Monty Brinton/CBSTension and testiness continued to be the name of the game for one tribe…while the other feasted on fruit and more glorious foodstuffs.
Think these arrangements are starting to get to some people? Find out what went down on tonight's emotional episode of Survivor: Gabon and read on to see who didn't have the (red or yellow) balls to continue...
• Still smarting from the last Tribal Council, Fang's hungry seven are looking for a little perspective. Luckily, they've spotted an elephant tromping through the trees, and when they can't see it they can hear it, making for some mellower times around the campfire.
• "Seeing that elephant today really made me step out of the game for a second," Matty Whitmore, appointed the leader of Fang last week, said reflectively. "It makes you appreciate the simplicity of life and the pure things and makes you appreciate Gabon." Not quite as much as $1 million will, but it's a start.
• When the two tribes meet for the reward challenge, Kota is shocked—shocked—that Jacquie Berg was voted off.
• The object of the first challenge is to toss pieces of fruit through two wooden goalposts, each one manned (or womanned) by a member of the opposite team whose job it is to whack the fruit out of the air with a bat. Whoever gets the heaviest amount of fruit past the two whackers wins.
• Ace Gordon starts out doing a great job for Fang, with Kota's Dan Kay having a hard time getting a hang of it. Eventually, the two tribes pull closer together, and it's anyone's guess whose fruit weighs what.
• Notable moment: Ace gets hit in the face with a pineapple.
• In the end, Fang lands 16 pounds of fruit in its basket…but Kota caught 18. The lucky seven win an herb garden, salt and chili sauce. Plus, they get to take all the fruit they bagged. They're feasting tonight! And, they send Immunity Idol-toting Sugar Kiper off to Exile Island, again—purely for the comedy of it, Dan says.
• The demoralization of Fang is starting to seep through the TV screen. And the biggest dark cloud appears to be hovering over G.C. Brown, who is starting to question his reasons for being there.
• "You gotta deal with these people day in and day out, 24/7," G.C. says. "It definitely plays tricks with your head. It's overwhelming at times. It's hard, and I do question, What am I doing? I feel like I've had enough of these people here. I need to get back to real life because this game is…I feel like it's changing me, and it's not for the better." So does G.C. really, really want to go home because he can't take the heat? (Or the backstabbing, the bugs, the deprivation…take your pick.)
• Ace, meanwhile, sits back and wait for the implosion. He'd probably munch some popcorn if he had any.
• It's time to leave for the elimination challenge, and G.C. is missing. Ace finds this hilarious. Crystal is getting fed up with such "tantrums from a grown adult."
• Turns out G.C. was just trying to clear his head with a solo canoe ride. He makes it in time to head out to Jeff Probst's domain.
• The elimination challenge is another get-the-balls-in-the-goal affair. This time, the tribes must push massive spheres made of sticks down a hill and past various obstacles, including a blindfolded member of the opposite tribe who's toting a shield as his group's last line of defense before the ball reaches the goal.
• First up, Ace wields the shield for Fang and Sugar acts as his eyes, directing him where to go. Dan and Randy Bailey do the same, respectively, for Kota.
• The disconnect between Ace and Sugar continues. Fang doesn't score until Dan stops his own tribe's ball. But Kota still has a commanding lead.
• "Ace, embarrassed," Probst declares.
• Ace takes a shield to the face. This has not been his day for avoiding objects to the face.
• For the most part, Ace was almost never anywhere near the correct ball, and Kota blasts Fang out of the…grass.
• G.C. tells Matty he wants to leave. Matty tells Crystal Cox that G.C. wants to leave. This pisses her off. Ace finds this hilarious.
• Crystal peeks into Sugar's bag and finds the Immunity Idol, prompting a halfhearted discussion about possibly blindsiding the former pinup model before she has a chance to flex her power.
• At Tribal Council, G.C. talks morosely about having suffered throughout the beginning of his life and having no desire to suffer more by continuing to play this game that he signed up for.
• So, despite some last minute speculation that it might be Sugar who gets the shaft, the tribe gets rid of G.C., 6-1. Even G.C. didn't vote for Sugar, instead thumbing his nose at Kelly, just for the hell of it.
Thirteen are left and tensions are high. And that's how we like it! Are you disappointed in G.C.? Glad to see him go? Befuddled by Sugar's blind loyalty to Ace? Do share!