Surviving the Pearl Islands, Episode 3: Be Prepared

It’s day seven at Morgan tribe. Andrew, the Supreme Leader, says morale is low. No kidding. I guess brilliant observations like this are why he’s in charge. Lill is off sulking by herself, apparently talking to herself. Ah, no, she’s praying for strength. And also for her husband, her troop, and her new friend Ryan S. She says Tribal Council was difficult because she lost her best friend in the tribe. She voted for Osten because he quit, he didn’t have the heart. Now she’s just going to try to stay as long as she can by showing that she’s worthy – maybe more than Darrah, who is just sitting around under the shelter.

As part of her plan, Lill tells Andrew that Darrah isn’t doing much work. He tries to say that she can be good, but she keeps trying to push the point a bit. Her next attempt is to focus back on Osten, saying to Andrew that she hopes Osten understands why she voted for him – she couldn’t vote against Ryan. Osten quit! Andrew says that Osten was talking about quitting, but he didn’t pull the trigger, and that’s the difference. Privately, he says that Osten is anchoring the tribe from a physical standpoint (and what a damned fine job he’s doing too, Andrew!).

For his part, Osten says they’re not winning anything (yeah, we noticed) and that gets you down a bit. So he sat back and said a prayer – he’s not going to quit. Would he rather be home eating double-cheeseburgers? Yeah. But he’s not, so he’ll stick it out. Andrew says they have to suck it up and do what they need to do. For Osten, the key is mental stability. He’s trying to do what he can to bring back Osten.

Over on Drake, there is no such worrying. They want to find the treasure! Rupert hopes it’ll have a big bottle of rum. Heh. Using the clue, they figure out it the landmark or place it’s buried must be only visible during low tide. They take a boat out to look for landmarks and find numerous possibilities. We see them digging with their shovel and even a rock. Trish wants to find it “so bad.” Well, at least we know she’s in this episode. Shawn says they’re baffled right now. Well what the hell did you expect? There is a reason the map is in three parts! But he’s sure they will find it. Rupert, meanwhile, figures out that it probably is not in the sand because it would wash away. Hmmm, good point. Hopefully, they say, they’ll win the next part of the clue today.

Which leads us to Treemail for that very challenge. Morgan figures out from the clue that the reward is probably sleeping materials – plus, of course, a raid on the other tribe. And if anybody could use sleeping materials, they could!

As Drake talks about the challenge, they try to decide who to sit out. This is the first time I can remember in which we, the viewers, actually get to see part of the decision-making process. Jon says that Sandra is not as strong a swimmer and so if it’s a swimming challenge, she should sit out. She takes immediate offense at this and shoots back that she’s a better swimmer than he is – she was way ahead of him the first day when they had to jump off the boat. Privately, she says he doesn’t want to seem like he’s the weakest. They argue and he starts raising his voice. Sandra stands up and says that she can get loud too! Heh. Jon says privately that she can argue all day because she’s foolish. Um. What? Non-sequitur alert! Of course, he keeps arguing, which I guess makes him foolish as well. Privately, she says he’s an ass and ridiculous. From what we’ve seen, I can’t really argue with that. Jon tells us that her days are numbered! Because, apparently, he’s secretly the leader of Drake. He says there are bigger threats first, but she won’t be in the final four. And he has a million that says she won’t be in the final one. Hmmm. Bigger “threats”? Is he already thinking about voting out “threats”? Interesting.

They eventually get to the reward challenge, where host Jeff Probst explains that they will battle the opposing tribe from separate boats. Three tribe members will be in each of two boats, with the objective to sink both. Each boat has eight holes plugged with cork attached to a small ring on the outside. They can use grappling hooks to pull the cork out (allowing water to get in), pull the boat, push the boat down, whatever. They each have a bucket, which can be used to bail out their own boat or dump water into the opposing boat. They are playing for a mattress, four pillows, blankets, a piece of the treasure map, and the right to loot an item from the opposing tribe.

Drake sits out Jon and Michelle (after some hesitation on Jon’s part and a look from Sandra).

From the start, both Drake boats converge on the one carrying Osten, Tijuana, and Lill. Trish pulls a cork and Osten pulls one from Rupert’s boat. All the boats are taking on water. Darrah is throwing water on Rupert and soaking him. Osten’s boat somehow ends up away from the action – not sure what they’re waiting for, but Andrew is yelling for a little help. Rupert is pushing down on Andrew’s boat, trying to sink it out of sheer force. Osten tries the same tactic on a Drake boat but ends up pushing down on his own boat with his feet because he doesn’t understand how physics works. His boat goes under.