 PULAU
TIGA. On the evening of their ninth day,
Survivor's third castaway was voted off the
island. As a fierce tropical storm unleashed
rain, lightning and raging winds on Pulau
Tiga, Stacey Stillman, the San Francisco
litigation attorney, who goes by the
nickname "Boom Boom", was told
that it was time for her to go.
"It was a hard decision to make,"
said Susan Hawk, the 38-year old Wisconsin
truck driver who has become Tagi tribe's
matriarch. "But you do what you gotta
do, and I think we voted in the best
interest of the tribe."
Stacey had struggled in her first six days
of island living, angering her fellow tribe
members with adversarial opinions and a
habit of rolling her eyes. Tagi tribe also
felt Stacey wasn't contributing enough to
the tribe's well-being, and not working as
hard as they would have liked. Stacey
attributed that early opinion to her innate
shyness, which can make her appear aloof.
She had hoped to turn that around. "I'm
really very sweet. If this was Gilligan's
Island, I would be Mary Anne," Stacey
noted in her first week on the island.
"I hope the others can see that I'm
nicer than I let on."
Accordingly, Stacey had changed in the last
three days. She'd not only been more open
and approachable, but something of a hard
worker. She was even responsible for her
tribe's winning the bug-eating immunity
challenge. In fact, in the days leading up
to the third Tribal Council, her work ethic
compared with hard-charging Susan's.
The storm put a symbolic end to a honeymoon
period for the castaways. After a difficult
immersion into island living, both Pagong
and Tagi tribe had begun talking about how
much they enjoyed Pulau Tiga. They
rhapsodized about the beautiful beaches,
purple-and-orange sunsets, and the simple
joy of being without phones, email, or a job
to report to daily. Even Pulau Tiga's
stifling heat and humidity had become
tolerable as their bodies adjusted.
Pagong,
the MTV Beach House of Pulau Tiga, even
began acting like it was all a vacation.
They fished very little, and worked even
less on improving their shelter. In fact,
they did little but lay in the sun, spend
hours
playing games , and talk about sex and
island politics.
And that's fine with them.
"I'm stranded on an island in the South
China Sea," noted Greg Buis of Pagong.
"It doesn't get any better than
this."
Greg
has attracted the attention of Colleen
Haskell, the demure bookstore employee from
Miami. The pair often swim in the
snake-infested ocean together, and slip into
the jungle alone at night.
Tense
Night At Tribal Council (continued)
However, the rice supply each tribe enjoyed
during their first week on the island was
dwindling. Both tribes were on the verge of
joining the snakes in the consumption of
rats to sustain themselves . When the In
From The Deep Reward Challenge was
announced, it loomed as the ideal chance for
one tribe finally to spear some fish; for
the reward was none other than a mask,
snorkel, fins, and a fishing spear.
|
