Episode Report Card Sara M: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Crystal Clear
By Sara M | Season 17 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.23.2008
Crystal tries to talk to Matty about her reward challenge tears. She tells him not to see them as a weakness. Meanwhile, I'd like to point out that Matty is working on cutting up all these vegetables and roots and fruits he just collected to make food for everyone while Crystal is just sitting around. She has a feeling that Kelly thinks she's weak now. "Not weak," is all Matty says. Crystal decides to track Kelly down and talk to her before she has much of a chance to talk to Ace. She tells us that she's worried that some members of her tribe are putting her in the GC category, and says she was bummed after the challenge but snapped out of it pretty soon after returning to camp. But Kelly hasn't spoken a word to Crystal since the crying jag. "And so now she's going to feel the wrath of Crystal," Crystal says matter-of-factly. How about letting a challenge feel the wrath of Crystal for once?
Crystal happens upon Ace and Kelly in the woods at the top of a hill. "Hey, how'd you get here?" Kelly asks, apparently thinking that from Crystal's poor performance in that first hill-climbing challenge, she's unable to walk up hills. Kelly insincerely asks Crystal if she's feeling better. Crystal says she is, and that the old Kota members need to understand that while they were in a tribe that had fish and corn and beans at one point, she hasn't had any of those things except for "a pinch of a freaking sardine." She demands that Kelly not think her tears mean she's weak, since everyone feels a little blue from time to time. "It's just that mine come out through my eyes," she says. As opposed to tears that come out from where, exactly? She claims she can "still battle with the best of 'em," which is something we really haven't seen her do yet. Kelly tells us that she didn't take the crying as a sign of weakness, necessarily. She doesn't say what she did take it as, but says that while Crystal can explain herself to Fang all she wants, she can't say anything to Kota. I think she actually has a good point somewhere in there.
We're back at Kota again. We've seen so much of them this episode that I'm very hopeful they'll be going to Tribal Council tonight. Oh, but there's another stroke of good luck for them, as Randy has caught a huge turtle. Aw, poor turtle. Marcus wants to grab it out of the water and feed the tribe, but Bob totally jumps in and grabs the turtle out of the water instead. Ha! Now Marcus won't get the credit he so desperately craves. Marcus tells us catching the turtle was like winning a reward challenge. Not for the turtle, it isn't. The rest of Kota is also happy, with Dan supplying cooking tips. Susie actually gets to speak up to tell us that she thinks the turtle will be very tasty. Thanks, Susie! I look forward to hearing from you again next week. Kota sits down to eat turtle soup, and Marcus tells us that they're at their highest point going into the next challenge. "Fang better watch out," he says.