Introverted Kel Bullied Off 'Survivor II'
Accusation Over Food-Hoarding Led To Ousting
Ed Dykhuizen, Staff Writer
February 8, 2001, 4:59 p.m. EST
The introverted Kel, a 32-year-old Army intelligence officer, was ousted in the second episode of "Survivor II," after coming into conflict with the rest of the Ogakor tribe.
Kel's loner ways seemed to alienate him from his fellow contestants. His early attempts to fish were ridiculed by his tribemates, as he had little in the way of fishing equipment and no success.
After several Ogakorians suspected that he was hoarding beef jerky, they searched his belongings. After they found nothing, Kel returned from walking and calmly confronted the group. The object that Jerri, a 30-year-old aspiring actress, had seen him chewing turned out to be grass, not jerky, according to him.
But the Ogakorians, particularly Jerri, seemed unwilling to admit that they made a mistake. Kel tried to offer his razors for use by the tribe, but was met with a cold response. When later implored by Maralyn, a 51-year-old former police inspector, to apologize for the incident, Jerri flatly refused.
Despite the alliance that Kel alleged he had had with Tina, a 40-year-old nurse, and Maralyn from Day 1, Kel was kicked off by an overwhelming margin. Kel was gracious in defeat, wishing everyone else good luck and telling them that they "were all winners."
It was Tina's failure in the immunity challenge that brought the onus of voting someone off onto the Ogakor tribe. In an inter-tribe competition to eat the most disgusting things, including cow brains, worms, and bugs, Tina lost the tiebreaker.
The challenge involved a wheel, on which were an array of foods, from larvae, worms, and tripe (the inner stomach lining of a cow) to a candy bar and an apple slice. A contestant from each tribe stepped up to the wheel during each turn. After the wheel was spun, the two contestants had to eat whatever fell in front of them.
Twenty-eight-year-old bartender Kimmi, a devoted vegetarian, put her Kucha team behind early on by refusing to eat a cow brain. On the last turn, Tina, of the Ogakor, was unable to hold down a mouthful of tripe.
In the resultant tiebreaker, Tina and Kimmi were chosen by their opposing tribes to compete in a flatworm-eating contest. Tina proved to be unable to eat a flatworm as quickly as Kimmi, and the Ogakor lost.
Squabbles Abounded
Interpersonal conflict was rampant in the episode. In the Kucha tribe, 38-year-old company president Michael rubbed many tribesmates the wrong way by cooking rice on his own, before the other people had awoken.
However, Michael, in a move reminiscent of "Survivor I"'s Richard, successfully snagged a fish, to the delight to the constantly-hungry contestants. In leading the group in grace, he annoyed his tribesmates by saying that he was "the leader of the tribe."
Despite his daffy ways, many Kucha tribespeople had to admit that his fishing prowess was needed and appreciated, even as they expressed reservations about his arrogance.
In the Ogakor, the conflict between Keith, a 40-year-old chef, and Jerri also festered. Keith, a famous chef in regular life, proved unable to make satisfactory rice. Jerri took over the cooking, making tortillas that drew rave reviews from her tribesmates.
Keith, though apparently hurt, tried to be vocal in praising the tortillas. Jerri told the "Survivor" cameras that she "wasn't buying" his attempts to smooth things over.
Reward Challenge
The early reward challenge, the prize for which was a set of blankets, was lost by the Kucha tribe. The challenge involved jumping off a high cliff into the water, swimming towards a chest, and dragging the chest onto the shore.
Kindly 53-year-old Rodger of the Kucha went into the challenge with a fear of heights, and had only recently learned to swim. His tribe was already behind by the time it was his turn to jump. He managed to jump and swim slowly to the trunk, but the Ogakor had already taken a commanding lead.
Copyright 2001 by Channel 2000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
January 22, 2001:
Episode 2:
February 6, 2001:
