| Episode
7 |
"What
the... ?"
(Two-part episode) |
Filmed July 11-13,
2003
Airs October 30, 2003 (Part 1),
November 6, 2003 (Part 2) |
| Click
below for: |
| RC
speculation |
| Merge
speculation |
| IC
speculation |
| Boot
speculation |
|
|
| Episode
descriptions |
CBS:
(Part 2) Castaways react to the Curse of the Pearl Islands.
- One tribe hosts a Survivor first....a wedding!
- Tensions and nerves plague both tribes as they wait for an outcast
to rejoin their camps.
- At the first-ever Outcasts Tribal Council, Nicole, Skinny Ryan,
Lillian, Burton, Michelle and Trish all have a chance to plead to
be voted back into the game. Will Sandra face her worst fear of
having Burton return? Or, will Skinny Ryan have the opportunity
to face his former Morgan tribe once again?
- Two castaways make amends, while another shows resentment at the
turn of events.
- Johnny Fairplay believes he has a great master plan. But will
it play out in his favor? |
|
| REWARD
CHALLENGE/ Prison break, return of the dead - Bootee tribe wins |
The
title, the web bullets and the web promo leaves very little doubt:
this episode features the allegedly jaw-dropping return of the
dead. SNN's
spoilers indicate the bootees win. (Not surprisingly,
the bootees are shown furthest along in the challenge). The other
interesting feature of this episode is that it's a two-parter,
with part two airing 11/6. This suggests that the challenge in
which the previous bootees return is probably the RC, since Pokey
the idol is nowhere to be seen in the arrival pics, and it appears
to occur in the first hour.
As for the challenge, as Griffe
correctly posted on EZ two weeks ahead of time, it appears to
be "an escape-type challenge." Featuring the Morgan
tribe (orange cage), the Drake tribe (blue cage), and the bootee
tribe (purple cage). The challenge appears to start with Andrew,
Burton and Shawn racing to their respective tribe's cages, freeing
their bound tribemates, and presumably performing some collective
task to finally escape the cage (perhaps retrieving a key?). Probst
announces at the start, "You may be going home." This
will apply to one person each from Drake and Morgan, since, as
we describe below (in Boot speculation), two
bootees appear to return to the game after this win
|
|
| MERGE/
Delayed merge? |
| As
SNN reported
a month before the show even started airing, the merged tribe would
be named Balboa (awww) and compete under black
buffs. But Survivor Phoenix
and the True Dork Times have learned that there is a delayed merge,
but that it happens in the following episode, with nine players
left. Perhaps this explains the gasps in the web promo (Probst:
"Once again, the game changes when you least expect it"),
as the two tribes arrive at the IC, expecting to merge. |
|
| IMMUNITY
CHALLENGE/ Swimming? Again? - Drake wins |
Apparently,
the huge change at the IC is that the challenge will involve swimming
and/or diving. Possibly boats, as well. Yes, we know, they ought
to break these twists in gradually. Anyway, as mentioned above,
this should still be a tribal challenge (yeah, we know, the buffs
look black). Not immediately clear what the challenge involves,
but we imagine someone wins. Most likely, it's the tribe that Burton
ends up on, which we would expect to be Drake. We note that one
of Lill's Boy Scout patches is standing right next to gasping Tijuana's
shoulder, and that someone from the Drake tribe appears to be halfway
to the docks before the rest of the cast has barely left the beach
(we'll presume that's the same guy who nearly lapped Andrew and
Shawn in the running leg last week).
|
|
| BOOT/
Andrew
- RETURNING/ Burton, Lillian |
Part
2...
Boot: Andrew. Hmmm, Mr411
is right again.
Returnees:
We've learned that Lillian and Burton
are the returnees. (As has Survivor Phoenix).
Part 1: SurvivorPhoenix
and the True Dork Times have learned that the six current bootees
will have one chance to compete for a return slot in the game. If
they win (and SNN says they do), Morgan and Drake will each be forced
to boot one of their players. After that, the tribe of bootees will
vote among themselves to return one of their own to each tribe.
Bootees: On Morgan, RyanO and
Osten seem the most vulnerable. Osten is only really
a candidate if he follows through on his desire to quit, which is
certainly possible. Although since it presented so obviously in
the promos, you might conclude that it's just more time-killing
spinning of wheels until the "jaw dropping" return of
the bootees. That leaves RyanO as the most likely
candidate. Lillian did not seem to have a high impression of Ryno
(at least compared to RyanS) in her post-boot interviews. He was
also extremely friendly with Rupert, which might raise doubts about
his loyalty among his tribemates, with a merge looming. Andrew also
spoke disparagingly about Ryno's fishing prowess. Besides, there's
always a good reason not to boot Osten, apparently.
For
Drake, it's more of a toss-up. Jon
openly betrayed Rupert in the previous episode, and the show starts
with Rupert bellowing about this. On the other hand, the rest of
the Drakes have to be aware of the intense level of dislike the
Morgans have for Jon, so Jon will be a huge target at the merge.
That leaves Shawn. He did cut a deal with Rupert
in the previous episode, but as Rupert is fond of saying, "Pirates
lie." Notably, Rupert's image is reversed in the promo, suggesting
he might play a double-crossing role in the episode.
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