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| Episode
1 vidcaps (newest sets below) | Full gallery: Click
here |
 Vidcaps:
Solo Gary intro ad
Aired 9/11 |
 Vidcaps:
Judd/ Margaret/ Brooke/ Gary/ Jamie cast
ad
Aired 9/10 |
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| Episode description |
| Video:
Watch the CBS web
promo. (Real media; added 8/18/05) |
| CBS:
"18 Survivors will be marooned within this mysterious
and rugged terrain. For the first time, the castaways will
actually live within the ruins of a vanished civilization.
And they will be forced to embrace the ancient Maya lifestyle.
Join us this fall as the adventure continues with Survivor:
Guatemala, The Maya Empire." |
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| Other
vidcaps: S11 preview
(5/15) | Early Show (8/11)
| E! News (8/11) | Jeff Probst
cast notes (8/11) | ET
cast release (8/11) | TV
ad1 (8/18) | TV ad2 (short,
8/25) | TV ad2 (long, 8/25)
| TVGuide channel ad (8/30)
| Brooke/ Jamie cast ad
(8/31) | Second web promo
(9/1) | Margaret/ Rafe/ Amy/ Brandon cast
ad (9/2) | TVGuide channel cast
interviews (9/4) | TVGuide channel challenge
run-through (9/4) | Judd/ Margaret/ Brooke/ Gary/ Jamie cast
ad (9/10) | Solo Gary intro
ad (9/11) | |
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The
official cast photo on the CBS
site (copied below) shows the 16 new castaways in their tribal
buffs. ET's preview shows
the blue tribe is named Yaxha, and the first TV
ad confirms the second part of Dan
Bollinger's spoiler: the yellow tribe's name is Nakum.
So, as far as the usual Ep1 surprises and/or twists go, there aren't
many left. Except of course for the two
returning players, Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa,
who appear neither in the Day One cast photo, nor in CBS's press
release. (These two would be the "two twists" the
TV ads are referring to). So the only real mysteries are when these
two show up, which tribes they're on, and what their role in the
game will be. More on that below....
What we can see from previews and press releases is the two tribes,
wearing their new buffs, individual Guatemalan-style bags, and canteens,
filing through the ruins. Presumably, Probst will greet them there
with some sort of official greeting, and disperse them to their
camps, about which the press release claims: "The castaways
will begin their adventure with a grueling 11 mile hike through
the jungle." They're also there to take pictures, of course,
but we're guessing that won't be shown.
We also see the Nakum (yellow) tribe, as threatened,
living amongst the ruins. They are similarly- (largely just less-)
clothed to their arrival pictures, and Brooke and Danni seem to
be pointing a lot, perhaps during shelter construction. Smoke is
visible at Nakum, so they probably have fire. According to TV
Guide's print edition, this probably came as a reward for finishing
the hike first. Both tribes appear to have primitive blade tools,
pots, and bags of what Corvis
says is flour.
And last, but not least, we have the Yaxha (blue) tribe.
The bulk of their camp vidcaps appear to come from at least Day
2, because everyone is wearing more (and mostly different) clothes
than at arrival, and they already have their shelter built. And,
oh yeah, they also appear to have an extra member. As pointed out
by CSCin3D
at Sucks, Rafe's interview video at the CBS site
features a familiar-looking forehead and headband: that of Stephenie
LaGrossa (right-hand picture, bottom right-hand corner).
It's unclear how or when she got there (Day 1?), but she appears
to be hanging out in camp at some point after the first day.
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We're
not positive this challenge is the Immunity Challenge from
Ep1, but it's the only one shown in the ads, and it was given an
extensive description (and tested with Dream Teamers and press)
in the TV Guide Channel preview,
so it seems like a good guess. Plus it was shown behind Jeff Probst
during the CBS
News video of his cast assessments.
TV Guide's look at it featured two teams of nine, so it must be
from one of the first two episodes, at the very least.
 For
a complete overview of the challenge, refer to TV Guide's test of
it, shown and described here.
In the words of John Kirhoffer, "The tribe will race down,
grab their boat, push it into the water. Everybody jumps into the
boat, you paddle out to that pontoon, and if you can see there's
torches hanging, unlit torches." The two tribes then race back
to the beach, and must pull their canoes up the beach (by inserting
logs underneath to help the canoe roll), then light their respective
wok (shown behind Jeff Probst, below).
Who wins? Well, the shots from the ad show the two tribes racing
back to the beach (at least in the caps with both canoes). At that
point, Yaxha has a narrow lead. The remaining part of the challenge
seems to favor strength, which would in theory make Nakum the favorite.
But somehow, Nakum apparently blows it. Eagle-eyed spoiler BlindFreddy
noticed that one of the official CBS photos of Amy (archived at
SurvivorFever)
has what looks like the immunity idol in the left-hand foreground
(our comparison is above, click to expand). While it's possible
this shot might be from an episode beyond Ep1, it seems most likely
that Yaxha wins the Ep1 IC. Somehow.
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At
this early stage, we're still looking for more info to help figure
out likely first boot candidates. But the four below seem like a
good crop from which to choose:
- Jim the firefighter would appear to be toting
around multiple moon-sized targets. He's got the same profession
as the last winner, Jeff Probst
doesn't think too highly of his social skills, and TVGuide
says he spends the morning of Day Two throwing up. Not a good situation
to be in, especially when you have 20 years on the next-oldest contestant
on your tribe.
- Brooke is also a possibility. She may be viewed
as the weakest link on her tribe (about which she seemed aware pre-game).
But she appears to be angling for UTR status, and is shown involved
in various camp-related work activities, so she may avoid immediate
removal.
- The two (other) models, Blake and Danni
are also potential boot candidates. Blake seems to spend
a lot of time removed from the tribe, and apart from a scene of
him lying down, has been fairly invisible thus far in CBS's ad campaign.
Danni is a dark-horse candidate here, simply because Jeff Probst's
pre-game assessments of her (here,
and here) have been
so conspicuously positive. Like Blake, she's been shown in trouble
in the CBS ads (sliding down a hill).
Still, nothing much solid to go on, but time's up for guessing.
We'll go with Jim, who seems the most obvious candidate. And that
pick seems to be the conventional wisdom, anyway. Please CBS, no
more "twists" in Ep1, so that we can have some more useful
vidcaps next time. |
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