Episode Report Card Sara M: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT The Process of Sugar Crystallization
By Sara M | Season 17 | Episode 12 | Aired on 12.11.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.In the fallout from last week's Tribal Council, Ken guilts Bob into promising to give him the immunity necklace if he wins it next. Bob goes on to win the reward challenge, beating Ken and Matty at an obstacle course/basketball shoot-out (the women couldn't even make one basket between them, so they never came close). The reward is a trip to a gorilla sanctuary, which is just awesome. Also, a shower, clean clothes, food, and an overnight stay. Bob gets to bring two people with him, and he picks Crystal and Ken in the hopes of getting into their alliance. He sends Susie to Exile, where she eats cantaloupe and is as much a part of the game as she's always been.
Back at camp, Matty tries to convince Sugar to ally with him against Crystal and Ken, but she's not having it -- until they return and pick fights with Matty. Then Sugar decides that they're mean bullies and she doesn't want them to win this game over nice guy Matty. Bob wins the immunity challenge, in which players are blindfolded and must negotiate an obstacle course. Crystal and Susie manage to leave the course entirely and get lost, which is hilarious. Next season I demand that all challenges involve blindfolds! Ken schemes to force Bob to keep his promise and give up the immunity necklace so that everyone can turn around and vote him out of the game, even though that already happened last season. He tries to accomplish this by whining a lot about how Bob made everyone hate him.
Meanwhile, Sugar takes matters into her own hands and tries to convince Bob, Matty, and Susie to vote Crystal out. She, of course, is safe, since this is the last Tribal Council she can play her idol, so she's wearing it around her neck and ready to do just that. At Tribal, Ken whines some more about how Bob promised him the necklace, and when the time comes to keep it or give it away, Bob keeps it, saying he doesn't think Ken is in danger of being voted out. That means Matty's going home … or is he? Because when it's time to play the not-so-hidden idol, Sugar shocks everyone by handing it to Matty. He plays it, and the votes against him do not count. Even if they did, in the end, he would have been fine. Ken and Crystal were the only ones who voted for him. Everyone else voted for Crystal, and the gold medal winner-turned-ultimate challenge loser goes out gracefully.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The contestants return from camp. Looking tired and pissed, Matty says that he got three votes tonight, and he's pretty sure the third one was from Ken. The alliance (a.k.a. everyone but Bob) meets to discuss it, and Matty asks Ken why he voted for him. Ken doesn't deny it, and says he thought Corinne had the idol. Matty isn't buying it. Ken tells us that he voted for Matty to win jury votes when he gets to the Final Three. And since Corinne had nice things to say about Ken on her way out, that might have worked. Then Ken gets all annoying and smug and says that he's the mastermind out here and he's calling the shots now. Not with Matty, who refuses to believe his story about Corinne having the idol, even though it's actually true as far as Ken knows. Matty storms off. He tells us that he's onto Ken now. Sugar tells Ken not to worry -- "Matty is gone next if Bob wins." She tells us that she likes Matty, but he's a physical threat and her alliance is with Ken and Crystal. Crystal points out that Matty wrote her name down once and she has yet to return the favor. She tells us that not writing his name down at Tribal Council when she had the chance is probably "the stupidest move that I've made in this game so far." Oh, I don't know about that. Wearing those ten pound shoes wasn't too bright, either.
The opening credits are back, complete with an unflattering shot of Corinne squatting and digging with her fake boobs a-jiggling.
Ken goes to Bob for some answers. He asks Bob if they lied to him. Bob says no. Ken asks why Corinne didn't play the idol, then. All Bob has to do is say that she thought they had the votes, so she didn't have to play it and decided to save it for later. But no. Instead, he sighs and admits that the idol was fake. Oh, Bob. Now Ken can get on his high horse and accuse Bob of lying to him and destroying his chances in the game. Bob is contrite, telling us that he feels "horrible" about putting Ken in such a bad position. What? Why? Ken put himself in a bad position by telling Crystal not to vote for Matty. Why is Bob's only strategy in this game to make convincing fake idols, only to feel so terrible about it afterwards that he loses any advantage they would have given him? "I risked everything to try to save you and Corinne, and this is what I get for being a nice guy?" Ken says, crossing his arms petulantly. Oh, please tell me Bob isn't falling for this. "If I win the next immunity, I'll give it to you," he promises. MORON! Ken tells us that he was able to make Bob feel so sorry for him that he promised him immunity if he wins it. "This is such a huge power play," Ken says. Is it really? It seems more like taking advantage of a nice old guy's inability to make good decisions after a month without food. Bob tells us that he's planning on being a man of his word when it comes to the immunity necklace. Which is exactly what Ken expected, and why you shouldn't have made that promise in the first place.