The much anticipated premiere of Survivor Gabon was finally here and for the first time in high definition, Survivor snuffed two torches in the land of Africa. I must say the show does feel very different with the feature of HD and the stunning views of Africa sure didn’t hurt the transformation into the world of high definition. With a brand new cast following last seasons half all stars, Gabon began with a tribal pick em. After all 18 castaways gave a little blurb about themselves, Jeff asked the two oldest players Gillian and Bob to begin the picking as it was African tradition. 

When all 18 were chosen it was obvious that one tribe was stacked compared to the other. Fang housed most of the older survivors while Kota was a more well rounded group. With the tribes out of the way it was then time for the first challenge. Far away in the distance were two individual immunities, one for each tribe. The first person from each tribe to grab an idol would be safe at their first tribal council. Food was also up for grabs as the first entire tribe to get to the finish line would win a bag of beans, something very important as Gabon features much less food then past seasons. With Jeff’s go everyone was off. GC and Marcus were the first to get to the finish for their tribes, giving them the idols. Michelle, who was the last person chosen, was the third across and the first girl. She proved she wasn’t the weakling they all though of her but others didn’t impress. Crystal, the Olympic gold metal winner for RUNNING came in dead last. Of course she did have some trouble climbing up the steep hill. Guess she’s only fast on flat terrain.  

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Last weeks Mole left us with some things to ponder. Like would Nicole really kill Paul in sleep and could she REALLY do it without leaving DNA evidence? The answer to both these questions is no as Paul was still alive come the next day. Good thing Nicole didn’t go through with it though since now we get to see her and Paul continue their feud! The next morning everyone, including Paul, awoke and Nicole’s tirade was the talk of the town. Paul wanted to use it to his advantage and Ali ate it up. She finally spoke for once and let us know that her hatred for Nicole is growing along with Paul’s. It seems the cliques are starting early and we learn about a new coalition that’s apparently been on for the past two episodes. Mark, Bobby and Clay are now in a coalition to share information on who they think is the Mole. Of course it won’t last long though as we soon find out.

In the first mission the players are forced into two sides, the “Can’t Trust” and “Blindly Trusts” groups. They then had to pair up with someone from the opposite side, creating five teams of two. The mission was fairly simple yet risky. Each pair would luge down a metal track with the person in the front blindfolded. The person in the back had to yell out pictures of fruit that they saw and the person who was blindfolded would then have to pick out those fruits in put them in order. For each fruit they got right, $2,000 would be put into the pot. They had strict orders to not talk after they passed the finish line but of course that wasn’t the case for some.

First up was Bobby and Clay. Bobby was the one yelling out the fruit and seemed confusing as he didn’t yell out the colors right away. They got 5/7 right but talked after crossing the finish line so they got no money. Next up was Ali and Paul who got a legitimate 5/7 for the team. Victoria and Craig broke the “no talking” rule as well and lost $14,000 as they got all seven fruits right but broke the rules. Kristen and Mark were the first to get all seven right and actually keep the money while Alex and Nicole had an interesting ride. She yelled out “green apple” twice which put Alex off by one for the fruit selection. This gained them one point and made everyone wonder how she could screw up so badly.

That night the coalition between Bobby and Clay/Mark ended. Clay and Mark now believe Bobby to be the mole and want nothing to do with him. Although they say they will talk to him if he comes to them, they won’t go to him for anymore information. The day the crew heads out for a nice spa retreat. Of course they all thought something was up but it seemed legit… at first. They spent some time in the pool and hot tub and then some time getting massages. Of course John showed up to screw things up and start their next mission.

Once again the players were split up. Kristen, Victoria and Ali made up one team, Bobby, Craig and Nicole another and the last team consisted of Bobby and Alex. Once Mark and Clay found out what the challenge was they dropped out because they had too much “pride” apparently. John then filled them in on the mission, they had to walk around Chile in their underwear looking for a shirt, tie and pants for the guys and a two piece shirt and skirt/pants for the girls. Alex and Paul had the easiest time once again thanks to Alex’s knowledge of Spanish. They quickly found shirts from cab drivers and pants from a few Americans. Kristen, Victoria and Ali had the hardest time it seemed. They couldn’t’ find any clothing for the longest time and Ali even almost quit. This put suspicion on both Kristen and Victoria but they kept moving and eventually got lucky enough to get fully dressed for dinner. In the third and find team was Nicole, who found her clothing faster then anyone, and Bobby and Craig. The two guys had a hard time finding clothing but once they want the laundry mat with their real clothing they were all set. Since 8/9 people made it to dinner they claimed an extra $40,000 for the pot putting them at $129,000 for the entire game.

That night at the pre-quiz dinner things got pretty heated. It all started when Paul said that Mark was playing the game hardcore and the two then went at it for a bit. Bobby, Craig and Nicole then barged in and Nicole’s statement from the last execution came into play. Of course she played the ‘nice’ card, which angered Paul a bit, but he had different plans. He wanted to get everyone heated before the quiz in hopes it would screw up their chances for a green thumb.

At the execution something interesting happened. John offered everyone $20,000 to leave the game right then and there, nobody bit the bait. Three people were then shown to be safe and another $10,000 added to the bribe. Ali was the first to take the $30,000 and walked out of the game. Funny thing is they all thought they were safe since she left and Bobby even said he wouldn’t take the money. John then came back and let them all know someone else was still going home. Bobby was then shown to get the red thumb and his words came back to bite him. Did Paul take out his biggest enemy by causing a ruckus at dinner? Who knows but something got to Bobby. That takes two more out of the game and puts us at the final eight. Next week it seems the drama continues as Mark’s crazy side is revealed, probably thanks to Paul.

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