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Episode 11 - Survivor
 Episode 11 - Survivor

Survivor Round-Up

Puppet Master of the Week Nobody - the choice was obvious.
Surviving on borrowed time: Stacy and Alex
Still golden: Earl
Blissful ignorance: "Dreamz"
Drama King/Queen: Alex/Mookie
Under the Radar award: Cassandra
Most bizzare moment: Alex thinking that telling everybody Yau-Man has the idol will somehow save him. Alex saying that he 'isn't going down without a fight' and then proceeds to do nothing at Tribal.
Most touching moment: Stacy saying that her heart hurts after she heard about Alex and Mookie going through Yau-Man's bag.

Strategy Scorecard

Reward Challenge

 Immunity Challenge
The challenge: Mudpit Slingshot
The reward: Spa day
Winner: Stacy, Earl, "Dreamz" and Alex		 The challenge: Some form of fiery battleship
Winner: Stacy
Who goes to Exile Island: Boo
Status of alliances: The "Four Donkeys" are pretty much no more. Earl, Yau-Man and Casandra are still golden.
Biggest shake-up? There was no shake up, but Alex and Mookie made a very lame attempt to blackmail Yau-Man. It was completely ineffective and, in the words of Yau-Man, "won't change anything, very much"


Tribal Council

Most revealing answers: Alex - revealing what a delusional psycho he really is and revealing who the real 'snakes and rats' are.
Scapegoat of the week: No scapegoat, Mookie got what was coming to him.
Foot in mouth award: Alex and Mookie. They must be thoroughly embarrassed by their display.
Surprises? None. We all knew that Alex and Mookie were dumb and annoying. No shocker there.
Voted off:
 Mookie
Parting shot: Bitter.

Episode 11: "Blackmail or Betrayal" Recap.

Bula Bula, night 27. They tribe returns from Tribal Council. Alex and Mookie know that they are screwed. Mookie and Alex think that Dreamz double crossed them, straight up. Alex tells Mookie that Dreamz might have been playing them the entire time. I don’t know about that. I haven’t really seen a lot of playing by Dreamz, just a lot of clueless fumbling around that has kept him safe. We see Stacy talking to Dreamz about the vote and why they voted for Edgardo, rather than Mookie. She does a very good job of being rational and matter-of-fact about it and comes up with some great excuses why Dreamz wasn’t included in their plan. Earl picks up on this and jumps in, reassuring Dreamz that he isn’t on the outs. Dreamz says that he feels safe.

Earl says that the power is pretty much on their side now. They have six, and the other two (Alex and Mookie) are on ‘death row’. Let’s not get dramatic there, Earl. I think it is a little naive to think that everything will work out when there are still eight people in the game. That’s just a little less than half of what the show started with. Even when there are only five people left you should not assume that you are safe in any way. Stacy, much to my delight, says that Mookie and Alex will be lucky if they get fed. I miss the old, catty Stacy.

Credits. 19 castaways, 39 days, screaming aboriginal men.

Day 28. The members of the ‘Syndicate’ all laze around in the sun while Mookie and Alex have a little pity part off to the side. Mookie says that Dreamz should at least have the dignity to come over and be all ‘Look, it’s a game’. Hilariously, Alex follows this up with “a true traitor”. Hey Alex, what happened to the whole ‘it’s just a game’ spiel Mookie just said? I sense a bittercakes! Dreamz comes over and tried to explain what happened at Tribal and I can honestly say that I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to say. It was like one big run on sentence. Dreamz interviews that he told them a story about Tribal so he could stay on their good side in case he needs votes for ‘the final two’. I guess they haven’t figured out that there are final three’s now.

Challenge beach. Or rather, challenge mud pit. For this challenge, they will be separated into two teams. Three people will be in the muddy field with catch baskets. One person will be launching the balls. First team to five wins a day at the spa. Jeff tells them that they are smelly. The teams are: Stacy, Earl, Dreamz and Alex and Yau-Man, Boo, Mookie and Cassandra. The first two points go to the orange team. Cassandra gets physical and puts a choke hold on Earl, but Earl kind of laughs it off. Green gets a point. Then something really gross happens. Yau-Man launches a ball and Alex and Boo go running for it. Alex has his hands on Boo’s shoulder as Boo slips, which I’m sure doesn’t help. Boo takes a nasty, two tiered fall. He goes down half way and lands awkwardly on his knee before falling all the way down. Boo writhes on the ground in pain. Not the “ow, son of a bitch!” kind of pain, but the kind of pain where you do nothing but let out agonizing groans.

Everybody looks concerned and Jeff even ventures out into the mud and calls the medical team. Boo says that maybe it is his ‘ACL’, which is a tendon in the knee. And you know what? It freaking hurts. It really does. It also seems like Boo has had this happened before since he already knows what went wrong. Boo says that he just heard a ‘pop’ in his knee. He tries to test his weight and, true to what he said, there is a really, really gross popping sound which makes everybody gasp, including me. Dude, gross. Then, like a true trooper, he gets up, rubs some mud on his hand and says “Aight lets go.” They resume play.

They launch and green gets a point. Mookie gets his knickers in a twist and screams at Yau-Man. Orange gets a point. Dreamz tells Earl to get physical. Earl says “I am physical, it’s just the placing of the balls” which has teenagers all over the land giggling. Green gets a point and orange almost gets a point. Mookie screams at Yau-Man some more and Yau-Man lifts his hand and is like “okay, chill. Freak.” Orange scores, Green scores and then Green scores again. Stacy, Earl, Yau-Man and Dreamz are going to the spa! Earl lifts up Stacy ala Michelle. I guess they really are carbon copies of one another. Mookie throws his hat in the mud because he has only one once through the entire game. Lisi was right. He really is a Lo-ho-hoser. Then it is time to choose who is going to exile. They choose Boo because he has been in the lap of luxury for far too long. I feel bad because he almost broke his knee, but who else are they going to send? Casandra? I don’t think so.

Commercials. On a little inside clip, Edgardo says that he knew he was going that night, which is total bullshit. You can’t fake the face he made when he was voted out.

Boo is on Exile Island and he finds out that the idol is back at camp, in plain view. He is actually grateful that it is there because he just wants to take it easy after he hurt his knee. There is a really beautiful shot of Boo walking along the beach with the Sun behind him. He voices over that he is nearing heat stroke and that he is going to die. Man, he really has been in the lap of luxury for too long. Suck it up, Boo!

The winning team flies to the spa and Alex says that the is trying to wiggle his way back into the alliance...as if he were actually part of the alliance in the first place. Dreamz and Alex bathe together and Stacy and Earl bathe together. Earl picks at his armpit hair. Earl says that he is getting his Sexyback. They are serves a meal...sort of. There is a giant plate with an itty bitty amount of food on it, which is a total rip off. If I won a reward I would want to stuff my face with hot dogs and beer. Alex orders his dinner as if he were some sort of sophisticated business bigwig, which annoys me to no end. Stacy says that dinner was good, but having Alex there was really awkward. And indeed, Alex immediately launches into game talk. Or really, game talk that is about him. He says that win or lose, he congratulates the other team (bullshit) and he tries to minimize the showboating (bullshit). Stacy, who I really really love this episode, calls him on it and says “Sometimes” and fixed him with a glare that shuts him right up. Thanks, Stacy!

Alex then says that “a lion is most dangerous when it is backed up against a wall, and that’s how I feel.” Don’t compare yourself to a wild animal dude. It’s not fair to the lion. He says that if he can “buy a couple people off” maybe he can infiltrate the alliance. So who does he go to? Earl. Which is obviously the wrong move, because Earl is the leader of the ‘Syndicate’, not one of the croanies like, say, Stacy or Dreamz. Earl, of course, doesn’t humour Alex with false promises and basically tells him that he is still screwed.

They fly back to camp the next day and Cassandra says “Get out of our seats, we want to get on!” Heh. Mookie, true to his character, is sour grapes about the whole thing and doesn’t want to hear or smell them. Later on, Mookie and Dreamz deduce that Yau-Man has the idol. When Dreamz falls asleep, Mookie and Alex decide to go through Yau-Man’s stuff. This move has caused a lot of bickering and outrage, but I’m not so sure if it is all that bad. It’s Survivor, and these things happen. I’m sure that Alex and Mookie would never go through Yau-Man’s stuff if they were back in civilization, but this is a whole different setting. Nobody thought it was particularly bad when Yau-Man snuck a peak at Sylvia’s bag when she got back from Exile. Anyways, they find the idol and they nearly crap their pants. Cassandra and Stacy clink pineapples together when they hear Alex and Mookie approaching. They take cover in the bushes. I’m not sure how effective that is, especially when you have to have a camera guy and a sound guy surrounding you. So either Alex and Mookie are completely blind, or the camera men are dressed like trees.

Anyways, Alex and Mookie discuss how Yau-Man has the idol and what they can do about it. And what did they come up with? Blackmail, the trade of assholes. I don’t understand why they are so pissed off that Yau-Man didn’t tell them or his alliance mates about it. They did the exact same thing to Dreamz. Alex says that even if they get voted off, it’s going to feel so great. What’s going to feel so great? Blackmailing a nice old man? Jerks. Stacy cracks a stick, which reveals their location. Oops. As they walk towards Yau-Man, they plan on saying “Do you want us to tell people about the idol, or do you want to do it?” THAT ISN’T EVEN BLACKMAIL. God, these guys are so dumb! Usually when you blackmail somebody you ask for something in return. They aren’t asking for anything. They aren’t asking to boot Boo or Stacy instead of them. They are just doing it to be assholes, which really annoys me.

Mookie and Alex then strike some ridiculous bully pose as Yau-Man approaches. They tell him that they know they have the idol and ask Yau-Man “What do you want to do?” which is a ridiculous question because either way it will yield the same result, and that result does absolutely nothing to get Alex or Mookie farther in the game. Yau-Man is clearly pissed, but he keeps is cool and says “do what you have to do.” Alex, thinking he is macho and threatening, says “fine, we will.” YOU AREN’T ACCOMPLISHING ANYTHING, YOU MORONS. Then the best thing ever happens. Alex, thinking he just did something totally awesome, tell Yau-Man that thing should get interesting. Yau-Man isn’t having any of that and replies with “No...I don’t think it’ll change anything very much”. Translation: “You guys are wasting your time because you are both screwed anyways. Stop being a dick”. Zing! Yau-Man and I are of one mind. We both have Alex and Mookie.

Yau-Man is forced to admit that he has the idol to everybody, but he does it in a way that makes Alex and Mookie seem like the bad guys and make him seem like the victim, which is totally true. He tells them that they went through his stuff and tried to blackmail him. Everybody, of course, is shocked and appalled that the Two Donkeys would go through their stuff. As an objective viewer, I really have no problems with going through other peoples stuff in the context of the game. But then again, I am not a player and I didn’t have my personal stuff riffled through. Yau-Man seems more angry about the petty blackmail than he does about the searching. I think Yau-Man played that scene out perfectly by gaining sympathy from his tribe mates, rather than distrust. Earl worries about how this will affect his game play. Alex and Mookie laugh in blissful ignorance. They don’t know that everybody thinks they are sleazeballs yet.

Challenge beach! This challenge if for Immunity and resembles a Battleship game. Each player chooses three spots on the board. They take turns picking a spot to ‘bomb’ and hope that it hits another players box. It’s pretty simple and requires nothing but a good memory and a bit of luck. What is totally unlucky is the fact that Boo and Dreamz picked the exact same three spots on the board. I wonder what would happen if it came down to those two. Anyways, game time. Dreamz goes first and knocks one of his own boxes out. Oops. You would think that he wouldn’t have already forgotten where his boxes were. Cassandra hits herself too. Heh. The first casualty is Earl. Dreamz and Boo are next to go. Cassandra is next, followed by Mookie. Stacy then chooses a box that holds both Yau-Man and Alex’s last name, so she wins. Considering that she has been so awesome this episode, I’m glad that she won. Alex looks absolutely disgusted that he lost, as if the universe was supposed to make sure than he won.

Back at camp, Alex and Mookie contemplate their demise. They are going to ‘bring hell down with them’, which is an accurate description because hell is a lot better than Mookie and Alex. Earl and Dreamz discuss who should get the boot. Boo comes up and tells his alliance that the re-hidden idol is on their beach. Since it is in plain sight, he worries that Alex or Mookie might have found it. To make sure that one of the two goes home tonight, they decide to split the vote, which will guarantee that. It will be a 3-3-2 vote, so if Alex does happen to play the idol again, Mookie would be going home instead of one of the ‘Syndicate’. As a random note, I love Boo. His eyes are gorgeous. Alex interviews that they are going to go out swinging.

Tribal! Rocky looks like an ass, Lisi looks like an ass, Michelle is still awesomely hot. Edgardo shaved and looks ten times less manly. Jeff asks Alex if the Reward Challenge changed the game. Dumb question, Jeff. Of course it didn’t change the game, Alex says. But he got a sense of how people ‘play games’, which is kind of a ridiculous answer. It was a purely physical challenge with absolutely no strategy involved. If it was an Q & A challenge like last week, maybe it would reveal things. But it didn’t. Earl and Casandra exchange “wtf” glances. They have had enough of Alex and he pretentious ways. As have I. Alex says that the ‘Rats and Snakes’ have come out of the woodwork. SIGH.

Jeff asks Mookie what he got out of the challenge. Mookie says that they all respect each other...to some extent. This begets a face from Yau-Man. Mookie says that he feels like an outsider to the big bad alliance. So what do you do, asks Jeff. You rifle through people’s personal belongings and make an extremely weak attempt at blackmail that serves no purpose except to make you look like a douchebag, of course! Mookie says that he ‘found’ the idol in Yau-Man’s bag. Jeff is all over this shit, and makes Mookie repeat himself. “You FOUND it in Yau-Man’s bag?” he says, obviously kind of pissed that they did that, too. Jeff earns a LOT of points for what he says next. “This is coming on the heels of Alex saying ‘the snakes and the rats came out’. That’s about as snakey and ratty as it gets, going through somebody’s personal belongings!” Sometimes I really love Jeff. Alex and Mookie’s plan to go down in a ‘blaze of glory’ backfired and they got burned. By Jeff! The group consensus is that it was a dirty move on Alex and Mookie’s part. Then ANOTHER awesome thing happens. Alex goes on some ridiculous spiel about karma and throws out some lame ass quotes because he is a pretentious dick. This garners not only a bitchface from Stacy, which is all too common, but Michelle too! Michelle! Sweet, loving Michelle! It just gives me another reason to love her.

Time to vote! Everybody votes and Jeff begins to read. Alex. Alex. Mookie. Boo (Boo gives a classic ‘wtf’ face here. Because seriously, wtf). Mookie. Mookie. Alex. And finally, Mookie. So Mookie is gone, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. Mookie and Alex were both colossal assholes, but Alex was smarmy, smug and pretentious too. Oh well, at least one more of the Donkeys is gone.