In this episode: plotting, backstabbing and a tapioca thief. That's when no one's bursting into tears.
After we lost our two favourite contestants last week, this session, due entirely to Angie's restless mischief, is devoted mainly to complex plotting and counter-plotting.
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Angie (we already knew she adores herself) likes trying to stir things up, but has no talent at all for successful scheming, and she lies without hesitation. Pop-eyed Grant is a far more slick and successful plotter: after Angie clumsily managed to shatter his primary alliance, he contrived to swing it back together again. Maybe if he feels more secure with a majority that doesn't need this nasty woman, he may also be ready to dump her, as he surely recognises that she is utterly unreliable. Somebody please wipe that supercilious smile off her face!
Roped in - or out?
Grant feels he's "in the pound seats", especially given current exchange-rates. Amanda tries to swing Lorette, telling her elegantly that "Angie was talking so much kak about you!". Lorette is grandiose in insisting on measuring herself against only the strongest, Mandla. Unexpectedly naïve, she dismisses Angie as no threat, and someone who, given enough rope, will hang herself. But Angie does not oblige, though she certainly takes a whole lot of rope.
Amanda and Angela chatter and scheme. Lorette decides that "the alliance isn't the alpha and omega" and that it guarantees nothing (as indeed, she will soon discover for herself).
Angie is one of those over-assertive women with nothing worthwhile to assert. She declares that she "will no longer hold her tongue", something we've never actually seen her do, either literally or figuratively. She doesn't like her allies, finds it all "so freakin' boring", and decides to stir things up. In a voice dripping with sarcasm, she whines that everyone else is "so morally just and incorruptible" (apparently a deplorable state of being).
She reveals herself in her most truthful statement yet, saying that this is the "one chance in your life to lie, manipulate, backstab..." " and then just say "that it's a game and get away with it". "When else do you get such a chance?" she demands. Perhaps this is not such a wise thing to say to an audience, Angie?
The go-getter with nothing to go and get
Grant, who seems a reliable sucker for strong, attractive and naughty women, implies Angela only gets away with behaving in this manner, because he follows her, putting out the fires she starts. She chortles, and vows to start many more fires.
Grant later makes the wise observation that she's a go-getter, with nothing to go and get. He says this is not 20-20 cricket, but the full five-day test, and that he deserves to win more than anyone else.
A thief observed
Lorette, resting among the bushes, sees Angie steal one of the scarce "tapioca" roots from the tribe's limited supply, and cook and eat it all by herself. The camera makes it totally clear to us that this is exactly what Angie does. It's so typical of her superiority and disdain for everyone else. Angie meanwhile suggests that Lorette is for her a mysterious alien species who should "plonk herself on another island".
Notice how Angie only functions by casting someone else as an enemy for whom she has no respect whatever, and whom she plans to eliminate. She has no friends, only occasional, temporary strategic allies.
Skiing and scheming
The reward challenge provides immediate and delayed benefits - a ski-trip to Austria, and a map to guide you to a hidden mini-immunity idol to use when you please. It's a complex set of balancing tasks. Delightfully, Angie is the first to topple from her first perch, then Grant. In the next stage Amanda and Angela fall off, and the finale, surprisingly, is between Angie and Mandla. Mandla wins, deservedly. But Angie has shown ominous determination.
Mandla sets off with his map in search of his personal mini-idol, and seems to have the greatest difficulty following the instructions, but eventually he finds it. When he returns to camp he's vague about whether he succeeded, though. Note that nobody else makes any attempt to follow him and try to find it themselves. The two silly girls prefer to lie around gossiping. They seem to think the show is actually called "Idles".
Angie thinks aloud about wooing Angela and Amanda, "though they haven't been nice to me" - as if she's been nice to them? She convinces them that it must be Lorette to go this week, and warns them to be subtle and not talk about it; presumably she expects them to be unsubtle and blab about it. The kids exult and giggle. "I'm not going to be picked off one by one," says Angela. Think about that one.
Searching for allies
They try to get Mandla on their side, whichever side that is. "We can totally get to the final two!" they say, getting more and more complex and confusing, not to speak of unrealistic. Angie has the cheek to complain that Lorette's being distant and rude to her, whereas she herself has missed no opportunity to belittle and insult Lorette. But gee, truth is one of those bourgeois "moralistic" ideas Angie scorns. Grant would be happy to get to the final two with Angie by his side – he is confident that nobody on the jury would vote for her.
Everyone seems to be wandering around glaring at each other, and plotting darkly in the shadows. Nobody really appears to know the actual state of play. It looks for a time as though it'll be deadlocked at three for Lorette, versus three for Angie. Then Lorette tells the girls that she saw Angie steal their food. Even Grant thinks "that's low", and he's a lawyer. Angie seems doomed, but says "At least it's interesting".
The Immunity Challenge involves holding one's breath under water, and almost everyone hope's it'll be won by anyone except Angie. Who'd have thought that the Big Mouth could ever hold her breath? Yes, Angie wins, and a tsunami of nausea and disappointment spreads. She struts off, grinning as usual. Angela is in tears.
As reliable as Eskom
Grant asks her if she stole the tapioca. Good grief, does he think they're in court and she's under oath? She lies smoothly and without hesitation. She insists she ate only coconut. The gullible guy believes her. Now she decides to flip back to her original alliance. Angie then confronts the others, and eagerly spreads her lie about what she did. Lorette is adamant that she saw her steal the tapioca. Angie even manages a Freudian slip: "I took coconut, and then tapioca - uh, no, more coconut! " she stumbles.
But she still manages to portray herself as the injured party, and like many liars when they realise with glee that they're getting away with it, she keeps talking about her non-existent honesty. "I'm honest about my flaws", etc. Interestingly, the others are generally honest in what they say – and what they do.
Popeye Grant's eyes pop even more dramatically, as he "doesn't want to get involved in a "female argument". But he has been far more skilfully sly than Angie thinks she was, and has efficiently re-assembled his alliance and voting bloc. He may not be loveable, but he's clever.
At tribal council, Mark raises the issue of "someone" taking more than their share of food, but Angie brazens it out. When it comes to voting, Angela votes for Grant, and seems to get much satisfaction from this purely symbolic act. Otherwise, Lorette, who looked doomed at one stage, gets no votes, and Angela is voted out. Amanda is in tears again.
Next week, Angie is still sneering at: " Survivor - Brady Bunch", and Lorette is in tears. Crying seems to be the name of the game.
(Professor M. A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, October 2007)
I can't believe Angie is still in the game! Has no-one cottoned on to her tricks and lies yet? Come on people!! - Jane
angie
2007/11/03 09:47:34 AM
why is she still there cant anyone see she needs to go she is to full of herself what apity she won immunity the week come on guys get rid of her quick - charleen
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