Following the dustbowl that was Africa, Survivor returned to islands in seasons 4 and 5. This time, though, it’s off to the world’s largest rain forest. At least there’s water around. Certainly not a landlocked environment since they’re right on a river, but it’s not quite the beach either.
The Survivor: Amazon cast consists of 16 contestants:
Alex Bell
Butch Lockley
Christy Smith
Daniel Lue
Dave Johnson
Deena Bennett
Heidi Strobel
Janet Koth
Jeanne Hebert
Jenna Morasca
JoAnna Ward
Matthew von Ertfelda
Rob Cesternino
Roger Sexton
Ryan Aiken
Shawna Mitchell
They start off making their way up the Rio Negro on a boat. The contestants are split into two tribes as they get off the boat, and they soon find out it’s girls vs. guys.
Jaburu (Yellow): Jeanne, Heidi, JoAnna, Jenna, Christy, Deena, Janet, Shawna
Tambaqui (Blue): Roger, Alex, Rob, Butch, Daniel, Dave, Ryan, Matthew
The guys are thrilled because they know any physical challenge will be a lost cause for the women, which should lead them to further believe that there’s unlikely to be a lot of challenges that require just brute strength. One thing the guys are failing to realize is that the weakest link on an all male tribe may be one of the stronger links on a mixed tribe, which thereby puts them into danger they might otherwise not have faced.
Jeff’s got a story to tell. This place was discovered by someone who came across a tribe of fierce female warriors, a notion that women could survive on their own. They’re going to put that to a test.
Things aren’t off to a good start. Shawna can barely untie their rowboat.
Ryan, a model who had no other strategy in mind than to try to charm the women, is not too happy about things. He does not expect this sausagefest to play to his advantage. Jenna, the model over on the other tribe, likewise doesn’t know what she’s going to do.
Janet’s a nurse, which typically comes in handy.
They get a chest full of meager supplies, including fishing gear, lanterns, machetes, flint, manioc flour, and a locked mystery box that says “Do not open.”
On the boat ride over, nobody notices something about Christy. She is the first deaf contestant on Survivor. When they hit land, she tells the rest of the tribe.
Considering the fact that they have kerosene in their lamps, lighting fire should be quite simple. Well, it’s simple for the men anyway. The women try and keep trying. After 5 or 6 hours, they finally get something going in the middle of the night. They don’t have very much wood either because their wood cutting efforts proved to be somewhat comical.
Nobody on Tambaqui wants to take control, knowing that there’s a danger of coming out as a strong leader. Deena, however, is starting to get a little bossy on Jaburu, to which some of the girls are taking offense.
Because she relies on lip reading, night time is going to be rough for Christy. She’s in with a group girls who like to talk and talk and talk, so she feels like she’s missing out on a lot of information.
The women are sleeping on the ground. Not a good idea in the jungle. They have stuff crawling over them all night. This leads them to want to get a shelter up. As the rest of the tribe wanders off, Christy’s wondering what about her. Since nobody seems to have noticed they left her behind, she’ll just tend to the fire.
Back on the men’s tribe, Roger is emerging as the leader, and since he’s amongst mostly younger guys, they’re viewing him as bossy, the same issue that’s plaguing Deena. He views Ryan and Daniel as useless.
Jenna sets her priority: washing clothes. Yeah, the shelter might be a bit better of a goal to focus on.
Janet’s already sick and saying she can’t do this any more. It’s been a day.
Rob brings his Magic 8 Ball as his luxury item. It really works. The only rule is not to ask it any questions about challenges. So they decide to ask questions about Jenna, Heidi, and Shawna.
Jeanne and JoAnna go out with the net, which allows them to catch some inedible pointy fish that they plan to use for bait. They return to camp with a little fish about the size of their fingers, which they cook in edible massage oil, yielding about one bite.
The immunity challenge starts off with everybody chained together. They will go along the course gathering keys to unlock them along the way, crossing through a couple of obstacles, a puzzle, a balance beam, and another puzzle. The men get a slight lead on the first obstacle. They retain that lead over the cargo net. This lead turns pretty huge on the puzzle. Then it comes time for the balance beam. The men are trying to throw this challenge away. Alex and Roger have no trouble getting across, but the others are struggling. Two more pairs make their way across. That leaves Daniel and Ryan, who are not only unable to walk across, but they can’t even get across while sitting down. The women, who are clearly favored in a balancing act, get across with no difficulty at all. Finally, the men cross, but they’re now behind. It’s close enough that the final puzzle will determine the winner. Unlike the word puzzle, this time the women finish first, while the rocket scientist and computer guy are getting nowhere fast. Jaburu wins immunity.
The men realize that they may have been brought down by their arrogance. Dave especially is not happy that they lied about catching fish, so he gives a lecture. Probably not the kind of thing you want to do right before tribal council.
Ryan and Daniel were already on Roger’s chopping block to begin with, and the challenge only gives him more of an excuse to cut one of them. In turn, Ryan’s getting tired of being bossed around.
Rob’s not real sure which way to go. Roger’s too bossy, while Ryan’s too self-centered. Neither is good for the team, but one of them has to go to eliminate the tension. Rob tells both Roger and Ryan that he’ll do what they want, and he may well be the swing vote.
At tribal council, Daniel accepts the blame for the challenge loss, although his partner Ryan didn’t seem to be doing much better.
Somehow, tribal council evolves into who the hottest girl is.
Votes
Ryan
Roger
Daniel
Ryan
Roger
Ryan
Roger
Ryan
With 4 votes, Ryan has been voted off the island. Matthew, Daniel, and Ryan came up short, while the oddball Daniel vote came from Dave, who didn’t want to vote for Ryan but wanted to send a message to Daniel to tell the truth.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor: Amazon Episode 2 Storms.