Episode Report Card Sara M: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Bob Is Full Of Craft
By Sara M | Season 17 | Episode 11 | Aired on 12.04.2008
After the shortest opening credits sequence ever, it's morning at Nobag. After some symbolic elephant vs. gorilla confrontation, Ken and Bob are checking the nets for fish. They've caught two big ones, although they're looking kind of dead. Ken reminds us that he's not an outdoorsy kind of person, but this game has allowed him to do something he would have never done otherwise. Ken and Bob bring their catch back to shore, and Crystal says the large catfish they caught looks like a "mini-shark." I think it looks much more like a catfish, which is what it is. Crystal makes me feel like Jacques Cousteau. The catfish is moving, so I guess it wasn't dead before. It sure did pick the wrong time to start fighting for its life, though. With that, Bob starts building something out of a used can. The others marvel at his intelligence except for Ken, who tells us that Bob isn't here to play the game. He's just here to build things. "That's stupid," Ken says. But useful, as Bob managed to make a grilling pan by flattening out the can, and now it's grilled catfish fillets for everyone! Ken says he's ready to get rid of Bob and take charge.
Reward challenge time! The contestants will divide into two teams of three. Team members will be tied together and race through a swamp and collecting gear-shaped puzzle pieces. Once all seven pieces have been collected, they must put them on a board so that all the gears work together to raise a flag. The first team to do so moves onto the final round, where the three players will compete against each other to solve a sliding puzzle. The first person to solve the sliding puzzle wins. And what are they playing for? Well, it's time for the family visit! Oh, except not really, as Probst says that he's sorry, but their family members are totally not here. But they are on videos loaded onto the product placement cell phone. Crystal is already crying. In the immortal words of Randy: "wah wah wah." Crystal gets to see her message first.
Crystal's boyfriend Andre is on there with her daughter, Destiny. They say everything's going well at home and they miss her. Ken's next. His message is from his sister, Jenny. He gets all weepy as she tells him to do his best and never give up. Ken is embarrassed to cry, but says he misses his family and "it's been rough." Can you imagine if the message had been from his Wii instead? Then we would have seen a true emotional breakdown. Probst tells the other contestants they're allowed to crowd around and see each other's messages. Corinne does so, apparently wanting to see how her mutant tribemates live. Susie's up next. Her husband and son are on, and they miss her and how loud the house is when she's around. Amazingly enough, Corinne has loved ones. Her whole family -- mom, dad, sister, and brother -- are on this one, and they've chosen the odd staging location of a stair landing for their message. They're also passing a microphone around even though they're loud enough without it. Corinne cries. It would seem that she has feelings. Bob's next. He gets to see his wife, Peggy. She says she hopes Bob is doing well in the game, but more importantly that he's having a good time. She's just as bad at the strategy side of this game as her husband. "I'm the luckiest man in the world," Bob says. "Aw," Probst says insincerely. He's so jealous. So bitter. Matty gets to go next. He wants to hear from his girlfriend, of course, and she pops up with their dog. She says they're as "happy as can be" without him around, which is kind of mean. She says she loves him and they can't wait for him to get back. Matty cries. Sugar is last. She gets a message from her sister, Salt. Salt hangs out in a living room full of blurred-out photos, which is strange. She says Sugar has everyone's support, and especially their father's. How does she know? I hope after I die people don't go around making assumptions about how I'd feel about things, especially if those things concern my family members' participation in reality shows. Because I'm pretty sure I'd be against it. Maybe I'm just mad that they did this the week after Randy got booted. I really, really, REALLY wanted to see who his loved one was. I have a feeling his message would have just been a video of the urn holding his dog's ashes, sitting motionless on the table, saying nothing.