Episode 5: "The Loss of Innocence", began with another morning at Camp Rotu. The 'Clydesdales'stirred early, and the ex-MoronU's did their usual belly-aching. Rob even spat-up his coconut milk.  Rob confides to the camera that Sean has given up, and that his own situation his very bad.  He suspects that the five original Rotus will vote off Sean first, and then either himself or Vee. Though he admits, that Vecepia is doing a better job of kissing the Rotu's butts than he is.

Meanwhile, we are treated to the new, reborn Maraamu Tribe. They start their day with a group prayer. Gina explains that everyone is glad to be rid of Sarah. She feels like part of a group for the first time since arriving. To prove this point, they all went together on a
crab-hunt. Very quickly, they captured a dozen crabs, and went to work preparing them for breakfast. Much was made at the beginning of the series about how the contestants were not to be provided with any food. Maraamu Tribe seems to have gotten the better break,
since they not only have lots of fresh fruit, but also several decent sources of protein. Even better yet, good tasting protein at that! Paschal and others comment on how good the crab meat is. He promises that they're going to win today.

After the commercial break, we rejoin Rotu. There seems to be a break there as well. John questions Gabe about sticking to their  original plan to oust the new-comers first. Gabe is disappointed that the MoronU's brought "The Game" with them to Rotu. Before the switch, Gabe was digging on the whole "building a society" thing. THAT'S WHY HE'S THERE!!!  No, a million dollars means nothing to the adventure-seeking bartender. John tells the camera afterwards, that he plans on keeping an eye on Gabe, and will "deal with him" when the time comes. Oh yes, Gabe also demonstrated the rappin' lesson he got from his boss, Mike 'Boogie' Malin, co-owner of Belly's lounge and contestant on Big Brother 2.

This week, we are once more treated to the 'lead-the-blind' routine for the reward challenge. The object is for one player to vocally guide three others to retreive 14 wooden blocks that make up two Tiki statues. Kathy, with the big mouth, leads Maraamu Tribe. Gabe is the shouter for Rotu's John, Robert, and Tammy. Jeff Probst reminds them, and us veiwers, that no player can sit out two back-to-back challenges. This means the Zoe and the MoronU's will have to represent Rotu in the more important immunity challenge.  The stage is set for an upset.

The prize for this reward challenge is a raiding-party on the other team's camp. Rotu starts off strong, getting an early lead. By mid-point, they are still ahead, with 9 blocks to 7 for Maraamu. But somehow, one of the Rotu's blocks gets knocked over in the mayhem, and
Gabe does not see it. Maraamu gets all 14 of their's first, permitting them to remove the blindfolds and construct their two statues. Gabe finally sees the last block and guides John to fetch it. But the time lost is too much. Maraamu wins it's very first challenge, just as planned in Mark Burnett's playbook. Orchestrate some wins for the underdogs before the Great Merge.

Jeff boats in to Rotu beach with Maraamu in tow, and allows them 2 minutes to take all except personal belongings, one cooking pot, one machette, a water jug, and the crucially important magnifying glass. That's about all Maraamu left them, too. They also had the good fortune to take the cooking pot with all of the Rotu's wild peppers. Along with the sundry items, Maraamu snatched the swim fins and snorkel, some Rotu-made spears, the Rotu's cutting board (top of the crate), and most importantly, the pillows and blankets, as we shall see later. Rob taunts the departing looters that they forgot the frying pan.

Rotu is devastated. They lost all the goodies they won in the reward challenges. Gabe stands dumbfounded, staring out to sea as the Maraamu leave. John puts his arm around him. It'll be alright, Gabe. You still have two hands to build a society with. Vecepia tries to
pontificate how this will bring them closer together. Hahaha! As soon as she and some of the others head off to fetch water and food, John, Gabe, and Tammy hold a meeting to discuss the situation. John wants a commitment from Gabe that he's going to stick with
'The Plan', and vote off the MoronU's first. Gabe again starts babbling about how he's not there to play 'The Game', but to build a society. John is clearly frustrated, and begins to chat up Robert, Zoe, and Tammy about forming an alliance. The clock is ticking for our
Christopher Atkins look-a-like.

Maraamu is having a grand old time! Not only do they have better food than Rotu, but now, they have most of Rotu's stuff. They glee about, happy for the win. Kathy says it's the best one yet since she got on the island. Gina is just happy to finally win something. Neleh
thinks it's just peachy-keen. Paschal is proud of his 'Pappy's Angels'.

The next day, we learn that the immunity challenge is going to be the old, S.O.S. thing again. This is always a good challenge to help out the weaker tribe, as we know from Mark Burnett's playbook. The need for ratings demands parity, and how better than to leave the question of who wins immunity to a subjective authority, hired by Burnett. In this case, a ship captain, who will compare the two S.O.S. signals and see which catches his fancy more.

Maraamu is confident they will win, since they have the blankets and lots of other stuff to use, especially Paschal's American flag. Rotu grumbles about not having the blankets, and that their fate is now in the hands of Zoe and the MoronU's. John pretty much concedes that they're gonna lose this one, and begins wrapping up his scheme to dump Gabe. After the Rotu's build their feeble signal, the black rubber raft stretched out on a frame, with some orange life vests at each corner, John talks with Sean. Now, you gotta wonder why John confides his plan with Sean, whom he surely can't trust, about why he can't trust Gabe. Anyway, Sean was just about to tell Rob what John told him when the ship arrived. The Rotu's scamper about, blowing whistle's and trying to attract attention. But the captain is unimpressed.

Maraamu Tribe is more than ready. They also build a frame to hold a stretched-out blanket, which has sewn in it's middle, a large pattern made up of the orange life vests. In addition to his, Paschal does his impersonation of Uncle Sam from George M. Cohen's production of "You're A Grand Ole Flag". All this color and activity is clearly seen by our ship captain, who declares Maraamu the winners. Two toots of the ship's horn signal the victory, and Jeff Probst tosses the immunity idol overboard. The idol is recovered and the Maraamu's celebrate.

The scene now shifts back to Rotu, where Rob and Sean ponder the possibility of turning things around by forming an alliance with Gabe to boot John. Rob talks with Gabe, using some sort of Mafia code. Either Gabe doesn't understand, which is probably the case, or he actually planned on sticking with the original plan, because he turns Rob down. Poor Christopher Atkins, I mean Gabe, can't believe that his own beloved Rotu would vote him off first. I mean, didn't he build them into a society? Wasn't that why he came there?

Rotu marches off to Tribal Council, where Jeff Probst asks his usual questions. How does it feel to lose, suckers? Who's you're leader? Do you think you're toast tonight? Sean does a pretty good eyeroll when John says that he's stepped up as a leader. It's the most work Sean's done since arriving. One by one they vote, and as Jeff tallies, it becomes clear that Gabe is tonight's victim. He got seven votes against him. Gabe voted for Rob, by the way, sticking to the original plan John was so hyped up about. Go figure. But fear not, as Gabe is not sad at all. As he speaks to the confessional, he says he already misses his tribe. Awwwww, how sweet! Besides, now he can go back to the Blue Lagoon and build a society with Brooke Shields.

Spoilers for next week's show Paschal and the other ex-Rotu's are shocked that Gabe is gone. Also, Rob asks John, "Do I look like I have STUPID written across my forehead?"

Ummm, can I answer that?