Rewatch: Survivor: Borneo "Old and New Bonds" (Episode 9)

Episode 9: "Old and New Bonds"
Original Airdate: July 26th, 2000
American Ratings: 27.2 million viewers

Sixteen Americans marooned for 39 days in the middle of the South China Sea.

Day 25

Richard and Sue are acutely aware that they can't give in and reveal the existence of the alliance when host Jeff Probst asks about it at tribal council. Colleen is convinced that they flat out lied at tribal council. Sadly, she believes that whoever wins the million dollars will not deserve it.

Kelly is having second thoughts about the alliance. She is no longer comfortable with the way things are being done. She feels that it's like leading lambs to the slaughterhouse.

Yeah, I don't like it. I'm not happy playing the game that way. If I'm going to win, if I'm going really to be the last survivor, if I'm really going to survive and really do this, then it has to be on my own.

Richard remains the sole castaway able to provide food for the tribe. Sean knows that Richard is in an ideal position at the moment. He is at the epicenter of power right now. Still, Sean thinks that Richard is a little immature in his motives at times.

The last time at tribal council when I was talking about "I'll be staying around here because I'm providing fish" was an outright and blatant lie. I'm staying here because I'm bright. It's got nothing to do with catching fish. Catching fish makes people happy, but that's not why they're voting me here. They're not voting me off because I'm not letting them.

By not stoking the fire properly when Sue asked him to, Rudy ruined all the fish Richard brought back. Half of today's catch is wasted, and Richard is irritated. He plans on not catching anything to let the others hunger for meat for a while.

Jenna, Sue, Colleen, and Kelly go on another fishing expedition on the raft. They are tired of relying on Richard for food. To their surprise, one of the fish traps contain a fish this time around. The women are proud of themselves, hoping that their catch will annoy Richard.

Day 26

The reward challenge is for an old-fashioned American barbecue and love letters from home. Along a rope course, the castaways must retrieve medallions. Colleen wins the reward and would like to invite everybody. When Jeff Probst informs her that she can only bring one person along for the barbecue, Colleen picks Jenna so she can read her letters from home.

The others are cooking rice back at thhe Rattana camp while Colleen and Jenna pig out at the barbecue. Both of them wonder when Gervase will finally get a clue and realize that the former Tagi members have an alliance picking them off one by one. They believe that Sean could be the swing vote. Jenna cries when she reads her letters.

Day 27

It's Richard's birthday. To celebrate, he takes off his clothes and walks around in his birthday suit.

It felt awkward sitting next to a naked gay man. And if he had like something to cover the buttcrack area, I'd be cool with that.

Colleen isn't comfortable with Richard walking around naked. But she loves the fact that she manages to annoy him.

Getting ready for the immunity challenge, Gervase says that it's crunch time now. He knows that he's getting close to the end, yet he must win if he wants to stay.

Sean's alphabetical order voting system raises a few eyebrows around camp.

If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be appreciated, shut up!

For the immunity challenge, the castaways are standing on a game board. They each start on a square and move one square at a time. As they move, they must flip over the square they were just on. Each player must flip squares until they can no longer move. The last person standing wins immunity. Rudy comes out on top.

Colleen and Jenna know that their days are numbered, so they are planning on doing as little as possible. The former Pagong tribe will now vote as one. Gervase opines that they must now switch gears.

Richard and Sue are worried by the fact that Kelly has begun to bond with Colleen and Jenna. They wonder where her loyalty lies. Sue is aware that they don't yet have the numbers to go all the way. If Kelly should flip, it could spell doom for their hopes of winning the million-dollar prize.

There is a lot of uncertainty and no one knows what will happen at tribal council tonight. The former Pagong tribesmates are all voting for Richard.

At tribal council, Jeff Probst announces that beginning tonight with Greg, the castaways voted off will return to observe as jury members. Realizing that Jenna is next on the list, Jeff asks Sean about the alphabetical order voting system.

Oh, Sean. . . He's just. . . He's neurotic. He's an idiot.

Sue feels that Sean doesn't have the balls to make a decision.

Though Richard gets the four Pagong votes cast against him and Sean sees his name come up once, Jenna garners the four remaining votes and becomes the second member of the jury.

Consternation can be seen on Sean's face as he realizes that he was duped and his alphabetical order voting system got Jenna eliminated.

To purchase the Survivor: Borneo DVD boxset: Canada, USA, Europe.