she could have slept through the rain and not even noticed it. Maybe looking up at the rain drops falling on her was some sort of wonderful experience and she wanted to enjoy it. Maybe she gets claustrophobic sleeping in such close quarters. Does sleeping by the fire keeps the bugs away? Maybe she regrets skinny dipping and feels ashamed and so she was hiding. It could be any number of reasons. Jed said it was because laying on the bamboo was like laying on bumpy concrete and that the sand was much more comfortable.

Whatever the reason, she should have gone before Jed for the simple reason that she is as guilty as he is in the perception of laziness, but she is sicker and weaker than Jed. The tribe will regret getting rid of a strong, smart player. They have a couple more strong guys on the tribe left, but one of those is in jeopardy. Robb becomes this week’s underdog.

Yes, Robb. He has muscles, but he doesn't exercise the one in his skull. It looks like Robb may have been the real loser of the fishing net. He does not appear to have gotten much water or food, nor has he, in fact, done anything since bitching about his hands being blistered. He has a nasty attitude and is a sore loser and a poor sportsman. He has a big mouth and maybe he needs to go for that, but the truth is, getting rid of another strong tribe member will kill the team. They need to keep him around, if just for his strength in rowing. Shii Ann might think he is so annoying that he has to go, but it would be a huge mistake. I liked Shii Ann before last night, but If I see her everlasting smirk one more time, I am going to reach through the TV cable and digitally bitch slap it off her face. Getting three votes against you in the first tribal council is not humorous.