Expedition aftertalk: unexpectedly I have a weakness for this man

You can discuss a lot about the unfair distribution of caregiving tasks between men and women, and why that is actually the case. Generally speaking, women are more caring, we can't get around that. It's instinctive, it just happens, you want to be there and take care of your loved ones. And because Expeditie Robinson is also a kind of social experiment, amidst all the bizarre constructions of challenges, we see that female instinct reflected in the episodes.

After three weeks, enough is enough

After Ymre's departure, a chain reaction was set in motion: Ellemieke began to seriously doubt whether she herself also just wanted to go home. Homesickness won this battle against the motivation to continue, so she left after three weeks of Expeditie to be with her children again. They are no longer little ones (the boys Noah and Zenna are 13 and 15) but they remain your babies. Jamie also feels a certain effect: immediately after Ellemieke's departure, doubt strikes her: is she a good mother if she stays now, instead of also going home to be with her little ones? And while Sergio (Ellemieke's ex-husband) has been leaving the care of his children to his ex-mother-in-law for three weeks now. They do not have co-parenting, because he has a too busy job. I'm not bitter, but I find it a striking difference in mindset between men and women; how can it be that men seem to feel that responsibility less strongly? Or am I now perpetuating a stereotype with this line of thought? Oh well, I could go on about it longer, but I understand the inner conflict of these mothers all too well. Whether they stay or leave.

Let's go back to everyone's favorite alpha male

And sorry guys, but I have to talk about Timor again. I'll stick to the facts, I'm just writing down what I see. In this episode, we quickly get to work with the immunity challenge, and the task is: hang on a beam as long as possible like a little monkey. So, with arms and legs clamped around the beam, the Robinsons hang there for minutes above the water. Marijn, Nouchka, and Timor hold on the longest, and since it's about immunity, of course, no one wants to give up. After about half an hour, unfortunately, the women drop out, and Timor wins. Then he demonstrates why I don't always find him such a nice guy: he smiles as he lets his legs slide off the beam, pulling himself up a few more times on the beam as if it were nothing, this task. ‘I could have gone on for a while longer, yes,’ he says proudly. And I find that a bit unnecessary. I think Kiran shares my opinion because his look towards Timor is quite telling.

The positive one has to make way

Someone whose opinion I have had to adjust over the past weeks is Billy. Where I expected that we would get really annoyed by his jokes, he turns out to be that whole cheerful joker, come rain or shine. Billy doesn't use that humor to be liked; he is just really incredibly positive. And we see that even at the moment he is voted out at the island council. A grateful, happy person, who finds everything wonderful and harbors no resentment. I hope we get to see Billy more often in these kinds of programs.

Image credits: Jasper Suyk