The tribe switch comes relatively early, as a shuffle splits the tribes so that the new Nakum is evenly split between original Nakum and original Yaxha, while the new Yaxha is 4-3 in favor of original Nakum. In the immunity challenge, Steph takes her challenge curse with her, but it's Judd's hard-headedness and crummy aim that costs Yaxha the challenge. And in the end, when the evenly divided group heads to tribal council, Judd flips over to the ex-Yaxhas, giving Brooke the boot because he didn't "feel the love" from his former tribe. And also because you have to think he was looking like a pretty juicy target himself based on his performance and his personality. It's the first week that actually involves any strategy, so there's something to be said for that. In other news, Gary's secret identity takes another blow when he tries to convince Danni that she has him confused with another person named "Gary H." who went to Central Michigan and looks exactly like former NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom. It is seriously one of the least convincing denials of all time. Give it up, Gary Hogeboom!
Previously on Pick A Little, Talk A Little: Judd and Bobby Jon trash-talked Margaret for speaking while they were trying to play with their erector sets, and yes, all meanings are fully intended. Yaxha lost the reward challenge, and then it lost the immunity challenge after Brianna decided that in the team's production of Hoop Dreams, she would play the hoop and let the rest of the suckers provide the dreams. Besides, she didn't know what a pick was! Who doesn't know what a pick is? Who doesn't watch basketball? Who doesn't watch sports on television? Who knits? Who reads? While Lydia's anemic challenge showings weren't winning any prizes either literally or figuratively, Brianna and her braids had enough enemies that she found herself on what we might call the boot end of the boot. Farewell, my wisp. I'm hesitant to give advice, and no one strategy works for everyone, but I am willing to wander out on my limb and put forth the following: perhaps if you had...you know, moved.
Credits. I like how there's a snake right after they show Gary. And what is the snake saying? The snake is saying, "Snake? I'm not a snake. I'm a lizard. No, no, I used to have feet. I...I sold them. WHAT?"
The opening of Survivor has fallen into a blender with the opening of The Lion King again this week, as a large orange sun looms on the horizon and we all prepare for the inevitable appearance of computer-generated animals. CBS runs a Ghost Whisperer bug across the bottom of the screen, as if to say, "This may not be the most artistic show you've ever seen, but it could be worse, if you get our amply endowed drift." Drums. More sun. Hot. Hot, hot, hot. Scorching hot. Oven-roasted hot. Africa hot. (Well, for Guatemala.) In fact, one might even say it's too darn hot, if one were fond of exotic rhythms and switching back and forth between major and minor keys. A couple of monkeys lie limply over tree branches, their limbs dangling lifelessly in an apparent salute to Brianna. But I kid people who have already lost. Sun, again. Never has so much been done by so few in post-production to demonstrate that so many stupid people are so bothered by such heat exhaustion. SUUUUUN!
And now, Nakum, asleep on Day 9. Danni's rib cage poking up into the air like a sand dune. Cindy offers a voice-over in which she explains that these are the hottest conditions she's ever experienced. Which means, I suppose, that things are even more dramatic here than they are at the zoo. I do hear that the zoo is a place where there is a lot of excitement. Zoo emergencies are among the top causes of FBI intervention in civic affairs, they say. "Triple digits, every day," Cindy laments. The entire city of Phoenix, Arizona makes a yanking motion with one hand. We see Farmer Beavis, not much happier himself, covering his face in his hands in hot despair. (Not hot in the "hott" sense, although I'm sure he thinks so.) His long-sleeved coral work shirt (?) is beginning to show serious signs of grunge. Margaret comments to him that with the temperature being what it is, getting anywhere near the fire is a complete nightmare. Looking greasy and bitten and thoroughly knocked off the cocky block he was riding just a few days ago, Farmer Beavis agrees. I love it when a guy on this show is revealed to have spent years working an incredibly calculated scraggly look. Because as soon as he gets away from all his products, he stops looking like he stepped out of Details and starts looking like he stepped out of The Monthly Digest Of Guys Who Live In The Alley Behind The 7-Eleven. Margaret interviews that the team is worn out. As Bobby Jon pounds some corn, she explains that yesterday's basketball challenge pretty much finished them off entirely. The team, along with the monkeys with whom it lives, is "sapped of energy."
Somebody finds a shot of Danni, sapped of energy indeed, finding the strength to swat a bug on her arm. And that is the killer transition to the Bug Sequence. Nice edit. We watch as Judd, in a sweatshirt and long pants that I'm sure feel like a refreshing mist when the temperature is over 100 degrees, returns to the tribe from a wood-gathering expedition. With his hood on, Judd has a kind of Unabomber/Eminem thing going on -- until you see who he is, of course. He announces that it's a good thing he was covered up, because otherwise, the mosquitoes would have devoured him. "They were literally -- if I didn't have my sweatshirt on, forget about it." Yes, if he hadn't had his sweatshirt on, you would literally have to forget about it. And if it were no shirt at all, I believe I would give it my best effort. He compares the mosquitoes to "killer bees" from a movie. Except that they're not bees, I guess. And it's not a movie, and they don't kill you. But other than that, same thing. It would be nice if he took a sunnier approach, but there are only so many times you can point out that what's happening to you is a lot like A Bug's Life. In an interview, Judd explains that he and the tribe have been boxing against the mosquitoes. You think I'm kidding, I'm sure, but there is sparring. I'm not surprised that Judd is the kind of guy who might welcome an unfair fight, but it's hard to land a punch on an insect, I've found. He tells us that swatting only works for "a millimeter of a second." That's some of that quantum physics I've heard about, I think.
We get a few ugly shots of various people covered with bites, and you can tell that the horrible trade-off here is that the only relief from the bugs is to cover up, but that the only relief from the heat is to strip down to as little clothing as possible. And they can't go in the water, because of the crocodiles. That's a pretty good triple-sided nightmare they've come up with for these people, and depending on how the food holds out, it might be in the running for one of the toughest seasons they've done on this show, after a few seasons of tropical-island stuff that pretty obviously didn't compare to conditions like Africa or the Outback. "This places changes you," says Farmer Beavis, sounding very much like a person who's been in a war zone for a year rather than camping on TV for a week and a half. He says that it's easier to do nothing. ("Did Farmer Beavis lay around and do nothing?" "Suppoooosably.") He's happy that his tribe is at least still ahead of Yaxha; Farmer Beavis can't imagine how things are over there.
Speaking of over there, we cut over to Yaxha, where Rafe, Gary, and Jamie are working on (or Rafe and Gary are working on, and Jamie is "supervising") a method of minnow-catching that involves luring minnows into a submerged pot with corn (who even knew minnows liked corn?) and then pulling the pot out as quickly as possible with minnows inside. Steph is observing as well, and wonders how many they have. "Four, so far," Rafe says. Not a lot. In an interview, a half-embarrassed Rafe -- who's kind of cute, really -- says, "Basically, we're a finely tuned fishing machine." He adds that "these minnows are in trouble." The Guatemalan minnow population declines to tremble. That's an ugly pair of tablecloth-based shorts Gary is sporting, by the way. Not that he'd admit it.
And then we have another incredibly tense Crocodile/Alligator Scare, where the tribe looks out on the lake and sees the little beady eyes skimming through the water. Jamie interviews that they saw the thing snap up a fish, and they all speculated about how that could have been them. For some reason, I never noticed until now that Jamie's listed occupation is "Water-Ski Instructor." Now there is an occupation worth keeping to yourself. Yaxha cleans up with buckets of water. Again, I have to say, it seriously would suck to be that hot, and to be around that many bugs, and to be unable to go in the water for relatively realistic fear of being eaten. They've also kept the rewards relatively spare so far, so these conditions are, I think, genuinely fairly unpleasant.
A fish bites Jamie. Go, fish, go!
Now, we are among the ruins, and Probst is bringing the tribes onto their mats, showing Nakum that Yaxha got rid of Brianna. Jeff says that it's "arguably the toughest Survivor ever," so in return, they're getting a break from challenges today to learn what they think of each other. Ah, the dreaded non-challenge challenge. Jeff's going to ask them questions, and they'll reveal their answers to him. "Each answer will have a direct effect on those tribemates," he says. I personally believe the best twist ever would be a challenge like this where everyone wrote down the name of the person they liked the best who had done the most for the tribe up to that point, and then that person was instantly eliminated. I just think it would have an elegant meanness that would bring this enterprise right back to where it needs to be. But nobody ever listens to me.
Okay, on with the non-challenge. First question: which tribe member most needs nourishment? And you can't vote for yourself. Practically everybody at Yaxha votes for Jamie, and practically everybody at Nakum votes for Danni. What's awesome is that Danni is getting that vote because she looks like she could keel over at any moment, and Jamie is presumably getting it because he bitches about wanting to eat constantly. I can't imagine why else he would get the vote, of all people. Jeff calls Danni and Jamie up to the podium and offers them each an apple, which they proceed to enjoy. ("Hi, Danni." "Hi, Jamie." "Whatcha doin'?" "Eatin' an apple.")
question: who's the smelliest? Nakum picks Bobby Jon (heh), while at Yaxha, Gary barely edges out Jamie. Bobby Jon and Gary are sent up to take showers. The overhead shot of Gary involves pixelizing of something that isn't even his ass, which...privacy, people. Can we get just a little? ["Or, if we can't, couldn't Bobby Jon's pixelizable bits get equal screen time, if not more? (As a pervert might ask.)" -- Wing Chun] Brian promises Gary that the tribe will be "smelling [him] all night." I'm sure Gary appreciates that. Indeed, when Gary comes back to his tribe, they all give his head a mighty sniff. Considering that he's still wearing the same stanky clothes, I really can't imagine he smells all that wonderful, or that he will for very long, but I guess you could sniff the shampoo in his hair. I usually like to smell necks when it comes to men, but hair would be adequate in a pinch.
The question requires the contestants each to pick a man and a woman from their tribe who deserve a picnic trip. At Yaxha, Gary and Amy are chosen. At Nakum, Judd and Margaret are chosen. Now, at Yaxha, I would totally believe that they picked on basically merit and/or sympathy -- Amy's got the ankle, Gary's pretty well-liked. At Nakum, I wondered at first whether this was a function of people trying to get it for themselves by voting for people they thought nobody else would vote for, because neither Judd nor Margaret seems like the most popular person to me. But really, that would only apply to men voting for men and women voting for women, and I think the men like Judd okay and the women like Margaret okay, so I guess this is just how it played out. The four chosen ones go up, and Amy asks Jeff, hesitantly and a little tearfully, "What is it, a tarantula?" "I wouldn't do that to you," Jeff says, even though he totally would. But when he uncovers the picnic basket, it really is a picnic, with chicken, potato salad, cookies, and iced tea. So it's not a tarantula, this time. With Margaret in tears of joy, they take their basket off to eat.
The remaining tribe members are asked who has the most "tribe pride." Jeff makes reference to "bleeding" your tribe colors, which... is stupid. At Yaxha, Brian and Lydia vote for Steph, while Steph, Rafe, and Jamie vote for Brian, so Brian wins. At Nakum, Cindy nails down four votes (everyone's except Danni's) and wins it. Jeff then explains that at Yaxha, for having the most tribe pride, Brian will get to stay a member of Yaxha. Steph, Rafe, Lydia, and Jamie are being sent to Nakum. At Nakum, Cindy gets to stay there, but because Nakum has an extra person, another one of her tribe members will get to stay with her. The rest draw buffs to stay at Nakum, and Brooke is the big winner of the yellow buff. So Brooke and Cindy will stay at Nakum, as will Margaret and Judd when they return, and those four will be joined by Steph, Lydia, Jamie, and Rafe. The new Yaxha will be the tribe that's majority-Nakum, interestingly enough, made up of Bobby Jon, Blake, Brandon, Danni, Brian, Amy, and Gary. Sucks to be a suddenly outnumbered member of Yaxha. That's what Brian gets for all his tribe pride. How ironic. "You have pride! Fuck you!" Jeff sends the new tribes back to their camps.
Meanwhile, up at the top of a pyramid, those who were treated to a picnic are enjoying their feast. In an interview, Gary guesses he could see thirty miles from where he was. I'm actually guessing it was farther than that. Margaret chats up Amy about her accent and her police job. And then Margaret says to Gary, "And you're an ex-football player?" Gary shakes his head: "No. I'm a landscaper." He doesn't do that badly with the lie at this instant, actually. It's as non-lame as he's ever going to look as an artist of deception. In fairness, I used to lie about my history, too, until I established a new identity and became a stewardess. Gary says that he heard Danni say something like that, about football, and he feigns puzzlement. Judd says something about Gary looking "familiar." "I wish I was," Gary says gamely. In an interview, Amy says that Gary denies being a football player: "Who knows? Watch him be retired, and he's like a multimillionaire. I'll kill him." See, I think she'll kill him for the lying and for fooling her, not for being a quarterback. It seems to have so much more downside than upside, this move of his. And that will do it for this episode of Hogeboom, Boom, Boom, Let's Go Back To My Room. (I'm trying to get out all my Gary's-name jokes as soon as I can, because you never know when you're going to lose a guy, and I'm still pissed about the magician's-assistant material that never saw the light of day.)
Guy in a crocodile suit.
As the reconstituted Yaxha, consisting of Brian and the Nakum refugees, returns to camp, Brian interviews that this "reward challenge" (as he finger-quotes) wasn't so much reward-y or so challenge-y, it was really just a switch. They're not empty-handed, though, because as sometimes happens, the tribe switch is being celebrated with food -- namely, a big bowl of fruit. (Don't even ask about the banana-eating controversy in the Brian thread this week -- apparently, other people find the eating of fruit far more innately sensual than I do.) Brian explains that he was being all happy-host-guy, but it's not like he doesn't see the writing on the wall here. He's got to do the tooth-grinding "I'm so glad you're all here to...outnumber me!" thing. So Brian explains about the work ethic at Yaxha and how he hasn't found himself tired, and Bobby Jon encourages him not to overwork himself. Bobby Jon wants the tribe to reserve energy for challenges. Brian enthusiastically agrees, as I suspect he's doing a lot right about now, because four against one is really bad odds. He interviews that, of course, his group is totally outnumbered.
A little later, Amy and Gary return to camp to find that they've been invaded by Nakumians. "Get the fuck outta here," Amy says. And she means it quite literally, but fortunately, she can get away with pretending she doesn't. She wants to know if the presence of the former Nakum is a joke, which...it's not. As Amy explains in an interview, she was doing her best to be effusively happy while shooting unhappy looks at Gary. Gary stupidly opens a conversation where he goes around and discusses occupations. Even smarter! They all chitchat about what they do. "And no football?" somebody asks Gary as Danni eyes him. "Landscaper," Gary replies. Trying to seem casual while wildly scratching his ear, which: good one, Gary asks Danni, "Who did you think I was?" "Oh, I thought that you played at Central Michigan," she says. And then Gary says -- get this -- "No, I went to Central Michigan, but I didn't play there." So he's now telling her: "You have me confused with another extremely tall man named Gary H. who looks enough like me for you to have gotten us confused, and who went to a relatively obscure Michigan college which you have, by coincidence, correctly identified, but who played football, which I did not." Is he kidding me with this? If he isn't Gary Hogeboom, he's established that he is the Bizarro Gary Hogeboom, and that he and Gary Hogeboom really need to meet, because that is uncanny! It's like meeting someone named Paris Milton, and she's blonde, and she dresses badly, and her Sidekick got stolen, but her family made all its money in rest stops, so it's easy to get confused. Danni looks completely amused and utterly unconvinced by Gary's clever charade. ["It seemed to me, in this sequence, that when they cut to Amy, she was also smirking and looking unconvinced, like she's already figured out his pants are on fire, but perhaps I'm projecting." -- Wing Chun] Indeed, in an interview, Danni's only interest is in the progress of Gary's lie, because she couldn't be more in the know that he's full of it. She guesses about Gary's motives for hiding it from everybody: "You know, you think right away, he doesn't need the money." Gary reiterates, in another interview, again, once more, that he intends to deny his Hogeboomity until the very last day: "I'm not going to blow my strategy." Well, yes, it is working like a charm, so you might as well keep it up.
Day 9, Nakum. Judd and Margaret return to find a bunch of Yaxha-ites in their camp. Jamie is guzzling wine from the bottle (I feel you) as Margaret and Judd get the lowdown on the switch. Some chitchat starts up about "Squeee!" and winning challenges. Margaret interviews that she no longer feels safe. The tribe then experiences its first rainstorm as Margaret tells us how mixed up she feels. She predicts that the old members of Nakum will stick together, but she's not sure what Yaxha is going to do. Margaret and Judd take a walk, and as they walk, he interviews that he doesn't care about the switch at all. He says that he's happy to be rid of all the alpha males from Nakum, because between himself, Blake, Bobby Jon, and Farmer Beavis, it was a "maletosterone thing." Well, ladies and gentlemen, I do love the maletosterone. It makes a nice balance to the girlstrogen. ["I thought Judd was a doorman, but he's sounding more like a glandocrinologist." -- Wing Chun] Judd says that, at the new Nakum, he's "the big gun." And then he does his King Kong impression, complete with chest-beating. Howlie: "Impressive. Are you done? Good. RAAAAAAR!"
Jamie and Steph sit together. "What's her name?" Steph wonders. "That girl, the law girl?" Excuse me, "the law girl"? Good Lord. Jamie says that the "law girl" is Brooke. Jamie says that Brooke is "cool and everything," but notes that she's not athletic. Steph says that if they could rid of Brooke, they could keep the four ex-Yaxha together by having Nakum "down in numbers." They suspect that Brooke may be better than Lydia, but they know that if they let Lydia go, they'll be at a numeric disadvantage. Steph says in an interview that they're going to try to get rid of Brooke to keep the numbers -- and besides, Lydia does a lot around camp. Lydia has really made those minnows last a long time. Steph and Jamie decide that they'll target Judd as their possible fifth vote. He and Steph have a Jersey bond, and he seems like the most likely choice. Judd comes up to talk to them, and he comments that when Jim's arm fell off and he was voted out, he never even got to come up to the top of the ruin where they are now. Irrelevant! Anyway. Steph asks Judd who the strongest girl of the three ex-Nakum is, and they agree that it's probably Margaret. Jamie says that Brooke looks, to them, to be the weakest. Steph also asks Judd whether he's tighter with Cindy or Margaret. Trying not to commit, Judd basically makes it clear he's not "tight" with either of them, really. He likes Jamie and Steph better! Steph plays into it, talking about their "natural click." And she totally is thinking "click," but if you heard it in your head as "clique"? You'd still be following the dynamic pretty much correctly. Jamie tells Judd that their move will be to get rid of Brooke. And then, he vows, they'll get rid of Lydia . Because it's totally not about Pagonging, at all. They'll take turns. And then after that, they'll get rid of Margaret or Cindy. Jamie and Steph agree that Rafe will do whatever they tell him to do -- always a very dangerous assumption. Especially with that weird stripe of honor that Rafe seems to think he's supposed to sport, it's hard to tell what he might do.
Back down at camp, Rafe is chatting with Lydia, Cindy, Margaret, and Brooke, but Margaret is looking off at the Judd/Steph/Jamie meeting that clearly has her nervous.
And up at that meeting, Judd is cementing his agreement to vote off Brooke. He tells us that he feels "very good" about his setup with Jamie and Steph. As he eats a mango, he tells us that he isn't at all concerned about getting rid of his own former tribe members: "Because I didn't feel the love, man, I didn't feel the love there at all, I felt no love there." Wow. He sure does like the love, for a guy who beats his chest that much. "They gotta get out of my jungle," he says. Almost as appealing as when Rupert said it, that is.
Yaxha, Day 11. Amy explains to us that she does feel some concerns about her tribe. "There's four of them," she says dramatically, and she pauses. "And three of us," she finally finishes. "They're just going to pick us off, one by one." You'd think that this might be the part where I point out that math isn't very dramatic, but you'd be shocked at how many fools can't do it, so it's more of a development than you think.
I'm not sure they've ever been as explicit about showing guys peeing as they are right here as we bust in on a conversation between Bobby Jon and Blake, which we fortunately view from behind. Blake tells Bobby Jon that his loyalty extends to Bobby Jon, Farmer Beavis, and Danni. It's four against three. But weirdly, Blake then talks about how they'll "win every competition." I mean, if it's really four against three, you might as well lose the competitions and get rid of people. In fact, if you thought you might reunite post-merge with, say, Judd, then you'd exactly want to lose, because losing means you know you can get rid of a Yaxha person, while winning means that the other tribe, where Nakum is much more precariously situated, will be voting. Anyway, Bobby Jon and Blake agree that it would be Amy who they'd get rid of. Blake interviews that they've already decided the order will be Amy, then Brian, then Gary, presumably based on usefulness in challenges, also presumably taking into account Amy's ankle.
Amy and Gary sit by the water, and Amy shows off her swollen ankle again. She interviews that she's doing everything she can to conceal how bad it is from the tribe so that they won't think she's weak. She does feel like "a major target."
Speaking of challenges, let's have one now. Jeff brings in the tribe, and he takes immunity back from Cindy. Nakum decorated the idol with a yellow feather, it turns out. Brian vows that, tonight, the idol will get a blue feather. Tribe pride! Tribe pride! Jeff explains the challenge. Both tribes will paddle out and bring back three bags that are tied to buoys out in the water. ["This really is the season of bag-based challenges, and every time Jeff says 'bag,' I snicker." -- Wing Chun] They'll bring the bags back to shore and empty them out. Inside them are clubs, which the tribes will then hurl at big tiles. First team to break all the tiles wins. No person can break more than one tile, and if you can't hit one, you can always tag out and let someone else go. You will be shamed, and your family will be required to burn a candle in the window in atonement for your shame, but don't be afraid to tag out. Lydia is not participating in this particular challenge.
Ready...go! The tribes run down the beach and hop in their boats. Both tribes get their first bags. The way the bags are arranged, the teams have to cross paths as they go from the first bag to the second, and as they go, the boats ram each other. Rafe gives Yaxha a shove, and Nakum is first to its second bag. Yaxha eventually gets back on track. Nakum winds up ahead by the time they get back to the shore, although Yaxha makes up some ground along the way.
The first person to throw for Nakum is Steph. It takes her a few hits, but she has the tile broken before Yaxha, which was only a few boat lengths behind them coming to the beach, even gets Brian up there as its first thrower. So now it's Brian against Judd, who's trying for the distant target, trying to be a hero again. Brian is told to tag out by his team, and Danni takes his place. Danni hits while Judd is still up there. Blake goes up for Yaxha, and Judd stays up. Blake hits, and Judd still stays up. Brandon goes up for Yaxha. Finally, Judd hits one, so it's 2-2. Jamie comes up, so Jamie and Brandon are throwing for the win. Farmer Beavis connects, and Steph's team is going to tribal council again. Jeff gives Yaxha the immunity idol. And Nakum? Tribal council. He sends everybody home.
Later at Nakum, still on Day 11, Steph is once again trying the argument that it's not that bad, because it will still be 7-7 after this tribal council. Rafe tells us that the 4-4 standoff is the issue going into the evening, and that the former Yaxha had it in mind the entire time to try to flip somebody to "get a leg up." They're hoping that the flipper will be Judd. As Steph and Rafe chat, they note that, among other things, Judd hates both Margaret and Brooke, so he should be easy to convince. Rafe tells us that he hopes it will all work out, but that a tie wouldn't surprise him.
Elsewhere, Cindy, Brooke, and Margaret take a walk, during which they say they'd really like to "keep the majority," but feel bad getting rid of hardworking Lydia, the saddest sack on the show, apparently. Poor, hardworking Lydia. Brooke interviews that the camp seems to be in agreement that they're voting off the weakest person: Lydia. The ladies agree to talk to Judd. Margaret tells us that they need to figure out how much loyalty Judd retains to his former tribe. (None! The answer is, none! There is no loyalty! Loyalty is for stupid people!)
Jamie, Rafe, and Judd sit around with Brooke and ask her what the chats she's been part of have suggested. She says it seems like it should be the weakest person, so that would be Lydia.
Now, Judd and Margaret have a chat. She says she'd prefer for the old Nakum group to hang together. Judd: "Mm-hmm." Judd tells Margaret that you just vote off "the weakest player." Judd goes on to give the stunningly stupid explanation that what will happen is "we lose one; they lose one." Because they're going to trade off, Judd believes. Because when the former Yaxha have the former Nakum down 4-3, they will behave in an honorable fashion by taking their turn voting off one of their own members. Here's where the ability to count would really come in handy again. Margaret looks at him like he's nuts, and she tells him that won't happen. They'll get picked off once they're down 4-3. Judd says that they'll still need him and Margaret for challenges, and Margaret points out that she's not saying they'll vote all three of them off at the same time. Just one at a time. I love the shot of Howlie looking down at this conversation and saying, "I cannot believe she has to explain this to his sorry ass." Judd claims that he's "like whoa." And that Margaret has his "wheels turning." I really kind of doubt he has any wheels to speak of.
Rafe applies wet leaves to Lydia's back in a move I suspect is about either sunburn or, more likely, bug bites. I doubt it does anything, but it might feel good. Lydia asks whether it is indeed the four former Yaxha sticking together. Rafe says yes, and that they hope they'll also have Judd. Lydia feels insecure, but all Rafe can really say is a lot of "hopefully" talk.
Elsewhere, Judd and Steph agree that they're still going with Brooke. Judd interviews that he's concerned that he might not have the three-person alliance with Jamie and Steph that he thinks he does, because if he doesn't, then he's at the bottom of a five-person deal with the former Yaxha. "That's a little scary," he says. Brooke comes over to Judd and Steph, so that's awkward. Judd interviews that there's a lack of trust and so forth. "I don't know until I get there," he says of voting at tribal council. Liar!
Tribal council. Torches. Jeff brings in the group. Jeff opens, as he must, by pointing out to Steph that she's 1-for-7 in challenges this season. This brings her total, over the course of her experience in two seasons, to 4-for-21. He asks her whether it's possible that she doesn't so much attract bad luck as make bad luck. She says she hopes not, because that would suck, but it's not like it hasn't occurred to her.
Jeff asks Margaret about the new dynamics. Margaret says that she was a little nervous about the Judd-Jamie-Steph summit, although she hopes it was just socializing. Asked whether he knew people were watching, Judd claims they were just "getting to know each other." It takes him way too long to do this, and he carries on and on to such a degree that his defensiveness becomes preposterously obvious. He's almost as good a liar as Gary, I'll say. Jeff asks Lydia about tribal council and whether she feels any better; she says she still feels vulnerable, and that the tribe doesn't "know her strength yet" (might want to get on that). Asked what worries her, Brooke says that because strength seems to be at a premium, she feels like the women are generally at greater risk than the men are. Interesting point.
Jeff asks Judd about his dealings with people at work back home, and how that affects the game. Judd says that he knows how he "connects" with people. From being a...doorman, I guess. I don't get this, but all right. I'm actually kind of surprised he's in a job where he deals with the public, because he seems to kind of not like anybody.
Now is the time on Survivor when we vote. Brooke votes for Lydia, saying she's a hard worker, but that it's an immunity-challenge thing. Cindy votes. Rafe votes for Brooke, telling her she's "awesome," and that it's just "strategy." Jamie votes. Margaret votes for Lydia, citing "tribe loyalties." Dummy. Lydia votes. Steph votes. Judd votes.
Jeff goes to read the votes. Lydia. Brooke. Lydia. Lydia. Brooke. Brooke. Three to three. Brooke. Aaaaand...Brooke. So that's going to do it for Brooke. She gets up and is snuffed. Jeff makes a little speech about how shifts make it harder to trust you, and then he sends them off. ["You know, the whole 'Jeff's Final Thought' he does now really adds nothing to the show. Shut up, Jeff." -- Wing Chun]
In her farewell interview, Brooke comments that she had a short but valuable experience, proving herself as well as she could. She wishes the Nakum ladies luck.
week: Judd is a traitor! Brian doesn't refuse praying. And undoubtedly, Gary is still totally not a former NFL quarterback.