Truth Be Told

Truth Be Told is the penultimate twelfth episode of Survivor: Africa.

Challenges
Reward Challenge: Swahili ScrambleWorking from a list, Survivors had to find Swahili words hidden in letters on their boards. Each word intersected with another, sharing a letter. When all 9 words were circled, the group had to unscramble the 9 intersecting letters and discover the answer to a given clue. First one to do so would be the winner.

Reward: A brand new car, a Chevy Avalanche.

Winner: Lex

Immunity Challenge: Second Chance The castaways must traverse an obstacle course built from elements from past challenges of the season. First person to traverse it would win.

Winner: Lex

Day 34
Upon waking up, Lex felt drained. "I never thought it was gonna be this hard, physically, mentally, psychologically, emotionally. And now that we're so close to the end, I'm exhausted." Adding insult to injury, they realized that their water hole added an new, unsightly attraction: a huge mound of yet-fresh elephant dung. But despite the serious health problem it might bring to the five remaining survivors, life goes on when the tribe realized there's nothing much they could do, and found themselves doing their usual chores with the feces in sight. Tom uttered with disgust, "Kim Johnson was washing in sh** everyday! But that's hard to do, especially if you're down to the end." While Lex tried to kill boredom the whole day, Ethan then noticed Big Tom's feet getting more smellier than ever. He joked, "He's got some funk down there that I've never smelled before." While eating popcorn for lunch, Tom caught their last chicken wandering around camp. He said, They saw the chicken out, I saw my dinner, walking around." Ironically, while lying around, the chicken walked towards Tom, with the latter quickly catching its feet. Ethan and Tom then joked about being cavemen, trying to eat the chicken alive.

That afternoon, initially thinking that their next Tree Mail will hand clues for the upcoming Reward Challenge, but to the survivor's surprise, they received letters from home. Lex emotionally said, "It fed my body and my soul." A worried Teresa was relieved when her letter was an update about her ailing father's condition. Tom's came from his son, Bo.

Day 35
The castaways were welcomed be Jeff for their next Reward Challenge. After explaining the mechanics of the challenge, Jeff did not reveal the reward was and will be saved after the challenge. Lex was first to finish his puzzle, and much to his surprise, he won a brand new car, a Chevrolet Avalanche pick-up truck. Jeff then revealed a that the second part of the reward is that Lex can test drive the car, while delivering a year's worth of medical goods to the nearby Wamba hospital, a hospital entirely funded by donations. Jeff also explained that Kenya has a serious problem with AIDS. Teresa became emotional, explaining that her brother himself died of AIDS.

As Lex test drives his new car, Lex told Jeff his insights, saying, "I'm out here playing Survivor, spending all this time playing this game without realizing what the word 'Survivor' means, and this is the perfect situation to remind me of that." Upon reaching the hospital, Jeff and Lex started to hand the medical supplies to the Italian doctor on-duty.

Back at Moto Maji camp, the four other survivors expressed their dismay after Lex winning yet another challenge. Kim J. decided to start scheming against the yet-absent Lex, and approached Ethan to help her. "If you don't get Lex off you're shooting yourself in the foot," Kim threatened. Upon returning from the hospital, Lex began to feel vulnerable. Lex approached Kim J. about any conspiracies during his short absence. But Kim J. played it safe by assuring him that aside from the jealousy that the tribe has for him after winning yet another challenge, nothing has happened since.

Day 36
The survivors were welcomed by Jeff for their next Immunity Challenge, where they will face parts of previous challenges. After a close race between Ethan and Lex, the latter felt relieved after getting spared from the vote once again.

Back at camp, Teresa felt vulnerable as Samburu's last remaining member. With this, she tried to shake things up by confessing to Lex that she was the caster of the second vote Lex had received during Moto Maji's first Tribal Council, a vote that made Lex falsely accuse Kelly, causing the latter's ouster. Teresa then told Lex that Tom was conspiring against him because he persistently tried to save Brandon ten days ago. Meanwhile, Kim J. also told Lex the same story to make him turn on his closest ally and possibly break the potential all-male alliance that he, Ethan and Tom had made. Lex declared, "It's completely gone to cutthroat mode, and if I think Tom's about to screw me and stab me in the back, I'll cut his throat."

But at Tribal Council, Teresa's last-ditch effort to save herself was foiled, when the four Borans still stood strong after all anomalies. The last member of the original Samburu tribe was eliminated and was sent to the Jury in a 4-1 vote.

Voting Confessionals

 * Ethan: "."
 * Kim J.: "."
 * Lex: "."
 * Teresa: "."
 * Tom: "."

Links

 * CBS episode summary