Surviving the Pearl Islands, Episode 2: Weak Hearts, Weak Bodies

It’s time for the second episode of Survivor: Pearl Islands. Can Morgan overcome a performance so poor that it already earned them a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment? Only one way to find out – on with the show!

It’s Night 3 at Morgan, after voting out Nicole. Lill doesn’t look happy – nobody does. Tijuana says night is breaking her and the others down. It’s very hard not to be able to sleep – to be freezing every night, but there’s nothing you can do about it. They try to make a bigger fire to help out. Osten says it’s only a matter of time before pneumonia or something sets in because he doesn’t have any clothes. Hmm, regretting that rash decision to trade away all your clothes, eh? Andrew is also concerned about sleep deprivation – they’ve only had an hour or two total and he’s afraid hallucinations are going to set in. Next thing you know guys will be taking off their pants for no reason, and… Oh, wait. Never mind on that last part.

Ryan S. says he doesn’t remember sleeping last night. He’ll be okay but he says he needs a plan because this isn’t working. Osten says that Skinny Ryan (that would be Ryan S., in case there was any doubt) on his best day can’t compare to him on his worst day. But he assures us that it’s not knocking him, it’s just that Ryan doesn’t have as much to offer physically.

On Drake, Day 4, Rupert says last night was 1000 times better than the night before. He is loving life and the position he’s in – he’s in paradise (luckily, not Paradise Hotel). He breaks some dry branches as we hear him voiceover that he’s brought in a bounty of food, has beautiful souls around him, and he’s strong. He says people are not truly lazy, per se, they are just having a hard time in paradise.

Rupert goes back fishing again and talks about how much he loves it. The tribe is feasting on fish. But the spear gun is a little loose, so make sure it stays tight, he says. He worries about giving the spear out to others. This is called foreshadowing.

Back at Morgan, they get Treemail. Ryan S. says there may not have ever been more pressure on any Survivor contestant than there is on him to do well. He says what sucks is that he gave more than 100% last time and now he has to find even more!

The tribes arrive for the reward challenge. Scattered on the ocean floor, marked by floating buoys, are five “treasure” items. One at a time, a member swims out, picks up the item, and puts it into a treasure chest also in the ocean. Once the fifth member gets back and all five items are in the chest, the entire tribe races out to get the chest and bring it back up on the beach.

What’s the reward? They each get a shovel and a key to keep. Why? Because somewhere on each island is a buried treasure chest with a bounty of stuff to keep them happy for a long time. Reward today is the first clue to the location of that chest. Plus, the winning tribe gets to steal one item from the loser’s camp – and that will also apply to all future reward challenges.

Sandra sits out for Drake and they’re ready to go. Ryan S. starts off for Morgan and he is not having a good go at it – not the showing he needs. Drake takes an early lead while he fiddles with his mask and can’t seem to get to the item. In fact, Drake has two items and Morgan has none. Ryan is encouraged by his team to come back with the item and hand it off. Ryan O. takes the item, puts it in the chest, and then gets his own item. Morgan’s members are less than thrilled with Ryan S.

Rupert gets the third item in for Drake, and then Christa gets the fourth. Ryan O. comes back in with the pearls, passing them off to Lill for her to put them in the chest and then get her own item. Meanwhile Burton has gotten the fifth item and tags in. So Drake heads out to get the chest. Lill gets the third item in the chest and then it’s time for Andrew to try. Drake is steadily moving the chest towards the beach. Andrew comes back to the beach with the fourth item – he didn’t put it into the chest either. Hmmm. So he had the same result as Ryan S. Wanna bet he doesn’t see it that way?

In the meantime, Drake gets the chest all the way in and wins!

OK, I have to ask this: Ryan S., what the hell were you thinking, going first? I know you wanted to show that you could do well, but you put yourself in a position where everything would fall on you if you didn’t do well, which is what happened. Ugh.

Drake gets their first clue, both tribes head back to camp, and then Drake will choose one person to visit Morgan and steal an item.

Drake looks at the clue, which says to make sure you go at the right time of day, head East, and not stop when you run out of sand. They point to an area where it turns to rock. But it’s high tide now and they have to wait to see if they can figure out anything by looking around when the tide goes down.

Now they have to figure out who goes to Morgan camp and what to get. A water jug is suggested, but then Jon says if they have multiple water jugs and, say, only one tarp, they should take the tarp because it hurts them. Rupert says they don’t need to hurt them, and he’s right. They should be more concerned with helping themselves than hurting Morgan. As far as who goes, they select Sandra.