Night 15: Happy Dance!

After a tribal council marked by the Margaret-Judd confront, Judd is doing what amounts to nothing short of a white-boy dance when his plan to get rid of Margaret worked. Meanwhile, his mind also switches from attack to defense, as he notes that Margaret pushed too many of his buttons and as a result paid the price with her place in the game.

Judd explains to the rest of Nakum that he's in reality harmless, that his bark is worse than his bite, and that he did what he did to defend himself in the face of Margaret's hostility.

And then he says this... "She just pushed my buttons, man, and just kept pushing it. Hopefully, I'll be laughing my ass to the bank, and she will be home making chicken wings or something." Mmm... chicken.

While we're on the subject, Jamie says that Judd is perfect to take to the final two because he will just keep blowing his stack, and nobody with half a brain cell will give him the money.

I happen to side with Jamie on this one. 

Day 16: R-CHALLENGE: Another Big Yarn (for chocolate and a zip-line trip through the jungles of Guatemala; Nakum sits out Judd)

Each tribesman must round a pole, wrapping themselves in fabric until their mummified selves reach their tribesmate at another pole. Repeat process until all four tribesmen are one giant whole (there is one designated wrapper per tribe). Once all tribesmen are one giant mat of... tribe, then they unwrap, one tribesman at a time until all of them are unwrapped. First one to the tribal mat wins.

It starts out as a one-sided affair, with Amy still hobbling around on her bum ankle and Jamie able to race to the first pole. Amy manages to catch up in the winding, and Lydia and Stephenie start falling apart (and tripping). The Yaxha are still winding as one, but it's even again at the final pole, and now it's a matter of unwinding. This is where Yaxha gets the upper hand as we're a disorganized mess. Jamie is first on the mat for Nakum, but remember, the entire tribe must be on the mat to win. It's a very close race before Rafe, Steph, and Lydia fall on top of each other. They get back up, but only to watch Yaxha race to the mat to win chocolate and a zip-line ride.

Day 17: Party Party Join Us Join Us

If you follow Survivor, you know that in the process of fitting three days into 45 minutes of TV time, time is easily wasted. To this end, Rafe and Steph spend this quiet day at the ruin making playing cards.

Suddenly, this quiet day isn't as quiet. It's time for a party... in Danni's honor! It's her 31st birthday, and the Yaxha have arrived for an invite to a little wing-ding at their camp, BYOB. Seems hardly fair, but hey, we get food, drink, and good times.

Well, most of us anyway. Jamie spends all the time wondering why in the blue hell they're there. "I'm there for business, and everyone else should be also." He's convinced that he will not join in the festivities... until Steph convinces him to go. "What's the worst that can happen?"

If it makes you feel any better, Cindy isn't looking forward to meeting us either.

Anyway, Nakum arrives at Yaxha's camp, and Danni, ever the gracious hostess, offers up some leftover chocolate from the reward. Steph believes that they are still our enemy, but she will go and eat their chocolate if offered.

So will everyone else, for that matter... except for Jamie. He's trying to figure everyone out, and thinks that everyone should be all about business before pleasure like he is. Unfortunately, he's the only one thinking this way, so when it's time to go, it's really time to go. Stephenie still doesn't get what Jamie's thinking, as he's holding onto his day-one plan to put the game first, all else is secondary. Jamie says he wants to keep his focus and will get to know everyone after the game is done. With that, Nakum paddles off back to our camp, and Yaxha waves goodbye.

Now if I know Survivor like I think I know Survivor, I know that nothing happens in this game without a reason. Had Jamie truly been focused on the game, then he would know that as well. That said, this party wouldn't have happened were it not a precursor to something... something big.

Apparently Cindy and Jamie are made for each other in that aspect. Stephenie, the sole Survivor that is making sense at this point, says that Jamie is losing it. She prognosticates a clash, if not between her and Jamie, then definitely between Jamie and someone else. Except Cindy. Heh.

Treemail!

I-CHALLENGE: Day by Day (Nakum sits out Lydia)

The ancient Mayans were some smart cookies, you gotta give them that. They came up with one of the first calendars to be measured by the sun and the moon. Now, it makes for a challenge. Pieces of that ancient Mayan calendar are all buried in a sand pit, not unlike those you see on archaeological digs, and one by one, three tribesmen will haul one of them out until they get all 12. Then they can start putting it together. Tribe that completes the puzzle first is free from the threat of Tribal Council.

Because this is a sand pit, the first challenge posed to the tribes is actually finding where the pieces are buried. It proves to be trying. Very trying. So trying, in fact, that someone's bound to get hurt even before all 12 are unearthed. Right?

It's pretty much an even race all the way through, but in one instance, Jamie throws a piece and it hits Stephenie's leg. BAD JAMIE! No food for you. Still, the instance is not enough to stop the Nakum from sailing to victory.

Night 18: Tribal Council.

I actually talked to a howler monkey, and he told me that Amy hatched a plan to get rid of Bobby Jon. ... What's that, Howler? Brandon's the swing now? I know that he, Danni, Gary, and Bobby Jon are tight, but will this plan actually work? ... What's that, Howler? It doesn't? Amy's voted out by a 5-1 vote? Who did the other vote go to? Oh, Bobby Jon. So that's all that this round has to off... wait, it isn't?... "Hopefully, that will help you, because you are about to embark on a new challenge." New buffs? MERGER?! I better wake the others! *trips* That wasn't funny, Howler...