My Fellow Dummies,

Well, it would've been really hard to top last week's exciting episode, and this one didn't come close. But we still had some funny moments, and our first instance of true game-playing. Let's go bananas!

On the night of Day 9 Robb says he thought he'd see at least one vote for him at Tribal Counsel. I did too. But the unified 5 in Sook Jai voted as a block. Can Robb get himself in with the group?

Go to your room! No phone privileges!

The next morning, Stephanie is not pleased. "They got rid of Jed. Piss on them," she says. She shuffles off to get squid like some 12-year-old who just got grounded. When Shii Ann tells her not to put the dead sea creatures in the drinking water pot, Steph hands the squid to her and says, "Stick it where you want it."

"I don't know what Stephanie's problem is," Shii Ann tells us. "Honestly, I think she just feels like she's doing all of the work, which is totally not true." Erin chimes in with, "If I was in her position I would just suck it up and try to, you know, fit in as well as I could so I could stay on the island." Exactly. That is the whole point, right? Stephanie seems to be too stubborn for the game.

Over at Chuay Ghan, Ghandia is brushing her teeth with sand. Is that a true outdoorsman technique, or is she just crazy?

Ghandia may as well pack her ears with sand because she says no one is talking to her. "If Chuay Ghan was a body, then I am the arm that got bit off by a shark." Don't stick your arm in the shark's mouth and he might not eat it.

Ted: "As far as I'm considered, she's non-existent. I only see 5 people on this island." Kind of immature, but I can't blame him. The man admitted he screwed up and apologized. He can't do anything more!

The men hunting and gathering.

Clay says he never liked Ghandia from the start as the men lounge together in the water. When the group is together, Ghandia keeps talking. Blah blah blah. Something about love and the silent treatment. Let…it…go.

Helen weighs in with her opinion. "Did Ghandia maybe give Ted the wrong impression, by being free as she is? [Cut to a shot of Ghandia walking around that would make Rich Hatch proud.] Maybe. Is that an excuse for doing what he did? No. Somewhere in the middle there lies the truth."

On Day 11, CG gets some mail, a huge dummy and a banana. The tribes have to dress up the dummy, give it a name and use it in the next Reward Challenge.

Chuay Ghan works together to paint "Chuay Gal." Stephanie paints the SJ dummy by herself. "Oh, Stephanie didn't want any help," Shii Ann says. Again, this firefighter's flame is dull.

For the Reward Challenge, the tribes have to carry the 250-pound dummy across the beach, over a hill, through trees, over rocks, through an arch and down more beach. The winner gets a bunch of bananas and a "mystery food reward."

Shii Ann smartly sits this tough one out. That Shiister is a sharp one.

SJ leads on the beach. CG catches up at the bottom of the hill, but SJ takes over from there. Sook Jai wins easily and partakes in the Survivor tradition of eating their reward in front of the losers.

Back at Chuay Ghan, Clay blames Ghandia and Jan. Brian agrees. Ghandia complains about being blamed. Ghandia talks a lot.

Robb's new buddies.

The Sookers are gorging themselves on bananas. Even Stephanie seems happy now. The bonus reward is some chickens. Are there any Kimmi's in the group? Robb threatens the fowl: "I expect there to be eggs or someone's gonna be hacked!" He might want to reconsider eating them--he's finally found his mental match.

The men of Chuay Ghan continue to sit around while the women cook. A bizarre crawling fish with eyes on the top of its head joins them. Ghandia complains some more.

Brian defends his brethren's lack of action: "It think that's just the natural transition in life. Ladies in the kitchen and the men take care of business [obligatory Brian joke: Turn on the cameras and I bet Brian takes care of business, knowhatI'msayin'?] and do all the fishing. That resorts back to thousands and thousands of years." He's got a smile on his face so he's only half serious. But it is pretty clear the men have no problems letting the fairer sex handle most of the chores.

Helen isn't happy about it but she says she has to keep quiet about it so she can last in the game longer. "I just don't see a need right now to cause discord in the camp. We need to focus on our next challenge and we need to have everybody working together."

The Immunity Challenge is another puzzle. It's a "tangram," where you have to take different shapes and arrange them in a specific way to match two bigger shapes. Two people work on each shape while the rest of the tribe watches and helps.

Penny and Jake start off against Clay and Ted. Sook Jai has a slight lead after the first shape. The next pairings are Ken and Shii Ann vs. Jan and…Ghandia?! How on earth do you let her anywhere near another puzzle? Naturally, SJ wins handily.

The men taking care of business.

Chuay Ghan has officially become pathetic. They are by far the physically weaker tribe, as well as the dumber tribe. They are in bad shape.

Side note: Did you see the messages on Ken's arms? He had 'NYPD' painted on one arm and '9-11-01' on the other. I'm telling you, he's the sentimental favorite to win. It's going to be really hard to vote him off.

Back in Loserville, Ghandia says she's voting for either Clay or Ted. She knows the men will all vote for her, so she's hoping to rally the women together and force a tie. Jan says, "I feel Clay needs to go," but we learn she doesn't want to vote off Ted. Helen isn't sure what to do. "This is where the game gets ugly. Because unfortunately, this is where the competitive part wants to come in. I want to stay. I want to play. But it would mean voting Ghandia off tonight." On the other hand, she says she still believes Ghandia's side of the story, and she sees how lazy the men are getting. "I never thought I'd be the swing vote," she says.

At Tribal Counsel, Jeff asks, "Ghandia, everybody pulling their own weight still in this tribe?" "Nope," she flatly replies. Jeff asks Clay the same question and he says some people gather food while other people cook it. The split is very clear.

We see all the votes but Helen's. Ted casts his for Ghandia and says, "This vote is personal. And I truly, truly hope I never ever see you in my life again." The other two men vote for her as well, and Jan and Ghandia vote for Clay like they said they would.

Bye Bye Denver Diva! Just kidding, Jeff.

Jeff reads the votes and suddenly looks confused. "Well, for the first time I have a vote, I have no idea who it belongs to. Who wrote, 'Bye Bye Denver Diva'?" Clay raises his hand. Jeff scolds him: "Who's the name?" Clay says Ghandia and Jeff says, "In the future, write a name down. Enough with the nicknames." I love Jeff this season! He's not taking crap from nobody. Long live the surly Jeff!

We see the final vote and it's for Ghandia. Helen betrays her gender but at least she's playing the game. I believe Helen probably would've voted for Ted, but when Ghandia was willing to vote for Clay, it showed "the incident" wasn't bothering Ghandia as much as she let on so Helen decided to go with the stronger half. It'll be interesting to see if they welcome her and attempt to reunite the tribe.

Next on Survivor: "Sook Jai is reminded of the dangers lurking in the sea," as Robb yells and falls into the water. "Chuay Ghan experiences a big loss, and an offer that could change the entire game." Good. Sook Jai has re-established its dominance so something needs to be done to shake things up. If we go into the merge with one tribe having a 4-person advantage, we're in for a string of boring episodes. Work your magic, Mr. Burnett!

In Ghandia's final words she says she made a mistake in trying to play one group against the other and she should've let the issue go. Bingo. At least she's happy. And I know her tribe will be happy she's gone.

So what do you think of the first quarter of the season? Any guesses on what the "big decision" will be? Feel free to drop us a line any time at survivor@dangfun.com. Don't be a chicken!

Your feathered friend,
Scott

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