# Survivor: China - Ep. 4: "Ride The Workhorse Till The Tail Falls Off" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373 "2007-10-11T19:10:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/1 "2007-10-11T19:10:56Z")
Ooooh, a vaguely dirty title! I wonder who would say this … probably someone stupid, complaining about something stupid, like having to go get Tree Mail or something, because we all know (hypoethetically) how difficult _that_ can be. To take up mouseover space, I will link to the previous episode threads, and also send out a great big wet smooch to **CapnPitt** , who started last week’s thread while I was off cavorting with the second or possibly third sexiest man in baseball\* while the hopes and dreams of an entire city went ⅔ of the way down the crapper … _again_. [Episode 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=437261) ¤¤¤¤¤ [Episode 2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438134) ¤¤¤¤¤ [Episode 3](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438978) And now episode descriptions from The Usual Suspects. Two blurbs from Yahoo! TV. First we have a (very!) [brief overview](http://tv.yahoo.com/survivor-china/show/41220): Another castaway is voted out of the competition. Jeff Probst is the host. Again with the surprises, no? If we go looking for [more details](http://tv.yahoo.com/survivor-china/show/ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/episode/149046;_ylt=AvrWMmYUZ8qWNd12xelSnorbOot4), we get: Sherea’s work ethic becomes an issue for her tribe-mates; an ominous tree mail instructing the tribes to meet at council prompts fireworks; another castaway must go. From the peeps at TV Guide, we [learn that](http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/survivor-china/289524): Another castaway is voted out of the competition. Jeff Probst is the host. Hmm. _Interesting_. Which I am beginning to wonder is more than we might be able to say about this episode, after it is all over. And of course the [official information](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor15/) from CBS is: Seashells saved for Mom prompt an explosive fight between Sherea and Dave at Zhan Hu. Jean-Robert tries to help Courtney from burning herself on a kettle. In return for the helpful warning, Courtney snaps back! Later, both tribes receive tree mail telling them they must go to Tribal Council. Oh! And a “previously seen on Survivor” animal update: Pandas! Water buffaloes! MONKEYS! See you all later … * * * \*\* Chase Utley. The third or possibly second sexiest man in baseball is Jimmy Rollins. And the absolute most sexiest man in baseball right now this very second is [Mr. Zero](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21122899/) himself, Josh Beckett. Who is playing tomorrow night, not today, otherwise I would be AWOL again. Not that you asked.\* ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/2 "2007-10-11T20:24:07Z")
Glad to be of service, m’lady. I’m just looking to poll here…do we think that someone will be voted off tonight? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/3 "2007-10-11T20:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=CapnPitt] Glad to be of service, m’lady. I’m just looking to poll here…do we think that someone will be voted off tonight? [/QUOTE] Will Jeff Probst host? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/4 "2007-10-11T20:29:41Z")
[QUOTE=rockle] Another castaway is voted out of the competition. Jeff Probst is the host. [/QUOTE] Damn you! Now you’ve ruined it all! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/5 "2007-10-11T21:05:57Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Damn you! Now you’ve ruined it all! :mad: [/QUOTE] Sorry, **Lib**. Here, have a cookie. Made from real Girl Scouts! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/6 "2007-10-11T21:08:08Z")
I’ve got to learn not to read the spoilers. Now I’ve been kicked out of the office “who will host tonight” pool. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/7 "2007-10-11T21:51:41Z")
I forgot today was Thursday! Now I’m clapping my hands and grinning like a fool, and my co-workers are looking at me strangely. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/8 "2007-10-11T22:00:29Z")
All my students were reminding each other to watch tonight, since I’ve gotten into the habit of asking “Who was voted off **Survivor** last night?” as an extra credit question on their regular Friday quizzes. Too bad I decided to ask them something completely different instead. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/9 "2007-10-12T01:47:25Z")
OK, my patented Random Useless Observations™ for this episode: [ul] [li]That monkey is _seriously_ the best thing I’ve seen on TV and they need to give him a show of his own. They can call it “Maun Ki’s Happy Hour” and it will be entirely comprised of footage of him making cute little monkey faces at those idiots and _it will be a ratings smash_.[/li][li]Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick, this cast is comprised of some truly, honestly, ridiculously stupid people. People who are so stupid that dressing up in “ancient Chinese armor” actually improves how intelligent they look. Plus: armpits! I hope they get razors soon.[/li][li]Fishing birds ROCK! Although I felt a little bad for them – hopefully they got to actually _eat_ some fishies later.[/li][/ul] Nothing else to add right now because I don’t want to give anything away, so instead I will share a true story: Once, when I was about 13 years old, I was camping in upstate New York, and I wanted to impress this older boy (he was 15 or so), so when he asked me if I wanted to help him catch minnows, I agreed. We had this minnow net and we stretched it out in this section of the river and we basically corralled a whole bunch of minnows over the net. And it was COOL. And he told me how awesome I was, and how pretty, and we stood there under the shade of some tree, sort of hidden from the beach, and he wiped his lips with his hand and he leaned his lips in to mine and … _he spit a live wriggling honest-to-God minnow into my mouth_. I was so shocked and horrified I gasped, and as I inhaled I swallowed, and _I almost choked to death on a goddamned minnow_. And the moral of that story is … eh, there’s no moral. He kissed me for real two days later and it was _totally_ worth it. \* You’re welcome.\* ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/10 "2007-10-12T02:44:39Z")
So who knew Dave would get completely loopy once relieved of his “leadership” responsibilities? One of the best lines from this week had to be James’ exasperated response to an attempt by Dave to hug him: “Oh man, you be all right - I told you about the hugging.” **Recap** (If you’re reading on the west coast or haven’t yet checked your recording, **stop now**!): We open this week at Fei Long with an isolation on Jean-Robert crowing about his rope-a-dope strategy beginning to pay off, and yes, Aaron does notice Jean-Robert is up early and working around the camp. Then we get Courtney complaining about how much she doesn’t like Jean-Robert. Over at Zhan Hu, the store of rice has become moldy, which of course sparks more controversy when Sherea and Dave clash over how to separate the good rice from the bad. This is followed by an even more senseless argument when Sherea tries to toss some shells away that Dave apparently wanted to save for his Mom. Looked to me like Sherea was spoiling for a fight, but whatever - the building incidents force the rest of the tribe to acknowledge, as Frosti put it to Dave directly, “If you’re going to be a leader, then you have to be able to work with everyone you’re leading.” The Reward Challenge is an agility test whereby two tribe members must maneuver giant chopsticks to carry a lit fireball across some distance and drop it into a chute (where it then rolls down into a giant wok full of fireworks). There are three runs with progressively longer chopsticks. The two teams are mostly even through the first two runs, with Aaron and Amanda seeming to work the chopsticks best. The final run pits the brawny duo of James and Jean-Robert from Fei Long vs. Dave and Erik for Zhan Hu, and the brawny duo pulls it off, with Dave and Erik looking mostly ineffectual. Fei Long elects to kidnap Dave. At Fei Long camp, Dave becomes Huggy McHuggerston, acting generally annoying and cloying. Dave gives the third Hidden Immunity Idol clue to Todd, after eliciting a positive response to the the question “Do you believe turnabout is fair play?” Todd gladly accepts the clue, and promises Dave if Zhan Hu were to kidnap _him_, he would give Dave the clue. The reward is a visit from a local fisherman and his family, with lessons on fishing. Jean-Robert reveals a surprising ability to communicate with the family in Mandarin, due to spending time in Taiwan in his youth. Oh, and Denise speaks! Or should I say “tawks”? Meanwhile, back at Zhan Hu, the relative peace and quiet is broken only by the tribe members’ realization that, OMG, there’s work to be done! Everyone except Sherea works hard to replace all the little tasks Dave had done before. Sherea is of the opinion it’s more important to rest up for the Immunity Challenge, so loafs around while others run themselves ragged. This is of course noticed by the others. The Immunity Challenge has pairs of tribe members squaring off against each other in Chinese armor, wielding [meteor hammers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_hammer) attempting to break vases lined up on posts behind the opposing pair of tribe members. Fei Long once again wins, despite a strong showing from Jaime for Zhan Hu. The tension around Zhan Hu camp is the split between voting off Dave for being a difficult ass or Sherea for being a loafing ass. At Tribal Council, the tribe members acknowledge that Dave helps out a lot at camp, but the question Jeff raises is whether work around camp is more important or if resting up for challenges should be paramount. In the end, the Hu-ers decide to unload Dave. On to the completely arbitrary rankings: **Hostage** - No ransom forthcoming: For the second week in a row, the kidnap victim gets the boot, as **Dave** (Fei Long) couldn’t convince anyone his usefulness exceeded his abrasiveness. **Hard Target** - Difficult to pin down: **Courtney** (Fei Long) survives this week with no serious physical challenge, while **Denise** (Fei Long) finally speaks. **Erik** (Zhan Hu) may become more important without Dave around, and we have a foreshadowing of a possible romance forthcoming. **Face/Off** - Intra-tribal dynamics: **Fei Long** ’s factions remain the same - the threesome alliance of **Todd** , **Amanda** , and **Aaron** and the brawny duo of **James** and **Jean-Robert**. **Denise** and **Courtney** can still be wildcards. **Zhan Hu** appears to be somewhat splintered. Annoying as he was, it appears Dave did a lot around camp. Will **Peih-Gee** attempt to step into the leadership role she originally wanted? Will **Frosti** and/or **Erik** step up around camp? Will **Sherea** do _something_ before the rest of them resent her inactivity? Will **Jaime** ever try to figure out what her clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol mean? New category this week: **Hard-Boiled** - Poised to do damage: **Todd** may not look imposing, but he seems to have an uncanny ability to win the trust of strangers. And he now has three clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol, with one of the only other two holding clues out of the game (Leslie). And I know it could just be editing, but there was one shot at camp that seemed to show Todd staring straight at that doo-dad on the gate the camera keeps focusing on when the Hidden Immunity Idol is mentioned. Coming attractions: Next week, Will Erik and Jaime make a love connection? And yet another Twist That Turns The Game On Its Head! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/11 "2007-10-12T03:49:34Z")
Whoa. I’m a fan from day one, but I’m not _there_ this year. It’s on right now, I’m only sort-of watching it. I don’t feel compelled this year. Do I need to go to S.A.? ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/12 "2007-10-12T03:58:30Z")
Does anyone else question the strategy of sitting out Courtney for Reward Challenges? Knowing that you can’t sit the same person out in a row, I think I would sit out someone stronger than Courtney for the Reward Challenges rather than have her forced to compete when it comes to Immunity. They did it last week and we saw what happened when she tried chopping those wooden bars and sure enough, they sat her out again for the Reward Challenge this week which meant she’d have to compete during the Immunity Challenge. But I guess it didn’t matter in the end this week. Still, I might want to save my stronger players for Immunity Challenges. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/13 "2007-10-12T03:59:17Z")
[QUOTE=Quixotic] **Recap** (If you’re reading on the west coast or haven’t yet checked your recording, **stop now**!): [/QUOTE] Well, Jeff is reading the votes as I type this. But it doesn’t matter if I read your post. See, I was trying not to read spoilers. So I went to MSNBC to see if I could find a story I’d heard about earlier today. What pops out but a red UPDATED tag with **Dave wears out his welcome on ‘Survivor’**. :rolleyes: _Hello_, MSNBC? West Coast here! ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/14 "2007-10-12T12:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Well, Jeff is reading the votes as I type this. But it doesn’t matter if I read your post. See, I was trying not to read spoilers. So I went to MSNBC to see if I could find a story I’d heard about earlier today. What pops out but a red UPDATED tag with **Dave wears out his welcome on ‘Survivor’**. :rolleyes: _Hello_, MSNBC? West Coast here! [/QUOTE] Wow, that’s kind of assy. Boo, MSNBC! I … _just don’t know what’s going on here_. Except for maybe Peih-Gee, that entire yellow tribe is trouble, both B.D. and A.D. (before and after Dave). Dave was bossy, condescending, boorish, and unforgiveably naked, but he worked his butt off. He complained about it the entire time, and let everybody know that he was all work-work-work, like some kind of mutant cross-breed between Rabbit and Eeyore, but he did work his butt off. Sherea? If I were on a tribe with her, I would have no choice but to poke her in the eye with a stick. You want to lay around and “save your energy” for challenge time? _Fine_. But if you don’t help around camp, then you get no food or water or shelter. You’re too good to help out the tribe? Then fend for yourself, you stupid useless selfish cow. _Screw you_. (That sort of contestant is _always_ my least favorite.) Erik and Jaime and Frosti? Cute, and kind of earnest, but completely useless at challenges. Jaime only managed to knock off two vases in the immunity challenge by accident – I didn’t think (and I don’t think she did either) that she was going to hit anything. Maybe if the challenges involved more agility or endurance, these three might be OK, but so far they’re somewhere sub-meh. Peih-Gee is a bit of an enigma, and I have to say, she is starting to look like a legitimate game threat. She leads without bossing, she backs off when it’s useless to argue, she appears to care an appropriate amount about everything – I am starting to like her more. Plus, in every episode, she looks more and more like Ming-Na Wen, which I appreciate for reasons even I don’t entirely understand. I guess I like hot Asian chicks, too. The other tribe? Except for Jean-Robert … more meh. Todd is OK, but his relative coolness was overshadowed by J-R’s stealth awesomeness. When his tribe realized that Poker Guy could speak Chinese, his stock went up about 500%. Of course, that will probably also make him a target later. But for now, he might be in the catbird seat. I doubt he has a chance to win this game, but stranger things have happened. He _might_ turn out to be interesting to watch. Or else I’ll just go back to hating him again next week. Oh, and confidential to CBS: Please, please, _pretty please with cherries on top_, stop it with the lame “special effects” and instead spend the money on showing this program in HD. Why go to all the effort of taking glamour shots of the landscape if they look like wet butt when you broadcast them? ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/15 "2007-10-12T13:10:30Z")
As always… nice recaps and analyses, folks! [QUOTE=rockle] When his tribe realized that Poker Guy could speak Chinese, his stock went up about 500%. [/QUOTE] Heh! Who slipped the Hidden Immunity Babelfish in Jean-Robert’s ear? I thought the reveal of J-R’s mad language skillz was one of the greatest non-gameplay _Survivor_ moments ever. Which is not to say he still isn’t an ass, of course. I _really_ liked the armored Immunity Challenge, except that it was way too short. I would like to have seen how the strategies would have evolved if everyone got a second or third shot at it. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/16 "2007-10-12T13:13:55Z")
Well **rockle** beat me to most of the things I was going to say, but I think they’re worth re-iterating. The fishing birds might be the single coolest thing ever to be shown on Survivor. I was blown away. If they don’t stop with these pseudo-freeze-frame lame special effects, I’m going to have to leave the room during the IC. Which will really annoy me because I really enjoy the challenges. Finally, it just dawned on me last night what a good job the editors and cameramen do (except for the special effects). Why, you ask? Because despite all the cameras being around, I’ve never seen a second cameraman in a shot. This really maintains the illusion that you’re right there with the contestants. I did miss a few seasons of Survivor (Pearl Islands and one other), but I was wondering if anybody ever remembered somebody being in the shot that wasn’t supposed to “be” there (other than the medics that helped Bruce and dude that fell into the fire)? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/17 "2007-10-12T13:16:17Z")
It was a rough day and I slept through half the episode (I love Bravo, where they repeat the show 347 times per week), so I won’t focus too much on the subtleties of the episode. I have to ask, though, How did that third clue make any sense? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/18 "2007-10-12T13:26:56Z")
The plaque had bats on it. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/19 "2007-10-12T13:35:44Z")
**Shawn1767** , You are not the only one to question the wisdom of sitting Courtney out for the Reward Challenge last night. Even though she would not have been able to sit out the immunity challenge after all. But I really liked the Chinese Flavor imparted by chopsticks, fireworks, and those suits of armor. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373/20 "2007-10-12T14:06:33Z")
The fishing birds are Cormorants. And don’t worry about them starving, fishermen have to train them to do their fishing for them, so I’m sure they get their fair share of the fish pile. 😃 Neat 1876 article from the New York Times about the birds [here](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9500E7D91F3FE73BBC4E53DFBE66838D669FDE). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-china-ep-4-ride-the-workhorse-till-the-tail-falls-off/422373.md?page=2)