Expedition debrief: that outburst is super tactical

After a lovely last summer day, it was time last night for the latest episode of Expeditie Robinson. It started off well with Rikkie's arrival on Bachelor Island. Eeeh, sorry Titan Island. The men are super happy with the arrival of a new woman. And for her, it’s extra enjoyable that shortly after her arrival, a showdown must take place between the two men. So she can just sit back and watch, but why she doesn’t have to participate in the challenge remains a mystery to me.

But before the challenge between the Titans takes place, it’s the turn of Camp North and Camp South to cheerfully compete against each other for the entire episode. Sergio ’coincidentally’ can’t participate again to his great frustration. By now, it almost seems intentional. Still, it’s actually quite handy, because not participating in the challenge also means you can’t make many mistakes. This challenge mainly involves maintaining balance on a huge rolling barrel. It’s a lot of hassle, and I remember that as a child I quickly got tired of a similar device in the playground. You’re guaranteed to fall hard on your face. Maybe it’s less bad if you jump into the cool water after waiting a long time in the blazing sun for your turn. Because I thought for a moment that it was just me, that it felt like this challenge lasted longer than average. At one point, it’s thankfully reported that they have been at it for 1.5 hours, and there is still actually 0% progress. How long they ultimately took is kept secret, perhaps because off-screen everyone has now suffered from a sunstroke and they want to cover that up. The challenge fills almost the entire episode, I can’t keep my attention on it anymore and I don’t really care which camp wins. I just want that challenge to be over. Fortunately, after hours of watching TV, the moment I predicted last week arrives: Camp North loses, and for the first time, someone must be voted out.

As soon as they return to their own island, Sergio has a huge outburst of anger. Joy has to calm him down with his Mount Joy meditation vibes. For a moment, I thought it wasn’t smart to have an outburst right before the island council. But actually, it’s incredibly smart, maybe even tactically thought out. Because someone who has outbursts of anger is mentally unstable. So his campmates might think: when the merge is finally in sight, Sergio might voluntarily withdraw. Of course, it could also be that I’m reading too much into it and that Sergio doesn’t think that way at all. I can only focus again when I see Thomas and Kiran on screen. Unfortunately, they also have to do a challenge again, but this time one that suits their strong bodies well. In the end, Thomas wins, I think because Kiran is just a bigger man and thus has to hold more weight while hanging on those arms. The winner gets to choose: do you want to take a barbecue back to the ‘normal’ island, or do you want to share a pizza with Kiran and Rikkie? I could almost cry at how cute it is that the men choose to share something delicious together instead of making a nice comeback upon their return to the game. But my frustration remains. I just want to know more about their life on the island. How are their nights, do they cook together? Do they have food? Or did they only get that pizza after days without eating anything? Can we see a bit more of Thomas and Kiran living together, please?

In the end, at the island council, it’s not Sergio who gets voted out, but Justine. And that’s quite sad, because she really thought she had found a circle of women, women who supported each other because they thought it was in the interest of the women to go far this season. Unfortunately for Justine, Ouassima thought differently, as she sadly realizes. But when she hears that she gets to go to Titan Island, you can see the sparkle return to her eyes. Fingers crossed that we get to see a bit more life, and a bit fewer challenges next week.