This week on Survivor……Unforgiving rain not only soaked the camp but dampened the spirits at both Foa Foa and Galu. The constant rain and cold had both tribes struggling to stay warm, fed and hydrated. There was a break in the rain for the reward challenge and both teams were delighted to see the sun. Although everyone was wet and exhausted there was a renewed sense of energy amongst both tribes. The reward was a hot pizza that the winning tribe would be able to enjoy while watching the other teams tribal council, the twist would be that both tribes would be voting someone off tonight. At the reward challenge one person from each tribe was strapped into a giant sphere while two additional team mates had to navigate the sphere through a course while blindfolded. Liz did a great job guiding Russell and Jaison for Foa Foa while Laura struggled to guide Russell and Erik for Galu. Foa Foa made it to the table maze first and Galu was right behind. Both Laura and Liz quickly began guiding the remaining tribe mates to navigate balls through a giant table maze. Russell S. appeared to be very exhausted and was having a difficult time getting into position for the table maze. Suddenly he was slumped face first into the table itself, host Jeff Probst rushed over to Russell S. and asked both tribes to stop what they were doing and called for medic. The medics quickly came over to Russell S. and asked him to lie down. Jeff Probst decided to cancel the challenge, no one would win pizza and both tribes would still go to tribal council. Jeff sent the tribes back to camp while he stayed behind with Russell S. and the medics. The medics said that Russell’s heart rate was very low and gave him oxygen and kept him lying down for several minutes. After giving him some water, Russell was asked to sit up slowly and the medic would check his heart rate again. As soon as he sat up his eyes went blank and it was clear he had blacked out again and he was non responsive for a several seconds. The medic checked his heart rate and it had plummeted from 97 to only 67 in only a few seconds. It was clear that Russell could not continue the game and Jeff told him that he had pushed and pushed his body till his body said enough. Russell was devastated to be pulled from the game but it was clearly the best decision for his health. At tribal council both Foa Foa and Galu were seated around the fire when Jeff told them that Russell had been removed from the game and that he was doing well and being monitored. Both teams were saddened to hear that Russell would be unable to continue. There was much discussion about the horrible weather and rain (all the while its pouring again). Foa Foa felt that they would have won the challenge had it not been stopped and it was clear that there was a deep rivalry between the opposing tribes. Jeff announced that in lieu of the day’s events nobody would be going home. I think this has proven to be the most difficult Survivor in history and I am almost nervous to see what next week has in store……stay tuned you don’t want to miss a moment of Survivor Samoa!
