Secret Scene: Paloma
After her tribe discovers an elephant skull, reality sets in for Paloma of what might exist near her camp while she sleeps at night
(day 7; the entire team is on an excursion; Marcus is ahead of the rest of them and finds an elephant skull)
Corinne: Oh my God, that is so cool! (applauds) Bring it back! Bring it back!
Paloma (solo): When we saw the elephant skull, everybody was like, "Ohmigosh, there's an elephant skull." I was like, we're in Africa, seeing an elephant skull solidifies the fact that they're here. I mean there's like a dead one out in the Savannah, for sure, you know it. Especially at night. You can hear them a lot at night.
(day turns to night, and at camp, Paloma looks unnerved as she hears an elephant)
Paloma (solo): I don't want anybody to think I'm weak or whatnot, so even though I'm scared of elephants I'm sucking it up and (this part is from another confessional) acting like I'm strong, I'm happy. (back to the nighttime confessional) We'll see what happens when I do see one. I would probably just pee myself. (Paloma sees an animal in the bushes and makes a slight yelp)
Tribal Council Voting
Watch as the Kota members cast their votes at their first Tribal Council
Kelly (Ace with a vertical line through the c): I'm voting for you because you tried to get me into an alliance from the beginning. I saw right through you. You can take you and your little emotional mopface outta here.
Corinne (Paloma): I really like you and I didn't want to do this, but I had to go with the majority. I'm very sorry and I think they'll be great things in store for you.
Marcus ("Pa-lo-muh"): Palomita, I'm sorry, but it was just time to do this.
Paloma (Ace with a big toothy grin): This is pretty much self-explanatory.
Ace (Paloma): Unfortunately, you know exactly why you're leaving. It's for the strength of the tribe. No ill will. Best of luck.
Sugar (Paloma): Sorry, dude. Better you than me.
Bob (Paloma with a sad face): Sorry Paloma. We want a strong tribe and you're the weakest link. Hope to see you afterwards.
Jacquie (Paloma): (no comment)
Charlie (Paloma): I probably like you more than anyone else on our tribe, but if you're gonna play Survivor without a physical bone in your body, you should probably come up with a few more tricks.
Paloma's Final Words
See what Paloma had to say after she was voted out of the game.
"So I got voted off. First person on my tribe to go. Wasn't really surprised, was expecting it a little bit. These past 9 days have been pretty cool and this experience in itself, I have nothing to lose from this experience, so I'm a happy camper. And I get to take a shower."
(cut)
"The past 9 days in Gabon have been amazing, definitely been an experience, something I've never, ever done before. There's nothing bad that could have come out of this experience so I'm leaving home pretty happy. Met a lot of amazing people and excited to get back home and get my life started back again."
(cut)
"The Kota tribe is a strong tribe, so the future looks pretty bright for them. They seem to be all about strength as a tribe in a physical aspect, so I don't know how well that's gonna go for them because today was obvious a lot of the game has to do with, you know, mental stuff. I don't know, I hope it goes good for them. They're a really good tribe, I wish them the best of luck. We'll see how it goes for them. You can never know."
(cut)
"It was a great experience. I had fun, I don't have any regrets. I met some incredible people, it was so much fun being out here, and although it only lasted 9 days, it'll be something I'll take home with me for the rest of my life. I'm excited. I'm happy."
(cut)
"I think Marcus will do well in the game, he's just a smart guy, all around good guy. He'll do pretty well. Hopefully Bob does well, hoping Kelly does too, and Charlie as well. Everybody else, they can do well if they want to, but I don't wish them the best of luck. (laughs) Well I wish everybody the best of luck. Marcus will do well."
(cut)
"Honestly, good luck to the whole Kota tribe. I hope you guys do awesome. I know you'll do awesome, you're a cool tribe, everybody's really cool and kickback. Best of luck to everybody."
(cut)
"I don't hope anybody falls short. That's just mean. I definitely, let's just put it this way, if Ace wins a million dollars I'll probably never watch Survivor again. (laughs)"
Paloma the Day After
Paloma discusses the most difficult part about her experiences in the game, and how it ultimately made her a better person
"The most difficult part about being in Survivor was not being able to be myself., not completely. Just given the elements of the game. You're hungry, you're tired, you feel depleted. I think that was the most difficult part of the game, not being able to be myself and how I usually am back home. It was a great experience that taught me what I love most about life, and what I care most about in life, and yeah, it was a great experience, there was a lot of good things about it too."
(cut)
"Survivor taught me a lot about myself. More than anything it reinforced what I already knew about myself. I already had this perception of who I was and what I believed in and everything. It just backed up what I felt about myself. It did teach me a few things about myself, that I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was, that there's things I'm maybe not capable of doing the way I thought I was able to do them. I don't know. There's a lot of things you learn."
(cut)
"Survivor was definitely a humbling experience. You sit there and watch it on the show and it's like, I can do that, I can go without eating, I can do that challenge, that's easy. I can deal with people I don't like, I can live with people I don't like for 39 days. When you're on the show and actually experiencing it firsthand, it's completely 100% different. You can't say you can do something until you're put into the situation and tested on it because yo just never know. It's a very humbling experience to know it's a lot harder than you think it is."
(cut)
"When I got voted off of Survivor, it was sad and it was you almost feel like you failed in a sense because you didn't make it as far as you wanted to make it. I wanted to make it to the end. It was sad and a lot of emotions go through it, and yeah, one of those emotions was relief, it's only natural to feel that, because you're relived you're gonna be able to sleep on a pillow, you're relieved that you're gonna be able to eat something, you're relieved you don't have to be in this situation where things aren't going the way you want them to go. It was a little of a relief but for the most part it wasn't really that. It was just you want to stay in the game, you're mad because you kind of know what's going on, and you wish you could change it but you don't know how. There's a lot of feelings going on. The great thing about Survivor is you go into it thinking it's just a game, it's for a million dollars, you can do it, then when you actually get into the game, you start realizing it isn't really just a game. There's real people, there's real feelings involved, you're starving, you're going to the bathroom outside, you're not taking showers, you're dirty, you have ticks all over you, you're not sleeping, and all these elements come into play. You start realizing yeah it's a game but at the same time this is real life, we're out there in the middle of the jungle and it's real life every day that you're out there. Every day you're thirsty, every day you're hungry, and every day you're not getting along with the people in your tribe or you're holding back feelings and not being yourself. The amazing thing about the game of Survivor is to an extent it's not really a game, it's real life. People say it's a game and it is a game because you're competing for a million dollars, but at the same time it's real life for however long you're out there. It's real life in your face this is not a joke this is what you're gonna have to deal with. I think that's the amazing thing about Survivor a lot of people don't understand when they're watching it. There's a lot things going on there you can't know unless you experience it. It's fun to watch but it kinda sucks to experience it firsthand sometimes."
(cut)
"I kinda am a camper and I like to go camping and I like to be outdoors, but for anything in life there are extremes. I like to go camping with a tent and sometimes a blowup mattress and like smores and hot dogs and hamburgers. I like to be outdoors on a trail where you can walk on a trail for 45 minutes and then be in civilization the next. I thought, 'Oh, I'm a camper,' and all this stuff, but when you're actually out there, it's not camping, there's nothing like camping in Survivor, it's not being outdoors. It's being out in the middle of nowhere. So yeah I was there for 9 days and I am proud of myself for making it this far. I would have been proud of myslf if I'd made it 3 days, or if I made it for 21 days, or the whole way. I would have been proud of myself because I believe it takes a strong person to be on Survivor. I have no regrets and yeah I am proud of myself."
Rise and Shine, Kota
Ace leads Kota through a morning routine of stretching and meditation
Ace: Lift up through the chest, hands come up, and...descend.
(Ace/Kelly/Jacquie all sit with their legs spread, holding hands, stretching each other; Marcus is crouched into a ball and Ace lays on top of his back, stretching out)
Ace (stretching with Corinne, Jacquie, Marcus, Charlie): We're stretching out quadraceps, lumbar, all three aspects, you know, thorasic, cervical, all the muscles through your calves, neck, arms. This is everything right here. This is the whole kit and kaboodle.
(back to Ace/Kelly/Jacquie)
Ace: The key is to work on the...
Kelly: Mind?
Ace: Well, the mind, but holding that imagery steady so it can flow throughout you. That's what gives you power.
(cut)
Kelly: I saw the light, then I lost it.
Ace: Did you see it descend in your body?
Kelly: No, but when you were talking about the canyons and things, it disappeared. When you were like, "Let that disappear", and it literally disappeared. Weird. Then I felt that. It felt really weird. It was like water.
Randy's Bad Date
After much frustration towards his tribe after they wasted the rations of rice, Randy gives one of the best analogies for how he feels
"There's these young kids out here who are eating frankly 5 or 6 times more than me. I'm fine with food, without food, it doesn't matter, but there's some people back there right now scraping the bowl. We're history, unless something huge happens where we stumble on a reward with fish hooks and fishing line, we're toast. We are done. The best way I can describe the way I fit into this tribe is when you've got a big date with this beautiful, well-built girl, and you absolutely hate her guts, but you've got to smile and be nice to her if the date is gonna end well. That's exactly what this is like. You see my smile, you see me laughing. That's what it is. I want a very good kiss goodnight at the end of this horrible date that I'm on."
Marcus' Friendship with Charlie
Marcus explains his unique relationship with his closest alliance member, Charlie
"I think interacting with a gay man is unique because I'm not feeling the same way he could potentially feel for me. I don't know that I find myself flirting with him, but it's almost like there are certain elements of my interaction with a woman that I could find myself having with him, yet it's a completely different meaning. It's almost like a special case with Charlie, because I do appreciate him. I can tell a handsome man when I see one. I'm comfortable enough with my sexuality to say that. The fact is Charlie is a catch. That's great. I want him to appreciate that about himself. In that sense I am attracted to that but just from an appreciation standpoint. I think that's really kind of where it ends up being at. I don't think Charlie has any pretenses about the possibility of having a relationship or anything like that with me. I don't even think he's thinking along those lines. I think he would say the same thing about me. He can appreciate that about me. He can appreciate XYZ but we're in Eden and we're here to do something different and for that task we have to have a great relationship. That's kind of where we left it."
Marcus' Biggest Fan
Charlie boasts on Marcus's greatest qualities
"Every time Marcus talks, I'm in awe. He is one of the greatest people ever and he's everything I would ever wish I could be. I'm not even close to what he is. He speaks in poetry and he always has a funny joke on hand. He's physical. He's like the total package. I totally look up to him. To be aligned with him and stand there next to him is an awesome feeling. The fact that he saw something in me. I think he saw my humbleness and insecurity as endearing and real and that's why he picked up on it. It feels great to be able to go out there and canoe and have an hour talk with Marcus and say everything. I haven't held back at all with Marcus. I'm sure he's held back a little bit, because you can't completely trust in this game. It just feels really, really good to be able to share that bond with one other person."
Ken on Sending Sugar to Exile Island
Ken explains the reasons his tribe sent Sugar to Exile Island, as well as how he thinks she will react to being there
"We sent Sugar to Exile Island because we thought she was emotionally unstable. We saw her crying the whole time before, and we don't want to send someone strong to find the hidden immunity idol, we want to send someone weak who couldn't find the immunity idol, which we did. We thought the way Dan explained Exile Island, it was really bad. We thought, 'Hey, if Dan was crying at Exile Island, maybe Sugar will give up.' Maybe cut their numbers down a bit at the Kota tribe."
(cut)
"Hopefully I think Sugar has quit the game. She's like 'I can't take this anymore.' and she's crying and hopefully she's gone. If not, then good for her, she survived Exile Island, and she's back at her tribe, and maybe they're in shambles right now because they lost the reward challenge and they're scared to go up against us in the immunity challenge."
(cut)
"I don't think Sugar has found the immunity idol at all. I don't think she's that bright. I don't think even with 4 or 5 clues she'll be able to find it. I think she's there scared, alone, I don't even think she'll make fire I think she's scared to do anything out there without anybody. Hopefully she did break down out there and started crying, but I don't know. You would think by the looks of Sugar, she would be a weak person, but you never know."
'GC' on His First Win
'GC' recounts Fang's first victory, and how it will change the game
"Winning today will change a lot about our tribe. We know how it feels to win now. I think we're going to be even more motivated to win everytime. We already know how it feels to lose. We did that all at the beginning of the game, and it sucks. I'm glad we held it together losing as much as we have, but everyone knows this is the path we have to be on, the wining path. I'm pretty sure everyone will continue giving it everything they've got so we can continue to win every time."
(cut)
"As well as working together today to win the challenge, I think it also brought everyone together emotionally a little bit. A lot of times when you go through something with a group of people, and it's kind of tough, it does bring you closer. Today was rough. Everyone gave everything they had today. Afterwards, we even had people crying and tearing up, and we won, we didn't even lose. That just shows you that people felt like this is what we had to be doing, and people are really happy that we won. It brought us together in a whole lot of different ways as far as communication, teamwork, and making us feel like a family."
Fang is Lost
After a day out in the jungle, Fang cannot find their way back to camp
GC: I think we're lost. If ya'll wanna head back.
Randy: I'm sure we're not lost. I know exactly where we are.
GC: You said you'd never been here.
Randy: Not until today.
GC: If you've never been here how do you know exactly where we are?
Randy: I know exactly where we came from the river we just crossed. So I know...
Crystal: So from the little river we crossed do you know how to get to the stream?
Randy: No, not for sure. I know how to get home.
Crystal: Do you want to go to the stream or go home?
Randy: I can give it a try to the stream. I can't promise it but...
Crystal (mocking): I've never been to the stream but I know where we are! (laughs)
(cut)
Dan: We'll just walk upstream and try to find the same point to (?) on.
Susie: We're supposed to go through a trail though.
(they try to figure out whether they're near a trail, Dan says all they need to do is find the stream)
GC: I have no idea where it was at. I was expecting a big surprise myself.
Susie: I was expecting a river. Dan...er...Randy, you know which way we went. We can go back to where we walked over the creek. Then where do we go from there? Do you remember?
Randy: I can give it a good shot, I can't promise.
Matty: Did we take a wrong turn?
Randy: Yeah, this was a different turn.
Matty: Was it?
Susie: Alright, let's go that way.
Randy: I'm not...
Matty: I made a mistake, I made a mistake.
Fang Celebrates Victory
After winning their first immunity challenge, the Fang tribe recounts their crowning achievement
(they go "1, 2, 3, Fong!" and do a group hand thing)
Crystal: Another 3 nights in the jungle.
Matty: Crystal just walked through the freezing water.
(Dan or Matty say Paloma's headed home, and bring up Paloma's reward challenge performance)
Randy: I think Ken single-handedly sent the Wiz home.
Ken: I think we both overanalyzed that word problem. When Jeff said it would be simple math I thought it would be 5 + 5. I thought in the word problem I said the last 2 numbers or the sum of the last 2 numbers were supposed to equal the middle numbers, and I thought it was the last two numbers, but it turned out to be the first and the last number.
Matty: You kept a straight face, you were like a poker player bro.
Crystal: He said it took somebody that could maintain it, and you...
Ken: I was calm and concentrated.
Matty: You didn't panic or nothing.
(cut)
Crystal: We all had a different objective out there. I thought, "If I can just get up this hill first and give Susie a good enough lead." That's all I kept thinking. If I could give her a good enough lead, we'd be good to go.
Matty: Susie, you Supermanned it.
(Susie says something about the timing being cool)
Dan: We were way behind getting out of the water, but we didn't give up.
Crystal Hates Fang
After the argument between Randy and his tribe over the rations of rice, Crystal is sent over the edge
"Randy comes back and he's like, 'Who's cooking rice, it's so early in the day!' and they started fussing about rice and cooking it so early and we have to ration out the rice because our rations are getting smaller and we have to eat smaller meals. They started ganging up on poor Kenny and he said, 'I made the rice because you guys looked hungry and I'm thinking about you guys.' and Randy's like, 'Who cares if we all look hungry? We're all hungry out here! We gotta ration the rice!'"
(cut)
"I wanna slap them! Fang tribe makes me sick. The Fang tribe talks too much, they talk my head off. I try to go to sleep half the time, they always talk. They don't have any inner-freakin' drive. It's like damn ya'll, we gotta win! (mocking voice) 'Oh, I don't know, the water's too deep.' Shut up! Get out there and swim! 'You guys, let's ration out the rice.' If you're gonna cook the rice, we're gonna eat it. Fang is getting on my nerves. I hope I'm here long enough for the merge, because I can't wait."
Corinne on Kota's Leader
Corinne rants on Kota's false leader, and reveals who she thinks is the true leader of her tribe
"The leader of the tribe, I'd say the facade leader (uses quote marks) would be I'd say Ace, because he wants to be needed. He's the cook, he's the fisher, he's the builder, he's the provider. He's everything. But look at his alliance. He's got Sugar. That's two people. That's not a leader, my friend. A leader is a person who can sit back and evaluate the situation and have other people do things for them. A leader is more of a puppetmaster, which I'd say, I'm not that role although I'd like to be that role. Certainly not Ace. I would say...maybe Marcus. Marcus has a little bit of a...his evaluation of people are very smart. People trust him. I don't know. The leader in the sense of when you're sitting at Tribal, if Jeff asks who's the leader, everyone would probably say Ace. I however think that's asinine. That's the worst leadership I've ever seen."
Bob the Provider
Bob explains his position in the game as the tribe provider is also his strategy
"I wanna be a provider, I wanna be needed by the tribe. I think hence I made the bench to sit on, I rigged all the fishing gear. I'm pretty honest about the fact I've never been to Gabon, I don't know about the jungle. If we were in Maine, hauling in lobsters and getting crabs, I'd be in my element. I don't know...when I'm up against somebody like Charlie, who's been to Central Park, I really shine. This is my environment. And I also, the fact that I can't sleep at night, I'm not comfortable, I get all the water boiled. We are ready to roll every day. My strategy is to be needed. That's gonna get me further on in the game. It's hard for me to form alliances and I've been straightforward about that. Nobody seems to really have formed a tight alliance that I'm aware of."
Bob's Mystery Fruit
Bob returns to camp with a mysterious fruit that he found in the jungle
(Bob shows the camp the fruit he found)
Charlie: Good job, Bob.
Bob: Take a bite, it's like a blueberry.
Charlie: It's delicious.
Bob: Shh, don't tell anybody.
(Jacquie and Paloma join in the praise)
Kelly: Should we eat them?
Bob: Who cares? If they kill us, it's a great way to go.
Corinne: Where do we get them?
Bob: They're right on the edge of the savannah.
Charlie: Are there tons and tons and tons?
Bob: No, no, no. They're the plant with the purple flower that's this big, and that's the plant I just pulled out is what they are.
Ace's Hair
With a quarter of the game completed, Ace reveals the state of his hair to Charlie
(Charlie fishes; Ace laughs while cleaning his teeth)
Charlie: What?
Ace: We're a quarter of the way through.
Charlie: I know. And your beard's growing in thick.
Ace: I've told you, you're lucky. Yours is light here and thick here. Mine's just, woomph. By day 20, we'll have thick beards.
Charlie: What's it gonna be like?
Ace: I'm curious about what's gonna happen to the hair on top of my head. (pulls off his buff cap and rubs the top of his head)
Charlie: My hair will probably just stay the same the whole time.
Ace: It's soft now but you can feel it on the top of my head.
Charlie: Oh, the top top? (rubs Ace's head) I don't even see it.
Ace: That's just because it's day 9.
After her tribe discovers an elephant skull, reality sets in for Paloma of what might exist near her camp while she sleeps at night
(day 7; the entire team is on an excursion; Marcus is ahead of the rest of them and finds an elephant skull)
Corinne: Oh my God, that is so cool! (applauds) Bring it back! Bring it back!
Paloma (solo): When we saw the elephant skull, everybody was like, "Ohmigosh, there's an elephant skull." I was like, we're in Africa, seeing an elephant skull solidifies the fact that they're here. I mean there's like a dead one out in the Savannah, for sure, you know it. Especially at night. You can hear them a lot at night.
(day turns to night, and at camp, Paloma looks unnerved as she hears an elephant)
Paloma (solo): I don't want anybody to think I'm weak or whatnot, so even though I'm scared of elephants I'm sucking it up and (this part is from another confessional) acting like I'm strong, I'm happy. (back to the nighttime confessional) We'll see what happens when I do see one. I would probably just pee myself. (Paloma sees an animal in the bushes and makes a slight yelp)
Tribal Council Voting
Watch as the Kota members cast their votes at their first Tribal Council
Kelly (Ace with a vertical line through the c): I'm voting for you because you tried to get me into an alliance from the beginning. I saw right through you. You can take you and your little emotional mopface outta here.
Corinne (Paloma): I really like you and I didn't want to do this, but I had to go with the majority. I'm very sorry and I think they'll be great things in store for you.
Marcus ("Pa-lo-muh"): Palomita, I'm sorry, but it was just time to do this.
Paloma (Ace with a big toothy grin): This is pretty much self-explanatory.
Ace (Paloma): Unfortunately, you know exactly why you're leaving. It's for the strength of the tribe. No ill will. Best of luck.
Sugar (Paloma): Sorry, dude. Better you than me.
Bob (Paloma with a sad face): Sorry Paloma. We want a strong tribe and you're the weakest link. Hope to see you afterwards.
Jacquie (Paloma): (no comment)
Charlie (Paloma): I probably like you more than anyone else on our tribe, but if you're gonna play Survivor without a physical bone in your body, you should probably come up with a few more tricks.
Paloma's Final Words
See what Paloma had to say after she was voted out of the game.
"So I got voted off. First person on my tribe to go. Wasn't really surprised, was expecting it a little bit. These past 9 days have been pretty cool and this experience in itself, I have nothing to lose from this experience, so I'm a happy camper. And I get to take a shower."
(cut)
"The past 9 days in Gabon have been amazing, definitely been an experience, something I've never, ever done before. There's nothing bad that could have come out of this experience so I'm leaving home pretty happy. Met a lot of amazing people and excited to get back home and get my life started back again."
(cut)
"The Kota tribe is a strong tribe, so the future looks pretty bright for them. They seem to be all about strength as a tribe in a physical aspect, so I don't know how well that's gonna go for them because today was obvious a lot of the game has to do with, you know, mental stuff. I don't know, I hope it goes good for them. They're a really good tribe, I wish them the best of luck. We'll see how it goes for them. You can never know."
(cut)
"It was a great experience. I had fun, I don't have any regrets. I met some incredible people, it was so much fun being out here, and although it only lasted 9 days, it'll be something I'll take home with me for the rest of my life. I'm excited. I'm happy."
(cut)
"I think Marcus will do well in the game, he's just a smart guy, all around good guy. He'll do pretty well. Hopefully Bob does well, hoping Kelly does too, and Charlie as well. Everybody else, they can do well if they want to, but I don't wish them the best of luck. (laughs) Well I wish everybody the best of luck. Marcus will do well."
(cut)
"Honestly, good luck to the whole Kota tribe. I hope you guys do awesome. I know you'll do awesome, you're a cool tribe, everybody's really cool and kickback. Best of luck to everybody."
(cut)
"I don't hope anybody falls short. That's just mean. I definitely, let's just put it this way, if Ace wins a million dollars I'll probably never watch Survivor again. (laughs)"
Paloma the Day After
Paloma discusses the most difficult part about her experiences in the game, and how it ultimately made her a better person
"The most difficult part about being in Survivor was not being able to be myself., not completely. Just given the elements of the game. You're hungry, you're tired, you feel depleted. I think that was the most difficult part of the game, not being able to be myself and how I usually am back home. It was a great experience that taught me what I love most about life, and what I care most about in life, and yeah, it was a great experience, there was a lot of good things about it too."
(cut)
"Survivor taught me a lot about myself. More than anything it reinforced what I already knew about myself. I already had this perception of who I was and what I believed in and everything. It just backed up what I felt about myself. It did teach me a few things about myself, that I'm a lot stronger than I thought I was, that there's things I'm maybe not capable of doing the way I thought I was able to do them. I don't know. There's a lot of things you learn."
(cut)
"Survivor was definitely a humbling experience. You sit there and watch it on the show and it's like, I can do that, I can go without eating, I can do that challenge, that's easy. I can deal with people I don't like, I can live with people I don't like for 39 days. When you're on the show and actually experiencing it firsthand, it's completely 100% different. You can't say you can do something until you're put into the situation and tested on it because yo just never know. It's a very humbling experience to know it's a lot harder than you think it is."
(cut)
"When I got voted off of Survivor, it was sad and it was you almost feel like you failed in a sense because you didn't make it as far as you wanted to make it. I wanted to make it to the end. It was sad and a lot of emotions go through it, and yeah, one of those emotions was relief, it's only natural to feel that, because you're relived you're gonna be able to sleep on a pillow, you're relieved that you're gonna be able to eat something, you're relieved you don't have to be in this situation where things aren't going the way you want them to go. It was a little of a relief but for the most part it wasn't really that. It was just you want to stay in the game, you're mad because you kind of know what's going on, and you wish you could change it but you don't know how. There's a lot of feelings going on. The great thing about Survivor is you go into it thinking it's just a game, it's for a million dollars, you can do it, then when you actually get into the game, you start realizing it isn't really just a game. There's real people, there's real feelings involved, you're starving, you're going to the bathroom outside, you're not taking showers, you're dirty, you have ticks all over you, you're not sleeping, and all these elements come into play. You start realizing yeah it's a game but at the same time this is real life, we're out there in the middle of the jungle and it's real life every day that you're out there. Every day you're thirsty, every day you're hungry, and every day you're not getting along with the people in your tribe or you're holding back feelings and not being yourself. The amazing thing about the game of Survivor is to an extent it's not really a game, it's real life. People say it's a game and it is a game because you're competing for a million dollars, but at the same time it's real life for however long you're out there. It's real life in your face this is not a joke this is what you're gonna have to deal with. I think that's the amazing thing about Survivor a lot of people don't understand when they're watching it. There's a lot things going on there you can't know unless you experience it. It's fun to watch but it kinda sucks to experience it firsthand sometimes."
(cut)
"I kinda am a camper and I like to go camping and I like to be outdoors, but for anything in life there are extremes. I like to go camping with a tent and sometimes a blowup mattress and like smores and hot dogs and hamburgers. I like to be outdoors on a trail where you can walk on a trail for 45 minutes and then be in civilization the next. I thought, 'Oh, I'm a camper,' and all this stuff, but when you're actually out there, it's not camping, there's nothing like camping in Survivor, it's not being outdoors. It's being out in the middle of nowhere. So yeah I was there for 9 days and I am proud of myself for making it this far. I would have been proud of myslf if I'd made it 3 days, or if I made it for 21 days, or the whole way. I would have been proud of myself because I believe it takes a strong person to be on Survivor. I have no regrets and yeah I am proud of myself."
Rise and Shine, Kota
Ace leads Kota through a morning routine of stretching and meditation
Ace: Lift up through the chest, hands come up, and...descend.
(Ace/Kelly/Jacquie all sit with their legs spread, holding hands, stretching each other; Marcus is crouched into a ball and Ace lays on top of his back, stretching out)
Ace (stretching with Corinne, Jacquie, Marcus, Charlie): We're stretching out quadraceps, lumbar, all three aspects, you know, thorasic, cervical, all the muscles through your calves, neck, arms. This is everything right here. This is the whole kit and kaboodle.
(back to Ace/Kelly/Jacquie)
Ace: The key is to work on the...
Kelly: Mind?
Ace: Well, the mind, but holding that imagery steady so it can flow throughout you. That's what gives you power.
(cut)
Kelly: I saw the light, then I lost it.
Ace: Did you see it descend in your body?
Kelly: No, but when you were talking about the canyons and things, it disappeared. When you were like, "Let that disappear", and it literally disappeared. Weird. Then I felt that. It felt really weird. It was like water.
Randy's Bad Date
After much frustration towards his tribe after they wasted the rations of rice, Randy gives one of the best analogies for how he feels
"There's these young kids out here who are eating frankly 5 or 6 times more than me. I'm fine with food, without food, it doesn't matter, but there's some people back there right now scraping the bowl. We're history, unless something huge happens where we stumble on a reward with fish hooks and fishing line, we're toast. We are done. The best way I can describe the way I fit into this tribe is when you've got a big date with this beautiful, well-built girl, and you absolutely hate her guts, but you've got to smile and be nice to her if the date is gonna end well. That's exactly what this is like. You see my smile, you see me laughing. That's what it is. I want a very good kiss goodnight at the end of this horrible date that I'm on."
Marcus' Friendship with Charlie
Marcus explains his unique relationship with his closest alliance member, Charlie
"I think interacting with a gay man is unique because I'm not feeling the same way he could potentially feel for me. I don't know that I find myself flirting with him, but it's almost like there are certain elements of my interaction with a woman that I could find myself having with him, yet it's a completely different meaning. It's almost like a special case with Charlie, because I do appreciate him. I can tell a handsome man when I see one. I'm comfortable enough with my sexuality to say that. The fact is Charlie is a catch. That's great. I want him to appreciate that about himself. In that sense I am attracted to that but just from an appreciation standpoint. I think that's really kind of where it ends up being at. I don't think Charlie has any pretenses about the possibility of having a relationship or anything like that with me. I don't even think he's thinking along those lines. I think he would say the same thing about me. He can appreciate that about me. He can appreciate XYZ but we're in Eden and we're here to do something different and for that task we have to have a great relationship. That's kind of where we left it."
Marcus' Biggest Fan
Charlie boasts on Marcus's greatest qualities
"Every time Marcus talks, I'm in awe. He is one of the greatest people ever and he's everything I would ever wish I could be. I'm not even close to what he is. He speaks in poetry and he always has a funny joke on hand. He's physical. He's like the total package. I totally look up to him. To be aligned with him and stand there next to him is an awesome feeling. The fact that he saw something in me. I think he saw my humbleness and insecurity as endearing and real and that's why he picked up on it. It feels great to be able to go out there and canoe and have an hour talk with Marcus and say everything. I haven't held back at all with Marcus. I'm sure he's held back a little bit, because you can't completely trust in this game. It just feels really, really good to be able to share that bond with one other person."
Ken on Sending Sugar to Exile Island
Ken explains the reasons his tribe sent Sugar to Exile Island, as well as how he thinks she will react to being there
"We sent Sugar to Exile Island because we thought she was emotionally unstable. We saw her crying the whole time before, and we don't want to send someone strong to find the hidden immunity idol, we want to send someone weak who couldn't find the immunity idol, which we did. We thought the way Dan explained Exile Island, it was really bad. We thought, 'Hey, if Dan was crying at Exile Island, maybe Sugar will give up.' Maybe cut their numbers down a bit at the Kota tribe."
(cut)
"Hopefully I think Sugar has quit the game. She's like 'I can't take this anymore.' and she's crying and hopefully she's gone. If not, then good for her, she survived Exile Island, and she's back at her tribe, and maybe they're in shambles right now because they lost the reward challenge and they're scared to go up against us in the immunity challenge."
(cut)
"I don't think Sugar has found the immunity idol at all. I don't think she's that bright. I don't think even with 4 or 5 clues she'll be able to find it. I think she's there scared, alone, I don't even think she'll make fire I think she's scared to do anything out there without anybody. Hopefully she did break down out there and started crying, but I don't know. You would think by the looks of Sugar, she would be a weak person, but you never know."
'GC' on His First Win
'GC' recounts Fang's first victory, and how it will change the game
"Winning today will change a lot about our tribe. We know how it feels to win now. I think we're going to be even more motivated to win everytime. We already know how it feels to lose. We did that all at the beginning of the game, and it sucks. I'm glad we held it together losing as much as we have, but everyone knows this is the path we have to be on, the wining path. I'm pretty sure everyone will continue giving it everything they've got so we can continue to win every time."
(cut)
"As well as working together today to win the challenge, I think it also brought everyone together emotionally a little bit. A lot of times when you go through something with a group of people, and it's kind of tough, it does bring you closer. Today was rough. Everyone gave everything they had today. Afterwards, we even had people crying and tearing up, and we won, we didn't even lose. That just shows you that people felt like this is what we had to be doing, and people are really happy that we won. It brought us together in a whole lot of different ways as far as communication, teamwork, and making us feel like a family."
Fang is Lost
After a day out in the jungle, Fang cannot find their way back to camp
GC: I think we're lost. If ya'll wanna head back.
Randy: I'm sure we're not lost. I know exactly where we are.
GC: You said you'd never been here.
Randy: Not until today.
GC: If you've never been here how do you know exactly where we are?
Randy: I know exactly where we came from the river we just crossed. So I know...
Crystal: So from the little river we crossed do you know how to get to the stream?
Randy: No, not for sure. I know how to get home.
Crystal: Do you want to go to the stream or go home?
Randy: I can give it a try to the stream. I can't promise it but...
Crystal (mocking): I've never been to the stream but I know where we are! (laughs)
(cut)
Dan: We'll just walk upstream and try to find the same point to (?) on.
Susie: We're supposed to go through a trail though.
(they try to figure out whether they're near a trail, Dan says all they need to do is find the stream)
GC: I have no idea where it was at. I was expecting a big surprise myself.
Susie: I was expecting a river. Dan...er...Randy, you know which way we went. We can go back to where we walked over the creek. Then where do we go from there? Do you remember?
Randy: I can give it a good shot, I can't promise.
Matty: Did we take a wrong turn?
Randy: Yeah, this was a different turn.
Matty: Was it?
Susie: Alright, let's go that way.
Randy: I'm not...
Matty: I made a mistake, I made a mistake.
Fang Celebrates Victory
After winning their first immunity challenge, the Fang tribe recounts their crowning achievement
(they go "1, 2, 3, Fong!" and do a group hand thing)
Crystal: Another 3 nights in the jungle.
Matty: Crystal just walked through the freezing water.
(Dan or Matty say Paloma's headed home, and bring up Paloma's reward challenge performance)
Randy: I think Ken single-handedly sent the Wiz home.
Ken: I think we both overanalyzed that word problem. When Jeff said it would be simple math I thought it would be 5 + 5. I thought in the word problem I said the last 2 numbers or the sum of the last 2 numbers were supposed to equal the middle numbers, and I thought it was the last two numbers, but it turned out to be the first and the last number.
Matty: You kept a straight face, you were like a poker player bro.
Crystal: He said it took somebody that could maintain it, and you...
Ken: I was calm and concentrated.
Matty: You didn't panic or nothing.
(cut)
Crystal: We all had a different objective out there. I thought, "If I can just get up this hill first and give Susie a good enough lead." That's all I kept thinking. If I could give her a good enough lead, we'd be good to go.
Matty: Susie, you Supermanned it.
(Susie says something about the timing being cool)
Dan: We were way behind getting out of the water, but we didn't give up.
Crystal Hates Fang
After the argument between Randy and his tribe over the rations of rice, Crystal is sent over the edge
"Randy comes back and he's like, 'Who's cooking rice, it's so early in the day!' and they started fussing about rice and cooking it so early and we have to ration out the rice because our rations are getting smaller and we have to eat smaller meals. They started ganging up on poor Kenny and he said, 'I made the rice because you guys looked hungry and I'm thinking about you guys.' and Randy's like, 'Who cares if we all look hungry? We're all hungry out here! We gotta ration the rice!'"
(cut)
"I wanna slap them! Fang tribe makes me sick. The Fang tribe talks too much, they talk my head off. I try to go to sleep half the time, they always talk. They don't have any inner-freakin' drive. It's like damn ya'll, we gotta win! (mocking voice) 'Oh, I don't know, the water's too deep.' Shut up! Get out there and swim! 'You guys, let's ration out the rice.' If you're gonna cook the rice, we're gonna eat it. Fang is getting on my nerves. I hope I'm here long enough for the merge, because I can't wait."
Corinne on Kota's Leader
Corinne rants on Kota's false leader, and reveals who she thinks is the true leader of her tribe
"The leader of the tribe, I'd say the facade leader (uses quote marks) would be I'd say Ace, because he wants to be needed. He's the cook, he's the fisher, he's the builder, he's the provider. He's everything. But look at his alliance. He's got Sugar. That's two people. That's not a leader, my friend. A leader is a person who can sit back and evaluate the situation and have other people do things for them. A leader is more of a puppetmaster, which I'd say, I'm not that role although I'd like to be that role. Certainly not Ace. I would say...maybe Marcus. Marcus has a little bit of a...his evaluation of people are very smart. People trust him. I don't know. The leader in the sense of when you're sitting at Tribal, if Jeff asks who's the leader, everyone would probably say Ace. I however think that's asinine. That's the worst leadership I've ever seen."
Bob the Provider
Bob explains his position in the game as the tribe provider is also his strategy
"I wanna be a provider, I wanna be needed by the tribe. I think hence I made the bench to sit on, I rigged all the fishing gear. I'm pretty honest about the fact I've never been to Gabon, I don't know about the jungle. If we were in Maine, hauling in lobsters and getting crabs, I'd be in my element. I don't know...when I'm up against somebody like Charlie, who's been to Central Park, I really shine. This is my environment. And I also, the fact that I can't sleep at night, I'm not comfortable, I get all the water boiled. We are ready to roll every day. My strategy is to be needed. That's gonna get me further on in the game. It's hard for me to form alliances and I've been straightforward about that. Nobody seems to really have formed a tight alliance that I'm aware of."
Bob's Mystery Fruit
Bob returns to camp with a mysterious fruit that he found in the jungle
(Bob shows the camp the fruit he found)
Charlie: Good job, Bob.
Bob: Take a bite, it's like a blueberry.
Charlie: It's delicious.
Bob: Shh, don't tell anybody.
(Jacquie and Paloma join in the praise)
Kelly: Should we eat them?
Bob: Who cares? If they kill us, it's a great way to go.
Corinne: Where do we get them?
Bob: They're right on the edge of the savannah.
Charlie: Are there tons and tons and tons?
Bob: No, no, no. They're the plant with the purple flower that's this big, and that's the plant I just pulled out is what they are.
Ace's Hair
With a quarter of the game completed, Ace reveals the state of his hair to Charlie
(Charlie fishes; Ace laughs while cleaning his teeth)
Charlie: What?
Ace: We're a quarter of the way through.
Charlie: I know. And your beard's growing in thick.
Ace: I've told you, you're lucky. Yours is light here and thick here. Mine's just, woomph. By day 20, we'll have thick beards.
Charlie: What's it gonna be like?
Ace: I'm curious about what's gonna happen to the hair on top of my head. (pulls off his buff cap and rubs the top of his head)
Charlie: My hair will probably just stay the same the whole time.
Ace: It's soft now but you can feel it on the top of my head.
Charlie: Oh, the top top? (rubs Ace's head) I don't even see it.
Ace: That's just because it's day 9.
