Survivor China: You’ve Got to Want it to Win it
With the remaining tribe mates down to eight and several former Zhan Hu members left to pick off, one must have to wonder if James really even needs the two immunity idols he has in his back pocket. Even if either Frosti, Peih-Gee, or Eric win immunity, if they stick to their plan to get rid of former Zhan Hu first, the soonest James would need to use an idol would be when they boil down to the five remaining former Fei Long (that is if at that point a former Zhan Hu didn’t win immunity). With that said you never know in the game of Survivor! Look at last time. The former Zhan Hu member Peih-Gee was all set to go home and the old Fei Long pulled a fast one and sent their own Jean-Robert packing. Really, no matter who has an idol or who has an alliance, it is still anyone’s game on this season of Survivor.
The next morning after tribal council back at Hae Da Fung James sang them awake (terribly I might add) to tell them he had some fish on. Courtney felt like it was Christmas because Jean-Robert “the complainer” was gone. As Denise sat by the fire stewing over the events of the former night, Courtney told Amanda that Denise was obviously upset at them because she was blindsided. At tribal council Denise went with the original plan to vote for Peih-Gee while the rest of her team was in on the plan to vote out Jean-Robert. Once again Denise felt like she was on the outside. Denise had a chance to switch to an alliance with the former Zhan Hu members earlier and she didn’t and she got backstabbed anyway. Sidling up to James was her best strategy now. She was going to stick with the man who had two hidden immunity idols. However, she still felt stupid because she was the only one who wrote down Peih-Gee’s name. The former Fei Long should be careful with Denise and handle her gently. Because of them leaving her out she was an emotionally wounded animal and wounded animals are terribly unpredictable.
At camp that day Peih-Gee didn’t get along with anyone. Many felt she was micromanaging and literally taking Jean-Roberts place. James was getting super annoyed but Peih-Gee just couldn’t seem to stop herself. On the other hand, Courtney was hanging all over former Zhan Hu member Frosti. For some reason Courtney had attached herself to him and that worried Todd deeply.
When the tribe arrived at reward challenge they found out that they would be in two teams of four. They had to use four different drums to bounce a ball from one drum to the other as they navigated through an obstacle course with the goal to land the ball in a big drum at the end. The team who did that three times first won reward. Wow, this would be a HARD challenge. The winning team would win a cruise on a river with dinner and they would get to spend the night on the boat.
Again they had to do a school yard pick and again the last two standing were Denise and Courtney. Todd picked Denise this time leaving Courtney the last one to be chosen. That was totally strategic on Todd’s part and totally smart of him to start to mend Denise’s wounds. The yellow team which consisted of Erik, Courtney, Frosti, and Amanda figured out a system and totally whooped up on the red team which consisted of James, Peih-Gee, Todd, and Denise. James kept losing the ball for his group and I don’t think Denise even got to try to hit the ball. They did not work well together. The yellow team easily won.
As the yellow team left for their reward and the red team returned home James and Peih-Gee went at it back at camp. Peih-Gee jumped all over James, picked a fight with him and blamed him for the loss. She then left and jumped in the river to cool off because she was so mad. James thought she was just stupid and told Todd and Denise that Peih-Gee told him he was the reason they lost. Really though Peih-Gee was just upset because she was tired of losing so she took it out on James. Remember that Peih-Gee was former Zhan Hu and thus far in the game she really hadn’t won anything yet.
Meanwhile Todd and James were worried a little about Frosti and Courtney on reward together. James was like be naked and be happy but don’t eat the apple and Todd thought it was the worst day he could ever have on Survivor. The four people he was closest with were out on a boat chumming it up and he was stuck back at camp.
On the river Erik was very happy to have won the reward challenge because he hadn’t won much being on the Zhan Hu tribe. Amanda thought that Peih-Gee was too intense right now but Courtney knew that Peih-Gee just wanted to win. Then Courtney was petting Frosti’s head and he was giving her a back rub or as my husband said… a bone rub. They were getting close so close!! Would Courtney be able to stick with her tribe and vote for her little pet Frosti when the time came?
Erik was hilarious as he imitated a goat they saw on the river bank. That was a sweet talent he had. He really, really sounded like a goat. I think Amanda was crushing a little on Erik. Todd was right! It wasn’t good for those four to be alone on a romantic river!! Todd’s whole plan was like a carefully assembled card house. It was intricate and it was standing, but one gush of wind would bring it all done. With Courtney loving on Frosti and Amanda eyeing Erik one could almost feel the subtle breeze beginning to blow. Would Todd’s carefully constructed plan hole up? As they laughed, shared and then sat down for a meal of fried chicken and mashed potatoes Frosti began to see Erik as a real threat to him. Erik was super nice and sweet am the girls both liked him. Frosti certainly didn’t want to be replaced.
When they returned to camp they totally lied to the others and said that they had really good Chinese food again. There was no way they were going to tell them they had fried chicken! They would be hated! Then Todd spilled the beans that Peih-Gee went off on James. Things weren’t looking good for Peih-Gee. It seemed like the general consensus was that she wasn’t very well liked and would most likely be the next to go.
Next it was time to battle it out for immunity. It was a memory test this time. They had to remember the correct order of Chinese Zodiacs. Well, with no brawns involved we knew that James would not win and since Frosti shared he had a bad memory he probably wouldn’t win either. To stir things up Jeff said they could opt out and not play. Instead if they wanted to they could eat cheeseburgers, french fries and have some cold drinks. This of course would last only as long as the challenge did. Amazingly Todd, James, Courtney, and Denise sat out to eat. I thought that was a very, very stupid move. They should have all tried for immunity if they wanted to really get rid of Peih-Gee. What if Peih-Gee won immunity? Plus, Courtney just ate her fill of fried chicken and potatoes!!
With the challenge on Jeff read a sequence of Zodiacs and they had to pick them up with a knife in the exact order. For the first round Erik was out. He didn’t win immunity and no cheeseburgers for him! For round two Amanda was out but most likely safe from the vote at tribal council. Then it was down to Peih-Gee and Frosti, two of the former Zhan Hu members. For round three they both got it right but during round four Frosti got it wrong so Peih-Gee WON IMMUNITY. She needed that sooooooooo bad. I mean, that was the most important immunity for her to win so far. With that more than likely either Frosti or Erik would be sent home at tribal. Todd saw Frosti as a bigger threat with his relationship with Courtney but Erik was smooth and well liked too. It was going to be a tough vote later that night.
Oh, they shouldn’t have eaten those cheeseburgers!! Peih-Gee could go work her magic now if she wanted to. Frosti couldn’t believe they sat out and pointed out that in twelve days they could eat all the cheeseburgers they wanted. Well, with Frosti and Erik now on the chopping block maybe Amanda would fight for Erik since she thought he was so adorable. Todd agreed that Erik was smooth and if he got to the end he would win the million but he also saw Frosti as a big threat because he did well in challenges and was also a great player. As the discussing went on it seemed that the team was ready to saved Erik and send either Frosti or Courtney home now (because Courtney might not be willing to vote Frosti out). Wow. The former Fei Long can be so confusing. It seems the strategy every week is Todd talking everything out into utter confusion until they finally decide on a vote and sometimes that vote blindsides one of their own. If Courtney didn’t watch out, she would be sitting right next to Jean-Robert on the jury in even more close proximity than before! Well, Courtney didn’t know if she would vote against Frosti because he was her Survivor boyfriend. Oh boy, Courtney might be going home tonight with that mentality. If she didn’t agree to vote for Frosti he might be safe and her torch might be the one going out.
At tribal council the jury came in with a cleaned up and glowering Jean-Robert. He was so great! I wished he was still playing the game. James confessed that he ate seven cheeseburgers. Todd in my opinion was looking more and more like a scruffy Tom Cruise everyday. They all knew that there was always a chance you could go home. Frosti said he didn’t eat the cheeseburgers because he wanted to know that he did everything he could to do his best and try his hardest in the game. Denise piped in that there really wasn’t any loyalty in the game. I think Denise was still smarting from the last tribal council!
Who was going home? We knew it wasn’t Peih-Gee so it had to be Eric, Frosti, or Courtney. My four year old who got to stay up late thought it would be Courtney. But, when all the votes were counted Frosti was the one who went home. Well, for the first time at tribal council people were hugging the person who they eliminated. Frosti was obviously well liked. So as Frosti headed down the darkened path the remaining seven were told that they were not heading directly back to camp. There was more business to attend to at tribal council and then they ended the show and of course LEFT US HANGING!! How could they leave us hanging?? What could it possibly be that Jeff had to tell them??
With only seven remaining players the odds are definitely against the former Zhan Hu. It looks like if Peih-Gee or Erik want to stay in the game they must win immunity from here on out. The odds are against them but remember Tom Westman? He won five out of seven immunity challenges and Ozzy won six out of seven so it is totally possible to do. Sadly the happy and friendly Frosti met his demise and I had to wonder if it wasn’t because he straddled the fence a little bit. He was no longer really Zhan Hu and he never really was Fei Long. Even a strong friendship with Courtney couldn’t keep his name off of her voting ballot. When all was said and done someone had to want it to win it and Peih-Gee simply wanted it more. The proof? An individual immunity necklace firmly about her neck secured her place in the game for at least three more days. You can bet that if Peih-Gee goes down, she’ll go down fighting and she certainly won’t make it easy for the former Fei Long tribe.
© Copyright 2007 Blindigo Magazine | Article written by Niki Tschirgi
