Episode Report Card Sara M: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT II II
By Sara M | Season 19 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.12.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Galu feels more united than ever against Foa Foa and ready to pick them off one-by-one. They think they'll get their chance when a "randomly-chosen" team of five Galu members beats a team of three Foa Foas, Laura, and the random guy (with bonus member Natalie!), winning a reward of some time near a waterfall, fried chicken, and a clue to the new hidden immunity idol. They resolve not to tell Foa Foa there's another idol, but it doesn't matter since Li'l Russell took advantage of the absence of all those Galu members during their reward trip to look around for the idol he's sure is there. And since the producers are lazy and probably want Li'l Russell to find the idol anyway, he does so easily. He vows not to tell anyone about this one before running off to tell Shambo. They plan to use the idol to surprise eliminate Laura, but that plan goes awry when she wins yet another immunity challenge because she's kind of awesome. The target becomes Kelly instead, since she's part of Laura's inner circle and more of a threat than useless Monica. Meanwhile, Monica proves to actually be of some use when she asks if Galu should make some kind of contingency plan in case Li'l Russell somehow found the idol. John agrees with her, but Dave Ball is just sure that Li'l Russell doesn't know there's an idol around to find, let alone where. Oops! Li'l Russell gets all seven Galu votes and none of them count, as he uses an idol for the second Tribal Council in a row. Kelly doesn't have much to say on her way out, but then, she didn't have much to say during the rest of the season, either.
Get the latest recaplets, weecaps, blogs and more on-the-go via your smart phone with TWoP's mobile site.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The Erik-less Aiga return to camp on Night 21. Random Brett makes random conversation about the random things he wants to eat. Could the Survivor auction be coming up? I always look forward to the Survivor auction! Lest we forget that Li'l Russell exists and is the greatest thing ever to grace our television screens, he pops up to interview that he thought Galu was gunning for him, so he played his idol unnecessarily. Better to play it unnecessarily than be voted out while holding onto it, though, as I'm sure Erik would tell him if he weren't currently en route to the Losers Lodge. Now that he doesn't have an idol to play, he thinks he'll be going next unless a miracle happens. Because if God was going to help anyone out with anything, wouldn't it be some little troll man to win a million dollars? I think so.
Back in the shelter, the women (lead by Laura) bask in the glow of victory. Yes, what an accomplishment! You fractured your own tribe. Awesome. Ah, but Laura is also happy that they flushed out Li'l Russell's immunity idol. She interviews that playing the idol was "the dumbest move" on his part and isn't it nice to see someone calling Li'l Russell an idiot in an interview instead of the other way around? "Russell is gonna be gone next," she promises us.
The next morning, Natalie happens upon a cute little mouse-rat-thing that the producers drugged so it wouldn't run away when Natalie came crashing through its forest home. She lets loose about a million oh my goshes while trying to decide what she should use to kill it. Wow, she didn't even question it. There was no discussion as to whether or not she SHOULD kill the mouse-rat for food. Just HOW. That's kind of cool. She picks up a convenient nearby stick and hovers over the mouse-rat, which still does not move. Um, really? Is that mouse-rat really the one you want to eat? Because if it's not even trying to run away then it's probably sick. You don't want to eat sick rat. Or maybe it's fine but stuck on the glue trap the producers stuck it on because they think hot blonde girls killin' stuff will be a ratings bonanza. Finally, Natalie brings the stick down and kills the mouse-rat with many an "oh my Lord," drops it into a hollowed-out coconut, and brings it back to camp with "I killed something, y'all!" While Mick and Jaison don't even bother to sit up, Laura has the perfect reaction: "What? Ew." Natalie runs off to Li'l Russell in the hopes of praise. Random Brett is quick to congratulate her, but that's only because if he pretends he's looking down at the dead thing in the coconut, he can totally stare at her boobs. Jaison interviews that Natalie has really grown and changed during this game, having entered it as a shy and demure Southern belle. "She wasn't a Shambo," he says. And she still isn't. Can you imagine what would have happened if Shambo had been the one to find the mouse-rat? I'm sure it would have ended with her accidentally burning the camp down and the mouse-rat going on to live a long and healthy life. Random Brett cooks the mouse-rat and it is split up amongst everyone, giving them all about a grasshopper's worth of protein each. That was worth it.