Survivor Live, Episode 11
Survivor: Fiji - Survivor Live, Episode 11 by Brian Towers -- 05/01/2007 After attending Tribal Councils in 10 out of 11 episodes, it was only a matter of time before Mookie was due to show up on Survivor: Live. Read on for memories of his sad and woeful tale. Kiddies, this could happen to you! Survivor: Live is CBS’s webcast phone-in show featuring the last player booted from Survivor: Fiji. Hosted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly and the sole survivor of Survivor: Amazon, Jenna Morasca, this week’s guest has earned the title of another show I recap, The Biggest Loser. Yes, it’s time for Mookie Lee, winner once in 18 challenges! As I prepared my usual trivia question, I realized I should have saved last week’s Mookie-oriented question for this week. So I’m going to skip it this week. Returning after missing last week’s show due to one of Ethan’s charity events in Alabama, Jenna reports that it went well. This week, she has a couple more “Blast” DVD games to give away to callers. Jenna, Dalton, and Mookie will sign these copies. Also, the hosts will have another Blast Challenge, because Dalton insists Jenna cheated last time. Mookie is brought on screen and Dalton immediately asks him about going through Yau-Man’s stuff. Jenna reminds us that Yau-Man looked through Sylvia’s bag earlier. Mookie responds, “It’s a game of deceit, lies. It’s happened before, so for them to react the way they did is just ridiculous.” He adds that because he and Alex had their backs to the wall, they can’t be blamed for searching through his stuff. Discussion turns to the part of the last episode where Alex and Mookie thought they were overheard plotting by Stacy and Cassandra. Jenna wonders if the women were secretly stealing food to eat together. Mookie says they’ve been freeloading all the way. Jenna asks if Mookie considered separating from Alex and asking Yau-Man to get rid of Alex first. He could promise that in return, he wouldn’t tell the others about the hidden idol. Dalton says he thought of that, too, but figured Yau-Man would probably be motivated to get rid of him sooner. Dalton notes that the Two Horsemen thought they had had gotten an advantage by finding Yau-Man’s idol, but everyone got upset at them instead. Mookie says, “Yau-Man is a smart guy!” and, “We expected a different outcome... he played it to his advantage.” The clip of these events is then run. Jenna doesn’t see how anyone knowing about Yau-Man’s idol can affect the game when he is in such a majority position. Dalton says she needs to put herself in the position of Cassandra or Stacy, or maybe Boo, who didn’t know he had it. It could raise trust issues with Yau-Man. Jenna says there seem to be a lot of players complacent to come in fifth by riding coattails. Mookie agrees, saying, “They’re just happy that they are still there. They don’t even think about final two, final three, voting, all that stuff.” It’s clarified that we’re talking about the two females. Conversation drifts to Stacy, and Mookie offers, “She was a complete b… I can’t say that on the show.” Jenna says it’s clear they (names unspecified) don’t watch the show or they’d know the ills of making bad comments about others who potentially will be voting for them. Daniel from Oklahoma is our first caller today. He feels Mookie wanted to use the idol for himself. Mookie responds that his trust of Alex and Edgardo was limited, saying, “They had their Spanish connection from the beginning. I didn’t understand a word they were saying in front of my face.” Dalton asks Mookie if telling Dreamz about his hidden immunity idol was a strategic move. Mookie says he knew he was the outsider, especially after Rocky was ousted. Unfortunately, his only option for a partner was “the backstabbing Dreamz.” Mookie insists, “He has no clue how to play the game.” Jenna is now sure Dreamz can’t win even if he makes it to the end, as he’s made too many enemies. Gary in Florida wonders if Dreamz is secretly really intelligent and getting a bad edit. Mookie laughs and replies, “Dreamz is getting the rightful edit.” A second question is if Mookie has bad feelings toward Alex for voting against him. There’s no bitter feelings toward Alex. Jenna asks why Alex voted as he did and wonders, did he know about the split vote? Mookie doesn’t know. Jenna feels it was a bad vote as Mookie is never working his way back into the main group, but if Alex makes it to the finals, he may potentially have lost Mookie’s vote. Jenna adds that she’d have thrown her vote away. Once again, it’s Jerry in California. After the usual long intro, he asks for a DVD and gets one for his persistence in calling in almost every week. He asks if Mookie was too interested as making alliance with the strong boys and using the women as pawns. Mookie’s reasons for booting Jessica while Earl was away make sense, but he still sees physical strength as the way to win and calls the results “the Ravu curse.” Dalton says it seemed like the tribe had bad chemistry and a lack of leadership. Mookie says it’s no surprise that the well-fed and rested tribe always won, and he figures he played the best game he could. It’s time to show Mookie’s “Time Capsule.” In this feature Dalton plays back a message Mookie recorded to himself before the game began. He says, “I’m kind of nervous of how I’m going to go, not eating huge meals of beef and steak and soda pop, and how it will wear on me physically. And not being able to work out and have a good night’s sleep on a physical bed. But we’ll see what happens. I think I’ll be good!” Back live, Mookie admits, “It was horrible.” Jenna asks if he had watched the show before. Mookie admits, “I watched every now and then; I wasn’t a big fan,” and, “It’s definitely a lot rougher that you think. It was horrible. I mean, I lost 30 pounds.” Segment two opens with the Survivor Live Blast Challenge, Round Two. Remember those picture-scramble games we had as kids? This game is similar, with faces of former players in 16 scrambled pieces, with the objective to identify either the player or their season before the pictures are electronically unscrambled. Dalton is sure he will lose. Here’s how it goes: Jenna’s in quick on the first one, naming Vecepia from Marquesas, and Dalton accuses her of having played this round before as well. She insists she hasn’t. Jeff Varner goes unidentified, and Jenna says, “I don’t even know who that is.” Varner was tenth in Australia, narrowly missing the jury. It only takes an eye-blink for Jenna to identify the next one. It’s Christy Smith, from Jenna’s own season. Jenna refers to Christy as “my favorite Survivor,” and adds, “Oh, how I love her so,” neither said in a positive tone. Dalton is positive this is rigged. Jenna responds by correctly guessing Julie Berry in a split second. That one was tough. Finally, both get Bobby Jon Drinkard very quickly, but Dalton’s had enough. Jenna coyly says, “I crushed you in that!” Jenna insists she hadn’t played that round before, but says she is good with faces… and names. Dalton returns to the phones. It’s Rodney in Arizona, who asks Mookie if he was “ready to go” like he said in his last confessional. Mookie says his heart was still in it, but was “relieved to be gone,” and, “the game started to get sticky and dirty.” Dalton notes what a quiet Tribal Council it was. Mookie blames that on Stacy and Cassandra, because they spoiled his plans. Mookie wasn’t sure which Horseman was going home. He says the Horsemen were outcasts and the others didn’t come to talk to talk to them over the last few days. The immunity challenge (called “Torch Island”) is discussed. Dalton feels it was better suited as a reward than for immunity. He notes Earl had two strikes before he could get a turn, and Jenna agrees that there was a lot of luck involved. Jenna says, “I don’t like when they do any kind of challenge like that where, for instance, you have to answer questions and then smash people’s masks , because if you’re the main target, you don’t have a prayer.” I guess my memory is faulty - I thought she loved those challenges. David in North Carolina asks Mookie his favorite challenge. It’s the one he won. He also asks if the Two Horsemen looked for the hidden immunity idol. No, without a clue, it was pointless. Dalton is amazed Boo told all about the new clue. Jenna asks about Boo, who we don’t see much of. Mookie replies, “Boo is a wild man, a barbarian.” He adds, “He’s in no-man’s land. He’s just out there, no one’s paying attention to him. His name has been thrown out there a few times, but nothing .” Dalton has the clip run of Dreamz’s sad effort to try and work his way back in with the Horsemen. Should Dreamz make it to the finale, this will be good fodder for an ugly question about his personal integrity. Dalton wonders if they took it easy on him because they might need his vote. Mookie just shakes his head and reiterates that there’s no planning going on from Dreamz. Jenna says taking Dreamz to the end is a good plan because he won’t get jury votes. Dalton says he might play the big sympathy card over being homeless, but no one seems too convinced it will buy many votes. Jenna wonders if Probst’s Tribal Council comment about Alex’s possible power as a swing vote would wake anyone up. Nah. What I see is Jeff trying to influence the game again. Di in St. Louis wins a “Blast” for saying Dalton is hot. She asks Mookie how they ever expected to sway three people out of the other alliance. He says doubt and paranoia are the keys, especially “outsiders like Boo and maybe Stacy. If you can keep on talking to them and get them to believe they’re not going to be in it , you have a glimpse of hope.” Dalton says a rule about not going through people’s bags would be fine by him. Jenna says stealing the idol should be allowed, but then recognizes, “That could get really ugly.” They discuss the scene when Mookie passed the idol to Alex as Dreamz watched. Mookie says they thought that if they went off together, it would be too obvious, so they thought they would try and make the pass in a low-key manner. Dalton asks if Mookie didn’t want to give the idol up. Mookie says he wanted to say “no” to Alex, but knew he was on the spot and had to trust someone. Jenna asks how they felt as the votes were read out. Mookie says, “We were completely stupid.” Mookie says he had an idea the real target was Edgardo, but he didn’t know if he could stand up at Tribal Council and tell Alex to give the hidden immunity idol to Edgardo. He wishes now that he would have. Edwina from Connecticut has called to ask if Mookie considered using Tribal Council to point out how Stacy was “slithering her way through the game.” Mookie says they talked to everyone to try and sway them, “especially Stacy.” He says she’s obviously “a pawn.” As a picture of Stacy is brought up, Jenna says, “She does have great hair, though, I must say.” No comment. The next segment is called “Probst’s Thoughts,” where a message is played that Jeff Probst recorded for the departing contestant. Jeff calls Mookie dangerous and a player. He says, “I did not see everything Mookie was going to be when we were in casting, and that happened a lot this season.” He adds that he’s playing the game, and will scramble to get the target off his back. Jeff says, “A lot of times people lay down and die… Mookie will look in your bag to see if you got the idol, Mookie will trip you to try and see if he can hurt you, Mookie will do anything within the context of the rules to win the game.” Back live, Mookie nods his assent. Dalton notes that Mookie fought to stay in the game, but has accepted that it was a game and he lost. Dalton asks about his edit. Mookie says he was surprised by what he saw on boards and thinks he got a bad edit regarding Yau-Man. Mookie says he likes to have fun and since Yau-Man is the hero, going against him made him the villain. Nope… he was a disrespectful jerk toward Yau-Man several times, and that has nothing to do with heroes or villains. Dalton asks Jenna if she’s a hero or a villain. She says it depends on the season. Segment three begins with the “minus 10” feature. This is where Dalton reads ten rapid-fire categories for the guest to comment on, each in ten words or less. Here’s how it goes: 10. Using the hidden immunity idol – Horrible idea 9. Phi Kappa Alpha – Good stuff, drinking, partying 8. Ravu – Cursed, horrible, I don’t want to talk about that 7. Chance, by Chanel – I die every time a girl wears that 6. Dreamz – Lying son-of-a-beep! 5. Seoul, Korea – Born there, never went back 4. Going through people’s stuff – (silently wipes his hand together in a devious fashion) 3. Cocoa Puffs – Love it, gotta love it. Love the milk 2. Being on the jury – Karma is a beep 1. (Bears QB) Rex Grossman – Get him outta here Lindsay in Oklahoma wonders why Mookie threw away his vote. He admits he didn’t think about it. He and Alex had decided to throw their vote to whoever deserved to go next. The hosts admit they probably wouldn’t have figured that those votes mattered either, because assuming someone found the third idol without clues was a stretch. Neither host cares for the idea of re-burying the idol. The next caller asks the same thing – great job on the screening, but also, why don’t callers have back-up questions ready? Dalton points out that you might actually annoy a potential juror with a throwaway vote. Susan from Alaska is the next caller. She revisits Mookie’s mocking of Yau-Man in early episodes, only to be beaten by him in later challenges. Mookie calls it karma and says, “Props to him.” Dalton points out several of the ways Yau-Man has shown how to use brains in physical tasks. Effervescent Melyssa from Maryland gushes over Mookie at length and then hangs up without a question. I guess “the vapors” took her over? The clip of accident-prone Boo hurting his knee is run. Mookie says he didn’t want to see anyone seriously hurt, but thought he just might remain in the game a little longer. Dalton noted Probst almost begging them to be more physical. Mookie says people were getting ticked off and elbows were being thrown aggressively, and he was ready for people to chill out. He says Earl was mad at both him and Cassandra. Dalton notes that even at this point, Mookie was getting upset at Yau-Man. This was in the reward challenge, called “Slosh Pit.” Mookie says he was wide open, but I notice the last time a ball went his way, Alex out-dueled him for it. Mike from Maryland is the next caller. He asks if, in episode 1, Mookie was paranoid when he saw a vote against him. No, because Rocky came up to him after and admitted he did it as a throwaway vote. So he shrugged it off. He calls Cassandra and Stacy “shady” for being in the bushes and listening to them. Umm… they were there first? Idiot. Jenna says she did a lot of eavesdropping in her season, even crawling on the ground to get herself closer to conversations. As time winds down, it’s time for “Jenna Morasca’s Fan Question of the Week.” User “Trixiego” asks, “You were pretty harsh about Cassandra at Exile Island. It seemed really over the top for her just sending you to Exile. Was there anything else that caused you to have such animosity towards her?” Mookie says, “She seems like such a motherly lady, agreeable, but she’s very deceiving.” He then calls her “scheming and devising,” and says she’s “using Dreamz and playing with his mind. I can’t stand that.” Dalton asks if she has no personal connection with Dreamz and is just playing him. He says, “Dreamz talks about his homelessness and Cassandra is a very loving person. I think to some point she does care about him.” He adds, “I don’t know if that’s her Survivor self or her real self.” He adds that she never answers a question directly. Dalton’s comment is that perhaps this is just good gameplay. That last line was the only sensible thing in that whole paragraph. The network promo is run next. It tells us: Alex goes undercover, Boo’s chatter annoys people, and the reward challenge gets primal. The hosts point out that the meat-eating challenge was in Survivor: Amazon. Jenna says Dreamz’s strategy is to see whoever’s being talked about, then join in and agree. Dalton sees the irony of Dreamz complaining about someone talking too much. As the show comes to an end, Jenna dances us out, and mercifully, we are finally done. Folks, this one was painful! CBS Website: I popped over to take a look at the “Popularity Poll” results. Although I expected Yau-Man to be ahead, his 51% number is pretty impressive. Earl is second at 15.6%, and the only other one over 5 percent is already-eliminated Michelle! Here CBS’s promo items for this week. - When the immunity challenge doesn’t go their way, one Survivor proposes a compelling argument before Tribal Council, placing their fate into the hands of several tribemates. - One Survivor’s constant chatter starts driving the others crazy. Could their mouth cost them the game? - Desperate for information, one Survivor uses sneaky tactics to eavesdrop on a confidential conversation.