TDT.com | Survivor 5 Spoilers

Episode 3
"Family Values"
Filmed June 16-18, 2002.
Airs October 3, 2002.

Click below for:
- RC speculation/spoilers
- IC speculation/spoilers
- Boot predictions

Vidcap resources:
- CBS video: Promo

Reward challenge: Log Brawling! - Chuay-Gahn win

At long last, we get the fight. Or near-fight. Or, given the over-hyping of all things Survivor, Robb may just call Clay a bad name. Whatever. According to the CBS site itself, the "reward" (and we use those quotation marks with all the sarcasm they can possibly convey) is: "One tribe wins the help of two Red Berets--the equivalent of our Green Berets--who show the tribe how to make the best of everything around their camp, possibly gaining an advantage as better survivalists." Ooh! So if Chuay-Gahn were to win this, they'd have two extra Helens around (or perhaps a Helen and a John). Sweet! On the other hand, Sook-Jai might finally learn how to build a hut.

As for the challenge, it seems to involve moving various baskets from one side of a wooden platform to another, while the other tribe tries to knock you off. Ted looks particularly successful at that, as one might expect of a former almost-pro football player. Robb now appears to be forcing people on the other tribe to look at his hands, although he seems to think they see through their necks. Robb, Jed, Shii Ann and Ken are all visibly in this challenge for Sook-Jai, and Penny sits out the next one. So two of Jake, Erin or Stephanie are sitting this one out. Given that they have Ted, Chuay-Gahn might have a chance here. Defense wins games, after all. And Robb's "He's a whiny little punk" diatribe back at camp doesn't sound like the speech of a guy on the winning tribe. Unless he's talking about one of the Red Berets.

Ah, the excitement of Chuay-Gahn. Another day, another challenge to lose?	Ted and Robb meet head-to-head. Note Ted's use of a clever, low-center-of-gravity crouching block.	This is apparently lost on Jed and Brian, who stumble around standing straight up.
Robb opts for the more direct, hands-on approach.	Ghandia's primal scream. Note that her clothes are almost identical to the RC.	Ghandia, still talking about Ted. Different clothes, buff postion. Presumably different day. Calmer, too.

Immunity challenge: Moving house, er, temple - Chuay-Gahn win

This looks shockingly like an "all new challenge" that is exactly the same as one we've seen before. Of course, maybe Mark Burnett has tried to block out all memory of Survivor: Africa, like the rest of us, so the "Movin' On Up" challenge (which, coincidentally, was also an IC, albeit in Ep4 instead of Ep3 - see, totally new!) may have just slipped his mind. Anyway, from the shots in the web preview, it appears each tribe has three colored pallets. One with a "temple" (a.k.a. stack of wood), and one onto which said "temple" must be moved. Anyway, it looks like a four-part carrying challenge, with the "brains" part being figuring out that the fat part of the pyramid goes on the bottom. Seems designed for Robb to win. Or does it?

Master Xander at MESS and jessiek at Surviiivor.com have pointed out an old Buddhist monk/ computer game (those fun-lovin' monks!) called the "Towers of Hanoi," which involves transferring a series of (collectively) pyramid-shaped objects from one of three poles to another. The initial zoom into the idol shot in the promo shows the temple on one purple mat, with two empty purple mats to its left. Looks like a pretty good match. The challenge shots show Sook-Jai near the start, having removed all but the bottom-most layer. They won the Palanquin challenge handily, but that was with Ken carrying. He's been replaced by Stephanie, though, and the Palanquin carry was close until the end. This one looks shorter, and it could be closer. If it's the Towers of Hanoi game, a logical, mathematically-inlcined mind could avoid unnecessary movement of the pieces, and theoretically overcome a physical disadvantage. We note that Ted is a programmer, so he may provide the edge Chuay-Gahn needs to finally avoid tribal council.

The idol prays it won't have to keep hearing "dude" for the next three days. Assembled "temple" behind it.

Sook-Jai (Ken and Penny sitting out) must move this layer from this stack...

...over to that stack to the left. Crap! The top two pieces are already there! Okay, on to the next mat.

Boot - Jed

Surprisingly, Sook-Jai appears it could be headed to Tribal Council. To be honest, we have no idea who gets booted. You could make a pretty good case for Stephanie, Robb, Shii Ann, or even Jake. We do think Ghandia is safe, though, and Sook Jai goes to TC. Luckily, Survivornews.net does know, and it's Jed. (So ignore everything below).

Incorrect conclusions achieved here previously are shown below. Feel free to snicker:

Will they have had enough of Robb's frequent tantrums to consider showing him the door? It's a tough call. On the side of such a move, he may be among those reprimanded during the RC, his mental prowess may be called into question during the IC (not that this will stop him from directing traffic), and he's affiliating himself with Jed and Stephanie, the dynamic slacker duo. Add to this his confrontation with Shii Ann in Ep1, and the ironically prophetic shot of him hoisting the idol after the Ep2 IC (just like Boston Rob in Ep6 of S4), which was even recycled for the Ep3 preview. Together, Robb's days appear numbered. How numbered remains to be seen.

Because there's also Stephanie, who seemed to spend Ep2 auditioning for the role of the dead Arab on the beach in the upcoming film version of Albert Camus' The Stranger. She didn't help with the shelter, and made a point of isolating herself from the tribe. While this worked for Kathy in S4, Kathy also made an attempt to win back favor by finding food. Not so Skinny Dippin' Stephanie. Then there's the Globe article on Stephanie, which came out this week for reasons unknown. So we'll pick her. We couldn't possibly be wrong with the same pick two weeks in a row, could we? Could we? (Let's not bring up Teresa, ok?)

Still, we also have Paratrooper's vidcap showing Shii Ann at Tribal Council, presumably getting a vote. She would probably be Robb's pick for a target, so she's at least considerable. Given the possibility of a tie, even seemingly safe Jake could go. But we're more inclined to think it's Stephanie.

Finally, after Ep2, things are looking pretty bleak for Chuay-Gahn. After Jeff Probst admonishes them at the Ep2 Tribal Council to stay happy, they turn right around and have a big blow-up between Ted and Ghandia on the day of the next RC (day 7). The big question is, will Ted throw the IC to boot her, under the guise of maintaining tribal unity? She certainly seems to be retaining her anger towards him, so that could happen. Then again, considering the nature of her allegations against Ted, the boot may not necessarily play a role in her lingering hostility. And according to the National Enquirer, "days passed" between her confrontation of Ted and Chuay-Gahn booting her. Overall, this looks like misdirection, in the same way the rift in the Sook-Jai tribe was used in Ep2. Don't worry, we'll probably say goodbye to Ghandia next week.