Survivor: China, 10/25 recap: Feathers Foil the Fix

[Lucy]

Welcome back, Survivor fans! As you’ll all recall, last week the producers screwed Aaron by introducing a twist in which each tribe could permanently steal two members of the other tribe. Zhan Hu took Aaron and James, and then Jaime and Peih Gee proceeded to execute what I still believe to be an utterly boneheaded move by obviously throwing the immunity challenge so they could boot out Aaron. Their inability to keep a straight face while doing so, or even attempt to hide what they were doing, is why I think it was utterly stupid. This week, their comeuppance begins.


The Plots Thicken

We rejoin Zhan Hu the next morning, day 16. Peih Gee still feels confident about throwing the challenge and booting Aaron, and thinks they still have control over James. Her plan is still to throw the next challenge, boot James, and then hope for a merge, at which point she expects Frosti and Sherea (who were stolen by Fei Long) to rejoin her alliance of herself, Jaime and Erik.

James knows the other three have a target on him, and says he’s going to do the work at camp, letting them rest, so in the challenge they have no excuse for losing. If they do lose, he knows he’s gone.

At Fei Long, on day 17, Jean Robert is still snoring, and Todd and Amanda are plotting. He decides to confide to her that there’s a hidden immunity idol in camp. He explains how he knows (that virtually every kidnapee who’s gotten a clue has given it to Todd) and says he wasn’t going to tell her until he found it, but he hasn’t found it and he needs help. I would think at this point, she’d be wondering if he really was ever going to tell her at all. But while Amanda is shocked, she’s also excited, and says they’re going to do everything they can to get the idol.

Todd is hoping to get the next clue as well – if they can win the reward challenge, he wants to kidnap back James or Aaron (whom they don’t know is gone), and he thinks James at least will give him the clue.


Peih Gee Gets the Cold Shoulder

I didn’t pick up on this last week, but they all DO seem to have gotten more clothes. Jaime’s wearing a man’s suit jacket. What happened, producers? Tired of seeing Sherea’s jubblies? Well, me too.

They’re lined up in front of a series of abandoned-looking buildings, and Jeff explains that they must run through the rooms to find puzzle boards. When they get them all, they use the boards to decode a Confucian phrase. The winners get taken to a nearby island to relax at a teahouse, where they’ll have snacks and showers and toilet paper.

This challenge mostly involves people running through the ruined rooms, which isn’t that exciting to describe, but there is one interesting bit of action. At one point, Peih Gee and Sherea are working to untie their puzzle boards in the same room. Peih Gee takes this opportunity to whisper to Sherea that Zhan Hu threw the challenge on purpose and that they’re still working for Frosti and Sherea. Interestingly, Sherea doesn’t respond much at all.

Fei Long gets its 8 puzzle boards a hair ahead of Zhan Hu, and start on their puzzle. Zhan Hu is working on the puzzle also, but badly – I don’t know if this is on purpose this time or not. You’d think they’d want a bath. Jeff says Zhan Hu is making “no progress. Once again having a very difficult time with the puzzle part of the challenge.”

And, not surprisingly, Fei Long gets it right first. They immediately kidnap James, telling him to “c’mon home.” They take their basket of toiletries and head off to the boat.


You Can’t Wash Off Creepiness, Jean-Robert

They arrive at the island with the teahouse, and Jean-Robert says everyone on the tribe is so happy to be getting this reward. There’s lots of ooohing and aaahing, especially over the toothpaste. A Chinese woman brings them little cakes, and they have tea. “We’re all so happy to be there,” Todd says.

They all bathe in big wooden bathtubs. “This is the best reward ever,” Courtney says. A Chinese lady brings out watermelon, too. Jean-Robert points out Amanda’s and Courtney’s tub as “the most attractive.” This rather icks out Courtney, who says she tried to get a tub as far away from Jean Robert as possible. She really wants him to be sent home. “He’s a horrible person,” she says.

James goes to the outdoor shower nearby, and drops trou and washes his butt with a loofah, to catcalls. “James has such a nice bod,” Amanda giggles. “He has a nice butt, he might as well show it off.” Damn you, fuzzy blob man! Why’d you have to pick now to show back up?

Back at Zhan Hu, things are less fun, as the remaining three sit silently in their hut. Jaime says she’s sick of this place. Erik says they’re just tired of losing. Peih Gee says she’s started “like, kind of getting, like, bummed.” Frosti won’t make eye contact with them, they say, which is freaking the girls out, since their whole plan depends on Frosti and Sherea remaining true to Zhan Hu. Peih Gee tells the other two how she tried to talk to Sherea and tell her about the thrown challenge, and Sherea didn’t answer. Jaime doesn’t know if Frosti has changed his allegiance or what. They’re nervous, and rightly so. Idiots.

At the teahouse, they’re still relaxing. Todd knew when they kidnapped James it was a chance at the immunity idol, so he whispers to James that there’s something in the tube that Jeff gave him and that Todd can help him use it. James is intrigued, but Todd won’t tell him what it is. “Give it to me tomorrow and I will help save you, I promise,” Todd says. “I’ve got a whole plan.”

James goes off to open it right then. He finds the usual tube with the warning to give it to a tribe member in private. “I need something to save me,” James says, and he hopes Todd is right and can help him.


The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

The next day, back in camp, Todd and James go off into the woods and James does give Todd the clue. He says he hopes Todd will come back to him with the clue. Todd promises he’ll tell James everything and that they’ll find the idol. The clue is that there are four that surrounded, and four more the same, the one etched finer could salvage the game. Finally, it clicks for Todd, and he realizes it’s those wooden medallion things on the useless little roofed gate things around camp.

Later, Amanda is poking at the gate-hut with a stick, pretending she’s just idly poking things. Todd comes over and tries to pry off the medallion, but before he can, Frosti pops over to help. He clambers up on the roof of the thing, and Todd starts panicking, wanting desperately for Frosti to just go away and leave them alone. He’s afraid Frosti will find out what they’re up to. Amanda tries to tell Frosti he’s taking away her thing to do for the day, but Frosti doesn’t take the hint; he says he hasn’t gotten to do anything cool since he’s been there. Presumably climbing on a little hut is cool, then?

Still panicky, Todd manages to pull off the medallion, and it drops to the ground. Amanda tries to get it away, but Frosti runs over to look at it. Todd is seething, and James is watching from afar, shaking his head. On the back of the medallion is a message congratulating them on finding it, so now Frosti’s seen that. Todd immediately decides it’s time for damage control, so he herds Frosti to the bank of the lake and tells him, “if I can’t trust you right now, I will kill you.”

Todd tells Amanda, in front of Frosti, that they have to trust him. Frosti is delighted; he thinks this cements his place in their group. James comes down then, and Todd explains his plan. Zhan Hu must lose the next immunity challenge, which James says should be easy since they throw it anyway. Then Zhan Hu will have to vote someone out; James will take this immunity idol, produce it at tribal council, and one of the other three will be the one sent home. Then Fei Long will have the votes going into a merge. Todd also advises James to remove the other immunity idol once he gets back to Zhan Hu. James is excited about this turn of fortune for himself. “It’s going to be wonderful. I’m having a great time,” James says.

Todd tells Denise about it, and how they’re going to send Jaime home. Todd tells her they have to win. Denise says she’ll do her best, she always gives 110 percent. Todd also tells Courtney about it. He hopes this will help people realize they must try harder. James says he has the upper hand. “They think they’re safe, wrong,” he cackles.
Gagging and Lagging

Both tribes arrive at the immunity challenge, where Jeff explains this is the dreaded food challenge – not the kind where you bid on yummies like burgers, but the kind where you gag down nasty stuff. This season’s nasty stuff is “traditional Chinese dishes that are anything but pleasant,” Jeff says. The tribes face off one-on-one over something disgusting, the first person to swallow it all wins, and the tribe to win the most wins immunity.

Frosti and Peih Gee go first and must eat chicken hearts – 10, and raw, it looks like. They both shove them down, but Frosti wins it, even licking his plate.

Jaime and. Courtney get three pieces of eel – including the heads. This challenge must be really difficult for Courtney, as it involves eating, something she seems very unfamiliar with. Despite Todd’s warning of how much this challenge means for their tribe, Courtney seems in no hurry to swallow the eel, and Jaime wins.

Erik and Amanda must eat three baby turtles each, shells apparently included. Erik swallows first, and Zhan Hu leads.

Now it’s Denise vs. James. They must each eat two chicken fetuses, which still have feathers on. “So be careful of that when they go down,” Jeff advises calmly. Oh, how disgusting. Denise starts with a ferocious yell at the chickens, apparently trying to pump herself up. They’re both struggling, James spits it back up. Fei Long yells at Denise that she has it. She says she can’t swallow it. James is about to throw up too. Jeff asks if Denise is giving up, others say there’s no way she would. James, who’s been standing there, trying to give Denise time to gag down the chickens and win, finally says “I got it” and eats it, scoring for Zhan Hu.

Frosti and Erik must eat a thousand year old egg. Really? Or is that just a name for it? It looks like nasty jello in an egg shape and Jeff says something about ashes being involved. “I promise you this will not be the best thing you’ve ever eaten,” Jeff says. If Frosti doesn’t win this, Zhan Hu wins immunity. But Erik wins narrowly. Zhan Hu wins immunity. Todd looks shocked as his brilliant plan goes down the drain. I can see why they didn’t plan for this – when does Zhan Hu win? – but it really shouldn’t make that much difference, since they can still take out a Zhan Hu member: Frosti or Sherea.


Bitchy Women Unite

Back at Fei Long, Jean-Robert tells Denise, “you got brutalized.” She says she’s sorry, and she feels like she let her teammates down. James tried to eat as slowly as he could to help her, she says, but she just couldn’t do it.

Todd is mourning his plan. “Perfect plan, genius idea, smashed,” he says. But, he realizes what I said above; they can still get rid of a Zhan Hu and have the numbers. He and Amanda and Denise go to “get water” to strategize. They agree that James is still on their side, they saw how he tried to throw the challenge, and Todd is also sure Frosti will stay with them. Tonight’s vote will help cement that, Todd thinks. Courtney arrives, and they all agree that Sherea should be the one to go.

But after she thinks about it for a while, Courtney tells us she has second thoughts. She actually likes Sherea, and she knows that Sherea is much less likely to vote Courtney out than Jean-Robert is. I’m not surprised Courtney and Sherea get along – they have so much in common, what with not really enjoying themselves, being negative, and hating on others. Not that I like Jean-Robert either, but I swear I never hear anything happy come out of those two women’s mouths.

Courtney sits down beside Sherea, and together they glare at Jean-Robert as he cooks, and whisper about their hatred of him. Courtney also tells Sherea the others are voting for her, but she, Courtney, is going to vote for Jean-Robert. “I just refuse to vote for anything in this game who likes me more than him,” Courtney says.

Sherea wishes the rest of them thought like Courtney. “They need to be scared of the people in their tribe, too,” she says. “He would vote any of them out.”

Courtney goes to Todd, Amanda, and Frosti, who are paddling around in the lake and discussing Sherea’s imminent boot. Frosti says he’d rather it be her than him. Courtney again suggests switching to Jean-Robert. “He hates me,” she says. But Amanda says they need to keep their own tribe as long as they can. Courtney argues that Jean-Robert would be quicker to vote her off. Todd says he understands, but Amanda says they need to look at bigger picture. Courtney says their great plan didn’t work today and James has immunity for nothing. Frosti says he’s a little upset about that.

Jean Robert, floating alone, says he’s never felt uncomfortable until now. He goes with his gut, he says, and it’s telling him there’s trouble. “I’m uneasy right now,” he says.

Todd and Amanda go off alone to talk, because Todd is getting worried. He wants to switch the vote to Jean-Robert, because he’s afraid of making Courtney madder. He and Amanda are power players, he thinks, but says “they will get rid of us if we don’t start doing what people want.” Jean-Robert isn’t stupid, Todd says, and he’ll turn on them. Amanda doesn’t know, she wants him to go but she doesn’t trust Sherea. That’s her gut feeling. Todd’s gut says Jean-Robert. So who can they trust more, Jean-Robert or Sherea? Todd doesn’t know. “This sucks,” he says.


Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Whatcha Gonna Do?

At tribal council, Jeff homes in on Sherea, asking her how things are at camp. “I sensed a lot of shadiness today,” she says, adding that people were talking a lot. Well, duh, Sherea. You’re on a game, see? And in this game, people vote each other out. So to do that, they would indeed need to talk to each other. Would it be “shady” if they weren’t aiming at you?

Jeff asks Jean-Robert if the game keeps changing. Jean-Robert says yes, and he claims to be a changed person himself. He says doing work around the camp has now become routine for him. Sherea butts in that Jeff didn’t even ask him about that. “Somebody along the way told him that he has something important to say, ‘cause he does a lot of talking, always running his mouth, story after story,” she says. Jean-Robert says he doesn’t know what to say to that, and Sherea says of course not, he doesn’t say anything to her because he knows she’ll say something back. “You say something to the people you know won’t say anything back. Little do you know they don’t like you,” she says. Wow, and she wonders why people might think she’s volatile, angry, and dangerous to keep around?

Jeff asks Jean-Robert if it would bother him if people didn’t like him. Jean-Robert says it comes with the territory, he’s a bad boy. Courtney laughs out loud at that. She asks if he’s a bad boy “because you play poker or something? You have a Harley?”

As Jeff probes further, Courtney says she and Jean-Robert don’t get along, they don’t like each other, and he taunts her. “He’s just a crappy person,” she says.

Courtney also volunteers the information that she feels like an outsider, and that she was in danger before the two Zhan Hu people came along. This upsets Todd, who says that hurts because he loves her. Not impressed, Courtney says the tribe is cliquey. Todd says she’s rubbing salt on his wounds. Jean-Robert says that even though all this dirty laundry is being aired, when it comes to challenges, they do all work well together.

Jeff says it’s time to vote. Not surprisingly, the vote comes down to two for Jean-Robert and four for Sherea. She’s out, and Courtney is disappointed. In her confessional afterwards, Sherea says Fei Long will get played. “I hope half of them get screwed,” she says. Sherea also thinks she was voted out not because she was an outsider, but because “they knew they couldn’t beat me in the challenges … so of course they’re going to take out the threat.” Yeah, ok. I’m sure it has nothing to do with you being an angry beyatch.


Next time:

Jaime and Erik apparently find James’ hidden immunity idol, Todd struggles to hold his alliance together as both Courtney and Jean-Robert blame him, and apparently it’s finally merge time, as Jeff tells them to drop their buffs.

[Google]

 

[PWS]

Great recap, as usual!! I wish they had shown us something on the lines of James promising to give Todd/Amanda/Frosti "their" idol back once this immunity was over. Or once he got the 2nd one. As it is we are left wondering if James now has the right to hold on to it or not. I know you can't literally steal an idol from someone, but if someone gives it to you can they enforce how long you can hold on to it?

[Nik]

Originally Posted by PWS

Great recap, as usual!! I wish they had shown us something on the lines of James promising to give Todd/Amanda/Frosti "their" idol back once this immunity was over. Or once he got the 2nd one. As it is we are left wondering if James now has the right to hold on to it or not. I know you can't literally steal an idol from someone, but if someone gives it to you can they enforce how long you can hold on to it?

No. Once it's given away, it's given away. James has the right to choose to give it back to Todd but if I were him I'd hold on to both. Only an idiot would GIVE one away right?

[Nik]

If James is really crafty he'll give one of the idols to JR and let everyone know so he and JR can use the threat of the idol to coast for weeks without anyone voting them off. And if everyone else tries to boot him without alerting him early on so he can't use the idol to save himself? Simple. His little spy Denise can let him in on the plan and he can also approach Frosti and offer to take Frosti far in the game if Frosti acts as a double agent and lets him know when a "We're voting out James. Shh!" plan comes up.

James would win this game easily if he sat F2 with JR.

[dagwood]

Originally Posted by Lucy

What happened, producers? Tired of seeing Sherea’s jubblies? Well, me too.

Damn you, fuzzy blob man! Why’d you have to pick now to show back up?

Excellent recap, Lucy.

[waywyrd]

Sherea also thinks she was voted out not because she was an outsider, but because “they knew they couldn’t beat me in the challenges … so of course they’re going to take out the threat.” Yeah, ok. I’m sure it has nothing to do with you being an angry beyatch.

Exactly. Terrific recap, Lucy!

[lostintheozone]

You Can’t Wash Off Creepiness, Jean-Robert

bast line of an excellent recap...

thank you lucy