Survivor Week 4: The Play-By-Play

February 16, 2001

by j

The show started with the ever-growing tension between Keith and Jerri. With a flashback from the previous week, we saw last week's tribal council, where Jerri was asked whom she considered to be friends. Everyone but Tina and Keith were mentioned. That night, Keith and Tina slept outside of the tent, away from the Jerri coalition. The next morning, Keith said that he didn't care if he won, but he wanted to make sure that the "bartender wanna-be actress" didn't. Welcome to week four of Survivor, which served as a continuation of two trends: Ogakor falling apart at the seams and Kucha functioning as one solid tribe. Well, almost...

The first challenge was for three chickens and a rooster. Kimmi used her on-air snippet to remind us that she is a vegetarian, making her susceptible to being cast off; therefore, she'll do anything she can to help give the tribe an emotional boost. If all else fails, why not suck up? (-Ed.)

Ever play those flat puzzles where you have to slide the pieces and there's one empty space? Well, that was the first challenge, a mental one, luckily for Mitchell, who, at this point, looks like a human toothpick. Kimmi actually appeared to be the one who guided the final pieces into place. Interesting enough, this has been the only reward challenge Kucha has won.

There was this great shot the next morning of Michael standing over the chickens with knife in hand and a lot of bloodlust in his eyes. He told the camera that his plan was to consume the new food as soon as possible in order to re-claim the role of provider. He strikes me as one of those office guys who goes on a paintball war game weekend and turns into Rambo.

Next, we saw a bushfire making its way towards the river. Boy, these Survivor producers are going all out this year! We got some shots of Keith trying to convince Colby that Jerri is not good enough for him. Later on, Amber says Colby is the most easily swayed person in the tribe. Is it me or does everyone in Ogakor think Colby is an idiot? Meanwhile, Kucha enjoyed its first rooster meal, courtesy of Michael and Rodger. Kimmi used this time to remind us she's a vegetarian.

And over at Ogakor, Jerri went pighunting with Colby and tried to win him over to her side. Speaking of pighunting, Michael, who I think is the man you most want if you find yourself stranded in the wild, got a chance to reinforce his position: An unfortunate pig, most likely driven out by the oncoming fire, wandered into the Kucha dinner. After cornering the pig, Michael proved he wasn't all talk and killed it. The next shot was of Michael carving up the pig as his tribemates looked on in half wonderment, half disgust. The disgust soon turned to delight as Michael, who said he had butchered deer, carved up the pig and dinner was served again. Kimmi used this time to remind us she is a vegetarian, and how wrong it was for starving people to eat meat. At this point, it was plain to see Michael had turned a lot of doubters into allies.

The immunity challenge was a multiple choice team game. The tribe had to answer questions regarding surviving in the outback. The first team to answer seven questions correctly would win immunity. The back and forth game came down to Mitchell and Alicia, with Alicia ultimately winning. As Jeff Probst said in the tribal council, Kucha is kicking Ogakor's ass.

During the vote Tina, who had already stabbed Kel and Maralyn in the back, talked about how a new plan was apparently hatched on the way over to Tribal Council and that Mitchell was now her target. The final tally was a 3 - 3 vote between Mitchell and Keith. As with the tie in Survivor I, they each got a minute to say why they should stay. Keith stated the obvious: that he is strong and that his physical presence will be important in future challenges. Mitchell on the other hand, who had been whining all episode about Keith, pretty much said "I give up and just wanna go home." The second vote resulted in a two-all tie, so it came down to who had the most votes in previous councils. It turned out Mitchell had 1, while Keith had 0. Time for Mitchell to get his ass in a Burger King and start getting some weight on his bones!

So what did we learn from next week's scenes? Well, Kimmi seems to have reminded Alicia that she's a vegetarian one too many times as they were having a scuffle. As to who will win, it's still a bit of a crapshoot. Ivdefinitely think Amber, Jerri and Kimmi are going soon, but then again, we all thought that about Richard Hatch last year.

Cheers,
j