In this episode, we meet by far the most appealing character in the entire series, but he ends up being killed and devoured. Sounds like something out of Lord of the Flies, except that this character will be missed more than any evictee so far. It’s Rezki the goat. Apparently it means "provider".
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Lucky Lisa, whose continued participation always seems to be the result of some external situation (and the desperate determination of Grant always to always save her, though heaven knows why), continues to be lazy. She prefers to throw away some of her clothes, rather than trouble herself to wash them. And she still has that eerie and sinister grin.
At Iban, Irshaad's empty chatter is annoying Angie and Amanda. Amanda's characteristic posture is one of annoyance and complaint: she almost seems to be channelling Elsie. Irshaad explains that he chooses to be passive and ignore this needling, in order to enhance his personal safety. This may not work anyway, as Amanda seems to get great joy out of picking on another contestant until she can drive them away. Rijesh is especially irked by Amanda, denouncing her as being a cocky know-it-all with a fake accent. Notice how the lazy denounce others as lazy, and the cocky complain of other's cockiness.
Getting the Goat
The reward challenge is a sort of tug-of war, in which yet again Iban is hopelessly under-weight and overwhelmed by the strength of the other tribe. So long as challenges rely mainly on strength, they have no hope of winning. We discover that the prize, which disgusts some of the contestants, is a goat, which they can either keep, love and milk, or kill and eat. This brings a stark reality to the survival issue. "Think of it as steak", someone says, helpfully.
While Iban is hopelessly losing the tugging match, Irshaad settles the matter by tackling Hein, and getting his team disqualified. Amanda is irritatingly chatty and opinionated, with a comment on every situation. Iban easily persuade themselves that they really don't need a goat, anyway. Well, they don't need Amanda, either, and the goat has a far more pleasing personality.
Grant is continuing to talk about the Magnificent Hein, commenting pointedly that even with his role as the great provider, it’s not unthinkable that he could get voted off. Dyke notices that there are very few of their yams left. Couldn't some of the persistently lazy ladies saunter around the island and search for other patches of yam or other edibles, rather than just lying around and complaining?
Rezki the Goat, and Pesky the Gloat
There's some debate as to whether to keep the goat alive or have it slaughtered. When elaborate instructions arrive for how carefully the live goat would have to be cared for, nobody is prepared to expend such effort and Rezki's fate is sealed. They leave it tethered to a tree overnight, and the production team apparently have it killed (somehow) and the cold dead body is found there the next morning.
The men play an effective joke on the women, pretending convincingly that the official instructions are that the women have to do the gutting and butchering of the carcass. Nobody seems to have noticed that the joke only works because all the women in the game hold to the thoroughly un-liberated view that such tasks should always be done by the men.
Angela, who professes to be so fussy and critical of other people (almost always men, though) seems to have bonded with Liza the Lazy. And both are protected by Hein, so that they enjoy totally un-earned strength and power by proxy. It's a pity that any tribe thinks that smearing "war paint" on their faces will actually be significant or useful.
Steak for supper
Hein automatically instructs his tribe as to exactly what everyone is to do. It's not so much that he's a natural leader, as that he's incapable of thinking of anyone else as being competent to take the lead in anything. It's a complex obstacle course, where allocating the right task to the right person could be critically important. Amanda is very slow and places her tribe at serious risk. Irshaad and Dyke help to do some catching up. Finally, Bajau wins immunity.
Mandla and Grant go to work on the goat, and Grant comments that seeing Mandla so experienced and capable here, makes him feel his own culture is shallow by comparison. I'm not convinced that the goat would agree. Lisa wanders off in a trance, as usual. She's utterly incapable of useful work. Amanda and Rijesh finally quarrel openly. She's simply rude, and says,"There's nothing true about you". She's gasping and performing in response to his every comment, and the entire debate is less mature than what you'd hear between six-year-olds on the playground. She ends with the odd line, "If I were you I'd leave me alone"; and he counters with the eternally feeble comment of those who know they've lost the argument: "Whatever!"
Once all the work is done, Lisa condescends to braai some of the meat for herself. Tribal council doesn't reveal anything interesting. Amanda, of course, votes for Rijesh, adding, "Go back to Durban and iron your socks!" I've never see a good explanation as to why the host never reads out all the votes, stopping as soon as one contestant has received enough votes to be voted out. Is it to promote more suspicion among the tribe as to how some people voted?
And so Rijesh wanders unhappily off into the darkness. Next time, we see glimpses of what looks like a shark fin in the lagoon. Grant can handle this - sharks never eat lawyers, it's a matter of professional courtesy.
(Professor M. A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, September 2007)
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