Challenge Raft Rescue
Location: Challenge Beach
The tribes receive two identical piles of materials consisting of bamboo poles and rope from which
they must construct a raft to paddle. Along the way, they
must unclip floating supply boxes and race back to a
floating dock. The first tribe to successfully gather the
supply crates and race back to the dock wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: Pillow, blankets, and lanterns
Winning Tribe: Rotu
Challenge Coconut Maze Race
Location: Akatini Beach
The tribes are faced with two identical large mazes, elevated and
controlled by ropes at the corners to tilt the board. Four people from each tribe
control the corner ropes. These castaways are instructed by a fifth person who is
the "Caller" and shouts out commands. A coconut is placed in the start position
and the tribes use the tilt mechanisms to roll the coconut through the maze. The
first tribe to land three coconuts in the finish net wins.
Winning Tribe Gets: Immunity
Winning Tribe: Rotu
The Vote:
Hunter: Sarah, Sean, Vecepia, Rob
Sarah: Gina, Hunter
My comments:
Coming Soon
What CBS had to say about the episode:
On Day 9, after a 4-2 vote, Hunter Ellis, the
33-year-old Federal Express pilot from La Jolla,
California, was voted out of the tribe. Hunter's
leadership was instrumental in the first few days of
island life, but his will to survive in the wild surpassed
his ability to survive the tribe. With Maraamu losing
three consecutive Immunity Challenges, Hunter became
the third person voted out of the tribe and off the
Island. Having his torch extinguished, Hunter
remembered his time on the Island and resentfully
added, "I really don't understand the logic behind it
right now. I was camping with a bunch of knuckle heads. Hang in there, Gina, I wish
you guys the best of luck."
Tribal Council Aftermath
As the tension built after another Tribal Council,
Maraamu returned to camp to hash out tribal
differences. Feeling threatened by the 3 votes cast
against her, Sarah Jones, the 24-year-old account
manager from Newport Beach, California, confronted
Hunter, demanding, "This morning when I woke up and
you guys were already gone, I knew you were talking
about me not working, when no one even bothered to
wake me up. If you guys need me to do something,
damn it, wake me up!" Sean Rector, the 30-year-old
teacher from Harlem, New York, felt disrespected by the
tribe's inability to communicate, leading him to complain to Hunter, "When you
aren't communicating to me it's a form of disrespect, when you just assume that
people are going to get up when you want to get up." Hunter felt aggravated by his
tribe members' poor work ethic and stubborn attitudes, leading him to vent, "You
know you signed on to do this survival game, but you still have to survive,
otherwise you are just going to dwindle out, and you aren't going to have any
energy."
Tribal Unity
Cold and wet from the previous night's storm, the
weary Rotu tribe awoke, then happily agreed that
fortifying the shelter was the tribe's main task of the
day. Gabriel Cade, the 23-year-old bartender from
Celo, North Carolina, noted, "There is something about
this tribe. We get a lot of strength in the kind and the
strong spirits that we give each other." With the
contagious goodwill spreading through camp, Paschal
English, the 57-year-old judge from Thomaston,
Georgia, took a moment to reveal his new friendship
with Neleh Dennis, the 21-year-old student from
Layton, Utah: "Neleh, she just has that little 'pixie' look. Her vivaciousness just
reminds me of my two daughters at home." Returning the compliment, Neleh
expressed, "Paschal has the greatest heart. He is the father figure of the group. Of
anybody on the whole team that I would have the toughest time voting off, it
would be him."
Performance Anxiety?
Attempting to bring home food for his tribe, John
Carroll, the 36-year-old registered nurse from Omaha,
Nebraska, set out in the tribe's new fishing mask,
snorkel and fins. His excursion was cut short when he
suddenly surfaced, holding his hand in intense pain. He
had been pricked by a sea urchin. Grimacing in pain and
not wanting infection to spread, he claimed the only
solution was a remedy he had heard about -- to have
someone urinate on his hand to stop the swelling. He
shouted, "I need somebody who has to pee, does
anyone have to pee?" Running to the rescue, Paschal arrived to try and alleviate
John's pain. But with the pressure on, Paschal couldn't perform, leading Kathy
Vavrick-O'Brien, the 47-year-old real estate agent from
Burlington, Vermont, to joke, "Paschal went out to pee, and
yes he did have performance anxiety, and couldn't do it."
Kathy then did her tribal duty, as she successfully helped John
with his request. "At least I performed in the call of duty," she
exclaimed.
No Nos
Sleeping in a makeshift shelter and having to
endure the cold, rainy nights weren't the only
difficulties with which the castaways had to
grapple -- the sand was filled with tiny bugs called
"No Nos." As the Maraamu tribe sat together on
the morning of Day 7, they noticed that their
bodies were littered with bite marks. "They are
about forty-five thousand times worse than
mosquitoes and there is absolutely no cure for
them. They are the most miserable things I have
ever encountered in my life," complained Rob
Mariano, the 26-year-old construction worker from Canton, Massachusetts. The
tribe tried to amuse themselves with their daily "morning radio report" to add levity
to what was an increasingly uncomfortable situation.
A Task at Hand - Rotu Falling Apart
Later, host Jeff Probst arrived at each camp, and
instructed the tribes to build a raft using bamboo poles
and other supplies he was providing. The raft had to be
secure enough to row the tribe members for their next
challenge. As the Rotu tribe unloaded the bamboo,
Robert DeCanio, the 38-year-old limo driver from
Queens, New York, injured his foot on a rock. Having
sliced his foot open, Robert writhed in pain as John
Carroll, the registered nurse from Omaha, Nebraska,
treated the injury. "It's only pain. Pain is easy, life is
hard," Robert preached. Hobbled by his injury, he
proved his fortitude as he helped Gabriel take on the challenge of designing and
constructing the raft.
As half of the Rotu tribe helped build, the others spent
time searching for food. Turning over a rock in the
shallow waters proved to John that, once again, life on
the Island was not all fun and games. An eel had taken
a bite out of his finger. In immense pain and bleeding,
John explained, "It lacerated the underside of my finger
and it just ripped it open." Tammy Leitner, the
29-year-old crime reporter from Mesa, Arizona, later
added, "Everything can change in a heart beat. John
has gotten hurt twice today. Things change just like
that out here."
Reward Challenge: Raft Rescue
The tribes met host Jeff Probst at the Reward Challenge;
he explained the rules of the Raft Rescue. Using their
newly constructed rafts, they had to race each other
along a criss-crossed water course, unhooking and
picking up moored supply boxes along the way. The first
tribe to successfully complete the course and touch the
floating dock with the raft would win. The reward - -
either a week's ration of rice, or blankets, pillows and
lanterns for comfort.
The race began as both tribes paddled toward their
first floating supply box. They were tied for much of
the race until Hunter dived deep into the ocean to
unhook one of the tethered boxes. He brought it to
the raft, and gave Maraamu a small lead. As the Rotu
raft cut through the water with more ease, they
battled back to regain the lead and never looked
back, winning the Challenge, and choosing the
creature comforts -- pillows, blankets and lanterns --
as their reward.
Aftermath of Losing
Returning to camp with morale at an all-time low, the defeated
Maraamu tribe pondered what their problem was. Hunter assessed
the situation and confirmed, "Everyone is asking what is the
problem and I don't have the heart to say it. Winning is an
attitude that you carry around, it's not something you turn on
and off before you go to a Challenge. If we were working
together to accomplish things around camp first, the basis of
teamwork would begin."
Immunity Challenge: Coconut Maze Race
Reconvening with host Jeff Probst, the two tribes
listened carefully as he explained the rules of the
next Challenge. Five people from each tribe would
participate in this challenge -- four people on the
ropes, and one Caller. Using a system of pulleys, the
tribe members would heed their caller's instructions
and either raise or lower an oversized wooden box
that contained a maze. Inside that box would be
placed a coconut which was to be maneuvered
through the giant maze and into a hole in the center.
Once the coconut was in the hole, the tribe members
would rotate positions. The first tribe to successfully negotiate the maze three
times would win.
Maraamu began with an early lead, as Vecepia Towery, the 36-year-old office
manager from Portland, Oregon, barked out orders to her tribe. Rotu wasn't far
behind, but in the last second the confident tribe took back the lead and once
again were victorious, winning their fifth straight challenge and propelling the
defeated Maraamu tribe back to Tribal Council.
Playing All Sides
As the tribe prepared for the upcoming
vote, Rob formulated his strategy. "It is
important for me to have people on my team
that are going to do what I tell them to do
without knowing that I am telling them to do
it." Taking his time to chat with each person
on the tribe, Rob slowly put his strategy to
work. Quoting from the movie "The
Godfather," he chimed in, "Fear, it's a tough
principle, but fear keeps people loyal. If
they're afraid they have something to lose,
they will do what they are told to do."
And so, Rob's strategy played itself out as the Maraamu tribe voted out Hunter
Ellis, the 33-year-old Federal Express pilot from La Jolla, California, in a 4-2 vote.
Hunter became the third consecutive person to be voted out of the Maraamu tribe.
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