Survivor China: Hard Work Doesn’t Equal Being Safe At Tribal Council
I think a few of us are wondering if the all powerful Fei Long tribe will recoup from their loss at the last tribal council and will poor itty bitty teensy weensy Courtney blow away in the China wind? Will crazy Dave become even more annoying and can Jean-Robert keep his poker tactics in place. This season of castaways has been an interesting bunch and like always, Survivor is not just a game about surviving physically but socially as well.
After losing Leslie at tribal council Fei Long tried to get back into the groove. Jean-Robert knew he was in last place and was a tiny bit worried that it could have been him instead of Leslie but now he was starting to work his strategy by actually helping around camp and trying harder at challenges. Glancing at the wee little Courtney he confessed his worries were subsiding as the real weak link of Fei Long was barely there Courtney. Of course this quiet comment to the camera was just a little introduction to some “rawr” between the two right before breakfast. Jean-Robert and Courtney got into a little cat fight because he was simply too aggressive for her. I don’t think there will ever be any love lost between the two of them.
Over at Zhan Hu they discovered mold at the bottom of their rice. Gross. That was very bad news for Zhan Hu . Dave and Sherea went at it because she picked out the good rice and didn’t do a good enough job in Dave’s eye. The bottom line was that Dave was a bad leader. He had been a great worker too, but a bad leader. Sherea had enough and was going to punch Dave because of his abrasiveness, lack of listening skills, and condescending attitude. Sure he helped around camp but he was ticking too many people off. Crazy Dave may very well have worn out his welcome on the Zhan Hu tribe.
The reward challenge had both tribes going to tribal council. My first thought was that they were going to mix them up in some way. Would they have to drop their buffs and do a switcheroo? No, that was not the case. Instead it was a regular challenge where two tribe members at a time carried a fireball with giant chopsticks, dropped it down a shoot into a wok which lit a fuse and set off some fireworks. They each had three rounds with the giant chopsticks getting longer and more difficult to handle. The final team to drop the last fireball and light up the sky with fireworks won. Their reward? A fisherman and his family would come to their camp and show them how to fish and then cook them dinner with spices and vegetables. The team also got to kidnap someone of course. Courtney, Fei Long’s weakest link sat out. It was a close race until the end where Dave and Erik were paired together against Jean-Robert and James. Dave got yelled at a lot by Frosti to get lower, etc. and it didn’t seem like Dave listened or obeyed and Fei Long won. Well, Dave may be going home after that. He has been very consistent in not listening to anybody. Fei Long then chose to kidnap Dave.
Back at Fei Long’s camp Dave couldn’t have asked for a better time to get kidnapped because of his tension with Sherea, plus the food was a nice bonus. He was almost like a kid in a candy store going to the other tribe. He was hugging and kissing on everyone immediately annoying the other tribe with his crazy antics. He was also really excited about the hidden clue and who to give it to. Dave was like a crazy man over there. I mean, like a drunken skunk. Dave thought long and hard and then realized that he could trust Todd (why I don’t know!) so he gave Todd the clue. Todd was totally scoring with the immunity clues! First Leslie shared the first clue and then Dave picked him to recieve the second and third. He then told Dave that if Dave’s tribe kidnapped him he would give him the next clue.
Over at Zhan Hu Sherea was so glad they took Dave. There was now no conflict in Zhan Hu. However, Dave was such a work horse that they all now needed to pick up the slack. Hmmmmm, maybe Dave was valuable to them. Sherea sat around and watched them all work. Not good for Sherea. Without Dave they were scrounging around and Erik was tired and annoyed that “people” were trying to get away with not helping out, that would be Sherea. But, Sherea had a great plan in her mind. She was conserving her energy for the challenges. That could get you voted off Sherea! It’s all about balance. You have Dave who worked too hard almost and was super annoying and then you had Sherea who would not lift a finger at camp and then busted a move at challenges. They both needed to find some balance.
Reward time came for Fei Long when the fishing boat appeared. Jean-Robert was full of surprises as he spoke Mandarin to the visiting family. Apparently it had been 20 years since he spoke Mandarin but it all came back to him rather swiftly. Very impressive Jean-Robert. That actually endeared me to him all the more. Denise and Aaron went fishing and the family had these awesome ducks trained to catch the fish. I had never seen anything like it. Later Jean-Robert was translating and James got annoyed because he felt like Jean-Robert was on his high horse barking out orders. For the first time I had to take Jean-Robert’s side. James just doesn’t like to be told what to do and Jean-Robert was being super helpful by translating. I didn’t think that he was all high on his horse and barking out the orders at all. I think James was just cranky and needed to eat! Well thankfully it wasn’ t long until dinner was served. Wow did that food look good! What an amazing feast.
Later it was time for the immunity challenge. Dave rejoined his team and I’m sure he immediately annoyed them but I bet they missed his work horse mentality! They had to dress in traditional Chinese armor and square off in a gladiator type arena, throw meteor hammers to smash vases and use a bamboo pole to block their opponents. With only three rounds every shot counted. Jean-Robert sat out which you could tell they wished they could sit Courtney out again. When all was said and done it was a pretty close match but Fei Long won immunity which meant Zhan Hu was headed to tribal council.
As Zhan Hu headed back to camp Dave began to feel strange. He didn’t want to go home but felt very strange vibes from his teammates. He felt precarious and he very well should because the man is more than annoying. Sherea knew she had slacked off and hadn’t done much around camp so she too was feeling the heat too. It definitely would be between Dave and Sherea. Really, they should keep Dave but reality is that a lazy person you get along with is much more comfortable to have around than an annoying person who works hard. Erik said it best. He wished they could just get rid of them both.
At tribal council Erik did say that Dave was a great leader and Sherea chimed in that she had been stepping it up at camp. What?? Well if that is so they edited it all out because we certainly didn’t see her step anything up! What a tough vote the tribe had to make. I think if I were them I’d vote out Sherea but I haven’t ever experienced living with crazy and annoying Dave. But, I’m not there to cast my vote so it was Dave’s time to go. Too bad and so sad for Dave. Note to future players!! Annoying the heck out of your tribe is worse than not helping back at camp.
Dave had his final words to the confessional camera and said he gave it his all, maybe too much. Yes that would be a correct summary of your time on Survivor Dave. You needed to learn how to give it your all not only physically but socially too. You needed to learn to listen to your tribel. With Dave’s torch extinguished it will be interesting to see if Zhan Hu finally becomes the tribe that they think they should be. With hard working Dave out of the picture, Sherea better learn from him and live with some balance back at camp or at the next tribal council she will surely be the one to go.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
