Surviving the Pearl Islands, Episode 9: Who Will Make the First Move?

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We enter the ninth episode with the merged tribe of Balboa split into the former Drakes, the former Morgans, and the former Outcasts. Right now, it looks like the Drakes and Outcasts are set to Pagong the Morgans. But alliances can shift quickly – let’s see where we end up.

It’s Day 22, the morning after Andrew got the boot, and Lill is feeling great. She says it’s like the difference between night and day. She turned on the Morgan tribe because there was no reason to stay with them. They would have just voted her off with another comment that she is really great and nice, but see ya around. She feels like she stood up for herself.

Lill tells Rupert she is with them all the way. He says she will be the last Morgan out, and if she wins immunity, he’ll put out a Drake before her. Um, well, yeah – he wouldn’t have a choice at that point. Anyway, he tells her that she stood up to Andrew and shouldn’t give up.

While it was great for Lill, Ryan tells us that Tribal Council sucked for him. He says Lill switched sides because she was pissed at Andrew. Um, Ryan, you’re partly right. She was pissed at Andrew – and Ryan and Darrah and Tijuana! He says he and Andrew had a tight bond from the beginning – yes, Ryan, you did. And that was your problem. The bond was so tight that you guys apparently didn’t let people like Ryan S. and, more importantly, Lill in. Ryan realizes he’s next on the chopping block and it sucks.

But he’s not just going to sit around and wait while they sharpen the axe. He goes to Burton and asks if he has a pact with Lill. Burton says they went through the same thing together, with being voted out and back in and all. Ryan tells Burton that he knows the other four Drakes are tight and tries to convince him that they will vote him out again. He asks Burton to bring Lill and work with him, Tijuana, and Darrah to control their own destiny. Even though Drake welcomed Burton back, Ryan says Morgan welcomed Lill back and look what happened there.

OK, time for a break to point out the logical flaws in that argument. First, if he’s trying to say that people can turn on you, he’s got it backwards. He is suggesting that ex-Drake will turn on Burton because Lill turned on ex-Morgan. Huh? Second, he compares the welcome Morgan gave Lill with the one Drake gave Burton, and he couldn’t be further off. It was obvious that Rupert and the others were being sincere in welcoming back Burton. It was just as obvious that Andrew and the others were not being sincere in welcoming back Lill. So basically, Ryan’s whole comparison is shot.

Burton heads out to do some spearfishing, and gets a stingray. As he’s cutting it up, he gets shocked a couple times. He gets Rupert to stick his finger in and Rupert gets shocked as well. Several others do the same thing. Apparently, it’s an electric ray, and it kind of freaks them out. But they still cook and eat it.

All this eating makes Tijuana happy. She says it’s so different to have food all the time. Rupert says he hopes that all of former Morgans feel comfortable enough to eat as much as they want. He likes the feeling of being able to fill them up. Their bodies are emaciated from lack of food – “it’s sad.”

And it’s time for the reward challenge! In this one, each player has a mast with three targets going from bottom to top. They are to fire marbles at each with a slingshot. They have to go in order, and when they break each one, a torch raises to ignite the next. If they break one out of order, they are out of the game. First person to break all three wins – there are three preliminary rounds of three players each, leading to a final round. The reward is breakfast – pancakes & syrup, bacon & eggs, etc. They get to share a sweet roll as a preview.

First up are Sandra, Ryan, and Darrah. Sandra hits first (and hits herself in the mouth as well). Ryan hits. Ryan cracks one but doesn’t break it. Sandra gets her second. Ryan breaks his second. And Ryan gets his third to win the round.

Next up are Burton, Rupert, and Jon. Rupert hits. Rupert hits again. Jon hits one out of order and host Jeff Probst snidely comments, “One more challenge Jon cannot finish.” Heh. (For those of you who don’t recall, Jon quit the immunity challenge midway through last week.) Rupert hits the third. Dang, that was fast.

Finally, we have Tijuana, Lill, and Christa. First round: none. Then Tijuana gets one. Then Lill. Then both Lill & Ti hit their targets but don’t break them. Just as they are getting ready for another shot, Lill’s target finishes falling apart, so it counts. Tijuana hits her second one yet again but it still doesn’t break. Finally Tijuana gets it, but Lill gets her third to win.