In episode 2, the useless/lazy part of the Bajau tribe turned on the three members who were doing the work. They were at least smart enough to keep Dyke around, instead opting to take out one of his allies, Nicola. The bad news is that this meant that Elsie stuck around, and I’m sure we’re not done hearing her big mouth.
Hein and Dyke are understandably upset by the tribe’s rather odd strategy. They plot to slow down their amount of work as revenge. Maybe somebody else on the tribe will actually do something to help. Hein wants to call a meeting because he thinks the girls are acting like schoolchildren. Dyke acknowledgs he comes across as rude, abrasive, or obnoxious. “At times I can be. At times anyone can be.” Angela returns to them making promises and not fulfilling them. It’s a damn good thing she hasn’t made any promises because she hasn’t done anything the whole time she’s been there.
The reward challenge is a dash through the sand to grab numbered coconuts. This has the potential for lots of shoving, but kicking, punching, biting, and scratching are not allowed. The winner will get flint, which should be helpful since neither tribe has fire (similar to the last season of Survivor in the US, fire must be earned and is not just given to a tribe for going to tribal council). The tribes must choose each time which person from their tribe will compete in that round. Irshaad beats Rijesh to go up 1-0. Lorette (the black belt… whose wise idea was this matchup?) beats Amanda to take the lead 2-0. Hein uses his weight and strength to get the coconut from Mandla. He drops the coconut, but Mandla’s just lying on the ground, so Hein scoops it back up and brings the score to 2-1. Next up, it’s Angie against Elsie, and by some miracle, Elsie wins, tying the score at 2-2. The last matchup is Nichal against Grant, who is outmatched by probably 100 pounds. Nichal receives a warning about holding Grant when the coconut is free, reminding him to play the coconut, not the player. Nichal disregards this warning and is disqualified, costing his team fire and giving the challenge to Iban.
Despite the loss, everybody seems to be getting along when they get back to camp. People are actually being nice to each other. Dyke’s not buying it. It’s not long before the other 5 are sleeping in the middle of the day, while Dyke and Hein continue working.
Iban’s got a positive vibe, with genuine relationships building (so they say), a winning streak, and now fire. Their problem is that they don’t have anything to cook. Mandla hurt his knee in the reward challenge when battling with Hein. In season 1, we saw something similar, where Sanele had to quit because he was injured during a challenge… a challenge that also involved running through the sand and diving at people, which was also in episode 3 and also a reward challenge for flint. The good news for the tribe is that Lorette does end up catching an actual fish, rather than the goldfish she caught previously.
Hein catches a bunch of fish. He then promises to build a fire. And here we go again with the whining about him not building a fire yet, this time from Rijesh. So I ask again: what’s Rijesh done? Nichal bets him 500 rand. Angela offers a 100 rand contribution toward that 500. She tries to get the others go along. With some arm pulling, Elsie is in for 20 rand ($2.75US). Hein says the time is not right strategically to make fire.
At the immunity challenge, the teams start on platforms in the water. The setup is similar to the reward challenge. Tribes pick two people to dive and grab a ball from underwater (only one ball that they must fight for). The first tribe to touch the post gets a point. Dyke and Rijesh square off against Irshaad and Viwe in round 1. Dyke and Rijesh take the lead 1-0. In round 2, Amanda and Angela face Lorette and Angie. The ladies learned from the last round and are now blocking the post at the shore to make it more difficult to score. The lame thing about this challenge is you don’t have to get control of the ball. All you have to do is have one hand on the ball and one hand on the post, even if all three other people are fighting for the ball at the same time. Amanda does just that, and Bajau finally wins something.
Following the immunity challenge, with the knowledge that he and Dyke aren’t in immediate danger of going home, Hein attempts to make fire. Once again, the lazy people on the tribe who haven’t done anything doubt him. In over 100 international versions and 14 US seasons, no contestant has ever made fire on their own. Samburu managed to make fire in season 3 using Kim P’s suggestion of a telescope lens, and Michelle did so last season with Yau Man’s glasses, but nobody has managed to do it with just what’s available in the wild. So here we have another Survivor first. Hein did manage to get a fire going, using just natural materials available on the island. Hopefully the whiners who aren’t doing anything to contribute to the camp will shut up now, and perhaps they’ll even reevaluate their strategy of getting rid of valuable members who actually want to work.
With Bajau losing so much, I almost forgot about how useless Lisa was in episode 1. Now, of course, she’s back on the chopping block again. She has apparently turned over a new leaf, but she was a complete idiot for admitting she was being lazy on purpose for the first couple days. Angie believes Viwe is a bit of an outcast, so he’s the other choice for elimination tonight. Lisa’s too lazy to even campaign for herself, sending Angie and Grant to do the work for her. Lorette, the swing vote, chimes in to say that Viwe is working when asked but Lisa still isn’t.
When questioned about it at tribal council, Lorette says there is a slight improvement, but there is much more room for improvement. Viwe says he believes alliances don’t exist, even though he is in an alliance with Lisa, Grant, and Angie. Grant (a lawyer) says while voting that he doesn’t trust Viwe because he’s a lawyer.
It’s time to vote:
Lisa
Viwe
Viwe
Lisa
Viwe
Viwe
Viwe is voted out by a vote of 5-2, and Lisa is saved yet again. Well, they went ahead and dumped a member of their alliance like I suggested. Too bad it was the wrong one, and they didn’t realize Lisa is dragging them down and will continue to do so.
In the previews for next week, Rijesh continues to believe he’s so smooth that nobody’s noticing what he’s doing, and tribes get scared by their treemail.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8PM South Africa time (GMT+2) on M-Net.
