Original Airdate: June 7, 2000
Before we get into the summary, below are the contestants remaining.
Tagi:
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| Sean - Doctor |
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| Kelly - River guide |
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| Rudy - Retired Navy Seal |
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| Richard - Corporate trainer |
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| Susan - Truck driver |
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| Dirk - Dairy farmer |
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| Stacey - Attorney |
Pagong:
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| Gervase - Youth basketball coach |
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| Colleen - College student |
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| B.B. - Real Estate developer |
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| Ramona - Biochemist |
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| Gretchen - Teacher |
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| Greg - Recent Ivy League graduate |
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| Jenna - College student |
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| Joel - Health Club consultant |
At the Tagi camp, a lack of food is really waning the patience of Stacey and Kelly. Rudy is also bothering them, as he seems to be taking extra food and opening canned food without the approval of the tribe.
At Pagong, similar problems are occurring (or reoccurring), in the form of B.B. His workaholic nature bothers most of the tribe, including Colleen. In B.B.'s eyes, the only members of the tribe that work are Gretchen, Greg and Jenna. Ramona has doubts that B.B. will be able to continue his hard work without it negatively impacting him.
It's revealed, over at Tagi, that Richard is gay. He says that if Rudy knew, he's not sure how he'd react. Dirk seems noticeably uncomfortable when Sean and Richard are talking about it, but keeps his mouth shut. Rudy, when he finds out Richard is gay, remains friends with him, but seems unable to stop himself from referring to Richard as both "queer" and "the homosexual." In fact, it's this type of attitude that leads to the classic quote from Rudy, "Me and Richard got to be friends. Not in a homosexual way, that's for sure."
Ramona isn't eating much, and also isn't feeling great, which the tribe feels bad about. Well, most of the tribe, as B.B. states that she doesn't work at all, and that the lack of work ethic is obvious. Gervase disagrees, stating that he doesn't expect the people who are hurt and sick to contribute as much as the others.
Colleen and Greg, meanwhile, hang out a lot, spending a lot of time together, causing gossip from the other tribe members. For the time being, both of them insist it's platonic, Colleen saying that while she didn't think she'd be able to make friends in this environment, Greg proved her wrong.
More trouble arises, though, as the shelter, that is on the beach, has the waves coming up dangerously close to it. Gretchen argued with B.B. when first they got there that the shelter should be up off the beach, but B.B. refused to listen. As a tribe, they try to create a buffer zone between the water and the shelter. Joel and B.B. bicker, with neither one much caring for the other.
Back at Tagi, Sean creates what he calls a "Superpole 2000" and attempts to fish most of the day, which Susan thought was utterly stupid (and wasn't afraid to say so in a confessional). Sean fails to catch anything with the pole.
As foolish as Susan might think Sean is, though, again, B.B. pisses off his tribe mates by washing his clothes with the fresh canteen water. Gretchen, generally a pacifier to B.B.'s antics, joins the others in confronting him. The conflict, with Joel and Gervase jumping on B.B. for his selfishness, resolves nothing.
The Immunity challenge revolves around eating what they believe will be disgusting food. B.B., again, makes the mistake of vocalizing his opinion that they should throw the challenge so they can vote someone undesirable off, an idea that Gretchen cannot believe he said. Ramona and Gervase angrily reject this idea also, as does the whole of the tribe.
What they have to eat are "local delicacies," as Jeff puts it. By that, he means these bad boys:
Beetle larva, which Jeff lets them know is much like the equivalent of sushi on Borneo. Gervase in particular seems freaked out by this, which is shown easily as he takes the longest to down the insect the first time through. Everyone is able to eat one, and the tiebreaker is for each tribe to choose someone from the other tribe to eat two. The one who is able to down two of them quickest wins immunity for the team.
Predictably, Tagi chooses Gervase, while Pagong chooses Stacey. In a tense confrontation, Stacey is able to finish her two first, and win immunity for Tagi.
At Pagong, both B.B. and Ramona are worried about the vote. Both feel they have a chance to go. Jenna, in a confessional, admits that she plans to vote Ramona off, as B.B. has a great work ethic. Gervase believes B.B. has to go, stating he dug his own grave. B.B. believes that either Ramona or Joel should be voted off, both due to their lack of work ethic.
Regardless, from the perspective of the tribe, it'll either be an expected vote for B.B., or a surprise vote for Ramona tonight. Gretchen is emotionally hurting due to tonight's vote, as is Colleen, who is seen crying in the background.
For the most part, it's a blow-out.
The vote count, with the names of who voted for them in parenthesis:
B.B.: 6 [Gretchen, Joel, Gervase, Colleen, Ramona, Jenna]
Ramona: 2 [B.B., Greg]
Gretchen seems a very sweet woman also. When Ramona was throwing up, Gretchen was by her side. When B.B. was reminiscing about his time on the island, despite their disputes, Gretchen was tearing up. Gretchen seems a strong player, and now that B.B. is gone, unless Joel fights her for it, seems to be the next leader of Pagong. With her leadership, I do think it's likely that Pagong can get their stuff together.
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It's revealed, over at Tagi, that Richard is gay. He says that if Rudy knew, he's not sure how he'd react. Dirk seems noticeably uncomfortable when Sean and Richard are talking about it, but keeps his mouth shut. Rudy, when he finds out Richard is gay, remains friends with him, but seems unable to stop himself from referring to Richard as both "queer" and "the homosexual." In fact, it's this type of attitude that leads to the classic quote from Rudy, "Me and Richard got to be friends. Not in a homosexual way, that's for sure."
Ramona isn't eating much, and also isn't feeling great, which the tribe feels bad about. Well, most of the tribe, as B.B. states that she doesn't work at all, and that the lack of work ethic is obvious. Gervase disagrees, stating that he doesn't expect the people who are hurt and sick to contribute as much as the others.
Colleen and Greg, meanwhile, hang out a lot, spending a lot of time together, causing gossip from the other tribe members. For the time being, both of them insist it's platonic, Colleen saying that while she didn't think she'd be able to make friends in this environment, Greg proved her wrong.
More trouble arises, though, as the shelter, that is on the beach, has the waves coming up dangerously close to it. Gretchen argued with B.B. when first they got there that the shelter should be up off the beach, but B.B. refused to listen. As a tribe, they try to create a buffer zone between the water and the shelter. Joel and B.B. bicker, with neither one much caring for the other.
Back at Tagi, Sean creates what he calls a "Superpole 2000" and attempts to fish most of the day, which Susan thought was utterly stupid (and wasn't afraid to say so in a confessional). Sean fails to catch anything with the pole.
As foolish as Susan might think Sean is, though, again, B.B. pisses off his tribe mates by washing his clothes with the fresh canteen water. Gretchen, generally a pacifier to B.B.'s antics, joins the others in confronting him. The conflict, with Joel and Gervase jumping on B.B. for his selfishness, resolves nothing.
The Immunity challenge revolves around eating what they believe will be disgusting food. B.B., again, makes the mistake of vocalizing his opinion that they should throw the challenge so they can vote someone undesirable off, an idea that Gretchen cannot believe he said. Ramona and Gervase angrily reject this idea also, as does the whole of the tribe.
What they have to eat are "local delicacies," as Jeff puts it. By that, he means these bad boys:
Beetle larva, which Jeff lets them know is much like the equivalent of sushi on Borneo. Gervase in particular seems freaked out by this, which is shown easily as he takes the longest to down the insect the first time through. Everyone is able to eat one, and the tiebreaker is for each tribe to choose someone from the other tribe to eat two. The one who is able to down two of them quickest wins immunity for the team.
Predictably, Tagi chooses Gervase, while Pagong chooses Stacey. In a tense confrontation, Stacey is able to finish her two first, and win immunity for Tagi.
At Pagong, both B.B. and Ramona are worried about the vote. Both feel they have a chance to go. Jenna, in a confessional, admits that she plans to vote Ramona off, as B.B. has a great work ethic. Gervase believes B.B. has to go, stating he dug his own grave. B.B. believes that either Ramona or Joel should be voted off, both due to their lack of work ethic.
Regardless, from the perspective of the tribe, it'll either be an expected vote for B.B., or a surprise vote for Ramona tonight. Gretchen is emotionally hurting due to tonight's vote, as is Colleen, who is seen crying in the background.
For the most part, it's a blow-out.
The vote count, with the names of who voted for them in parenthesis:
B.B.: 6 [Gretchen, Joel, Gervase, Colleen, Ramona, Jenna]
Ramona: 2 [B.B., Greg]
There is quite a bit to discuss here, so let's start with Tagi, as it'll be quicker.
Richard's friendship with Rudy is a unique element of this episode, one being a gay man, the other being an older military individual. Richard makes an interesting comment, though, early on, indicating that Rudy, in his mind, was next to be voted off. He didn't supply any reason for this, but it's not brought up again as Tagi wins immunity. Because of this, Rudy may be in for a rough time next episode should Tagi fail to win immunity again.
Also worth noting on Tagi, Susan comes to the conclusion that Sean is an idiot. Though the confessional was amusing enough, this may be important as it will potentially shape the way things will happen down the road. So far in this seasons, there's been very little talk of any inter-tribe alliances (which is unthinkable, but given this is the first season, makes sense) aside from Stacey and Kelly's failed attempts to vote Rudy off last episode (if they had actually gotten Susan to switch over, it would have worked).
For their parts, Dirk, Kelly, and Stacey don't have much airtime this episode. Stacey is someone which I'd like to see more of, along with Kelly. If they voted together once before, it's somewhat probable they'd do so again. Dirk is basically a background character at this point. Aside from his faith, which I would expect put him at odds with Richard, he's not done much.
At Pagong, the episode-long drama ended with the source of that drama voted off, being B.B. There are a few interesting notes about that vote, though.
Joel, Ramona, and Gervase were going to vote B.B. off from the beginning. Colleen joined in with them. But despite her confessional suggesting otherwise, Jenna also voted for B.B.
Though not shown on-screen, I suspect this is because B.B. said something along the lines of "Vote me off," albeit probably much less blunt. Gervase and Gretchen both gave confessionals stating that B.B. had given up, and in fact that's the sole reason Gretchen chose to vote for him. B.B. doesn't seem to realize this, as before they start the hike to tribal council, states that if he was voted off, it'd be a disaster for Pagong.
It wasn't a complete landslide, though, which is also interesting.
As stated in this episode, Colleen and Greg have become good friends. Perhaps more than friends, according to people like Ramona. But they voted differently at tribal council.
I think that Greg and Colleen just didn't discuss the vote. The idea of alliances are so alien to these players on Pagong that Greg and Colleen simply didn't think about it. Perhaps they chose not to discuss matters such as who they'd vote for, but either way, despite being two of the closest friends on Pagong, the fact that they didn't vote the same is rather telling.
As for B.B.'s downfall, it's not surprising. Even B.B. likely suspected it and wanted to go. He stated that he's not here to win a popularity contest. His lacking of willingness to even compromise on his work ethic, along with his constant head-butting with both Gretchen and Joel, dug his grave for him. Simply put, the difference between Rudy and B.B. is that while Rudy may not like some of the younger tribe mates, he is wise enough to keep it to himself. B.B. put that all out in the open.
Why Greg stood by B.B., I'm not entirely sure. He did seem to respect B.B. much more than others on the tribe, but even after the potential plea for him to be voted out, Greg still went after Ramona instead.
Also worth noting, though the Immunity challenge was lost by one person, and one person only, that person wasn't even discussed as a potential person to vote for. Gervase really lucked out that B.B. had given up. If this had been a newer season, I suspect the tribe wouldn't have been nearly as forgiving as Pagong seemed to be here.
Personally, I understand where Pagong is coming from. B.B. is abrasive. He's annoying. But at the same time, he was getting stuff done, whereas I believe B.B.'s claim that Ramona has been unable to work more than 15 minutes in five days. Ramona's hurting, and simply has not been contributing nearly as much as B.B. has. Getting along with B.B. would be tough, as he is the cause of the conflicts in Pagong, but he was far more valuable to Pagong than was Ramona. So much like Gervase should feel lucky, Ramona really should too.
For players I feel positively toward, I would list Richard, Colleen, and Gretchen.
Richard may not be a social power of Tagi, but he does seem to think two steps ahead of everyone else (and perhaps three steps ahead of Sean and Susan). He already has the idea that Rudy is the next to go, but at the same time, makes time in his day to talk to Rudy about the fact that he's gay. Whether this is to make sure Rudy wouldn't go against him later on, or it's more a friendly gesture, isn't clear. But what is clear is the fact Richard seems to know what he wants to accomplish.
Colleen, I list for a less strategic reason. She's cute. But more importantly, she seems very sweet. She works harder than some on her tribe, but doesn't allow herself to forget that she's in a whole different country. People like B.B. probably wouldn't traipse around the jungle just checking out the sites. Greg and Colleen do, which I think is just wonderful for the both of them.
Gretchen seems a very sweet woman also. When Ramona was throwing up, Gretchen was by her side. When B.B. was reminiscing about his time on the island, despite their disputes, Gretchen was tearing up. Gretchen seems a strong player, and now that B.B. is gone, unless Joel fights her for it, seems to be the next leader of Pagong. With her leadership, I do think it's likely that Pagong can get their stuff together.
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