Survivor Episodes

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Episode 2: PAGONG HUT BUILDER IS VOTED OFF THE ISLAND

Challenge: Buggin Out
    Bug-eating competition. The bug of choice was a butok, or beetle larvae. The live butok is three inches long and a half-inch around.
Winning Tribe Gets: Immunity
Winning Tribe: Tagi

The Vote:
    Ramona- B.B. and Greg
    B.B.- Joel, Colleen, Gervace, Ramona, Jenna, Gretchen

My comments:
In this episode we start right off the bat with the young cast continuing to try to kick off the older members. It was a great surprise to see BB get kicked off seeing all the great things that he had done for the Pagong tribe. But I actually saw it coming when BB offered himself as a sacrificial lamb so that they did not have to kick off anyone else. I think that giving himself up was part of the reason that he was booted but I really think that the fact that he tried to take command did not go over well with him.

What CBS had to say about the episode:
    At a raucous Tribal Council, Pagong patriarch BB Anderson was voted off Pulau Tiga. In six days on the island, BB built the tribe's shelter, found the watering hole deep in the jungle, and overcame a bout of deep ambivalence that saw him attempt to engineer his own exit. While others found time to entertain themselves, BB worked and worked and worked.
    "I'll tell you what, there was a moment a few days ago," he said after being voted off, "that if I would have had a cell phone, I would have called in a helicopter to take me off the island. But I actually came to like this place the last few days. I don't want to leave."
    Before coming to Pulau Tiga, BB was a prime candidate for Survivor's million-dollar grand prize. The 62-year old retired construction executive brought a savvy mix of business smarts, development skills and survival tendencies to the island. For instance, BB's favorite hobby is taking solitary drives on his Harley-Davidson - all the way to Mexico and back.
    But Survivor is not a game best played by drawing attention to oneself. And BB's outspoken personality quickly marked him for expulsion.
    BB even gathered the Pagong together for a "come to Jesus" meeting. "I've declared myself the winner," he told them. Then BB paused and looked at his fellow tribe members. "I've built the camp," and indeed he was responsible for building their hut. But then he continued, "From here on out this is a maintenance situation. I want off."
    "The fascinating aspect of this week's program is BB's struggle," notes Executive Producer Mark Burnett. "He's a successful man back home in America, used to having people do his bidding without question. But on the island status has no meaning. How you come across as a person counts more than your job title. BB struggles with that, then comes to accept it. And while he was actually eager to leave the island after just two days, by the time he gets voted off he's sad to go."
STACEY'S BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL
    Over on Tagi Beach, the tribe continued to get hungrier. Sean and Dirk's efforts at fishing proved largely futile. Stacey Stillman was up against the same animosity as BB. The San Francisco litigator was unsuccessful in her effort to oust ex-Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch at the island's first Tribal Council. (Rudy about his teammates)
    Not only has Richard now begun fomenting opinion against Stacey, but her trademark habit of rolling her eyes and appearing contrary at times have generated a groundswell of dislike for the otherwise affable young woman.
    Tagi's troubled castaway seemed to be Stacey Stillman, One reason the San Francisco litigator was selected for the show was her volatility. Her nicknames are Boom Boom and Slambona, hardly docile monikers.
    But she is intelligent too, and enigmatic. Born and raised in New York, Stacy attended the State University of New York at Binghampton, coincidentally the same school as Pagong's Sean Kenniff. Her time there was interrupted by thyroid cancer. The move to San Francisco came after receiving her JD from NYU.
    However, during the challenge on the sixth day, Stacey earned redemption.
EATING BUGS
    The second Immunity Challenge focused around Malaysian food-more specifically, Butok, or live beetle larvae. To some of the Malaysian locals, watching Americans squirm as they eat these creatures was hysterical; to them, it's the equivalent of eating sushi. The first tribe with a member refusing to eat the bugs would attend that night's Tribal Council, where one of the tribe's members would have to be voted off.
    It was a tie. Every participant ate the squirming bugs. So the tie-breaker-a timed contest in which the most squeamish member of each time would race to eat two bug completely-came down to a duel between Stacey and Gervase.
    Stacey was eating bugs for her very island existence. And though Gervase performed amazingly, overcoming his squeamishness to munch down two robust Butok's in mere seconds, he was no match for the amazing Stacey. She lifted her two bugs into the air, tilted her head back so her throat was totally open, then dropped the squirming critters straight into her stomach. Done.
    Tagi won the challenge. Stacey stayed, her teammates applauding her; even Susan, ever so critical of Stacey, gave her a warm hug.
    And BB went home.



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