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Though it's clear when they feel cold, that they have quite a quantity of clothes which could protect them from many or most of these bites, apparently not one of them thinks this is worth trying, so they expose as much tasty flesh as possible to the delighted insect inhabitants of the island. "Ah!" they must have hummed and buzzed as they saw the group arrive and disrobe: "Buffet!"

There's really no profound mystery as to why some people are more likely to be voted off than others. The old contestants may be dandy as babysitters, but if they're high-maintenance or likely to make the group lose challenges, out they go. Nobody's sentimental on the islands. And given a choice of two to get rid of, one of whom has already won a million dollars, and one who hasn't --- would you really support the millionaire? They've not given you any of their fortune so far, and they're not planning to change that policy now. Then those that make themselves in-your-face obnoxious, like Alicia and Richard, shouldn't expect that even a bunch of masochists like these will want to keep them around.

The guppy, the zombie and the hunter
They make a table, and Rupert produces another small fish, with a flourish. Hagrid (Rupert) doesn't smile, he leers. Ethan has a remarkable talent, swimming amidst shoals of fish, all of whom avoid him skilfully. Is Ethan a yuppie, or a guppy? He's still, pathetically, trying to catch fish, and looks so wretchedly crestfallen each time he fails. Rupert smirks, and patronisingly points out that this is not a competition (a coded way of rubbing it in to Ethan that he provides no competition).

Jenna M is disconnected from the group, deliberately solitary, morose, not eating or drinking enough despite energetic pep talks from Sue, a self-dramatising, wandering zombie.

Apparently Rich, or Dick as he might more aptly be called, decides to become the Great Flabby White Hunter, and swims off in pursuit of a large ray, which evades him without effort. "You bring fish, you get smiles," he explains. Then he finds a baby shark hiding under a rock, and stabs at it with his spear, which looks rather cruel. Who else but Richard could induce you to feel on the side of the shark? The itty bitty shark puts up a fair struggle, as itty bitty becomes itey bitey. It bites him and hangs on, as he grapples with it, eventually hitting it with a rock. He claims very proudly to have bitten the shark, too, and points to what he claims are his tooth marks on it.

He returns and offers it to his tribe, exhibiting his small wound, from what looks like it was more of a major suck than a shark bite. But it gets the results he wanted. "Is it possible to call a gay man a Stud?" asks Colby, while Shii-Ann calls him a "fishing God". I suspect they were being sarcastic, but he laps it up. Later Colby comments that he's reached his daily limit of praising Richard Hatch. Shii-Ann adds "He's not so impressive -- downstairs --- but in other ways." He sits and chuckles, smug and preening. "They love me!" Actually, I'm not sure that small fish really was a shark, from its appearance, and anyhow, I thought that sharks never bit lawyers or Richard, as a form of professional courtesy.

New challenge
The Reward Challenge invites them to build a better shelter with a large box of tools, nails, and rope, apparently supplied by the American store Home Depot, though the tools look old and well-used. Well, they'd be sorely challenged to come up with a WORSE shelter than what each tribe already has. Tom and Sue squabble, a battle of the unattractive and unintelligible. Tom complains that she can't keep her mouth shut, and that her elevator doesn't do up to the top floor, which he can only be sure of as he's spent the afternoon pushing her buttons.

Over at Subaru, Robfatha who has been rather nifty in the challenges so far, is in his element. Despite his college degree (I kid you not) he works in construction. And he ably plans and assigns tasks in the building of a shelter. Now he seems less of a refugee from the Sopranos. Alicia's still wagging her finger (the most exercised part of her body, apart from her jaws), and is mad at Rob C, who we haven't even noticed so far. Is this yet more Harry Potter, with Rob and his Mantle of Invisibility? Dique, otherwise known as Mrs Hatcher, sits this one out, sneeringly. They airily send Rob C off to play with Alicia and plan the decorations. He mutters bitterly and revealingly that this is just the story of his life: "The Big Boys don't want me to play!"

At the Hugga Muggas, Colby and kie decide to build the tree-house they’ve always wanted as kids, and produce a most respectable structure, boasting "We got it up here!; a sort of Viagra Cottage, with what they describe as a "Love Nest" at the top, in which to "Zen Out". Shii-Ann works on a set of suggestions, and notices that the guys’ eyes glaze over as she reads them out. True, they were classically illustrating the macho man ignores little woman technique. But her suggestions deserved ignoring: A Dumb-Waiter? A string telephone?

The flabby troll
But it's at Chappaquiddick, that the tension is electric. Rupert the troll, we discover, rebuilds houses for a living, calling himself a "rehabber"; so he takes charge whether anyone wants him to, or not. Interesting sequence here. He has a daft, wholly irrational determination that their log cabin home should have a large sunken livingroom, its floor level dug out of the beach. Jerri is totally right that this daft idea will become an indoor pool at high tide or rainfall. But because of the manner in which she presents her objections, Rupert becomes unmovable on the decision, and the others just look sheepish and refuse to comment. It's not enough to be right --- HOW you're right matters a lot.

Ethan confides that he's delighted to see those two in conflict. The team works long into the night, to no avail, as the large sweaty and flabby troll digs away, truly the Pit and the pendulous. There's a large and immovable embedded tree trunk in the middle of the lounge, and he sulks.

Jeff arrives with Raffe, a local structural expert who tests and assesses the shelters to the point of near destruction, which renders the builders all a-flutter. Rob's and Colby's structures prove to be rather sound, and Rupert's mess has only the advantage that even this demolition man can't do much more damage to it. To the dispirited Chapeau tribe, Rupert growls: "He didn't like Down!"

After due deliberations, Rob's place wins, and they get a crate of goodies: a sort of futon mattress, blankets, a tarp, and wine, for which Tom makes a grab. Rob and Amber continue flirting, and he remarks that "she probably thinks she's playing me, and probably thinks I'm playing her". Playful bunch, aren't they? Comes the rain, what one calls "the Queen Mother of Storms", and more wet and cold misery.

Real life intrudes into Reality TV
Then comes the big surprise. Jenna M announces that she "can't handle it" and has decided to leave. We discover that her mother has been very seriously ill with cancer for some time, and that she feels she must go home to be with her in case something happens. This is sad, but an understandable decision, as real life intrudes into Reality TV.

The group is generally sympathetic, though some feel their game is being spoiled (maybe because this will lead to cancellation of the Immunity Challenge and their chance to evict someone else they really want to be rid of; and Dique looks rather cheerful). Tom reveals that he left instructions at home that even if his whole family were to be wiped out in some disaster, he was not to be told until after the game. They stand round damply, surreally surrounded by giant coloured blocks, as the producers try to make the best of it and to depict as many tears as possible.

One could argue that if her mother was seriously ill, she shouldn't have joined this game in the first place, but it's hard to judge another in a painful situation like this, and her mother may have really pressed her to take part.

However, the way she handled this meant that another person was prevented from competing. What's odd is that she seems to convey that her mother had been ill for a long time and was no worse when Jenna left home, but that now she suddenly has this intuition that things have become worse and that she has to hurry home. She insists this very specific and urgent idea is just "vibes", though one wonders whether a clear tip-off message didn't reach her via some of the large film crew. Anyhow, in the end she did make the right decision, and was able to be home for the eight days before her mother died.

I'm all zenned out. - (Prof Michael Simpson, CyberShrink)
 

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