Survivor: Gabon, somehow, keeps on getting better.  You know it's a good season when the result of the tribal council vote is more or less set in stone early in the episode and the hour remains entertaining.  It was abundantly clear from the first few minutes that, barring a Randy victory at the immunity challenge, the crotchety old man would be heading to jury.  And, yet, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Survivor episode as much as I did last night.  Most of this was thanks to Randy.  Though he's kind of an awful person, his presence will sorely be missed.  He's that ornery uncle who makes snide remarks at the family reunion, who the little nieces and nephews, who don't know any better, keep on infuriating.  If we ever have another Survivor: All-Stars, Randy has to be involved.  I demand it. 

Recap of Survivor: Gabon - Episode 9

The auction reward challenge has always been a favorite of mine, but last night's was unequivocally the greatest auction in Survivor history.  There is no argument.  There was so much going on.  Randy's unparalleled arrogance.  Ken's stupidity.  Susie's bizarrely short bath.  Sugar and Randy's absurd cookie argument.  And, of course, Jeff Probst presiding over the whole event with an amused detachment.  It was spectacular.  Watching the episode with a group of friends, we were laughing hysterically throughout.  Good times.

I've been fairly critical of Sugar all season, not buying into the whole “she's smarter than she looks” argument.  While I may have been a little hard on Sugar, she's still not the secret genius that some are purporting her to be.  Her idea of having Bob give Randy the fake idol was obvious, and it served little strategic purpose.  Randy was going home regardless.  What it did do was savagely embarrass Randy at tribal council (which was largely deserved) and keep Bob from being able to use the fake idol in another way.  That said, Randy and Corinne were the only ones capable of falling for the fake idol, being the only ones who didn't know that Sugar actually had the idol.  And, Bob had the same idea anyway, as we saw in one of his confessionals. 

As much as I enjoyed Randy's presence, the tribal council was a just comeuppance.  Randy had built up an unlimited amount of bad karma.  Had he been in possession of an actual idol, his ploy to piss everyone off would have been perfect.  But, really, there wasn't that big of a difference between plain old Randy, and the one who tried to piss everyone off on purpose. 

If you caught the scenes from next week at the end of the episode I'm sure, like me, your interest was piqued.  Is Bob lying about Marcus and the hidden idol?  Or, does he really know that it's somewhere around camp?  Either way, Bob is turning into as clever an old sage as my favorite older Survivor in history, Yau-Man Chan. 


Best in Show

Best Quote: "This vote is not strategic.  It is strictly personal." - Randy, when casting his vote for Susie

Best Scene: The auction, for all the reasons stated above.

Best User Comment:  "THAT WAS SO GREAT! RANDY IS A LOSER! KARMA WINS AGAIN!!!" - from user CathyKahny2, summing up quite succinctly what most of the viewing audience felt last night. 


Love it or hate it?  Rant and rave about last night's episode - comment below.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)