Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Removal Of Rudy
By Miss Alli | Season 8 | Episode 2 | Aired on 02.04.2004
Over at Saboga, Rupert and Jerri are working on the fire. "Oh, my God, I'm gettin' excited," Rupert says. Uh, I don't want to know where he's going with that. Rupert doesn't have great luck with the flint at first. "This is showing me that I'm not...you know, I thought I was a outdoorsman. And I am...with a lighter," he says. HA! Yes, that is the first genuinely funny thing I have ever heard out of this guy, ever. He made me chuckle, and it's because he has discovered the previously unfamiliar concept of humility. It really is interesting to see how much his approach changed between the seasons. He cackles at his own fire-starting ineptitude.
Jenna and Ethan retrieve water from the well. "I don't know," Jenna is saying in response to something. "You're much stronger than I am." Ethan is preoccupied with his upcoming ouster, understandably. Ethan: "You don't think I'm -- after my display today, you don't think I'm the biggest target out there?" Snerk. Did you hear that? He just called his own winning performance "[his] display." I'm surprised he doesn't have to check his ego as luggage when he travels from one place to another. I have literally never heard anyone describe his own performance as "my display" in a way that's self-congratulatory. Yes, your majestic display of manliness...I just...well, no more really needs to be said about Ethan's preposterous self-importance, because it really does speak for itself at this point. Anyway, to this almost amusingly arrogant remark from him, Jenna says, "Yeah." What's she going to say, after all? "Yes, Ethan, after your display, all will fear you"? She interviews that she felt bad for Ethan, because he knows he's on the block, and it's hard for him to walk around knowing that he's probably going to get booted. She says that he wouldn't even really let her congratulate him after the reward challenge, so he's obviously very unhappy. As they walk, she says, "You don't know when we're going to lose immunity next. We might not lose. It might be nine days, who knows? Just give it a couple days' rest, okay?"
Ethan interviews that Jenna told him, "Well, you know, maybe we'll keep you around a little longer, that's what you wanted." He sarcastically says, "Thanks, Jenna, thanks for granting me that one wish." Wow, that's interesting...and completely delusional. He was the one whining about being voted off. He was the one whining about being a target. She's made no secret of her own interest in voting him off, so there is nothing she can say to him when he starts up with that crap except that even if he does get voted off, it won't be until the team loses immunity next, so he might as well just hang in and see what happens. She never said -- at least in anything that we saw -- anything that is even in the same universe as what Ethan accused her of saying. She never said "we might keep you around if I feel generous." What she said was, "We might not be put in the position of voting anybody out any time soon." Jenna never implied that Ethan would not be voted out at the first opportunity or that he would be "kept around," because she's already made clear her intentions at this point. She never asked Ethan to thank her, nor did she claim to be doing or offer to do anything gregarious for him. It's obvious that Jenna still intends to vote Ethan out and is making no bones about it. All she said was that it might not even come up for a while if they didn't lose immunity challenges, which is, after all, true. It's really all she can say, other than just telling him to shut the hell up, which is probably what she should have done. I guess if Ethan carries his ego under the seat in front of him, his historical revisionism must fit in the overhead compartment. Surprising.