Survivor Update: Kill Or Be Killed

The reward challenge is an old standbye; the auction. Jeff offers a bowl of beef jerky, which Danni gets for $20. He offers her a chance to switch, but she wisely declines and is delighted when the switch bait turns out to be raw kernels of corn. The second item is offered hidden; when it's won it turns out to be two Philly Cheese steaks with french fries. The third item is mosquito netting, which Lydia gets.

Next comes something a little different; an unknown advantage in the upcoming immunity challenge. Obviously on the chopping block, Danni bids the most for that. I seem to remember something else afterwards, followed by the big one. Relatives come out--Judd's wife, Steph's boyfriend, a twin sister for Cindy (named Mindy), etc. Judd gets some money from Cindy, while Steph gathers in the cash from Rafe. The reward is to take their relative back to camp with them for an evening.

Judd ends up with the most money so he wins. But then Jeff springs the surprise. Judd can pick two more of the relatives to come back for the night, but those who don't get their relatives will go back to the old Yaxha campsite for the night. He picks Cindy and Steph, although there's a little more reluctance to help out Steph this time; clearly Judd's remembering her surprising move against Jamie. Rafe is obviously heartbroken at not getting to stay with his mother.

The next day the losers come back to camp and exchange some pleasantries with the relatives before it's time to go. Then it's on to the immunity challenge. Which resembles nothing so much as the old video game, Q-Bert. The game consists of a bunch of tiles, which start out on the white side. The players turn over the tiles to reveal the red sides, and step onto them. Whoever gets trapped surrounded by red tiles loses. Danni's advantage is revealed. At any time, she can switch positions with another player.

Which clearly means what, class? That she should play the game normally, wait until she's trapped, and then switch positions with whoever has the best position in the game. But she doesn't do that, she switches with Steph fairly early. But she still wins immunity, which means that Lydia seems like the obvious person on the chopping block. But Danni and Lydia have been doing some talking to Judd and then Steph, and seem to be building a wedge between them. Of course, that leaves Rafe as the wild card, but it appears that he's quite ready to vote Judd off.

Of course, this is a Mark Burnett production, so we now get scenes where Judd presses Lydia for her not to vote against him, and we can see pained expressions and a refusal to look him in the face.

It's set up as a Judd vs Lydia decision, and not surprisingly, Judd and Lydia split the first four votes. The next one is really decisive, and Judd takes it like a punch in the gut. Then comes the fourth one, and he strides angrily over to Jeff, saying something about how he hopes they get eaten by a crocodile, and how they're scumbags. Definitely one of the most bitter moments in the show so far.

And then there were five. My take on the remainder:

Steph: In trouble no matter what. If she wins immunity, immunity, final challenge, she's got two votes guaranteed against her (Judd and Jamie). Arguably Gary as well. She's probably got Bobby Jon's vote.

Lydia: Not in bad shape. She's not a threat and the old alliance has largely fractured. She can point to her friendly demeanor and hard work during the entire show. No guaranteed pro votes that I can see, but also not guaranteed antis. And nobody's going to see her as a threat to win competitions.

Danni: Things are definitely looking up. She needs to get a wedge in between Steph, Cindy and Rafe, and Cindy's the person in the supposed alliance who didn't get told that there was a change in the plan. If Danni can peel her off by pointing out that Steph and Rafes are the physical threats, then we could see Danni, Cindy and Lydia in the endurance challenge.

Rafe: In some trouble unless he moves agressively. He has to realize that the dynamics have changed drastically; he's the lone man with four women. They're definitely going to want to level the playing field by kicking him off. He needs to approach Lydia and Danni and propose alliance, because it's obvious now that whoever does that has the best chance of surviving.

Cindy: Most likely to be adopted by Danni and Lydia as their buddy, for the simple reason that they see her as less of a physical threat, and she sees them the same way.