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Sarge is the first member of the 'Survivor' jury. |
Even though you know it isn't, sometimes you just can't help but wonder if 'Survivor' is scripted. All around the globe today, generations upon generations of war veterans were honoured for their selfless sacrifices. On that very same day, Lea "Sarge" Masters, the 40-year-old drill sergeant from South Carolina, becomes the first member of the 'Survivor Vanuatu' jury. Coincidence? Most probably. Does the parallel still freak me out? Most definitely.
Although showing some dissention due to the customary let's-reveal-the-pecking-order challenge, the Yasur Women's Alliance continued to rule the game by outnumbering the men six to three. Sarge's leadership role in the Lopevi Alliance and his strength during physical challenges marked him for a room on Loser Island once he did not win Immunity to keep himself safe. Sarge flopped at the Immunity puzzle challenge and was summarily dismissed from active 'Survivor' duty. With several women like Scout, Twila and Eliza not feeling comfortable with their position in the Yasur Alliance, the tribal politics at Alinta will unquestionably undergo a wholesale change very soon. Stay tuned.
The Survivors at the start of the broadcast were:
Alinta Tribe
1. Julie Berry: Youth mentor. 2. Chad Crittenden: Teacher. 3. Chris Daugherty: Highway construction. 4. Twila Tanner: Highway repair. 5. Ami Cusack: Coffee server, model. 6. Eliza Orlins: Pre-law student. 7. Leann Slaby: Research assistant. 8. Scout Cloud Lee: Rancher. 9. Lea "Sarge" Masters: Drill Sergeant.
Alinta Tribal Happenings (Night 21)
As the Survivors put their torches back in place and sit around the fire, there is some obvious tension. Ami announces she is happy to still be in the game. Chris: "You're happy? What about me?". Chris is shocked that Lopevi's alliance with Twila and Julie fractured. They put too much trust in them. They got burned for it.
Looking directly at Twila, Sarge says that the more the game is played, the more he learns about people in it.
Twila: She can't trust the guys. She did to them what she felt they were going to do to her. She feels bad about it though.
Chris chats alone with Chad. Julie and Twila have to know where they are when it comes to Yasur's unspoken pecking order. The game isn't over though. Anything can happen.
Alinta Tribal Happenings (Day 22)
Sarge feels hurt. Hats off to the women for suckering him but he doesn't have to like it. While Scout and Sarge sit around the campfire, she begins to sing. Sarge seethes. Sarge tells us he feels awkward even speaking to any of the women.
To prove his point: Scout: There might be a Reward Challenge today. Sarge: Might be. Someone should shut that Sarge guy up.
Reward Challenge
Some more non-physical challenges are on the horizon. Probst will ask questions about Vanuatu. The players indicate their answers using a cube. Each player has three skull shaped out of coconut husks. When a player answers a question correctly they can torch one of their opponent's skulls. When all your skulls are barbequed, you are out of the game.
Reward
A helicopter ride and lunch.
Result
The elimination order is Sarge, Chad, Chris, Eliza, Julie, Scout, Ami and Twila. Eliza is extremely irritated at how the other women took her out after all the men were bounced.
Winner: Leann.
Probst allows Leann to take someone with her. She picks Julie.
Reward Happenings (Day 22)
Leann and Julie board a copter that takes them through deep gorges before landing at the top of a dormant volcano. Leann selected Julie because she wasn't quite sure where her loyalties were in the game. Julie and Leann rip on Eliza. She doesn't do anything around camp. She looks like a bug-eyed alien. Leann isn't sure about Scout any more either. Leann never promised Scout anything. Julie claims she will be faithful to Leann.
Alinta Tribal Happenings (Day 22)
Arriving back from the challenge, Eliza is still breathing fire over how she was eliminated. Scout tries to calm the situation. Scout insists that Eliza was targeted because she is smart. Eliza is not sure she believes that.
Eliza: Would be pleased if Scout's head was on the chopping block soon. She is fed up with her.
Scout: Had her fill of Eliza since the second day.
Chris: The challenge exposed a vulnerability in the Yasur Alliance. The pecking order was revealed. It is time to exploit that weakness.
Chris, Chad and Sarge go out in the boat on the pretext of fishing. They discuss how Eliza is twisting in the wind right now. Chris thinks it would be a great idea to make Yasur believe that Eliza is gonna jump ship to their alliance.
Julie and Leann return to camp with some of the chicken wings strapped to Julie's leg. In one of the lowest, nastiest and dumbest moves ever on 'Survivor', the entire Yasur Alliance sneaks off into the jungle and devours the chicken before the men see them. When Sarge, Chad and Chris are ashore, Julie and Leann pretend all they brought back were bones but are willing to share them with everyone. The men are ecstatic for any gristle they can get.
Sarge: To those outside the game, being offered chicken bones would be an insult. Not to those playing 'Survivor' though. It is like Christmas has come to Alinta.
Alinta Tribal Happenings (Day 23)
Eliza goes to collect the tree mail and finds a pig. Try as she might, she cannot drag, pull or haul the little porker anywhere. Eliza shouts out to Chris: "Help! Come here." Chris scoops the pig up for her. Eliza: "Of course I had to be the one to get THIS tree mail."
Babe is introduced to the tribe. Sarge and Twila have machetes in their hands and evil thoughts on their minds. Eliza: "You can't eat him." She reads the tree mail which instructs the players to keep good care of the pig. They will need Babe later.
Sarge: He wants to eat Babe so bad. Babe looks like ribs to him.
Sarge had adopted the pig as his pet. He would rather bond with it than "Estrogen City".
Immunity Challenge
Lame. Lame. Triple lame. Each 'Survivor' has a puzzle table. Probst shows them different patterns and they have a time limit to complete the pattern on their boards. Yep. Scout still doesn't win.
Reward
Immunity from Tribal Council.
Result
Chad, Chris and Sarge are out in the first round. Next are Scout, Twila, Eliza, Leann and Julie.
Winner: Ami.
Alinta Tribal Happenings (Day 23)
Ami tells us she isn't sure she should have tried to win the challenge. Try as she might, she can't lose on purpose. They need to vote Sarge off. He is a physical threat.
Standing on some rocks at the shoreline, Sarge knows he has only got hours left in the game. It is between him and Eliza. He is sure of it.
Chris, Chad and Scout chat about Eliza. Scout admits that Eliza drives her "nutty". Walking together, Ami tells Eliza she finds it puzzling that Scout is talking so much with Chris. Eliza tears into Scout. She wants her off Vanuatu.
Eliza: She is aware Scout has a strong dislike of her.
Scout: There is tension with Eliza. Eliza annoys her and she is sure she annoys Eliza to no end.
Twila and Sarge have a heart to heart. Sarge is still upset with Twila. He had her back. He gave his word. There was no reason for her to turn on him and the other guys. Twila confesses that Julie put doubts in her mind. She should have voted with the guys. She feels like she let them down.
Chad, Twila and Sarge discuss voting out Eliza. Chad is confident that if they can get Julie on their side, the numbers will be with them.
Twila says to us, she is willing to agree to anything which gets her ahead in the game.
Chris: He knew from the start that he had to watch what he said around the women. The game isn't over. The men can still pull something off.
Alinta Tribal Council Happenings
Eliza admits it. She was bitter about the Reward Challenge. It is just her nature. It should tell everyone something that she is the only woman who packed a bag for Tribal Council. She didn't want to exhibit symptoms of "Rory Syndrome" and mistakenly believe she was invulnerable. Sarge explains Lopevi's deal with Twila and Julie. He points the finger at Julie as the one who lied to Twila. Twila feels stuck in the middle. She feels better with the men. Leann feels badly for Julie and Twila. The men really came down on them for their betrayal at the last Tribal Council. Twila took all the heat though for it. Julie disagrees with that. She could be voted out tonight. Chris sees no problem with playing both sides. It is part of the game. It is a numbers game and the game isn't over yet. Probst announces that whoever is voted off tonight is the first jury member.
Chris votes for Sarge. He says it is a vote for him and not against him. He is going to burn all the women for Sarge.
Final Voting
1. Julie Berry: Sarge. 2. Chad Crittenden: Julie. 3. Chris Daugherty: Sarge. 4. Twila Tanner: Sarge. 5. Lea "Sarge" Masters: Eliza. 6. Ami Cusack: Sarge. 7. Eliza Orlins: Sarge. 8. Leann Slaby: Sarge. 9. Scout Cloud Lee: Sarge.
Tribal Council Victim:
Lea "Sarge" Masters.
Parting Comments
"I just want to say that I enjoyed myself. I had an experience of a lifetime. To all the people who are in the game, you changed my character and put another chip in the foundation of what I believe in. I never had to jeopardize my word, my character or my name. Good luck to you all and I wouldn't want to be there while you tear each other's heads off." -- Lea "Sarge" Masters.
On the next 'Survivor': Television. Scout talks with some of the women about aligning with the men. Ami says she doesn't trust some of the women right now.
On the next 'Survivor': Internet.
"Two Survivors become "sacrificial lambs" and are tied up by their tribe. A surreal Reward drives one Survivor to overindulge and pay for it later. After a tumultuous night in which one castaway struggles to keep the camp together, it is decided that the most useless tribemate should go. One Survivor is torn between joining a new alliance or thwarting an existing one. A tribemate exploits this indecision to work a plan. Before Tribal Council, one Survivor makes a last-ditch effort to sway a tribemate. Will it work? "
Powell's Thoughts:
What the heck happened to all that footage we saw in the promo of Sarge complaining about the women engaging in a love-in at Alinta? I assume the producers decided to switch gears for some reason or other. Since there is a Pagonging going on, it would seem logical that they want viewers to believe the Yasur Alliance is gonna fracture at any time.
What the heck were Chris, Sarge and Chad thinking by casting their votes all over the map like that? Easy. With not many options to choose from, they are attempting to confuse the women into assuming the men are no longer an alliance. They are reminding the others that when it comes down to brass tacks, 'Survivor' is an individual game. Everyone has to do what is in THEIR best interest. By voting in the manner they did, they are hanging the welcome mat out for new alliances to be formed. If it is revealed Chris voted for Sarge that could up his stock in the minds of the women who are wavering in the Yasur Alliance. The vote for Eliza could have been to spook her even more.
What the heck was Sarge thinking by outing Julie as a liar at Tribal Council? He pulled a Shii-Ann. It put Julie on the spot and degraded her status. It also baited Twila into stating she is more comfortable with the men...once again. That one move could have a far-reaching affect on the game itself. The Yasur Alliance is on the brink of going bust. There are too many paranoid people in that group for it not to implode.
What the heck is the deal with Babe the Pig? Since the next episode's title is "Culture Shock and Violent Storms" it could be that the pig is used as chattel to trade for goods in a nearby town...or something along those lines.
What the heck is the deal with Scout? Is there any challenge she can win? Any at all?
