Survivor: Samoa
Taking Candy From a Baby
By Kim Hollis and David Mumpower
September 24, 2009
Interestingly, he does share his secret with Jaison, which tells us that Evil Russell actually does respect the tall, athletic law student. Clearly, he's equating his real-life experiences the oil rig to his Survivor strategy, selecting strong men whom he respects to become his allies. Women are just the moms, the office gals and the sex objects. He's kind of a Mad Men throwback.
Next, we stay at Foa Foa as the tribe discusses Mike's age (though they're polite enough to not comment on his giant man bosoms). The agreement is that if they lose the next Immunity Challenge, he will be the one to go. Unlike previous seasons, both teams do seem focus on eliminating the weakest players early on, which is a breath of fresh air.
We now welcome Emmy Award winning reality host Jeff Probst to our screen. Both teams arrive, decorated in Samoan face paint, to compete in a challenge that has them playing a game that combines rugby and basketball. There is a pit where a ball is thrown, and three players from each team must scrum to gain control of the ball to throw it to their teammates up on a platform above, who will then attempt to throw it in the net. The first team with three baskets wins. In the first round, there's a lot of violence, choking, and boob revealing before Elizabeth scores the first goal for Foa Foa. The second round gets even uglier, and after John scores a point for Galu, Probst brings things to a halt and tells the players that the play is too rough and the next person to throw a cheap shot will be removed from the challenge.
It's not very long before Hillbilly Ben kicks Good Russell in the shin. Hard. Probst has no patience for this gratuitous and needless act and immediately ejects him from the challenge. What this means is that Foa Foa is short one player in the pit in a game that is tied 1-1. Obviously, they lose this round when Erik scores a basket. Several baleful looks are thrown Ben's direction by his teammates.
The fourth round sees Mike quit due to exhaustion, meaning that Foa Foa is effectively short-handed again. The round ends quickly as Laura scores a winner for Galu to take the match. The winning tribe gets immunity and fishing gear. Also, in a twist, Galu gets to send one of their own to spend an evening with the opposing tribe. That person will be able to observe Tribal Council, and also gets a clue to open once they arrive at Foa Foa's camp. Good Russell selects Yasmin, the giant, complaining pain in the ass, thereby ensuring that they will have a pleasant evening along with their other spoils.
We quickly learn the reason why Mike gave up in the final round. His blood pressure has dropped to alarming levels, which prompts a medical examiner to decide that he can play the game. Apparently, immediately after the challenge, Mike was blue. Literally. There is concern that he might be having a heart episode, and Foa Foa tells him goodbye a little earlier than planned. He would almost certainly have been the next player to be voted off anyway, but now Mike doesn't even have a chance to scrap it out.
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