One World Episode 3: The Comeback

Chelsea thinks the girls just need a little bit of confidence to turn it around. Colton is in the girls' camp (shocker!) and warns them a storm is coming, and asks them if they want to use their fire. The girls say no but after a long, rough night, Kim isn't feeling quite so reluctant. Troyzan, being the gent that he is, lets the women in to dry up. Matt is not happy about this when he sees it. Still the villain, I see. Boo hiss!

It's a reward challenge now, and the teams are playing for fishing gear. It's a memory game, first to recreate the sequence of objects wins a point. Sabrina and Matt go head-to-head first. Neither of them spend much time looking, but although Matt finishes first, he is wrong and Sabrina gets the point. Colton then takes on Monica who is similarly quick, but once again he is wrong and Monica gets the point. Alicia beats Jay in speed and is correct. Troyzan vs Kat turns out to be a hilarious matchup, first when Troyzan closes the curtain straight away (prompting a "what?" from Jeff), and then when it takes seven tries for anyone to get it right. And it's once again the woman who wins. Bill and Christina go head-to-head in the last round, and Christina makes it a clean sweep for the women.

Boy, they needed that!

So, the women have the boat, but they've lost their fire. Their magnesium wet, Monica and Kat decide to just ask the men for an ember. Jay and Matt want something in return.  Even Colton is taking their side on this one, saying "I'm a Republican, I do not believe in handouts".  Alicia and Chelsea come by the guys' fire to warm up, but do not seem receptive for Jay's request to use their boat in return. Chelsea return back to camp and tells the rest of the women a fairly inaccurate account of how the men bullied them, and then cries.

Monica takes a dive

Epic shot of a sunrise. The next day, Kim, Chelsea and Monica take the boat out to sea and go fishing. All three of them catch a fish. At last, things are looking up. Time to get to the immunity challenge now, can the girls keep this momentum?

Bill gets animated

It's a blindfolded challenge requiring teamwork, and has people getting drenched with buckets for no reason. Sabrina and Bill are the callers, who double up as puzzle-solvers. Matt and Mike get the first bag to put the men in the lead, whilst Kim and Chelsea walk into a pole. Jonas and Leif get the second bag, and Tarzan and Troyzan take ages to get the third, but still do it before the women. Alicia and Kat eventually put the women on the board, but with the guys way out in front and Monica and Christina lost, it's looking like a blowout at this stage. Bill takes his time, the guys not really helping. Sabrina gets to work as soon as her last bag comes back, and pulls it back to six pieces each. A tight contest results in the women edging out the men. Salani win immunity!

Control freak

Well, this is not the same female team that collapsed on the balance beam challenge. Chelsea points out how gutted the guys must be. Matt gets a confessional saying he's actually looking forward to going to tribal council and get to use some of his "power". He really doesn't get it yet, does he?

Colton seems to dislike Bill a lot, even coming off a little racist in his mockery. He argues he should go, but Troyzan sees Matt as the bigger threat. The misfits are discussing who to vote out when Jay walks up and quickly figures out the frat boys are screwed. Knowing he is on the outs, he decides the best damage control he can do is to vote with the people in power. Matt then walks up and interrupts the strategy session. Why Tarzan admits it was a strategy session I have no idea.

Matt gets Troyzan alone for a talk. He wants an alliance with Troyzan, who has kind of been the real leader of the misfits all along ( suck it, Colton). Once again demonstrating how bad he is this game, not only does he offer him the worst deal possible, he does so with an incredibly condescending speech comparing his tribe to roosters and chickens. Well, whatever. Time to bring the rooster home to roost.

One comeuppance coming right up

It's tribal council. Tarzan says he trusts the alliance of five he thinks he has. Colton says he knows he's not going home because he has an idol. He then proceeds to paint a bigger target on his back by admitting he loves to spend time with the women. Tarzan defends Colton and says he thinks Colton's game smarts makes him an asset. Matt then tries to antagonize Tarzan by saying he thinks he's less confident than he says. Bill is either very drunk or very excited, but seems to be loving the intensity of not knowing what's gonna happen next.

The tribe vote. Colton does not play his idol like he said he would, which was a pretty smart move. Threatening to use it often means you don't have to. Colton picks up a vote and so does Bill, but five votes for Matt sees the wannabe power player on his way. How much of a blindside it was remains to be seen, but it was still pretty satisfying and humiliating for the macho man to be humbled by the "average Joe's". Tarzan asks if he can see the other votes, to which Jeff replies "no". "Save the questions for me" says Queen Bee Colton. Here's a question, how comfortable do the rest of the alliance feel about having him in power? If he doesn't tone down the cockiness quickly, the blindsider could soon be the blinsided.

STAR OF THE WEEK: TROYZAN ROBERTSON

After a disappointing first two weeks, we're finally seeing more from Troyzan and I like what I see. Not only is he a really nice guy, he's funny and seems to be doing pretty well at the game so far. Thanks for getting rid of Matt.

One World Episode 2: Breasts In Show

Michael snoops around the girls camp with Leif to find out what happened at tribal council, and is "annoyed" to find out they all came back. He also claims to have been tending the fire, making designated fire tender Kat give a really stupid confessional designed to show up how little she knows.

Christina and Alicia decide to make up, for the sake of group harmony. Clearly Alicia still does not seem to think much of her though, saying she'd look the other way if she was drowning. Harsh. Chelsea wants to appoint a tribe leader, and it is then agreed that Sabrina should take the role. As Sabrina starts giving out other roles, Tarzan walks by in his underwear. Gross! Nina, who I forgot to mention got her face smashed in after the first challenge, says she doesn't like Kat's immaturity and high energy.

Alicia protecting her kitty Kat

Wanna know what you're playing for? Some clothes!

Next, the tribes go off and find crates to be used for a reward challenge. Wow, a reward challenge for the first time in three seasons! They are told to take them to "a neutral location". Bill reads out the note and finds they have a do-it-yourself challenge. I guess Probst couldn't be bothered to turn up. It involves untangling a mess of ropes and finding a ring. Colton takes over the Jeff role. It's a surprisingly quick challenge that the guys predictably win, claiming themselves a tarp. Colton didn't even celebrate the win with the boys.

The Colton tribe: The outcast swings alone

When the guys get back to camp, they set to work building their new shelter. All except Colton, who is doing nothing - and Michael has noticed. Colton doesn't feel a part of the guy's tribe, so he goes over to spend time with the girls. The girls don't want him either and Sabrina has to call fake meetings to get rid of him. He makes a tearful plea for acceptance, claiming it's nothing to do with strategy, but Kim diplomatically explains it's not a sensible option for their tribe to have him around.

Manono seem to be encouraging Tarzan's wild attention seeking, as he dances around the fire. Colton shows his idol to Troyzan and Jonas, who are shocked. Jonas seems to be wildly overestimating Colton, who earlier compared him to Russell. With Leif on board too, they form a misfit alliance to take out the meatheads. Although Colton appears to just be using it for the time being until he can get some girls on his side. Either way, he's gone from early boot to power player. Who'da thunk it?

Touchy feely in the immunity challenge

The immunity is water-based and involves climbing past your tribemates on a balance beam. The women get off to a bad start when Kat can't get past Monica's boobs. Leif is the first one to cross for the men. Colton and Jonas also get past before the women even have one. Kat is struggling, Christina is struggling, Kat doesn't understand the rules of the challenge and keeps jumping in for no reason. Monica decides to have a go and actually makes it across. Unfortunately that's as good as it gets for the women and the guys win in a blowout. Nina is pissed. Chelsea comments on how hard it is because of boobs. Um, ok.

Kat is consoled by her tribe for trying her best, but Nina is still mad at the "dumb blonde" who blew the challenge for them. Even though Nina knows she's not in the dominant alliance, she appeals to Chelsea to keep her and vote Kat out instead just to keep the tribe strong. Chelsea is really considering it and talks it over with Kim. The pair aren't sure if breaking the trust this early is a good idea, though.

Hisssssssssss

At tribal council, Jeff Probst berates the women for their poor performance. Nina has a lot to say and basically lays it all out there - she's a former cop, she brings far more to the table in terms of life experience than Kat. Chelsea and Sabrina both admit that if they could start over they'd choose a different alliance. Ouch, Kat is really taking a beating here. The poor girl breaks down and almost cries after admitting the challenge loss was her fault and she's not used to failing. The girls stick with their alliance and vote out Nina, and Christina and Monica join in too, scared of pissing off the women. Come to think of it, wasn't Christina fairly well-established last week as the next boot? What changed? Because she wasn't much use in the challenges either. Oh well, it'll probably take a miracle for Salani to recover now. Or, yknow, a tribe swap.

STAR OF THE WEEK: MONICA CULPEPPER

Monica is a badass. She may be 40 but she doesn't look or act it. She was the only one to complete the challenge for the girls and is perhaps their only shining light of hope. Why do all my favorites have to be in bad positions?

One World Episode 1: Diplomacy And Dirty Tricks

Adorable Kourtney already looks out of her depth

Jeff Probst introduces a brand new season with a brand new format from his helicopter, which he almost falls out of. The castaways arrive on truck, and introduce themselves. Crazy old guy Greg asks to be called Tarzan, which steps on the toes of Swimsuit photographer Troy, who wanted to go by the nickname Troyzan. When Jeff divides the tribes into men and women, superfan Colton's jaw drops. He's not happy about it - as an open homosexual, he feels he's "the girl on the guy's tribe".

The Survivors get 60 seconds to unload everything off the truck they can. Amidst the mad scramble, Michael sees an opportunity to take stuff from the women's pile, and ends up pinching an axe. How no-one noticed until after the fact, I have no idea. Alicia calls out the guys for cheating, but they feign ignorance.

Regardless, both tribes take maps to their camps. They don't realize yet that they're both going to the same place. Leif, the smallest guy, ends up carrying the biggest load. Who planned that? Meanwhile, Alicia is playing hard on the girls' tribe, already forming an alliance of who she thinks are the five strongest girls - her, Chelsea, Kim, Sabrina and Kat. Playing the game hard already, I like it. It's the only way to play!

Confusion and disappointment is the reaction when the two tribes meet up. Particularly from Jonas, but he looks like he gets confused a lot. Chickens are roaming around camp...Chelsea agrees to split them with the men, but goes back on her word when she ends up catching both of them. Matt is pissed. But to be fair, they stole an axe.

The frat boy alliance

Colton doesn't fit in with the guys, so he goes over and introduces himself to the girls. Matt sees this and doesn't like it. The dominant alliance on Manono is shaping up to be Matt, Michael, Bill and Jay. Colton tells the girls the only way he's going to stay in the game is if he gets an idol, so asks them to bear that in mind for if they find one.

It may be called One World, but there's still a clear divide between the two tribes, generally keeping themselves to themselves. Jay likes the segregation. A few of the men get a fire going. Sabrina walks into the guys' camp, like a hostage negotiator, and offers to trade a chicken for fire. Matt says no, because he thinks they're entitled to the chicken anyway. Him and Mike are working hard to try and out-douchebag eachother.

Tarzan roars - the girls think this guy is running the show?

None of the girls' offers entice the men - not even Monica poledancing. So, that night, Christina and Monica attempt a covert operation to sneak into the men's camp and grab fire. The operation is a success, but they are unable to get anything consistent to start.

Sensing the rest of the girls are too proud to do so, Christina goes over to the men and makes a deal - they'll weave them some palm fronds if the men give them fire. Alicia isn't really happy with the deal, and is especially unhappy with what she thinks is Christina playing the other side.

Sabrina hits the jackpot

Sabrina finds an idol in a tree stump. But here's the kicker - it can only be used by someone on the Manono tribe! Sabrina knows choosing the right person to give it to could be crucial, and knows that Colton is the obvious choice. She tells Colton she has it, but doesn't give it him yet.



The first challenge involves a dangerous drop. The survivors are instructed to free fall

Dead man's drop: This sure looks like a dangerous challenge

and keep their arms close to their chest to avoid injury. A few of them take hard hits, but none more than Kourtney. The men go into the balance beam with a one person lead, and their lead extends further as they start piling across. Kourtney seems to be really struggling with her wrist, so Jeff stops the challenge. Dr Paloma says her arm is broken and will need to be X-rayed.

So Kourtney leaves the arena and Jeff gives the guys a choice - they can take immunity and send the girls to tribal council, or they can play the rest of the challenge. After discussing it, the guys decide to take immunity. This surprises some of the girls - they figured that competitive streak would make them want to play on. Troyzan does a really bad job of justifying the decision. There's no way around it, they bottled it. But it might have been the smart thing to do. Imagine if they'd played on and lost - it would've looked like the stupidest decision ever.

Sabrina talks to Colton, who thinks he is the swingvote between the meatheads and the oddballs. Sabrina tries to encourage him to target one if the big guys, and hands him her idol. "I love you" he says. Maybe Jesus is smiling on you after all, Colton! This is bound to stir some shit up.

Sabrina tells the rest of the girls that even if Kourtney comes back, they still vote her out, because she won't be much use with an injured wrist. Alicia has other ideas though, and wants the tribe to know that Christina should go.

At tribal council, Alicia and Christina get into it pretty good over the specifics of the fire deal. Christina loses her cool and yells at Alicia to shut up. Jeff points out how fractured the women's tribe is, and then tells them that Kourtney has been removed from the game and nobody else is going home. He could've told them this at the start, but then he wouldn't have stirred up such delicious drama.

And there's surely more drama to come. Will the women be able to pull it together? How will Colton's immunity idol throw a wrench in the boys' plans? All will be revealed over the next few weeks.

STAR OF THE WEEK: CHRISTINA CHA

When it comes to Christina vs Alicia (the "battle of the boobs", as I'm calling it), I'm team Christina all the way. Without her, the girls would still be unable to heat their own water. Stay strong girl, you have nothing to be ashamed of. For putting her business sense to good use, she becomes my first star of the week.

Gender wars: the story so far

Men vs women is not a new twist to Survivor. The original battle of the sexes was Amazon, and that ended up being a victory for the women, as spoiled brat Jenna Morasca flirted and flaunted her way to the Million. Then came Vanuatu, where it started out as a blowout for the women, but Chris came back from 6-1 down to win the game against all odds. Who will come out on top in One World? Hard to say. There have been more male winners on Survivor than female. The last time a first boot was not female was all the way back in Micronesia. But based on the last two times Survivor used this twist, here's a list of some things to expect.

1. First blood to the women

Both times, the first challenge has been won by the women. In Amazon, it was down to overconfidence by the men. After spending the whole first episode talking themselves up and saying how easy it's gonna be, the arrogant brutes got struck with a huge dose of karma and ended up eating crow. In Vanuatu, it was actually Chris who lost it for the men when just like his predecessors he struggled on the balance beam. Lucky for the men, the first challenge in One World does not look to contain a balance beam, but does seem to require some agility.

Will Kat prove that white girls can jump?

2. Someone will get naked

One of the defining moments of Amazon, and Survivor in general, is when winner Jenna Morasca and her buddy Heidi took their clothes off for chocolate and peanut butter, which delighted the men. In Vanuatu, Julie used her ass to stay in the game. It's an age-old trick, but it always works. There's a lot of attractive women on this season, and Alicia strikes me as someone who's capable of playing men.

Christina's ready to show off what she's got

3. The bigger they are, the harder they fall

Amazon's Misogynist Roger thought he was in control of the game but got a well-deserved comeuppance when Alex, Rob and Matthew flipped to the women to blindside him. Truly one of the most satisfying eliminations in Survivor history. Sarge from Vanuatu certainly had a miserable time after the game got flipped on him, barely containing his venom in his last few days before elimination. Wannabe villians like Michael and Matt, look out! Guys like these never win, and it's going to fun watching them fail.

Michael's heading for a downfall

4. They're not afraid to mix it up

What kept Amazon interesting? That the boot order wasn't static. It only stayed men vs women for a short while, Rob Cesternino and others were more than happy to jump ship and betray their own gender when needed. Jenna and Heidi turned on their mother hen Deena too. Even Sarge offered Twila and Julie final five (although they didn't reciprocate the sentiment). After two seasons of Pagongings, One World needs the chance to add some variety.

Asian alliance? Plus a second appearance from Christina's boobs

5. Stunt casting does well

Curious as to how Leif will do? Odds are he'll at least make the jury. Both gender wars seasons also had a unique character - Chad Crittenden, a man with one leg, who came 8th, and Christy Smith, a deaf girl, who came 6th. So, it's perfectly possible for him to do well. Hopefully he doesn't receive the same treatment as the last disabled contestant on the show, Kelly Bruno of Nicaragua.

Small guy, big ambitions

3 days left until One World begins!