Survivor 4: Marquesas

Week 6 Wrapup

9 April, 2002

Okay, I think this show needs a rule. Enough with the naked guys. John gets some wild power trip, strips down and throws himself into the water, calling it some sort of ceremony. He's officially getting on my nerves. Not so much for the naked diving, but more for his diatribes on his power and being in charge. Save it pal. He's starting to make Sean seem pretty normal.

This week's reward challenge was quite possibly the most exciting ever. Early on it looked like a rout by Rotu. Rob and Zoe ran past Paschal and Neleh like they were stuck in mud. But when those two handed off to Robert and John to canoe out to get a flag, all hell broke loose. Apparently neither of those two gentlemen have any clue how to row. They spun in circles forever while Gina and Kathy overtook them. It looked like Maraamu would win but both Gina and Kathy inexplicably left behind the flag and had to go back. Rotu reached the finish a split second ahead of them. Another loss for Maraamu? Not quite. Apparently Robert forgot that he had to finish with John, plus they didn't drag their canoe far enough up the shore, disqualifying them. This startling comeback was enhanced nicely by a spirited score that seemed astoundingly majestic for a TV show.

Show's best line, Sean referring to John's insistence that winning a chicken dinner wasn't that great: "Here's the bottom line. He said they that maybe like you would crap your pants. What else we got out here but nature and opportunity?"

Over at the Maraamu camp, Paschal is all broken up over Gabe's departure. Apparently the two bonded pretty tightly. This is followed by Kathy' qui ghon routine. Yay. Clearly Paschal and Neleh were a driving force behind the Rotu group's lovey dovey attitude. Why? Because after they left, Rotu got cut throat and Maraamu started getting nauseatingly cute. Hopefully they'll get voted out quickly because my stomach can't take the vomiting much longer.

Is there something in the water at Maraamu's camp? I'm starting to believe it was a miracle that they even won one immunity challenge. It's particularly sad after their spirited showing in the reward challenge. They don't have much muscle and at least this week, it didn't look like they had much brainpower either. Faced with a maze challenge, the Maraamu tribe stumbled after Kathy in circles on their way to a brutal loss to Rotu. They haven't looked so embarassingly bad since that scrambled picture puzzle a few weeks ago. The little tribe that couldn't briefly made it look like they could last week, but after this week, we know the truth. Maraamu is dead in the water. Of the original eight, only three remain standing. Gina was voted out at the tribal council, so the people that now make up that pitiful little tribe were originally from Rotu. So basically the show enters the merge with the cast split into three groups of uncertain strength.

The largest group, supposedly led by John, numbers four people and also contains Zoe, Robert and Tammy. Then there is the existing Maraamu group of Paschal, Neleh and Kathy. Finally we have the Maraamu castoffs Rob, Sean and Vecepia. Odds are good that John's group will become the final four, but this has been a season that defies easy predictions, so don't bank on that. Still, it's a physical, smart and competitive group that should have a good shot at grabbing a lot of immunity challenges along the way. The first one after the merge is critical though. Rob hasn't given up yet and he is a pretty athletic guy. If he gets immunity in the first week, I don't think it's beyond his abilities to orchestrate the ouster of one of John's group. If that doesn't happen though, his odds diminish rapidly. In fact, I'm pretty certain that he is the most likely person to get voted off if he doesn't win immunity.

Rob spent a good part of this episode agitating over the truth and who allies with who. He's obviously still scheming but it seems to be without direction. He's just grasping at straws. Take for instance asking John if he was gay. Apart from getting the information out there for the audience, what purpose did this serve? At best he only mildly iritates John. At worst he labels himself intolerant and effectively paints a target on his back. Previous seasons of this show were fairly predictable. Alliances formed and barring interference from the producers, things played out in a logical procession. This season though, it's been tough to predict. I'm not sure if this is simply a group of contestants with higher paranoia than usual or far less smarts than usual. Whatever the case the result has been some inexplicable moves that have made it hard to predict who goes. Keep that in mind for the future.

John Shea