Last week on Survivor, a reward challenge brought the S5 messages from home. Keith's message was "yes." Colby won immunity again, and Rodger's departure broke our hearts.
Day 37. Elisabeth is sad. She was lonely last night, and tells us it's different at camp without Rodger. She says, "He's a little treasure I happened to find in the Outback...from Kentucky." We then see many shots of lonely Elisabeth roaming around dejectedly. She tells us that Rodger wouldn't want her to get all mushy, and that she's not going to "kinda lay down and die." Instead, she's going to "win this thing," which essentially confirms for us that she's not. Elisabeth tells Colby and Tina that her friendship with Rodger started on Day 4, and that it's been an "emotional roller coaster" ever since. In an interview, she says she's been talking to Tina about her family, and that she's donned funky glasses which make her feel closer to them. She says that, with Rodger gone, she misses her family more, and that when she returns to the States, she's going to buy him his own pair of kooky eyewear as a token of her affection. Tina then tells us that she misses her husband and children. ["She has to say 'husband and children' because she sometimes can't remember which are which." -- Wing Chun] Elisabeth says that she misses "comfort, things you love." They're sunbathing as they have this conversation; some people might call that a comfort, albeit a stupid one. Elisabeth tells Tina that she feels like she's "not here from [her] life." How meta. In an interview Colby then tells us that his mom misses him the most of everyone he's left at home. Obviously, since she was the only one who bothered to show up for his online chat. He says that she's gotten him "through all this." It turns out that he talks to her every day when he "get[s] off" and that she doesn't "respond orally." That is what he said, even if it isn't what he meant. It's my job to report the facts, people. Make with them what you will. Tina tells us that when they first started playing the game, they "knew that there were some luxuries that [they] could not afford [them]selves." She says that one of those things was family, but that now they can laugh about it and "keep [their] sanity." Colby then jokes to Tina and Elisabeth that he's going to the grocery store, and asks whether they need anything. Tina wants him to fill up the car with gas. Elisabeth tells us that they do these little play-acting things to feel normal. She's kind of pinned up against a tree as she says this in her interview. She says that checking the mail is the most normal thing they do, as she and Tina head off toward treemail. Because every time I check my mailbox, it's full of bad poetry and instructions for mindless activity. No, really -- it is. Tina calls Colby a "lazy bones." Was the sound on this really bad for anyone else? Mine was muffled and practically inaudible. The reward clue is about rare chances and "regrets for the past." The last part of the clue claims that "one person is driving." Elisabeth thinks they'll be driving as part of the challenge; Tina thinks it's the reward; Colby just thinks it sounds cool. We have absolutely no idea what Bozo the Keith is thinking, because he's off somewhere practicing his juggling and unicycle-riding skills.
“ The key is for 'a car that converts into a tent,' and it will be waiting for Colby...I mean, 'the winner' in Texas...I mean, 'at his/her home.' ”
Oh! There he is, and he's even had time to wipe the white greasepaint off his face. As the S4 strut toward the challenge, Peachy stands in his surprisingly unstarched blue shirt and tells them to "come on in," but there's no place to go on into. It's pretty much an open field. He says, "It's not often that you git [sic] a chance to make up for past mistakes." He tells them that the day's challenge will repeat elements from prior challenges. He preaches that if they've learned anything, it will be easy, but if not, they'll be "repeating history." In the first leg, they will navigate a rope course attached to a carabineer while blindfolded and shackled. A bell will ring at the end of course, allowing them to remove their blindfolds. The second leg is a giant puzzle, the completion of which yields a key which will unlock the shackles. The last leg is another water bucket/ fire bucket scenario, except this time they must carry the buckets of water across a beam. The anticlimactic conclusion is, once again, the fire tower fuse. The reward is a "tent, a mattress, four wheels, and a key." The key is for "a car that converts into a tent," and it will be waiting for Colby...I mean, "the winner" in Texas...I mean, "at his/her home." First, though, the winner will get to sleep in the car as well as have a shower and a meal the night.
The challenge begins, and Bozo the Keith really is a klutz. He keeps falling over, but even so he manages to keep up with Colby. Tina looks like she's blind -- oh wait, she is. Colby finishes the first leg ahead, and he doesn't even look like he's trying. Elisabeth finishes last. Peachy says that everyone's still in the game. As they puzzle, Peachy admonishes them, "Do not lift anything." It looks like Keith might have been lifting his pieces, which is kind of like pulling the stickers off a Rubik's Cube and then sticking them back in the winning pattern. Colby finishes his puzzle, which reads, "Outplay." Peachy tells the others, who may be having a bit of trouble with the concept, "Remember, it's gotta line up with the pattern underneath." Elisabeth finishes and hobbles off to unshackle herself. Peachy then loses his cool at the others' inability to finish, and yells, "Slow down and think! It's gotta match the pattern underneath!" Bozo the Keith finally finishes, closely followed by Tina. Peachy says, "Everybody's still very much alive." Bozo the Keith falls off his beam. I'm not surprised. Colby's bucket fills first, and he begins working on his fire. There's a lovely underwear-cam of Elisabeth, who finishes . Bozo the Keith falls again -- even he doesn't look surprised. Tina begs her bucket to "please be it!" and her bucket comes through. She's smart and starts her fire with brush before gathering more. At this point, I actually thought she might win. But then suddenly Colby's saying "Jeff! Jeff! Jeff! Jeff!" because his fire bucket is rising -- the fuse then ignites. Colby yells, "Yeah! Now we're talkin'!" What were we doing before, when he was winning all the challenges? Colby says that he's never had a new car, and Tina congratulates him. As we go to commercial, Colby says that he's got "one hell of a winning streak" going on, and that he will ride it as long as he can.