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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) 2004 CBS, Inc. and Mark Burnett Productions. This page is in no way associated with CBS, Mark Burnett Productions, or the Survivor production.

DAY 7: MEN (AND WOMEN) AT WORK You would think that getting rid of the most rugged member of our tribe and being down to a mere four people (lowest of any pre-merge tribe save for Marquesas) would be too bummed to even move. But, no, Saboga Tribe is up and about and doing things like...making a table out bamboo rods and a hard piece of driftwood. Rupert believes most of it has to do with the guilt of voting Rudy off the previous night. Jerri is feeling really good despite the lack of numbers. They work very well together, according to her.

As the girls chop up the vegetation for a stew, Rupert catches a fish. Well, OK, it was a fish barely the size of Ethan's hand...but at least it's SOMEthing, right? Ethan decides to give fishing another shot, even though Rupert TELLS him it's "not a competition". But no dice. Rupert assures him he'll get better, and tells Ethan that competition amid the tribe members made them lose the Immunity Challenge the other day.

REWARD CHALLENGE: BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE (sponsored by the Home Depot) Well, THIS is interesting. We check our Tree-Mail and get a large box with the orange-and-white Home Depot(TM) insignia on top. And inside is a LARGE amount of tools to make living in the wild a LITTLE easier...provided you have ANY carpentry skills. But, wait...there's a note attached:
"Dream it, Design it, Do it. Remodel your home in just one day
Make it bigger, stronger, better, creativity and structure come into play.
These tools should come in handy; use driftwood palms and kelp
Only four tribe members can participate. You can do it; we can help (the HD pitch line)
Tomorrow you will be judged by a professional to keep it fair
A much better sleep from the winners will be dropped down from the air."

The winning "house" will get the reward and a clue to the second key to the three-lock box they received a few days ago. Second place gets a key clue as well. Well, since we only HAVE four tribe members ANYWAY, EVERYONE in our tribe can contribute while the others waste time in argument about sitting out two.

Rupert, having worked on homes in his days, came up with a radical idea: build a log cabin! So he and Ethan gather whatever dead tree logs are lying around, chop them up with their hatchets and nail them together in a real Lincoln-esque manner. The ladies aren't too thrilled with the fact of a sand foundation, though. Jerri is worried about the foundation cracking up when it rains but Rupert, power-monger that he is, overrules her. Ethan thinks this is perfect for him. Pissing someone offer = automatic vote-off.

The building continued on through the night, long after regular construction companies have punched out. Everyone keeps sawing and pounding away in the black of night. Suddenly, as they continued to dig the trenches, Rupert finds this MASSIVE tree log. Ut oh. Rupert gets frustrated at everyone saying "I told you so." Jenna L. honestly thinks Rupert has gone over the deep end as he continues digging and working...practically by himself.

In the morning, Uncle Jeff brings along Ralfo, a licensed contractor and construction expert. He's the judge and jury of the home-building challenge. Unfortunately for US, he has visited us last, after checking out Chapera and Mogo Mogo's new digs. Despite the problems with the cabin, Rupert Construction Company WAS able to build a gutter system to collect rain water. The cabin itself LOOKS rather sturdy...though a little shoddy. Ralfo touched a bunch of the reeds that made the roof...and all of them were loose. Rupert tries to pass off the log as a "footrest"...though I doubt Ralfo was impressed. After the inspection is done, Uncle Jeff and Ralfo leave.

They don't go far to discuss our hut...and even though the tribe can't hear it, they KNOW bad news is there. We see Ralfo signaling that water can roll into the deep trench on a neap tide. Rupert...he's bummed. A little later, we see the reward plane fly by...but they don't drop anything. So we know we didn't win; that goes to Chapera. Later on, we go to our Tree-Mail...and we don't find a key. So we know we didn't come in second; that went to Mogo Mogo. That means we came in third...AGAIN!

DAY 9 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE...OR NOT: LEAVING LAS VEGAS

After the Mother of All Storms rips through our camps, we struggle our way to Challenge Beach. Richard seems upset that Rudy was ditched, calling him "My Rudy". We won't go into that. Uncle Jeff collects the Immunity Idol pieces and talks to the tribes about how they're doing after nine days. It looks like we're going to have a puzzle game on our hands for Immunity today.

But it's not going to happen. Jenna M. of Mogo Mogo, the Amazon winner, is crying her eyes out. Her mother is sick with cancer back home and the nine days of little food and water has made her all emotional. She thinks she made a bad call coming here and that her family is her priority. Simply put, she wants to go home. For those who saw last year, one might say she's "pulling an Osten".

Everyone seems to sympathize with her as the "Tribal Council" music pops up on the soundtrack (and that could mean only one thing). Rupert feels bad for her...but quitting is a hard decision. Uncle Jeff tells us and Chapera that we "get off easy"; we get automatic Immunity. When Jenna M. says she can't even make it to Tribal Council tonight, Jeff ushers in the boat to send her away. This time, the tribe HASN'T spoken...only her broken heart.

So maybe we DID get off easy...but there was nothing easy about THIS loss of a tribe member, even one not from our tribe. We would learn when we returned to the mainland that Jenna Morasca rushed to her mother's bedside...and was there when she died eight days later.

Godspeed, Jenna. If it means anything, I feel you made the right choice.