Welcome to the Outcast Club – Unan1mous, Episode 5 by Carrie
Last week on Unan1mous, Adam was outcast by popular (or unpopular, depending on how you look at it) vote and Jamie left the game. Because Jamie's departure was due to "medical reasons", the money clock remained the same rather than being divided in half once again. More scheming led to Steve being outcast, but before the vote Big Cheese announced that whoever was outcast as a result of this vote would receive the contents of a magical box that arose from the table.
As we catch up with the intrepid participants this week, Steve is being given the combination to the box. Why does the box need a combination, I wonder? It's not like someone could sneak over and steal it or take a quick peak. They're on camera 24/7. Anyway, Steve says in voiceover that he considered that there might be cash in the box, but discounted that theory quickly.
Inside the box is a card telling Steve that he may choose one other participant to remove from the game with him. Ah! I swear, that's exactly what I thought it might have been, and even mentioned it to a couple of you who e-mailed me last week.
Big Cheese asks Steve who he'd like to remove from the game. Steve seems both pleased that he can get some kind of revenge, and disappointed that he's still being outcast (and perhaps that there was no cash in the box). Tarah looks around, trying not to make eye contact, then does catch Steve's eye and looks away quickly. Privately she said she was trying to be inconspicuous. Good thing she's not an actress.
Steve hems and haws, and finally picks Vanessa. Jonathan can't contain his smirk, and actually looks like he's trying to stifle laughter. Adam welcomes Vanessa to the "outcast club" and adds that he hopes she likes the uniform. Vanessa is either angry or surprised – perhaps a bit of both. Big Cheese shoos them all away from the Inner Circle after pointing out that there are only four people left who are eligible to win the money.
Privately Steve says that he picked Vanessa because he wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. The poor lug still thinks that Vanessa betrayed him by messing up the closest-to-unanimous vote they've had, when Steve almost won the entire pot of cash.
Vanessa is miffed that Steve didn't think about who he was going to outcast. Meanwhile, Steve is talking about how you have to not only remove threats in this game, but you also have to them convince those outcasts to vote for you to win the money. He still has no idea that it was Tarah and Jameson behind his ouster, and we're shown the clip of Steve asking them if anyone is playing him after swearing to vote out Vanessa.
Steve, who just can't seem to stay on top of what's going on in there, heads off to talk with Adam, Jonathan, and Richard. Richard admits that Tarah and Jameson told him to vote for Steve, but he actually voted for Vanessa. Steve, once again, is dumbstruck. He thinks that Tarah must have been the snake the entire time.
Not one to stop and think things over before jumping in head first, Steve approaches Tarah and asks her what the heck is up. He asks her several times to be straight with him and tell him the truth, but Tarah plays dumb – badly. Fortunately for her sake though, Big Cheese summons everyone to the dining room table.
After they all gather and sit down, Big Cheese appears on the monitor and tells them that, as a group, the only thing they've been successful at so far is wasting nearly a million dollars. Heehee. As a testament to the characters of the four remaining participants still in the running towards winning the cash (sorry – too much America's Next Top Model lately), they will now see some videos from home.
The first video clip is from Rob, who is Jameson's partner. He says that Jameson is a wonderfully giving person who gave all the money he had to his sister so her dog could have surgery. Jameson is in tears watching this.
Richard's friend is up next, and he says that all Richard wants to do is buy his mother a house. Alrighty then.
Tarah's sister appears next, and she says that Tarah should get the money because she's broke. Hey, so am I. Can I have the money? She goes on to say that once, when they went to a fast food place, Tarah bought a meal for a homeless guy while they were there even though she didn't have much money herself.
Finally, Jonathan's sister (who he says is his twin) tells everyone that Jonathan would be a "rich person" with character if he won the money. She mentions that when she was on unemployment, Jonathan used to put $20 on her desk every morning before he left for work.
Privately Jonathan is grateful for his sister's performance, and says that hers was the best video message because she sounded sincere. Hmm, I wonder if her story was actually true or not? And why didn't the other participants wonder why there was no mention of Jonathan's (fictional) testicular cancer? Not being the quickest draw in the west, Steve says that he was moved by Jonathan's sister's story.
The guys (minus Jameson) get together again for some scheming. They seem to think that the outcast votes are more important than the vote to win the money. Someone tries to send Richard over to see what Tarah and Jameson are planning, There's a lot of back and forth, with the boys wanting to outcast Tarah, and Tarah and Jameson wanting to knock out Jonathan. Jameson says that everyone should just admit that everything they say is a lie, so they can just get on with the business of lying to each other. Indeed!
Vanessa is called in to talk with Tarah and Jameson. They both immediately come clean with her and admit that they engineered her ouster. Jameson says that he's trying to win a game, and would very much like Vanessa to vote with them to outcast Jonathan. Vanessa is angry that she was played, but has to admit that Tarah made a good strategic move in helping to take her out.
Apparently Richard has pledged his vote with both sides, which is rather clever of him since that's what he'll need to do to stay in the game. Steve, who is finally realizing that there may be some strategizing going on that he's not aware of, says that he won't trust "nothin' nobody says" anymore. Had Steve ever watched reality TV before signing a contract to be on this show?
Fembot calls the participants back to the Inner Circle for a vote. Big Cheese mentions again that they've squandered away nearly a million bucks, but now it's time to try and salvage something and vote for a winner. The cash clock stops at $555,584.
The voting balls appear and everyone dials in their votes, sending the balls through the vast series of tubes that arrive conveniently in front of Big Cheese. The first three votes are for Jonathan, and the fourth goes to Richard. Big Cheese asks if this could be a unanimous vote, but as we all know, it won't be. The fifth vote goes to Jameson, so we're back to square one. The final two votes are for Jameson and Tarah.
After restarting the clock, Big Cheese says once again that since they couldn't come to a unanimous decision, they will have to vote now to outcast someone. Things will work a little differently this time, however. Jameson, Tarah, Jonathan, and Richard are asked to rise and stand outside the Inner Circle. The three outcasts will each choose one person to return to the table, and the person who isn't picked will be outcast.
Adam is excited, and says that the game is finally starting to get interesting. I get the impression that Adam was somehow expecting more from this game – challenges, an adventure – something besides being locked in a bunker for days on end.
Steve gets to choose first, and he selects Richard. Richard takes a seat beside Steve and appears very grateful. Next up is Adam, and he picks Jonathan, adding that he doesn't want to "explain his explanation" for his choice. Big Cheese says that's fine. Finally, it's up to Vanessa. She gets to choose between Tarah and Jameson, who are standing with their arms around one another. And that, my friends, is where this episode ends.
Once again FOX gives us the result on a silver platter with their previews of next week's show. One person is shown in their normal clothes, while the other is only shown from the knees down; which only goes to prove that good editing is truly an art form. The participants will take a Survivor-style quiz about their fellow bunker-mates, and the results lead to more bickering. And Richard goes off on someone again.
And now it's sleep time for this participant. See you next week!
Drop me a line at carrie@realityshack.com and let's discuss!
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