Day 1 Aitu Tribe The Aitu tribe, on their red raft and with their red buffs, paddle strongly into shore. Billy starts talking more (and paddling less), laughing about how it’s ass backwards that his parents paddled away from an island (the Dominican Republic) in order to give their kids a good life, and here he is voluntarily paddling towards one. Billy goes on to explain that when he found out how the tribes were to be divided, he figured it was a great advantage because the Hispanics all come from Caribbean or South American backgrounds, and so they are all used to being in a tropical setting. (Uhhhh… Billy. Let’s not even mention the fact that you’re dressed head to toe in black in a location that’s hovering at the 100-degree mark every day. Let’s focus on the fact that you’re from New York, so you’re used to being in… New York! Hell… my ancestry is from Norway. But is there any part of me that’s used to being in snow boots and winter muffs, or hanging out where winter nights last 4 months long? I don’t think so.) Billy continues on, sharing his knowledge with all… telling his tribe he knows how to build stuff. He starts telling them that he can build a toilet. J.P. generously offers him the machete so he can get to work… but then Billy pauses and says no, he’ll just explain it to everyone, so that everyone on the tribe will know how. (Billy is obviously quickly trying to place himself in the “supervisor” position. He who has all the knowledge and directs the efforts around him, but need not actually participate in any of the work.) Sadly for Billy, things don’t go quite according to plan, and soon we see him working along with the rest of the tribe trying to create a shelter. J.P., initially thrilled that they had a construction expert in their midst, suddenly begins to notice, along with the rest of the tribe, that Billy’s expertise may have been grossly overstated. About the time he starts smacking a pole of bamboo against a tree in an effort to break it, Ozzy casually steps in and starts fitting pieces of the shelter’s bamboo frame into place. As Ozzy goes to work, Billy looks on… in his black bandana, black t-shirt, too long black shorts, black socks, and black sneakers. Billy shrugs an unenthused, “uh… alright”, as Oz pulls things together, as if to say, “Like, fine… if you want to do it that way.” Ozzy goes on to explain how he carefully tries to tiptoe into the situation, to support the tribe but not appear as a leader. However, the very next shot shows him scaling a tree like Curious George to fetch some coconuts for the tribe. I swear to you, he does it with such ease, he must scale trees every morning at home to fetch coconut milk for his Rice Krispies. His entire tribe looks on in awe. Way to not draw attention to yourself, Ozzy! Puka Tribe We catch up with the Puka tribe and their green buffs as they make their way to shore. We hear Coa Boi, yelling about the coming “Asian Invasion”, and then joking that he, “can’t believe a bunch of Asians that are so little weigh so much.” Feathers start to get ruffled right away, and I believe it is Becky that barks out, “No more Asian jokes, no more stereotypes!” Cao Boi just laughs back, “What stereotype, it’s fact!” So begins the somewhat strained relationship between Cao Boi, the nail salon manager, and the rest of his tribe. Cao Boi has thoughts and opinions on everything, and is not about to keep them to himself. He hunkers down in the sand and gives his opinion of his tribe’s chances, saying that the Puka tribe is at an advantage, “we fly under the radar, no one suspect these ‘little’ people with slanted eyes so see anything or be strong enough to do anything. People always underestimate the Asian!” Yul admits that he is having the most issues with Cao Boi, while Brad listens to Cao Boi as he hacks up a coconut and tells about a monk in Vietnam that was able to live for many years on coconuts alone. Brad says, “I have a feeling you’re going to be telling a lot of stories tonight,” while the rest of the tribe looks on, not sure what to make of their eccentric member. Cao Boi admits he’s never been accepted by the Asian community. He doesn’t look educated, or fit the stereotype of hardworking engineer, with a suit and tie and a nice car. “I belong in a hippy community,” he says, as he crawls off into the bushes to eat a coconut by himself. (Hmmmm... Cao Boi, if you would brush those twigs out of your hair, and come out of the bushes and share some of your coconut, you might be accepted quicker than you think.) Hiki Tribe The Hiki tribe and their yellow buff climb on shore, and quickly do a team huddle. They vow to make it as a strong tribe from day one to the end, and end their circle time with hands in the middle chanting, “Represent, Represent, REPRESENT!” Stephannie follows up with an individual interview, saying how they all feel pressure to, “Represent… our people, and the African-American culture.” And Rebecca goes on to tell us, that because they are divided by race, she feels the need to show that, “Yes, black people do swim. Yes, black people do know how to get on a boat and paddle. I mean, we don’t just run track!” (My gosh, this is a lot of responsibility for 5 island-bound castaways to shoulder! I’m all about the “represent’n” , but maybe first you should focus on fire, water, and food… and save all that other stuff for day two?) Sekou then starts handing out responsibilities to everyone, telling different individuals to gather bamboo, firewood, and palm fronds. Things seem to be moving along, but then Nate talks to us individually and admits that they have a lot of headstrong people on their tribe, and “black people don’t like to be told what to do.” Pretty soon, progress halts as they debate about the best way to build the shelter. But Sekou seems to gather the reins again and soon they’re all proudly standing around a small but functionally box-shaped shelter, which Sekou refers to as “low income housing”. Raro Tribe We catch up with our final tribe paddling to shore. The blue-buffed members of Raro are all onboard their little raft, except for some reason for Jessica who is hanging on to the back, kicking along for her contribution to keep them going. Jonathan gives his two-cents on the ethnically divided tribes. “I don’t believe that just because these tribes have cultural similarities, that that will make them more specifically cohesive.” (Wha…? The similar color of people’s skin won’t automatically make them a tighter knit group, any more than different shades of skin will automatically make them more divisive? Wait a minute… it’s almost as if they planned this whole thing to illustrate that point, as opposed to somehow encouraging people to stick with their own. No, no, no… that would mean those councilmen in New York were foaming at the mouth for no reason! That couldn’t be right… never mind.) As the tribe drags things on shore, they celebrate all the booty they were able to take from the ship. In addition to the “stolen” chicken, they grabbed two machetes, two slings, and another chicken. They put both chickens under one of the empty crates, and Candice, with her hands on her hips and a very serious look on her face said, “Hey make sure those chickens aren’t going to get out!” Oooh, I sense foreshadowing!! We hear Jonathan babbling on about grabbing one of the chickens from the Green Team, and not even realizing it was theirs. Right, Jonathan… and Rupert from Survivor: Pearl Islands didn’t know those were someone else’s shoes he took out of that boat that first day. Thieves or not, they toast their success with coconuts, and nickname themselves “The Whities”. Roller Girl Jessica (a.k.a. Flicka) runs down the members of the tribe. She labels Adam “The Jock”, Parvati “The Sorority Girl”, Candice “The Serious Student”, Jonathan “The Family Man”, and Jessica/Flicka “The Alternative Option”. Wasn’t this a John Hughes film? This is where it gets fun. Jonathan is chatting with Jessica, trying to get to know what she’s all about. She mentions that her friends call her “Flicka”. He laughs about the “My Friend Flicka” reference… she mentions she’s never actually seen the movie, and as she is distracted by conversation, she lifts up the crates that have the chickens under it. Chickens run off like… um, chickens with their heads cut off. There is a half-hearted effort to round them up, but they soon dive deep into the bush and are beyond any easy capture. You hear Jonathan grumbling loudly about the whole thing. Mentioning that he can forgive her, “but I don’t have to, because she screwed up my chickens”. Hence the name of the episode. Poor Flicka. You’re “represent’n” the roller girls across the country, and I’m afraid they all dropped their heads in disbelief and shame when you let those chickens escape. Sorry girl, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.