Challenge Stairway to the Stars
Location: Buffalo Swamp
Two identical playing fields, side-by-side and crisscrossing, are set up. At one end of the field are two 12-foot tall poles. Around the base of the poles are five holes, which will fit five different length poles (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 feet long). The tribes must start at one end of the field and carry the heavy wooden poles to their designated holes to create a staircase around the center pole. The first team to successfully create the staircase and have one member climb to the top wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: All the items that were left behind on day one, including blankets, water containers and food
Winning Tribe: Samburu
Challenge Safari Supper
Location: Carved Rocks
One at a time, members from both tribes must drink a shot of cow's blood. If at any time a person declines to drink or does not finish, that team is disqualified. If all members of both tribes complete the task, a tiebreaker is set. Each tribe must pick a member from the other tribe to chug a full glass of cow's blood. The first to finish wins the full glass wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: Immunity
Winning Tribe: Samburu
The Vote:
Jessie- Lex, Kim J, Ethan, Kelly, Clarence
Clarence- Jessie, Tom
My comments:
Coming Soon
What CBS had to say about the episode:
Jessie Camacho, the 27-year-old Deputy Sheriff from Orlando, Florida, was the second person voted out of the Boran tribe. Dehydrated and weak since arriving in Africa, Jessie never quite acclimated to her new surroundings. As her dejected tribe members watched her torch extinguish, she was sent packing and left the Tribal Council area. Jessie confessed, "I understand the decision that was made to keep Clarence and not me; he is much stronger than I am. I just want to tell Tom [who had voted for Clarence to leave] that I love him."
Clarence Back on His Heels
A few days earlier, Clarence found himself in a struggle with his fellow tribe members when they all confronted him about eating a can of beans with former tribe member Diane without first consulting the tribe. Agitated after receiving two votes at the first Tribal Council, Clarence felt that confronting Jessie about the incident would clear his name and would help to gain back the trust of his tribe members. He explained to her, "I am just trying to say to you that I reached out to Diane, and she turned around and bit me. All she did was tell me that I was her only friend here." Jessie later commented, "He's very nervous, he was shaking. He came up to me looking for approval, like I was going to think it is okay. The Tribe's message was sent, and Clarence heard it loud and clear."
Day 4-- Division of Labor
Awaking sore after sleeping on the uneven ground, the Samburu tribe went to work rebuilding the roof to their manyatta hut to help shade them from the intense heat during the day. Frank took the initiative once again, as he barked out orders to Lindsey, the 27-year-old advertising executive from Portland, Oregon. Lindsey mockingly agreed with him by rolling her eyes, whispering, "Yes, Captain." She later described Frank as "an interesting character, but really for the military. He barks out orders and wants things to be done right now, his way." As the elder Samburu tribe members went to work rebuilding the hut, the younger tribe members--Brandon, Lindsey and Kim--stood by, hesitant to help. Aware of the obvious division of labor and reluctance to lend a hand, Brandon Quinton, the 25-year-old bartender from Dallas, Texas, clarified the situation, stating, "We are almost like two completely different teams. For some reason, our camp is split right down the middle by age."
Reward Challenge--Stairway to the Stars
The two tribes met host Jeff Probst at the Reward Challenge site, called Buffalo Swamp, where he explained the rules of "Stairway to the Stars": Each tribe has five logs. The goal is to transport the five logs from the start position through a series of obstacles to a tower, where they must build a staircase. The first tribe to successfully build the staircase and have one member race to the top of the tower wins. The reward consisted of all the items that were left behind on day one, including blankets, water containers and food.
Carrying the heaviest logs first, the tribes raced through the difficult terrain as one by one, they placed the giant logs into the peg holes of the tower. Unable to finish unless all members were across the line, Boran fell short of victory because they had to wait for Kim Johnson, the 57-year-old retired school teacher, to pick herself up after falling to the ground. Samburu won the Reward Challenge when Kim Powers climbed to the top, raising her arms in victory.
Returning to camp, Kim Johnson apologized to her tribe for stumbling and losing the challenge for them. She couldn't help feeling vulnerable, exclaiming, "Falling down in the challenge, and all things being equal among us, it's a reason to vote me off."
Jessie Weakens
With the laborious task of trekking for water, and its unsavory taste and putrid smell, Jessie realized just how difficult surviving off the African soil actually is. As she sat alone while the others were off working, the weak and dehydrated Jessie revealed, "I never thought drinking water would be this hard."
Concerned with the lack of water, Clarence stated, "I will be the first to admit that the water does not taste great, but you look past it because you need it. Not only that, if you don't drink it, how are you going to help us in challenges? It hurts us all because it wears everybody down."
Silas Plays Both Sides
While at the water hole, the elder Samburu, who earlier had formed an alliance consisting of Carl, Frank, Theresa and Linda, used the opportunity away from camp to sway Silas to join their coalition. Trying to convince Silas, Carl stated, "We have a strong foursome here; you see a weak threesome there [the young]. Where are you going to put yourself? Confirming the strength of the elder alliance, Silas asked if they thought Linda felt the same way. Frank confidently answered, "Linda is so concrete, she's buried in the bottom of the Hoover Dam." With a handshake, Silas agreed to join with the elders in a five-person voting block.
Back at camp, paranoia set in as Lindsey eavesdropped on Frank and Silas talking about their newly developed agreement. Silas, playing the two sides, thereby securing his position with both older and younger tribe members, later schemed with Lindsey, saying, "Trust me, we have got to knock the older people out. I think Frank should go first."
Boran Forms a Bond
With Lex and Tom emerging as the leaders of the Boran Tribe, forming an allegiance with each other seemed ideal. However, knowing that they would need at least one person to secure their voting position, Lex approached Ethan Zohn, the 27-year-old professional soccer player, to unite with them. Agreeing to join, a cautious Ethan later added, "Everyone trusts Lex, and for all I know he is playing both sides, and that's why I am a little paranoid."
Safari Supper
The two tribes met host Jeff Probst for the Immunity Challenge, where he explained to them, "You guys are going to feast like the tribes out here in East Africa have for thousands of years. They don't rely on vegetables and rarely eat meat, but what they do rely on is the nutrients from the milk and blood from cattle." The Survivors watched as locals walked in a cow and drained blood from its neck. (The cow walked off unharmed.) The stage was set: each member would have to drink a shot glass of cow's blood mixed with milk. Shot for shot, one by one, they confidently eyed the liquid and drank it down. Everyone drank, resulting in a tiebreaker round. To break the tie, each tribe picked a member from the other tribe to participate in a race to chug a full glass of cow's blood, but this time not mixed with milk. Kelly from Boran would match up against Linda from Samburu. As Kelly struggled to finish, Linda downed her glass first and once again gave victory to her exultant Samburu Tribe, sending Boran back to Tribal Council.
Decision Time
Losing the last three challenges and having the Tribal Council vote looming over their heads, Boran faced the unpleasant task of voting out another member. Kim Johnson, worried that she may be next to go, explained that "there is a lot of second-guessing going on as far as who is valuable within our tribe and who is not valuable, because we have lost three challenges in a row."
Irritated over losing another challenge, Clarence took Tom aside to vent his frustrations. Agreeing with Clarence, Tom added, "We've got to vote out one of the weakest links that we feel is hurting us."
Before leaving for Tribal Council, the somber Boran tribe sat as they contemplated their next move. Lex helped put the mood in perspective: "Tribal Council is a huge drag for us, and we are going twice in a row. The first two Tribal Councils, and Boran is going both times…and none of us want to go."
In the end, Jessie Camacho, well-liked but physically weak, was voted out by her tribe.
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