Challenge Stomp-pede
Location: Lion rock
The Survivors are given a wooden plank with notches below its center. A bucket has been placed eight feet in the air. Beneath the bucket is a fulcrum over which the board must be placed. One at a time, a series of items are placed on one end of the plank. The Survivors must stomp on the other end, catapulting the item into the bucket. First person to successfully toss all his or her items into the bucket wins.
Winner Gets: Two goats to take to an African village and barter for items of the winner's choosing
Winner: Ethan Zohn
Challenge Box Your Mind
Location: Leopard Rock
The Survivors are shown a box with nine squares, each of which contains an item. The Survivors are given three minutes to memorize the items and their exact location in the box. When the game begins, the items they have just seen are scattered on the ground. The Survivors must race to collect the items and arrange them in their respective squares. The person with the most matches wins.
Winner: Immunity
Winner: Ethan Zohn
The Vote:
Kelly: Brandon, Lex, Tom, Kim J, Ethan
Lex: Kim P, Frank, Kelly, Teresa
My comments:
Coming Soon
What CBS had to say about the episode:
On night 24, after a hair-raising Tribal Council, Kelly Goldsmith, the 22-year-old Behavioral Research Analyst from Rancho Santa Fe, California, had her torch extinguished and was voted out of the tribe. Kelly's demise came when an enraged Lex wrongly accused her of casting the vote against him at the previous Tribal Council; Teresa had cast that vote. It was a close call, a 5-4 vote against Kelly and Lex, respectively. Brandon, persuaded by Lex to join the old Boran tribe members, cast the deciding vote. So Kelly became the eighth person voted out of SURVIVOR AFRICA. She will become the first of a seven-member Jury that will return each week to Tribal Council and ultimately cast the final vote for who will win the title of Ultimate Survivor.
On the War Path
On day 22, nine Survivors remained. After the mysterious vote against him, Lex went on the warpath for the "snake" that turned on him. "I will cut the head off of whoever it is that did this," he warned Kelly. "I'm gonna take them out. I'm gonna slit their throat!" Seeking the culprit, Lex forced Kelly to swear on her brother's life that she was innocent. As Lex made the rounds testing allegiances, the others wondered what his motives actually were. Brandon concluded that it was just pure ego. Ironically, the only thing not worthy of Lex's trust was his own instinct. This became clear when he confronted Teresa. "You're the real deal," he told her, knowing in his gut she didn't betray him.
Reward Challenge: Stomp-pede
When Moto Maji gathered to meet host Jeff Probst, he informed them they would need a bit of coordination and a whole lot of persistence for the next reward challenge. Each Survivor was given nine items and instructed to stomp on a plank of wood, catapulting one item at a time into a basket atop a tower. The first person to land all nine in the basket would be the winner. The prize: take two goats to an African village to barter for whatever the winner wants. It was quickly apparent that footwork was a must, and Ethan's soccer skills seemed to give him an edge. He landed one, and then another, until he had one item left. Not about to lose without a fierce fight, Lex ran neck-and-neck with Ethan until the soccer player clinched it. Ethan won the challenge.
Wamba Village
On the morning of day 23, Ethan collected personal items from the tribe to sell and trade in town. As Ethan took a seat next to the goats in the truck, host Jeff Probst threw a last-minute wrench into the day, telling Ethan he must pick someone to go with him. Aware of the political implications, Ethan dreaded the selection. "I don't want to have to choose anyone," the soccer player said. "Huge political decision." Already proving he was quick on his feet, Ethan chose Lex. "He came in second [in the Reward Challenge], and that's my only clarification."
The three-and-a-half-hour journey was as hard on the goats as it was on the two Survivors. But when they rolled into the small village, they knew it was all worth it. The first challenge in Wamba was to get the goats off the truck. Trying to do so was, as Lex said, "pure comedy."
Instantly, a crowd of locals gathered to gawk at the two strangers as they tried to sell the goats. After several futile attempts, they eventually found a buyer who haggled them down to 1600 shillings for the animals. Hoping the goats would end up on a nice farm, Ethan and Lex watched in disbelief as the man made a beeline to the nearest butcher shop.
A local man imposed himself as their tour guide and took Lex and Ethan to the "best place in town" for food. As they ordered a huge plate of french fries, Lex explained, "We weren't feeling super-safe about the meat, because we saw a lot of cats milling around and we weren't sure what that was all about." Over cold soda and beer, they ate the "best fries" they ever tasted. "It was like ambrosia!" Lex said, just as Ethan made an emergency run to the outhouse.
Next task on the agenda was to buy "sweets and goods for the tribe," though after their 1000-shilling meal, the guys were left with only 600 for the other Survivors. They shopped and traded items with locals, who threw in a couple of extra bracelets for the shirt right off of Ethan's back!
After bonding with local kids over a hacky-sack, Ethan said it was "an experience I'll never be able to forget." As they boarded the truck back to camp, Ethan made the kid's day by tossing them the hacky-sack. Lex had these words to sum up his experience, "That was insane!"
When the Cat's Away
Back at camp, the Tribe took the opportunity to assess the situation. With Lex temporarily out of the picture, people were more at ease to feel out the allegiances. Teresa agreed that with Lex gone, "it allowed us to do things I don't think would have happened." Then Brandon added cryptically, "this is going to be so much fun!" The Survivors also learned that old allegiances don't die easily. Frank explained, "God bless her, Teresa apparently gathered Kim and Brandon back under the original Samburu wing." This was a mixed blessing: Frank went on to say that Kim and Brandon are "two individuals I can't put any trust in, but at this point in the game I really have not much choice." Aware of the consequences of the renewed allegiance, he added prophetically, "There could be a major D-Day invasion going on."
Upon Ethan and Lex's return, Ethan, in a political move, played Santa Claus to the tribe, passing out cookies (33 per person) and candy. Wary of the double-edged sword of a reward away from camp, Ethan explained, "People have a chance to plot against you." Not wanting anyone to resent him, Lex approached the situation differently by downplaying the experience in Wamba.
Immunity Challenge: Box Your Mind
The Survivors gathered for the Immunity Challenge, where host Jeff Probst explained their task. They had one minute to memorize the contents of compartments inside a barrel, and then, using their short-term memory, players would have to recreate the items in the various compartments. Based completely on mental strength, the final round came down to four players competing in the final run-off for Immunity: Ethan, Lex, Brandon, and Tom. Proving again that "quick on the feet" is both literal and figurative for Ethan, the soccer player's memory triumphed as Ethan took Immunity.
Guilty Before Proven Innocent
Still on a rampage of vengeance, Lex convinced Big Tom to vote off the "snake" who betrayed him. Lex pledged, "My goal was in three days to figure out who cast that mystery vote." He then added, "After putting two and two together, it became really evident that my worst fears were true. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Kelly has turned." Not entirely convinced that it was Kelly, Tom struggled with the idea of voting against her. Explaining his predicament, Tom said, "We're shooting a harpoon shot that it's Kelly. It's hard for me to go against my tribemate, and I like little Kelly, but all indications are it's her." Rethinking his voting decision, Tom added, "We really haven't got anything that's concrete. Nothing concrete except Lex's gut instinct."
Kelly was unaware of the conspiracy against her, until Lex took her aside. "Alliances aren't what they used to be," he explained to her. And though she tried one last time to convince him otherwise, it was to no avail. She knew that she was now in an incredibly vulnerable position. "My butt is on the line," Kelly admitted.
Lex's actions against Kelly unknowingly left him just as vulnerable, as Kelly joined Kim Powers and Teresa's alliance. Kelly's only hope was that everyone would keep his or her word and vote against Lex.
In the end, it was Brandon who shifted allegiances, as his vote for Kelly sent her packing. She was the eighth person voted out of SURVIVOR AFRICA and will become the first member of the Jury that will ultimately decide who will be the Ultimate Survivor.
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