'Survivor' Contestants Pared To Three

Elisabeth Ousted By Old Ogakor Alliance

Ed Dykhuizen, Staff Writer
April 26, 2001, 10:27 p.m. EDT

In an all-too-familiar-seeming episode of "Survivor," 22-year-old footwear designer Elisabeth was ousted by a solid former-Ogakor alliance of 40-year-old chef Keith, 40-year-old nurse Tina, and 26-year-old auto designer Colby.

In a post-ousting interview, Elisabeth reflected on her experience in the Outback, citing the "major highs and lows" of it all. She also declared that "They just didn't want me to get to the final two, because they know I'd kick some major butt."

She may have had a point. It was certainly not due to any clash of personality; throughout the episode, she was her typical amiable self, clearly getting along well with Colby and Tina. After Colby, predictably, won the reward challenge, she and Tina presented him with a bouquet of flowers, prompting Colby to say, to the camera, "Out here, so many people are disingenuine; those two are real."

Meanwhile, Keith seemed increasingly alienated throughout the episode. He spent most of his days going on long walks alone. He also committed his requisite foul-up, dropping a water jug and allowing it to leak for several minutes before anyone noticed. Colby said, of him and Keith, "We don't talk much anymore."

Challenge Outcomes Also Predictable: Once again, Colby won both the immunity and reward challenges.

The reward challenge was a combination of many previous challenges. The contestants had to traverse a rope maze with carabineers while blindfolded and shackled. Once at the end, they took off their blindfolds and had to solve a small puzzle, involving pieces that had to be shifted, not picked up, inside a bounded surface.

When that was solved, they could remove their shackles and move on to a seesaw, one side of which had a water bucket, and the other side of which had a fire bucket. The contestants had to cross a balance beam to fill the water bucket with water from a handheld bucket. Once there was enough water, they set a fire in the other side, and the bucket rose under the weight of the water, lighting a fuse and finishing the challenge.

The reward for this challenge was particularly sweet. Colby won a Pontiac Aztec, the back of which was converted into a tent. Taken away from the other Survivors, he slept in the car, ate a good meal, took a hot shower, and was very happily surprised to be met by his mother. His mother returned with him to the Barramundi camp, bringing good wishes from the contestants' families and a burlap bag of care packages. Elisabeth was thrilled to discover a large container of peanuts, while Keith received a set of pictures that moved him so deeply that he had to walk away and shed a few tears.

The immunity challenge, however, did not favor Colby's superior physical strength. It was a game of Concentration, or Memory, in which pairs of Outback-related artifacts were separated and randomly secreted under large, conical covers. Each contestant got a turn in which to turn over two covers; if the objects matched, the contestant would receive a point. Colby clinched the most matches handily.

Survivors Deal With Physical Strain: In recent episodes, the contestants have suffered under the strain of a severely restricted diet and little sleep.

In this episode, however, the physical abuse became manifest. Elisabeth was shocked to discover that her hair was falling out in clumps.

And, as if to taunt the Survivors, they were given a scale and mirror. Keith discovered that he had lost 27 pounds in his 38 days in the Outback, going from 170 to 143. Colby had dropped 25, going from 190 to 165. Elisabeth was down to 101 pounds, and Tina had fallen to 99.

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