This week's episode of Survivor opens the evening after tribal council as the sky opens up and deluges our All Stars with more rain then Noah had to endure. Chapera is sleeping well as their shelter is keeping the water out, there blankets, pillows, and other prizes are keeping them warm, and aside from water coming in the roof and some of what my parents generation would call "light petting" by Rob and Amber the tribe looks rather comfortable. If Chapera is heaven, then Saboga is hell. With Rupert's shelter destroyed by the rain, an extinguished fire, and freezing cold temperatures the team looks defeated. Jeri appears close to catatonic as she sits and waits for the night to end. Without seeing Mogo Mogo enduring the night, the sun rises on Saboga. They quickly regroup, fish, start a new fire, and begin to build a new shelter. Jeri is out of her "Tommy-like" catharsis and rejoins the team.
We finally get to see one of my three favorite tribes, Mogo Mogo. The day has started and so has a new fire after the rains. Richard goes fishing for the tribe and bring back 3 eels. I'm glad they were all over a few inches, because with Richard fishing naked, you never know how a confused hungry survivor will think. The tribes are well fed when tree mail arrives to inform them of an impending reward challenge and it's off to the challenge we go. Richard and Sue share a lovely chat that brought images of Rich and Sue naked, and him giving her a bone. Well, there goes that desire for any late night booty call tonight. The reward challenge is a little silly, guessing what others have in a box and matching with what they have. Chapera wins a slew of bathing supplies and the final clue to their rice. Saboga finally wins something, placing second and getting a clue.
Day 11 begins as Rupert starts a new shelter for his tribe to make up for his prior gaffe. The first shelter was a bit nicer then what the folks on The Apprentice would be saddled with only an hour later, but we'll get to that soon. Chapera on the other hand is having a hard time figuring out what a pace is as they frantically look for their rice key, that was within ten paces of their mailbox all along. The team is flying high, eating their rice (1 Billion Chinese people can't be wrong, right, but they can be Wong) and then Rob mentions that he cannot see how the other teams can catch up. Sense some karmic retribution coming? Then before you can say look at that fat naked gay man, the immunity challenge is upon us.
This challenge had huge puzzle pieces assorted on the beach. Three team member would be blindfolded and instructed by one player with "eyes" where to go to find the pieces. After getting all 15 pieces, the teams had to complete the puzzle. This started off a bit slow, but Big Tom (who is quickly becoming a favorite of mine) was knocked up, down, left, and right as people threw pieces at him by accident, walked into him and knocked him in the head, stomach, and legs. He took more diggers then I did in basketball last night, which is a lot. Chapera gets all their pieces first, but have trouble completing the puzzle. Saboga, home of Rupert win their first immunity challenge with Mogo Mogo coming in second.
Faced with their first tribal council, the two Robs agree to vote out Alicia. Without much more discussion, the group is walking to one of the funnier tribal councils. Amber who has helped me forget all about Tracey Gold's departure from The Mole and Rob appear quite the cozy couple at Tribal Council with Rob even relenting to Amber's opinion on his weaknesses. The voting begins and it is time to say goodbye to a very frustrated Rob Cestrino. Rob, we hardly knew ye and I am not in the slightest upset. Next week will bring the games first big twist along with big changes to your very own The Low Standard!
The Apprentice:
Ah, it's Thursday at ten and it's time for the comb-over to end all comb-overs. Another day dawns on NYC as the team is told to meet Mr. Trump at a Park Avenue construction site. Protégé is told they can take one team member from Versacorp and promptly pick Amy, extinguishing any romance this week between her and Nick. The teams are told they will be renovating two Brooklyn apartments, and the team to rent it for a higher mark-up will win. Omarosa his hit by a small piece of falling debris and continues to complain for the remainder of the episode, she sucks. Troy and Katrina are chosen as project managers and go to visit the two sites. Talking a bit too loud on her telephone (you figure a woman would know how to properly use a phone, right?) Katrina confesses she wants the second apartment and Troy overhears.
In a mature fashion, Katrina suggests they write down which place they want and if they match they'll flip a coin and if not, they all get what they want. The country bumpkin must have forgotten the rules because he writes "I want whatever you want." Those crazy middle Americans. If she was smart she would have flipped a coin for first choice. If he won the flip, he would be forced to pick first, if she won then she gets what she wants without giving anything up, which we know Women are good at. At least before a few beers. Troy wins a later coin flip and gets the cheaper and better apartment and the teams get to work. Katrina is none to happy.
Over at Protégé, Omarosa in all her wisdom stops everyong from working and calls a meeting to pretty much say everyone needs to finish what they had just been working on. It feels like a college meeting all over again. Did she go to Babson too? Later that night Heidi finds out her mom has been diagnosed with cancer but holds strong and stays in the game. We come back from a commercial to Trump's words of wisdom for the week. It almost feels like Sesame Street the way they do it. I keep waiting for Bert to pop up and say "God is in the details", this weeks advice. Now I always thought it was the devil is in the details, but perhaps the FCC would think that was too racy, so we get this prozac version.
Over in Versacorp Tammy, who is so dumb that I can't believe she doesn't have someone remind her when to breathe is fighting with the team. More of this will come. In the complainer section Omarosa leaves her team due to her terrible headache, and then proceeds to go outside and play basketball. Maybe she's hoping to be in the WNBA, if the league even still exists. Verscaorp is plugging along as they hire a General Contractor who fixes the kitchen and bath, all the while dealing with Tammy complaining.
The apartments are now done and they both look pretty good. The traffic to rent is very low and Bill finally rents Versacorp's apartment around 3 for $1,650 and Troy rents Protégé's apartment at 4:50 for $1,520. I don't know if God is in the details but he certainly believes in Affirmative Action as Omarosa is saved for another week. We learn at the boardroom that Protégé has won and will spend an afternoon in Westchester at Trump's house, where all the rich people live, according to Trump. Now for a rich guy, Trump is so humble it is unbelievable. So far we have learned he owns the nicest golf course in al of NY and now we find out he also has the nicest house in all of New York. He is such the everyman. On to the firing of the night. Lots of squabbling back and forth but at the end of the day the one to hear "You're Fired" is Tammy for her insubordination and for being dumber then a sack of bricks (no offense to bricks). Next week is only seven days away and we are assured in very Bachelor-esque fashion that it will be the Best Boardroom Ever. Big claim, let's see if it holds up. Until next week…..