Survivor Gabon - Recap Six

Survivor Gabon Week 5 Recap - WARNING! Possible Show Spoilers In This Column! The Twist is back!!! That’s right, after a two-week hiatus the twist has returned to Survivor Gabon. Okay, there was some more crying, but the twist made its triumphant return.

This week’s episode started out in typical fashion. The gang at Fang (rhymes with thong) is bitching and moaning once again, Kota kicks their ass once more in the Rewards Challenge and Sugar gets sent to Exile Island for an unprecedented time. Sound familiar?

The Reward Challenge was the classic children’s game of keep-away, with Kota shutting Fang out in the contest. Want to know what they were playing for? A helicopter ride to the top of a gorgeous mountaintop, complete with a delicious picnic lunch. Plus, another Survivor staple, letters from loved ones. That’s where the tears came in. Please, for the last time, there's no crying in Survivor!

All of this happened in the first twenty minutes of the show and they were already gathering around Jeff Probst for the dreaded Immunity Challenge! That got me to thinking that Producer Mark Burnett had something up his sleeve. Could it be? Do you think?

Yes!!! It was the long awaited Survivor twist! And it was a huge one. Probst announced that, because Fang sucks so bad, someone from each tribe would be eliminated. Okay, he didn’t say that Fang sucks, but we all know that was the reason behind the double-elimination twist. But the twist didn’t end there. In this Immunity Challenge everyone had a chance to earn Individual Immunity.

The challenge was the classic lumberjack contest of logrolling. After three rounds of intense competition, Marcus emerged the champion Survivor logroller and had garnished the precious Individual Immunity. But wait, the twist wasn’t done! In addition to winning immunity, Marcus had the honor of awarding Individual Immunity to a member of the opposing Fang tribe. He must have thought he was sending someone to Exile Island, because he chose Sugar.

Back at camp Fang, the tribe members were faced with the weekly task of going to Tribal Council and voting off one of their own. Sugar, who had the Hidden Immunity Individual Idol from Exile Island, was the swing vote. Ace asked to “borrow” it from her, but Sugar effortlessly played stupid and told him that he wouldn’t need it.

Despite some prodding from Probst, the discussion at the Kota Tribal Council was fairly mundane. The most notable occurrence was Ace finally remembering his thick British accent. He hadn’t used it yet in tonight’s episode. I am glad he finally did because, in a true Survivor blindside, he was the 7th Survivor sent home from Gabon. As Probst extinguished his torch, Ace glared at Sugar and uttered, “Thanks Sugar.” Poor fool never saw it coming.

Now it was Kota’s turn. Faced with the unaccustomed dilemma of eliminating a tribe mate at Tribal Council. It looked like Dan was the consensus pick until Susie; the quiet 47-year-old hairdresser opened her mouth. When Corrine told Susie that Dan was the one being given the heave-ho, Susie casually mentioned, “Oh, okay I was gonna vote for you.” Duh, Susie! Step away from the chemicals used to give perms.

At Tribal Council Susie continued to run her mouth and pisses Corrine off even more. It certainly appeared that she would be the 8th person to hear those fatal words, “The tribe has spoken.” Alas, for some unknown reason, Kota went back to their original plan and ousted Dan.

If things stay to form, next week should be the merge. The coming attraction at the end of this week’s show teased us with Randy drinking, what appears to be, champagne and declaring that he is the king of Gabon. Oh ya, and a bunch of (blurred out) Survivors skinny-dipping. It should be interesting. Until next week…From Gabon