Survivor 9 Spoilers... and other crappy things the True Dork Times offers to slake your Survivor: Vanuatu thirst
S9 crap:
Survivometer 9
Calendar
Spoilers
Old crap:
S3, S4, S5, S6, S7.


Episode 9
"Gender Wars... It's Getting Ugly"

Filmed July 19-21, 2004
Airs November 11, 2004

Click below for:
RC speculation
IC speculation
Boot speculation
Video resources
Ep9 promo vidcaps
CBS Ep9 web promo

 

Episode descriptions
CBS: -Fetching treemail, one Survivor is surprised to get more than just mail, but the meaning of the surprise remains a mystery.
-One group of Survivors hatch a devilish plan to screw over their tribemates.
-Hatred drives two Survivors to serious lobbying to get each other voted out.
-One Survivor's guilt over aligning with a faction is exacerbated by a tribemate's words.
REWARD CHALLENGE/ Trivia challenge - Scout wins?
As chidelta pointed out at MeSS, the shots of Chad running were recycled from the combined RC/IC John K. won several episodes back. So we're left with one obvious challenge, which is the trivia challenge. And as crocophile notes, they still have a treemail showing up in camp with a pig attached. We'll guess that the challenge covers Vanuatu lore/customs, and the reverence with which the natives regard pigs ends up being a question. So the challenge is the traditional (since Marquesas) alliance-revealing (and -breaking) trivia / snuff-your-enemies challenge. Although this time (as in, yet another parallel, Thailand) people are eliminated when they get three torches/skulls set alight. Yes, those exciting multiple-choice cubes make a repeat appearance.

Three people (in addition to Sarge and Ami, who are the likely squabblers, unless it's Sarge and Julie, or perhaps Sarge and Twila) are featured in this week's promos: Chad (surprising, since he's barely been on the show so far), Eliza and Scout. All three are likely among the best-equipped to win a mental-/memory-based challenge. And all three are shown getting at least one question right, from the web promo, as is Leann. Given the superior women's numbers, it seems unlikely a man would survive long enough to win. And since the guys see the order of elimination as informative, Eliza probably gets eliminated by Scout. And lo, we see Eliza sitting out, looking disgusted, with Chad's arm behind her. So neither makes it to the end. Julie is shown shrugging, and Ami has a similar headshot. We'll go with a Scout win.
     
REWARD CHALLENGE pictures/ Click on thumbnails above for larger version

The lay of the land.

Please Scout, burn the cubes before they're used again

Well, that certainly sucked!

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE/ Puzzle time? - Eliza wins?
The background of the shot of Sarge in the immunity necklace has the same background as the shot of Scout, below. Since she's dressed differently than at the trivia challenge, the trivia challenge must be the RC. This makes a bit of sense as well, in that the guys appear to have plenty of time after the trivia challenge to discuss the revealed Yasur pecking order. So what's the IC? Who knows, but apparently it's sufficiently lame that it doesn't even warrant promo time. But as BJ points out at MeSS, when Probst is chuckling about angry Sarge in the web promo, there appears to be a privacy screen and two tables behind him, similar to the layout of the word-search challenge in S7. That certainly would fit as a non-promo-worthy challenge. Who wins? Well, Eliza is the (pre-) law student, and she likes Scrabble and Boggle... if wordsmithing is involved, she should have a leg up on the competition.
       
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE pictures/ Click on thumbnails above for larger version

No peeking! Especially you, Eliza. We may need blinders for those eyes.

Dammit, there goes my only chance to win.
 
Ah, stationary excitement!
 
BOOT/ Sarge

No last-minute diversions from a Julie pick in:
6 1
days!

CBS is quite over-the-top in pushing the men-vs-women theme this week. That means they stick together, and the women vote out Sarge, right? Um... maybe. Or the men penetrate the women's alliance, and get Scout to burn Eliza, as the web promo suggests? Well, um... maybe. Maybe not.

So uh... we've received late-breaking word that Julie is safe this week. That makes two straight weeks of premature speculation that Julie was toast. On the plus side, we can safely guarantee we won't be doing that again for a while (P.S. check back next week to make sure). On the minus side, we're left to ponder who it might actually be. We'll offer that Chris and Ami's alleged weight loss suggest they're right out, and that, despite what CBS seems to think, the men are outnumbered 6 to 3. So it's probably a guy.

So, moving on, the next prime candidates would appear to be Sarge and Chad. Let's face it: their brilliant strategy of keeping Julie and Twila over John K. has left them a bit, shall we say, undermanned. Sarge is extremely grumpy in the promos, whereas Chad is laughing (with overdubbed native whoops and excessive reverb). We'll take that as a point in Chad's favor. Also, Twila mentioned during her vote for Rory that "you and Sarge happen to be the strong ones. That’s the only reason. Sarge had immunity, and you didn’t." Knock two down for Sarge. But then there's Chad's spectacular increase in screen presence, at least in this week's promos (true, they did have to reach back into the vaults to find some pre-swap footage to do that, but still). Not a good sign long-term for the guy with the mechanical leg.

Ah well, we'll leave it to you for now. We're sure you can come to your own conclusions. What do we know?

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