Survivor Fiji Sizzles

Anyone who believes that Survivor isn’t still the best reality show on TV is insane. Jeff Probst and the gang at CBS provided another unexpected somersault to the remaining ten tribe members.

After the recap of last week’s show (Lisi was voted off by her all male counterparts), the tribes were sent scrambling to Exile Island and told only to bring their personal belongings, their canteens and nothing else. They were not allowed to take any reward challenge items either. Each tribe should have known by that information alone that something was up. A ‘merger’ perhaps?

Sure enough, once each tribe arrived and made it to the top of the watchtower, new purple buffs were waiting and the tribes were now one. To everyone relief, the new tribe was sent back to the plush Moto camp. As you know the current Moto camp site was completely outfitted with a bed, shower, and amenities not seen before on any Survivor series. Ravu’s was bleak and typical of the Survivor series. I recall some of the burned out camps on Survivor Africa and Australia. Ouch!

As the yet nameless tribe returned to the Moto campsite, excitement was building as the former Ravu tribesmen were looking forward to a shower and a turn at the bed. Rounding the corner, the bitter, bitter taste of disappointment would be shared by all.

While the tribes were merging on Exile Island, the Survivor crew was busy clearing the old Moto camp out of all its non third world luxuries. Shock and disbelief showed on the faces of the newly merged tribe as they struggled to make sense of what had happened. Of course some were more mentally prepared for this than others.

The first tree mail for the new tribe asked them to create a new name for themselves. Three were bandied about and they finally settled on Bula Bula. This is ‘hello hello’ in Fijian. Michelle and Stacy were selected to paint a new flag for Bula Bula.

The next thirty minutes of the show basically involved everyone jockeying to take sides and to solidify old alliances from past associations. Unfortunately for Alex and Boo, Mookie and Dreamz were playing them all along. Almost immediately Mookie sought out to re-establish ties with Yau-Man and Earle’s faction while playing Alex for a fool. Most of the talk on both sides revolved around voting Boo off first then Stacy. Little did they know one more nasty twist would befall all of them before the first immunity challenge? Please recall that currently Mookie and Yau-Man possess both if the hidden immunity idols. As a side note, Mookie let it slip to Dreamz that they had found the immunity idol and he reacted with surprise and shock as to them not telling him sooner. The preview foreshadows Dreamz wasting little time in letting others know. Stay tuned!

Called to the challenge, it was apparent as they walked up to Jeff Probst that the course was colored in two distinct colors. Could this newly formed tribe now be split once again back into two tribes of five? Could be! As they line up Boo is heard saying ‘twist again’. To their relief or maybe not, Jeff told the tribe that for this challenge the teams would be split at random to compete. The winning five will get immunity and a food reward of steaks, veggies and two bottles of wine. The losers will head immediately to Tribal Council with no opportunity.

The teams were split into Earle, Yau-Man, Boo, Edguardo and Cassandra versus Mookie, Dreamz, Alex, Michelle and Stacy. The challenge involved the two teams retrieving bags of puzzle pieces from suspended posts in the water. Once all of the pieces had been collected two members of each team had to assemble them and place them in the correct order as shown before the challenge started. Mookie, Dreamz, Alex, Stacy and Michelle lost the challenge.

As the others enjoyed their reward, the doomed five immediately were sent to Tribal Council. It appeared as though Stacy would be leaving earlier than planned, but Dreamz’ apparent anger over not being told about the secret immunity idol was greater than his loyalty to Mookie. Michelle was voted off and will now join the Tribal Jury.

I’m excited for next week as sparks are sure to fly. I am not going to reveal any spoilers I have found but I recommend watching for sure. This is the time when everyone starts playing for themselves and the hidden immunity idols will definitely come into play.

TV Tim