EPISODE 10Haha!
Luvlee. Jamie’s cruel psycho loser blindsided by exactly what he feared most - during the very moments he was the most terrified.
That was the coolest thing of it all – the extent to which everything that happened to him shows how true it is that you really do attract your worst nightmare.
He’s had so many strong alliances on his side since the start of the show and would defs still have been safe had he not started losing his mind at the terror of the thought that they were turning on him.
Not that I felt sorry for him during the excellently killer moments of his name coming up again and again after ballot number two at Tribal Council. I didn’t for a moment think that the old Nakum were really gonna change their minds and keep Gary and I’m thrilled that they did ‘cos it’s given everything fresh life.
There wasn’t one particular moment when everyone decided they needed to put Jamie in a straight jacket but rather the madness got worse from the beginning of the episode – festering from previously of course.
Everyone returned from voting BJ out at Tribal Council and Jamie, determined to pull at least one person into the despair of his paranoid hell, tried to get Cindy upset about the fact that Hoog had voted for her.
Cindy remained unstressed by the prodding of his forky trident, saying it was only one vote that didn’t really mean anything. Then Jamie attacked Gary, going on and on about how mad Gary was about everything that happened – while Gary happily sank back for chilled out sleep. How hysterical was that? Espesh when even Judd was forced to admit that Gary didn’t have one angry bone in his gangly body.
In between all this Jamie muttered about how everyone thought Gary was super cool but that he didn’t believe that he was while his hair sweatily clung to his forehead – in exactly the same way Leonardo de Caprio’s did when he turned everyone into his enemy in The Beach.
I don’t for a moment not believe that Jamie lost his mind to island madness during the episode – there was one look that he gave to Rafe while playing that Guatemalalaca game – the way he looked up at him with a smile that was just so fruitcake it was clear there was no coming back for him.
The other freaky thing is how his lunacy gave him added muscle strength because even though he didn’t win the challenges, he’s been getting stronger and stronger in them over the past two weeks, frequently taking the lead.
The incident that really signed his fate was when he, Rafe and Cindy lost the Reward Challenge because of Lydia. The challenge involved two guys and two girls getting into teams of four and transporting corn across a mudpit with the aim of filling a flask thing first.
Winning the comforts of food, gossip, soap and family that were up for grabs could have saved Jamie for a bit longer but his losing the challenge coupled with needing to listen to Lydia’s drivel after she uselessly didn’t even try moving through the mud shoved his brain into it’s final fry.
Not that I agreed with what he said about him carrying Lydia through the game after he was eliminated. He made it sound as if it was only him when it’s been everybody, particularly Stephenie who says way too many nice things about Lydia generally. She just does it because she feels she has to because of their similar eyebrows I think.
Once Stephenie, Danni, Gary and Judd had won the Reward challenge they got choppered off to a divine Mayan house where they swam, ate, chatted and saw videos of their family that included Danni’s excellent pooches rubbing the screen with their snoots.
Here Stephenie and Danni got very buddy-buddy caressing each others hair, saying sweet things about each other while Gary tried to strategise by convincing Stehenie and Judd that their situation could be improved if they joined forces with him and Danni instead.
Stephenie and Judd didn’t want to commit to anything, Stephenie said she would think about it and Judd said that he liked everyone but that he’d never betray Schizo Boy. After a sleep on what looked like very comfy beds, followed by super smelling coffee and their home videos the four returned to their camp, gave Cindy coffee and plotted and planned what to do next.
Jamie questioned Judd about whether any discussions had happened and Judd reassured him that nothing had changed after which everyone went off to their sucky Reward Challenge. Consisting of a maze of interconnected ropes in between poles and obstacles everyone got eliminated in different stages with the final battle coming down to Cindy, Rafe, Jamie and Stephenie. Rafe managed to pull off another surprising physical manouvre - without actually seeming to do so – and won immunity again, saying it had officially made him a threat.
Everyone congratulated him supportingly I thought and then they scurried back to their cesspit to decide who they were gonna vote off. For Judd and Jamie, there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that it would be Gary while Rafe, Stehenie and Lydia hmm’ed and hah’ed about whether to stick with their alliance or vote Jamie out instead.
The fact that they went with the latter and got so keen on doing it that they even decided to tell Cindy about it was such a cool move for so many reasons. At first it made me irritated at Stephenie – like her betrayal of Jamie proved just how nasty she’s been in her choices. Previously she was so committed to him you’d have sworn they were family and yet in a heartbeat she turned on him without even a smidgen of guilt about it not being the right thing to do.
Out of them all hers is definitely the biggest betrayal of him – but at the same time, she’s playing Survivor which actually makes her move a brave, even noble one. She’s been instrumental in saving him from what would most likely have been a trip into insanity he couldn't come back from (I actually know someone who really did get island madness and needed to be saved) and she also saved us from the horror that is him.
As a result, surprisingly, Stephenie’s managed to somewhat redeem her slapworthy overacting and moaning she’s had going on. When it was all over and Hoog sat happily smiling at his successfully still being around I was kinda impressed with them all – except for Lydia in every shiny shot of her and Judd of course. Hehe – seeing him getting as thumped by Jamie was so entirely excellent I think it might have been worth some of the truama the two of them have caused.
It has to be him whacked next week. Now that this mutiny against them has happened it has to go all the way, with the two of them ending up sitting next to pink Bobby-Jon on the jury.
His strut to his position with his head bad was so hysterical they should have repeated it at least three or four times – either in fast forward slow-mo.
I can’t wait for the opening scenes of next week, seeing Judd squirm about not knowing what’s going on. Hopefully it’s a swift and suitably brutal thwacking for him too.