"Survivor: Gabon" - November 20, 2008 and November 27, 2008 episodes

November 20, 2008 episode

Bob is sort of on his own, so he seemed to feel comfortable telling Sugar that he made a fake immunity idol. I thought that was odd for him to volunteer. I'm wondering if there's some other kind of interaction they had that we haven't been shown.

It's auction time as each contestant is given $500 to spend, with no pooling of resources or sharing of items. Ken bids on an item which turns out to be a note, which says that he can send one person to exile and then he gets all of that person's money. He chooses to send Bob to exile, and since Bob hasn't spent anything, Ken gets all of his money. But then the weird thing is that Ken never actually ends up buying anything else.

Sugar buys chocolate and peanut butter. Susie buys a bath and clean clothes, and Sugar is amazed that Susie gets out before her time is up because she says she would have stayed in there until they told her she had to get out. Matty gets cheeseburger and fries.

Corinne had decided that she didn't need food but rather, a way to stay in the game, so when there is a mystery note that would help in the game, she goes for broke and pays all her money for that. Jeff says she will read it at the next immunity challenge.

Randy ends up getting the most stuff. He started off with peanuts and beer and then also gets spaghetti and wine. He then buys cookies for the tribe, but Sugar can't conceal her dislike for him and turns down his offer. When Randy has one cookie left and offers it to Sugar again, she takes it this time - but then hands it over to Matty, which makes Randy mad since the last cookie was his that he had offered to her. I get that she doesn't like him, and turning him down was one thing, but I did think it was pretty mean to then just give it to Matty.

Bob at exile still decides to take the clue rather than comfort since he hasn't figured out that the idol is gone, but when the clue is one he already had last time, he decides to just enjoy the scenery and takes a lovely walk of the sights. Back at camp, Matty is targeting Bob as the next to go.

Randy is still mad about the cookie and also for whatever reason just decides to go crazy and warns Corinne about it. He bad mouths everyone and behaves oddly, painting the biggest target on himself. He and Corinne are for some reason counting on the fact that Bob will get the hidden immunity idol on exile. Randy is hoping that Bob will give the idol to him, and then when they go to tribal, he can blindside Susie and vote her out.

At the immunity challenge, there's this two-part elaborate obstacle course they have to do. Corinne opens her note, which gives her a pass on the first round and takes her automatically to the final round. Yeah, it was kind of nice, but just because you're in the final round doesn't guarantee you anything. Ken and Matty win the first round and join Corinne in the final round. They have to stack dominoes so that they'll fall to trigger the winning move. It's a close race between Ken and Matty, but Ken ends up winning.

Sugar comes up with the idea for Bob to give the fake immunity idol to Randy, and Bob plays along, probably because he's got no in with anyone anyway, and he wants to stay in her good graces. Randy is thrilled when Bob offers the idol to him, and he looks forward to the fireworks at tribal. Corinne is still making derogatory remarks about Sugar, and once again, she underestimates Sugar. She's never going to learn that lesson.

At tribal, the votes are being cast, and Sugar is having trouble containing herself. I was wondering if she'd told the rest of the tribe. After Jeff gets the votes, Randy plays the idol, and he's grinning smugly from ear to ear. Jeff explains that it's not a real idol and throws the idol in the fire. (I was really surprised about that. Unlike the dumb stick previously, this was actually a nicely crafted fake idol that Bob spent a lot of time and effort on, and they usually do some kind of auction at the end of the show, and I think this would have been a nice collector's item.) At this point, the rest of the tribe, except for Randy, Corinne and Bob, are laughing outright - yep, Sugar told them. Randy is voted out, and Corinne is stunned. I'm thinking she's going to be pretty mad at Bob. I was surprised that Bob actually voted for Susie though.


November 27, 2008 episode

This wasn't a regular episode, but rather, a recap episode with stuff not previously shown and extras. They showed the audition tapes for some of the contestants - Sugar's was pretty bizarre. I'm glad she got rid of the rings in her nose - so not flattering at all for such a pretty girl. And Ken looks like he's 8 in his audition tape. They also recounted the disaster that was Fang and the triumph that was Kota. And while one of my co-workers hates Corinne, I've thought she was ok, but in the extra footage they showed of her, she's really not a very nice person. She has continually talked down about Sugar, mostly for superficial reasons, and she's even been kind of weird with her own tribe mates. It seems she bonded with Randy over their mutual dislike of Sugar, which is why Randy told her he was going to go crazy, which made me wonder why he told her, but that makes more sense now.