Survivor Psyche, Episode 12: A Cute Failure

Of course, the picnic is also an opportunity for Matt and Rob to lay out their final two strategy. Matt reflects that it’s good to see two different people come together who had such different strategies. “He helped me initially, and I’m helping him a lot now,” Matt … Matt tells Rob he’s the only one who still trusts him. “I’ve taken us to this point, there’s no more moves I can make, Matt is the player that’s in the driver’s seat, not me, …”Not one player would trust me to go to the end, and for that, I owe you everything.” “I’m so stoked that I’ve crafted very strong relationships with Rob and Butch, and as far as they know, I’m going to the final two with each of them.” I feel like I’ve got two options now locked in, one of them will be stabbed in the back and that will be the first time in the game I’ve had to do that.”

”I Didn’t Start The Fire…”

After surviving thirty-four days in the jungle, the tribe members return to their campsite to find that Mother Nature has paid an unexpected visit. And it’s a warm welcome indeed for Butch, Heidi, and Jenna when they see a smoldering ruin where their shelter and belongings used to be. Butch’s “Believe In Yourself” banner is only a melted nylon ribbon now, and Rob’s Magic 8-Ball has been reduced to a charred lump of plastic. Only Heidi’s backpack remains untouched, having been stored under the shelter. She tries to console Jenna, who is dazed by this new turn of events. “I had stuff that can’t be replaced like my pledge crown and my Zeta jacket,” Jenna mourns.

Like the good administrator that he is, Principal Butch has learned how to weather difficult times. ”My first thought was, God could it be my fault, but we’ll never know,” Butch shrugs. “Whose fault? It’s all of ours I guess, maybe it was too big a fire,” Butch tells Heidi and Jenna.

Soon enough, Matt and Rob return from their picnic. “We had a little problem, the shelter burned down,” Jenna announces. “The shelter burned down!” Rob shouts. ”Dude!” Matt responds. It’s a marked contrast of personalities as the tribe members cope with the loss of their possessions. Heidi wallows in survivor’s guilt because she still has her stuff, Jenna is stunned that she’s lost something “passed down for 5 or 6 years,” Butch has already moved on to plans for a new structure, and Matt has turned to his inner guide for help. Which leaves Rob as the only one willing to “point the finger.” “I believe in fate and this was probably unavoidable,” Matt ponders. ”I’m not gonna point any fingers cause we don’t do that in this tribe [not in the fairy tale version you’re living anyway] but in hindsight it was an inferno waiting to happen.” Rob is not so magnanimous, “With 135 days’ worth of firewood, our camp burnt to the ground, was there a connection?” he speculates. And he’s ready with the answer: “Cough/Butch!”

Phoenix or Flop?

A new day dawns with its opportunities for change, growth, and discovery. And which role on the Cosmic Wheel of Life do Jenna and Heidi choose? Victim – that’s who! And nasty, deluded, passive victims they are too. While worker ants Matthew, Butch, and Rob toil to construct a new fire shelter for the tribe, Jenna and Heidi stubbornly refuse to help in any way. The men have a “hard core alliance,” Heidi reasons, and there’s no way to break it. “I told Jenna I feel bad for not helpin’ them, but nah, I really don’t,” she snickers. The two girls mock the “boys” under their breath while the men haul palm fronds out of the jungle. It’s the old Grasshopper and the Ants fable come to life in the Amazon jungle.

Heidi explains their voting strategy in her usual eloquent fashion. (Grammar Alert!) “I want Butch to go before me and Jenna. I feel like we’ve earned it, we’ve worked our butts off. We’ve not been careless – we didn’t’ burn down the camp!” Jenna sees it this way. “We’re not doing any work for them – why? You’re gonna vote us off why would we do crap for you? We’re not making life easier for you.” Even Matt’s patience is tried and he’s forced to conclude that Heidi and Jenna are “digging a grave for themselves.”

Immunity Challenge

Probst pretends to be ignorant of the devastation at camp when the players assemble at the immunity challenge. “What happened to the necklace?” he inquires. With his survival on the line, Rob grows impatient with recounting past history. “It’s gut-check time, we turned it up a notch – let’s go.”

No mental challenges this time, it’s sheer physicality. There’s a disc walk, rope tunnel, rope swing, swing steps, and a “V” tunnel, at the end of which the players get a feather. A collection of five feathers wins the game and Matt reclaims the scorched piece of organic artwork that was hanging around Heidi’s neck.