Lorette and Mandla finally turned on Angie in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 12, the first time all season they’ve actually done something from a gameplay standpoint. That left us with a final four of Grant, Amanda, Lorette, and Mandla. I haven’t been particularly impressed with any of the bunch, but I do have to give credit to Grant for playing the game the whole time, even if much of what he’s done hasn’t made any sense. Also, Amanda outlasting the rest of her tribe is worth noting.

The communique doesn’t beat around the bush. It warns them of an endurance competition where one of them will be eliminated. Lorette is confident about this because she had to do a lot of standing in the sun for her police training. Amanda assumes nobody will take her so she’ll have to get there on her own.

The challenge is a balancing act. They must stand on a post. The first person out will be out of the game, a twist I’m not crazy about. The last person standing will be able to choose who goes with them to the end.

For the first 15 minutes, they’re allowed to use a pole to help balance. Lorette turns around to face the other way, a smart move because she’ll remain focused on just one thing. As the largest person there, Mandla’s not surprisingly the first person out, just shy of the one and a half hour mark. Definitely a challenge designed to favor people with smaller feet. He has been eliminated from the game. At 2 hours 50 minutes, the tide rises to the rope line beneath them, which is the signal to get on one foot. What a stupid idea. All that work, and it comes down to this. Grant falls within seconds. Amanda falls seconds after that. Lorette is the last one to fall, and she wins immunity.

Believing he knows the type of person Lorette is, Grant feels he would offend her by campaigning for her to take him, so he just sits back and lets her decide on her own. Amanda, on the other hand, decides she needs to convince Lorette to take her. She says she doesn’t want to put too much pressure on her, but it’s hard to tell what Lorette’s actually thinking because Amanda just keeps getting monosyllabic grunts in response.

Lorette has chosen to take Grant with her. Not entirely surprising, and it was pretty much her only option with such a small jury. If she got rid of Grant, Angela and Dyke would have voted for Amanda, and Angie’s a big risk for voting against Lorette. Of course, Grant won’t be easy to beat, as he has been the puppetmaster of his tribe all along. He dragged Lisa along for way, way too long, then he did the same for Angie, and both of those two really shaky alliances suggest how much influence he had, as he saved people who should have been eliminated long before they were.

Even now, 4 weeks after the game began, nobody knows Grant’s an attorney.

Dyke asks Grant why he thinks Lorette does not deserve to win. He’s able to answer without offending, suggesting he played a better game.

Angela asks Lorette for examples of her proactive strategy. She discusses how she made strong alliances.

Angie wants to know how much of the relationship with Grant was real, and he says all of it was, going on about alliances and strategy and such. She obviously wants to know whether he’s actually her friend, a point which he somehow misses.

Mandla questions Grant about his strategy. Grant says he was playing all along, including not putting a target on his back in challenges, which some jury members may take offense to. He also makes a comment about Dyke, being booted for being too physically fit, and says it would have been stupid for him to have done this. Very easy for Dyke to misinterpret this and take it as an insult.

Amanda asks Lorette why their alliance played a charade, such as when Lorette said she considered Mandla her next target, which Amanda takes issue with because Lorette is always discussing integrity. Lorette says she would have taken Mandla out given the opportunity and that it wasn’t a charade.

For a lawyer, Grant stuck his foot in his mouth quite a bit during these questions. Lorette says she should win because she played hard and did her best in challenges. Grant acknowledges he came to play the game and wants them to vote on that basis.

What’s up with the delay in revealing the vote?

Angela reveals that she was pregnant while on the island but didn’t know it until afterward.

Rijesh blames the tribe shuffle for screwing up his game, when in reality he was buried by his overplaying long before.

Next, we got a look back at Survivor history, where Hein became the first person to make fire without anything manmade, along with the whining and disbelief from his tribemates that went along with it.

Hein is the winner of the viewer vote of soul survivor.

Rezki is still alive. They slaughtered another goat instead. Whatever difference that makes.

Elsie says she’s not really like she was on the show. Let’s hope that’s true.

Lisa says if she had to do it again, she might have lifted a finger.

Hein comes up with two scenarios about the challenge that cost him the game. He either fell asleep or was tired of playing. Looks like it’s still up to us to figure out what actually happened. My theory is that he just simply misjudged the time.

Votes
Dyke: Lorette
Angela: Grant
Mandla: Lorette
Amanda: Grant
Angie: Lorette

As much as I liked Lorette, it’s hard to see what she actually did in this game to deserve to win. I must say I’m shocked that Angie voted for Lorette, but ultimately, for someone who played the game so hard the whole time, Grant did completely screw up Angie’s question.

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.

You want to talk about your bad episodes? Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 10 saw the elimination of Hein, which was later followed by Dyke’s exit, which left me wondering who the heck to root for now.

Lorette wasn’t kidding when she said she would be willing to go after Mandla.

Grant’s continuing to get closer to Angie, which makes for his second (at least) useless/dangerous very close ally thus far.

Lorette gets upset when Angie takes food and cooks it for herself.

The reward challenge is a matter of balance, which seems more suitable to an immunity. Reward is a ski trip, in addition to a map with directions to an immunity idol. Okay, I was ready for a lame twist as much as the next guy, but hidden immunity idol sucks worse than any twist not created by Big Brother producers. The first stage of the competition is standing on a post on one foot. Angie’s out first, followed by her buddy Grant. The next stage is crossing a chain using a rope for support. Mandla crosses first, then Angela. Lastly, they get on a log, where Mandla outruns Angela to win reward. As if he needs a bigger target on his back, though the idol will definitely be nice to have.

It takes him a while to find the idol, but it doesn’t appear to be that difficult. He pretends he doesn’t have it, though.

Angela and Amanda approach Angie to again propose an alliance with her. The thing about Angie is that, while you can’t trust her at all, she is quite likely to jump ship. She says she wants to target Lorette. But then Angela comes up with a final three plan, with Mandla as the actual third.

Angie puts her plan into motion, working on Mandla and then Grant. Mandla’s annoyed with her, but Grant’s looking at taking someone everyone hates to the end.

After Lorette tells Amanda about Angie taking the tapioca for herself, Amanda tells Lorette about what Angie’s plans are, leaving out the part about how they were thrilled with the plan. Except with the food bit, which upsets everybody, now they’re not interested in that plan any more and want to get rid of Angie.

The immunity challenge is named simply: hold your breath. Angela’s out at 25 seconds. Amanda and Lorette are out at 50 seconds. Mandla’s out at 1:10. The final two are Angie and Grant. They must untie and release two buoys and return to shore. Angie releases her first buoy first, and Grant eventually ties it at 1. Angie gets her second buoy up and gets to shore to win immunity. Plans. Foiled. So now what?

Grant confronts Angie about the food, and her defense is that it was actually coconut, not tapioca. The only thing I know about tapioca is that it’s in pudding, so I don’t know what actually happened. So anyway, now Angie tells Grant she’s back on their side, since he told her they approached Lorette about targetting her. She ponders keeping that information to herself, but instead opts to ask Angela about it, who denies it, as does Amanda. Angie gets confused who to believe. Here’s a hint: don’t believe any of them. Later, Lorette and Angie discuss everything… with Amanda and Angela sitting right there in plain sight. Amanda views this as an opportunity to keep pot stirring. During this, Grant’s name comes up because he was an idiot and tried to make everybody else look like the bad guy without getting any actual facts.

Votes:
Angela
Angela
Grant
Grant
Angela
Angela

By a vote of 4-2, Angela has been voted off the island, as the alliance of 4 sticks together. Next time we’ll see if someone’s smart enough to realize 5 is a great chance to pull in a swing vote.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 12, and don’t forget our Survivor: China coverage.

We left Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 9 with a cliffhanger. Leading up to the merge, people were stupid and voted people off based on personality clashes rather than trying to navigate the waters and try to make more sensible decisions. What this eventually led to was a merged tribe with 4 original Iban members and 4 original Bajau members, none of whom were willing to budge. That led to a 4-4 tie vote between Lorette and Hein. In episode 10, they are participating in a challenge to determine who goes home. Both must count down to 30 seconds and touch the skull closest to 30 seconds. The person further from that mark will be eliminated.

The longest 30 seconds ever. Lorette touches the skull first, followed by Hein way too long after. With 26 seconds, Lorette is safe. With 47.8 seconds, Hein has been voted off the island. Aw hell. So basically I have to hope for at least one of three things to happen here. 1) There’s some sort of ghost twist like last year. 2) Dyke can keep winning immunity. 3) One of the members of ex-Bajau can weasel their way into the other camp when we get down to 5. Angie’s way too emotional, and Grant dragged Lisa along for weeks too long for no reason and to his own detriment. I do somewhat like Mandla and Lorette, however, even if neither have really stood out in the game thus far.

When they get back to camp, Lorette says she thinks Hein threw the challenge, as does Amanda. Dyke can’t figure out what the heck happened. Angie takes the opportunity to remind ex-Bajau they’re going to be voted off. She says she was irritated by them voting by Lorette. Yeah, there’s a shock. This coming from the girl who’s been irritated for two weeks straight.

The reward challenge is the mean question challenge where majority rules. Reward is a trip to a spa.

Who’s most difficult to sleep next to? The group votes for Dyke, and Angela and Dyke get it wrong.
Who smells the worst? The group votes for Mandla. Mandla, Dyke, and Angie get it wrong.
Who is the most untrustworthy? The group votes for Dyke, including Dyke, the only person smart enough to vote for himself. Lorette, Angela, Angie, and Amanda get it wrong.
Who talks the most? The group votes Amanda. Lorette, Mandla, and Amanda get it wrong, voting for Angela.
Who does the least work around camp? Votes are split between Amanda, Angela, Angie, and Dyke (obviously a throwaway vote not to offend anyone), with Amanda being the one who receives the most votes. Angela, Lorette, Mandla, Amanda, and Angie are incorrect. This eliminates Angie, Angela, Amanda, and Mandla.
Who has had the easiest ride into merge? Angie receives a majority vote, including one from her ally Lorette. Interesting. Let’s see how long this takes to irritate Angie. Grant is incorrect.
Who is the biggest charmer? Lorette again with an interesting vote, as she and Dyke vote for Dyke. Grant is incorrect. This is bringing me back to his time with Lisa. He just keeps voting how he thinks he can kiss up to Angie best.
Who is the biggest whinger? The majority votes for Amanda. Lorette has been eliminated.
Whose life would the million change the most? All the eliminated people get to vote as well. Angela, Lorette, and Dyke receive votes, with Dyke being the majority answer. Except for the two Angela votes, most of the votes were along tribal lines.

Dyke wins reward. He gets to choose one person to bring along with him. Some good potential strategizing time, but he opts to live up to his promise of taking one of the girls, so he chooses Amanda. At the spa, they start off by having some tea and taking a bath. Dyke shaves for the first time in weeks. Then both get a massage. This is followed by a hottub and drinks.

Lorette didn’t know what the word whinger meant, which explains why she voted for Dyke. I saw that one coming, as I had to look it up as well.

Angie pretends she didn’t even notice Hein was gone because things are still getting done. This confessional is immediately followed by a scene of people scrambling about trying to figure out what the heck they’re doing.

The immunity challenge is called the ring. The tribe will start behind one of the evenly spaced skulls around the circle. When they step into the ring, it’s every man and woman for themselves. Their hands will be bound with shackles to their belts. This is a very easy challenge to gang up on people, so Dyke has his work cut out for him. Mandla and Grant immediately target Dyke but fail to get him further down than one knee (the only acceptable body part to be able to touch the ground). Grant and Lorette are eliminated first. Dyke and Amanda target Mandla, but he just bowls them both over and eliminates them. Angela is eliminated by Angie in the process. So it’s between Angie and Mandla. Obviously Mandla wins immunity.

It’s a foregone conclusion who will be eliminated tonight. All Dyke can do is try to stir things up and warn the guys about a potential girl power alliance. But there’s a ray of hope from Lorette. She says her game, which she’s played the whole time, is to compete against the strongest people. Strategically, there is certainly much potential fault in this, but it’s commendable. Amanda chimes in about how Angie over on the other island said she hated Lorette, and now she’s pretending to like her. This is the reason why I thought voting for Lorette was a mistake previously, as she’s the most likely to be swayed. She says, however, that Angie is not her current problem.

At tribal council, Grant bluntly states the goal in the immunity challenge was to make sure Dyke didn’t win, and he didn’t care who won as long as it wasn’t Dyke. Lorette essentially acknowledges that her theory about wanting to compete against only the strongest has passed, and follows this up saying that Mandla is her next target. Hmm. When asked if keeping her word is important, Angie reiterates her position that she’d be willing to screw over her alliance when the need arises. Completely valid gameplay, but that’s the kind of thing you keep to yourself.

Votes:
Dyke
Angie
Dyke
Grant
Grant
Dyke
Dyke

What a horrible end to this episode. Hein and Dyke both voted out. Who the heck do I root for now?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 11.

In Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 8, Hein was injured, but it doesn’t look like it’ll amount to much since his tribe won immunity, giving him time to heal. Angie gladly accepted defeat because it allowed her to vote off her former tribemate, Irshaad. Not the brightest move in the world for them to get rid of Irshaad but, well, let’s leave it at that.

As expected, it’s now time for the merger. Following people turning on their own on more than one occasion, we’ve got 4 ex-Iban and 4 ex-Bajau members left.

At the reward challenge, they must use a lasso to grab a stake, and the first two will move on. Mandla and Hein continue to the next stage, where they will again lasso, this time multiple stakes, followed by an idol. Both grab the three stakes in the same amount of time, but Mandla gets the idol first and wins reward. His reward is a camper bed to take back to the island.

Now that they’re a new tribe with a new name (Empu), they head to a new island, a tropical island. With great scenery and lots of food (bananas, pineapple, coconut, tapioca, etc.), they’re pleased. Angie’s so pleased that she says they don’t need Dyke and Hein any more. As expected, Dyke should have made a deal with Irshaad and tried to get rid of her. The old tribes rejoin together for the most part. Lorette and Angie seem like the most likely swing votes, either of which working nicely for ex-Bajau, and both potentially making for a girl power alliance to ultimately take out Dyke and Hein or a swing vote willing to float with them to the end.

Dyke and Hein, while discussing how the tribe already ate way too much of the food they found, decide they should take Angie with them, and Hein says to promise her final three. Angie, who got her way when they got rid of Irshaad, who she couldn’t stand, now decides she doesn’t like Angela or Amanda either and continues to whine.

At the first individual immunity, they will need to free themselves from a post but remained shackled. Angie and Amanda are eliminated. At the next obstacle, they must free themselves from their shackles with knives. Angela is eliminated there. The remaining Survivors must cross a balance beam and grab keys. Lorette and Grant have been eliminated. The final three comes down to Mandla, Hein, and Dyke. They must dig for a treasure chest. Dyke finds his chest first, with Hein closely behind. Hein loses his key, and Dyke wins immunity.

Grant tells Mandla he’ll be targetted because he’s a threat. Since he doesn’t have immunity, Hein is Grant’s target. Angie tells Dyke she can’t go against Grant because he was her first alliance, letting him know she’s not interested. Stupid move. Grant also tells Lorette Mandla’s the target, and says they need to get rid of Hein. The actual plan, however, is not Mandla. Rather, it’s Lorette. Makes more sense to try to swing her to me. After all’s said and done, the discussions seem pretty firm to accept a tie.

Votes:
Hein
Lorette
Hein
Lorette
Hein
Lorette
Hein
Lorette

Nobody budges from the original tribes. We have a 4-4 tie. The elimination game is called the skull. Mark pulls out two stopwatches and will time them. They must count down 30 seconds from when he says go and touch a skull. The person closest to 30 seconds will be safe. Almost as random as the purple rock.

To be continued…

Damn, they know how to do a cliffhanger right.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 10, and don’t forget the live recaps of Survivor: China.

In Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 7, one of the luckiest Survivors ever, Lisa, who skated by for weeks with everybody complaining about her being lazy, finally bit the dust and was voted out as she should have been in episode 3.

With Hein’s assurance, Bajau eats the last of the goat, despite the fact that it’s got maggots crawling around in it. Over on Iban, Dyke manages to catch a stingray. Both he and Hein are safe for the foreseeable future because they are able to provide. After the merge, however, one of them will be easy enough to sacrifice, most likely Dyke.

For the reward challenge, tribes must swim out into the ocean and retrieve puzzle pieces. The last swimmer on each tribe will solve the puzzle. Reward is a feast: pork chops, potato salad, chicken, vegetables, and beer. Lorette sits out for Bajau. Grant takes a bit of a lead over Amanda in the first round. Hein extends the lead in round two but injures his ankle in the process. Irshaad and Mandla both decide not to take their masks with them, costing each of them time. It costs Mandla more, though, as he gives the lead to Iban. Dyke laps Mandla and begins work on the puzzle. Angela gets back and starts jumping up and down when she thinks she’s won, directing Dyke’s attention her way. She didn’t have the right answer but was close enough to give Dyke an idea of what he needed to do. With that information, Dyke manages to solve the puzzle and wins reward.

Hein continues to hobble around on his sprained ankle. He’s better off just resting and recovering. The tribe seems to be trying to help him out, but they’re not really equipped to do the work. Grant sees this as an opportunity to get rid of a threat. After waking up the next morning, he says his foot’s 75% better, which is problematic for Grant, who’s been playing a stupid game all along anyway.

Irshaad’s strategy is to get close to Dyke. Amanda and Angie seem to want to just get closer to each other, but the problem is neither of them are particularly strong, either physically or strategically.

The communique says strength is king and two people must go, so both tribes go with their default choices. Bajau picks Mandla and Grant (because Hein is injured), and Iban picks the two guys Dyke and Irshaad. They’re all taking this literally, and luckily for them that’s how it was intended to be taken. The challenge is to dive through the hole in the rafts, untie and retrieve a treasure chest, saw through a mast underwater, and also retrieve the flag. Bajau takes an early lead and never looks back. Bajau wins immunity. Angie will be happy, as she was looking forward to a loss.

Irshaad has accepted his fate as the person to be eliminated. The girls are definitely not going to to keep Irshaad around, and Dyke’s not going to risk a tie for Irshaad. This does make them extremely vulnerable and weak when it comes to challenges, however.

Votes:
Irshaad
Irshaad
Angie
Irshaad

Irshaad has been eliminated by a vote of 3-1. The girls got what they wanted, but they’re just lucky next week is the merger. The interesting thing about this is that it does tie things 4-4 between ex-Iban and ex-Bajau, oddly enough.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 9.

In Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 6, Iban lost immunity, and instead of trying to keep the numbers advantage, ex-Bajau voted off one of their own, Rijesh, who’s been playing too hard the whole time and hasn’t kept it as secret as he’s hoped. Whether you like each other or not, at least pretend so you don’t get Pagonged. Oh, and in case you missed it, Lisa did nothing. Again.

As they mentioned in last episode, Iban’s out of food, which is bad news with Bajau having just eaten a goat. Dyke tells Irshaad that he may not necessarily vote him off. I wouldn’t completely trust the girls either if I were him, but I don’t think he can trust Irshaad for that matter.

They believe the communique is about a food eating challenge. Bajau is afraid because, beyond the fact that food challenges are always gross, they’re all completely full. Mandla doesn’t have a problem with Hein but continues to be frustrated by Angela being what Mandla considers Hein’s right hand woman. Hein and Angela come up with the concept of giving a gift of food to the other tribe. Makes more sense than throwing it away because the meat’s shelf life with no storage is quite limited. Then again, it may also give the other tribe a boost in the immunity challenge, which is most dangerous for Angela and Lisa.

Reward is a bunch of items to get clean (portable shower, soap, body lotion, etc.) or a wok and rice. As expected, it’s a gross eating challenge. Grant and Dyke are up first, who must eat a dried frog, fried cockroaches, and dried beetles. Dyke wins pretty easily. Angie and Hein must eat a raw baby squid, hardly a fair matchup. Hein obviously wins to tie it 1-1. Irshaad then goes against Angela, and they must eat fish eyes. Irshaad easily wins to retake the lead. Amanda and Lorette are up next, and they must eat live prawns. Amanda wins. Iban wins reward. They’ll take the food. After that, Angela goes up and gives them the goat meat they brought with them. Grant is displeased with this gift and lets it be known.

Angie’s slowly getting tired of her tribe, most notably Irshaad. If they lose immunity, it’s going to come down to a choice between the two.

While he’s out fishing, Hein catches a shark. Not the first shark we’ve seen in Survivor, but always a welcome sight.

The immunity challenge has runners on a balance beam trying to get torches past people throwing sandbags at them, light the torches, then run back with them still lit and without falling in the water. Lisa, who originally was supposedly being kept around because she was good at challenges, sits out again. Dyke takes a 1-0 lead over Mandla. Mandla ties it, but Dyke scores again for a 2-1 lead. Dyke’s strategy proves very effective, and he returns his third and final torch to give Iban the immunity win.

After the win, Angie seems unimpressed because she would have liked to be able to vote off Irshaad.

Grant, who’s been the reason Lisa’s made it this far, as he’s been dragging her instead of just dropping her when he should have, now says he feels like she’s joined up with Hein and Angela, leaving himself somewhere in the middle. When making his case, he refuses to give out a name and says he needs to be told who Hein and Angela want to vote for first.

The two names that keep coming up are Angela and Lisa. Everybody else is safe. Tribal council is mostly a debate over why Lisa’s sitting out of challenges, whether she’s volunteering or being forced.

Votes:
Lisa
Lisa
Hein
Lisa
Lisa

Lisa votes for Hein to be an asshat, but she finally gets voted out after hanging on for about 4 episodes too long. This makes the numbers 5-4 in favor of ex-Iban, but with loyalties being questioned and changed, it’s still anybody’s game.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 8, and don’t forget the live recaps of Survivor: China.

In Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 5, lazy Lisa somehow avoided being eliminated. Again. She’s one of the luckier Survivors ever. Instead, they voted out Nichal. I don’t know how she’ll continue to hang in there, as the alternatives are getting fewer.

The next day, Lisa discusses what happened at tribal council. Her concern is working on alliances and agreements. She makes no mention of what’s been the sore spot since day one: the fact that she does nothing.

On the other tribe, Irshaad talking too much is starting to get on the girls’ nerves. He tries to not get into an argument with them for strategic reasons. He does have a potential ally in Rijesh, who’s getting tired of Amanda.

At the reward challenge, Dyke’s not happy to hear Nichal is gone. The challenge is a tug of war. Tribes must pull against each other to reach three sections of a totem pole. Reward is a live goat, giving them a choice between milk or meat. Right away, half the people are grossed out. I’d think milk would probably be better just for storage reasons, though having to watch the goat for a few weeks may be a pain. Iban does what one would expect in a tug of war, putting their strongest at the back. Bajau puts the strongest in the middle. Not that it matters since Bajau is overwhelmingly stronger, making the challenge nothing more than just for show. Toward the end of the complete blowout, Irshaad is disqualified for grabbing Hein rather than the rope, and Bajau wins as expected.

With ex-Iban now up in numbers 4-2 at Bajau, Grant continues to try to do whatever he can to make sure Lisa is safe. Lorette is (still) fed up with her, as is Mandla, though he’s concerned about Hein, who is untouchable no matter what Grant thinks unless they’re all just idiots, and his relationship with Angela. He also, however, says he’s concerned about Angela and Lisa getting close, but I don’t see why Hein would tolerate Lisa any more than anyone else wants to. Next time they go to tribal, the two targets will probably be Lisa (as usual) and Angela.

Iban’s concerned they’re running low on food. The potato source is only enough for one more meal.

When Bajau gets the communique about how to care for the goat, it makes the decision a lot easier. They decide it sounds like too much work, so they’re just going to use it for meat.

Immunity is a relay rope obstacle course. Since it’s more about speed and thought rather than just brute force, Iban actually has a prayer. Lorette gets off to an early lead. Grant extends this lead, finishing as Amanda finally completes the first obstacle for Iban. Hein retains a slight lead at the third obstacle, but Dyke quickly hooks the chest to almost catch up. It’s dead even heading into the fourth obstacle. It comes down to the final obstacle, where Mandla easily beats Rijesh, and Bajau wins immunity.

When they get back, the tribe prepares the goat to be cooked. Well, the tribe minus Lisa, who does nothing.

Despite her pitiful challenge performance, Amanda should be safe, though that doesn’t prevent Rijesh from trying to boot her. Likewise, she wants to get rid of him as well. Angie says they’re stupid if they don’t vote Angie off. Oddly enough, she’s the only person to mention voting out an ex-Iban member. One thing we know for sure is that Dyke’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Votes:
Rijesh
Amanda
Rijesh
Rijesh

Rijesh finally played himself out of the game by being stupid. By voting out one of their own, ex-Bajau has shifted the numbers in ex-Iban’s favor, 6-4. While I do believe there’s a lot of potential for voting across tribal lines post-merger, it’s still a foolish move to be eating their own this early.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 7, and don’t forget the live recaps of Survivor: China.

In Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 4, following a tribe shuffle, we finally saw the boot of Elsie, even if it was only because she was injured rather than her big mouth. Unfortunately, I fear we’re still stuck with Lisa for quite a while longer.

New Iban’s not at all sad to see Elsie go, and instead of working on getting the numbers in their favor, they immediately begin plotting to get rid of another member of ex-Bajau, Rijesh, who’s thought he’s been so smooth all along, despite the fact that everybody knows what he’s doing.

As expected, Lorette has gone from a provider with limited knowledge to happily going under Hein’s tutiledge. Grant is similarly blown away and willing to learn.

Angie appears to be flipping. She wasn’t too thrilled with Irshaad to begin with, and she is happy with Dyke’s fishing ability, so it’s an easy move to make, especially considering the other tribe’s still got the majority. Despite getting the shaft in the tribe shuffle in terms of island quality, Dyke remains positive.

The reward challenge is a combination of basketball and slip and slide. Reward is mosquito nets and pillows. Irshaad scores the first point. Grant gets the next point to tie. Dyke retakes the lead. Amanda and Nichal get into a marathon shooting fest, with Amanda coming out on top, to give Iban the victory. With this new gear, Iban is able to get lengthy, uninterrupted sleep, which should help prepare them for the immunity challenge.

Lisa says she feels like working when she’s on her new tribe. Huh? What happened to her? She blames it on not liking being told what to do on her old tribe. Not that she did anything when she wasn’t told either.

In the immunity challenge, one person must get into a hamster ball, which the rest of the tribe must push through a maze/obstacle course. Lorette and Lisa sit out for Bajau. Iban has a slight lead throughout the challenge. Nothing particular that I saw that caused this, but it was enough for Iban to win immunity.

Iban’s immunity win is followed by a bit of luck, with Irshaad stumbling upon some food in the form of potatoes of some sort.

The boot consideration comes down to a question of who’s pulling their weight. The choices brought forth are Lisa (ex-Iban) and Nichal (ex-Bajau). Lorette, a swing vote, is fully willing to consider either of them, regardless of ex-Iban’s current numbers advantage. I think they’ve got a greater shot at talking some sense into Nichal than Lisa. Mandla, similarly, doesn’t like Lisa either.

Votes:
Nichal
Lisa
Nichal
Nichal
Nichal

And Lisa skates by again. I’m hoping having a useless ally with him will come back to bite Grant in the ass eventually, but in the meantime, Nichal has been eliminated 6-1.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 6, and don’t forget the live recaps of Survivor: China.

In Survivor South Africa Malaysia episode 3, lazy Lisa dodged yet another bullet, as her former ally Viwe was eliminated. Hopefully the other side realizes they still have the numbers to dump her. Granted, I think she can wait. I’d much rather see the other tribe lose so that Elsie, one of the most obnoxious reality contestants ever, gets the boot. Speaking of the other tribe, we also saw Survivor history when Hein made fire without anything manmade.

Angela states the obvious: Hein and Dyke are the only ones doing any work on the tribe. Elsie, aside from being obnoxious, is also the laziest. Nichal fishes in the morning, but that’s about it. Both Angela and Rijesh complain about Amanda being lazy.

Rijesh believes he’s being a puppetmaster, and nobody’s noticing. Oh, they’re noticing alright. This guy’s way too transparent. Grant doesn’t want anybody to know he’s an attorney, a wise move to make. He’s a much less transparent puppetmaster.

The reward challenge is called the fish bucket. Tribes must select two people to get in their canoes and paddle to the raft. One person will get off the canoe and start loading fish, then they paddle back to shore, where someone else will unload the fish. The person unloading the fish must throw it to the next person down the line until it gets to the scale to reach 25 kilos, with multiple trips if necessary. Bajau selects Hein and Dyke as can be expected. Iban selects Irshaad and Mandla. Iban seems more fit, but the Bajau team seems better. The reward is a harpoon, mask, flippers, snorkel, and rice. Bajau is offered flint because they never got it, but they already know they don’t want flint. What if their fire goes out, though? It could take days to remake it. I’m surprised that, since they made fire on their own, they don’t just automatically get flint. Elsie sits out for Bajau. Iban heads off into the middle of nowhere in their canoe, giving Bajau a big lead. Iban finally gets to the raft, then Irshaad promptly floats away after Mandla starts loading fish. There isn’t any suspense here at all. Bajau wins before Irshaad even makes it back to the raft. Additionally, Bajau is rewarded with the two biggest fish from their haul.

The tribe blames Irshaad for the loss. They probably would have lost either way, but blaming Irshaad is very convenient. Irshaad says he thought nobody knew how to paddle, and if somebody else knew, they should have spoken up. Lisa pretends that everybody thought he knew how to paddle (based on what?).

Not surprisingly, Dyke is familiar with all the fishing gear they won, which will allow him to work even harder at providing. He does share his knowledge with the rest of the tribe. Let’s see if they use it.

Angela, who doesn’t trust Rijesh any more than anyone else, makes an alliance with Rijesh and Nichal. She knows up front she will probably need to break this alliance and is willing to do so, which she foolishly openly tells Rijesh. Just play along and pretend you’re with him. She then quickly relays to Amanda that Rijesh will be targetting Amanda, who is also on to the fact that Rijesh is playing too hard. Everybody, finally, is now realizing that it was stupid to even discuss getting rid of Hein or Dyke, so now it will become a matter of who can position themselves better in their eyes.

The tribes get a communique before immunity, one which sounds like a tribe shuffle. Somebody always gets screwed by this, while somebody else normally gets helped. Either way, Dyke and Hein will be hugely valuable (and hopefully still on the same tribe), while Lisa and Elsie will still be useless (and for the sake of everybody else, hopefully not on the same tribe).

At the immunity challenge, the tribes must line up on opposite ends of a bar and will be pushing against each other. At the challenge, everybody must remove their buffs and put them in bags, men in one bag and women in another. The new tribes are…

Iban:
Irshaad
Angie
Rijesh (previously Bajau)
Amanda (previously Bajau)
Elsie (previously Bajau, and not hiding the fact that she’s pissed off about moving)
Dyke (previously Bajau)

Bajau:
Angela
Nichal
Hein
Lisa (previously Iban)
Lorette (previously Iban)
Mandla (previously Iban)
Grant (previously Iban)

First the bad news. Both Lisa and Elsie are in the majority numbers on their new tribes, which means both have good potential to be kept around for the numbers. I didn’t like seeing the Dyke/Hein split up, as they made a good team, but it could prove beneficial if both are able to establish relationships with their new tribes. Lorette is unlikely to be as useful as she was on her old tribe, but I suspect she’ll hit it off with Hein as his new coworker. While Dyke is safe, he’s safe with three people I doubt he has any use for. Grant will continue to stick up for Lisa, but the third member of that alliance, Angie, got screwed, as she’s now in the position of being one of the easiest choices to boot.

Angela sits out for Bajau. She got screwed, too. I sense her as the first boot unless she can somehow weasel Nichal out of there. I don’t see the other tribe breaking up, regardless of how useless Lisa is. The losing tribe will go straight to tribal council, which means no plotting. I can’t decide if this is lame or not, but we will get an honest vote that may give whoever’s in the minority a shot at shaking things up.

This challenge is all about brute strength. Following the shuffle, it’s clear Bajau has the advantage. The tribes were well balanced before the shuffle, but now it’s just a ridiculous mismatch. They just completely bulldoze over Iban. And in a challenge that looks like it was designed by the producers of Big Brother, the way they’re shoving, it’s pretty clear there’s serious danger of something going wrong… which it does. In the replay, we see that Elsie, who was in the middle, for whatever reason decides to run to the side. In the process, her hand gets crushed by the huge wooden bar. Mark’s at least not afraid to jump right in and lend a hand to prevent it from getting worse than it could have been.

When they get to Bajau, the former members of Iban are completely blown away. Life is much different on this side of the island. It’s like when people went to Chapera in Survivor All Stars. Fire, good shelter, extra food, and on and on.

As they walk to tribal council, it’s obvious Elsie’s injuries (one hand, other arm, back) will make her useless (moreso than she was already). She won’t be able to effectively participate in any challenges. Even if they do vote her out (or if she’s forced to leave for medical reasons), the old Bajau tribe will still be up 3-2, though new Bajau will be up 7-5 in total numbers, and it’s primarily composed of ex-Iban members. Ultimateily, though, if new Bajau continues to steamroll over Iban in challenges and Iban just gets rid of ex-Iban members, we could be looking at strong numbers for ex-Bajau post-merge. Before going to tribal council, they figure out that they can’t sit Elsie out of challenges any more. That’s about all it will take to get Dyke to turn, and the others will follow if they’re smart. At tribal council, Elsie says if she was in their position, she would vote out the injured person. Is she trying to get them to send her home?

It’s time to vote:
Elsie
Angie
Elsie
Elsie

5-1 Elsie’s gone. Wouldn’t have happened without the injury. I suppose it would be more politically correct to feel sorry for her, and while she wasn’t too bad this episode, based on her actions (and mostly her big mouth) in prior episodes, I say good riddance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 5.