November 28, 2004

Proving the Internet rumours correct, a tragedy befell the Kucha Tribe on the sixth episode of Survivor: The Australian Outback. Michael Skupin, a software maker and distributor, was overcome by smoke while standing near the tribe's camp fire, passed out and fell in severely burning his hands right before the scheduled immunity challenge. To alert viewers, CBS aired a parental warning before showing the graphic scene.

While the show's medical team rushed to the scene, Michael doused himself in the Herbert River as teammates Elisabeth Filarski and Alicia Calaway comforted him. When the medics arrived Filarski and elder tribe member Rodger Bingham helped Skupin to shore. Skupin was taken to the production crew's camp where the medics assessed his condition. With his tribe gathered around a helicopter, Skupin was airlifted to a local hospital to receive medical attention.

"It was so strange to sit there and we're all smiling at him and he's cracking jokes. It was so hard because the minute he was out of sight, it was like decompress and just like...'Oh, God. That just happened," said a sobbing Filarski in an interview following Skupin's evacuation.

Ogakor, the opposing tribe, was alerted to the accident through a "tree mail" delivered to them later. As a whole, Ogakor was shocked and felt sympathy for Kucha. In a controversial move considering that past challenges have been run with contestants sitting out to even the odds, Survivor's producers pulled the plug on the last immunity challenge before the tribal merger on next week's show. With Skupin gone from the game, both tribes will merge with the same number of members. The decision came as a relief to the Ogakor tribe. The tribe hasn't done well during the game's challenges and might've faced being voted off one by one by Kucha if they had lost the upcoming immunity challenge. That scenario would have made for a series of predictable Survivor episodes until Ogakor was totally eliminated and Kucha was left to fight for the million dollar prize amongst themselves.

Rodger Bingham, was hopeful that the crisis would bring his teammates closer together than ever before.

"We're going to either go win this thing or lose this thing as a team unless somebody jumps boat on us in middle stream, which is possible," he said during the show. "We're going to stick together as a team and possibly Mike's accident might have brought some up to the realization that, you know, maybe there are other things more important than even the million dollars."

Fellow Kucha tribe member, Jeff Varner, echoed Bingham's statements with a stern warning for Ogakor.

"This merge is going to be intense. Ogakor will be relieved. I mean, I think they are good people and I think that they're going to feel bad and sincerely have compassion for us and for Mike but they weren't part of that," he said. "They didn't experience it (the accident). They didn't hear it and so, that feeling of 'Oh, my goodness!' is going to have to be very quickly replaced with relief that we are merging together because we had them. We had them. They had to have been scared. They had to have been afraid. There was no way we were losing this challenge today. No way. We're going to kill them. We are going to eat them up and spit them out and that's the way Mike would want it to be. It was the last thing he said to us before he left and it's exactly what we are going to do".

News of Skupin's accident first surfaced weeks ago on the Internet through an editorial entitled 'My Bizarre Connection To Survivor" written by Skupin family member - Chris Gore - the editor and publisher of Film Threat, a magazine devoted to championing independent films and bashing mainstream Hollywood.

"As for Michael Skupin, I understand that he arrived home from Australia with a sea of television cameras surrounding his home. His hands were wrapped in bandages, badly burned during his experiences in the Outback. (He's offered no explanation for the burns, or how they might happen on the show.) Both Michael, and wife Peni have remained tightlipped not only to the press, but to family as well, so I really don't know a thing," Gore wrote in the February 5th column.

The remaining Survivors at the start of the broadcast were:

Kucha Tribe

1. Alicia Calaway: Personal trainer.
2. Elisabeth Filarski: Footwear designer.
3. Jeff Varner: Internet product manager.
4. Michael Skupin: Software company president.
5. Nick Brown: U.S. army officer.
6. Rodger Bingham: Teacher.

Ogakor Tribe

1. Amber Brkich: Administrative assistant.
2. Colby Donaldson: Custom auto designer.
3. Jerri Manthey: Actress.
4. Keith Famie: Chef and restaurant owner.
5. Tina Wesson: Nursing assistant.

Kucha Tribe Happenings

After last week's Tribal Council Kucha got a tad bit damp walking home in a rain storm. The squall made sleeping hard for the Kangas as the rain leaked through the roof of their shelter. Geesh. Can't anyone build a functional shelter in this game? Duh. Michael was first to awake in the morning and...gulp!...tended to the camp fire. Mike was impressed by his tribe's survival skills and said that the game had made him a "changed man". "Who knows what's going to happen to me?," he stated.

The Marquis de Jeff continued his sadistic attitude by saying that it was "fun" beating the other tribe and winning all their food. Yeah, Jeff. It hilarious watching other people starve. I know I bust a gut whenever one of those World Vision specials comes on. This is the guy who called Mike an idiot? Take a look in the mirror, dolt.

Ogakor Tribe Happenings

The Dark Queen (Jerri) and Amber are carrying on like half-witted school girls at a Backstreet Boys concert. They are lying in the tribe's shelter gibbering on about food. Jerri would love to bathe herself in chocolate. She fantasizes about pouring chocolate over "some hunk" and licking it off of him while having sex. Wow. What a great image supplied by the Dark Queen. Now I won't be able to eat a chocolate for a month without thinking about her scrawny bod doing the horizontal mambo. Yech! Colby, as sickened as I am, stands outside the shelter shaking his head. "I ain't no Hershey Bar," he proclaims. He thinks the women are acting "ridiculous" and can't wait for the merger. "Get rid of these goons," Colby pleads. Truer words were never spoken.

Kucha Tribe Happenings

Kimmi would be proud. The Kangas are tired of eating wholesome pig, fish and all the other nourishing items they've won or hunted. While the Crocs are chewing on their backpacks and eating pocket lint to survive, Kucha, the pigs that they are, decide to eat the feed for their chickens. They separate the corn kernels and cook them. Whamo! They're munching on popcorn. Pretty clever. Too bad the chickens are stuck in cages starving to death. Michael suggests they kill them so they don't waste any more of the corn on them. Sounds reasonable to me.

Ogakor Tribe Happenings

Jerri and Amber gather some wild tomatoes. They're going to have fried green tomatoes for supper. Jerri and Keith bicker about how they should be cooked. Colby claims Jerri is insulting Keith on purpose by questioning his culinary skills. Sick and tired of the quibbling, Tina transforms into Super Mom telling them both to stop it or she's going to send them away for a time out. Huh? When did Carol Brady join the tribe? Keith says the tomatoes tasted terrible but Colby keeps on shoveling them down his throat because he is a gentlemen and won't dare complain.

Challenge Number One

Lights out. It's a challenge in which everyone but one person on the tribe is blindfolded. That person acts as the tribe's eyes verbally leading them through complicated tasks like placing logs on a saw horse and filling up buckets at a water tower before emptying them into a wine barrel. The first team to place a picnic basket on a table wins. Jerri is Ogakor's guide while Nick acts as Kucha's. Rodger sits this one out.

Reward

A picnic lunch. Jeff tantalizes the tribes with a few chips and a splash of pop beforehand. That's right, Jeff. Get those product placements in there.

Result

Amber and Keith have the hardest time following Jerri's instructions. They wander off into the bushes frequently or stay as still as statues. Ogakor is in the lead but Amber can't find the table to put the basket on. Kucha beats them to it. An angry Colby douses Jerri with a bucket of water. Viewers are surprised that Jerri doesn't start melting on camera.

Winners: Kucha.

Ogakor Tribe Happenings

The tribe reflects on their loss and the merger that lies ahead. They know that they have to win the immunity challenge to have any hope of continuing on in the game. Colby sits on his own by the river lost in deep thought. Jerri goes off to sunbathe on some rocks. She plans on worming her way into the other tribe and if that doesn't work, she's going to raise hell before being voted off.

Challenge Number Two

Due to Michael's accident, the immunity challenge is canceled.

Parting Comments

"You know you don't want to leave. The longer you're here, the longer you want to stay here. And, it's not even about winning as much as playing. The winning will be anti-climatic. The playing is where it is for me. "- Michael Skupin (in footage filmed earlier in the series).

Powell's Comments

With the departure of Michael and the nullification of the immunity challenge, a whole new game has begun. The true test will be if the two tribes can stick together without one of them defecting. Elisabeth has to be the favourite to win now based the compassion she showed for Michael. She was the first in the water to assist him and took the calamity the hardest. Her unselfish actions have left a lasting impression on her team. It is doubtful any of them will ever turn on her. One has to wonder if because Michael wasn't voted off whether he will be given a second chance on a future edition of Survivor.