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Survivor: Thailand, Episode 1, "The Importance of Being E...est" - The S: NJAG Review "THAI'ING" IT ALL TOGETHER: SURVIVOR 5 BEGINS; JOHN'S SURVIVOR EXPERIENCE ENDS
EPISODE STATS: Air-date: September 19th, 2002, 8:00 P.M. ET/PT Tribe names: SOOK JAI: Jake, Jed, Robb, Shii Ann, Penny, Erin, Ken, Stephanie; CHUAY GAHN: Jan, Brian, Clay, Ted, Ghandia, Helen, Tanya, John Immunity Challenge winner: Sook Jai Latest Survivor voted-Off: John S: NJAG Rating Of Episode 1 (out of a possible four [4] stars): * * * 1/2
"Mark Burnett and his BRILLIANT scheme... They called it Survivor: Thailand!" Wow! Well, the LONG waiting period is over and the "Survivor: Thai surprise" is no longer a surprise. Mark Burnett has really created a "good" plot for Survivor 5. It was surely something no webmaster guessed, although posted on this site a couple of months back, a possibility for the event was listed as "the Survivors get to pick their own tribes," so I was sort-of right! Anyway, on the other hand, John, the pastor, is gone, and our Thai journey has just begun... In early June 2002, sixteen Americans arrive in Thailand. They are the next Survivors. Jeff Probst leads them to their destination reciting the usual: "These Americans will be abandoned miles away from civilization... (and so-on and so-on)!" ...And you can't froget about the "Sixteen Americnans, thirty-nine days, ONE Survivor." And then the "opening sequence" comes on, which is probably the best one yet! The "opening sequence (or theme)" this time around is very rich in brining out the cultural aspects of the locale, for as I recall past installments saw the "opening sequence" focus on the wildlife or environment of the locale. The Survivor: Thailand "opening sequence" features oriental/Thai cultural aspects, depicting oriental women and etc...  Jeff Probst then seperates the Survivors by gender: "ladies on the left, men on the right," which was totally a "trick-situation" as Burnett used it in a promo, only "depicting" this split second of that "concept." Mark Burnett definitely tried to trick us by doing this, but do you recall when I said that this could just be taken from a challenge or event? (Well I did!) I knew it was too good to be true that Burnett would reveal the "big secret!" Instead of Jeff revealing the identities of the new Survivors, as he did for the previous Survivor installments, the Survivors were asked identified themselves to the other castaways, if they were okay with it, and to us. In past installments, when Jeff introduced the castaways, he only introduced it to us, the show viewers, but of course, this time, each Survivor revealed their identities in an organized-fashion to thier fellow Survivors.  Jeff then stated that in Thailand, elders are treated with the up-most respect, and so the two oldest Survivors were called up to be treated with the up-most respect! Jake and Jan were those two eldest Survivors and were each asked to pick either the red buff, which represented the Chuay Gahn tribe, or the purple buff which represented the Sook Jai tribe. Jeff also proclaimed that the Sook Jai tribe would have sunset and Chuay Gahn - sunrise. Jake immediately said "sunset" and his new tribe was just about to be formed.  Chuay Gahn's red buff was then given to Jan, and the selection of tribe members by these two elders began. The "surprise twist" was in progress! Jeff told the two tribe-selectors start selecting by picking a member of the opposite sex first (which absolutely makes sense). Jan went first and she picked Ted, then Jake picked Stephanie. This went on  until Jan's tribe consisted of herself, Brian, Clay, Ted, Ghandia, Helen, Tanya, and John. At the end of the selection, Jake's tribe, Sook Jai, was made-up of himself, Jed, Robb, Shii-Ann, Penny, Erin, Ken, and Stephanie. I felt bad for Erin - she was picked last, but hey, someone had to be, just like someone had to get voted-off first! Survivor: Thailand was officially underway!  Then the Survivors had to paddle their boat, which agreed with the color of their tribe, to their camp, for the day, Jeff said, was already late. Of course, Sook Jai was rowing their boat backwards. (Hey, someone had to have rowed their boat backwards, just like someone had to get voted off first!  ) But the "youth of the [Thai] nation" managed to make it to camp, even the most irritating dimwitted character of them all, Robb, who who, I bet, will be able to ride that skate board of his off a steapy hill, or on the sand, or even atop that Thai ocean next to camp... yep! Anyway I hope, and I know that he won't last! And "you do not mess with the 'she-devil' and not get the horns!" Yep, Shii Ann, is the 28-year-old executive recruiter from New York City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a variety of reasons why she is my definite favorite of the whole Survivor: Thai cast. They are: she's a "she-devil," she's one of those "strong" women, and she's from New York City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...And so am I, and so is Alicia [Keys], and so is this episode review!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!  Anyway, shelter was great, awesome, magnificant at Chuay Gahn! I would love to love under that cave! The only downside is the "snake trails" they spotted! They had caught alot of seafish including crabs and oysters. The only problem for them was finding water, and early in Day 2, they found water. They then needed nothing, but fire at that point, which they apparently got, and which is a concept that this first episode did not really emphasize on, as in previous intstallments. At Sook Jai, the whole "she-devil/horns" predicament started over Robb emphasizing so much on how they need shelter, when they needed food and water also. The labor at Sook Jai was not an organized concept at all. Overall, Chuay Gahn, with their shelter, and food and water for energy seems like a strong tribe, tied with the youth and phyiscal strength, which which makes the opposing Sook Jai a strong tribe also!  And then there was the Immunity Challenge, which Chuay Gahn had until an anxious Ghandia put Sook Jai in the lead. ...And so Sook Jai won and got the brand-new, great-looking immunity idol to have in their possession for at least three days. They were also exempt from attending dreaded Tribal Council,a nd therefore each member of Sook Jai was guaranteed an extra three days on the island. And so, back to describing the challenge... It was entitled "Flying Your Flag" and this is how it was "carried-out:" The Survivors had to row their boats around a small island while stopping at three stations, each where one member of the tribe would have to complete a task to get a color-coded flag (the color agreed with each tribe's tribal color). After three flags, one from each station, are in a tribe's possession, it is a race to teh finish line. Chuay Gahn, as I stated in the last  paragraph, was in the lead up until the third station when Ghandia became nervous and tense all-the-while trying to complete a complicated Thai puzzle. The Sook Jai tribe, which was at one point traling, soon came-up to teh same station, the final one, which Ghandia was having trouble with. Jed of Sook Jai completed the puzzle before Ghandia and quickly took his tirbe's flag back to the boat, and Sook Jai quickly rowed themselves to victory, Chuay Gahn, trailing them. Ghandia did indeed finish the puzzle, but it was too late. Sook Jai already had a significant lead toward the finsh. Chuay Gahn had the unpleasant task of heading to Tribal Council... Ghandia went back to camp in tears knowing that she cost her tribe a victory and that was a fact. She felt very vulnerabla about getting voted-off the island, as did Tanya, who was sick much of the three-day period: "I have been sick and I can't control what my body does, but I am still going to try to stay here."  In the end, John Raymond, was voted-out of the game though, by six of his fellow tribemates excluding himself and Helen. The main reason was because John had acquired a leadership role early on and you could say he acted quite "bossy" during his time in Thailand with his fellow Survivors. Ghandia and Jan especially shed tears after John's departure... Ghandia most likely because she cost her team the chance at not having to vote anyone off and therefor cost John the chance of staying at least an extra three days. Like I stated previously though, someone had to be voted-off first, and will have to be voted-off second, and third, and fourth, and so-on... Read John's "Final Words" by clicking here! I have to talk about the Tribal Council! I love it. It is the neatest (literally neat) looking think I've ever seen! It is REALLY nice, inside and out! We haven't seen a tribal council yet that has looked this great. Many others from the past resemble "raggedy old-looking," and "middle-of-the-jungle dirtiness" types of places (I'm not saying this is necessarily bad), but this one resembles, a "middle of a wealthy city" sort-of-place! The torches are nice too. They're are very "tidy" also! Many Survivor: Thailand "props" seem to consist of the concept of gold, although it's probably fake. It is common knowledge that gold, and this type of Thai house/palace the Tribal Council resembles are put of Thailand and the Thai culture. (This whole paragraph was very hard to explain!) Survivor: Thailand. It seems as though this is going to be the best one yet. The scenery is much better than that of Survivor: Marquesas, which showed-us basically an ordinary "island setting." Who knows who'll win. Who knows who'll go next. We can only guess! Survivor in Thailand... Thailand will never be the same again!!!!!!!!
CREDITS: Title, Stats, and Review: SuRvIvOr_FANATIC (S: NJAG Manager) Photos: CBS.com (Survivor: Thailand)
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