‘Survivor’ has new tribes, but old cliques

Stephenie, one of the two “Survivor Palau” cast members given a second shot at $1 million on “Survivor Guatemala,” asked a simple question last week. “Why, just once, can’t I be on a great tribe?”

When, on day nine, host Jeff Probst unexpectedly mixed up the tribes, Stephenie almost had that chance.

Except she ended up on the losing team yet again. Her new tribe consists mostly of women, whereas the other tribe has so much testosterone (or “maletosterone,” as Judd called it) that the trees in their campsite are starting to grow hair in strange places. Even though Stephanie’s tribe still managed to stay competitive in the immunity challenge, they still lost, and she once again returned to Tribal Council.

The switch-up came early in the game, arriving as part of a disarming reward challenge. But calling it a challenge does disservice to the word “challenge,” because it wasn’t one.

Instead, Jeff Probst said the cast members had “earned a little relief” and “a break from the challenges.” Apparently, he forgot he was hosting a show called “Survivor,” not “Takeabreaker.”

Jeff quizzed each tribe, asking them to vote for the person they thought was, for example, the most famished or the smelliest. Those who received the most votes won a reward: the hungry were treated to a single green apple, while the smelly (Gary and Bobby Jon) stripped and showered while their fellow castaways watched them. After four tribe members were voted to receive a pyramid-top picnic, Jeff then asked the tribes to vote for the person with the most “tribe pride.”

Brian and Cindy each won, and the twist began. They remained members of their original tribes, as did those who were picnicking (Gary and Amy, and Margaret and Judd). Everyone else switched tribes. Well, almost everyone: Since the Nakum tribe had one additional member, those tribe members picked buffs at random to see who would stay with their original tribe.

Thus, for a moment, it became possible that Bobby Jon and Stephenie could end up on the same tribe. Alas, they did not, and they joined their new tribes, on their way to victory (Bobby Jon) and loss (Steph, again).

Stephenie: Born under a bad sign
At Tribal Council, Jeff Probst, who’d apparently grown tired of seeing Stephenie there, informed Steph that her “Survivor Guatemala” win/loss record was now 1 and 7, while her overall “Survivor” win/loss record was 4 and 21. And just in case her tribe members couldn’t do the math on their fingers, Jeff completed the equation for them: “Maybe Steph is the bad luck,” he said.

Instead of running over and stomping on his toes really hard, Stephenie tried to laugh off Jeff’s analysis. “Do I just have this black cloud that follows me in the game of ‘Survivor’ wherever I go? I’d like to think I’m not bad luck, because that’d suck, but for some reason I end up on the short end of the stick,” Stephenie said.

Despite the black cloud and its rain of misfortune, her new tribe spared her at Tribal Council. Instead, they voted for the two weakest players: Lydia and Brooke. Since the newly reformed Nakum tribe had exactly four members from each of the two old tribes, a tie was a very real possibility: each group of four would vote for the weaker player from the other group of four.

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