| Episode
9 |
| "Gender
Wars... It's Getting Ugly" |
Filmed July 19-21,
2004
Airs November 11, 2004 |
| Click
below for: |
| RC
speculation |
| IC
speculation |
| Boot
speculation |
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| Episode
descriptions |
CBS: -Fetching
treemail, one Survivor is surprised to get more than just mail,
but the meaning of the surprise remains a mystery.
-One group of Survivors hatch a devilish plan to screw over their
tribemates.
-Hatred drives two Survivors to serious lobbying to get each other
voted out.
-One Survivor's guilt over aligning with a faction is exacerbated
by a tribemate's words. |
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| REWARD
CHALLENGE/ Trivia challenge - Scout wins? |
As
chidelta pointed
out at MeSS, the shots of Chad running were recycled from the combined
RC/IC John K. won several episodes back. So we're left with one
obvious challenge, which is the trivia challenge. And as crocophile notes,
they still have a treemail showing up in camp with a pig attached.
We'll guess that the challenge covers Vanuatu lore/customs, and
the reverence with which the natives regard pigs ends up being
a question. So the challenge is the traditional (since
Marquesas) alliance-revealing (and -breaking)
trivia / snuff-your-enemies challenge. Although this time (as
in, yet another parallel, Thailand) people are eliminated when
they get three torches/skulls set alight. Yes, those exciting
multiple-choice cubes make a repeat appearance.
Three people (in addition to Sarge and Ami, who are the likely squabblers, unless
it's Sarge and Julie, or perhaps Sarge and Twila)
are featured in this week's promos: Chad (surprising, since he's barely been
on the
show so far), Eliza and Scout. All three are likely among the best-equipped to
win a mental-/memory-based challenge. And all three are shown getting at least
one question right, from the web promo, as is Leann. Given the superior women's
numbers, it seems unlikely a man would survive long enough to win. And since
the guys
see
the order of elimination as informative, Eliza probably gets eliminated by Scout.
And lo, we see Eliza sitting out, looking disgusted, with Chad's arm behind her.
So neither makes it to the end. Julie is shown shrugging, and Ami has a similar
headshot. We'll go with a Scout win.
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| REWARD
CHALLENGE pictures/ Click on thumbnails above for larger
version |
The
lay of the land. |
Please
Scout, burn the cubes before they're used again |
Well,
that certainly sucked! |
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| IMMUNITY
CHALLENGE/ Puzzle time? - Eliza wins? |
The
background of the shot of Sarge in the immunity necklace has the
same background as the shot of Scout, below. Since she's dressed
differently than at the trivia challenge, the trivia challenge
must be the RC. This makes a bit of sense as well, in that the
guys appear to have plenty of time after the trivia challenge to
discuss the revealed Yasur pecking order. So what's the IC? Who
knows, but apparently it's sufficiently lame that it doesn't even
warrant promo time. But as BJ points
out at MeSS, when Probst is chuckling about angry Sarge in the
web promo, there appears to be a privacy screen and two tables
behind him, similar
to the
layout of the word-search challenge in S7. That certainly would
fit as a non-promo-worthy challenge. Who wins? Well, Eliza is
the (pre-) law student, and she likes Scrabble and Boggle... if
wordsmithing is involved, she should have a leg up on the competition.
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| IMMUNITY
CHALLENGE pictures/ Click on thumbnails above for larger
version |
No
peeking! Especially you, Eliza. We may need blinders for
those eyes. |
Dammit,
there goes my only chance to win. |
Ah,
stationary excitement! |
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| BOOT/
Sarge |
No last-minute diversions from a Julie pick in:
6 1
days!
|
CBS
is quite over-the-top in pushing the men-vs-women theme this
week. That means they stick together, and the women vote
out Sarge, right? Um... maybe. Or the men penetrate the women's
alliance, and get Scout to burn Eliza, as the web promo suggests?
Well,
um... maybe. Maybe not.
So uh... we've received late-breaking word that Julie is
safe this week. That makes two straight weeks of premature speculation
that Julie was toast. On the plus side, we can safely guarantee
we won't
be doing that again for a while (P.S. check back next week to make
sure). On the minus side, we're left to ponder who it might actually
be.
We'll
offer
that
Chris
and Ami's alleged weight loss suggest they're right out, and that,
despite what CBS seems to think, the men are outnumbered 6 to 3.
So it's probably a guy.
So, moving on, the next prime candidates would appear to be Sarge and
Chad. Let's face it: their brilliant strategy
of keeping Julie and Twila over John K. has left them a bit, shall
we say, undermanned. Sarge is extremely grumpy in the promos, whereas
Chad is laughing (with overdubbed native whoops and excessive reverb).
We'll take that as a point in Chad's favor. Also, Twila mentioned
during her vote for Rory that "you and Sarge happen to be the strong
ones. That’s the only reason. Sarge had immunity, and you
didn’t." Knock two down for Sarge. But then there's Chad's
spectacular increase in screen presence, at least in this
week's promos (true, they did have to reach back into the vaults
to find
some
pre-swap
footage to do that, but still). Not a good sign long-term for the
guy with the mechanical leg.
Ah well, we'll leave
it to you for now. We're sure you can come
to your own conclusions. What do we know? |
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