"It was a hard decision to make," said Gregory, the 13-year old Florida school student who has become the tribe's least useful member. "But you do what you gotta do, and I think we voted in the best interest of the tribe."
Eddie had struggled in his first six days of island living, angering his fellow tribe members with juvenile pranks and a habit of `breaking wind’. Tribe members also felt Eddie was eating most of the food, hurting the tribe's well-being, and not fitting in as well as they would have liked. Eddie attributed that early opinion to his marital status, which proves once again that Marti is far too good for this bum. Eddie had hoped to turn that around. "I'm really very sweet. If this was Gilligan's Island, I would be Mary Anne," Eddie noted in his first week on the island. "I hope the others can see that I'm nicer than I let on. *BU-U-U-URP!!!*”
Accordingly, Eddie had changed in the last three days. He'd not only been more open and approachable, but something of a helper. He was even responsible for clearing the tent of insects, by devouring them all, in a repeat of his bug-eating immunity challenge win. In fact, in the days leading up to the third Tribal Council, his work ethic compared with hard-charging Eric's.
Even Pulau Tiga's stifling heat and humidity had become tolerable as their bodies adjusted. “Don’t you believe it! This place is miserable, and camping sucks,” groused Eric.
They even began acting like it was all a vacation. They fished very little, and worked even less on improving their shelter. In fact, they did little but lie in the sun, spend hours playing games, and talk about island politics and what they’d do with the money.
And that's fine with them.
"I'm stranded on an island in the South China Sea," noted Kevin Eick. "It doesn't get any better than this. No job, no responsibilities! I love it!"
“Not that he has any of either back home either,” noted Eric.
However, the rice supply they enjoyed during their first week on the island was dwindling. They were on the verge of joining the snakes in the consumption of rats to sustain themselves. When the `In From The Deep' Reward Challenge was announced, it loomed as the ideal chance for someone to finally score some fish; for the reward was none other than 3 days worth of McFilet-of-Fish dinners.
The losers, of course, would be without those fine sandwiches...
Eric was apprehensive as the Challenge was announced. He liked the idea of treasure chests, but didn’t like McDonalds, and also disliked swimming. Still, he tried to psyche himself up for the event. "I can do it," he said as he rallied his spirits. "I'm BETTER than these guys."
And though Eric performed admirably, the deck was stacked against him. Eddie was an aquatic athlete. Kevin was an admirable swimmer. Even Gregory had regular access to a pool he frequently used. And all three of them appeared hungrier than our hero. They all reached their buoys well ahead of him, and then began the contest of dragging their chests back to shore to claim their booty. It came as no surprise that Eddie won the contest handily. "This afternoon," crowed a triumphant Eddie, "I'm gonna eat me some fish!"
And he did.
The others, on the other hand, became experts at catching rats, and finally learned firsthand the taste of roast rat. In fact, it wasn't long before the Malaysian field rat became the delicacy of their choice. “Tastes just like D&D NPCs!” beamed Greg.
In fact, the storm striking Pulau Tiga the night after Bethany was voted off also claimed another casualty: the 200-foot tall banyan tree in whose shade the Buggin Out challenge was held one day before. All that was left of the banyan post-tropical storm was a stump. “If Mom was here, she’d probably read that lame `Giving Tree’ story,” said Greg.
With Eddie, the strategy has been to maintain a low profile, but make friends. Eddie brags that Eric and he are buddies, and that Gregory is his friend, too. "I know those people will never vote against me," he crows. “Eric and I hashed out the shirt incident days ago at our little meeting.” With the tribe down to four members, that's almost a guarantee of longevity for Eddie.
Which leaves only… Kevin. But he's safe too. "Kevin is easily the most popular person in the tribe, after me" says Eddie, who thinks Kevin reminds him of his 18-year-old brother. "The guys aren't threatened by him, and we all love his sense of humor."
"Shut up Kevin!" responded Greg.
Rescue Mission involved each person `rescuing’ a dummy from deep in the jungle. The dummies were dressed as the former castaways Brian and Bethany, host Jeff Probst, and one was disguised as Elvis. Each tribe member started on the rocky beach near Bird Island (near Pulau Tiga's northern tip), to dash into the rattan-and-vine-covered expanse of jungle carrying a stretcher. That section of the island is home to Pulau Tiga's Reticulated Python population, meaning that in addition to avoiding the sharp barbs of rattan branches, they must be on guard against 30-foot, 300-pound snake attack. “That’s not so different than having to watch out for Eddie,” quipped Eric. “Shut the he** up,” retorted Eddie.
Once located, the "injured" dummy would be loaded on a stretcher and dragged to a first aid station back at the beach. First tribe member back would win immunity.
Due to a night spent sick from tainted fish, Eddie was the early favorite to lose. However, Eddie declared that he was still stronger than the rest of the tribe, and he would rescue his dummy first. Eric decided to test this and offered Eddie a challenge, but Eddie declined to take him up on it.
This is why, weak and nauseous, Eddie toed the starting line while Gregory dangled rat tails by carabiners from a jungle tree alongside his elder brother, while laughing at the older boys plight. “Ha ha!” said Greg. “You are a didiot,” replied Eddie.
The race was on, and what a race. With Eddie sick and Greg, well, GREG, it was a competition between Eric and Kevin. Eric easily proved the more adept runner and woodsman, finding his target 8 minutes before anyone else. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the dummy of smarmy host Jeff Probst, which Eric promptly kicked deep into the jungle. Although he relented, recovered the dummy, and brought it back to the first aid station before any other competitor, the actual Jeff Probst declared the rescue void, since Eric brought the head in separately. “That’s no rescue- he’s dead. You lose!” tittered the obnoxious host. In response, Eric just kicked him.
In the end, Kevin won the Rescue Mission, and the others faced their fate at the next Tribal Council. Kevin showed up happy and bright at the council, taunting his brothers, and weirding out host Jeff Probst.
1 Vote for Eric
Eddie, natch. “Why change a good thing now?” he asked, as he cast his vote.
1 Vote for Greg
Kevin cast his vote for Greg, “because he was the one I wanted to see go since Day One.”
”Well, back to civilization of course, you goober,” smiled Eric.
This was probably easier than the remaining tribe members' destination. Despite the torrential rain and lightning, the three remaining siblings had to walk the two miles back to their beach at midnight.
I think Eric pulled a brilliant political move with his little ageism speech. `Vote off the old guy- right’. I think he got me a vote that way. Gregory probably would have been the swing vote. I think Eric pulled Greg over to his side. He's an interesting character. Before the first vote, Bethany and I spoke about who we were going to vote off. She was really strongly against Eric, because we wanted to keep Greg around. We thought we could keep a balance of power that way, since the other three are pretty heavy into the same hobbies.
But Eric told me one thing then did another, almost the exact same thing he did on the last two votes. He told me he was going to vote Greg off and he voted against me when the vote came out. I turned to him and said, "You changed your vote again Eric." Then I walked away. It will be interesting to see how Eric's dynamic plays out for the rest of the show.
I think largely the reason I was voted off was because the group feels physical strength is the most important quality to win the immunity challenges, which I completely agree with. The fact is they don't know how strong I really am, because they are all so busy trying to keep up, and backstab each other. I don't think mental strength means beans yet- muscles are the way to go. I think the contributions I made for the camp are the most important contributions. I think I probably came off as shy, which is rare for me. I'm usually a lot more disgusting. I’ve never been in such a squeamish group before."
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Updated 2 Mar 01