Survivor Gabon: Nothing Tastes Better Than Five Hundred Dollars

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Sorry for the hiatus on last week's review, but having got wind that this week's episode was a simple recap episode I decided to take my sweet time and enjoy the holiday weekend. I'm a little mad Randy is gone seeing as he provided for some excellent entertainment (if I was on the island with him it might be a different opinion) but I believe this season is sculpting one of the most bitter juries in recent years.

  • Randy, motivated by Charlie's departure from the game, decides he's pissed off and begins to rage against the Nobag tribe
  • At the Survivor Auction Randy gets the most food, Kenny sends Bob to Exile again, Susie earns herself a warm bath, and Sugar denies a cookie from Randy
  • Kenny wins the Immunity challenge in a mousetrap like puzzle game
  • Randy decides to piss everyone at camp off and prays Bob has found the hidden Immunity Idol
  • Bob, with some prompting from Sugar, gives Randy the fake idol. Randy plays it at tribal but to his dismay Probst doesn't buy it and Randy is voted out

All Behold the Wrath of Randy

Randy got tricked pretty bad in the past episode, but I'm not sure how much of a surprise it really was for him. I don't know what happened, if Randy was finally fed up of the game or what, but he was crashing and burning. He obviously was furious; we could see that in his behavior as well as hear it in his confessionals. I think it's a clear sign that when Sugar sided with the underdogs his game was over. He thought he had things figured out and when Sugar drove the Kota alliance's plans into the dirt the whole thing collapsed for Randy. And that made the King of Gabon mad. VERY MAD!

Despite being furious Randy managed to keep a low profile from what I would imagine he would do. Randy restricted himself to shouting vulgarities and crudities whilst simultaneously trying to work over Matty.

"That Cookie is Tainted"

At the Survivor Auction (in which castaways bid for food) Randy stormed the entire thing taking a bowl of spaghetti, beer, fries, and finally a plate of cookies in which to share amongst the tribe. Kenny bid on mystery item which resulted in him having to send another castaway to Exile. He chose Bob, and as a kicker Kenny got to keep all of Bob's auction money, which Kenny promptly saved.

When Randy purchased the cookies he handed them out to the members of the tribe, who gratefully accepted, except Sugar. Sugar, who visibly turns her nose up when confronted with Randy, didn't accept his offering of a cookie despite being offered one. She hands hers to Matty,.. and we end up hearing about the cookie issue the whole rest of the episode. The problem here isn't the cookie, the problems just happen to take form in the symbol of the offered cookie (the same way money problems between a newly married couple is usually having nothing to do with money but is really about other subtle problems in the relationship, thank you Dr. Phil!). Put the cookie down and let's all move on!

I don't know if I can recall anything else that stood out in my mind, except probably Susie's two minute bath. It actually was one of the funnier moments of the episode; Susie bids on a warm bath with shampoo and soap and whatnot, hops in for another bid item or two, then gets right back out. What!? I would have sat in that thing as long as possible especially considering I've been living in a damn jungle for 30 days.

Arranging Chain Reactions

The Immunity Challenge concerned two parts; the first involved carrying bags of puzzle pieces across a balance beam without falling. The first three to get all their bags across first move on to the final round, and these three ended up being Kenny, Matty, and Corinne (Corinne actually purchased a spot in the final round at the Auction, so she was exempt from the balance beam portion.)

In the final (I can't believe I'm gonna describe this thing) each member had a vertically zigzagging long table in which angled domino pieces would be placed on. The dominos, once arranged correctly, would fall triggering a ball to roll into a basket which would raise a flag. To make it interesting the table in which the dominos were placed were rigged with a web of tripwires which, when snagged, would bring the entire puzzle falling down. It looked like the old Milton Bradley board game "Mouse Trap" on some serious steroids. To make a long description short the most "mouse" looking of the bunch (Kenny) managed to pull out the win in the knick of time. Sorry if you're reading this Kenny, you just happen to remind me of a little mouse (I'm sure its all the editing).

I hope Bob Found that Damn Idol

For those out there who are watching, I don't think Randy is really that bad of a guy. Sure, he's rough around the edges and says a lot of mean stuff sometimes, but I think a lot of that has to do with the editing he's been getting and the general stress of the Survivor situation. I can only speak for myself, but I've had many people in my life that are harsh in both mannerisms and conversation. My older brother is definitely one of these people and, dare I say, I can understand where they're coming from and don't really think of it as a trait linked to being "evil".

When looking back on the fake idol, I think it was a good strategic and social move for Bob. It didn't really matter what happened to Randy, the odds weren't in his favor to remain in the game; therefore, a lot of people who have been watching judged Bob poorly for going above and beyond to trick Randy (as if he didn't deserve it after the antics he was carrying on with around camp). Bob knew that Sugar disliked Randy and Bob also knew that the underdogs were wiping out original Kota members. Rather then waste a perfectly good fake Immunity Idol Bob did possibly the only good thing he could with it at this point and used it to trick Randy. This simultaneously appeased Sugar (possibly guaranteeing Bob a longer stay then Corinne or other old Fang members) and quelled some of the insanity that Randy was spreading around camp by making everyone feel terrible.

Looking Forward & Looking Back

On Thanksgiving (and also, subsequently, my 23rd birthday in which a year ago the cast of Fans vs. Favorites was starving in Palau and I ended up winning my first Individual Immunity challenge! Its crazy how time flies, but anyways,) they decided to play a recap show looking over past episodes and how things came to be in Gabon. I wasn't too thrilled for a recap episode and it just so happens that a lot of the "unseen footage" can be found online at CBS.com (where I've been regularly visiting anyways).

One thing that did surprise me about the recap special was how much they focused on Sugar and Corinne. I'm not sure if they're focusing on these two simply because they epitomize the concept of "good vs. evil" or if Corinne or Sugar are going out because of the other one's strategy. I can't tell. Bob also got a lot of screen time, possibly for similar reasons linked to his importance in the upcoming episodes. We barely saw any Crystal, Kenny, or Sue.

Tags: survivor, gabon, tv, erik, reality

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Original Comments Posted (1)

sunshine says...

I really am glad Randy is gone. I did not like him- I realize you understand the goings- on better than me, but still- he is so HORRIBLE!! Now we will just see all the secrets, lies, conniving, etc.

Hope you get more comments here. I enjoy reading your review.

Dec 9, 2008 12:41am

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