Episode Report Card Sara M: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT How Do You Like Them Apples?
By Sara M | Season 16 | Episode 11 | Aired on 04.24.2008
The challenge starts. James, Jason, Erik, and Amanda advance to the next round. Way to go, Awesome Evil Ladies Alliance. All four of you are no longer in the competition. The men should consider their jugulars cut already. The second round starts, and James and Erik are the first to dig up their keys. James and Erik get their keys first. Jason also finds his, but is behind the other two. James is the first to get his wheel assembled and on the winch, followed by Erik. Amanda, meanwhile, is still digging for her key. She appears to have dug up her entire square, so either the key is buried deeper than she thought or she already dug it up and tossed it in the pile of sand without knowing or someone really messed up and didn't plant it in the first place. James is the first person to get his planks and move on. Erik will be the second. Amanda never finds her key. She is useless. USELESS! What happened to "game on?"
In the last round, James and Erik employ two different strategies on their bridges. James' sends him into the water, where his planks float away and he loses a lot of time getting them back. Erik, on the other hand, tortoises along the bridge, slow and steady to win the race. He's pretty far ahead, but James manages to make up quite a bit of ground. Nevertheless, Erik gets to platform first -- with James right behind him. The girls sit on their bench and hope for an Erik win, because they're just that determined not to vote Erik out on his birthday. I'm sure if Erik lost the challenge, they'd have no problem putting his name down, though. We'll never know, as Erik gets across the disks first and wins. The ladies are way too excited about this and then cover that up by saying they're glad he got a birthday present. James has to know that Erik's win is his loss, but he still smiles and congratulates him. What, no speech about how Erik is being greedy and eating the apple by winning the immunity challenge? Probst is surprised at the round of applause Erik gets for his win, which also includes Natalie blowing him kisses like the cutthroat bitch she claims to be. Poor Erik probably thinks they really like him or something, when they're really just dead-set on blindsiding someone for the second time in a row and therefore looking super-awesome to the television audience.
I would have thought they were out of spider stock footage, but no. We get another shot as the tribe arrives back at camp, which means it's time for more "girl power," a.k.a. "my gender is going to look even worse." I do not appreciate being compared to a spider, okay? I hate spiders. I wouldn't mind if they were all extinct, and you can save your "but then the world would be overrun with the bugs they eat" speech. I HATE SPIDERS! Two legs good, eight legs bad! Back from challenge, Erik hangs up his immunity necklace as the girls continue to cheer for him and wish him happy birthday. He walks away, which gives Alexis the chance to make a remark I still can't understand upon repeated viewings and Parvati the chance to squeal with delight that their plan is coming together. Not because of anything they did, mind you, but because Erik won the challenge. Cirie goes along with their glee so as to make everyone think she's just a follower and not the leader here. Parvati tells us that "Part A" of their plan is "perfect," except for the part where James almost won immunity and they have no idea who could be planning what behind their backs. Oh, and how they gave the immunity idol to Jason in the first place. Other than that, though, it's working like a charm. Parvati and Alexis laugh at how into cheering Erik on they were, and Cirie admits that while she jumped up and down when he won, she did not scream. Because she has dignity. I still don't get why they were so happy that Erik won. If James won, how much would their plan really change? They'd just vote Erik out, right? I think Parvati is just glad that James is going home because he's mad at her and it makes her uncomfortable. The girls head off into the woods, with Parvati and Alexis mimicking stirring cauldrons just to show us how awesome it is to be an evil woman. Either that, or they just really miss making spaghetti sauce. Parvati gloats that their plan is to confuse the guys and then "devour" them. Shot of the spider with two beetles the producers stuck in its web. I mean "that it caught on its own."