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You’re Looking at the New Leader of Your Tribe
Original Air Date: Feb 16, 2011
Ryan O – Two Cents Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com
The low down
I am not excited about this season. Russell is back. I think I was pretty straight-forward with how I felt about Russell the last time he was on the show but in case you’re just tuning in (Welcome!) or don’t remember: I hate Russell. There is nothing redeeming about watching him on this show. I do not find him entertaining.
Rob has also returned. I don’t care. I don’t like him. I don’t dislike him. I’m a little tired of seeing him but I can deal.
New this season (there are some new things) is Redemption Island. This is where you go after your tribe votes you out. You’ll stay there, with the same minimal supplies, until someone else shows up. Then you fight to the death. Hmm, I might have that last part a bit confused with The Hunger Games.
Pre-credits:
We see the players flying in a helicopter. Jeff talks about blah blah blah here are the players, their ages, and where they’re from: Ometepe tribe: Ashley 25, Benton, Maine; Grant 29, West Hollywood, California; Kristina 46, Malibu, California; Philip 52, Santa Monica, California; Natalie 19, Acton, California; Matt 22, Nashville, Tennessee; Francesca, 36, Washington, DC; Andrea 21, Random Lake, Wisconsin
Zapatera: Mike 31, Del Mar, California; Stephanie 26, Long Beach, California; Ralph 46, Lebanon, Virginia; Julie 50, Oceanside, California; Krista 25, Columbia, South Carolina; Steve 51, Huntington Beach, California; Sarita 36, Santa Monica, California; David 31, West Hollywood, California
(Wow, that’s 10 people from the Los Angeles area. Way to make an effort, casting people.)
Then a smaller helicopter lands with Rob and Russell (and no one is happy to see him)Rob goes to Ometepe and Russell goes to Zapatera. Redemption Island is introduced. Live with basic supplies. Live alone. When the next person is voted out, you duel, the loser is out, the winner stays. Eventually, the person on Redemption Island will rejoin the game.
Pre-Challenge
Russell solo-views that he’s here to be the leader.
Zapatera starts out with a nice box of tools and supplies. Ralph is leading the tribe in building the shelter and it seems to go smoothly. Ometepe. Rob is leading the tribe in building the shelter. Everyone is glad to have Rob around. Francesca is annoyed with Philip, an older guy who is giving a lot of advice to people as they build. He reveals to the women of the tribe that he’s a former federal agent for three different agencies although he doesn’t say which ones. He says he is also an expert in analyzing people’s behavior and he can tell when people are lying. He also says he has seven sisters. For some reason, the show captions his occupation as, “Former Federal Agent ???” Yes, with the three question marks. I don’t know what that’s about.
Francesca doesn’t care that Philip was a federal agent and doesn’t see why he made it such a big deal. Kristina is looking through the tool box for the hidden immunity idol clue. Rob comes over and knew what she was doing. Philip talks with Kristina about Rob. Philip wants to stick with the women. Stephanie and Russell talk about how Stephanie is “that” girl, just like Natalie and Parvati. Well, that’s a little meta. Also, it’s a little creepy. Other tribe members notice that it’s happening. Mike is ready to dump Russell immediately. Kristina is going off by herself to look for the hidden immunity idol without a clue. It seems to take her a while but she does actually find it. She wants to vote for Rob and Philip and Francesca. Philip is kind of annoying about the whole conversation. He’s completely condescending to the two women. I’m sure his seven sisters all love it when he’s like that.
Combined Immunity and Reward Challenge!
The challenge consists of first, pushing four large blocks along a track, climbing up those blocks, one person chopping through some ropes, climbing up some stairs, and then the tribe assembling a block puzzle. The editing to this point in the show makes it pretty clear that Zapatera is going to win. Zapatera has a lead through the block-pushing portion and finishes before Ometepe puts their third block in place. They have a huge lead as they start to work on their puzzle. Rob leads Ometepe in putting the puzzle together and they start to catch Zapatera. It’s pretty close but Zapatera finishes first. They win immunity and fire.
Post-Challenge
Ashley feels as if she and the tribe let Rob down. Kristina tells Francesca she has the hidden immunity idol. They want to swing so the young women vote for her but she uses the idol and get him out. Francesca isn’t sure since Rob is a strong competitor plus the three of them don’t have numbers. Rob was thinking of voting for Francesca but realizes that Kristina is dangerous. He tells other people that she might have the idol. He proposes splitting the vote to deal with the idol. That’s pretty perceptive.Kristina reassures Philip by showing him the idol. Kristina solo-views that she hopes he can keep it quiet.
Tribal Council
Rob says the tribe is working pretty well. Matt says that Philip will point out that you’re doing something counter-productive, which isn’t appreciated.Francesca trots out the old idea that you have to keep the tribe as physically strong as possible, so it’s probably a woman that will have to go. It is time for this idea to die. Physically strong tribes aren’t automatically successful tribes.Francesca says that if Rob was voted out “not that that is going to happen,” it seems likely he could come back later on via Redemption Island. Philip says he has issue with that since Francesca and Kristina asked him to vote for Rob. Philip is one of those people that will say, “excuse me!” if you’re talking and he wants to talk and say it over and over until you stop. Yay for that. He reveals that Kristina has immunity idol. Hilariously, Philip just cannot pronounce “Francesca.” He swings and misses on it about a half-dozen times and she corrects him each time. He claims his mouth is dry and he’s been getting treatment for it. Yes, dry mouth treatment. Wow.
This is an impressive performance for a first tribal council but there’s more!Rob says he doesn’t believe Kristina. He demands to see the idol. She shows it to him. He says, okay, give me the idol and you can stay. Naturally, Kristina balks at this and Rob explains that he trusts her as much as she trusts him at this point. Rob says he’s going to do what he said he’s going to do with the people he said he’s going to do it with.
Voting!
Kristina decides to hold on to the immunity idol. Kristina, Kristina, Francesca, Philip, Francesca, Philip, Kristina, Francesca, Francesca and Francesca is headed to Redemption Island. As she leaves, she says, “Well, don’t trust Philip.”Instead of seeing her give an exit speech, we see Francesca, in night vision, at the Redemption Island camp talking about not knowing what’s next.
Bubbling Under
For Russell, Rob vs. Russell is bubbling under. On the more immediate horizon is what will happen to Philip. He now has no allies. None. Kristina is also up a creek but she has the immunity idol.
What do you expect to happen in the coming weeks? Let’s hear your Two Cents!
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