Surviving Gabon, Episode 10: “Looks Like an Idol to Me!”

Bob reports back to Sugar, who calls him a “genius.” She can’t wait to see it. He says she’s better make it worth his while and she says she will. We’ll see.

Sugar tells the rest of her alliance that tonight will be “the funkiest night of your life.” She won’t tell them why, but just repeats, “Wait for it,” a couple times.

They arrive at Tribal Council and take their seats. Probst welcomes the jurors and begins his questions with the auction. He points out that it ended on what should have been a happy note with the cookies for everybody. What was Sugar’s take? She says Randy offered her his last cookie – though she wasn’t really thinking about it being his last – and she took it to give to Matty, and they’ve heard about it ever since then.

Looking back, did Randy play it right? He says it wasn’t the last cookie, it was his cookie. He says he was testing her, because he could have thrown them on the ground and stomped on them if he wanted to, or he could have been generous like he was. He thinks the reaction was a bit harsh, especially since he offered Sugar a cookie twice.

Sugar gasps that it’s just cookies – they’re grownups and this is stupid.

So why is the story so representative of this game? Susie says you really get to know people’s true colors. She wonders, is Randy really like this? She says Randy is actually probably “hurting” and “very sad,” so she feels sorry for him.

Randy jumps in to say that making a statement like that is tantamount to saying, “How pathetic.” Susie immediately apologizes and says she didn’t mean it that way. Randy swears he was totally sincere with the cookie, which is why he went off when things went down the way they did.

Probst asks Corinne what Randy means when he says he “went off.” Corinne says she doesn’t know what started it, but she suddenly heard Randy yelling, “Shut the f**k up,” at Susie.

Can Crystal feel the tension ramping up? She sure can! Like the cookie conversation blowing up into blatant disrespect against Susie.

Probst wonders if there is any chance Randy is playing some sort of game. Crystal says if this is him, she’ll never talk to him outside the game. But if this is his game then that’s his game.

What about Bob? Has anybody brought up the possibility that he has the hidden immunity idol? Yep! He says he made a point of not letting anybody know for sure if he has it or not because it’s part of the game.

With so much animosity directed towards Randy, how worried is he tonight? Randy says he hasn’t been worried much before, but he is now. Even if it’s him, 30 days is a pretty good run. But he makes sure to clarify, when Probst asks, that he would not be okay with leaving now.

With that, it’s time to vote! Corinne says, “I’m voting you, Susie, ‘cus payback’s a bitch!” Sugar votes for Randy, saying, “You are a disgusting, old, hot-headed, chauvinistic, alcoholic bigot, and you need to grow up before you die alone.” She then pauses for a second and smiles, putting her fingers into a “L” and adding, “Loser!” Randy casts his vote against Susie, saying, “This vote is not strategic. It’s strictly personal.”

When Crystal comes up to vote, she doesn’t bother to whisper. In fact, she pretty much shouts, “You have made my life hell from day one. Forget you. Go home. Goodbye!” The others obviously hear her – Ken looks shocked, Sugar laughs, and Randy has his usual glare. Marcus seems surprised while Charlie joins Sugar in laughing.

Probst tallies the votes and then asks if anybody wants to play the hidden immunity idol. Sugar is practically bursting because she knows what’s about to happen. Randy, of course, steps up and pulls out the idol. Crystal, Ken, and Matty all start to smile because they know Sugar has the real one.

Randy sits down with a triumphant look on his face and Probst recites the rules, which says if a hidden immunity idol is played, the votes cast against that person will not count, etc. He then finishes by adding, “This is not a hidden immunity idol.” Sugar busts out laughing, as do I. The look on Randy’s face is absolutely priceless! Crystal laughs as well, and I think I hear some other chuckling. Corinne looks devastated. Randy looks at Bob, who isn’t laughing and looks a bit pained. Probst concludes, “All votes cast against Randy will count,” and throws the non-idol into the fire. Hey, that could have sold for a lot on eBay, Jeff!

Time to read the votes, which is sort of anticlimactic at this point: Randy, Randy, Susie, Susie, Susie, Randy, Randy, Randy. Randy has his torch snuffed and walks off wordlessly, which is a bit of a surprise to me. But then, what could he really say at that point?

Probst says this Tribal Council made it clear that the game is coming down to trust. He can’t wait to see how it plays out. With that, they’re sent back to camp.

In his final words, Randy says, “being voted out by these bozos” is one of the best accolades ever. “The hell with these fricking people.” He hopes Corinne does well if she was not in on the plot – he doesn’t think she was. He hopes most of the others, except Matty, get bitten by a poisonous snake.

I have to say, I’m surprised that Bob voted against Susie. I thought once he gave up the fake idol, he’d vote against Randy as well.

I have to say, this was definitely a point-and-laugh episode as opposed to a mystery. From the get-go, we knew who was going home, and we got to watch as Randy plotted and schemed with a great plan that could never ever work. Was it funny? Heck yes! But when I interview him, we’ll find out how funny he thought it was.

Next week: Recap episode! They didn't mention it at the end of this episode, but I have confirmation. The week after that: Bob tells Corinne a story that when Marcus threw the idol into the ocean at their fake-merge beach party, he actually took the idol out of the bottle and put it in his pocket, then he hid it at camp and showed Bob where it was. Sounds like Bob is trying to make it sound like he didn’t purposely trick Randy, but instead was himself tricked! I can’t see it working, but you never know. Perhaps this was his plan when he voted against Susie.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Gabon articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recaps and other info on this show at the Survivor: Micronesia page, and take a look at our Big Brother 9 page and our America’s Next Top Model page. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Survivor, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Survivor: Gabon, Survivor Fever, and The Source: Reality TV Headlines!