Welcome back dear friends to another season of fun and entertainment!  The
17th season of our favorite Reality TV series begins with a two-hour double-
pumper (for you Sgt Sakto fans).  18 Americans are stranded in a remote
corner of Gabon, Africa, about as primitive a land as it gets.  Beautiful, pristine
jungles, plenty of wildlife, and our host with the most and an Emmy winner to
boot, Jeff Probst.  He greets the gang, all still wearing their street clothing, and
has the players introduce themselves.  Jeff then has the two oldest players
set forward and begin selecting teams.  Each selected player in turn chooses
the next.

Bob, Ace, 'Sugar', Marcus, Charlie, Paloma, Kelly, Jacquie and Corrine form
the Kota Tribe, which will wear yellow buffs.

Gillian, Crystal, Susie, Matty, Randy, Dan, Danny (GC), Ken and Michelle are
the Fang Tribe, which will wear red buffs.

The first challenge is to race up a steep hill.  At the finish line, each tribe's
station has one individual immunity idol, plus a map to camp, machete, pot
and a sack of rice.  The first player from each tribe may claim the immunity
idol.  The first tribe to get all of their players across the finish line wins extra
sacks of corn and beans.

GC gets an early lead for Fang, but Kota Tribe, as a whole, is doing better.
Marcus catches up and passes GC.  Each win the individual immunity idols.
Kota winds up winning the extra food, as Gillian and Crystal slowed down
Fang's efforts.  During the introductions, Crystal neglected to mention that
she won a gold medal for track in the 2004 Summer Olympics.  Four years
sure have taken a toll on her!  LOL!

Kota arrives at their camp site and finds some run-down huts.  Bob, a high
school physics teacher, immediately gets cracking at fixing the roof of one
hut.  He even has time to build a bench before it starts raining!  What a guy!
Fang finds their camp.  Gillian tries to rally her team.  She advises them to
find elephant dung, as it makes good fuel for fires.  Randy is already annoyed
with her.  I think he is planning other uses for the dung!  Ken and Michelle,
the two youngest members, bond quickly.  Ken offers her a nice termite to
eat, which she swallows whole!  HMMMM!  Ken is hoping for a 'show-mance'!

Back at Kota, Ace organizes a latrine digging detail.  He spent time in England
and for some reason is an expert on camp practices of Roman legions.  Some
dig while others fetch firewood.  Charlie bonds with Marcus and they form
the first alliance.  Charlie would like to bond even closer, but Marcus lets him
know that he is straight.  Aww!  They discuss letting Ace make a fool of himself
and allow him to play leader.

Night 1 at Camp Fang is a bad one.  A large elephant, like there's a small one,
roams nearby and scares the tribe.  Randy leaves the hut to pee and when he
returns in the dark, bangs his forehead on a spar over the hut's entrance.  He
asks Gillian, who is a retired nurse, to look at it.  But it's night, they have no
fire, and no pure water to clean a wound with.  She calls for the medical team
to help.  The medic tells Randy he'll need some stitches.  After treating the
wound, the medic adds that there is a risk of infection and they will monitor
him over the next few days.

Day 2 at Fang finds Randy feeling a bit better.  But now Michelle is a mess.
She did not sleep much and is cold and dehydrating fast due to her slight
build.  Michelle begins whining and complaining, telling Uncle Cameraman
that she's on the Dork Tribe!  LOL!

Day 3 and tree mail alerts the tribes of a challenge.  Ace gets Kota limbered
and centered with Yoga 101.  Both tribes gather and Jeff explains the event.
Six players from each tribe will be harnessed together and must negotiate a
series of three obstacles.  Then, dig for three large bags of puzzle pieces.
After the six return to the starting points, the other three players will then
assemble the puzzles.  First tribe done wins immunity, plus flint for fire.

Kota gets an early lead as Fang gets bogged down in a swamp.  But Fang then
catches up when Kota has trouble climbing a netted-wall.  Both tribes dig
for their puzzle bags, but Fang seems to be tiring.  Kota finds all three before
Fang digs out one!  It's a blow out from that point.  Kota humiliates Fang!

Fang Tribe limps back to camp.  It's their second loss in a row.  GC is not too
worried since he has individual immunity.  Some want Michelle booted, but
Randy thinks Gillian needs to go.  Michelle and Ken discuss booting her as
well.  Ken warns Michelle that she may be a target.  Gillian agrees with Susie
and Crystal that booting Michelle now would be doing her a favor.

At Tribal Council, Dan, who is a lawyer and is actually wearing his dress shirt
and his fricken tie, thinks the tribe performed well so far.  HUH???  What
show is he watching???  I think his tie is cutting off the blood flow to his big
head.  LOL!  Jeff tells Dan he's in denial and tells the whole tribe that they
stink!  Michelle agrees and throws GC under the bus for not digging fast
enough during the challenge.  Everyone jumps all over her for not being a
'team player'.  Crystal tells Jeff that Fang has no leadership.  DUH!!  No kid-
ding Olympic-Girl.  Gillian adds that no one is willing to step forward and
lead.  GC offers to lead and everyone accepts his offer.  Oh-Oh!  Michelle tries
to defend herself by citing her speed in the challenges.

It's time to vote.  We only see two ballots being cast.  Gillian votes to boot
Michelle and vice-versa.  Jeff tallies the votes and it's Gillian one, Michelle five.
No need to read the three remaining votes.  Michelle is the first to be booted
from The Game.  Jeff is kind and tosses GC a piece of flint and allows Fang
to take their lit torches back to camp.  Once they return, GC gets a camp fire
going.  He wonders if volunteering to lead will haunt him?

Day 4 at Camp Kota and Bob gets a fire started.  Charlie is falling in love with
Marcus.  They go boating and discuss strategy.  Marcus wants he and Charlie
to be the core of their alliance, and add 'layers' with Jacquie and maybe also
Corrine.  Charlie agrees and they call themselves the "Onion Alliance".  Over
at Fang, GC tries to organize his tribe.  He suggests tasks to be carried out
but everyone looks at him dazed and confused.  Ken helps by gathering some
nice grass for bedding.  Randy questions GC's decisions.

Back at Kota, Marcus chats up Corrine and she is sold on allying herself with
him, Jacquie and Charlie.  She also suggests a fifth 'outer layer' for Team
Onion, and names Bob as a likely prospect.  Night 4 at Camp Fang is a loud
one.  First with several people snoring, then GC decides to do his laundry
in the middle of the night.  Randy and Susie join him and they have a chat-
fest, which wakes up Gillian.  She asks them to keep it quiet and they give
her a hard time.  She and GC go at it and GC decides to resign as leader.  The
rest are disgusted with him anyway.

Day 5 and tree mail heralds another challenge.  Fang uses charcoal as war-
paint and goes into battle mode.  Today's challenge is to roll a large boulder
through three gates, then across the finish line and unto a pedestal.  First
tribe to get their boulder on the pedestal wins immunity, fishing gear AND
gets to select one player from the losing tribe to be Exiled.   The race is a
close one this time, but Kota wins anyway.  They select Dan to be exiled.  He
will rejoin Fang the next day before Tribal Council.

Kota returns to camp and celebrates another awesome victory!  They are
clearly dominating now, and invent the Kota Dance to revel in their joy.  They
start catching fish immediately with their nets and tackle!  Some good sized
fish at that!  Dan walks to Exile Land.  There he finds a table with two jars
and a message.  He is instructed that he has a choice.  He may either select
a clue to find the hidden immunity idol or a key to open the Comfy Hut, which
comes complete with a soft bed and a nice apple to munch on.  He chooses
the clue which tells him the idol is buried in a sandy crater.  So where does
Mr. Brainy Lawyer search first???  He looks in the lake!!!  OMG!!!  What an
IDIOT!!!  Needless to say, he doesn't find the idol and regrets his choice.

Back at Camp Fang, Gillian congratulates her team in keeping it close.  They
seem a bit more pleased with the results.  Crystal tells Ken that Gillian needs
to go next.  He agrees that she is a drag to the team.  Gillian talks with Susie
about booting Ken.  She also warns Susie that if she, Gillian, is booted off,
the 'youngsters' will target her next. 

Day 6 and GC is getting disgusted with his tribe.  Everyone is hungry and
just eating rice is not cutting it.  Randy gets inspired and makes a fish hook
with part of his glasses.  GC contributes a shoe lace and the gals dig up
some worms for bait.  The home made fishing pole is a success!  GC and
Ken catch five fish!!!  They're all small ones, but are still much needed protein.
Dum-Dum Dan returns from Exile and tells everyone how miserable Exile was.
He also informs them about how you have a choice of comfort or a clue.
Several people now ponder if Dan should be booted instead of Gillian?  They
fear he may have the idol.  Crystal is afraid that Dan is too smart of a player.
LOL!!!  Ummm, no worries there, Dear! HAHAHAHA!!!

At Tribal Council, GC tells Jeff how he resigned as leader.  The tribe doesn't
need one, he says.  Dan disagrees.  Still wearing his dress shirt and tie, Dan
argues that they do need leadership.  Crystal counters that they only need
a strategy for challenges.  For just doing chores around camp, things are ok.
GC proudly tells Jeff about their home made fishing pole.  Dan moans about
how miserable he was during his Exile.  He then spilt out his belongings to
prove that he did not have the immunity idol.

It's time to vote.  Again, we only see two ballots.  Gillian votes to boot Ken
and vice versa.  Jeff reads the ballots and ken got one vote, Gillian got five.
We later see during the closing credits that everyone voted to boot off their
version of Mrs. Howell.  Poor Gillian, the Curse of the Crones is still alive
and well.

SPOILERS:  Next time on, "SURVIVOR", GC and Randy bicker.  A tough chal-
lenge takes it's toll!