Episode Recap: Survivor Fiji, Week 3

Episode: This Isn't Survival, It's Thrival Original Air Date: February 22, 2007 Why do they have to load so many good shows on the Thursday schedule? Are the TV gods conspiring against me? Survivor, Smallville, and The Office are all on at the same time. My DVR can only record two shows at once! Come on, spread it out a little! And apparently two nights are just not enough to air American Idol. No, Fox had to get greedy and show it on Thursday this week as well. Or maybe it's because they have absolutely nothing else worth showing and they need Idol to fill all of the holes in their schedule. Curse you, Fox network! Curse you! Day 5 Moto is living high on the proverbial hog and loving every minute of it. This morning a couple of the women have decided to paint the floor of their shelter. The show has actually provided them with can of paint and brushes. The castaways on Gilligan's Island didn't have it this good. "This is too easy," one of the Moto tribe members tells another as he finishes his cooked meal which he just ate on china with silverware. Boo tells us, "This isn't survival, it's thrival." Meanwhile, the emaciated members of Ravu are laying on the ground counting their ribs, since they're too week to do anything else. Suddenly, Earl returns from Exile Island. Somehow the other members muster up the energy to crawl to the beach to ask him if he brought any water. Earl tells us it was like "landing on a beach full of begging children". Later, Michelle tries to use her eyeglasses to start a fire. She succeeds in getting some embers burning and the rest of the tribe help her grow it into a full-blown fire. Rocky tells us, "I'd be scared to be the other team right now. We're so fired up it's rediculous." Then he promptly falls over from dehydration. Convoluted Rewards Challenge Jeff seems surprised to find out that Ravu has done "what few tribes on Survivor have ever done" - that is made fire all by them little selves. Since they now have fire, they no longer need to earn it, so Jeff tosses them the flint. The tribes will be playing for their choice of three rewards - their luxury items, exact duplicates of all the fishing gear Moto won during the last challenge, or a bowl of fruit. The challenge involves each tribe sending one member at a time to slide across what amounts to a giant Slip 'N Slide™, snag a numbered ball off of a hanging rope, and toss the ball into a basket. Whichever castaway gets the ball into the basket before the other castaway from the opposing tribe, wins a point for his or her tribe. The truly unfortunate thing about this challenge is that elderly Yau Man feels it necessary to take his shirt off. The only thing worse than a scrawny, half-naked, sagging old man, is a starving, scrawny, half-naked, sagging old man. That is not a sight you want to see shortly before going to bed. Another unfortunate thing about this challenge is that it is not enough for Moto simply to win. No, they have to spank Ravu hard. The final score was six to two. The tribes didn't even get a chance to send out all of their members. Moto sends Sylvia to Exile (this time she will not be immune from elimination), and chooses the fishing gear as their reward, because, hey, you can never have too much fishing gear. Exile Island The snakes! The snakes! This place is supposed to be overrun by these critters, but every time they cut to a scene with a snake, it looks like the same one. I think they show the same stupid snake five time during this episode alone. Maybe they only had two snakes and Earl killed one of them during the last episode. The new clue tells Sylvia pretty much the exact location of the Immunity Idol. It's supposed to be buried deep under the threshold of the cave mouth back at camp. Sylvia better find it fast once she gets back. She's not exactly Miss Popular back at camp, and her dismal performance during today's challenge probably didn't help her chances much, either. Moto Camp Gary "Papa Smurf" isn't doing very well. He's having trouble breathing and he's experiencing sharp chest pains. The Survivor medics come and give him what is supposed to resemble an examination. Gary tells them he feels like there's a knife in his chest and he's so disoriented he's not sure he can remember his name. The medics tell him it's nothing serious, and to take some analgesics and get some rest. The guy is disoriented, can't breathe, and is having severe chest pains, so they tell him to take two pills and call them in the morning. Where do these medics work, an HMO? Convoluted Immunity Challenge Gary still isn't feeling the best, but shows up for the challenge anyway. Other tribal members wonder if maybe he should just quit. This challenge involves rounds of individual tribal members going head to head with members from the opposing tribe in an eating competition. The castaways must scarf down giant clams, a squid tentacle, peanut worms, fish eyes, and pig snouts that still have hair attached. One would think Ravu would have this challenge in the bag, since they are all on the brink of starvation. But, no, Moto has to win this one as well. Even Gary participates, easily finishing his hairy pig snouts ahead of Anthony. Ravu will once again be voting someone off tonight. Tribal Council and the Pre-Scheming Before Tribal Council, Rocky had been campaigning to have Sylvia voted off. Actually, he had been instructing everyone to vote her off. He seems to fancy himself the Illustrious Leader of an imaginary alliance. Mookie, on the other hand, is determined to vote off Anthony, since Anthony didn't seem to be trying hard enough during the last challenge. Sylvia tries to dig nonchalantly at the cave's mouth. Everyone is just a few feet away, so she doesn't want them to know she's looking for the Idol. The amazing thing is, no one seems to catch on. The tribe gathers for Tribal Council and cast their votes. Before he counts the votes, Jeff asks if anyone would like to play the Idol. Sylvia doesn't have it. Jeff reads off the votes. It's pretty close - Sylvia 4, Anthony 3, and Earl(?) 1. I think this is the first time in a long time Jeff has had to read every vote. Sylvia is the third person voted off of Survivor: Fiji. Next week - Gary is still sick. Liliana flirts. Rocky makes Anthony cry.