This collection of entries is from December 05, 2002.
"A Big Surprise... and Another"
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After Clay throws a hissy-fit about what Jake said at the last Tribal Council, the tribe heads out for the Reward Challenge. The big surprise waiting them (as alluded to in the title of the show) was that each tribe member had a loved one on the island and they were brought out one by one. Unfortunately, the tribe members couldn't go to them - they had to sit in their bleachers. The winner gets their loved one to spend 24-hours on the island as a tribe member. But Jeff explains: "For the losers - nothing. Hear me clearly - not a kiss, not a hug, not a handshake. You been out here for over a month. And so far, you've been able to find enough coconuts, and clams and edible plants that you've been able to avoid having to live off the bugs and the insects that are out here. But, what I'm curious about is, would you eat those bugs and those insects if it meant getting to spend one full day with your love one?" Everyone chimes in with what they would do. They're pumped. But then Jeff continues: "You know what? I believe you guys. I believe all of you would do just about anything to win this reward. But that's not the question. this question is: would they? Yep, it's this year's gross-out challenge and the loved ones compete! So they endure eating a spoonful of red and flying ants, a huge water roach (that Helen yells at her husband "Don't you dare!" when he starts choking on it), three live grubs, a boiled tarantula, and finally a boiled scorpion. Helen's husband Jim wins over Jake's wife Jenny in the final. Jim spends the next 24 hours as a member of Chuay Jai. There's nothing too exciting to his stay, just a gut-wrenching goodbye when it was over. Later at the Immunity Challenge, Jeff asks Helen what it was like to have Jim in the tribe, then asks Jake about Jenny and how well she played the game. Jake says "She tried so hard." So Jeff says "She didn't want to leave. Well, look. None of them wanted to leave. Funny thing is - they didn't." And sure enough, the loved ones run out of the brush and attack their tribe member. Jeff says they're going to stay and they'll help each of the tribe members with the challenge. It's a cube puzzle - be the first to put together the pieces to make a cube with all of the colored faces facing outward. Everyone tries hard (the couples are tied together at the wrist), but Ted and his brother finish first and win Immunity for Ted. After the necklace is put on Ted, the loved ones have to leave and the tribe goes back to camp. At Tribal Council, Jake Billingsley, the 61-year-old land broker from McKinney, Texas, the "elder" of Sook Jai and the last remaining tribe member of that tribe, is voted out 5-1.
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It looks like I just might be earning some money starting next week... it won't be what I used to earn, but it would be something... More info to follow - don't want to jinx anything.