In this episode the workers do battle with the layabouts and each tribe shows that it has someone very nasty on board.
The greatly improved series continues. I see only two faults so far. One is that there should for the first half-dozen episodes, be far more subtitling of contestants’ names, as we viewers try to remember who on earth is the girl in the turquoise bikini. The other is the rather confusing title sequence, which seems to have far too many little men earnestly scurrying around, and too little of the contestants.
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Mark Bayly is dramatically better than in last season, more relaxed, fluent and fit, and more attractive for not being handicapped by last year's hype about being the hottest man in Africa. Nobody can live up to that!
In the recap, we are reminded of Dyke's unbelievably offensive comment to the otherwise unappealing Elsie:"You can't swim for shit!", followed by his equally clumsy:"Why are you offended by your colour?". Maybe as a landscaper he gets away with talking to shrubs like this, but can he really be so unworldly as not to recognise how offensive this would be to so many people? He managed to make an otherwise wholly unappealing contestant attract sympathy, while making himself more vulnerable.
Over at Iban, the cocky Lisa seems oddly tearful as she shakily vows they will win the next challenge. She has apparently discovered that "the mind is a powerful tool". She joins the others in collecting coconuts, with the condescension of a duchess opening a garden party in a poor neighbourhood. The others seem not to be deeply impressed.
All talk and no action
Meanwhile, at Bajau, Hein continues to be an effective leader, and Dyke comments, in self-congratulatory manner, that he keeps getting asked for advice, though we don't actually see this happening. He spends a long time making a picturesque fish-trap from reeds, though they never seem to actually catch any fish in it. Still, at least he tries to do something useful, while the other tribe members are basking in the sun and making sarcastic comments. He keeps earnestly trying to prove himself.
But Amanda (who is never seen doing anything remotely useful) complains that he is bossy and irritating, and Rijesh, who hasn't a kind word to say about anybody, carps and complains that no fish are being caught, while making not the faintest attempt himself to remedy the situation.
Rijesh reminds me of the marvellous character Alice Rooseveldt Longworth (daughter of President Teddy Rooseveldt) who had her favourite saying embroidered on a sofa cushion: “If you haven't got anything good to say about anybody, come sit next to me.'' Rijesh would have been a fixture in her sitting-room. Elsie seems to have a hugely exaggerated sense of her own importance, and is always lecturing someone and wagging her finger. Shades of PW?
15 men on a dead man's chest?
In the reward challenge, which seems awfully easy and brief, the teams gather treasure chests from the floor of the lagoon. Is that Angela who is so feeble that she delays Hein and loses the challenge for her team? Nobody seems to grumble about her comprehensive uselessness: she looks good in a bikini. Iban wins easily, and gains a spade, a pocket-knife and some fishing hooks and line.
Lorette – prepared for anything
Grant, the marine specialist, replete with some really nasty tattoos, dismisses the hooks as useless, and is embarrassed when Lorette, the inland policewoman, figures out how to use them. Apparently she has been researching everything that might be useful on an island, and knows her stuff.
Elsie, in a brief break from scolding others, whines that she's missing friends and family - and how many days has she been away from home at this stage? This tribe is lucky to have found a fishing-net that drifted onto the beach, though its mesh looks too big for the tiny tiddlers they've caught so far. They find plenty of fish in tidal pools at low tide, anyway.
Divided we fall This is a very split tribe. There's Hein, Dyke and Nicola who work hard and provide for the rest, who lie around grumbling all day, do as little as possible, and mutter that they're not getting enough. Instead of providing for themselves, let alone others, they complain about the providers, as though they somehow needed their permission to actually get up and do something useful.
Useless Elsie is furious that nobody sees her as important, and storms around, seething with resentment. Grievance is her only skill, and seems to have been a lifelong hobby. Rijesh, is grandiose. With his retinue of girls - Elsie, Amanda and the bikini-bimbo, he brags that he tells them who to vote for. If this were true, they should be ashamed of themselves. The Useless Groupies are resentful of those they need to maintain them.
It looks as though Hein is in danger, and Dyke is doomed, except that one must remember one of the most consistently valid rules of Survivor - whoever appears to be doomed in any episode is as safe as houses. Lisa was saved last week, and so Dyke surely will be safe this week. Besides, the grumpy bunch wants Dyke and Hein to work for them a bit longer.
The immunity challenge is much more interesting, and needs strength and coordination. Elsie, who has neither quality, is cross yet again, because she wanted to sit out of this one. Bajau makes a good start but then falls behind and Iban wins.
Workers vs. the grumblers
Now Bajau starts seething with mutual resentment. The workers resent the lazy grumblers, and vice versa. Elsie insists that she and her fellow layabouts could have been invaluable workers, but were never asked or allowed to get involved (who needs an invitation?).
Dyke who has demonstrated other good qualities, again demonstrates his utter tactlessness, and Elsie shows that if finger-wagging were an Olympic event, she could bring home a Gold for SA. She's also good at rude finger gestures. She's glowering and sulking yet again.
Tribal council Elsie, simmering with smugness, proves that she's almost delusional in her view of her utter excellence. With a skill that suggests years of practice, she plays the race card, and insists the tribe is "segregated".
Mark is asking much more perceptive and challenging questions this year. Rijesh, similarly with a skill suggesting long experience, carefully places his knife in Dyke's back. Dyke and Elsie are both damaging to tribal unity, but whereas he has other useful skills and a genuine work ethic, she has shown no skill except for complaining.
But when the voting is revealed, there are three votes for Elsie and the rest are for a surprised Nicola. Presumably the girls obeyed Rijesh, who planned this really well. Nicola was a useful worker, but dispensable - but her leaving fatally weakens the Dyke and Hein, and leaves them subservient to the will of the Do-Nothings. They’re still there to do all the hard work, and help to win the challenges for the freeloaders. But if his tribe loses another immunity challenge, they'll either have to part wih one of their pair of servants and start working hard, or sacrifice one of their own.
As they walk off into the night, Elsie is heard to proclaim, as she swaggers off: "You bunch of wankers! I ain't going yet. I'll go when I'm ready".
Now each tribe has an ugly personality, and the drama has truly started.
Professor M.A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, August 2007
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