Well, it had to happen sooner or later. No, not Ravu winning a challenge -- they lose both again. First, they lose the reward challenge after several of them turn out to be kind of bad at shooting baskets and/or extremely bad at running and sliding on slippery surfaces. You'll just have to trust me. So Moto takes home even more fishing gear and sends Sylvia back to Exile Island, where she gets a clue that basically says "Look here for the idol, dummy." She only returns when the immunity challenge comes along, and it turns out it's an eating competition. Much of Ravu fails to deliver, and in the end, Gary (also known as "Papa Smurf") faces off with Anthony and is faster on the draw at eating pig snouts than Anthony is, so Ravu loses again. Mookie is in the mood to get rid of Anthony, because he can't understand that eating a big dry hairy pig snout might be harder than eating a little wet slimy worm, so he thinks Anthony is a wimp. But in the end, the tribe is pretty confident that Sylvia isn't going to pop out the idol, so they throw the majority of the votes to her, with a few Anthony votes as a backup in case she does have the idol. (And a random Earl vote to avoid the 4-4 tie.) It turns out that Sylvia just didn't have time to look for the idol between the challenge and tribal council, so she doesn't have it. Sylvia heads home, and the tribe most likely is thinking it might have been better off booting her in the last episode. Alliances still appear very loose, but Anthony seems to be on the outs, and should be hoping for a victory week. Oh, and Ravu finally has fire, thanks to Michelle and a pair of glasses. That much, at least, is a relief.
Previously on I Tan't Talk, By Bouth Is Too Dwy: Boo was a hazard to hisself. Sylvia was bossy in general, while Erica was bossy very specifically. While Sylvia thought she was done for when Ravu kept losing, Mookie went bazoo at the last minute, and ultimately, Erica took her leave. This didn't really change the fact that people really, really didn't like Sylvia. Seventeen are left. Who will be voted out...tonight?
Some animal with a big slimy mouth full of teeth (it kind of looks like Jabbini the Mini-Hutt on night vision) is making itself at home at Ravu on Night 6, just as the tribe returns home. I sense that somebody is about to be eaten, which is cool. Everyone looks defeated, and Yau Man interviews that two straight losses have been really hard on the tribe. He adds that, as of this tribal council, they realized that the tribe isn't really together right now. Except, of course, for the togetherness that comes from slowly turning into desiccated husks. Rocky and Mookie are having some kind of a casual "strategy" session, and Mookie comes up with the great idea to cut some coconuts and pineapple in the morning to help with the dehydration. That isn't so much "strategy," I guess, as "recitation of elementary morning plans such as 'get up' and 'use potty.'" Rita tells the guys that if there's a high, hot sun tomorrow, she wants to try to start a fire, and Michelle agrees. I'm not sure why decisions need to be approved at this level, but I'm never one to ague with diplomacy.
Rocky interviews that the tribe is now "the biggest group of losers that Survivor's ever seen," which means he is not a longtime viewer, or he is losing his perspective. I think Ulong has to be considered much bigger losers, considering that they were whittled to one person and eventually absorbed. These people have only lost two tribe members consecutively. It's not, as of this point, anything history-making, especially since they're up against the added disadvantages of Ouch Camp, which past losers have not been. There's some distance between you and the bottom of the barrel, Rocky. Don't despair! At any rate, Rocky says that he's not sure whether somebody put a whammy on them or something, but that Ravu "just can't win right now." I think it has more to do with dehydration and exhaustion than the forces of darkness, if I'm being honest. Satan also has a tub, after all. In the post-tribal-council group discussion, Rocky tells everyone that tomorrow, at the challenge, they should try to let somebody lead, and try not to all talk at the same time. Yau Man understates that they "really need to get [their] act together." I wasn't surprised to hear that he was a professor, because he has that persistent optimism combined with a solid grounding in futility that haunts everyone who has dealt with college students. Rita tells the tribe that it's time to "put egos aside and put tribe and winning first." They know in theory what to do, of course. It's going to be execution. This conversation is kind of like standing around saying, "Tomorrow, I suggest we win. My suggested strategy is to do everything slightly better than the other team." Yau Man adds that the more challenges they lose, the harder it is to come back. Ah, yes. The big mo, she is a harsh mistress.
Credits. Rita really does look a little bit like Uncle Nick. At least I can convince myself that she does.
We return to Moto on Day 7, where Stacy and Lisi are applying blue paint to the floor of the shelter. It's a little bit like Trading Spaces with more poisonous snakes and fewer stick-on flowers. As Stacy explains this, it was Lisi's idea, to partially seal the floor so that the ants wouldn't come in so much. You can imagine how happy they'd be over at Ravu if ants were their biggest problem. They would most likely catch and eat them. Even if they had tiny dots of blue paint on their feet. The music at this stage is a little wacky, as if the painting project is an inherently ridiculous idea, but I'm not sure it is. I mean, it depends on how the ants are getting in, but temporarily -- long enough for a month-long stay at most -- I can imagine paint making it a little more difficult for ants actually to come up through the wood. Once again, we watch the Moto tribe eat delicious food and talk about how it's all too easy, it's all going too well, and they sort of still can't believe this is Survivor. This, we have seen before. Boo interviews that life at Moto is basically a party. I think he's the kind of guy who probably does sustain injuries while partying fairly frequently, so it makes sense that it would strike him this way. He looks at the camera and says, "It's not even survival, it's...thrival." I felt pretty damn stupid looking that up to make absolutely sure it wasn't a word before I pointed out that it isn't a word, but...it isn't a word, "Boo." There's no such thing as "thrival." Lisi tells the group that she thinks the members of Ravu might just start "dropping like flies," owing to their inability to get anything to go right. I trust she isn't hoping they're dropping like flies, because hoping to beat people is a far cry from hoping they die of dehydration.
Cut to...Ravu! Day 7! Mournful strings play, sounding oddly like they could be the beginnings of songs by a couple of different really good bands I know. This means I listen to only depressing music. I wonder how that happened. Rocky lies on the ground, looking weak. Yau Man sits, looking weak. It's kind of becoming epic. You sort of expect Scarlett O'Hara to wander among them and bind their wounds. And then a boat approaches, and it's Earl, returning from Exile Island. Remember Earl? He's had water for a couple of days, at least, which is more than the rest of them can say. I hope he had a lot to drink. The tribe welcomes him, and in a very sad exchange, he kind of hopes they already have fire, and they kind of hope he brought fire with him, and everyone gets depressed all over again. It's like O. Henry if you read it backwards. He says that encountering his tribemates on the beach was like running into "a bunch of begging children." Sigh. As Earl settles in, they ask him about the idol, and he says something about how the clue is "interesting." He says in an interview that he's not sure where to look, but that "it's under something that's high." The talk among the tribe turns back to fire, and Earl wonders if they're trying to make any use of the great big sun. Rita says yes, they're planning to, but that they're waiting until it's high in the sky. It's sort of sad watching them just lying there waiting for the sun to change position, because they lack the energy to do anything else.
The sun is high. Michelle is holding a pair of glasses over a little pile of dry grass. "Dear Sun," she says cheerily. "Michelle would like you to come out and play today. Please participate in my game. Sincerely, Michelle." So in her letter to the sun, which she signs with her name, Michelle is referring to herself in the third person. Think through your shtick, people! The sun will get your letter and be like, "Wait, this letter is from Michelle, but it also refers to Michelle. I am confused!" And there will be no sun. We now cut back and forth between the big, round, hot sun and the glasses and the dry brush. "I started to pray," Michelle interviews with a cheerleader grin, "because I know my mama doesn't want me to die out here." I found that kind of amusing for some reason. Sun! Glasses! Sun! Glasses! And then all of a sudden, there is a little tiny flame. There are those who found this a little convenient and wondered whether the producers stepped in to keep these people from dying of dehydration, but (1) I think they could have fixed up something a little less contrived to get fire to Ravu had they wanted to; and (2) the way they show the fire starting, it starts as just a singe at the very edge of a piece of cloth, which I think is about what might happen if you really did start a fire by focusing the sun, so I'm going with real right now, though I wouldn't fall over with shock if there were some kind of juicing going on. What's really dumb is that, rather than do anything with it herself, Michelle picks up the tiny flame, runs back to the beach, and hands it over to Anthony to do something with it. That seems...insane. At least build it up a little, you know? You don't have to give it to the men instantly as if you're afraid to handle it. The boys start fussing over the fire, blowing on it lightly to try to build it up, and putting what I think is papery bark over it. Suddenly, it grows significantly, blowing up into a genuine small fire. There is much hugging and sincere happiness, and I think they're probably about as relieved as any tribe has ever been at something they managed to accomplish themselves. Rocky says that this should be the "shot in the ass" they've been needing, and he hopes it will perk them up. "I'd be scared to be the other team right now," he says. "We're just so fired up, it's ridiculous." I'll go along with "ridiculous," anyway.
Challenge course. Probst welcomes Moto, then Ravu. He points out to Moto that Ravu got rid of Erica. Jeff asks Ravu how things are -- he recalls that, the last time he spoke to them, they weren't doing well. Probst always comes off incredibly gloaty at these moments, like, "Dead yet? Heh-heh." He asks Rocky to comment, and Rocky says that while things are still bad, they're improving -- Michelle started a fire, so now they have water. I'm not sure how much water they can have boiled and drunk by the time this challenge happens, but presumably they've at least had some. Jeff is duly impressed, and says that not very many tribes have managed to make fire without flint or torches, which is certainly true. He tells them -- and this part I do think was partly the result of the producers being as generous as possible to the tribe so that the contestants wouldn't die -- that now that they started fire on their own, they can have a flint, which he tosses to them. Michelle kisses the flint.
In this challenge, you slide down a very slippery course, head to head against another person, and you grab a numbered ball that's hanging along the way. Then you go to the end of the course and toss the ball into a very small basket. First person to get the ball in the basket gets the point for his or her tribe, and the first tribe to six points wins, which, you'll note, means that there's a lot of luck involved in both who goes up against whom and what order people are sent up in. The winning tribe will have its choice of three rewards. First, their luxury items, which appear to include...a stuffed turtle? I bet that's Michelle's. Just a hunch. Second, another kit of fishing equipment, just like the one Moto already has. Third, a big bowl of fresh fruit. Also, of course, the winning tribe sends someone from the other tribe to Exile Island. But this time, the person sent away won't be immune -- he or she will be returning for the immunity challenge. Moto sits out Lisi. Apparently, the members of Moto do not believe the challenge will have a Popeye voice section.
First up: Anthony versus Gary. Anthony gets to the slippery section of the course and slides on his belly; Gary tries to run and falls hard on his butt. They both start to tiptoe down the rest of the course, and Gary falls again. They both start throwing the ball, and Gary manages to get his in first, so the first point goes to Moto.
round: Rita versus Cassandra. Cassandra falls hard, but she just keeps sliding and pushing herself, and she ultimately gets just about all the way to the ball that way. I don't know what they oiled this course down with, and I'm not going to speculate, because this is a family show, but it is very, very slippery. (I'm thinking it might have "Intimate" in the name.) Rita gets her ball in first, so we're tied at one.
up: Boo and Rocky. Stud versus Stud. They both slide on their bellies, but Boo ran harder to get there, and also discovers pretty much the perfect way to go, which is that you get some speed up, and then you keep pushing yourself along the ground, almost like a swimming motion. He goes a long, long way like this, and he doesn't appear to get injured doing it, which is kind of ironic, considering that he could break a bone combing his hair. Boo also puts the ball in the basket on his first try, so Boo is basically a savant at this challenge, and Moto is up 2-1.
Michelle goes up against Stacy, and it's 3-1 Moto.
Alex versus Mookie, and Mookie brings Ravu up to 3-2.
: Sylvia versus Liliana. Now, Sylvia's slide here is truly something to behold. Because she...she sort of slides, but she falls on her bottom instead. So she rolls over onto her belly and tries to paddle like Boo was doing, but she's...not moving. She's literally lying on the course on her stomach, flapping her arms. It's maybe the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen anyone do in a challenge. She eventually realizes that she's not going anywhere like this, so she gets up and walks all tippy-toed to the ball. Sigh. Liliana gets several shots off before Sylvia even gets there, and in the end, Liliana puts her ball in before Sylvia can get a shot off. It's 4-2.
Now, it's Earl and Edgardo. That is a lot of slippery, oiled man. I think they must have let them try the course or something, because even the people who haven't gone yet are all greasy. Edgardo and Earl are a good, good match, and both handle the course really well. Of course, because of how things are going, Edgardo gets his ball in first, so it's 5-2. Ravu is despairing.
And up are Yau Man and "Dreamz." Lisi cackles, because this is a hilarious matchup, apparently. As Jeff gives the instructions again, Yau Man gives him the thumbs-up. I just love him. I love his professorial, serious, committed, still weirdly light-hearted approach to this whole thing. You can tell that he really, really, really wants to surprise his tribe and win this face-off. He wants it bad, and not just because of the reward. When they get going, Yau Man, as Jeff points out, looks "light on his feet" getting down the last part of the course, and he's at the shooting line. Yau Man makes some good shots -- really close to going in. But...none of them go in. I think he's overthinking, trying too hard to set up the shot by looking at the geometry, and he should be just hurling it up there. In the end, while it takes him several tries, "Dreamz" finally gets one in. So once again, Ravu loses. You can tell how heartbroken Yau Man is. Moto chooses the fishing gear, which surprises me a little, and they send Sylvia to Exile Island. Finally, Moto is getting the hang of it, I think, in that you don't necessarily want to give all the idol clues to the best person on the other tribe. I am realizing that I really don't know a thing about Moto except its penchant to get injured and the fact that "Dreamz" used to eat used food. But in any event: poor Ravu.
Day 7, Exile Island. Sylvia is walking up the shore by herself. She then walks the steps to the tower where she can get another clue, as she voices over that she's spent a lot of her time away from her tribe now. She suspects that they're all wishing they'd gotten rid of her sooner. She gets good news, though, when the third clue to the idol is the one that says, "Look here, dummy." It explains exactly where the idol is: it's buried at the entrance of the cave. I don't quite get what would have happened if a Moto member had been sent here, but...all right. ["Didn't they say in the teaser during the thirteenth-season reunion that there would be two of them? I guess that's why. And also that before the exiled person gets there, a PA goes first and leaves the applicable clue." -- Wing Chun] Sylvia interviews that she's in a "tenuous position," and that she knows right where the idol is, but doesn't know if she can get to it. It's kind of like having the winning lottery ticket at home and being sent to debtor's prison before you can cash in.
Moto, Day 7, coming back from the challenge. They're all excited and pumped up, and "Dreamz" interviews that he loved watching everyone fall down. Normally, I would agree, but as the tribe shares a big laugh over the part where Gary fell down, things begin to turn a little more ominous. Gary is wiping his head with his buff and sitting unhappily. Cassandra goes over to talk to him and rubs his back, and he tells her that he "cannot get a deep breath." Everyone looks concerned, and Gary says that he's broken ribs before, and that this is feeling painfully familiar.
Gary's tribemates gets the medics to come out. As they approach, Gary continues to complain that he can't breathe. When the medical team gets to him, they ask him how he's doing, and he says it feels "like there's a knife in [his] chest." Let's see. Chest pain, can't breathe. Doesn't sound dangerous! They ask him if the pain extends anywhere else, and he says it doesn't. ("Nowhere except down my arm and up to my jaw!") He does say, though, that he felt "disorientated," which, excusing the word-mangle, also sounds rather bad. "I didn't even know my name, I don't think," he says. Near tears, Cassandra interviews that Gary was "afraid," and said he "didn't want to die in Fiji." Well, seriously. The doctors check Gary's blood pressure as Cassandra explains that, for Gary, this is a passion, doing the show, because he's older and can't have regular passions, like sex and getting your own show. The medics seem to be evaluating Gary's pain based on whether it worsens when they do certain things, which I assume is a way of figuring out whether it's Capital-C Chest Pain, or whether it's that he did indeed break or bruise a rib or give something a hell of a strain. Alex whispers to Stacy that he's betting on a broken rib, based on the sharp pain Gary is describing. It's weird how Alex is a lawyer, but seems like a doctor. I actually knew a guy who was getting his J.D. and then going to get his M.D. Which sounds to me like eating an entire roast pig and then having a ten-foot marlin for dessert. But that guy was not Alex. (Unfortunately.) The doctor tells Gary that he doesn't see evidence of "anything very severe" -- aside from the chest pain and shortness of breath in this older, not-particularly-svelte gentleman, I guess. I don't know, this seems kind of weird to me, even if they think it's nothing. But the doctor says the fact that it hurts when you push on it means it's "musculoskeletal." So they're going to give him some pain relievers. Alex explains that the plan is for Gary to take it easy and see how he feels tomorrow. But Alex says that if Gary can't breathe, he thinks Gary should "get that taken care of." The fact that this would be one guilt-free boot for the tribe is an added bonus, of course, not that I think the concern for Gary isn't genuine. He tells Gary not to be a hero if he can't breathe tomorrow. Alex interviews that they all look up to Gary, and hope he gets well. I would hope they hope that. It would be sad if they were like, "Good riddance."
Back from commercials, the happy Little Mermaid-ish music is playing as we return to Moto, post-medical-emergency. It's Day 8, and Stacy is bringing some treemail. When she opens it, it reads, "Keeping your tribe together/ won't require brawn/ this is a true test of will -- and it's time to get it on!" One of the women says, "A physical one!" Which is the opposite, of course, of what that clue says. Hopefully, it isn't going to be a listening challenge. Alex corrects whoever it is that it won't require brawn (duh). Lisi says that she's not sure what this challenge will be, you never know with this game, et cetera. Gary continues to sit by himself at the edge of the shelter, so apparently, whatever was bothering him is still bothering him. Alex interviews that if Gary's condition is going to hurt the team, then it's better for everyone that he just leave. He's right, and yet it sounds kind of assy, which he can't really help. They take off for the challenge.
When they arrive at the challenge, Probst sits the tribes down on a couple of sets of bleachers, and he then welcomes Sylvia back. She sits down and is halfheartedly welcomed by her tribe, the members of which now hate her even more than before, because every time she leaves, the distaste for her accelerates in her absence.
Probst takes back the immunity idol and explains the challenge. It's an unfamiliar food contest, which Ravu applauds about immediately -- both because I think they see it as mind over matter, and because they get to eat, even if it's gross. Each pairing will be head-to-head, and the first person to eat the food in question will win a point for the tribe. First tribe to four points wins. Note that there are eight potential pairs, so it would naturally be five -- meaning that "first to four wins" makes it, once again, a little more dependent than necessary on the order in which people happen to go up. But anyway, the first matchup is Liliana and Rocky. Jeff tells them that everything that they'll be served is something people in Fiji eat. Do they eat these things raw and unprepared? This, I think we do not know. The first round involves giant clams, and Rocky the Boston Boy is very enthusiastic about that. The round is over when someone displays the famous "empty mouth." Go! They both start eating, and they're both in it. Liliana claims to be done first, but when she shows her mouth to Jeff, she still has bits of clam hanging on her teeth. Wow, that's really something to have as your first moment of real exposure on the entire show. She is now Liliana, With Clams In Her Teeth. So ultimately, Rocky gets done first. As Liliana sits down, Jeff talks about how "empty mouth" means "empty mouth," and Liliana pulls a stretchy thread of clam out of her throat, which is completely disgusting and awesome. It's like the clam would not go down without a fight, and it was a fight the clam ultimately won.
up: Sylvia and "Dreamz." They will each be eating a chunk of octopus. They both do okay with this, and Sylvia is right in it and does her best, but "Dreamz" gets out ahead of her, and he ultimately wins.
Now, Lisi and Mookie will be eating peanut worms, which are neither very big nor very dry, which I think are the two things that make this difficult. They both eat, but it looks like Lisi has trouble even biting through the worm. I think hers has more...cartilage, or something. As Mookie gets ahead of her, he starts taunting her, waving his worm. (Okay...look, it happened. Look at the tape, it's not my fault!) Lisi stays in it and ignores him, but Mookie beats her. So Ravu is all excited, of course, about Mookie's victory, because now they're up 2-1. But Jeff immediately notes that Moto is pissed off about the taunting business, Boo in particular. Boo says that this just isn't how you play, and now Moto won't be nice anymore, and so forth. Rocky jumps in to say that Moto has done its share of taunting, and Boo insists that they haven't. Ultimately, Boo acts all offended, and Rocky closes with "You vote off two people and see how you feel, bro." In a sense, they're both right. I mean, Mookie was being a dick, and I think Mookie pretty much is a dick. But as Rocky is saying, Boo needs to think through how he'd feel if he were dehydrated and didn't have the hammock and the food and the dishes and the fishing gear -- he'd be fired up also, I'm pretty confident. You can't get too precious about a little tiny bit of show-offy business like that. It is a game that always involves some strutting by the winners, and Boo could stand to stop whining about it. Particularly when Moto's clearly in what's clearly the catbird seat overall, they have to be prepared to suck it up on the resentment, at least a little. That said: Mookie? Still a dick, and still in the wrong. A catbird-taunting dick, which you have to admit would make a pretty interesting schematic diagram.
Earl versus Alex, eating sea cucumbers. Earl initially fumbles his, and never catches up, so Alex takes him out without difficulty. It's now tied at 2-2. Returning to the bench, Earl shrugs that he couldn't get it down without water.
Now, it's Michelle versus Edgardo, eating a bunch of little fish eyes. This one looks like pure will, and Edgardo just smokes her ("Dear Fish Eyes: Michelle would like to eat you today. Sincerely, Michelle"), so it's 3-2 Moto. One more, and they'll win immunity.
The final battle is Anthony versus Gary with pig snouts, which Jeff is kind enough to note still have hair on them. He's all heart, Jeff Probst. From the beginning, it appears that Anthony just can't get the things swallowed. He pops them in his mouth and chews, and it's like he's trying to enter some Zen, pig-eating state, but they just won't go down. Gary gets way ahead, and Moto starts cheering "Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf!," and then it's over, and Moto has immunity again. Anthony is very sad, and Rocky comforts him by saying that you can't swallow with no water. Jeff tells Ravu that it'll be sending another person home tonight, so the members of that tribe will have to go back to camp and think real hard about that.
Back from commercials, it's still Day 8, and the mightily depressed members of Ravu are returning to camp as losers yet again. Sylvia knows just how much trouble she's in, and she starts in talking to the tribe about how embarrassed she is about her performance in yesterday's sliding challenge. She says she's very sorry she let the team down. (Subtext: "I do not have the idol, in case you are wondering.") Rita tries to semi-comfort Sylvia with talk about how, if that was the best she could do, it was the best she could do. Nevertheless, the writing is on the wall that they all want Sylvia out, and even Sylvia knows it. Sylvia interviews that she feels connected to the tribe, but that she's not sure if everyone else is still connected to her. The answer, I think, is that it's connected through contempt, which is the best kind of connection there is. She adds that she was already a target from the first day, and being gone for another twenty-four hours cannot have helped. She sums up, pretty ably: she'd better find the idol before tribal council, or she's going to be gone.
Snake.
Anthony and Yau Man have a little discussion on the beach in which Yau Man says that he's increasingly confident that Sylvia does not have the idol. Anthony says that he, in fact, is sure she doesn't have it: "I'm, like, a hundred percent positive." Anthony interviews that he's making an effort "not to scramble around too much," and that it's currently looking like Sylvia is being voted out. Of course, he says, Sylvia pulling out the idol would present an interesting problem, because in theory, if they all vote for her and she has the idol, she basically gets to decide who goes home. I would love to see that happen, especially if she got rid of Mookie. As Anthony makes this point, we see footage of Sylvia eyeing the top of the arch at the entrance of the cave, where we know the idol is supposedly located.
Rocky has a chat with Rita in which he explains that the plan is to give Sylvia the majority of the votes, and then to give Anthony the most votes, so that in the event that Sylvia has the idol, Anthony will go. They high-five, and Rocky asks Rita whether she's bothered by Anthony. She makes a comment about him being similar to Erica, in that she feels like he's difficult to "read." I wouldn't have said Anthony and Erica had much of anything in common, personality-wise, so I'm surprised by this statement. Erica was kind of aggressive and in-your-face; Anthony seems to be much more soft-spoken. But I guess they're both confounding to Rita in their own ways. Rocky tells Rita that he finds Anthony to be "on the whiny side," and I can honestly say I have never seen any evidence of that, ever. Whining about...what? Anyway, in an interview, Rita says that she doesn't want to vote off Sylvia or Anthony. She understands that decisions are supposedly to make the tribe stronger, but she intends to do her own thing, "something that's not 'with the tribe.'" Maybe she's going to vote for Probst. That would be amazing.
Anthony walks on the beach, and then we watch Mookie and Earl talk. Mookie is trash-talking Anthony, particularly in the sense that he just thinks it's ridiculous not to be able to finish anything in a minute if you have the will. Mookie has apparently never been given the "eat six saltines in a minute without drinking anything" bar bet, because if he had, he would understand that he is flat wrong. (If you've never done it, go do it. You cannot do it, in all likelihood.) I also hate it that he seems to be basing all this on the fact that he downed the peanut worms, because that has nothing to do with eating giant, hairy, meaty pig snouts. Anthony made it clear, as Earl had, that you can't swallow if you don't have water. Moreover, Mookie is making this "only a sissy couldn't win an eating competition" argument to Earl, who lost his round also. ["And for the same reason, apparently." -- Wing Chun] Mookie may be forgetting this. The fact of the matter is, eating a lot of bulky, meaty food does require a lot of saliva or you physically cannot swallow it. It isn't merely a matter of will. These people were dehydrated, fairly seriously, until quite recently. I don't know whether dehydration ends instantly the minute you get water -- maybe it does. But it seems perfectly plausible to me that they were still low on spit, and that could absolutely affect the ability to swallow a lot of food. Mookie is a jerk anyway. Mookie is certainly failing to read Earl, who's like, "That bothered you, huh?" In case he doesn't notice, "That bothered you, huh?" is a great way of being friendly without expressing any agreement whatsoever. Mookie interviews that Anthony just didn't put forth enough effort. This is so dumb. There were six people who went, and only two of them were successful. There's no more reason to be mad at Anthony just because he went last. That's classic idiot thinking about sports, where the only basket that matters is the last one you miss.
Mookie and Michelle approach Sylvia about voting off Anthony, which Sylvia agrees to, of course, because what choice does she have? She interviews that they're telling her it's Anthony, but that she has zero confidence. And to that, I say: good girl, Sylvia. She goes on to say she's pretty sure that she knows the location of the idol, and she half-heartedly digs at the dirt with a coconut husk. There are people around, so she's trying to dig without making it too obvious. I have to say, if it were me, I'd find some reason to dig there -- tell them I wanted to bury a bone, tell them I wanted to hunt for gold...they wouldn't believe me, probably, and they would figure out what I was doing, but if I knew where it was, I'd have to try. A couple of people indeed seem to be watching the digging she's doing, as Sylvia voices over that getting the idol could allow her to pull a surprise on people. What will be interesting to see will be whether anyone will return later to where they saw her digging and try to find it simply from that. ["Maybe a PA will be there during tribal council, moving it." -- Wing Chun]
Tribal council. The tribe approaches and is seated. Jeff leads off by polling everyone on the state of the tribe, asking for a one-word answer. Lots of "tired" and "bad" and "hungry," and one "not very happy" from an uncooperative Yau Man, who knows a lot of things, but not how many words "one" is. Jeff says that they're "disintegrating emotionally," and asks Mookie what the tribe needs, now that the game is "slipping through [Ravu's] fingers." Mookie brings up the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, claiming that the more they lose, the harder it is to come back. Which I agree with, and which I've agreed with on every one of the many occasions this season when it's already been said.
Jeff asks Sylvia about her bad performance in the reward challenge, and she says that she was "mortified." She says that she questions herself a lot about her inability to perform. Jeff then looks at Anthony and announces, with a point to his own noggin, that Anthony gave up immediately. Anthony repeats that he had no spit to swallow with, and that he wasn't bothered by the pig snouts at all. It was lack of spit. Mookie looks all eye-rolly.
Jeff asks Rocky whether trust is more difficult when they keep losing, apparently on the general theory that people who are losing suck and are untrustworthy. Rocky says that it only makes trust more important. Jeff asks Anthony whether Mookie is trustworthy. Anthony says he thinks so, and that he's a person who "gives people the benefit of the doubt." There's a dumb move. Jeff basically tells Anthony that this will ultimately make a sucker out of him, because he'll figure out too late who can't be trusted. Anthony says that he wonders sometimes whether these people like him. That seems unnecessary, as a topic to preoccupy you. "Mookie doesn't like me. And I don't think Rocky does either. AIIIIEEEEE!"
Jeff asks for Mookie's thoughts on what Anthony has just said, and Mookie uses this opportunity to go off on how pissed he was about Anthony not eating the pig snouts. Anthony smiles and shakes his head, because he knows that there's no way to convince an asshole in a barroom that he couldn't eat six saltines in a minute unless you make him try it. Anthony says that there's nothing wrong with his will to win, and that he doesn't appreciate being called out in this manner. Mookie tries a late save with something about how it's not "personal," because not everyone could eat the food, and Anthony points out that Anthony's the only one Mookie came after.
Now, Jeff brings up the immunity idol, Earl having been to the island once and Sylvia twice. He asks Rocky whether people were trying to figure out whether Sylvia had the idol. Rocky, roughly: "Duh." Rocky says that Sylvia could perfectly well have the idol right now. Jeff reminds us that if the idol is going to be played, it would be played after votes are cast and before they're read. Time to vote. Mookie votes for Anthony, saying, "It's not your will. It's your attitude." Says the taunter. Rocky votes. Anthony votes. Michelle votes for Sylvia. Yau Man votes. Sylvia votes. Rita votes. I'm sure Earl votes, but I can't see when.
Jeff returns with the votes. Does anyone want to play the idol? Everyone looks at Sylvia. She shakes her head. No idol. Everyone sighs with relief. Sylvia. Anthony. Sylvia. Anthony. Sylvia. Anthony. Three to three. Now? Earl. That's an interesting vote, presumably designed to avoid a Sylvia-Anthony tie. And the final vote goes to...Sylvia. She brings over her torch to be snuffed. She's really a pretty good sport about it, all things considered. She wishes everyone luck, and Anthony blows her a kiss. Jeff sends them back to camp.
I didn't get Sylvia's final words, but I'm pretty sure they were relatively gracious. She doesn't really seem the mean type, and she did kind of get hosed, considering that her entire decline started with trying to help build the shelter, from which she never recovered. Poor Sylvia. Being competent does no one any favors.