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Episode 4.13 (Thankful? Are You Kidding Me?) - November 22

Happy Thanksgiving! We have 6 contestants who may feel like they are pilgrims wandering into the unknown lands. By the time this is over, they may feel like the pilgrims had it easy - and I don't think that their Thanksgiving feast will be remotely close to what they have to eat. Let's take a quick peek on the Pilgrims.

Vadim Mordovin (Syracuse, NY - Student) isn't here to make friends. He's here to win the money. On most reality shows, he's the villain. On this show, he's usually the first one out.

Does April Steiner (Mesa, AZ - Professional Athlete) look familiar to you? She should if you were watching the Olympic tryouts. She missed qualifying for the Olympics by two spots (ouch) and she needs to $50,000 to continue to fund her Olympic dream. Out of all of the shows that I've seen, this may be the person with the noblest intentions. Say it all with me now -AwwwwwwBarf.

Kathy Micali (Vancouver, Canada - Gym Owner) is here to challenge herself. She has always challenged herself and one - and she sees this as being no different. Not as honorable as April...

Jason Woolley (NYC, NY - Club Promoter) says that he could be gone after the first stunt, but that will happen 'when Hell freezes over - and fortunately for me, it's looking real sunny outside.' I do like the quote.

Landon Cooper (Helena, Al - Soccer Player) says that he has been in places where people are more talented, but he's had the bigger heart. He loves to shut up people who talk a lot. Have you met Jason?

Elizabeth Costello (Cincinnati, OH - Bartender) watches the show with her dad - who has been battling cancer. He has survived 6 months and she wants to show him that anything can be possible. Wow. 2 AwwwwBarfs in one episode.

CHALLENGE 1: WE DIDN'T LAND ON PLYMOUTH ROCK: The pilgrims are on the S.S. Fear Factor as it navigates through some choppy waters. Behind the ship is a small dinghy, and the contestants have to go from the dinghy to the boat via a cargo net. Think the Western Fear Factor when they had to pick themselves up from a cargo net onto a stagecoach dragged around by horses, but replace water with ground. On the way, they have to collect 6 flags - and they have to collect it quickly, because the slowest man and woman will be going home to their family for dinner a little earlier than expected. Then again, once they see the feast, they may not be complaining too loudly about it.

Kathy is first. She is thankful for her friends and family and that they can all see her on the show. She is also thankful on the time - 59.7 seconds with all 6 flags. That is going to be a very hard time to beat - but April says she can beat it. She not only beats it, she blows it out of the water with a time of 33.8 seconds.

Elizabeth can send Kathy home if she beats 59.7 seconds. She struggles to get the first 2 flags, but she makes up the time and gets it done in 48.3
seconds. Kathy has to go - and she did lose to someone who wasn't herself.

It's time for the guys to go. Vadim, who has pierced nipples (thanks for sharing), gets to go first. He says that he will set the bar high, as Jason seems scared of him. Jason is certainly not scared of Vadim's time, as he put up a pathetic 1:03.4. Vadim dropped a flag, and that may come back to cost him. "Dude, Kathy beat you - she went home." That's definitely not looking good for Vadim.

Jason promises to smoke his time. It's a good thing he didn't promise to smoke April's time, because April's time still holds, but Jason still gets it done in 44.8 seconds, will under a minute. The last person to go is Landon, and he says that he's being motivated by...well, he isn't going to say it until he wins. He's definitely slower than Jason - but he's faster than Vadim, and
that's the person that he needs to beat. The final time is 52.1 seconds, and maybe Videm can use his pierced nipples to shine up the Turkey. 'There's always Christmas'. Well, not for you on the show, there isn't.

CHALLENGE 2: FEAR FACTOR FEAST: Joe says that there are 4 stunts in this show (being that it's Thanksgiving), the second one will not be an elimination contest - but it will be for $10,000 and a copy of Call of Duty for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. In order to win it, they will have to eat something out of the Fear Factor Feast! They come to a table that features a turkey with maggots covered all over. They don't have to eat that, but they do have to eat this -

1. Worm Green Beans
2. Maggoty Mashed Potatoes with rotten fish sauce gravy
3. Bile Gelatin with African Cave-Dwelling Spiders
4. Beetle, Worm and Cockroach Stuffing
5. Sheep's Brain Pie - with worms

Here's how the contestants have selected their meals -

Elizabeth - Worm Green Beans, Beetle, Insect Stuffing, Sheep's Brain Pie
Jason - Worm Green Beans, Bile Gelatin with Spiders, Insect Stuffing
Landon - Worm Green Beans, Bile Gelatin with Spiders, Insect Stuffing
April - Worm Green Beans, Maggoty Mashed Potatoes, Insect Stuffing

For each dish the contestants eat, they will get a tomahawk, to which they can throw on a bulls-eye. The person who is the closest to the bulls-eye wins $10,000 and decides the order in the next stunt.

After the food is served, Joe wants to say a prayer - but says that no prayer is going to help them now. Heh. After the gratuitous eating (and barfing noises), we see that Elizabeth gets one hatchet, April gets 2 hatchets, Jason gets 1 hatchet and Landon gets all 3 hatchets. After they distribute the hatchets, the contestants distribute their regurgitated lunch all over the beach, as all Joe can do is laugh.

It's time to throw the hatchets. Elizabeth completely misses with hers, and April also misses. Landon gets one in the yellow section, and Jason also gets one in the yellow section. After the measuring, it's determined that the person who was closer to the bulls-eye is...Jason. With only one hatchet, Jason wins the $10,000, and based on the look on Landon's face, it's a good thing that they got rid of the hatchets before announcing the winner.

CHALLENGE 3: THE OLD BALL & CHAIN: Joe, however will be announcing the third stunt - all of the contestants will be shackled to a ball and chain. Once in the water, the person has to unscrew themselves, go back up to the water, and touch the side of the boat. The quickest person selects the order for the last stunt - the slowest person has eaten worms for nothing.

Jason selects April to go first, adding that he has no competition and he's
not worried about any of them. Landon and April says that it fuels their fire,
as the pole vaulter wannabe goes first. While Landon and Jason are talking
trash to each other, April tells Joe that she isn't worried - and tells Joe that
in the water, she can't freak out. She doesn't remotely freak out - she is
very quick with a 20.4 second time. She wasn't happy with the time, saying that she made some mistakes - but she's not going to say what they were. Oooh, sneaky...

Landon says that it's quick, but he says that it isn't the first time that he's been in a ball and chain. Wha? He says that if he advances to the finals, he'll tell Joe his motivation...but now he doesn't have to, because he quit the stunt. He couldn't unscrew the wire all the way - and he says that he'll keep the motivational factors inside of him. I'm guessing not freaking in the
water was one of them.

Jason is happy that he is the last man standing, and now once the rules have changed (so that all you have to do is complete the stunt), he is more than happy to go next. We now see why he was so happy that Landon eliminated himself - he completed it in 22.5 seconds, as April crows about beating Jason. Elizabeth gets it done in...24.7, which is last - but in this case, last is as good as making it.

CHALLENGE 4: UNDER THE MAYFLOWER: It is not, however, as good as first, as April selects the order for the final stunt. For that stunt, the people have to swim under the 12 foot hull and clip as many flags as they can in 2 minutes. Whoever gets the most amount of flags in the quickest time will be the champion for the Thanksgiving episode.

April selects Elizabeth to go first - and she says that she can set the bar
well. Jason predicts 4 or 5 flags, and Elizabeth...doesn't hook up her bikini
top. She loses her top, but gets 7 flags in 1:57. She's hoping that didn't make a huge impact on whether or not she wins the stunt. It may have made an impact on al of the horny college male students watching the show.

Jason is next, and he is not concerned about April. 'Who?' he asks. He doesn't have to worry about April - because he's going to lose to Elizabeth. He realizes that he has a problem with being underwater and he doesn't come close to 7 flags. He talks about how the 'brothers' have a history of not doing well in the water - and that he's happy with his $10,000. Sure, but let's face it - you choked.

April is next - and she can't afford to choke. With her Olympic dream on the
line, she goes in like a madwoman. She gets them all in one minute flat and wins the $50,000. There is something worse than facing fear on a TV show - it's the fear of seeing your dreams die. April faced her fear and conquered it - and hence, we may be seeing her in the 2008 Olympic tryouts.

Since we have some extra time, we get to see a montage of shows coming up. Here's what we'll be looking forward to...

Christmas Fear Factor
Best Friends Fear Factor
Another Million Dollar Couple Series
Miss USA Fear Factor
New York Vs. L.A. Fear Factor
Couples Las Vegas Fear Factor
Newlyweds - Orlando Fear Factor
Reality Star Fear Factor - featuring Ethan Zohn from Survivor, and from The Apprentice... Oma... Rosa.

This sounds like a rocking second half of the season. Tune in to see the best friends go at it in seven days.