DAY 4: LET FREEDOM RING

Sunrise. The Ulong Tribe awakens refreshed... and happy Jolanda isn't around. They can make their own decisions and form a democracy. It worked for Afghanistan and Iraq, it can work here! (wipes the sarcasm off his lips) Sorry...

REWARD CHALLENGE: WALK LIKE A MAN... ON A BALANCE BEAM

It's more on a stump than a tree... so I guess you'd call it Sea-Mail:

Hmmm..."catch more food", eh? Must be for fishing stuff. After all, the message looks like it's on a large fishing reel.

We meet Koror and Uncle Jeff at Challenge Beach... and we find out that the flint they won yesterday is gone! That makes us happy. But the "Bad News Bears" of Pulau promise to find it. But enough of that; let's get to the Reward Challenge.

One at a time, the tribe members will swing across a trench, cross three floating obstacles and navigate a rope bridge. They'll grab a small tribal flag and return the same way. If they fall off into the water, they must go back to the beginning and let the next person go. First tribe to 10 flags returned wins Reward. Oh,...yeah, and two members of the other tribe will try to knock you off by swinging sandbags at them.

And the Reward, as expected, is fishing equipment. Snorkeling equipment and a Hawaiian sling, to be precise. And, as an ADDED bonus, Ulong will get a flint of our OWN if we win! Jeff and Ibrehem are chosen as the bag swingers for our team... and we're ready to go.

At the count of "GO", "Redneck" James makes quick work of the course, deftly dodging the bags tossed by Tom and Greg. He grabs the flag and heads back...but jumps and MISSES the platform. Next up is Bobby Jon, who gets back to the rolling barrels with a flag but, despite his best efforts, can't hold on.

Then things go sour... for Koror. Katie is unable to get across the rope swing... and she HAS to before they can continue to the next member. Our Angie, however, has little trouble getting across... and a little MORE trouble getting back... but she does, putting Ulong ahead 1-0. Katie continues to have trouble for Koror, meaning Ashlee can make it 2-0. Willard gives Katie a clue and she FINALLY gets across the trench... but Stephenie is already heading back with Flag #3. Kim passes Katie to get #4. Katie finally jumps off deliberately... but the damage is done.

Angie, Ashlee, James, Bobby Jon, Stephenie and Kim all get on the course, all grab flags and all head back while Koror's women (and some of their men) have trouble with the course. In a massive 10-3 beating, ULONG WINS REWARD! We have fish! We have fire! And Koror... has plenty of nuthin'!

AFTERNOON/NIGHT 4: ...FOR THE SEAFOOD (AND) LOVER IN US

Now, unlike Koror, WE'RE smart. James rides on the pontoon of our outrigger to make SURE we don't tip over and lose our flint or fishing gear. Angie is the most happy for this because her name was written down a few times last night and she NEEDED to prove that she belonged.

So...who's up for seafood? James and Jeff head out in the outrigger while everyone else gets a fire going. The fish are small... but they can snag enough to feed everyone... and add in a little clam chowder to boot. And... we can COOK it, unlike Koror who's diving for flint rather than clams. But Ashlee doesn't care for it... and that puts the sniper sights on her if we don't win the next Immunity Challenge.

(OK, so Koror DID retrieve their flint by the end of the day. Huzzah and kudos for them. But they're STILL starving.)

After dinner, Kim and Jeff go off to our shelter to "collapse"... and that bothers Angie. She still remembers Bahstin Rob & Amber's two-person alliance.

DAY 5 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: DIT-DOT-DOT-DIT-DOT-DITTY-DITTY

Hmm...it's military dishes with a Morse code learning guide inside. They split the parchment up into pieces and do a round-the-campfire cramming session. (With any luck, Graham Elwood will be nowhere in sight.)

Challenge Beach greets us and Koror (who we learn DID find their flint) as Koror gives the Immunity Idol back to Uncle Jeff. The Challenge is both physical and mental. The physical is that the tribes must swim out to a floating platform and dive ten feet to a barrel. They must pull on a rope that is tied to a foot locker 50 feet away (buoys at 10-foot intervals will pop up to show how long they have to go). Once pulled all the way in, they can open the locker. Eight military mess kits will pop-up and the tribes must unhook them and swim to shore. The mental is that there are Morse Code symbols on each mess kit and they must rearrange them to form one eight-letter word. First tribe to arrange the canteens in the right order gets to chill in Pulau a little longer.

The start looks like the Ironman Triathlon for Deadbeats as sixteen Americans swim towards the pontoon, unable to dive under until all eight of their members touch the platform. And Koror falls behind because Willard (who was FORCED to participate due to the "can't sit out two Challenges in a row" rule) is sidestroking slowly. As such, Ulong dives down first and starts hauling the locker. Now,...this isn't as easy as it looks. Jeff is barely able to get it a few feet before needing a breath. Stephenie picks up the slack, though and gets it 10 feet before Koror can even dive.

But Tom makes up a lot of ground with Coby's help and hauls it 10 feet as well. It soon become a round-robin of tribe members diving, pulling and surfacing. Koror catches up and then some as we struggle. Tom seems to be the MVP for the tribe since he almost single-handedly hauls that locker most of the way, only pausing to catch his breath. Jeff and Ibrehem have no luck as our breath is all but out.

Before we can even get to 30 feet to go, Koror opens the locker and, as a group, unhooks the mess kits and swims to shore. But they STILL have to unscramble the Morse code on them. The password...is "IMMUNITY" (ding). They have to put the mess kits in the right order. And, as we finally get past the 30-feet-to-go mark, the mess kits are spelled out:

.. -- -- ..- -. .. - -.--

And that's exactly what Koror wins...AGAIN! As for Ulong:

- .-. .. -... .- .-.. / -.-. --- ..- -. -.-. .. .-..
(YOU figure it out...)

DAY 6: DROWNING IN TEARS

Well,... doesn't this just suck?! Not only that but our fire has almost gone out. A bunch of us take it to a sheltered cave and get it going again... and the posturing for position begins. Angie gets James and Stephenie to decide between Ashlee (who was weakened by not eating) or Kim (who didn't help a lot at the Challenge). James talks to Jeff about ousting Kim, but Jeff (who doesn't like James saying he HAS to vote for a particular person) says he's aiming for Ashlee. And Steph and Bobby Jon talk about it... though Bobby Jon is undecided as of right now.

Kim wants someone to say to her face that she's going home tonight. He even asks James to swear to him that he's voting for her. She doesn't GET it, but... hey. The bottom line is that, just like EVERY Tribal Council, there's no telling WHAT will happen!

TRIBAL COUNCIL: "WELCOME TO A SPECIAL SURVIVOR: PULAU EDITION OF THE WEAKEST LINK!"

To Uncle Jeff's Abandoned Supply Dump of Doom goes the not-so-elite eight of Ulong. Angie is happy that the Reward Challenge impacted the tribe. Kim tells that the reaction was of devastation and that the six days on the island have bonded all of them (which makes Angie roll her eyes). Jeff admits that he and Kim are attracted to each other from Day 1. Uncle Jeff warns his namesake that that might cause a problem later on (like Uncle Jeff is one to talk about not dealing with romance in reality shows, RIGHT, Julie Berry?!). Jeff hopes that everyone understands that there's no alliance going on here. James has his mind is made up; he's voting out someone who's lagging behind.

It's time to vote. One by one, they march to the alcove and write down their votes. Steph, Kim, Ibrehem (Kim, since Ashlee picked him five days ago to be on Ulong), Angie, Ashlee, Jeff ("Ashley", who "bugs the hell outta" him), James, and Bobby Jon scratch on the parchment.

OK, voting over. It's time to reveal who they think is the weakest link. Uncle Jeff collects the votes and reads them off. Kim, Ashlee, Jeff, get the first three... but Ashlee gets the next three. With no way for Jeff or Kim to catch up, the student has been expelled from the game.

Uncle Jeff tells Ulong to "get a clear goal" and then harness their "tight tribe" energy to put into it. At least we get to take our torches back LIT... in case the fire is out again.