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For 39 days, 16 castaways were stranded in Asia.  Every 3 days on the island became a 1-hour show.  The first contestant eliminated pockets $2500.  Each successive eliminated contestant wins more money, through the next-to-last Survivor, who receives $100,000.  The final Survivor wins a million dollars!

Images (C) 2002 CBS, Inc. and Mark Burnett Productions. This page is in no way associated with CBS, Mark Burnett Productions, or the Survivor production.

The lovely beaches...the jade idols...the funky fishing boats...the bizarre American tourists...welcome to Survivor 5!

Jeff explains that we are in Hut Zai Yow, a small fishing village off of the coast of Southern Thailand. They will depart as a group of men and a group of women. The hazards include King Cobras, Pythons and Monsoons - and the traditional Survivor Rules apply - you have to fend for yourself, and one person gets to be voted out every three days - the last person standing wins a cool million dollars.

So after the men and women canoe it over to the island, Jeff Probst sits them all down - ladies on the left, men on the right. Jeff wants everyone to share some info about themselves - name, age, occupation, but share what you want. The women go first -

Stephanie, 29, Firefighter, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Ghandia, 33, Legal Secretary
Erin, 26, Austin Texas - Real Estate Agent
Helen, 47, Swimming instructor for the US Navy
Kelly, Plano Texas, 27, Sales
Shi Ann, NYC, Job Recruiter
Jan 53, First grade teacher
Tanya, 27, Social Worker

The guys -

Clay, 46 - no job given
Robb, 23, bartender from Scottsdale
Ken, 29, NYC Police officer
(He gets a round of applause)
Brian, 34, Used Car Sales
John, 40, Pastor,  Louisiana
Ted, 37, Durham, North Carolina, Software Development Manager
Jed, 25 Dallas, College Student
Jake, 60, McKinney, Texas, Land broker

So there is your field of 16. Jeff continues on - since the elders are considered the most revered, the oldest man and the oldest woman will come up and decide which tribe they will be the captain of (Read: let's give the old folks something to do before they get booted off by all of the young'uns), For the men, that would be Jake, and for the women, that would be Jan.

They get to pick the color of the bandana that the tribe has - in doing so, they will get a tribe name and location. Each place has its ups and its downs - one place, you will have no problems with a shelter, but the fresh water source is far. On the other side, there is plenty of nearby fresh water, but you will have to build your own shelter.  The orange buff has sunrise, while the purple buff has sunset. My man Jake goes for the sunset buff, and away we go. Our tribe name is called Sook Jai, while theirs is called Chuay Gahn. My team name sounds cooler (the other tribe name sounds like chewing gum).

Now it seemed like CBS was pitting this between the men and the women - but come on now, this is Mark Burnett (master of deception) that we're talking about. It would have been a cool idea - but what happens instead is that Jake and Jan select who will be on their tribes. Like a $1,000,000 game of middle school dodgeball. Jan selects first - and she doesn't even remember the names of who she's picking. Ha ha ha ha - we're going to win in a rout - if they can't remember the other guys names, how are they going to get along as a team? Here is my team -

Jake the elderly leader
Stephanie the firefighter
Ken the cop
Penny from Plano
Jed the buff Dental Student
Shi Ann the NYC Job consultant
Robb the rugged skateboarding bartender
Erin the Texan real estater ('Being picked last was a real humbling
experience. I really needed that')

Jake 'I don't know what Jan was thinking when she picked the people that she picked - I like to see athletic looking people, so I based picking the teams based on athleticism, and just that gleam in their eyes that looks like they'll be there for the duration.'

My analysis - we got Team Health Club - lots of youth and strength verses no experience and wisdom. Both captains were smart though - Jake picked a team that should do well in the challenges, which means that they should not be losing many people - but Jan picked smart too - because she picked a lot of older people around her age, she should be able to make allies and should be safe from a bunch of tribal councils, whereas Jake could be in trouble if they visit there a second or third time.

But enough about them - lets talk about US!

Well, the inexperience sort of clicked in when we realized that we were steering the boat - BACKWARDS. But we didn't care. Robb - 'I think the thing went faster backwards than it did forwards' We do get to our place first. We started going off in different directions - which did not make Shii Ann too thrilled. Robb decides to climb a mango tree - no mangos, but plenty of exuberance.  Jake - 'I've got a crew that's enthusiastic and totally ready to go, but they know nothing.'

The enthusiastic part was blatantly evident at night, when we went out to the beach. We went swimming at the beach, and most of us decided to use this as a laundry session - most of us. Stephanie decided that tonight was her birthday - and she went in her birthday suit. She was butt naked on the beach, which shocked and delighted everyone - well, almost everyone. 'You will not see my ta-ta's on television'. That came from Shi Ann, who seems to be very Republican in a village of Democrats. She seems to be the early person who doesn't get along with the rest of the group, and if she isn't careful, the job recruiter will be looking for a new job as a reality show contestant.

Our tribe creates a small lean-to as a make-shift shelter, which will be fine for right now. We all can squeeze in as one cozy comfy happy family, which always bonds us as a family, and bonds certain body parts together =),  We will create the shelter tomorrow, and sure enough, tomorrow comes - but we don't all focus on the shelter. The water is found first, and it is very close by - less than 100 yards away.

But Jed is more concerned about food than shelter - and he leaves the construction group to go off to get some. This pisses everyone off. Shii Ann also goes to get food - and gets into a confrontation with Robb. Shii-Ann 'You do not mess with a she-devil and not expect to get the horns.' Now everyone is getting bitchy with everyone else and no one is getting anything done because everyone is yelling at everyone else. Can't we just all get along?

Not before the rain comes down. Here comes one of those tropical monsoons Uncle Jeffie was talking about. Unlike the other group, who probably have the shelter, our shelter is not built in time, and no food was found. Everyone is sulking in the pouring rain in their parkas. Some of us are are standing on the ground, some of us are moping while we're sitting down, Shii Ann is in a tree, and everyone is telling everyone else, I told you so. I certainly hope we take this extra aggression and use it in the immunity challenge.

And just in time, here comes the tree mail.
'You've worked with your tribemates. Your conclusions are drawn, but in this first challenge. you'll need brains and brawn.  You all want to stay here, and experience this heaven, but lose this today, and your tribe's down to seven.'

Very appropriate comments from the guys; Jake 'Well, we got the brawn, and somebody else has got to find us the brains' Robb 'We definitely got the hot chicks...well most of them...and we definitely got the young strong guys, which is huge.'

We have the strength, they have the intelligence - let's see what's stronger. This is a boat race around a small island.  The boat has to dock at three stations - the first one is a knife maze, the second station has someone that has to dive down ten feet and release a rope, and the third stage has a shifting jigsaw puzzle that needs a piece with a knife attached to go through a slot. After each puzzle is solved, each knife releases a mast, which goes on the boat. The team that puts all three masts on their boat and gets to the finish line first wins.

The race starts - and surprisingly, Chuay Gahn is leading us in the strength department as they row to the first station ahead of us. Wha? They are paddling as a team, and we aren't rowing as a team. Could our earlier squabbling, which left us noticeably weaker since we haven't had as much food as the other tribe, cost us this first immunity challenge?

It certainly looks that way - but we caught up to them at the final station. Jeb, our resident food  loner, brushes right past Ghandia, who maybe had a little bit too much coconut milk at her tribes pre-immunity tribe meal and probably took at least 30 minutes to solve the puzzle. The brain fart by her gives us the lead, and that's all that we need to get to the end and win the immunity challenge. 

So we get the funky jade idol and we get to live for another three days, but not all is well in Sook Jai-ville. We still need a shelter and a source of food, and we can't let the inner squabbling that are starting tear us apart. Will it? I guess we'll find out as we continue to try to Survive.