Last year, a half all-star cast proved to be the recipe for success in Survivor: Micronesia. After years of poor casting, seasons 15 and 16 were a nice turn around for the aging series. Now, a new Survivor cast heads back to Africa with Survivor: Gabon. This marks the first return to Africa since season 3 Survivor: Africa, which ended up being one of the harshest environments Survivor has ever been to.
Unlike the dustbowl in Kenya last time they were in Africa, the area where they’re shooting in Gabon, a small nation of 1.5 million people in western central Africa on the equator, appears to be a lush green environment.
In Gabon, the elders typically make the big decisions. The two oldest people Gillian and Bob are in charge. They will be choosing tribes and can pick either a man or woman, without having to rotate like they usually do in these situations. Then each person picked will be able to choose the next tribe member.
Bob (Kota): Ace, Sugar, Marcus, Charlie, Paloma, Kelly, Jacquie, Corinne
Gillian (Fang): Crystal, Susie, Matty, Randy, Dan, GC, Ken, Michelle
The picking order makes pretty much no sense.
Now that the teams are selected, it’s time for the first challenge. There are two individual immunity idols at the top of the hill, a bag of rice, and an extra bag of corn and beans (the first tribe across will get this). GC and Marcus rush ahead and get individual immunity. Michelle, the last one picked, is the first woman across (and not happy with her new tribe). Try as he might, Matty can’t push (literally) his tribe fast enough, and Kota wins the challenge and the extra food. It’s not even close, and Fang looks in trouble when it comes to physical challenges. Their first three picks (Gillian, Crystal, and Susie) were not the way to build a good strong team in that respect.
When they arrive at camp, they see there’s some shelter (more or less) already established. As with the last time, there are supposed to be some wild animals roaming around.
Bob’s turning out to be the leader, potentially a dangerous strategy, but as long as he keeps everybody happy with him and doesn’t get bossy, it should work out to his benefit.
Gillian tries to maintain a positive attitude in the face of her team sucking. She wants to find some elephant dung and eat the edible parts remaining in it (oh, c’mon, this is even too much for Survivor).
Ken is a geeky professional gamer who’s not too good with women, but he seems to be getting along well with Michelle.
Ace believes he’s already got the game won, but he’s rubbing people the wrong way already.
Charlie has found a connection with Marcus, which may or may not be primarily based on his “deep blue beautiful eyes.”
The very first night, the promise of wild animals comes true. There are elephants right near them.
Randy gets a “scratch” on his head (aka something gushing blood). Nurse Gillian is no help, but the medical team comes out. They stitch him up, but he is warned that there’s a risk of infection.
Michelle is wondering where the sun is since they’re on the equator and all. She’s also still not happy with her team, apparently forgetting that the other team didn’t want her either.
At the immunity challenge, 6 tribe members will be belted together. They’ll race through a swamp, over a cargo net, and through an obstacle course to collect three bags of puzzle pieces to bring back to their puzzle solvers. Susie, Gillian, and Randy will solve the puzzle for their team, while Bob, Paloma, and one of the blondes (Kelly?) solve theirs. Kota is the first to find a bag of pieces and then their second and third. Fang’s still digging, having found their first. They were pretty close during the rest of the task, but finding the pieces is proving problematic. It’s not even close. Again. Kota solves the puzzle before Fang even gets their puzzle pieces, and Kota wins immunity.
Fang lacks a leader, and they’re worried about it.
Michelle’s name is the first one to come out as a boot pick, since she’s too negative. Considering they’re so weak as it is, though, there are much more sensible options. Randy wants to push for Gillian to go because she’s weighing them down the most. He will be able to get Michelle and Ken on his side. He’ll need more than that, though.
Dan tells Probst they did okay. Jeff calls them a disaster and says they’re in denial. Michelle tells the truth, which won’t win her any friends. Apparently, though, it’s all her fault for not yelling at people to motivate them.
Jeff wants somebody to step up and be the leader. No volunteers. GC, however, is wishy washily open to be the leader after he is volunteered by someone else. The tribe votes and elects him as leader.
GC retains his individual immunity, not that he was in any danger anyway, but everybody else is fair game.
Votes
Michelle
Gillian
Michelle
Michelle
Michelle
Michelle
This team made a lot of stupid decisions this episode, and that’s a really nice way to cap off the stupidity. Michelle has been voted off the island. At least they’ve got fire.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Gabon episode 2, which airs next on CBS.