‘Survivor: One World’ Premiere Recap: Battle of the Sexes

Eighteen new castaways arrive by truck to a remote destination. Jeff Probst in all his glory arrives via helicopter to greet the new Survivors. Jeff then divides the castaways into two tribes based on gender. He says, “It is men versus women.” Colton Cumbie, the 21 year-old college student from Monroeville, AL groans because he says “Women love me!” He is openly gay and explains, “Look at my tribe and look at me. I’m the girl within the guy tribe.” Sabrina Thompson, the 33 year-old high school teacher from Brooklyn, NY, responds, “We all know men can’t survive without women.” Troy Robertson (a.k.a. Troyzan), the 50 year-old swimsuit photographer from Miami, FL assures the women that the men will do fine without them. Jeff then informs the men that their tribe name is Manono and their tribe color is orange. The women’s tribe name is Salani and their color is blue. Jeff tells everyone that they have 60 seconds to unload as many supplies as possible from the truck they drove in on. Everyone scrambles and in true Ruppert (steal the shoes) style Michael , the 30 year old banker from Seattle starts stealing the supplies the women have unloaded and placing them with the mens supplies. All’s fair in love and Survivor right? At the end of the 60 seconds Alicia Rosa the 25 year-old special ed teacher from Chicago, IL notices that the axe she brought from the truck is missing. The women start calling the men “cheaters”. As Michael pretends to look around for it, he admits, “I stole everything from them. It was just too easy.” Jeff notifies everyone that hidden immunity idols are in play, but that there will be no Redemption Island. Yeay once you are gone, YOU ARE GONE! Jeff then gives each tribe a map to their camp and sends them off in opposite directions.

Salani is the first tribe to reach their camp. They are shocked to find the Manono flag just 5 feet away from their flag! . They realize then that they must be sharing the campsite with the men’s tribe. When the Manono tribe arrives , they are surprised to find the women there too. Chelsea and Sabrina spot chickens walking around camp. Chelsea and Matt Quinlan, the 33 year-old attorney from San Francisco, CA agree to work together to catch the chickens and split the ones they catch. Everyone starts running after the chickens and trying to catch them. Chelsea is an ace at chicken cathcing and quickly snatches both chickesn. The women cheer, and Matt tells Chelsea to choose which chicken she wants to keep and the men will take the other one. Oh the nerve of Matt! After the Manano tribe stole most of the womens supplies? Chelsea sees that the rest of her tribe does not want her to give the men a chicken, so she says, “Let me talk with the girls.” Matt is upset and reminds Chelsea of their deal to help each other and split the chickens. Alls fair again in love and Survivor right? Chelsea is not sure that Manono would have really shared any chickens if they had caught any and suggests that Salani figure out something that Manono can do for them in exchange for a chicken. Sabrina doesn’t trust the guys and explains, “They definitely played dirty on that truck. So we got a good inclination of how they’re going to play the game.” The two tribes separate to talk things over. If it was me I would have said give back what you stole and we’ll talk turkey! er…I mean chicken! Matt is mad at the women and vents, “If you cross me, I don’t care what you look like or what sex you are, I’m not working with you.”

While his tribe mates are busy building the Manono shelter, Colton goes over to introduce himself and get to know the women of Salani. Matt notices that Colton is spending a lot of time in the enemy camp. Matt is annoyed by this and comments, “Nobody has an issue with him being gay or anything like that. It’s just he doesn’t try to fit in at all and if Colton doesn’t fix that, he’s going to be going home quick.” Later, Matt warns Colton that he will be voted out if he sides with the women. Matt suggests to Colton that he uses his close relationship with the women in a strategic way and act as spy for Manono. ( Yes Matt, that worked well with Cochran last season didn’t it? ) Colton does not appreciate Matt telling him what to do and vents, “He thinks he’s running this show, but if I get what I want his torch is going out.”

Jay Byars, the 25 year-old model from Gaffney, SC, expresses his concern to Michael, Matt and Bill Posley, the 28 year-old stand-up comedian from Venice, CA., that they are putting a target on their back by creating an alliance together, since they are all young and fit. Matt disagrees and says, “I’m in the group and I’m happy and it’s the dominant alliance clearly. The girls call this alliance the “frat boy” alliance. Meanwhile, over at the Salani section of camp, Colton pleads with the women to consider helping him, if they find a clue to an idol, since he doesn’t feel safe in his tribe.

Jay successfully starts a fire from scratch for the Manono tribe. Salani however, is having no fire luck at all. The women need fire in order to have water. Later, Sabrina visits Manono and offers to give them a chicken, if they start a fire for the Salani tribe. Matt reminds her that they already had a deal to get a chicken if they helped each other try and catch one. Next, Monica Culpepper, the 41 year-old ex-NFL player’s wife and Alicia come over to try and talk the men into giving them fire. Monica reminds the men that they stole their axe and offers to call it even if they give the women fire. The men are standing firm, no fire. Later that night, after all the men have fallen asleep, Monica and Christina Cha, the 29 year-old career consultant from Hollywood, CA, creep into the men’s camp and steal an ember from their fire. This would have been a great idea but apparently these women are bad with fire and let the ember burn out.

Day two Kat tries to start fire by rubbing two pieces of bamboo together but is unsuccessful. Christina decides to take things into her own hands and negotiate for fire with the guys. Jonas tells her that if the women weave the men forty fronds, then they will give them fire. Christina tells him that this is too many. So Bill counters with twenty fronds. Christina agrees to the deal. Alicia finds Christina talking to the men and is upset with her. I think Alice is upset because Christina made a deal that the guys accepted and Alicia’s attempts at negotiation fell flat. “I’m about to punch Christina in her face. I see what she’s doing. She’s trying to be friendly with the guys and she’s the first one who’s going to go. ” says Alicia. Meanwhile, in the woods Sabrina decides to look for an idol on her way back from taking a bath. The second place she looks she finds an idol! Unfortunately for her she finds an idol strictly for the Manono tribe. She must give the idol to a member of Manono so she chooses Colton. Sabrina takes Colton aside and gives him the idol . Colton exclaims , “This is like my saving grace.”

Immunity Challenge

Jeff explains the rules of their first immunity challenge. Each tribe member will jump from a twenty-foot tower into a net below. Next, they will race across a giant balance beam and make their way over a long rope bridge. Once all the tribe members are across, they raise the tribe flag. First tribe to release their flag wins immunity and does not have to go to Tribal Council tonight. In addition, they win fire in the form of flint. The losing tribe goes to Tribal Council and votes the first person out of the game.

As the challenge begins, Jeff reminds the castaways to keep their arms to their chest and land on their back as they jump off the twenty-foot tower into the net below. Manono takes a slight lead after Bill and Jonas are a little faster in their jump and exit from the net than Kat and Sabrina. while Nina Acosta, the 51 year-old retired LAPD officer from Clovis, CA, does a face plant! ouch!! Kourtney can’t control her impulse to put her hands down and lands on her right hand when she hits the net. She hears a crack! After everyone has taken his or her turn jumping off the tower, Manono has a one-person lead in the challenge. The women try to catch up to the men on the balance beam, but Kourtney is in pain and it’s obvious. Jeff stops the challenge and calls for medical to come and look at Kourtney’s wrist. . Medical checks Kourtney’s left wrist and thinks that it might be broken and would like to take an x-ray to find out. Jeff dismisses Kourtney to get an x-ray to determine if she will be able to continue in the game. Jeff updates the Manono and Salani tribes with Kourtney’s condition and gives them an option for this challenge. Since the challenge requires an equal number of players on both tribes, it is now over because Kourtney had to leave. Therefore, technically the Manono tribe has won because they were ahead when the game was stopped. They can take the victory or redo the challenge. The men get together and decide to take the win and avoid any chance of losing and therefore going to Tribal Council tonight. The women are disappointed. Christina asks the men, “Don’t you want to finish and complete and do it the right way?” Troyzan reminds the women that Survivor is a game and that the object is to win. Before the tribes head back to their camp, Jeff tells Salani that they will get an update tonight on Kourtney. Chelsea admits, “Those guys don’t give a crap about any of us girls and they showed it today. They don’t care. This is a no mercy game.” Duh, yes Chelsea this is survivor.

Sabrina brings up the question of whom to vote out at Tribal Council . The girls decide that they can’t make a determination until they know if Kourtney is in the game or too injured to play. Aside from Kourtney’s injury Alicia wants Christina out. She explains, “It’s guys versus girls and she’s playing that side and playing us at the same time. She’s poison.”

TRIBAL COUNCIL

First tribal of the season starts with Jeff asking Alicia how it felt when she found out they were living with the men. Alicia says that she is glad that the men set up a camp separate from the women, so that she could more easily bond with the women without being distracted by the men. Christina rolls her eyes as Alicia is responding to the question. Jeff then asked the women how they got fire without having flint. Christina explains the deal she made with the men to exchange woven palm fronds for fire. Alicia interrupts rudely and calls the deal Christina made with the men “shady”. Clearly there is no love lost here. Alicia continues to interrupt Christina’s answers to Jeff’s questions when my favorite moment of the night occurs and Christina tells Alica to ‘SHUT UP”! Monica reveals that there is no leader in the tribe and describes it as anarchy. Jeff clearly sees the divisiveness in the tribe and warns the women that they will get picked off by the men if they continue to be all over the place in their strategy. I don’t know about you but I am ready for some good catty bitchiness., I’ve had enough of women braiding each others hair and plucking out each other’s underarm hair on Survivor! Jeff then gives them an update on Kourtney. The bad news is that her wrist is broken and requires surgery. So, unfortunately, Kourtney is out of the game. The good news is that no one has to be voted out tonight. Jeff gives Salani flint, since they came to Tribal Council. So, Kourtney Moon, the 29 year-old motorcycle repairperson from Austin, TX, becomes the first person to leave SURVIVOR: ONE WORLD. We will talk with Kourtney soon and find out how she’s doing!

Until next week Survivor fans… outwit, outplay, outlast!!