Original Airdate: July 26, 2000
Below are the remaining contestants.
Rattana:
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| Sean - Doctor |
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| Gervase - Youth basketball coach |
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| Kelly - River guide |
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| Colleen - College student |
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| Rudy - Retired Navy Seal |
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| Richard - Corporate trainer |
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| Jenna - College student |
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| Susan - Truck driver |
Among themselves, Susan and Richard joke about Jeff asking whether an alliance has been formed at last night's Tribal Council, Richard saying that it's "essential that you lie" in this game. Colleen's amazed that people are outright lying, and later says that she's believes on of the members of the secret alliance will win the game. Insofar as alliances are concerned, though, Kelly's close to her breaking point. She thinks alliances are "stupid and crazy." "If we stick with it," Kelly states, referring to the Tagi Four, "it's just like lining lambs to for the slaughter. We know who goes next. That's no fun." Kelly doesn't like the alliance she's a part of anymore, and wants to win the game "on her own."
Richard catches around 20 pounds of fish, further cementing his safe status in Rattana (though Richard believes the reason he's staying out there is not because of the fish, but because he is bright). Sean observes that he's in a very good strategic position, and claims that he doesn't really do much work out there, beside bring in fish. Everyone's good cheer is brought to an end when Rudy accidentally burns the fish, infuriating Richard.
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| The burnt fish |
The Reward challenge is a gruelling rope-net course, pictured below. It's certainly worth fighting for, however, as the reward is both an old-fashioned American barbecue (also pictured below) and a letter from home. Jenna is of course excited, as she missed out on her video last episode, but excitement doesn't do it. Colleen wins, and is given the right to pick a second person to eat with, and of course, receive a letter from home, so without hesitation, she chooses Jenna.
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| The rope course |
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| A portion of the award |
At their dinner, Colleen makes fun of Sean's cluelessness as far as the existence of an alliance goes, and proposes that she and Jenna do something to break the alliance up. Jenna's all for it, knowing that they could get Gervase to their side. Who else they could bring over isn't discussed.
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| Colleen talking to Jenna about forming an alliance |
Day 27 is upon us, and it's Richard's 39th birthday. As he wanted to months ago, he celebrates his birthday nude, bothering multiple members of Rattana, including Jenna, Rudy, Sean, and Colleen, who believes he's doing it purely for "shock value." After the clue for the Immunity challenge, Sean discusses how winning immunity gives contestants an out insofar as his alphabetical strategy's concerned - Gervase won immunity last episode, and Sean passed over him. Sean sees this as adding a new element to the game, and lets Jenna know that while she's next, if she wins immunity, she's out of the rotation. Gervase sees this whole strategy of Sean's as completely idiotic.
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| Richard celebrating his birthday in nude |
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| Jenna, Kelly, and Colleen reading Immunity challenge clue |
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| Sean explaining his alphabet strategy to tribe |
The challenge is a pretty fun one, which values foresight and intelligence above physical ability. By the end, Rudy is able to claim immunity, dooming Jenna to at least one (vocal) vote from Sean.
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| Five members left |
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| Gervase, Sean, and Rudy facing off |
Jenna, Colleen, and Gervase form an alliance, reasoning that while they tried to play nice to begin with, it's not getting them anywhere. And who would the fourth member of this alliance be? Well, Kelly's been hanging out with Jenna and Colleen much more, even going as far as dressing like them. Colleen notes that this is good for them, as if Kelly's unsure of where her loyalties lie, maybe she would come over and vote with them. Susan tries to remind Kelly that the Tagi Four is a solid and safe alliance, and that math is on their side. Richard's even worried that Kelly will switch over, while Rudy's worried that the three younger women are lesbians.
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| Kelly, Jenna, and Colleen dressing alike |
Gervase wants Richard gone, as the longer he's here, the more fish he'll catch and the more untouchable he'll be. Colleen and Jenna agree, and the swing vote falls on Kelly, who admits her important role this decision.
Jeff, at Tribal Council, reminds us that everyone voted off from last episode forward are members of the jury, who will decide the winner out of the final two. As the jury needs information to make this decision, they will be allowed to observe Tribal Council, and so Greg does just that, silently sitting to the side and watching the processions move forward.
Asked about his alphabet strategy, Sean replies that is is strategic, even going as far as to say that former Pagong members are alphabetically before former Tagi members. At the same time, he thinks that Jenna's a safe vote, and if he felt that she was in danger, he would vote for someone else. Susan bluntly states that Sean's an "idiot," and lacks the balls to make a decision and vote someone he thinks deserving out. "I don't have a malicious bone in my body," Sean retorts, which does little for Susan, as everyone came in knowing that they'd have to vote people out.
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| Sean explaining his strategy to Jeff |
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| Susan and Sean bickering over Sean's "lack of balls." |
The vote count, with those who voted in brackets:
Jenna: 4 [Rudy, Sean, Richard, Susan]
Richard: 3 [Gervase, Jenna, Colleen]
Sean: 1 [Kelly]
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| J for Jenna - Jenna's torch is snuffed |
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| Sean's reaction to the vote |
I'll focus most of my analysis on Kelly, Sean, and the Tagi Three (or is Sean an official member now? He wouldn't even know), as Gervase and Colleen are about as done as you can be.
Kelly, who we knew was wishy-washy for a few episodes now, has finally done it - she left the Tagi Four. Well, sort of. She still allowed the Tagi Four to vote off Jenna, and refused to tie the vote by voting Richard, so really, it doesn't do much good for her. In fact, I think she made one of the most idiotic choices I've seen this whole game. Sean's alphabet strategy is stupid (and I'll get to that later), don't get me wrong, but as Sean is stupid also, it makes sense. Kelly, though, understands the alliance, and she clearly sees how it would work (the Tagi Four constantly gang up on the other members and lead them like lambs to the slaughter), but she doesn't like it because "it's not fun."
Kelly had two acceptable choices, as far as I could tell. Either stick with the Tagi Four and vote off Jenna 5-3 (as Sean still would have voted for her), or switch over with Colleen, Gervase, and Jenna to tie the vote for Richard. Two acceptable choices; Kelly chose neither. There were two paths in front of her, both leading to a pleasant town, and she jumped into the rugged jungle to make her own way. What an utterly idiotic choice.
I'm not sure how Richard and company will deal with this. Is her place in the alliance still salvageable? It's possible, but if they do get back together and make it to the final four, Kelly's the first one gone, without any doubt. And even if she got with Colleen and Gervase, would they be able to switch Sean over? Sean must know by now that there's an alliance, and more so, that alliance has been following his idiotic voting method and piggybacking off it. Will Sean join with a Gervase/Colleen/Kelly alliance? It's possible, but this is Sean we're talking about, so I'm inclined to say no.
In short, Kelly made a foolish choice tonight. If you have a chance to lead five of your opponents to the slaughter, slowly increasing your chance to win the money, then do so. Richard may be ruthless, as is Susan, but that's the necessary attitude in this game. It's the attitude that Colleen, Gervase, and Kelly, apparently, lack. They may be good people, but they're soft, and in a game like this, that's a death sentence. Will Kelly make a move and fully join with the opposing alliance instead of just throwing her vote away and allowing the Tagi Four to dictate who leaves? I think it depends mostly on Sean.
Sean said so many cringe-worthy things tonight that I don't know where to begin. Right before Tribal Council when he's talking about how his alphabet strategy is adding a new element to the game, and telling Jenna that she's getting his vote, but he's sure she'll be safe. Or maybe during Tribal Council when he claims that there is a rationale behind the way he's voting, and plainly states in front of the whole team that he'll vote for Jenna, but he doesn't think she'll be in any danger. He even admitted that, alphabetically speaking, former-Pagong members come before former-Tagi members, but he doesn't think that Jenna will be voted off. What takes the cake is his voting confessional for Jenna, though, which I'll give verbatim below.
Sean: "Continuing my alphabetic strategy, Jenna, you know I love you, no offense to this, I hope you don't get voted off. I don't think - might have one, or two votes, or something like that, but nothing major, I think. I hope."
There was always a chance that Sean was just a really good liar - he was pretending to be a bumbling fool to throw suspicion off him, and his intention all along was to vote off former Pagong members. But no. This guy's just an idiot. In fact, I'm amazed how idiotic he is. During Tribal Council, he says that he'll be voting for Jenna. Back in episode five, Dirk got voted off with four votes. Two episodes later, Gretchen got voted off with four votes. Next up, Greg got voted off with six votes (Sean and Jenna helped the Tagi Four that time around). And now, he vocally plans to vote off Jenna, and still doesn't think that four more votes will be coming her way?
Sean's unbelievable. What Kelly did was stupid, but Sean's on a whole other level. What more can be said? Susan told us before, and she did so again at Tribal Council. Sean's an idiot.
I'm not sure how the Tagi Three are going to move forward, though I have to guess that Richard has some way to ensure the safety of his allies. It will be easy if Sean keeps to his order and votes for Kelly next - then Richard, Susan, and Rudy can just pile on with him and take out the betrayer. If Sean wises up and actually joins with Kelly and her new Pagong allies? Then the Tagi Four have their work cut out for them.
Truth be told, I'm not worried. Kelly's game is screwed, be it next episode or three down the line. Richard and Susan will never trust her again. And Sean's not going to wander into the final four - it's unthinkable.
Richard's game is going very well, the only wildcard, of course, being Kelly. Colleen sees him as arrogant, and in many ways, she's right. The thing it, it seems a pretty rightful arrogance. From the beginning of the game, Richard had an idea how to move forward, and from the moment he proposed an alliance to Susan, Kelly, and Rudy, he was leagues above the other contestants. Richard's smart, no doubt about it. He doesn't have scruples about benefitting himself with alliances that seemed natural to have on Pagong, and that's helped him cement two loyal, unweilding allies (despite what the previews for the next episode show, I don't think Susan's turning on Richard at all, and the idea that Rudy would ever vote against him is laughable). He's probably the favorite to win, if it's not Susan, who is a strong competitor also.
One last comment, though: Rudy's been laying on the great quotes recently. When talking about Richard, he comments to Sean, "I sort of liked him before I knew he was queer." Keep in mind, that's a compliment. On Richard's decision to strut around naked on his birthday, Rudy confesses, "I go home, and my wife asks me about 'well, who was with you,' I'll say a queer that ran around bare-assed half of the time, for one thing." And on Jenna, Kelly, and Colleen's friendship?
Rudy: "I thought about a female alliance and watching them, the way they walk around, hand-in-hand. I even thought about lesbianism, but, uh, maybe no, I dunno. And it could happen if they have enough brains, but I don't think they have enough brains to do that."You can't help but love Rudy. He's a man from another time, and he's a pleasure to listen to. I highly doubt he has the ability to get to the final two, but if he does, there is a slight chance that he could beat out more conniving players such as Susan or Richard. Still, I find that scenario quite unlikely.
Pretty much, it's a game between the Tagi Four - Sean, Colleen, and Gervase are certain toast, and Kelly's likely toast also. With Kelly's betrayal of her former alliance though, this game has gotten a lot more interesting.
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