Both tribes receive clues telling them to leave almost everything behind and head for Exile Island, and they correctly figure out that this means a merge. What they don't figure out is that when they follow the directions telling them that they're going back to live at Couch Camp (yay!), they'll find that it has been robbed of its couch and everything else that made it fancy (boo!). So it's back to the survivalist drawing board, and a lot of these people are pretty spoiled at this point, so it's going to be interesting. The boys who got stranded at Ravu have named themselves the Four Horsemen, and they're even including "Dreamz." But when Mookie decides that the last Horseman needs to know about the immunity idol, Alex and Edgardo are not too happy. Mookie and "Dreamz" are very nervous about Alex and Edgardo's plan to bring Stacy into the fold, because they know how many three are and how many two are, and they know who's who. It looks like Stacy is lined up for the boot until the very saddest thing to ever happen happens. When the tribe gets to the immunity challenge, they find out that they're basically un-merging for this challenge, and Earl, Yau Man, Cassandra, Boo, and Edgardo are randomly picked to go up against Alex, Mookie, "Dreamz," Stacy, and Sacrificial Michelle. Because there's not time to think, Earl doesn't have time to figure out that he needs to throw this challenge and toss Edgardo, so his group wins the challenge, putting a great big target right on Michelle. Michelle has no time to try to save herself, owing to the additional twist of a trip straight from the challenge to tribal council. Michelle can do nothing but watch herself get voted out, and it really stinks, because she was playing a hell of a game. Poor Michelle.
Previously: Yau Man dug up the immunity idol and gave new meaning to "kissing the turtle." Then, over at Ravu, Mookie, Alex, and Edgardo also dug up an idol, of which Mookie took custody. They chose not to tell "Dreamz" or Lisi, convinced that the idol was nothing without the element of surprise. Lisi was pretty sure that this hadn't happened. (Those in charge of editing the previouslys even insert Lisi saying her little getting-up-early, cat-like-me thing in, despite the fact that its plot significance is limited, because it's the funniest thing to happen on the show all season.) Lisi went bazoo on Exile Island after her tribe lost on Fiji Dance Fever, and by the time she got home and endured another immunity challenge loss (mostly at the hands of Yau Man), she was ready to go home. Of course, in true Wait Wait Don't Boot Me fashion, she changed her mind at the last second and wanted to stay. By then, however, the opportunity to get rid of her smelled much too delicious, and Lisi was sent home by every one of the guys in her tribe. Fortunately, she won't have to get up early in the morning anymore, because what she's on now isn't that kind of jury duty.
We return to Ravu, a.k.a. Ouch Camp, on Day 22. Edgardo, Mookie, and Alex are hanging around the fire, and Edgardo questions Mookie about the location of the idol. Mookie assures Edgardo that he has the idol in his pocket. And he means that both literally and figuratively, as we learn when Mookie interviews, "The idol I have in my pocket is actually for..." And it's like he's going to say it's for all the guys, but then he goes the other way at the last minute and grins that he's "selfish," and he admits it. The idol is his, not theirs. He does claim that if self-interest means cooperating with an alliance to go farther, that's okay, too, so it's not like he's against the other guys in his alliance; he's just not particularly with them. I was very relieved that Mookie almost immediately started talking about the idol in this really unsentimental way, because if he'd been all "it's for the group, man," that would have been very annoying and disingenuous. Back at the camp powwow, however, Mookie promises the other guys that he would never betray them. And then he adds: "Ever." Good one! That's how they'll know you're telling the truth.
Just then, "Dreamz" returns with an armload of pineapples and a head full of illusions ripe for the shattering. Alex interviews that the reason they aren't telling "Dreamz" about the idol is less that they don't want him to know, and more that, they don't want other people, particularly Cassandra, to know. I think that in their little Stand By Me arrangement, "Dreamz" is the Vern. Unfortunately, the rest of them are arguably all the Teddy. The guys all sit around having a chat about being in the top ten, and then about trying to get to the top four, and you can tell that among other things, this group of guys has, like, nothing to talk about at this point. "Glad we got this far." "Hope we get farther." "Me too." "Yeah." This must be what Toastmasters is like.
Day 22 at Couch Camp, and Stacy is waking up in bed. We take a little visual tour of Moto's goodies -- the toiletries, the dishes and coffee, and even the toilet paper. This show certainly does the best job on TV of making toilet paper seem precious. I never appreciate Charmin as much as I do right after I watch an episode. It kind of makes me want to live in the bathroom. Anyway, Boo walks into camp and bellows, "Treemail!" Cassandra is with him, and before she reads the note, she unhappily warns everyone that this is "not a good treemail." It instructs the members of the tribe to take only their personal belongings, and to immediately get in the boat and paddle to Exile Island. They aren't allowed to bring any of their rewards, or any tools, or any flint -- just personal stuff, including canteens. Wow, it's like they're going to be on Survivor or something. Stacy announces that they need to boil the rest of their rice, because they're clearly not going to have long to eat it. Apparently, the clue's definition of leaving "immediately" is assumed to be flexible. Boo wonders whether they're all going to have to live on Exile Island now. I actually think that would have been a cool twist. Boo disagrees, and complains bitterly in an interview about the loss of their camp, but Michelle takes an entirely different approach, saying in her interview that she knows she can deal with whatever it's going to be like, because she lived at Ouch Camp already. This is the part where you might start to think that, as much of an advantage as it may have seemed like Moto had up to this point, if they don't get to remain in the lap of luxury, it might be better not to have spent every minute there up until now. Because really, the people who have been at Ravu are taking this mostly in stride. It's Boo, Stacy, and Cassandra who are thinking, as Michelle puts it, "Oh my God, we're gonna die." Heh.
Over at Ravu, Alex brings back the same message, rather nauseatingly addressing his tribe as "horsemen." As in, "Greetings, horsemen." "Ahoy, horsemen." "Does this tank top make me look feminine at all, horsemen?" I always wonder, when people use the "four horsemen" reference, whether they are aware of what the four horsemen actually are, and that the logical question is which one of you is the Antichrist. They're not the four horsemen of the Greenwich Hunt Club, nitwits. In any event, Alex reads off this same information to the boys that we just heard at Moto. "Dreamz" speculates that they're all mixing up again, but the other guys quickly correct him that they're obviously just merging. Silly "Dreamz." Edgardo interviews that he's really not sure what to expect. I think now that he doesn't have the comfort of knowing that, every day, Lisi will call him "Edguardo," he just doesn't have any normalcy. The four guys sit around before they go and decide which current Moto member each guy is assigned to recruit. "Dreamz" will work on Cassandra, Mookie will work on Michelle, and Alex will work on Stacy. Edgardo is apparently supervising. It's very interesting to me that none of these guys shows any interest in cozying up to Boo, who would seem to be kind of a logical choice.
At this point, Alex points out in his self-consciously meaningful way that each of the guys has already proved his loyalty to all the other guys. "You gave up Rock," Alex says to Mookie, "and we gave up Lisi." And you know what sacrifices both of those decisions really were. Not Lisi! Not Rocky! Well, okay, but only out of loyalty.
Credits. Boo sure did look different back in the day.
We come back to find the tribes unhappily paddling toward Exile Island. Paddling, paddling. And then it is Exile Island, on Day 22. Earl says that people are nervous, not really knowing whether a merge is coming or what. He explains that people are really counting on the merge, whenever it comes, as a ticket to safety, and he's not sure it's ever wise to be looking for your salvation in the future, rather than just concentrating on who presents a threat to you right now. Moto has beaten Ravu to the island (unsurprisingly), so they're there to greet the "horsemen" when they show up. Earl tells us in his interview that rather than obsessing over the merge and your future, it might be smarter to focus on your present.
Everyone shares greetings on the Exile beach, and Alex says that because there was no Jeff and there were no directions, he wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. He thought they were just living there now. Fortunately, other people have a little more intellectual curiosity, as well as hope against hope that there's a big steakhouse dinner hidden somewhere, so the group takes a walk up the big steps toward the Exile Island tower. They all wind up actually climbing the tower together, and Cassandra explains that they all kind of figured that there were going to be there for a while. They open the little box, however, and find that there are purple buffs in there. Everyone takes one, and Michelle reads a note explaining that they are now merged, and they are one tribe, and they are heading back to their new home -- at Moto! Couch Camp! Yay! Such great news! Mookie, in an interview to the tower ladder that they were clearly careful to grab now, says that he is sooooo happy about getting to go to Couch Camp, because he's the only person left who's never lived there. Earl tells Cassandra, Boo, and Stacy that they were lucky to dodge Ouch Camp the entire time it existed. Cassandra interviews that she's so relieved to be going back, because living without the bed and the couch would really suck. Like, really. I understand that there's wishful thinking involved in this, but can it really not have occurred to them what was going on? Why would they have been given such specific instructions about bringing all their personal items? Why were they admonished to bring their canteens? Why were they sent on this errand to Exile Island in the first place? Was there merely a great desire on the part of Production to take footage of them paddling without toothbrushes? They should be wondering about the answers to these questions, and if they wonder very long, it should occur to them what might be happening back "home."
The happy group paddles its way back to Moto, and you can almost see a thought bubble over each person's head. One shows a couch, one shows a bed, one shows coffee, one shows dishes...you get the idea. They pull up on the beach, whooping and hollering. Alex interviews thusly: "Thank God, after seven days of hell at Ravu [not SEVEN DAYS!], I get to eat rice, potatoes...a toothbrush, toothpaste, a shower...I'll probably get a turn at the bed tonight...finally! Finally, things are looking up!" That was genius, getting him to do that to himself. I can't understand how the camera guy didn't bust out laughing, though. Alex really should have suspected something when the camera guy was all, "STOP! Okay, all the cocky people need to stop here and do an interview before you go and have your first look at Moto. What? What's up? Uhhhh...nothing. Just stand here and talk about all the great stuff you think is there. I mean...all the great stuff that is there. Look, just stand there and talk, okay?"
The tribe rounds the corner to head back to Moto camp, and if you are smarter than they are, which you probably are as a matter of mathematical odds, you will not be surprised to hear that there are no goodies remaining at Moto. No new goodies, but no old goodies, either There is nothing at Moto. Well, there is a pot and there is a machete, and there even is a set of fishing gear. But there is no furniture, no coffee, no dishes, no anything. Everything's gone but the cave, and Mookie cannot believe he's not getting the bed, ever, even once. I somehow momentarily imagine Boo being like, "Wait! We've been robbed! Some local Fijians stole our toilet paper while we were at Exile Island!" But in any event, everyone looks really, really unhappy, and I think it's Alex who mutters, "Bastards." Which I love, because...I think I know who the bastards are.
Back from commercials, it's still Day 22, and Earl has the relevant comment: "This is real Survivor; we've got a cave." In other words, "Welcome to the show you originally agreed to be on, you big bunch of whiners." Alex, whose lime-green tank top is really very unfortunate after all, whines in an interview about the blah blah blah, sad thing that happened, "lo and behold," come to find out, what do you know, you get the picture. The saddest moment in this entire episode is when Mookie says to Alex, with a sadness that's hard to convey if you didn't hear it with your own ears, "I've never seen Moto." Moto will remain a crazy dream for Mookie forever. He will never know it. He will never know what it was like, and he will have to construct it in his mind and imagine its pleasures. Yes, that's right: Mookie will never see Moto unless he has a TV. Earl happily interviews that he, however, was perfectly fine with everything -- including the shelter -- being gone. "I had a little smirk on my face," he admits. He says that after thirteen days at Ravu, this is just a return to form for him.
Edgardo reads a note that's been waiting for them, which tells them to rebuild everything -- name the tribe, paint the flag, and so forth. They eventually pick out a couple of words they know, and rather than name the tribe "Thank You," they decide to name it "Hello." Actually, "Hello Hello," which is "Bula Bula." It's like they named it directly out of a phrasebook, so I should be glad it doesn't translate into English as "Bathroom Bathroom" or "Library Library." In any event, it's "Bula Bula." "Either that or the Nookie Nookie tribe," Boo offers, and for some reason, it does come off funny. Maybe it's the idea of Boo being on Bula Bula. I wonder if Boo will get booted from Bula Bula. I hope it doesn't really surprise him, because then it would be like someone jumping out and saying...well, you know.
Stacy and Michelle take on the task of painting the flag and, as is often the case, if you're willing to do work, you can get a lot of alone time, because people are lazier than they are suspicious, at least on this show. The two ladies get chatting about the tribe and being sure of things and whatnot. Michelle is worried about the closeness of Stacy and, I think, the original Moto members -- namely Boo, Alex, and Edgardo -- but Stacy sort of evades the issue by assuring her that, at least in the short term, they as "girls" won't be threats, because the guys will just be competing with each other. Stacy interviews that this is really what she thinks -- that "boys are going to be attacking boys." Oh, boys. She has not counted on the horseboys, of course, because horseboys stick together. Apparently, she also has not looked at the way the season has gone up to this point, which has not exactly been a great run of triumphs by women.
Earl, for his part, interviews that there is "a tribe within the tribe," and it consists of him, Michelle, Cassandra, and Yau Man. As far as he's concerned, the four of them are going to knock out old Moto one at a time. Alex claims that the few hours will determine who the final five are, which apparently means he has not watched the show very much. Boo tells us that he had a good position in the first Moto and a good position in the second Moto, and now he's just hanging back and waiting to "assume a leadership role again." Huh. Really? "Again"? I would not have pegged Boo as a leader, but then...I may be understating the power of Boo. He's Boo-rageous. Or Boo-mendous. He's the Boo Man Group.
Mookie now has a little chat with "Dreamz," Cassandra, and Yau Man, in which he claims to have connected with "Dreamz" back at Ravu. Iâm not sure why he's doing this in this particular way -- I thought the whole idea was to pluck one person at a time and bring them over to the "horsemen" side. Furthermore, Mookie was supposed to work on Michelle. Why is he telling all this to Yau Man and Cassandra, who are now only going to assume that Mookie and "Dreamz" are plotting, probably against them? Yau Man tells Mookie that he's glad Mookie didn't "go over to the dark side." It does seem oddly appropriate for Yau Man to be throwing around the Star Wars references. Mookie claims in his interview that this was all part of the "horsemen's" plan, and he and "Dreamz" ask about Boo's status. Yau Man and Cassandra explain that the possible first boots are pretty much Boo and Stacy, from the Moto perspective. Mookie insists in an interview that it's all working out so far, and that they just have to stick to the plan. Always, always stick to the plan. As all these people chat, Yau Man voices over that, at this point, he has the only immunity idol that he knows of, but he knows that there should be another one, so he needs to figure out who has it. He thinks that he and Earl have the votes of Mookie and "Dreamz," to get rid of Boo and Stacy, but he knows better than to trust anyone at all.
Stacy and Michelle hang the new tribe flag, which is much neater and more carefully done than the arts-and-crafts crap that the tribes usually come up with. This flag still has everyone's names on it, but the names are carefully lettered around the edges, rather than everybody just scribbling all over the thing. It's like grownups invaded the flag-painting, so it looks like an art project someone's parents interfered in, but it is attractive. I mean, chaos has its charms, but you've got to admire the workmanship here. Or, really, workwomanship.
Ants carrying a beetle.
Stacy and Alex talk about getting rid of Boo first. Stacy tells us that she's choosing to put her trust in Alex, because he's "the most trustworthy person that [she] can think of." Alex assures Stacy that the tightest of all bonds is between him, Edgardo, and her. He then brags in an interview that because of all the "smoke and mirrors" he's creating, he can "keep them guessing" so that "the four horsemen can take it all the way." Okay. Can he explain, I wonder, why it would ever be a good idea to keep people guessing? Don't you actually want to make people feel comfortable? Isn't that really the goal? I mean, does people having no idea what your plans are, and knowing that they have no idea what your plans are, really offer a big payoff? "Unless I'm mistaken, the four of us are controlling this game right now," Alex says.
Bats.
There is a private meeting among Alex, Mookie, and "Dreamz." They discuss getting rid of Boo first, then Stacy. Then, kind of out of nowhere, Mookie taps "Dreamz" on the shoulder and says, "I didn't tell you, but we found the immunity idol on Ravu." Hee hee. Alex's eyeballs: "BOOOOOOING!" Alex tells us that his gut immediately disapproved. He points his finger at "Dreamz," all, "You can't tell anyone, even Cassandra," and all that jazz. "Dreamz" is totally put off by this rather patronizing attitude, as well as by the pointing and order-giving. Unsurprisingly, in an interview, "Dreamz" says that when he found out they had the idol and hadn't originally told him, he wasn't too happy. "Dreamz" asks why they didn't tell him, and Mookie says it was strictly because of his bond with Cassandra. "Dreamz" interviews that this was a flat-out trust violation, so now, he's not so sure about these guys.
Shark.
Alex, Edgardo, and Mookie go for a boat ride, and Alex tells Edgardo that Mookie blabbed about the idol to "Dreamz." Unsurprisingly, Edgardo does not react with enthusiasm. Mookie assures him that it makes no difference -- they're getting rid of Boo first. Edgardo interviews that the idol has to be kept between "three or two people" in order for it to be effective, totally ignoring the fact that ownership of the idol was pretty much known by everyone last season, and it didn't hurt, you know, the guy who won. Edgardo insists to Mookie and Alex that if "Dreamz" knows, then Cassandra knows and Earl knows. Alex insists that the simplest way to do this is to start by getting rid of Boo, then pull Stacy in with them, and then they have five. Mookie reluctantly agrees, but he talks in an interview about how the original idea was to get rid of Stacy after Boo, and now Alex wants Stacy on the team. He's well aware that this serves Alex and Edgardo, but not him, because they have this bond with Stacy and he doesn't. So obviously, you get to five people left, you know that Mookie and "Dreamz" are the ones Alex thinks will go. What I don't understand is why this didn't occur to "Dreamz" earlier, when they were all getting their assignments, and Alex agreed to try to bring Stacy over. You'd think "Dreamz" would have gotten it then.
After commercials, we return to Bula Bula, now on Day 24. Earl and Cassandra have a conversation in which he tells her that she's "the most popular girl" at camp, because nobody really knows whom she's with. Come to think of it, that is one of the ways you get popular in high school. Michelle, too. Cassandra explains that her alliance is with Earl and Yau Man, and Earl kind of comes with Michelle. She also seems pretty convinced that she can connect up with "Dreamz." Earl interviews that he was perfectly okay with the merge, because it kind of let the game really get going.
Little tiny thing with many legs. Crab feeding itself. Wow. The way that thing is feeding itself, it really, really looks like a guy eating at a restaurant.
Sometime later, Alex works up a group swim, and when some people have gone, Mookie and "Dreamz" have a chat. "Dreamz" is still thinking Boo, then Stacy. Mookie breaks the news that Alex and Edgardo want to keep Stacy. "That's me and you out," "Dreamz" realizes immediately, and Mookie agrees that this is exactly true. "No way. No," says "Dreamz." These two guys talk about this problem a bit more, and "Dreamz" interviews that he's "really looking forward to voting off Stacy," because she treated him like crap during his trying time at original Moto, she treated Cassandra like crap, and her "change of heart" at this point isn't really convincing him of anything. "She's got to go," he says forcefully. This should really be included in the book: 500 Reasons Not To Be A Bitch About The French Press.
Challenge course. Two apparent tracks, which is sort of not what you'd expect. Jeff starts us off by taking back the big immunity idol from Earl. Jeff asks if they're all ready for the challenge, and then he produces two little bags. He makes each person choose a stone out of a bag, with the women and men choosing from different bags. He has them all reveal their stones at once. Those with orange stones will go to the orange mat; those with green stones will go to the green mat. The green team turns out to include Alex, Mookie, "Dreamz," Stacy, and Michelle. The orange team includes Yau Man, Earl, Boo, Edgardo, and Cassandra. Jeff explains that, in this challenge, these two teams will compete against each other, and only the losing team will go to tribal council. In other words, it has the same effect as a second random tribal mixup in the middle of the game. In this challenge, your team examines a Fijian mask made up of an arrangement of symbols. Then, you paddle your boat to three stations, where there are bags handing overhead. You have to use a sort of long fork to get the bags down, but they're tied to a kind of a corkscrew thing, so you have to maneuver them off of that before you can get them down. The bags contain pieces that can be assembled in pairs to construct the symbols for the mask, and two tribe members will put the pieces together and come up with the symbols. Then, you place them in the right order on your mask. In addition to winning immunity from the vote, the winning team will eat steak and drink wine. The losers get a note, which will be read to them afterward, and a trip to tribal council. Wow, the loser note. Those were never good in high school, either.
Of course, if everybody were smart, this would become an epic battle to lose this challenge, because both teams are clearly dominated by one of the two basic factions. The green team is dominated by Alex et cetera, and the orange team is dominated by Earl et cetera. Either team could lose this challenge and have a free shot at a core member from the other side, and the only effect would be the same as "winning" the battle of the factions at a full-size tribal council. Losing this challenge essentially gives you the huge advantage of nullifying the votes of most of the members of the other side, while still leaving you one to vote out. There's really no reason why either team would want to win this challenge. Note: this is very different from normal challenge-throwing, because here, throwing the challenge allows you to take out a person you would want to take out anyway this week, while a normal challenge throw while there are two tribes means that you send home somebody instead of potentially nobody. But there's not a lot of time to come up with this theory.
The teams put themselves in their boats. The masks are revealed, and once the teams have studied the symbols, they start paddling. Yau Man turns out to be better with the big fork than Stacy is, so he gets the orange pieces down first. "Dreamz" takes over for Stacy, but he fails as well, and Alex takes a shot. Yau Man gets the second bag for his team before Alex gets down the green team's first bag, so now green is behind. Yau Man is the king of the corkscrew thing, so Orange is way ahead. Green tries to make up time in the boat, but they're really behind now. Jeff tries to convince them that they're still in the game. Yau Man and Earl start the puzzle for orange. Green arrives, and Michelle and Alex start on their puzzle. The green puzzle-solving appears to be going more smoothly, but orange is still ahead, and Earl and Yau Man start sliding pieces in. Orange gets finished, and Jeff announces that they have the win. Michelle, no dummy, looks grim. So that's a feast for most of Michelle's peeps, but things are not looking good for her, although it's certainly possible that she could get Mookie and "Dreamz" to vote with her against Stacy, if she had a chance to tell them that she's happy to do that -- which they may not know.
But guess what? No time for convincing, because the note that Jeff is holding on to tells the team that there's no time for strategizing, because they have to go directly to tribal council.
Sigh. After commercials, it's time for the Orange Temporary Team's feast. They guzzle wine from the bottle as Boo prepares the food, openly acknowledging in an interview that he was very, very lucky that they were divided up as they were, because otherwise, it would have been the end of him: "I dodged a bullet." He also says that the steak and veggies weren't too bad for raising his spirits. As they all sit around and eat, Earl says that the boot might turn out to be something really goofy, because of the way tribal council and stuff actually happened. Edgardo interviews that he's worried about Alex, because Alex getting booted would do him in. Earl, meanwhile, says that he's worried about Michelle, because she's a huge part of his strategy. Nobody's resting easy, is the thing. "It's going to be a very, very interesting vote," Earl tells the group.
Tribal council. Jeff brings in the jury. People almost always look so much fresher on the jury, but...Lisi kind of doesn't. Jeff asks "Dreamz" about the merge. He says that it was "like Day 1 all over again," only with preexisting relationships. He says that he had friends everywhere, so he was happy. Asked about the news that they would be returning to a true Ouch Camp, Alex admits that it was an unpleasant shock to him. Jeff asks Mookie whether paranoia is setting in, and Mookie says that it definitely is. He says that, without a chance to talk, nobody really knows what's going to happen. It's almost like you have to think for yourself, which is keee-razy. That's hippie talk.
Jeff asks Stacy about having to vote without communicating, and she admits that she's concerned about it, and about the different factions that exist, and all the scenarios everyone is running through. "'Dreamz,'" says Jeff, "give me a reason to vote out Stacy. "Dreamz" is like, "It ain't me." Hey, good answer. Jeff asks Michelle for a good reason to vote out "Dreamz." Michelle says that she and "Dreamz" haven't really talked strategy, so she can't say what his alliances are. Mookie is asked for a reason to vote out Michelle, and he says that she might have switched alliances since he originally got to know her at Ravu. Jeff asks Michelle for a reason to get rid of Alex. Why is he asking Michelle twice? Michelle mentions that Alex is a threat in challenges.
Then, Jeff asks Alex for a reason to get rid of Stacy, and Alex says he doesn't have one. He asks for a reason to get rid of Michelle, and Alex says he doesn't know Michelle. Jeff goes through everyone else on the tribe, and Alex says he has no reasons to get rid of any of them. I don't usually embrace analyzing Survivor for fairness, but this does seem kind of unfair. They should either go to tribal council and vote without talking, or they should all get a chance to talk to each other freely. Otherwise, what happens will be what's happening here, which is that who gets the opportunity to argue a particular strategy and who doesn't depends on what questions Jeff gets the chance to ask, and in what order he asks them. This way of doing it really puts Jeff in control of what conversations take place and who knows what before who else gets put on the spot, and that's annoying to me. Alex has just been given an opportunity that it appears nobody else had to specifically signal his group about what he was going to do.
Jeff asks "Dreamz" whether he thinks people are speaking to each other, as much as to him, and "Dreamz" is like, "Yes, asshole, because that's what you're telling them to do." But he says it nicer. Jeff asks how this vote will change the game, and Mookie says it will show who's telling the truth and who's lying.
Time to vote. Alex votes for Michelle, adding a smiley-face. It's nothing personal. Stacy votes. Michelle votes. Mookie votes for Stacy. "You were on the list of people to go." "Dreamz" votes. When Jeff returns with the urn of votes, the first one is for Stacy. Then Michelle. Then Stacy. Then Michelle. And then...Michelle. Boo! She brings over her torch and is snuffed. That's kind of sad. And more to the point, it's kind of random, which is what makes it unsatisfying. Jeff lectures that this vote will have a big impact, and he sends them back to camp.
In her closing comments, Michelle says that she was very proud of how she did, and that she's just as good as she thought. Heh. Normally, I find that really annoying, but I will be the first to admit that I did underestimate her because of her Valley Girl voice, so she's probably more entitled than most to a speech that says, "See? I really am pretty good, so stop calling me Squeaky."
week: Mookie and "Dreamz" fight. Mookie is mad at...Cassandra? Really? And "Dreamz," it appears, is going to give up the idol. The plan for secrecy is not going so well.