photo: cbs
Survivor: One World
Total Dysfunction
Original Air Date: Feb 22, 2012
Ryan O – Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com
If you’re a Kat person, this isn’t going to be a fun episode for you. (Sorry, I have to use the puns when I can.) She makes a string of mistakes and then beats up on herself and it’s not fun to watch.
Actually, there wasn’t much that was fun to watch in this episode. A leader does emerge in the women’s tribe and she appears to be pretty competent and no one resents her. So, that’s a relief. Jeff decides to take a nap during the Reward Challenge, so that was a relief (for me).
Pre-credits
We open with the women coming back to camp. Michael lets them know he was taking care of their fire the whole time they were gone — except the fire was out when they got back, so, he did what, exactly? He’s also annoyed that they didn’t have to vote for someone else in addition to Kourtney leaving the game.
Christina approaches Alicia about clearing up some things. Alicia tells her not to worry about it but she solo-views that she’s glad it happened like that.
Just as a reminder, here’s who’s who.
Manono
Bill, 28, Comedian, Venice, CA
Colton, 21, Student, Monroeville, AL
Greg, 64, Plastic Surgeon, Houston, TX
Jay, 25, Model, Gaffney, SC
Jonas, 37, Chef, Lehi, UT
Leif, 27, Phlebotomist, San Diego, CA
Matt, 33, Attorney, San Francisco, CA
Michael, 30, Banker, Seattle, WA
Troy, 50, Swimsuit Photographer, Miami, FL
Salani
Alicia, 25, Special Ed Teacher, Chicago, IL
Chelsea, 26, Medical Sales, Charleston, SC
Christina, 29, Career Consultant, West Hollywood, CA
Kat, 22, Timeshare Rep, Orlando, FL
Kim, 29, Bridal Shop Owner, San Antonio, TX
Monica, 41, Ex-NFL Player’s Wife, Tampa, FL
Nina, 51, Retired LAPD Officer, Clovis, CA
Sabrina, 33, High School Teacher, Brooklyn, NY
Kourtney was eliminated last week after breaking her wrist.
Pre-Challenge
The women hold a meeting. Sabrina is made the leader. People like her and want to be lead by her. She accepts. She decides work should be done in three categories — water, fire, and shelter. Excellent start! She gets some volunteers and they get to work. Already better than last week.
Nina solo-views that Kat is sweet but is driving her nuts. Alicia and Kat are just sitting in the water doing nothing. They hope that no one will get mad at them for doing nothing. Yes, because that’s how that works. All the time.
Reward Challenge!
Tree mail directs both tribes to bring boxes to a neutral location. It’s a do-it-yourself reward challenge. Because Probst is so busy? What’s the point of not having Probst at the challenge? They have untie a bunch of knots. They’re playing for a tarp.
It’s a massive series of knots.
Okay, it’s nice to have a challenge with Probst braying at the competitors and giving away strategies that might be working and so forth.
It’s close at the end but the men untie all of their knots first and win (what’s the plan if the finish is really close?)
After the challenge, Michael tells us they’ll have the best camp in history.
Colton isn’t endearing himself to any of the guys by doing nothing and then wandering over to the women’s camp. Sabrina recommends trying to bond with the guys — she’s not pleased he’s there since he seems to distract them from getting work done. Sabrina says he needs to leave because there’s a tribe meeting. He solo-views that he needs to go off by himself and build his own shelter. But Colton, that would mean doing some work.
Colton wanders back over to the womens camp and calls a meeting. He tells them he doesn’t care about the game or strategy. He says he doesn’t have anyone on the island. He starts to break down. Someone explains to him that he can’t hang around because he IS from the other tribe. They say it’s not an option for him to hang around.
That night, Colton reveals to Troy that he has an idol. Troy solo-views that he’s excited and can’t wait to get rid of Mike and Matt. I can’t wait for them to go, either, thanks for asking!
Jonas, Leif, and Greg are in on it, too. That makes five people. Do they know they won’t need the immunity idol against a four-person alliance? Colton solo-views that he’s king of the misfit alliance and declares they should call it, “Survivor: Colton’s World.” Wow, it’s only been two paragraphs since you were breaking down in the women’s camp about how you didn’t fit in and now you’re in charge of the game? Let’s just pause for a minute first before we give you the big check.
Immunity Challenge! Immunity! Back up for grabs! Reward!
It’s a classic challenge. Everyone is lined up on a balance beam. The person at one end has to pass by everyone else and get to the other end and walk to a platform. You can’t touch two people at once. If you fall off, you have to start at the beginning. I wonder if there’s a rule that you have to remain standing?
Kat starts out at the end for the women while Leif starts out at the end for the men. Leif does a good job of getting around the other guys. This is an instance of his short stature helping him (he’s a little person, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned that). Kat, on other hand, is struggling.
The women have some opportunities to get back in but don’t take advantage. Also, Kat jumps off the beam TWICE for no reason, although the second time she does it, it doesn’t make any difference. The men win easily.
Post-Challenge
The women have a meeting. Kat apologizes for jumping off twice when she didn’t have to. Sabrina solo-views that she likes Kat’s emotion and energy but that she needs to channel it. She continues to say that Nina, on the other hand, is like the walking dead and knows she’s the next to go.
Nina and Monica talk about how they, along with Christina, are going to get picked off by witless twenty-somethings. (To be accurate, Sabrina is 33 while the other four are in their 20s.) Monica thinks that Kat should be the one going home.
Nina talks with Chelsea about voting for Kat. Chelsea talks with Kim. Kim doesn’t disagree about Kat but says they need the rest of the tribe to trust them.
Tribal Council
Wow, I hate Probst. I’ve always had the sense that he’s never met a female Survivor contestant that he’s respected. Liked? Sure, he married one. Respected? Not so much. I’ve never seen him heap praise on a woman the way he has Boston Rob or Russel Hantz. Two-time winner Sandra or Parvati? Nope.
Anyway, he declares that the women are off to one of the worst starts ever. Whatever. Plenty of tribes have lost their first three challenges. Then, he goes on to call them sixth graders. He couldn’t be more condescending.
Nina points out the 5 to 3 division in the tribe.
Nina talks about her experience as an LAPD officer and wants to know what life experience Kat brings to the table. That would be none. Nina says that Kat says she’s a good athlete but Nina says of the three things that make a good athlete — athletic ability, ability to handle pressure, and ability to act intelligently — Kat showed a lack of two of those in the challenge.
Probst asks Chelsea if they would form different alliances if they could start over. She says they would. Sabrina agrees.
Kat says it was her fault they lost the challenge and it would be fair to vote for her. But, she hopes they won’t because she wants to stay and prover heself.
Then, there’s some stuff from Sabrina about how men and women communicate differently which isn’t true. People communicate differently. She says men will communicate directly while women will tiptoe around something. No, it depends on the person. Personally, I could spend all day tiptoeing around a subject.
Voting!
Nina, Kat, Christina, Nina, Nina, Nina and Nina is going home.
On the Horizon
We’ve seen just a little of life at the men’s camp and what we’ve seen has been, “Hey, Colton isn’t doing any work” or “I’m Colton and I can’t relate to anyone.” So, beyond the two alliances, we don’t know much of the workings of that tribe.
Also looming is whether the majority women’s alliance will dump Kat and replace her with Monica or Christina. Monica would seem more likely at this point.
Can you feel a tribal mix looming? Maybe during episode 4 or 5?
What do you expect to happen in the coming weeks? Let’s hear your Two Cents!
