Survivor China: Even the Best Laid Plans Can Go Awry in the Ever Changing Game of Survivor
Last week left the Zhan Hu tribe giggling like silly school girls over their victorious thrown challenge, James totally annoyed at their joy in losing, and the Fei Long tribes strong leader Aaron with an extinguished torch in his hands. Would Zhan Hu throw another challenge to get rid of James? Is Jean-Robert still rubbing everyone, especially Courtney the very wrong way? Will Frosti and Sherea be loyal to their original tribes? One thing is for certain. In the game of Survivor you just never really know what to expect because things change on a daily, hourly, and sometimes moment to moment basis. Time will only tell if Zhan Hu’s risk at tribal council would pay off.
At Zhan Hu Peih-Gee was very clear that they wanted to get rid of James and then reconnect with their original tribe if there was a merge. James knew he was at their mercy so he worked hard and tried to keep them well rested because if they threw another challenge he would be gone.
Back at Fei Long Jean-Robert was snoring again. He sounded like an oncoming train. His poor tribe mates! That morning Todd revealed to Amanda that there was a hidden immunity idol. The master plan he hatched would be that if they won the reward challenge they would bring over either James or Aaron, (whomever was left after tribal council) as the person they kidnapped and get them to give him the immunity idol clue.
For the reward challenge they needed to go through some abandoned buildings and get puzzle pieces to then solve a puzzle with a saying. The winner got a trip to a tea house, a shower or bath and other little luxuries. Plus, they would get to kidnap someone from the losing tribe. As they ran through the buildings untying knots and getting puzzle pieces Sherea and Peih-Gee ended up by each other and Peih-Gee told Sherea that they were still there for them and had thrown the challenge for them. Sherea said nothing. Either she was concentrating too hard or she didn’t want to acknowledge her. I’m sure that put a little unease into Peih-Gee.
Fei Long won the reward challenge because Zhan Hu once again struggled with the puzzle part (and this time they weren’t trying to lose!) of the competition. Obviously Fei Long chose to kidnap their original tribe member James. So, James got to go home for a little while! He totally went to the lunch lady and hugged her. I want James and the lunch lady to be the final 2.
At the tea house they got some refreshments and all cleaned up. Mmmmmm, how nice for them. I’m sure after however many days they do not smell the best. There was a big shameless plug for Crest toothpaste and Charmin Toilet paper when they arrived. I love it! Some of them soaked in tubs and ate watermelon and drank tea while others like James showered totally naked for all to see. I’m so glad James got to be there to enjoy the reward after his drama back at the other camp. Courtney of course tried to get as far away from Jean-Robert as possible. Their relationship was now pure hate on her side and indifference on his.
Back at Zhan Hu Erik was tired of losing. They began to doubt and freak out a smidge because Frosti wouldn’t make eye contact with them at the challenge. The vibes they were getting was that maybe Frosti might have switched over. Hello Zhan Hu!!! He wasn’t going to obviously ogle you when he could be next on the chopping block over there. Their conversation though put some fear into them and Jamie said that they had to win immunity. Wow, they actually have talked some sense into themselves. Too bad James wasn’t there to see that they were actually going to try to win next time instead of throw it!
Back at the tea house Todd felt like he was the only one who was playing the game. He approached James and told him to give him the clue Jeff had given him and he would save his life!! Todd had it all figured out. So James obediently gave the clue to Todd later and after Todd read the clue realized that it was the stupid bats above the wooden entrance to their camp that was the immunity idol.
Here is where I didn’t understand there thinking! Why did Todd and Amanda then go in broad daylight to retrieve the idol with everyone lying around camp watching them? I guess because they had no choice if they needed the immunity idol to give to James but still!! Couldn’t James go back and get his own from the Zhan Hu camp after the challenge? Frosti saw them messing around and unsuspectingly came over to help them which messed with poor Todd’s head. He was freaking out that Frosti would find out. How funny that Frosti accidentally and inadvertently messed with his well laid plans!! So Todd being the usually calm guy that he was freaked out and talked to Frosti about how now they had to trust him and then divulged the immunity idol secret. Now Frosti was in there inner circle. So, with Frosti in on the plan James now had to work at losing immunity which he thought would be easy because he was sure they would want to throw the next challenge to get rid of him. Little did he know that back at Zhan Hu they were revving up to try to win it. Theoretically it was a great plan by Todd if he could get it to work. Todd then told Courtney and Denise the plan in hopes of spurring them on to do good in the immunity challenge (remember they sat out at the reward challenge so would have to play in the immunity challenge). They absolutely had to win.
Then it was time to battle for immunity. It was the dreaded food eating competition!!! First up was chicken hearts. TEN OF THEM. Okay, that wouldn’t have been so bad I guess. Frosti licked the plate for emphasis and beat Peih-Gee. If I was in one of those contests I would like to go first because usually it starts out kind of easy and then gets downright nasty.
Next up was Courtney versus Jamie and they had to eat three pretty large pieces of EEL with the heads still attached. Jamie pounded it down and proved that Zhan Hu was out to win. Jamie won and Courtney spit out the last of her eel. She really should have eaten it for nourishment. That girl is soooo skinny!! For the third round it was Amanda against Erik and they had to eat turtle’s with their shells and everything. SICK. Plus they were so cute. Okay, that was just wrong that they had to eat those baby turtles. Amanda was chugging them but Erik squeaked by her and won. That was not looking good for Fei Long. Zhan Hu was totally ahead now.
For the fourth round it was James against Denise and they had to eat chicken fetuses. I could not eat that. I could not eat the feathers, beaks, and claws. No WAY!!!!! Denise was an animal as she dove into it trying to psyche herself out. James was pretending to struggle but to no avail. Denise could not and would not do it. She could not swallow down those feathers. James being the gentleman gobbled his up to put Denise out of her misery. What a sweet guy. Then it was Erik and Frosti who had to face off to eat a thousand-year egg. What? No way! It was a deep rust color and just wrong. They put clay and ash around the egg to keep it preserved. I want to know how much Survivor paid to get those eggs. I see after searching the web that thousand-year eggs or century-eggs take several weeks to months to create and that the gelatin like substance had little taste while the yoke had a strong aroma and a strong cheese like flavor. Jeff made it sound way worse than that. I’d eat that over those chicken fetuses any day! Erik won it just a tad over Frosti for Zhan Hu. Oh no!!! James had the immunity idol and Todd’s well laid plans came crashing down around him. Fei Long was headed to tribal council
Okay, note to the Fei Long tribe. You should never sit out your weak players (especially Courtney) on a reward challenge. I know a tea house and spa was nice but immunity and a shot at a million dollars would be a much sweeter deal. Next time let Courtney compete in reward challenges so she can sit out immunity challenges. Immunity is what really matters and basically Courtney and Denise lost the challenge for them.
Back at camp Denise felt bad but she just could not eat that nasty feathered bird. Then Todd had to lament to himself about his perfect plan, his genius idea smashed and obliterated by their loss. Now he sat there with no immunity as a team and no personal immunity idol. As they talked they still wanted to get rid of one of the old Zhan Hu members. They quickly agreed that Sherea should go home but Courtney wasn’t so sure. She liked Sherea. She did not like Jean-Robert and really wanted to get rid of him big time.
Since Courtney wanted Jean-Robert gone she began to strategize and told Sherea that she was voting for Jean-Robert but everyone else was voting for her. She then talked to her team about getting rid of Jean-Robert which they opposed and tried to convince Courtney that as a tribe they needed to stick together.
Later Todd told Amanda that Jean-Robert would turn on them and that he was afraid that they were turning into power players and that they needed to listen to people. People like Courtney. They both agreed they didn’t know who to vote for.
At tribal council Sherea piped up about the shadiness she sensed at camp about who to send home. Jean-Robert then got chewed up and spit out by Sherea and Courtney thought he was a crappy person but Jean-Robert thought he was doing just fine. Courtney then confessed that she felt she was on the outskirts and Todd was all offended playing up the drama saying he was all hurt. Todd I believe is pretty much always playing the game. That was totally strategy and not sincere at all but I’m sure Courtney didn’t know that. Jean-Robert felt they worked well together and that they were in a good spot. With that they voted and a majority sent Sherea home leaving Courtney seriously bumming and I’m sure thinking and wondering about how she would personally survive the next three days with Jean-Robert.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
