Welcome friends and fans to another season of "SURVIVOR"!  After a long
summer of Big Brothers, runway fashions, and super-heroes, it's time to
get back to our favorite form of reality.  On a personal note, I am REALLY
happy to be here, as my summer was filled with hospitals, ventilators, and
wound-vacuums.  A simple household accident led to my right leg having a
6" x 4" x 2" deep gouge about halfway down from the knee.  Throw in a
punctured right lung and pneumonia, which caused me to spend 19 days of my 28 day hospital stay on a ventilator, and you can see that I am very, very
happy to still be around to share my views and pleasure for "SURVIVOR"!

On with the show!  This season we have 20 Americans divided into 4 tribes
of 5 players each.  Membership is determined along racial lines.  Aitu Tribe
is Latin-Americans, Hiki Tribe is African-Americans, Puka Tribe is Asian-
Americans, and Raro Tribe is made up of Caucasian-Americans.   They
arrive at the Cook Islands in the South Central Pacific via a sailing ship,
not unlike the H.M.S. Bounty.  At Jeff Probst's signal, each tribe has two
minutes to grab what they can and get off the ship.  They all have the basics
of a raft, machete and water cans, as well as extras such as firewood and
chickens.  Well, almost every tribe has a chicken.  Jonathan of Raro took
Puka's chicken.  Justice is served, however, as you will later learn.

As the tribes paddle in, we are treated to a variety of snippets from Uncle
Cameraman as members of each tribe comment on the racial divisions.  Aitu
Tribe reaches their island.  Billy immediately takes charge, claiming to know
how to do many things.  Ozzy and JP are skeptical.  Ozzy then demonstrates
his athleticism by climbing a tree and getting coconuts.  He also helps in
the construction of the shelter.  When Puka Tribe arrives at their island, it
is Cao Boi, 'Cowboy', who takes the lead.  The rest are much younger than
him and have problems relating right away.  Hiki Tribe does the usual group
cheer when they get ashore.  Sekou steps forward as he is large and in
charge.  Here, too, the others seem to resent his power-grab.  Raro Tribe
is then featured.  They seem to get organized quickly.  However, things go
south when Jessica, a.k.a. Flicka, accidentally lets the chickens loose.  Both
escape into the jungle.

Day 2 and we see that the Hiki women find the water supply.  They still have
no fire to boil it yet.  Sundra and Rebecca have bonded immediately, which
causes concern with Stephannie.  Sekou tries to start a fire, but then decides
that he needs a break.  While he rests on the beach, nothing gets done.  Over
at Raro, Adam and Candice hit it off.  They cuddle close to stay warm during
the night.

Day 3 and Brad at Puka wakes up with a headache.  Cowboy demonstrates
his knowledge of alternative medicine by eliminating Brad's "bad wind"
from his nasal cavity.  Cowboy leaves a large red mark on Brad's forehead,
but the treatment works!  Tree-mail arrives and it's time for the first chal-
lenge, which is for both Reward and Immunity.  It's a fire-race involving
puzzles and ladders.  Assemble a boat-puzzle with ladder braces, then
paddle offshore to light a torch.  Paddle back and race up the beach to a
station to assemble the four compass-point letters (N,S,E. & W), then use
the braces to assemble a ladder for a tower.  Climb up, placing the letters
in the right places, then use the lit torch to ignite an urn.  The first three
tribes win immunity plus flints.  The 1st Place tribe wins extra fire-making
gear.

As the challenge begins, Aitu is off to an early lead.  They are first to assem-
ble their boat, first to light their torch, and first to start working on the com-
pass letter puzzles.  Puka is right behind them the whole time, with Raro
a distant third and Hiki even further back.  But Puka catches up and com-
pletes the letter puzzles first, and begins building their ladder.  Aitu now
hurries to keep pace.  Hiki finally catches up with Raro at the letter puzzles.
Puka beats Aitu by a nose and wins 1st Place!  Aitu takes 2nd Place.  Now
all eyes are on Raro and Hiki.  Raro completes their letter puzzles and starts
building their ladder.  As they ascend, they forget the compass-point letters!
Hiki closes the gap, but Raro recovers and wins 3rd Place.  Hiki gets no
flint and must face Tribal Council.  But Jeff reveals a twist, the losing tribe,
Hiki, gets to select one member from another tribe to go to Exile Island.
Once again, somewhere on Exile Island is a hidden Immunity Idol.  The
Hiki men, Sekou and Nate, choose Jonathan, the Chicken-Man, to be exiled.
Jeff observes that the Hiki women were left out of the decision making pro-
cess.  Jonathan is immediately sent to Exile Island with the first clue to the
hidden Immunity Idol.

Jonathan is surprised that he was chosen for punishment by the Hiki men.
He moans and groans about being stuck on Exile Island.  The first clue
gives him the impression that the idol is buried under a large 'A'.  He finds
an arch of two trees that resembles an A and digs, but finds nothing.

Back at Hiki, things breakdown along gender lines.  The women see the men
as a threat.  They consider booting off Sekou, as he is a bully and braggart.
Sekou and Nate scheme to lure Stephannie unto their side and boot Sundra.
Sekou tries to convince Stephannie that she'll be the outsider between
Sundra and Rebecca.  I guess the same won't be true of her being an out-sider between Sekou and Nate, HUH??? 

At Tribal Council, Sekou's leadership is raised.  He lamely explains that the
others just gravitated towards his manliness.  Nate says that Hiki is a beauti-
ful tribe with beautiful spirit.  But it becomes obvious that the women are
unified.  It's time to vote.  Nate and Sekou vote to boot Sundra, Stephannie,
Sundra and Rebecca give Sekou the boot.  After extinguishing Sekou's
torch, Jeff gives Hiki a flint for making fire.

SPOILERS:  Cao Boi's jokes bomb.  Aitu Tribe considers throwing a chal-
lenge to rid themselves of Billy.