I’m not sure whether Angie ever actually figured out which side she was on in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 11, but in the end, she won immunity, so she was safe from everybody turning on her. Angela followed her buddy Hein out of the game.
Amanda hasn’t lost hope yet. She continues to scramble, questioning Lorette as to why the alleged alliance is really just Grant and Angie calling the shots, as it has been. At this point, for someone to take on the swing vote would be smart, as it’s final three rather than final four. Of course, there is the added danger of the jury being heavily stacked in Amanda’s favor, though a 5 person jury detracts from that. Lorette and Angie remain sick of each other. Now Mandla’s joining in. Angie hopes they’ll (continue to) be stupid enough to keep her around to honor their word.
Reward challenge is an interesting one. They will hang and support their own body weight while trying to remember a sequence of numbers. When all of them drop, they’ll then need to record those numbers. All of them will start the memory part of the challenge at the same time, so the longer they can hang on, the longer they will have to memorize and also the less time they will have to forget. Reward is a visit from family and friends. Mandla’s mom and sister, Angie’s friends, Lorette’s husband and best friend, Grant’s wife and best friend, and Amanda’s mom and sister are all there to greet them. And for some reason it’s sponsored by KFC. The winner will get a feast with their loved ones at camp.
Grant drops first, closely followed by Angie, Amanda, and then Lorette. A buff Mandla obviously hangs in the longest. Angie barely bothered to fill it out, not even making an effort to put something random. She’s first out. Amanda is out after another two numbers. Lorette is out after the first number of the second line. Grant’s next out, and Mandla wins reward. The thing about Mandla is that, despite how much of a physical threat he is, everybody’s so caught up in personality clashes they’re not even concerned about him. Everybody is happy to have someone new to talk with and seems to appreciate having Mandla’s family there.
The tribe has run out of rice and tapioca. Angie considers the hunt for new food sources a waste of energy. While they’re searching, Mandla says “I’ll let you into a secret” to Angie. Then he sees Lorette standing right there. So no secret is shared. Lorette gets (more) suspicious of Angie. In the process, Grant gets dragged into it. Angie ultimately shakes Lorette’s hand and promises to take her to the final four. Mandla offers his immunity idol to Lorette as a gesture to gain her trust, but she doesn’t want it.
The immunity challenge is called the abdominator. They are stretched out across a rack, hands on one set of bars, feet on another. After the first person drops out, they will move their hands one bar forward, then they will move their feet up further after the next person it out, then they will move their hands out further after the last. Grant’s out first. He is followed by Angie. Amanda goes to switch positions and drops down in the process, so she also is eliminated. Angie starts to root for Lorette during the challenge. Lorette asks Mandla to throw the challenge for her, and he does. A little too obviously, though, as Angie knows what happened.
Angie asks Mandla if he knows who he’s voting for. He says he hasn’t decided. She knows that means it’s between her and Amanda. Angie feels pretty safe because she got Lorette’s word, and she feels this is Survivor: Brady Bunch, where nobody wants to actually play the game.
Mandla uses the hidden idol because this is the last time he can use it.
Votes:
Amanda
Angie
Amanda
Angie
Angie
As much as I’ve disliked Angie, I was starting to like her. She and Grant may not exactly be playing the game well, but at least they’re playing, whereas Lorette and Mandla have just been along for the ride until now. Like he did with Lisa, Grant again found himself backing the wrong horse for too long.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 13, and don’t forget our continuing coverage of Survivor: China.