"Surprise Enemy Visit:
Days 16-18" - October 27
DAY 16: SCAR TISSUE THAT I WISH YOU SAW (NOT!)
At last, Amy is not the only "cripple" on out tribe. It seems
that Bobby Jon scrapped his shoulder pretty badly pushing arounf
Uncle Jeff's big ball yesterday. It has only TODAY started
hurting with the slightly cool morning air. But he's sucking it
up to make it to the end.
Amy and Brandon are showing each other their OWN scars from the
Challenge. They seem to be OK with them, saying it makes them
look tougher. And, Brandon says he won't even FEEL it after a
while.
REWARD CHALLENGE: WHAT A WAY TO UNWIND
Challenge Cove invites us in yet again. We see Nakum sans
Margaret, they see us sans Brian. Uncle Jeff explains that this
Challenge requires teamwork and dexterity. In other words, we're
ALL hosed.
Each of four players will wrap 30 feet of material around their
bodies by going around poles the materials are wrapped around.
Once the first one is mummified, they must unhook the material
and move to the next person, wrapping the material around BOTH
of them. This continues until all four are wrapped up with each
other. Then the group must head downfield and UNwrap themselves.
Once one person is untangled, s/he unhooks and hits the finish
mat. First with all four on the finish mat wins Reward. A fifth
tribe member, known as a Winder, may assist the other four in
any way possible, but must ALSO by on the mat with the other
four in order to win.
Who here knew that the Mayans discovered chocolate? Yeah, me
neither. But the Reward is chocolate enough to make Willy Wonka
envious. The winning tribe ALSO can take part in a "zip-line
canopy tour" of the jungles. We assign Amy as our Winder while
Nakum sits Judd and makes Jamie a Winder.
Survivors, ready...GO!
Oh, one rule Uncle Jeff didn't mention to the cameras is that
the first Windees have to be tagged by the Winder to
start...well, winding. Amy, busted ankle and all, falls behind
as Jamie tags Stephenie. Amy DOES tag Brandon, though. 'Round
and 'round they go, with Amy and Jamie pushing to and fro. Steph
is the first to unclip herself and continue towards Lydia.
Brandon and Amy are a little bit behind as they tag Gary and
start the two-guy wrap.
Steph and Lydia have trouble with their wrapping as their
material seems to get tangled quite a bit and Jamie has to
untangle them. Uncle Jeff (who I thought was SUPPOSED to be
impartial) tells the girls to hug to make it better (and to give
the pervs in the audience something to ogle over, I'm sure).
Brandon and Gary take the lead and unhook first, heading for
Bobby Jon. They start wrapping up the threesome while Steph and
Lydia (pulled by Jamie) finish off and head for Rafe. But now
it's BJ that has problem synching up with the other guys. Nakum
catches up.
The final Windees are Danni and Cindi. Nakum makes up more
ground until they are about dead even with us. They eventually
finish first and Jamie heads for the mat while the others start
to unwind. Amy then heads back as Yaxha starts to unwind. Nakum
can't seem to get their act together as we catch up to them.
Danni is out first and runs for the finish, but Cindi isn't too
far behind.
DOWN GOES NAKUM! They all but get tied up in their material and
fall. This allows BJ to get loose and put us in a huge lead.
While Nakum struggles to their collective feet (or TRY to,
anyway), Gary gets loose. And, once again, the curse of Steph
strikes! Even though Rafe gets loose, Steph and Lydia are still
bound up as Brandon unhooks...and wins chocolate and tourism for
Yaxha!
AFTERNOON 16: FLYING ON A SUGAR RUSH
What a nice day for a stroll around jungle to get the
morale up and the momentum back on our side. Well,...except for
Amy. For ONCE, acrophobes are seen someplace OTHER than The
Amazing Race! She starts to cry a little as she gets
harnessed up...but she's quite as she zips to the next
platform...just PRAYING to get there in one piece! It's a
majestic ride through the trees for everyone else and visions of
Tarzan and Jane (or maybe even Lara Croft) dance through their
heads.
And the end of the ride, as promised, a chocolate feast.
Chocolate-strawberry cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate-covered
pralines, chocolate cherries... everything but Oompa-Loompas
serving them. Oh, and milk. Lots and lots of cold milk. When
they had their fill for the time being, they take what's left
and head back to camp.
DAY 17: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHIEF!
Hey, guess what? Today is Danni's birthday! To
celebrate, Danni decides to paddle over to Nakum and invite them
to share the croc-proof swim deck we won a week or so ago. We
shock everyone at Nakum when we shout for them, who are busy
playing cards with leaves painted with various paints. Jamie, at
first, wants nothing to do with Yaxha (and, specifically, with
BJ) but the others talk him into seeing what all the hullaballo
is about.
When they finally arrive, we explain our good intentions...which
Judd doesn't believe in the least at first. We promise not to
talk about the game or anything that'd give us an advantage.
Finally, Nakum relents and follows us back to our camp.
With the two tribes reunited, hugs and handpounds are exchanged
and what's left of the chocolate is given to Nakum. BJ relates
this to Mayan times when chiefs of different tribes would sit
and communicate with each other...and then go to war later on.
Jamie was the only one silent...and quietly gathering info. He's
sure a merge is approaching...but he's worried that his tribe is
getting too darn chummy with the "enemy". He even gets Nakum to
leave a little earlier than the others would like to just to get
them away from Yaxha.
DAY 18: QUARTERBACK SACKED?
We hang out by the "pool" awaiting our Pot-Mail...and
BJ soaks his shoulder to let the minnows get some of the dead
skin off of it (EWWWWWWWW!). Amy and Gary are NOT at the pool,
though. They're talking it up about sticking together as what
remains from the ORIGINAL Yaxha tribe. They agree that Amy's the
primary target for the ex-Nakums... and that winning the
Immunity Challenge is MANDATORY. Not only to keep Amy around
but, if there IS a merge in the next few days, the tribes will
be even.
One thing, though: if Amy finds out the truth that Gary was an
ex-NFL quarterback, she promises that she will hunt him down and
kick his ass (obviously with her only good foot)! Of course,
Gary "Hawkins" cannot be found in Gary's hometown... so she's
gonna have QUITE the hunt!
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: CAN YOU DIG IT, SURVIVAAAAAAAS?!?
POT-MAIL!
|
The history of the
ancients
In this place have been revealed
Archelogists unearthed the mysteries
But still secrets are concealed.
So you'll have to do some digging
To excavate the clues
Fail to put it together first
And one more tribemate you will lose!
|
BJ is nervous, since he doesn't
want his former tribe picking the remaining four off if we lose
and then merge.
Uncle Jeff has the Immunity Idol back as we reach Challenge
Cove. The Challenge is a puzzle. Three tribemates will dig out
(one at a time) pieces of a huge puzzle. Once unearthed, the
member will go back to start and let the next one go. Everyone
must make one attempt at digging. Once all 12 pieces are
collected, the other two tribe members will put the puzzle
together, which will resemble the Maya calender. (Y'know, the
one that says the world will end on the Winter Solstice of 2012?
Just enough time for 14 more Survivors.) First tribe to
put the calendar together is safe from the vote tonight. Lydia
is sat out for Nakum and we get ready.
On "GO", Brandon runs to the dirt pile and starts digging, Jamie
right next to him. They both yank out the first pieces and run
back with them. Judd and Bobby Jon do likewise with the second
pieces, and Danni and Cindy work on the third. Cindy finds a
piece shallow in the dirt while Danni looks for one she can
handle. This puts Nakum ahead. Danni FINDS a piece... but can't
get it out. So BJ tells her to "tag out"...which she does.
Won't bore you with all the archeology. Suffice it to say the
men do most of the digging and drag out the pieces one by one...
but Cindy and Danni ALSO gets in on the action when other pieces
are mostly unearthed. Nakum's lead falters around the half-way
mark as Jamie struggles with a piece. Then YAXHA loses its lead
when BJ can't find a piece. It's more or less neck-and-neck as
the final pieces get unburied. It's tied at 10 as Brandon and
Jamie dig for the last two each.
Steph, who I guess is ALLOWED to help as a lookout, spots a
piece for Jamie. He digs it out and drags it in...and, to thank
Steph, drops it right on her foot. Brandon struggles to find
pieces... but it's Cindy who finds Nakum's last piece, leaving
Steph and Rafe to put the puzzle together... while Amy and Gary
panic inwardly.
Brandon FINALLY gets the 11th piece as Nakum works on their
calendar and BJ goes out to find the last one. As Nakum is
halfway done, BJ finds #12 and puts Amy and Gary to work on the
puzzle. But, though the original Yaxhas make good progress, it's
Nakum who puts the pieces together and, once again, snag
Immunity!
AFTERNOON 18: OBTUSE ANKLE...ER, ANGLE
From a chocolate high to a Tribal Council low in 48
hours...that SUCKS! It sucks most for Amy, since the three
former Nakums just might gain up on her. She asks Danni if she
even has a chance and says she can outwit anybody she can't
outplay and outlast. Danni retorts that, though she likes Amy,
voting BJ's out of the question. See, she wants him to get to
the merge, which he was UNABLE to do in Palau.
Amy, however, thinks this is the open door she needs and chats
with Gary about it. But...Gary says that he's with Brandon and
Danni for...well, whoever they decide to dump. If Amy can
convince Danni to vote for Bobby Jon, he's with them. It's a
miracle play...but it's Amy's only shot, according to her.
Meanwhile, BJ is more nervous than he's EVER been in Palau. He
confides in Brandon that all he REALLY wants to do is make it to
the Jury. When Danni speaks with Brandon later, Brandon talks
about this...as well as how alliances really blow when the game
kicks into high gear like it has right now. How can you vote for
someone you gave your word to? Brandon feels that he's the swing
vote this time around... and the choice is either a newcomer
woman to the game who is still hurting... and a strong and tough
man who was part of the losingest tribe in Survivor
history and may not DESERVE a second chance.
TRIBAL COUNCIL: TIGHT GRIPS SINK SHIPS
Uncle Jeff greets us once again at his Ancient Pyramid O' Doom.
Danni doesn't feel so good to be in the last eleven...mainly
because now she has to vote off someone she's been "tight" with
for the past week or so. Gary thinks their attitude towards each
other has changed in the past three days. Amy has been LOVING
the last 18 days, even with all the downers.
Uncle Jeff then gets down to brass tacks with Brandon. He's
going to vote someone out...and it sucks. Especially when you
like everyone... and MOST especially when you have to justify
your decision somehow. Danni knew that deserving vs. alliances
was a part of the game from the get-go. As for Bobby Jon, he
thinks that his word is solid from day one... and everyone ELSE
should hold to their word, too.
Well, it's time to vote...whether the tribe likes it or not. BJ
(votes for Amy and praises her), Brandon, Amy, Gary and Danni
draw their votes and place the parchment in the pot for Uncle
Jeff to tally and read off:
Amy...
Bobby Jon...
Amy...
...and Amy.
By a 4-to-1 margain, Amy finally gets to rest that ankle before
returning to the beat. But she doesn't leave without initiating
a group hug with everyone... except a distraught Gary.
NIGHT 18: NOW IT'S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO ALL OUR
COMPANY...
Well, Uncle Jeff is convinced that the four of us are tight. And
that's something we'll need right now. See, we're NOT returning
to Camp Yaxha like we normally do. We are heading...to Camp
Nakum!
Yup, the merge is happening RIGHT NOW! Uncle Jeff tosses us the
new Buffs and tells us the ten of us are one tribe now! We need
to decide on a name and a flag together. Oh, and all our rewards
and personal stuff will be shipped to the Nakum pyramid
overnight.
Man, o man! Are Nakum in for the shock of a lifetime when the
guys they really didn't want to hang around with yesterday show
up to hang with them... to stay!! |
