Surviving Guatemala, Episode 10: “That’s How You Vote Somebody Out!”

Last week, three things happened that will reverberate this week:

1. Gary found out that Judd was a liar.
2. Gary found the hidden immunity idol and stuck around at least one more week.
3. Jamie misheard Gary and thought Gary was going to target him.

I don’t know if Gary will bring up Judd’s lie – I don’t know if it would benefit him or not, it depends on too many factors, so we’ll just have to wait and see. But I bet the whole thing with Jamie mishearing him will come up, based on the previews. Let’s find out!

We begin on night 24, immediately after Tribal Council, back at camp. Gary is asked where he found the idol and he says it was at the Mayan worship tree. Hmmmm, tree. Will anybody get a clue from this? Well, Jamie seems to have his doubts about Gary, saying he thinks Gary is shady while everybody else thinks he’s a good guy. Jeez, you’ve got to figure Jamie feels really stupid now (in “real life”) that he’s seen that conversation on TV.

The alliance of six is talking, as Jamie says Gary obviously voted for Cindy to confuse the group. Stephenie doesn’t seem so sure. Cindy knows it was Gary, but she doesn’t care. She does care that Jamie is making such a big deal about it though, and knows he is just trying to make her mad at Gary. Then she says it seems like Jamie was getting mad at her for not getting mad at Gary!

A few minutes later, Jamie decides to confront Gary about a different topic – but it’s not Gary’s supposed statement that he would vote against Jamie. Instead, Jamie says Gary lied to him and said he would vote for Brandon a few Tribal Councils back, but then Gary voted against Jamie instead. Gary says he doesn’t think that’s what happened, but Jamie rants on and on. When Gary disagrees with Jamie’s tale, Jamie says he doesn’t like being called a liar. Okay, so it’s alright for Jamie to call Gary a liar, but not okay for Gary to disagree. Got that?

Amusingly, Gary says Jamie doesn’t hear very well – something we’ve already seen. Judd even takes Gary’s side, saying he didn’t hear Gary call Jamie a liar. Judd tells us he didn’t see Gary lie and sometimes Jamie just says things. Back at camp, Gary tells Jamie he can think what he wants to think. Jamie retorts with the wonderfully clever, “yeah, and you’re gonna think what you wanna think.” Oooooh. I can hardly wait to hear what he has next. Maybe, “I’m rubber and you’re glue.” How about, “Neener neener neener!”? Sheesh.

Judd tells Jamie to knock it off, and Jamie says he will – but he wants Gary to know that he’s mad just like Gary is. Gary looks at him without a trace of anger on his face and says he’s not mad. Judd backs him. So it looks like Jamie is the only mad one there – and I mean “mad” both as angry and crazy. Judd seems to agree, as he tells us Jamie is “losing it.”

With that, we immediately jump to the next day’s reward challenge. Whoa, that was quick. The challenge works as follows: The eight of them are divided into two teams, a pair of women and a pair of men on each side. Each pair will be attached by a rope and have to move through a mud pit through a series of obstacles: over, under (yuck), over. At the end are pots filled with corn. They need to grab the pot and bring it back through the course. As the other pair goes through the course, they dump the corn in a bigger pot at the start. First team to fill the pot to the white line wins reward.

And what is that reward? The four winners leave by helicopter to a private home for a shower, dinner, spending the night, and Folger’s coffee (because the best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup).

The teams are divided as follows: Jamie, Rafe, Cindy, and Lydia vs. Gary, Judd, Stephenie, and Danni. And they’re off! People are flying, mud is flying. Jamie and Rafe get there first and grab their pot. It’s tough to get the pots back, and Gary and Judd lose a bit while falling further behind. Jamie and Rafe get back with a good lead.

Gary and Judd finally get back but the others have a good lead. Lydia and Cindy are already on their way back, but Lydia is having some real problems with the mud – Cindy is practically dragging her to the start/finish line. Meanwhile, Danni and Stephenie catch up and pass as Lydia continues to crawl through the mud. Wow, she’s really struggling.

Gary and Judd take off while Rafe and Jamie go a little later. Rafe and Jamie are once again quicker, and pass the other pair. Cindy and Lydia head back out, but Danni and Stephenie quickly pass them again. Host Jeff Probst tells Cindy and Lydia they “have to move!”

It looks like one more pot of corn will do it for Danni and Stephenie, and they retain the lead. They get back and pour – and it is indeed enough! The four winners hug in the mud.

Meanwhile, Jamie insists they should finish the competition because they’re not quitters. Cindy and Lydia have other ideas. Cindy and Jamie yell across the mud pit at each other for a few seconds while Rafe tries to calm Jamie down. The man is psycho.

A helicopter lands and the four muddy winners head straight in. The others watch as it takes off and I’m struck by the way Rafe looks like the Batman villain, Two-Face, with mud covering almost exactly half his face.

The helicopter takes the four winners over the jungle as they discuss how weird it will be to have a real bathroom and be able to look at themselves in a mirror. They are welcomed by the house’s owner and immediately given food and shown to the pool. They shower off the mud as Stephenie tells us she wouldn’t have wanted anybody else on the trip with her – Danni is a lot like her, Gary is a great guy, and she’s been pals with Judd for a while.