Episode Report Card Sara M: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Nobag Is Gabon Spelled Stupid
By Sara M | Season 17 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.13.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.This was a doozy of an episode! Fang wants a merge, but there's a reward challenge first, where they see that Marcus was voted out. Corinne and Charlie are devastated, while Matty loves it. Fang wins another reward (although Randy does everything he can to destroy their chances) and go to a Gabonese village for food, baths, clothes, and dancing, and Randy deludes himself into thinking one of the villagers is attracted to him. They also send Bob to Exile Island, where he finds all the clues but can't find the idol, as Sugar already has it. So he fashions a pretty amazing fake one of his own, hoping it will somehow come in handy.
Then it's time for the immunity challenge, where the contestants are finally merged into one tribe and told that this challenge will be for individual immunity. It's a typical start a fire, burn a rope challenge, and only Susie and Sugar manage to start fires. Hilariously, Susie wins immunity. Susie is a challenge monster! Eat that, Corinne! The merged tribe will live at the cursed Fang camp, where they immediately set about plotting. It becomes clear that Sugar is the crucial swing vote, and she wants Randy gone more than anything. But the Kotas, led by Randy, want Crystal out, while the Fangs, led by Ken, want Charlie gone (because Ken hates Charlie for blowing up his hidden idol spot last week). Corinne thinks she can convince Sugar to vote with her by pretending to be nice for ten minutes, and Sugar plays along. As they leave for Tribal Council, though, she admits that she doesn't trust anyone and doesn't know who to vote for.
And then there's Tribal Council. Crystal demands to know from Randy why he hates her so much, and he says what I've suspected for some time now: he's a racist prick. He didn't like it when Crystal and GC (her "boy," as Randy calls him), were in charge of Fang because they ran it "like a gang." Crystal listens and doesn't bother to respond, because she doesn't have to. Randy is more than capable of digging his own grave with his own words. With that, the votes are cast and Sugar agonizes before siding with the Fangs, making Charlie is the newest member of the jury. Which is fine with him because it brings him that much closer to "my Marcus!"
See how much this cast has changed since they started out. Then come back on Wednesday for the full detailed recap.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!For the previously on segment, Probst continues to hate on Fang. We did get to see a replay of Randy's "wah wah wah" moment, which I always enjoy, and they didn't cut as soon as he stopped this time, so we get to see more of his teammates' reactions. Susie turns to Randy and looks disgusted. Good for you, Susie! The rest of the tribe seems to be pretending they aren't there except for Bob, who really does think he's somewhere else. Why does Probst insist on calling the tribes "the red tribe" and "the yellow tribe?" If you don't want them to have stupid quasi-native tribe names, then don't name them that. Oh, and there goes Marcus. Ha ha!
The newly Marcus-less Kota returns to camp. Susie and Crystal hug and then go to Ken, who's trying to re-start the fire. Ken says "the Crystal in [him] came out" at Tribal Council, as he gave Marcus an earful of attitude. Traditionally, only Crystal is usually brave/foolish enough to do that. Susie says she's "proud" of the man Ken has become since she last was on a tribe with him, saying it's great that he's coming out of his shell. Great for Susie, that is. The more everyone else comes out of his shell and has public outbursts, the further under the radar she can fly. Standing tall, Ken tells us that he's very happy not to have gone home. He says his days of flying under the radar are over, and now it's time that he stood up for himself. He then takes credit for both Ace and Marcus's blindsides, when Marcus's blindside was all about Crystal and Susie. I don't think I'm going to like this new alpha Ken. Bob joins the crew around the fire and makes everything awkward. Ken tells us that Bob is the next to go, sounding more and more like Marcus and Ace with every passing word. Bob shows that he has been paying some attention to this game and says he assumes he'll be voted out next if they lose another challenge. No one answers him, and the question really shouldn't have been asked. Bob tells us that he needs a merge, or else "I'm history. Even though I teach science. Um ... that was a little joke." Was it ever! Bob? More like LOL!
After the credits, we head back to Fang, who has finally run out of rice. Ha ha ha! The people chiefly responsible for the lack of rice -- Crystal and Ken -- are over at Kamp Kota with an herb garden and coffee while the people who won all those food rewards --Charlie, Corinne, and Randy -- starve. That's so unfair. Not only that, but Matty tells us that they can't make fire anymore for some reason. He really wants a merge. He and Charlie get the latest treemail, and everyone hopes it tells them they're going to merge. Randy notes that the treemail comes with a flag, and hopes it's the new tribe flag, even though it's red. The treemail says nothing about a merge, but indicates that the next Reward Challenge will be golf-related and the reward will be the standard trip to a cultural village where the natives dress up and put on a show and we're supposed to think that's how they live all the time when in reality they probably own jeans and live in homes with electricity and TVs and stuff. The treemail also includes a giant slingshot with an over-sized golf ball to practice with. And just to make what's about to come even more awesome, Corinne tells us she was hoping for a merge so she could see Marcus again and that she doesn't care who went home from Kota last night as long as her alliance with Charlie and Marcus is still intact.