In this episode a pelican gets killed, Nico chats to fish and loses his grip and we find out more from Zayne than we wanted to know about the ablution facilities.
Yet more graphic views of Zayne's Grand Canyon, make one realise how we should have been grateful for those fuzzy clouds that in the American Survivor series, protected us from unappetising views of the dangly and cleft bits of their contestants.
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Vanessa, sadly, accepts the female chauvinist view that girls should stick together (real women would not behave like this) but considers keeping one or two around just to win challenges. I'm still struck by how it has become PC for women to be wholly sexist.
Brigitte is longing to be rid of Nickopoleon, and she's becoming facetious, more irritating than him, without being in the least bit entertaining (and so pompous!). One of those empty vessels who make so much noise. Is she the 56th most boring woman in the world?
Has Nick finally lost it?
Though Nick at times can be a real pain in the neck, the show would be coma-inducingly boring without him. Mind you, as he's seen chatting to a fish before gutting it, one might wonder whether he has indeed lost his marbles. Everyone else is being unnaturally nice and dull. I'm expecting next week's challenges to be crocheting and knitting - if they can find the balls. (Of wool, that is).
Jacinda, who has stretch marks on her Ego, remains icily autistic, caring about nothing and nobody but herself. Why does Zayne (or Zayn as the titles now insist) keep telling us he has no allies? We can see that, but we never see him actually trying to make any. Lezel flaps her lips as she speaks, with great animation and minimal content. She says she's been trying not to appear too threatening or too strong! Spectacularly useless in most challenges, she's been brilliant in hiding her strength, if she has any.
There has been concern about the appearance of luxuries which have not been explained, such as rain coats, sunscreen and ineffective insect repellent (the islands are proving as buggy as Microsoft products). As Nico revealed to me, much could be gained by beach-combing - but it’s the lack of clarity that is irritating. Some indignant viewers seem to be complaining that the members of the group are not suffering enough, which may say something about their motivation in watching the show!
Trash 'n grab: The reward challenge
Does anyone else find the tedious explanations or justifications for each challenge unconvincing, boring, and unnecessary? This one involves grabbing a wooden peg when it shoots out of a table. I just don't believe that it's an old pirate game. The winners get a braai. Amazingly, Lezel beats Mzi, Zayne beats Vannesa, Brigitte beats Jacinda, and Gareth beats Nico, though it was a very close call; and Rana wins the feast.
Lezel gushes, and Zayne insists that he loves Gareth, and they tuck into steaks, wors, etc. Zayne (he of the curried armpits) when sitting on his canyon, is always ready to tell us much more than we want to know. He says he'd expected there to be proper ablution facilities, and not to have to go into the undergrowth for what he elegantly calls a "bos kak".
Getting plucked
On the other island, Mzi finds a pelican with an injured wing, and without sentimentality or real hesitation, they kill and cook it. This seems cruel, but they are hungry. Nick seems especially busy plucking the beast, maybe imagining it to be Brigitte.
Mzi said he might have to "pull a Dr. Phil" to get his team motivated, but I don't recall that simplistic shrink ever hunting pelicans.
Dangling participants: The immunity challenge
The teams have to balance on a tilting board, holding on to a chest-high beam, trying to be the last to fall off. Rana seems the most vulnerable, slipping and then recovering. Zayne seems surprisingly weak, eventually weeping and sagging. Aguila looks solid. Ridiculously, Lezel urges Zayne to use his "strong tummy". Strong? But unexpectedly, Aguila crumbles suddenly, and Nico falls off. Amazingly, Rana wins!
As Aguila sits round gnawing on pelican bones, Mzi is angry. Brigitte, basting herself in self-love, blames Nico "totally" - "one guy stuffed it all up". Zayne slaps his chest Gladiator-style and looks ridiculous. Zayne goes on and on about how "we all love each other" and Mzi kisses a small fish. This is just getting silly! Mzi says he'll let girl-power prevail this time, rather than appearing to be a male chauvinist.
Tribal council lowdown
Mark is always personalising his comments and expressing great surprise at events, and never shows the gravitas of Jeff Probst. Brigitte goes into a tirade against Nico, and insists that he "never does anything", which is flagrantly untrue.
Apparently she considers that all her hard labour frolicking in the surf, far outweighs all his work on the chores she so carefully avoids. Nico says she's playing them like a deck of cards, but it's clear he's got past his sell-by date."I don't know which country she comes from", he says, "I'd rather dig a hole and bury myself".
And indeed, Martyr Hairy, the likeable villain, duly gets sacrificed. He casts his vote for "Bruschetta", and the other three votes are all for him. Amazingly, after his earlier narrow escapes, his torch doesn't go out at the first attempt, and Mark with some wit comments that this "was nearly another comeback!"
And so the last contestant actually adding flavour and spice to the proceedings, leaves the island, and now we're left with the bland leading the bland. And some of us will miss the fierce comments of Nico's blogging daughter. And her thoughtful comments like: "The Middle East is where my descendants come from". Gosh! I think she means ancestors, unless she is making a prediction and planning a riotous holiday there. My descendants haven't done much for me so far.
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