An "Insider" Look at Survivor: Exile Island, Episode 4: Come for the Videos, Stay for the Ranting

Yes, absolutely nothing in the way of effort on CBS’ part went into these Insider videos. The normal stuff, plus one segment on La Mina’s strategy and two fluff pieces with Ruth-Marie. Nothing on Casaya at all. With all that happened, you think maybe we had ONE interview we didn’t see in that episode that everyone complains is limited? You have unlimited resources here, and CBS gives us crap. Drives me absolutely up a wall.

Ruth-Marie’s Final Words: She wants to thank her family and friends, the Academy, and her children. Her children are the wind beneath her wings. That’s cool.

She thinks the tribe underestimated her endurance, but they made a good choice in Sally. She understands, it was kind of a toss up. She’s not mad, it’s a game. The thing she’ll take home from this experience is a fetching orange buff. Oh, that and a dose of humility. She understands how hard life is for people who live like that every day.

The hardest thing was a lack of food. She held up as far as endurance, but they had very little food. She thinks the tribe will do just fine without her, but down the road they may miss her. I’ll agree with that. She wishes them good luck, and says she has a feeling there’s a winner in that crowd. I’m sticking by my prediction of Cirie, thanks.

Wow, short and sweet. Just like Ruth-Marie, actually.

Ruth-Marie, the Day After: She’s feeling good (and looking pretty good, as far as that goes). She’s sad to be out of the game, but otherwise. She doesn’t think she could have done anything to stay in longer, her alliance switched on her. She made one last effort, but obviously they had made their decision. She’s kind of glad she knew. It was the most fun she’s ever had.

It was her biggest challenge. Other things she’s done have been in her element, this involved things she didn’t have a lot of experience with, like going without eating. They were a little slow getting their fishing going (a little?), they had a few snails, but they pretty much went without food for eleven days. The hardest thing was going without food. She had three or four days of no food left in her.

Neither of her tribes really had a problem with interpersonal relationships. She found them both very pleasant – maybe it’s too early in the game. Her best moment would be hard to pin down, because it’s the most fun she’s ever had. It’s beyond what she could have imagined. The challenges were the most fun because those were the most exciting.

She doesn’t think she’d change anything if they were to start over. She stuck pretty close to her personality. She was laid back but still voiced her opinion. It’s too early to say, though.

Survivor will change her perspective, she’ll be even more grateful and humble than before. To be lucky enough to make the show, considering the number of people who try out, is a blessing. She’ll never take it for granted.

It is kind of weird that it has been all women, and she thinks it has something to do with the initial tribe split by gender. There are a couple of women who can ride it out pretty far.

The worst time is when you get voted off. She knew – it would be horrendous not to know. Jeff is so serious, and the whole set is scary, “like the bad side of a carnival.”

She didn’t have any huge surprises, but she wasn’t expecting eleven full days of no food. She expected fish or fruit to be plentiful, although she admits that it might have been and they just didn’t find it. Or she thought they might get rice or cornmeal. The other tribe says they were eating, but they (La Mina) weren’t.

Maybe she could have overturned the men if she had schemed a little more, but she doesn’t think that’s the way she would have played. I think she means playing a little dirty, but I can’t be sure. She would have had to at some point, but she thought she had an alliance with four gentlemen. Ouch. But it’s not a game of honor, it’s a game of deception, so they didn’t do anything wrong.

She’s glad she was on the “love tribe.” She doesn’t think she would have done better on the other tribe. Her Survivor experience was the thrill of a lifetime. She’s looking forward to the second half of the experience, sharing it with her family when the show airs.

You know, a lot of times I come out of these interviews with less respect for the person. Not so – I’m even more upset than I was before that Ruth-Marie was kicked off.

Puzzle Paranoia: “Gotta love those puzzle challenges,” according to the description. No, actually, I don’t. They’re very boring to watch, especially in cases like this, where you have no idea who is winning until Jeff raises his arms.

And since God forbid CBS.com would show us any of Casaya’s arguments here, I suppose I have to comment on one of the stupidest Survivor fights ever. No, not Shane. I’m talking about Danielle getting upset at Bobby for dropping his kids off at the pool in their newly won outhouse. I’ll say this once, and read it slowly so everyone understands.

IT’S. AN. OUTHOUSE.

Got it? I mean, I could understand if you wanted to take the walls down and use them for the shelter, or some practical use. Or if this were the “wash your hair or drink it” argument they had about their “showering water” in a past season. Storing wood is NOT a good use of the outhouse. It’s not a kiln, for crying out loud.

Now, had Danielle been offended that she thought Bobby was, shall we say, telling her what he thought of her by his actions, or if the “frustrated” quote were taken out of context, that would be one thing.

Sea Level Tree Level: Who came up with THAT name for the immunity challenge? Who came up with the challenge, period? Another dull one, mainly because in my mind, undernourished people walking on a narrow beam doesn’t fascinate me unless there’s a burly Romanian yelling “You can DO EEEET!” Ba-dum-bum.

Oh, and Austin is an idiot, but we’ll talk more about that later.