In 21 seaons of Survivor, I don’t think we’ve ever seen an episode like this one before. If you watched the preview last week, you knew two people were going to tell Jeff they wanted to quit. It probably wasn’t a surprise that the two people were NaOnka and Kelly (yes, the Purple One), both of whom had threatened to quit in the past. The culprit once again was the incessant rain. After another downpour, NaOnka knew she was going out so she gave Chace her hidden immunity idol which was a nice gesture. You’d think, after all of her antics thus far, she’d just take it with her.
Things came to a head after the reward challenge — brought to you by Gulliver’s Travels, starring Jack Black — both girls told an incredulous Probst that they were quitting. He’d have none of it and talked them into staying until Tribal. The team that won reward — a night at the cinema with movie food — was made up of Chace, Benry, Holly and NaOnka. Danny was there, too, but he was odd man out so he got to pick a team to bet on and won. Jeff made them an offer: If one of them would give up reward, they would go back to camp with a new tarp to replace the one that burned, and a supply of rice to get them through the next 11 days. I thought Danny should have stepped up because, well, he didn’t do anything to earn the reward. Everyone else expected NaOnka to step up, but in the end Holly sacrificed hot dogs and popcorn to take care of the rest of the tribe. Holly is my new hero.
NaOnka just reinforced what a terrible person she is by not giving up reward after saying she was going to quit and by not having an ounce of remorse for eating food that Holly really needed. Meanwhile, Holly gave Kelly a great motherly pep talk about not quitting since she’s come so far and it almost seemed like she was reconsidering.
The real fun came at Tribal as Probst tried to figure out what goes on in the heads of the tribe members, and he came away amazed and stunned by NaOnka’s delusions. I loved that he just went after her when he asked if she really believed she had a shot at winning and she said yes. I guess Nay didn’t watch either of the last two seasons to learn how important the social aspect is to the game. The only reason she would have made it to the finals is because everyone knows she’s this season’s Russell. There is just no way anyone would vote for her. Probst also had a great response to her when he asked what they should do with her torch. Nay said they should ‘smuff it’ like the others, but he shot back, “They didn’t quit.” Score one for the Probster! When Kelly also said she was quitting, he told them both that the torches would remain at Tribal as a reminder of the shame they’d brought on themselves and to the game, or something to that effect. Meanwhile, there are three angry jury members who could have still been in the game. A big question now is did they know for sure the girls were going to quit at this point? There was no immunity challenge which was a dead giveaway that someone would be leaving. I wonder if it was shot but not used when they made their final decision before Tribal.
As a fan or Survivor from day one, I’ve seen people quit the show over the years for various reasons, but this time it really hit me for some reason. I really felt like I was going to burst into tears with Alina over this turn of events. It’s certainly not because I liked NaOnka or even knew who Kelly was up to this point. I think, as an older member of the TV viewing tribe, I identify more with Holly and Jane and understand the maturity level of the older players as opposed to 20-somethings who seem to have an attitude that they’ll just have things handed to them without having to put in any real effort. If you’re going to sign up for a show called Survivor, you have to know what’s going to be involved. Even if you’ve never seen it, you should at least have a clue, an inkling of what it takes to play this game. For crying out loud, go rent the DVDs and see for yourself before saying yes! I’d never do it, but it really upsets me to see people quit because it’s ‘too hard,’ and to quit with just a little more than a week to go is beyond ridiculous.
As a result, we’re left with a group of pretty strong players, if you don’t count Danny who is only being kept around because no one believes he would get a vote. It’s going to get really cutthroat now and I’m worried about my older players. I’m rooting for Jane and Holly to make it to the finals, but every one of the younger tribe members knows they don’t stand a chance against either of them. Who do you want to see in the final two?
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Dec 01, 2010 @ 22:53 EST5EDT
The quitting did not bother me as much as Na’s missed opportunity to show some class.
Dan was not given the choice to opt out of the reward. Jeff said that it had to be Holly, Nay, Chace or Benry.
The tribal council where the girls quit was an extra one held on day 28 which would have been the day after Brenda got voted out. If both girls stayed the immunity challenge and tribal council would have been held 2 days later.
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re right. I didn’t realize he had called out the players specifically, but Dan still should have had the option since he just sat in a giant chair!
They did have a shot of Dan during that time and he did look uncomfortable. I’d like to think that he felt bad about not being able to opt out.
If they gave Dan the choice, then the decision would have been easy and there wouldn’t be any tension in the game. We all know that the goal is to create controversary!
*POST AUTHOR*
Hard to say. Dan always looks uncomfortable because of his knees. They did have a great reaction shot of him at Tribal when NaOnka complained about her joints aching!
That was a great shot. For a moment I thought Dan might actually say something.
This whole season is a joke to me. I can’t even get riled up about NaOnka because she’s there because she was CAST on the show. It must’ve been very obvious what kind of person she is during the interviews and I have to say this year the producers have done an absolute shitty job at casting people. The season is flat out boring. They don’t cast players, they cast faces and types. Typecasting doesn’t even come close to what’s going on here. I don’t even care anymore. THe only thing that keeps me going is that I know that there will be better seasons. I think Coach has rewarded them with too much material. The good thing about him was he wasn’t a quitter and they HAVE to know if someone’s a quitter. Maybe have them in a pre-camp or something. The show costs millions to produce it can’t be that hard to get non-quitters on the show.