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Survivor: Gabon  Episode 7

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Transcripts by James Barber unless otherwise noted

Secret Scene: Ace

Ace attempts to lead the Fang Tribe in a Yoga session, but is not as successful as he was with his former tribe

(Ken looks through the rice bag while Ace leads Sugar and Crystal in yoga)

Ace (solo): We started doing yoga this morning because I was trying to solidify the group a bit, get everybody stretched out. When I was on Kota, a little yoga would really get our energy flowing. The chakras would be in time. Just get us going.

(Ken watches Ace/Sugar/Crystal)

Ken (solo): This morning, when I was cooking breakfast, Ace did some yoga lessons for Crystal and Sugar. Ace used to do yoga over at Kota when he was part of them, and it did help, but for sure, this is not Kota.

(they finish, and Sugar thanks Ace)

Ace (solo): I'm hoping a little yoga will just get us excited and motivated, but you never know.

Secret Scene: Dan

As Dan chops up habanera peppers, he accidentally rubs the oils in his eyes

(day 20)

Bob: How well-done are the beans?

Marcus: They're ready. We need to add the rice. We've got like four cups of water in there.

Charlie: We need spice.

Marcus: Let's have some ginger.

Dan: We're gonna have these and ginger? I think that's too much.

Charlie: Do you?

Dan: Yes, absolutely.

Charlie: Alright, no ginger.

Marcus: What's that?

Charlie: Dan doesn't like ginger.

Dan: I didn't say that, I just said along with the hot peppers we put in there it might be too much.

Bob: How hot are they?

Susie: They're hot.

Bob: Are we putting too much in?

Susie: I just know my husband's really sensitive to peppers so I can't even put one pepper in when I cook, and I cook a lot of peppers.

Marcus: Let's just put 'em in and if they're really hot we'll just drink waters.

Dan: I think put in what's there, what's on that plate we leave.

Corinne (solo): Dan had been cutting up the habanera pepper. Dan is very abrasive with the way he does things. He was like, "I know how to cut these up, duh duh duh" so he grabbed them real quick and went over to cut them up and was taking the seeds out. The whole time, Susie, who is Mexican and probably grew those in her backyard, was like, "They're very spice, you shouldn't handle them." So he cuts them up and he gets the oil all over his hands. He goes to wipe his eye and it's like he's got pepper spray in his eye.

(Dan wanders around with his hands over his eyes, saying he's in pain)

Corinne (solo): He's now like full-on can't breathe, can't see, is crying. It looked to be a horrible state of affairs. It was all I could do not to laugh. (Charlie and Corinne smile as they watch Dan) What are we gonna do other than stare? He's just a mess. He's a hot mess.

Marcus: Are you OK?

Dan (solo) Being pepper-sprayed on my eyes was very, very painful. It just goes to show what this place is all about. Everything is magnified, three, four, five times as terrible as it would be back home. It ranks up there as one of the most painful.

Tribal Council Voting: Kota

Watch as the Kota Tribe cast their votes

Bob (Dan with a drawing, maybe a suit and tie?): Dan, sorry about that, had to do it. You, a little hesitation about going with the other, another alliance, isn't a good thing. Hope to see you in Boston.

Susie (Dan with a smiley face): Dan. Sorry Dan.

Marcus (Susie): This is about Dan, not you.

Corinne (Dan): Strategically, I thought this is what I had to do to protect my alliance, but after tonight's Tribal, I think I might have made a mistake. I'm sorry.

Randy (Susie): Sorry, Dan. Susie, you're soon.

Charlie (Dan): Lawyer to lawyer, I just don't trust you. Sorry.

Dan ("The Suze"): Susie, you have a great heart. Unfortunately, I'm going to be political and vote with what I think the rest of the tribe is voting. I hope to hear good things from you in the future though. Good luck.

Tribal Council Voting: Fang

Watch as the Fang Tribe cast their votes

Ace (Crystal): I guess it's just one of those things.

Ken (Ace with aces decorating the card): Since day one, I wanted to risk my life just to take you out because I knew you were a snake. I hope this...I hope my plan doesn't fail. If my plan does fail, then I'm gone next.

Matty (Crystal): Crystal, I've been waiting for this day for so long and I'm so happy it's here.

Sugar ("Ace-hole"): You told me to cut off the head of the snake. Well, I'm not as dumb as I look. (winks and makes a kissing sound) Thank you for the great times.

Crystal (Ace): You are one of the snakes. I gotta get rid of you. Go home.

Ace's Final Words

After being blindsided, Ace is shocked to find that Sugar betrayed him.

"So that's how it ends. I'm disappointed more in myself than anything. I sort of saw that coming just by the fact that Sugar was shady at the end. Good luck guys, I guess. I think you're all gonna get destroyed, you want the honest truth (laughs), but that's how the cookie crumbles. The main feeling I feel is disappointed in myself. Other than that, I tried to play a game, and I didn't accomplish it. I should run a little quicker on a wheel next time."

(cut)

"There's a definite level of disappointment in relation to Sugar. She'd be gone if it wasn't for what I did to save her, and she sort of just returned the favor by stabbing me in the back. I don't see her lasting through the game I guess. Just desserts will come to all. I was just disappointed I didn't make it further."

(cut)

"Kenny...you finally pulled off your power play. You have 85 pounds to play with vs people who are honestly more intelligent and physically active. You ever heard the expression DMW? You're Dead Man Walking. It's just getting your last meal at merger, and then (whispers) trying to sneak by very quietly like a little mouse, and not be noticed."

(cut)

"Matty, I respect you. I wish you the best. At least you stayed loyal. I can respect that. I wouldn't have broken my bond and it seems you didn't either. I wish you the best of luck, man. You're gonna have a hard time, they're gunning for you on the other side, but I really do wish you the best."

(cut)

"Yeah, very frustrated. Just disappointed. I thought I would do better. I thought I was smarter than I am, maybe. Life lesson. Go on, fight hard. So on and so forth. Very disappointed."

(cut)

"It was always hard to relate to them, honestly. All these people are talking about food stamps and food I wouldn't eat if it was a food challenge, and just random-ass things that are of no importance to anybody. So that was always complicated to me. I didn't know how to relate. I guess I related much better on Kota. I just tried to get by until merge and that was the safety factor, but I don't think I pulled that off since I'm sitting here."

(cut)

"This pretty much blows. I can't think of a worse thing than being taken out by the mental midgets. You know what they say -- you can fight one, you can fight off two, you can't fight off three. C'est la vie."

Ace the Day After

Ace reflects on his power of manipulation in the game, and how that ended up being his undoing

"The best part of, the perfect Survivor player in me is the watcher. The one that takes in all the information of what's going on around me, for the most part, digests it, and uses it to my best advantage."

(cut)

"It helps in relation to the idea that you watch people to know what they're looking for and then you give them that. That's why I was selling myself here instead of something else. Same with being a photographer. I use the fact that I watch people to try and manipulate their posture, but in this case it was their personality. So I really just showed the parts of me to different people that resonated with them."

(cut)

"I don't think it's easy because people are so wary in the game of Survivor, it's hard to manipulate people. That's something I worked on and excelled at in the game for the part I was in, I felt."

(cut)

"I look at it as a challenge. Somebody says, 'I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna do that,' it's the fun of convincing them they should and it's their idea and it's a good idea. That was part of the challenge of the game, you know. Switching people from being, 'He's gotta go, he's gotta go,' to, 'He's with me to the end, stick with him and I'll protect him."

(cut)

"The survival part has absolutely no bearing in relation to the game of Survivor for me. It's just like camping, or being out trekking through Southeast Asia or the subcontinent. It was absolutely undetrimental to me in any respect. The game of Survivor was stressful, emotional, physically daunting."

(cut)

"I think people get caught up in the survival part of Survivor because that's hard for them. If you haven't done something like that or haven't left the US or haven't been exposed to the elements, it's a hard experience. If you have and you're prepared and ready and excited about doing that it's a very different experience. It really becomes about the game of Survivor, which is the stressful part."

(cut)

"I feel it's more challenging to come from a small town background because you're completely submersed in the idea of being out in the wild, out in Africa, out in Gabon, more than a well-traveled. It was just the fact that I had to keep my mouth shut so often. When they're like, 'I've been on vacation to China for a week,' and I'm like, 'Yep, I've been there a half-dozen times for a minimum of three-month periods,' blah blah blah. It wasn't like the fact that I had any necessity to brag, it was just context orientation when they were talking about how hard it was to be there for a week and I was like, 'Be there for half a year and see what happens!' and things of that nature. That's what was more frustrating than anything else."

(cut)

"My worldliness, if you'd call it that, compromised me a bit because it distinguished me from the rest of my peers in a sense that wasn't exactly positive to them because they felt I was looking down on them...which I probably was."

(cut)

"You have to find common ground because of the fact people want to associate with those they're comfortable with, those they feel (takes a mocking tone) are like them and more important and more special. 'I'm a special person and they realize that because they see what I've been through and how hard it was and how much stronger I am.' (makes a face) I didn't have the capacity to do that without having a slightly facetious look on my face."

(cut)

"It's very different to sell somebody right off the bat. You can sell somebody a car or an expensive piece of jewelry or property and they walk away, they've signed the contracts, there's no going back, no refund, no return policy. They're like, 'Whoa! What did I just do? Oh, too late. I'll live with it.' But after days of thinking about it and you get to go back on your word and go change things it had the time to really fester and become a pussy mess."

(cut)

"With the game of Survivor it brings you face to face with exactly who you are. We all live behind shadows and mirrors and facades. In Survivor you're put into a context where you have to at least to yourself completely objectify yourself. Realize what your strengths are physically, mentally, spiritually even, and really draw upon those in that context. If you can't be realistic about your own capacities, you'll be blown out of the water at any moment, because you were, 'I was the greatest thing since sliced bread,' and then POOF, it's a kamikaze pilot that just took me out. If you don't have context for who you are, you'll never make it."

Dan's Final Words

See what Dan had to say after his tribe voted him out of the game.

"Lotta mixed feelings right now. Little bit disappointed I didn't make it further in the game. Would have liked to experience some of the different things. On the other hand I've got some great friends and family to go back to and I was the happiest I've ever been in my life prior to coming onto Survivor. I'll continue to be happy."

(cut)

"I think you're probably going to see a lot of athletic kids start to get voted off, at least that's my hope (laughs). I found it very difficult to befriend a few people that were in power positions, simply because I didn't like them. I knew that was going to be part of my downfall. I got rid of a lot of crappy people in my life last year. There were some people I didn't want to associate with in this game, and they had some alliances, so that was tough. I guess what I think will happen down the road is that you'll see some of the more athletic players start to get out of this game."

(cut)

"I wish Randy a lot of luck in this game. He's a guy who doesn't have many loved ones out there, kind of a loner, but when he opens up man is he a great guy. I think he was honest with me, he plays with a lot of heart, and he helped me through some tough frustration moments, moments of frustration. I hope to see him and Matty do well in this game. He's a good guy, a fun-loving guy, again doesn't have a ton of money, playing for his girlfriend, and I respect that."

(cut)

"I let karma take its course and I can't be concerned with the people I didn't like in this game or I may not like them in their personal lives. I don't have control over them and whether they're happy after Survivor or not is not my concern. My concern is keeping myself happy and my friends and my family, and people I care about."

Dan the Day After

Dan reflects on his time in Gabon and how his nervous personality ultimately lead to his early end

"I think after going 21 days in this game and realizing I can live in such a deprived manner and on so little calories, going back into the real world I think you do have more confidence in yourself and you're not as gluttonous. I'm pretty gluttonous right now, but it's twofold. You can look at it, and I think there will be times where I look at it and say I'm used to dieting but today I'm going to have a piece of chocolate because I want to keep that little pleasure in my life because I know what it's like to go without. At the same time you go through it and you say, 'I don't need that.'"

(cut)

"Killing that turtle and boiling it up and eating it shows how difficult it is from a mental standpoint. How desperate you really are. From a physical sense, the scratches show enough, the bruises show enough. Watching people's expressions during the challenges, you can understand physical pain. As far as the emotional pain you go through or the mental anguish and hunger, real feeling of desperation."

(cut)

"On a deeper level, if you can get deeper with yourself, especially true for me on Exile Island. You think about who you are. You think about what it is that made you over the past in my case 32 years. You think about the experience you've had prior to this game and all the difficulties you may have and what got you through it. I think it goes to the very core of who you are. In my case I've worked hard my whole life. I was never the smartest kid. I was never the most athletic kid. I went to the gym twice as much, I went to the library twice as much. You're in the game, you need a moment, you need some strength, you're at your worst moment in the game. You think about that, you think about what makes you you. You take that and apply it to the game and the next thing you know 3 days have passed, you're at another Tribal Council, and starts all over again."

(cut)

"I don't think I'm too high-strung to play the game of Survivor. I think I can be high-strung at times, and I do think that can affect my rate of success in the game, but I think now that I've played the game if I ever had the opportunity to play it again it's something I can learn from and be aware of and I don't think it would interfere with the game again. I have to say in a general sense I'm not too high-strung to play the game. I think you always have the benefit of hindsight and my hindsight is saying I might have been too highstrung here and there."

(cut)

"I get annoyed with people pretty easily, and I don't know if the fact that I don't act upon that annoyances makes me tolerant. I would like to be tolerant in the sense that I don't get annoyed with people at all. If by tolerant a person can get annoyed and not act upon that annoyance, then yeah, I'm absolutely more tolerant than I have been in the past. I was sitting there every day biting my tongue. I don't know if that makes me tolerant or not, but it was definitely a challenge in the game for me."

(cut)

"I've always been an emotional person, and whether I talk about it when I'm emotional or whether I get rambunctious or frustrated when I'm emotional I think with this game I proved to myself I can calm myself down. Randy was a huge help, being able to discuss it with him when I was a little bit frustrated or annoyed. Forgetting about it rather than obsessing about it was huge. I was pretty glad that I recognized that."

(cut)

"I definitely can draw comparisons between playing the game of Survivor and being a lawyer. You're in a high-stress environment and you have a lot of different personalities, a lot of different opinions. Having to work through those opinions, try to be a leader, whether I was successful at that or not remains to be seen. It puts you in that pressure cooked environment you do face in my profession. I think it absolutely can be compared, although Survivor is probably a pressure-cooked real world situation on steroids."

Ace Before Tribal Council

Ace reflects on being rejected by Sugar when he asked for her immunity idol and ponders whether or not he will be blindsided at Tribal Council.

"I'm shocked that Sugar suddenly decided, 'Oh now I've used you to the extent I wanted, I'm not going to help you anymore.' That was sort of shocking to see. It doesn't really bother me, I expect people to do things of that nature. On the same note it doesn't really hinder my game. I just have to decide how best to attack the future now. Knowing she'll probably flip back to old Kota. I might have to reorient my game."

(cut)

"It seems pretty concise that Crystal's going. It seems logical, but then, nothing's logical in this game. (long pause) I'm just trying to play it the best I can. The cogs are working overtime in my head right now, add this up, add that up, what if she decided to pull a double cross. There's no particular loyalty. The only person I know probably won't break their word is Matty. Otherwise she probably could be pulling the coup de grace of Survivor history. No, this isn't history-oriented. I guess I would be a bynote. Not even a bynote maybe. Oh, Ace (?), he thought he was smarter than he was. So who knows."

Crystal Insults Matty

As the tension at Fang comes to a head, Crystal has a talk with Matty at the dock

Crystal: Wassup?

Matty: I don't know. What are you talking about, wassup?

Crystal: What's today?

Matty: Day 20.

Crystal: You can't tell you've changed from day 1 to day 20?

Matty: Of course I've changed. Everybody's changed. How have I changed?

Crystal: Matty, you've turned into some evil Dr. Hyde.

Matty: I have? Why do you say that?

Crystal: I know it's not fun, winning or losing, you know, and us going on this evil, this losing streak. It's like since Ace has been in this camp you've changed, and you don't believe me, look at yourself from day 1, Matty. Your whole thing out here, "I wanna see Jamie, I wanna see Jamie." You know what, Matty? I'm gonna be real with you. Real outside of this game and in real life. You mess me and Kenny over, karma is a bitch. Trust me on this. It's ridiculous. You have turned into some evil person.

Matty: How have I turned into an evil person?

Crystal: Just by things you're doing and you're saying.

Matty: Like what? Name it.

Crystal: Just...a lot of stuff has not been called for.

Matty: Name it.

Crystal: When it comes to me, I'll...

Matty: Name it!

Crystal: When it comes to me, I'll let you know.

Matty: Let me know right now, if it's...

Crystal: When it comes to me, I'll let you know.

Matty: You're gonna make a statement so grand, that I'm evil. Back it up. Back it up.

Crystal: You've just turned into a mean person. From day 1 you were like the guy from Cali, the cool surfer guy from Cali. Now you've just turned into some cutthroat person that's just mean.

Matty: How am I mean? Name it. You can't make a statement if you can't back it. Try. Why are you gonna make a statement that you can't back?

Crystal: I can't give any specifics right now.

Matty: Then why did you wake up this morning with the urge to rouse me and bring me down to the dock.

Crystal: I apologize. I even apologize for wasting your time. I apologize. I apologize for wasting your time.

Dan on Bob's Stories

Although he finds Bob to be a nice guy, Dan does not always enjoy hearing Bobs stories

"It was amusing to read Bob's wife's letter to him, because she said at one point, "I know you'll tell me the stories a hundred times." And Bob does have a million stories about everything. Some of them are good, some of them are boring. But that's Bob, and I appreciate that in the real world, and I'd love to have a beer with him and hang out with him every now and then, but 24 hours a day is tough. It's tough, I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes it's just drowning. I just do my best to bite my tongue. It is what it is. I can't stop it. Bob's who he is."

(cut)

"There's a lot of other people that can't deal with Bob and his stories right now, but we all have something that is intolerable to the other person. Probably my worrying. They just roll their eyes and give it a chuckle. I try to be as polite as I can to Bob because I really hope to keep in touch with him when this is all over. Limited basis, I guess, so he can only tell me a limit of two stories a night every time I talk to him."

More Elephants at Fang

Crystal puts a damper on Matty's second discovery of elephants near the Fang camp

"There was three elephants today in our camp. Three! Right in our camp. I'm beating myself up a little bit because I got a little too excited about it and I wanted to get a better look, so I ran. I guess running, they can hear the footsteps on the ground and it scared them. I didn't get to look at them as long as I wanted to, but I'm new at this, I don't see elephants at home every day in LA, so I don't really know how to handle it necessarily all the time. I just got too excited. I still got to see them, so...Ace got to see 'em, Kenny got to see 'em. Crystal didn't even care. We came back to camp and told her we saw elephants and she was like, 'So?' Just fully dark and vicious like normal. She's such a buzzkill."

(cut)

"She's just ridiculous. She needs to go. She's losing it. Yesterday she said she almost fainted three times. Her whole attitude, her whole aura is negative, you know? It's been like this the whole game. I don't even are if we lose today. Then we get to send Crystal home."

Randy Eases Dan's Fears

Before Tribal Council, Randy assures Dan that he has nothing to fear after Susie put a target on herself

Randy: If Corinne is being even halfway true about Susie melting down and being in save-her-own-butt mode, she's gonna melt down this afternoon. I've been telling all of them, from day one Susie was in an alliance with Crystal and whoever...

Dan: Gillian.

Randy: On Fang. Then 5-6 days later she's in one with me and Matty. She will flip either way in two seconds notice.

Dan: I wonder if she's working Bob right now.

Randy: I'm pretty sure Marcus told me Bob is on Kota to the end, Kota wiping out Fang all the way. That's all Bob said. He's not playing the game, he's relying on that sixth place is pretty damn good for a 60-year old man. I believe Marcus. Give it two hours. She's melting down, I can see it. Today at the challenge when Jeff said, "The twist is both tribes are going to Tribal tonight and voting somebody off," I wasn't looking at the wheel, I wasn't looking at Fang, I was looking at Susie. I saw her eyes look down, I saw her wheels turning, and she was thinking, "I'm gone. What can I do?"

(Susie is heard laughing)

Dan: What's she laughing for? I don't get it. Corinne just told her she's on the chopping block.

Randy: It's early.

Dan: They could be keeping you in the dark because you and I are so close.

Randy: Sure. And it could be me. If you sense it's you, now is not the time to make a play.

Dan: I can't make a play. It's too late at this point.

Randy: 4 o'clock you might...I said to you I think I said it on day 1. Early in the game - and I think we're still early - you don't have to do anything because people will do things to get themselves voted out. And Susie has a long day in front of her.

Randy Warns Kota About Susie

With Tribal Council looming, Randy tries to convince his tribe that Susie presents a great threat to the future of their alliance in the game

Randy: I think we gotta do something, and there's pros and cons both ways. I think you guys might be underestimating just how dangerous Susie is. (Charlie mumbles something about damage control) Not Susie's mind being dangerous, but Susie's vote being totally up for grabs. She goes whichever way the wind is blowing, and you'll see that in 3 days.

Marcus: Then we have the damage control with Dan.

Randy: Right, and it's the same damage control with Susie, trust me, even though Dan is 10 times smarter, Susie's vote counts just as much.

Marcus: We're about to enter one of two worlds. That's all we can do.

Randy: We're about to finish first, second, third, fourth, or finish sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth.

Marcus: I like the way you talk.

(Charlie mumbles about preferring first/second/third/fourth)

Randy: That's fine with me. But in the next few days, that's what's gonna happen.

More Kota Than Kota

Randy expresses his allegiance to the original Kota Tribe when he admits being tighter with them than Bob is

"I've only been in the new Kota tribe now for 10, 12 days, I'm not even sure, I've lost count. I know I've been here longer than the original Kota. I certainly have the sense I am more Kota than Bob is. Bob is, he's driving everybody nuts. The difference between me and Marcus, or me and Charlie, or me and Corinne is they're nice people and they don't voice their opinion like I do. He starts in on another story about whatever back up in Maine, and I roll my eyes and walk off. They have been to more dinner parties than I have and they smile and nod and say, 'Good story, Bob.' I probably should take a page out of their book and do the same. I don't think I will. I'm waiting for the right time to just unload on the guy. He doesn't get the picture. It's like he forgets day to day that he told this story yesterday. I'm about to commit suicide out here, it's so frustrating."

The Champagne Fiasco

Marcus describes an incident that took place during his tribe's picnic reward

"We had this, I mean the price of oil has probably gone up, but we were having this champagne exchange fun going on. It was hilarious. I was getting pieces of meat thrown at me for mine. The best part is it doesn't take much at this point to get people rolling. Corinne and Randy were after it like ravenous animals. I think this dry spell for both of them has been the hardest part of this whole game. They were pretty much ready to sell the one shirt off their backs to get an extra sip. Then Bob was kind of getting a little ornery about it and you could tell the tensions were rising. I was like, guys, it's champagne in Africa. gimme a break, there's plenty of it and you'll get some soon. In the end the good thing about is it loosens everybody up, and may have caused a little bit of a negative stir, but by the end of it, Dan's throwing cheese around, chocolate's getting eaten off of fingers, and I think Charlie only took a sniff of the champagne and was already three sheets to the wind. It's funny to see that side to these people because we've been playing our cards so tight. Just a little bit of fun and all the sudden we're this Bachanallian crew of people living it up in Eden. We really had a good time with it. I have a feeling it's good we only had three bottles because things would have gotten a little crazy if we'd kept going."