That’s more like it. Even though I was deeply disappointed to see the ever-entertaining Coby go home, last week’s episode of Survivor: Palau was truly excellent on a number of levels. From Stephenie’s tears of sorrow and joy to Tom’s drunken stumbling to Coby’s bitchy little outbursts, the show delivered some of the season’s most notable moments. There was also a lot of food on this episode and it always makes me happy to watch the survivors eat. It’s kind of like the happiness Julia Roberts gets in Pretty Woman when she finally gets to go on that massive shopping spree.
I nearly cried along with Stephenie as she read the tree mail that freed her from the Ulong jail. That woman really went through hell and appears to have emerged stronger than ever now that she’s part of the Koror tribe. I had a feeling that she’d quickly gain homecoming queen status among her new tribe mates and she has. The original Koror members were clearly sick of each other and understandably excited to see a new face. However, with the exception of Jenn, they seem to be ignoring the face that Steph is a power player and stands a good chance of winning some individual immunities.
Unless Probst offers her a pizza. For crying out loud, Steph, I know you were starving, but I thought that you had a bit more determination than that. When Jeff brought out that pizza during the immunity challenge, Caryn and Steph jumped down off their perches so fast, it scared me a little. Then again, the closest thing I’ve ever known to starvation is Weight Watchers, so I’m hardly in a position to judge anyone who’s been living on coconut and the occasional giant clam.
However, Steph wasn’t the only player who surprised me. I couldn’t believe it when Coby and Janu left the competition first for a few doughnuts and then proceeded to eat them in the moaning, finger-licking manner that they did. At that point, I’m sure Coby was already a goner, but his behavior just fed the fires of anger for people like Katie and Jenn. For someone who claimed to love the game so much, Coby didn’t seem very interested in trying to stay in it.
By far the best moment of the challenge what when Ian did a little Survivor Replay of his own, stating that he’d take off his clothes for chocolate and peanut butter a la Jenna and Heidi in the Amazon. And Probst’s response was perfect: “No one wants to see that, Ian.” It’s not often that old Jeff cracks a joke, but he was pretty entertaining overall during the challenge. I particularly liked the fact that production gave him a nice chair to lie back in. The contrast between Probst’s languid pose and conditions of the immunity challenge further emphasized what a silly game this is and the things people will do for a million dollars. But obviously, there are limits to the amount of torture they will endure, as the food offerings demonstrated.
With the exception of Tom. I wonder if his hangover diminished his appetite. He won the challenge handily, probably never even considering the tasty snacks that Jeff was trying to lure him with. But hungry or not, Tom appears to possess a bit more willpower than his competitors. And so what if he fell down drunk after a little rum? I’m willing to cut the man some slack, given that he was initially drinking on an empty stomach. While some of his companions appeared a bit dismayed, I could only laugh. I haven’t seen such a good drunk moment on Survivor since Jan took a spill in Thailand. And Tom’s excellent recovery the next morning served as further evidence that he is indeed superhuman. Either that, or he remembered to drink a whole lot of that water that no one’s allowed to use for showers.
So is Coby’s ejection from the game. For as much as I wanted him to stick around and continue to deliver charming one-liners, I knew that the boy was toast. His little hissy fit over being named captain of the bait squad was ludicrous, as was his overt strategy confession session with Stephenie. I don’t understand it. The whole season, Coby kept expressing disappointment over Koror’s winning streak because it was preventing him from playing the sneaky, strategic part of the game. Then, Stephenie moved into camp and the game becomes individual. So what does Coby do? He immediately alienates Tom, Gregg, and Ian with his outburst over being bait boy. Then he pisses off Katie and Jenn by talking to Steph. And finally, he is the first one to bail on the immunity challenge. Then, when his teammates voted him out, he called it “a great compliment” because he believed that he was perceived as a threat. Yeah, maybe in the past, but I think that people wanted him to leave because he was annoying them.
So all of this just shoots my predictions of last week to hell. I should have known better than to write up a power ranking list of the survivors. I had Coby in the number three spot and Stephenie in grave danger of going home soon. It’s all wrong. Just forget I ever wrote it.
