It's All About Robb on 'Survivor: Thailand'

Thursday, October 23, 2002

Robb Zbacnik © CBS Television

Last week on "Survivor: Thailand," the Sook Jai voted the antisocial Stephanie off of the island. This week, Robb asks Penny if she had considered voting for him. Apparently, Ken mentioned that she would vote for either Robb or Stephanie. Penny denies this 100 percent, which sends Robb off to confront Ken, the NYC police officer.

When skater dude Robb accuses him of lying, Ken tells Robb that he has some set of "bowls" on him -- he is the only one not lying to his face. He also adds that it was between Robb and Jed on the first vote because Robb wouldn't shut up and was annoying everyone. Robb asserts that he is not stupid and stalks off. The entire conversation was laden with profanities, but the editors did a nice job of catching all of them. Perhaps they moonlight on "The Osbournes."

Over at Chuay Ghan, Jan and Helen must now swim to the water hole since Brian and Ted lost the tribe's boat. The three men chivalrously decide to swim out to the neighboring island to see if the boat has hidden itself there. Helen correctly observes that Clay and Ted are lousy swimmers. They've underestimated the distance to the other island, and alas, they can't find the boat.

In the Sook Jai camp, a petulant Robb starts helping himself to the bananas, which the tribe had agreed to save for a later time. Ken cuts him off, but not before Shii Ann gets in the middle. Penny tells her to butt out of the argument and let Ken and Robb continue to fight like kids.

This week's Reward Challenge involves launching wicker balls from catapults to teammates who must catch them in wicker baskets. The first team to catch five balls wins the reward. Two people from opposing tribes must compete side by side and are encouraged to block each other's catches. The "Survivor: Thailand" producers were probably recalling Robb strangling Clay a few weeks ago with great fondness, and wanted to give him another shot at it.

Robb's freakish height pays off during the game -- he catches almost every ball for Sook Jai. He is so successful that Chuay Ghan decides to pair him with Ted -- or "Big Ted" as Jeff Probst insists upon calling him. Big Ted would run into Robb, and in turn, Robb would knock over Clay, to the glee of onlookers. Sook Jai eventually wins the reward: a Thai feast.

It's a nice spread of traditional Thai food. The Sook Jai teammates are so pleased that someone actually says, "We love you, Robb" and declares him MVP of the game. As the tribe members devour their dinner, they are accompanied by Thai musicians, Thai dancers, and hordes of Thai flies.

The "secret alliance" hinted at last week turns out to be Chuay Ghans Ted and Brian. Clay seems to be onto them, but Ted's plan is to play dumb if he is approached. He's doing a bang-up job so far.

Back at Sook Jai, Ken takes Robb on a long walk into the jungle. (Is it wrong to think that a police officer would lure someone into the woods to stage an unfortunate "accident?" ) Ken and Robb discover a cave filled with bats and take a look inside. This is where they "squash the beef" -- Robb's disturbing term for working out their differences. In the end, both men agree that the talk was like an older brother counseling a younger (denser) brother and head back to camp as friends.

Meanwhile, Chuay Ghan's resident oddball Jan finds a dead baby bat and decides to have a funeral. When she invites Ted to the service, he quips, "I'll send a card and some flowers." Even Helen won't jump on this crazy train. Brian wonders if Jan has "lost it," but it's possible she never had "it" in the first place.

Sadly overlooking the dead animal, Jan croons, "You didn't have a chance, did you, baby?" -- perfectly channeling Khandi Alexander's coroner character on fellow CBS series "CSI: Miami."

Ironically enough, Jan's team wins the logic-intensive Immunity Challenge involving math and flags. This means that both tribes will go into next week with five members. As the Chuay Ghan celebrate, the Sook Jais trudge home defeated and disheartened.

When the Sook Jais arrive back at camp, they decide to break out the wine that they won in the previous day's Reward Challenge. An emotional Robb shares his epiphany with the rest of the Sook Jais. He now realizes that friends and family are what's important in life. Before, he only worried about how much money he made in a week and "getting wasted." This explains a lot.

The other tribe members declare their love for the teary Robb, and even Shii Ann tells him that despite their differences, he's a good guy.

Not to worry, Shii Ann has not gone soft. The next day, she is still fully aware that the lovefest was only skin deep. There's a game to play, and she should know, having barely escaped dismissal the last two weeks.

When the Sook Jai's arrive for the Jeff Probst debriefing, everyone admits that this is the hardest vote so far. The tribe is finally starting to feel closer, especially after the last few days. Robb's emotional breakthrough has really touched a lot of people.

So they vote him off.

As Shii Ann says when she casts her vote for him, "A wise man knows much and says little, but a fool knows little and says much."

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