Episode 3: WHAT'S UP, DOC?

Challenge Rock 'n' Roll
Location: Leopard rock
    Tribes race to roll an eight-foot boulder through a natural obstacle course. Tribe members must work together to navigate the boulder through obstacles across an already difficult terrain. The first tribe to roll their boulder into the winner's circle wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: 100 gallons of drinking water and organic shampoo
Winning Tribe: Boran

Challenge Distress Signal
Location: Tribal Camps
    Tribes are told that a plane will be flying overhead. At their camps, tribes must construct a distress signal, using anything around their camp to get the plane's attention. The tribe with the signal most visible from the air, according to the plane's pilot and dropmaster, wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: Immunity
Winning Tribe: Boran

The Vote:
    Carl*: Brandon, Kim P, Lindsey, Silas
    Lindsey: Carl, Frank, Linda, Teresa
The vote was tied between Carl and Lindsey, and Carl lost the tiebreaker Q & A round

My comments:
Coming Soon

What CBS had to say about the episode:
    After a tension-filled 4-4 split vote, Carl Bilancione, the 46-year-old Dentist from Winter Springs, Florida, became the first Samburu tribe member to walk off alone from Tribal Council. The tribe was deadlocked in a tie vote, with older members voting for 27-year-old advertising account executive Lindsey Richter to leave, and younger members voting for Carl. As neither tribe member had previous votes to count against him or her, and thus break the tie, both became the first Survivors to enter a Tribal Council Question-and-Answer round. In the end, Carl lost, leaving the Samburu tribe and seeming to shift, at least for now, the balance of power to its younger members.

    After walking down the lonely path, Carl reflected on his tribe's division: "Our tribe is split by a generation gap. We have four people in their forties with a sense of responsibility, and the others are just confused in their life. I am worried about that generation. I have no regrets."

Lions Visit Boran
    A restful night quickly turned to fright night when the Boran Tribe came face-to-face with some unwanted visitors: lions, roaming wild and near. Fearful because one lion was so close, Clarence and Kelly, who were on night watch, shook tin cans and screamed for the animal to "Go away!" Alarmed and afraid, Clarence said, "We could hear it actually breathe. We could hear it wheeze as it inhaled." As the lions circled, their eyes peering through the acacia thorn fence (the tribe's only protection), the sleeping members awoke, frightened and worried about their safety. Lex later added, "It made my blood run cold. We went into this thing knowing it's going to be tough, it's going to be cruel, but we never really considered it was going to be quite that real."

    Listening intently, the tribe realized that there were two lions near the camp. Goat farmer Tom Buchanan commented on his initial reaction, saying, "My mind said stay, but my feet said go. It was all I could do to keep myself from running, but there was nowhere to run." With the sound of the lions growling just beyond the tribe's protective fence, Ethan accepted the grim reality that "this is probably going to happen every night. What do we do if it comes scrapping at the fence?"

Early Risers
    The elder members of Samburu--Carl, Frank, Teresa and Linda--awoke early in the morning to begin daily chores, which included starting a fire and going for water. Agitated because he was awakened by the elders' early-morning noise, Silas whispered to his younger confidants, "Why do they get up so early?" Irritated by the younger members' lack of both respect and work ethic, Carl vented: "Of course I go to get the water, because if I didn't, it's not going to get done."

    As the elder members were out working, the younger ones stayed in camp to gossip about their tribe's age division. Lindsey noted that "the older group seems a little bit nervous. Basically, they are sucking up to us. If they are, that's okay. They can go get the water, and we don't need to help, we can just save our strength." Brandon, the 25-year-old bartender from Dallas, Texas, agreed with Lindsey's remarks and added, "They [older members] are conniving, miserable little people walking around talking about us, so don't ever forget that."

With the Elders Away, the Young Can Play
    With the elders out of camp, Silas, Lindsey and Brandon gorged themselves on what little food was rationed for the entire group for the day. While eating the food behind the elder members' backs without remorse, Lindsey added, "We should have first dibs on the food and pig out. Why not?" Brandon, the group's chef, revealed why he enjoys the chore of cooking: "I like to cook because I like my gruel fried a certain way, plus if I'm cooking, my friends get bigger portions than the rest."

Securing the Perimeter
    Wandering out of their boma (circular thorn fence), the Boran tribe found some lion tracks, confirming their previous night's visitors. Speculating about where the animals could have gone during daylight, Lex added, "If we encounter a lion during the day, we have to remain completely still. As soon as we run away, you immediately throw a signal that you are prey. You would be inviting the lion to just jump on you and maul you." Lex's words encouraged Tom, who declared, "We have got to fix our fence!" Fortifying their perimeter with acacia branches is necessary for surviving any upcoming nocturnal visits from predators.

A Pledge of Allegiance
    In an effort to fortify their alliance, Lindsey made bead necklaces and gave them to Silas, Kim and Brandon, demonstrating their solidarity with one another. With all the work to be completed around the camp, Frank was appalled that time could be spent on anything but chores, adding, "That's a waste of time. Food, shelter and water: all efforts should be concentrated on that, not out here making beads or sun-tanning yourself." Kim Powers, empowered by the jewelry, explained its significance: "It was flaunting right in their face that there are four of us and four of you. It's a game, and it was our strategy to really drive them crazy and say, 'hey, we are really unified.'" The elders realized that Silas was no longer playing both sides, because he, too, was given a necklace and wore it proudly. Affirming his new commitment, Silas added, "Straddling the fence is over, it's done. I am no longer with the older people, and I don't care if they know that."

Reward Challenge: Rock 'n' Roll
    Upon arriving at the reward challenge, the tribes met host Jeff Probst, who explained the rules of the game. The game's premise is simple: Each tribe is given a giant boulder and must roll it through an obstacle course. The first tribe to complete the course successfully and cross the finish line first wins. The reward? The single most important substance in Africa: water. The winning tribe wins one hundred gallons of fresh drinking water, as well as organic shampoo.

    The race proved to be extremely physical, challenging even the strongest Survivors, as Big Tom, as he was often called by Boran tribemates, found himself struggling to guide the rolling rock. However, Boran managed to take an early lead, because Samburu missed key turns and had to backtrack. In the end, Boran won their first challenge and the much-needed 100 gallons of water.

Immunity Challenge: Distress Signal
    Both tribes received tree mail notifying them of the next immunity challenge. Using what little resources they had at each camp, they were to construct a distress signal that could be seen from the air. Samburu, after much deliberation, agreed to use their circular boma as the "O" in "SOS" and build around their dwelling. Overexerting herself and becoming dehydrated in the intense heat, Lindsey began writhing in pain, lying on the ground. Finding Lindsey in agony, Kim Powers ran to her aid. Said Kim, "Her working really hard got her sick very fast today. She is dehydrated. She was in severe pain." Linda Spencer, the 44-year-old career counselor, asked Lindsey if she was okay, but was turned away. Said Linda later, "One of the things Lindsey likes to say every day is how strong she is. She is the strongest person that she knows. I guess she's not so strong."

    A plane flew above the two distress signals to judge which was better. The decision would be made by the pilot and the dropmaster, who was responsible for dropping, via parachute, a wooden crate containing the Immunity Idol to the winning tribe.

    At the Boran camp, group camaraderie was evident as the Boran tribe members stripped down to their underwear and ran in circles around a colorful distress signal, clearly out in the open. Samburu's "SOS" was hard to distinguish from all the other natural brush surrounding it in the region. As a result, the Boran tribe members ran to the box as it parachuted towards them, celebrating in the knowledge that they had avoided going back to the dreaded Tribal Council. Over at Samburu, Linda speculated, "I believe there are a lot of spirits out here, and I believe that our [immunity] idol goddess will not live in a home of conflict."

    This loss sent Samburu to their first Tribal Council, where after a deadlocked tie vote, Carl Bilacione lost the tiebreaker round to Lindsey Richter and became the first member of Samburu to be voted out.

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