There was something unfulfilling about this episode, and I’m not sure what. Maybe watching people being annoyed with each other makes me crabby, and I just want about half a dozen people voted out at once.
* Sherea’s annoyed with Dave for being too demanding.
* Dave’s annoyed with Sherea for being lazy and for refusing to give back the shells he’d been saving.
* Courtney’s annoyed with Jean-Robert for speaking to her too aggressively when he warns her that she might burn her hand.
* James is annoyed with super-huggy Dave (whom Fei Long kidnapped after winning the reward challenge) for hugging him (James rebuffs him with the warning “I told you about the hugging.”).
* The Zhan Hu tribe is annoyed with Sherea for not working around camp (she explains to the camera that she’s saving her strength for the challenges, saying, “If they want to keep working, that’s OK with me — I’m going to ride the workhorse till the tail falls off, ’cause I’m not doing anything till I have to.” Which annoys me.).
But perhaps I’m looking at this episode the wrong way. Come on, self. Glass half full. Here are some positives:
* Todd gets another clue to the location of the immunity idol when kidnapped Dave gives his clues to him. So far, Todd is more interesting than annoying (and he’s usually good for a cutaway quote, like “Dave is a nut-case”), so I’ll count this among the positives.
* Jean-Robert surprises his tribe and America when he starts conversing in Mandarin with the local family whom Fei Long won in the reward challenge.
* Denise surprises America by actually talking on the show (in English, with the cameraman). I liked her professional lunch-lady assessment of the meal shared with the local family: “That was the delicatest thing that I’ve ever put in my mouth.” As annoyed as I got with the bickering in this episode, any show where I can hear the word “delicatest” is a good show.
After Zhan Hu loses the immunity challenge, they must decide whether to get rid of Sherea, who doesn’t help around camp but does well in the challenges, or Dave, who works really hard but drives people nuts. I just don’t care. I agree with Erik — get rid of both of them. For the second week in a row, the contestant who trusts Todd with clues to the immunity idol is voted out, and we say goodbye to exhibitionist, huggy, condescending workhorse Dave.
At first I believed the best line of Dave’s closing remarks to the camera was “I thought I was humble” (note to Dave: If you point out that you’re humble, you’re probably not). But that was before he said, “I know there are pieces of me that are worth a lot — perhaps even priceless.” My Pieces of Dave collection is missing some items, so I’m hoping he’ll offer some up on eBay once the season is over.
I agree, it was good to see Dave kicked out, but seeing Sherea kicked out might have felt a little better. It’s more fun to watch someone become mentally unhinged than it is to watch someone slack. I do wonder if Dave has been watching himself on TV and thinking, “Wow, was I ever loopy. Why was I hugging everyone?”
I was glad to see Dave kicked out, there was something seriously wrong with him. If I was ever on the show, I would just keep my mouth shut instead of bossing people around. I liked when he claimed that he never asked to be their leader, he was just selected because his leadership skills are so strong. It was hilarious when he went to hug James and he wouldn’t. I’m not sure what the deal with the hugging was, but even Todd had to roll his eyes after he got the immunity clue.