With Shii Ann Huang, the last remaining Mogo Mogo member winning immunity, the Chapera Six finally had to turn on themselves during last evening's Survivor: All-Stars broadcast. And as one of the group's clear outsiders, Alicia Calaway became the first to fall after seemingly ignoring Shii Ann's overtures to organize an "uprising" that in hindsight, might well have kept her in the game.
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When the tribe assembled for the episode's Reward Challenge, they discovered it was a mask-based challenge similar to the one seen in Survivor The Amazon's edition of the show and inspired by Survivor: Marquesas's legendary alliance-revealing "Coconut Chop" challenge. After a series of trivia questions that included the revelations that her fellow castaways found Alicia least deserving of being in the All-Stars competition and that she was considered "most likely to be under the false assumption that she was smart," Rupert Boneham emerged victorious in the challenge and gained the opportunity to determine what each tribe member would eat during the challenge's resulting victory dinner.
Upon arriving at the dinner, the castaways learned that the seven dinner dishes available to them ranged from a juicy steak with an open bar to a cold bowl of rice served with some water from camp. After selecting the steak for himself, Rupert proceeded to pretty much grant the other survivors selection privileges in accordance with the tribe's alliances -- with Tom Buchanan, Alicia, and Shii Ann getting the three most undesirable meals and leaving little doubt as to the tribe's pecking order.
Despite the clear demonstration that, like Shii Ann, she and Tom were considered outsiders by the game's two paired couples of Jenna Lewis and Rupert and Amber Brkich and Rob, Alicia continued to rebuff Shii Ann's attempts to discuss a possible alliance, setting the scene for the program's dramatic Immunity Challenge.
Arriving for the Immunity Challenge, the castaways learned that the challenge would be a simple endurance challenge involving tying their arm to a rope, placing their arm over their head, and attaching the other end of the taunt rope to a large container water located at the top of a tower above them. Should their arm fail to stay up, the rope would tug on the water container which was suspended on a swivel, with the container tipping over, the water splashing onto the survivor below, and the survivor being eliminated from the challenge.
With the challenge simply being a matter of endurance, willpower, and the ability to tolerate pain and discomfort, unlike the previous physical challenges which Rob dominated, the challenge put all seven castaways on pretty much equal footing -- making the victor likely to be the survivor who simply felt they needed immunity the most.
Given such a situation, it came as no surprise when Amber, considered a non-threat by many, exited the challenge after only four minutes. The challenge came down to Rob, Rupert, and Shii Ann as the final three, with Rob bowing out near the two-hour mark and leaving only Rupert standing between Shii Ann and the previously unthinkable -- immunity for the game's next upcoming Tribal Council. Coaxed on by his fellow Chapera, Rupert held on for a while longer before finally succumbing to fatigue and handing immunity to a triumphant (and highly enthusiastic) Shii Ann.
Eager to watch her follow survivors "eat one of their own," Shii Ann joyfully attended the evening's Tribal Council and watched the Chapera members vote out Alicia, the Chapera outsider who had earlier foolishly completely rebuffed Shii Ann's alliance attempts, in a unanimous 6-1 tribal vote.
Episode 12's correct bootee prediction lifts our Survivor All-Stars prediction record to 11-0-1. In Spoiler Island fantasy game action, a two-way tied exists atop the leaderboard.
So what happens next week? Can anyone stop the Robfadda? Will Rupert and Jenna finally tire of each other and break apart? Will Rupert take some action to improve what he sees as his "fourth place finisher" position in his alliance with Rob, Amber, and Jenna? And does Shii Ann have any hope of making it through another episode? Check out our Survivor spoilers forum for the latest details on these and many other hot topics!
