Water Cooler Talk from Two Guys Wearing Sweaters
- Week 10 -
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later... Amber got a vote tonight. Two actually. But she's still hanging in there, even though she may have a bit of an uphill battle from here on. Keith suggested at the beginning of the show that Amber's association with Jerri could be harmful to her in the future.
The episode began with feelings of isolation from Amber, and feelings of hunger from everybody. The rice was all but finished, and the fishing hasn't exactly been wonderful. Keith and Colby went on a manly hunt through the woods to try to capture the ever-evasive Outback Grasshoppers to use as fishing bait.
Nick & Rodger examine their washboard abs.
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Even though the guys had sophisticated tracking and trapping equipment including a net and their shirt pockets, the grasshoppers didn't help them bring in a big catch at the fishing hole.
Colby correctly noted that "if 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts we'd all have a Merry Christmas." That's either one of those phrases that makes good sense to Texans, or several of Colby's key brain cells have been burned off by his body due to hunger.
Elisabeth, who may actually get carried away by the wind soon if she loses any more weight, wondered if she should snap her fishing pole or eat it after failing to catch a fish.
Jeff Probst either makes an attempt to put Elisabeth into a deep trance, or flirt with her. We're not sure which.
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Jeff Probst, who gets to eat well on a regular basis, felt some pity for the castaways, and doled out $500 Australian dollars to each person so they could participate in an auction for food.
Elisabeth purchased a $260 glob of peanut butter and four chocolate squares; Amber won an $80 Mountain Dew and later scored six french fries with ranch dressing. Voting got tense for an energy bar and ice coffee. Amber slipped in a whispered "damn you!" when Colby out bid her for the grub.
Amber still had some money left, so she gambled on a "Mystery Plate," which is what we had pretty much every day for lunch in Junior High. Amber bid $200 for the dish, which turned out to be some murky water from the Herbert River. Oops.
Amber realizes that $200 is a little high for a glass of cloudy water...
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Everyone headed back to camp and had some very frank discussions about their personal emissions, if you catch our drift. In the "more than we needed to know" category, Rodger and Nick headed off to the Men's Room to create some... output.
Several castaways were reportedly quite successful in their attempt to get rid of some extra baggage, so to speak, and they had some more detailed discussion about their attempts to remove any of the excess material from their personal regions with leaves, etc.
Notice that we have been taking special care to avoid using such juvenile phrases as "took a dump," "dropped a load" and "headed to Mr. Crapper" as we describe the events of the episode. We're way beyond that kind of boogerheaded stuff.
Elisabeth demonstrates her latrine techniques.
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Of all people to make a disgusting joke, Rodger mentioned that the leaf he was using had a hole in it. Let's all spend the rest of the day trying not to think about that one.
No sooner did everyone lay some cable, so to speak, than they reverted to talking about their hunger. The rice supply which was supposed to last the whole contest had dwindled down to nothing, and Nick was being fingered as someone who refused to help with the fishing chores.
The Immunity Challenge was called the "Flaming Bucket Water Balance Thingy." Well, come to think of it, we have no idea what the heck it was called. But it did indeed involve a flaming bucket that had to be balanced with another bucket of water, and then the flames had to set off a flare at the top of a... you know, it just seems too darned complex for us to even explain. To make a long story short (not that it's possible now), Colby won immunity.
Keith nearly wins immunity in the Flaming Bucket Water Balance Thingy competition.
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So it was back to the camp where everyone could start figuring out who was going to have the Alliance of the Week. Amber had a unique opportunity to team up with the former Kucha tribemates to pick off the tough guys, like Keith and Colby. But she worried that she couldn't trust them, so she stuck with the original plan in the end.
As they were starting to plot & scheme and connive, Jeff Probst came along to verbally abuse the Barrimundi tribe for its inability to properly ration its rice. We thought the tribe could have gotten off the hook by blaming the whole problem on Jerri, but apparently they didn't think that fast.
Colby's flag is taken into custody by Jeff Probst, who apparently has always had a hankerin' for Texas.
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Jeff offered to give the tribe some more rice, but he planned to steal their camp shelter in exchange. The tribe pretty unanimously decided to let Jeff haul the stuff away so they could eat again. Colby went into a homicidal rage as his Texas flag was carted away. Or at least that's what we assume happened off-camera.
The tribe spent the rest of the day making a makeshift shelter out of whatever stuff they could find: tree limbs, wooden planks, leftover skin from Michael's hands, etc.
Off to Tribal Council! Amber looked visibly edgy as they made the hike, and for the first time she got a couple votes. Elisabeth figured, "Hey, she voted for me!" So she cast a retaliatory vote against Amber, and Rodger joined her. Nick cast a vote for Keith, largely because Keith chose to leave his backpack behind to show how confident he was that he wouldn't be voted off.
Eeep! Amber gets 2 votes.
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Turns out Keith was indeed plenty safe since everyone else cast their votes for Nick. Out he goes! We must admit that as things are getting down to the wire, we are starting to develop some heightened concern for Amber's survival.
For the first time we can see some legitimate scenarios where she could be given The Boot. But we'll be holding out hope 'til the end, and rooting for her all the way!
Insightful Commentaries:
The Amazing Race
Survivor: All-Stars
Survivor: Australia
