I'm a Mental Giant

I'm a Mental Giant
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Kaôh Rōng
Episode Number	1/15 (472)
Original Release	February 17, 2016
Viewership (in Millions)	8.30
Ratings/Share (18-49)	1.9/7
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Reunion" (previous season)
Next	"Kindergarten Camp"
Subpages

I'm a Mental Giant is the season premiere of Survivor: Kaôh Rōng.

Story

Day 1

A massive fishing vessel stocked with supplies carries eighteen castaways, divided into three tribes based on the personal attributes they mostly use in their daily lives: "Brains", "Brawn", and "Beauty".

“	The brain tribe...	”
—Jeff Probst

	Peter	“	Being an ER doctor, it's gonna be difficult for me to not show how smart I am, to express humility, but I can't deal with ignorant people 'cause they think they know what they're talking about.	”

	Debbie	“	This game is largely a brain game, and in these challenges I am going to kick ass. Because, puzzles lay down for me like lovers.	”

“	The brawn tribe...	”
—Jeff Probst

	Scot	“	I am a former professional basketball player. I was the guy that did all the things nobody else wanted to do. I'd go knock people on the ground, I'd push people out of the way, I did it better than most guys. People I'm gonna get along with are guys that are strong, and if you show weakness, bye-bye! (laughs)	”

	Jason	“	My bread and butter has always been bounty hunting. You kick in the door, you raid the house, you snatch the guy up, hog-tie him like a pig, throw him in the back of your truck and take off. I don't care, I just need to get my paycheck, and you're my paycheck.	”

“	The beauty tribe...	”
—Jeff Probst

	Anna	“	I do try and use my looks to my advantage in poker. If I feel like a male is staring at my boobs, I might push them up a little more.	”

	Nick	“	My life has definitely been easier because I'm better looking than most people. And that sounds terrible, it sounds awful, but it's the truth. My looks will definitely help me. 39 days and a million bucks in my pocket at the end.	”

At the sound of a bell, the castaways are only given two minutes to collect as many supplies from the ship as they can before paddling to their respective camps. Members from all three tribes hurriedly release their rafts while their tribemates scramble for supplies, where the commotion has sent chickens, fruits, baskets, and other survival items flying everywhere, from the deck to the ocean. Caleb from the Beauty tribe rescues a chicken from the water. Joe from the Brains tribe controls his tribe's raft as his tribemates throw items overboard, while Tai from the Beauty tribe, protects the chickens from being trampled by the frantic castaways. Cydney from the Brawn tribe and Neal from the Brains tribe briefly scuffle over a basket of mangoes. After the two-minute period, Jeff Probst orders the three tribes to paddle to their respective tribe camps.

	Caleb	“	People will probably recognize me from Big Brother, but being an outdoorsman, this game is totally for me. I don't mind gettin' dirty at all.	”

	Joe	“	It's very hectic out here. I'm a retired FBI agent, and of course, there've been times within the FBI when you've had those kinds of cases where everything's going a mile a minute. But this to me is going to be the ultimate challenge, so I'm pumped for this. This is the real deal for me.	”

	Tai	“	I'm, like, running around like crazy. I'm protecting the chicken because I-I-I love all living creature.	”

The three tribes row over to camp.

	Cydney	“	Paddling in, and looking around at my brawn tribe, it feels like home. The majority of my life is about being strong, physically or mentally it's about being strong.	”

	Jason	“	On brawn tribe, there is a lot of people who have different physical traits, I did six years in the army, so I don't need to prove to you I'm badass. A lot of people find my intimidating, they judge me because of how I look. They don't realize that I have two daughters and my youngest has autism, like I'll be the girly-girl dad and I also teach them how to be a badass!	”

	Alecia	“	People might look at me and be like aw, Malibu Barbie is here, she's not gonna be here long and I'm a lot tougher than they think, I've been bungee jumping in Bali, I've been face-to-face shark diving in Australia and I've been with three uncaged tigers in Thailand. I'm fearing, dareless and opinionated and this is something, I know I can do.	”

	Scot	“	I think all of us, have a very similar mindset. We're not beautiful, we're not smart. But, we are strong, and I feel lucky right now, I know things in this game change real quickly, same thing that makes you laugh, makes you cry. But right now I think we got a great group.	”

	Liz	“	The Brain tribe is definitely my tribe. That's the attribute that I actually think is valuable because we are able to look for new approaches and slightly different ways of thinking through the problems. So we're off to an immediate advantage.	”

	Peter	“	Being called Obama is part of my daily life. It's been like that for the last seven years. If Debbie calls me Obama, I guarantee you, everyone else is calling me Obama. That being said, if they feel better getting crushed by Obama, so be it.	”

Challenges

Reward/Immunity Challenge: Wooden Ships
The tribes will swim out to a boat. Once the entire tribe is on board their boat, one person at a time will dive down to retrieve paddles. Once they have all four paddles, they will race to shore, where they will convert their boat to a cart by attaching four wheels. They will then push their boat to the top of the beach. Once at the top, they will have to decide between assembling a puzzle or testing their dexterity by stacking balls while standing on a wobbly beam. The first two tribes to finish win immunity.
Reward: A fire making kit for the winner; flint for the runner-up.
Winners (in order of finish): Chan Loh and Gondol

Tribal Council

• First Vote
• Revote

Tribal Council 1: To Tang
Voted Against	Voter
Alecia (3 votes)	Cydney, Darnell, Jason
Darnell (3 votes)	Alecia, Jennifer, Scot
TIE: Alecia, Darnell (3 votes each)

Revote (Alecia and Darnell ineligible to vote)
Voted Against	Voter
Darnell (4 votes)	Cydney, Jason, Jennifer, Scot
Alecia (0 votes)	None
VOTED OUT: Darnell Hamilton

Voting Confessionals

Alecia was shown writing Darnell's name down on the parchment. Revote confessionals are unavailable.

	Cydney	“	(voting against Alecia) You're really starting to irk my soul… a lot.	”

Final Words

	Darnell	“	This was very hard to be vote out number one, but I absolutely enjoyed every moment of it. I mean, it was a life lesson to me. What I learned is to fight hard. They can vote me out, they can do whatever they want but I'm not letting nobody bring me down. I encourage anybody who has any dreams, any goals, to go out there and do it, you know, don't let nobody hold you back. Yeah, I'm out number one, but I went out there and I played hard and I'm satisfied with that.	”

Still in the Running

Darnell 18th	Alecia To Tang	Anna Gondol	Aubry Chan Loh	Caleb Gondol	Cydney To Tang	Debbie Chan Loh	Jason To Tang	Jennifer To Tang
Joe Chan Loh	Julia Gondol	Liz Chan Loh	Michele Gondol	Neal Chan Loh	Nick Gondol	Peter Chan Loh	Scot To Tang	Tai Gondol

Trivia

Other

• This episode marks the earliest tied vote in Survivor history.
• The unused Dexterity option from this episode's Immunity Challenge would later be made into a standalone Reward Challenge in the season finale.
• The first scene of this episode is reminiscent of the first scenes of the first episodes of Borneo and Cook Islands.

Episode Title

• The title of the episode was said by Alecia Holden when defending herself at Tribal Council.