Survivor: New Tribes

No more is Survivor a fans versus favorites game. This week, the Airai and Malakal tribes were switched up and the fans now have the pleasure of competing alongside some of their heroes. How happy the favorites were at this tribe switch-up depended primarily on what beach they wound up at -- back at home on the luxurious Malakal camp or the squalor known as the Airai camp.

Natalie and Ozzy were captains in the schoolyard pick'em and the tribe members had to be chosen between the old tribes equally. Still an Airai, Natalie wound up with James, Alexis, Jonathan, Jason, Parvati, Kathy, and finally Eliza. For Malakal, Ozzy was now teamed up with Joel (who he originally called Troy), Amanda, Erik, Ami, Tracy, Cirie, and finally the workhorse known as Chet. It was funny enough watching Joel's reaction at finding himself on the same team as Chet again but the kicker was watching him actually tied to Chet in the reward challenge.

Competing for a dinner of steak, sausage, vegetables, spices, and wine back at camp, each team was divided into pairs and tied together. The pairs had to either chase or be chased by a pair from the other tribe. While this might be in poor taste, watching Joel drag Chet around was freaking hilarious! Another moment I found funny and painful was when James wasn't paying attention to where his partner, Jason, was in relation to him and caused him to slam into a tree face-first. We were even treated to a "thunk" noise for that moment. In all of the mayhem Jonathan managed to puncture his knee with a stick (received three stitches later by the medics), Eliza got a fat lip, and Ami busted her knee. And did you notice Chet sitting down to cry after the competition in which his team lost? Seriously, this guy does not belong in this competition.

The immunity challenge was amusing to watch as well. Malakal had built up such a great lead over Airai only to have Chet's amazing puzzle skills bring them down. Who in their right mind would put Chet up on that platform and ask him to guide their team? You wouldn't have put him in the physical part but couldn't you have used him as one of those pushing the puzzle pieces around? Then Joel made a dunderhead move back at camp when he told Ozzy that perhaps they shouldn't go after Cirie this week as planned and skip to Chet. I totally understand why he did that but didn't he also realize that he was throwing away any power he had? And Cirie is one smart cookie. She knew she'd be targeted sooner rather than later and went to work on getting Joel ousted.

Joel was absolutely shocked when he was voted out 5-2. He later said that it was humiliating and disgusting that they chose to keep Chet over him. A few more adjectives he used were: angry, confused, and stunned. That pretty much sums it up I'd say! I think the way the Malakal tribe is going, Ozzy and a couple of the others are going to have to work really hard to stay now. At least work hard enough to stay until the merge that is.

What did you think about this week's episode? Amanda and her giant shark? The relocation and rebuild of the Airai shelter? Chet's muscley goodness? What about the previews for next week? Jonathan battles an infection and Jason makes a puzzling discovery on Exile Island! It could be interesting.