|
Surviving Survivor:
Bill Vaughn's Loose Lips
Notes on Episode Six: Joel Falls Prey to the Matriarchy
By Bill Vaughn
 |
Pathfinder Video
|
As Joel Klug discovered on the July 5 episode of Survivor, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. The heartless matriarchy dominating Tribe Pagong finally wearied of Joel's bossiness and condescension and booted his sorry ass straight off the island, even though he had excelled as a spear chucker, a butcher of rats, and a builder of shelter. But
Joel, 28, who's been variously described by the slippery suits at CBS as a fitness consultant, a financial consultant, and a traveling salesman from Arkansas, made the mistake of coming to the defense of the charming but worthless Gervase Peterson, the 30-year-old basketball coach, who had been heard by the Pagong's distaff side uddering that the only thing
stupider than a girl was a cow. Bad move, Joel, this underestimation of the femme cabal, and a bad move as well for Gervase, because his big mouth probably means that within an episode or two he will be walking the Walk of Shame himself.
Of course, in Survive This!, which is featured in the July issue of Outside, I predicted, based on first-hand surveillance of CBS production people while I was in Borneo, that Joel was not long for the island. Meanwhile, my man Rudy, the 72-year-old ex Navy Seal who I predict will take home all the bacon, continues to bide his time, untangle the
Machiavellian implications of the historic merger of Tribe Tagi and Tribe Pagong, and attempt to avert his eyes from the acres of pale fat flesh Richard is so willing to display for the world. Although Rudy tries to maintain a low profile, he can't always keep his feelings to himself, remarking last week in regard to the Bible-thumping of Dirk the Dairy
Farmer, that he, Rudy, was religious as well but would only bring a Good Book to the island if he thought he'd need some toilet paper.
What are your thoughts on the recent Survivor episodes? Who would you have voted off the island? Share your views in our
Survivor Forum.
Meanwhile, Americans are already showing up in Borneo to see the island of Pulau Tiga, with their own eyes, where the show was filmed between March 14 and April 20. If you're compelled to make this long journey you owe it to yourself while in East Malaysia to climb the highest peak in Southeast Asia, Mt. Kinabalu, some 40 miles from the Sabah state
capital of Kota Kinabalu. By all accounts, this is not a difficult walk, even for someone who's never climbed at all, although the mountain is almost 14,000 feet high and there is a 150 feet of a bouldered steepness to negotiate by stationary rope. My friend Wilmott Ragsdale from Hartsteen Island, Washington, made the ascent when he was 82 years old.
"You've got coastal jungle and rain forest at the base," he said. "Then that turns into an evergreen forest at 11,000 feet, where there's a rest house where you can spend the night and get a simple hot meal. Then you pass through the timber line along a dry streambed and the summit is bare granite. From there you can see all the way to the Philippines."
What did he like most about the climb? "The wild raspberries. They're bigger than ours, and they're orange."
More about Borneo next week, and an account of my wild ride through the coastal jungle with the enigmatic Mr. Suardi, my Indonesian cabdriver.
|
