Challenge Swahili Scramble
Location: Bodich Plain
The Survivors search for words among a jumble of letters on a giant board. The words intersect and share letters. Once all the words have been found, the intersecting letters unscramble to form a winning word. First Survivor to decipher the winning word wins.
Winner Gets: A new Chevy Avalanche, and the opportunity to drive the new vehicle, stocked with a year's worth of medical supplies, to a nearby AIDS hospital.
Winner: Lex
Challenge Second Chance
Location: Lion Rock
The Survivors must once again compete against each other on an obstacle course. Using parts of past challenges, such as running on a rope net, building a ladder, and shooting an arrow, they will race to the finish. First person to successfully complete the course wins.
Winner Gets: Immunity
Winner: Lex van den Berghe
The Vote:
Teresa: Ethan, Kim J, Tom, Lex
Tom: Teresa
My comments:
Coming Soon
What CBS had to say about the episode:
With a final smile and a quip about the "fat lady singing," Teresa Cooper, the 42-year-old flight attendant from Jackson, Georgia, left Tribal Council as the twelfth person voted out of the Moto Maji Tribe. The five remaining members cast their votes with a majority for Teresa, the last remaining member of the original Samburu Tribe.
When Lex won Immunity for the third time, Teresa found herself in the most vulnerable position. In a last-ditch effort to save herself, she approached Lex and tried to sway his vote against Tom. Going so far as to confess her earlier vote against Lex, Teresa claimed she did it because Tom had suggested Lex should be voted off. Teresa's plan failed and she was asked to leave, with three of the five votes against her. Teresa will become the fifth member of the Jury, which will decide who wins the million-dollar prize. As Teresa walked away, host Jeff Probst outlined the final stretch: four people, three days, two Immunity Challenges, one Soul Survivor.
Poisoning the Well
Waking up with only five people left, the group found itself increasingly drained from the grueling environment. "I never thought it was gonna be this hard," Lex declared. "Physically, mentally, psychologically, emotionally. And now that we're so close to the end, I'm exhausted," he continued. To add insult to injury, life was made more difficult when the group discovered an enormous mound of elephant dung in the center of their watering hole. Despite the stinking pachyderm pile, Kim Johnson performed her daily bathing ritual as Tom looked on, cringing. "Kim Johnson washes in elephant sh-- every day," Tom said with disgust. "I wanna be in harmony with all animals and all the people," he continued and then added soberly, "but that's hard to do, especially if you're down to the end."
As Tom thought about the coming days, Lex struggled with another growing problem: boredom. "Boredom is something that has definitely become a reality." And after 35 days, "we're running out of things to talk about and things to do," he complained.
Meanwhile, Ethan grappled with an even more pressing issue. "Tom's feet stink worse… than… anyone's feet I've smelled on the planet earth." Ethan then tried to provide a more scientific analysis, "He's got some funk down there that I've never smelled before."
Food for the Soul
At the Tree Mail area, a personal envelope awaited each member. Inside the envelopes were letters from home, or what Lex called, "pure reward." As the group read mail from their parents, spouses and children, tears and smiles were plentiful. "After finishing a letter from his kids, Lex said it was exactly what he needed to get through the next few days. "It fed my body and my soul."
Reward Challenge: Swahili Scramble
Gathering in front of five large boards covered with rows of letters, host Jeff Probst explained the rules. Working from a list, Survivors had to find Swahili words hidden in letters on their boards. Each word intersected with another, sharing a letter. When all 9 words were circled, the group had to unscramble the 9 intersecting letters and discover the answer to a given clue. First one to do so would be the winner of an as-yet-to-be revealed prize. Perhaps inspired by the letters from home, Lex clinched the Reward Challenge and won a brand new Chevy Avalanche. The second part of his reward was the opportunity to drive the new vehicle, stocked with a year's worth of medical supplies, to a nearby AIDS hospital.
Wamba Hospital
Built by an elderly Italian doctor, Wamba Hospital is financed and supplied completely by donations. The hospital treats victims of AIDS from all over Africa. Visibly touched by the experience, Lex visited the patients. Missing his own kids, he was especially affected by the sick children.
Animosity Toward Lex
With Lex winning yet another reward, the camp did little to hide their frustration and jealousy. "Today there's a little bit of animosity toward Lex," Tom said, particularly frustrated about not winning the truck. Already unsure of his allegiance to Lex, Tom admitted that alliances seemed to be up for grabs.
After a month of playing it safe, Kim Johnson finally joined the scheming game. Thinking more strategically, she decided to seek out the most vulnerable male in order to form an alliance against Lex. Approaching Ethan, she boldly told him he had to vote off Lex. "If you don't get Lex off you're shooting yourself in the foot." Considering Kim's words, Ethan admitted that Lex was "healthy, he's been eating normally, he been out of the camp like 5 more days than I have, he's riding on confidence…. It's tough to be at the top of your game when someone else has all those added ingredients."
Returning from the hospital, Lex immediately felt the tension. "When I got back the vibe was thick at camp," he noted. "Bummed" about losing the Reward Challenge, the Tribe's attitude towards Lex was obvious; he summed it up with these words: "The Mojo was just funky."
Aware that leaving camp for a day put him in a vulnerable position, Lex grilled Kim about what went on while he was gone. Eager to pacify Lex and cover her tracks in a plot against him, Kim assured him that though the group was jealous of Lex, nobody was "pissed."
Immunity Challenge: Second Chance
"Win this and you're in the Final Four!" Jeff Probst announced to the group as they gathered at the start of an obstacle course. Combining elements of past challenges, the Tribe was given the opportunity to learn from their past mistakes and win the new obstacle course, which included constructing a ladder and ended with shooting an arrow into their respective targets.
Racing through a difficult course, Lex took the lead with Ethan close behind. More vulnerable than ever, Lex needed Immunity to stave off a vote against him. When his arrow exploded the target, he won the Immunity Necklace.
One Last Chance
Acknowledging her vulnerability as the last Samburu member, Teresa's only hope seemed to be a heart-to-heart with Lex. Laying her cards on the table, Teresa confessed that she was responsible for the vote against him he had previously attributed to Kelly. Now regretting the vote, she attempted to blame it on Tom's advice to "watch out for Lex." Backing up Teresa's concerns about Tom, Kim told Lex of the goat farmer's desires to see him gone. As Lex listened in shock, Teresa's last-ditch effort to save herself seemed to be taking hold. Feeling betrayed and upset, Lex explained that things "just got way more sinister." With stakes now skyrocketing, Lex declared that, "it's completely gone to cutthroat mode, and if I think Tom's about to screw me and stab me in the back, I'll cut his throat."
In the end, however, the Boran alliance held as Teresa found herself with a majority of the votes. Her expulsion propelled Lex, Ethan, Kim and Big Tom into the Final Four. Teresa now becomes the fifth member of the Jury, which will decide who will be the Soul Survivor.
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