Surviving Thailand, Episode 11: It's All Relative

It's the night after Tribal Council (you remember that from two weeks ago, don't you? It seems like so long ago that Penny was voted out). Clay is not responding well to Jake's jab about doing a lot of work. He lashes out at Jake about it and says he slapped all five of them in the face. Helen says Clay didn't like it because Jake struck home with his remark. Ted says that Clay is getting on his nerves and the outburst was childish. After all, who cares what Jake says? But Clay is proud of himself for saying something. Ooookay.

The next day, both Clay and Jake talk about how much they miss their family. Normally, I'd say this is an indication that we're going to have a family-related reward challenge. But we already had one of those. OK, having seen the previews, I knew darned well that there was another one this time. Sure enough, that's exactly what it is.

We have Helen's husband, Jim - and Helen jumps out of her seat, only to be reprimanded by host Jeff Probst to "stay seated." But she is obviously excited - to say the least. Next is Ted's brother. Then Brian's wife. Then Jake's wife and Clay's wife. Finally, Jan's son. The winner of this reward challenge gets their loved one with them for 24 hours. The losers get nothing. Probst makes it clear that they do not get a hug, a kiss, a handshake. Zip.

Probst then says to the contestants that so far they have managed to live off the land without resorting to eating bugs. Ah, but would they eat bugs to win this challenge? There is a general agreement that they would. Probst says he believes them, but the real question is whether they (the loved ones) would do the same thing. There is general muttering amongst the loved ones and what looked like an "oh shit" from Jan's son. Naughty, naughty!

Probst says there will be several courses of edible creatures. Whoever can't finish a course is immediately eliminated.

The first course is a heaping spoonful of red ants and flying ants (dead). MMmmmm. Everybody downs it fairly easily.

Second course is a big honking water roach. Ick. As several people bite into it, it explodes with juices. Double ick. Helen's hubby almost throws up, but she encourages him on. Brian's wife just looks at the thing and doesn't even pick it up. She says no way - Brian normally kills things like that for her! She says she misses him but she can't eat that - and she knows she misses and loves him. Buh-bye.

Third is three live grubs. And this one is timed - only the first two to eat them all will move on. Everybody dives right in. Helen's husband is first, with Jake's wife coming in a somewhat surprising second.

The fourth course is a boiled tarantula. They have one minute to eat it. If they don't have an empty mouth by then, they're out. If neither has it eaten, they both lose. If both do, it's on to a tiebreaker round.

It's looking nip and tuck for a few moments as Helen's husband is again ready to blow chunks, but Helen just keeps saying, "Please, please, please." He gets it down. Jake's wife finally does as well. "Do I want this bad or what?"

The tiebreaker is boiled scorpion. The first one to have it down wins. Helen's husband stuffs it immediately but Jake's wife drops it and falls behind. Probst practically taunts them to get moving - he's getting quite an attitude. Eventually, Helen's husband wins while Jake's wife spits up into a bucket. Helen is finally allowed out of her seat for a big hug with hubby Jim.

That night, Jim is back at camp with them. He says there is no way he was going to lose that. Helen shows him around camp. Jim says he was surprised at how proud they were of everything while he was thinking he needed to get to a hotel immediately. He even makes a comment that he guesses the losers get two nights at camp! The other contestants give Helen and Jim the "honeymoon suite," but Helen says they just talked all night. I guess those ever-present cameras might put a damper on anything else (well, unless Brian won, of course - he and his wife are already used to cameras…).

The next day, Helen takes Jim on a water run to show him what life is like and be able to talk privately with him some more. Jim says he's surprised she is able to handle this so well - normally, a two-star hotel is "roughing it" for her! But he says she'll do what it takes to win; she didn't come this far to get third place.

Helen talks about how she doesn't trust Clay and needs to flip some of the others. She wants to win but she wants to do it right. Also, she mentions that Brian has told her that he is taking her to the final two. (So that makes at least three two-person alliances Brian has made.)

After all is said and done, Helen says having Jim around was a huge high, but while she is recharged she now has to face the lowest low of him going. She tries to hide her sadness (and doesn't do a very good job of it) because the others didn't get to spend any time with their loved ones.

The next day is time for the immunity challenge, which Jake notes he needs to win. Ya think? He says seeing his wife go through all she went through in an attempt to be with him for a day was a huge inspiration. But will it be enough?