They Came at Us with Spears!

They Came at Us with Spears!
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Vanuatu
Episode Number	1/15 (125)
Original Release	September 16, 2004
Viewership (in Millions)	20.06
Ratings/Share (18-49)	7.8/22
Episode Chronology
Previous	"America's Tribal Council" (previous season)
Next	"Burly Girls, Bowheads, Young Studs, and the Old Bunch"
Subpages

They Came at Us with Spears! is the season premiere of Survivor: Vanuatu.

Story

“	Eighteen castaways, separated into two tribes of men vs. women, are stranded on the remote islands of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.	”
—Episode Synopsis

Day 1

18 strangers arrive on a boat to the island nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific to begin the 9th season of Survivor. The contestants notice the Vanuatu natives heading toward their big boat in kayaks and are excited to see Jeff Probst arrive from one of the kayaks. Jeff tells the contestants they will perform a traditional Vanuatu tribal ritual in order to stay on land, run by Chief Mormor, that he will merely observe to the side. He then has the castaways jump off the ship and onto canoes.

	Mia	“	Jeff gave us an overview, saying how the customs of Vanuatu are not like we're used to, so I was…I was really nervous after he was talking to us. I'm like, "What are they gonna do?"	”

	Travis	“	Jeff informs us we're going to climb down the side of the boat and we're going to get in these canoes. I thought "Man, that's great," because I didn't learn how to swim until six weeks before I come here. I would've been spooked if I knew I had to swim. We get into the boat, and it tips over. So, I'm trying to hold onto the rope to keep me up. It was killing my back, but I wasn't about to move again. I was going to stay right where I was at. We finally got another boat over there.	”

	Leann	“	When the natives took us into the middle of the ring where everybody circled around us, it was really overwhelming for me, and I don't know if it was just the anticipation of getting started or the whole thing, but I was…really, I was moved to tears.	”

The castaways reach the shore and emerge from their canoes, where they are greeted by Vanuatu natives running toward them with spears. The natives then sing a tribal chant and immediately separate the men and the women to different sides, confusing the castaways. Chief Mormor starts welcoming the men, and gives them a kava to drink, which they spit out and do not enjoy at all.

	John P.	“	There was a bunch of tribesmen running with spears. My first reaction was, you know, "What's going on?" We were like, "Wha-Wha-What? Are we supposed to defend ourselves? What are we supposed to do?"	”

	Rory	“	They're jabbing spears at absolutely everybody except me. Nobody jabbed a spear at me in any way, shape, or form, which I took as, you know, a black man coming on the island is not particularly unwelcome.	”

	Eliza	“	These guys in their big cone-shaped jungle dresses-- they have these big sticks, and they start, you know, pulling people out with the sticks, but king of, like, you know, whacking 'em out. Soon enough, I noticed that they were bringing the women to one side. We look over, and the guys, you know…Like, we're, like, kneeling on a mat, and they have, like, little, like, stump seats to sit on. And they're, like, right in the center of the action. We're kind of off to the side. And so I immediately start thinking, "What's with this? I thought we were all supposed to be part of this ceremony."	”

	Lea	“	They brought a bowl out, and they uncovered the palm leaves off of it, and they were pointing at it. Well, I thought maybe I was supposed to wash my fingers or something, you know? Uh, we were getting ready to eat something or-or, uh, wash my fingers, 'cause it was some rustic-looking stuff.	”

	Rory	“	Chief Mormor offers each one of us this kava, which is the local drink. It's like mud, basically. You drink it. Your lips go numb, and your tongue goes numb, and your throat goes numb.	”

	John P.	“	The chief is welcoming us, and I look over at the girls, and they're not getting anything to drink. And I'm thinking, "Wow, this is pretty cool." You know, special treatment for the guys	”

	Ami	“	I was waiting for our turn. I was like, "Well, okay, well, when do we get kava?" But it never came around. We're not getting the full deal here. I'm not used to being put in second behind a man.	”

Nightfall hits, and the Vanuatu natives continue dancing and chanting. Jeff then lets the castaways know that what is about to come is a part of their tradition. The natives bring in a live pig and slaughter it in front of all the castaways, much to their shock, except for Dolly Neely. The chief takes some pig's blood and puts it on the foreheads of the men as a sign of welcome.

	Lisa	“	Apparently, the Vanuatu people really honor pigs. Pigs are, i think, sometimes better than women. Anyway, so, they come in with this pig. Right away, I thought, "Okay, we're having a pig roast," you know? But I thought the pig was dead. And then I realized the pig was alive.	”

	Eliza	“	I eat meat, and I know that animals are slaughtered, but, like, seeing it was just like… (gasps) Like, I-I literally think I gasped out loud, because it was just so shocking to watch.	”

	Dolly	“	That kind of stuff doesn't bother me, because I'm a shepherdess, and that's what I do. I-I raise lambs for that exact purpose: to slaughter. So I totally understand that ritual.	”

	Lea	“	The head chief took the blood of his sacrifice and went to each male member of Survivor-- no, no females-- and said "You are now a-a, you know, a warrior in Vanuatu." And basically, I felt what he was doing was he was saying "Welcome."	”

The natives cheer as they finish the welcome, and Jeff steps up to tell them about the final element to the initiation, involving a spiritual stone. The chief is offering the men a chance to possess the stone, but they must climb a pole greased with pig fat in order to get the stone. The women would get it if the men do not succeed. The chief chooses a man to climb the pole and attempt to get the stone, and he chooses Brady Finta, who was hoping to not be chosen, much like the other men. The women were hoping Brady would fall so they could win the spiritual stone, but he ends up succeeding and wins it for the men.

Afterwards, Jeff announces it is officially time to begin Survivor: Vanuatu, and they will remain men vs. women, as the chief originally divided them. Chris Daugherty is on board with men vs. women, thinking he can manipulate men. Jeff hands the tribes their buffs and tells them their next task is to find their tribal beaches without a map or fire to guide them, and they will have a pot, machete, and map to water at each of their camps. he directs the men and women to their camps and wishes them good luck as he sends them on their ways.

On their way to camp, some of the women decide to stop on the way and rest and others wanted to keep going. Everyone tried encouraging each other to make a decision on what to do, but had trouble figuring out what to do. After some persuading, Scout Cloud Lee agreed to go with the girls.

	Scout	“	I just wanted to hunker down till daylight came so we could, you know, find our camp easier and everybody would be safe. I wasn't tired. I just love to sit and visit. I haven't said anything to anybody here, but I'm schlepping around an artificial knee. So I'm pretty cautious crawling across lava rock that deep at night with it raining.	”

	Eliza	“	Ami and Dolly and Scout didn't want to come along. They almost insisted on just stopping where we were and, you know, sleeping.	”

	Leann	“	It got to a point where we couldn't make a decision whether we should continue, or go back, or if we missed the flag, or…We were really kind of afraid that we missed camp altogether 'cause it's dark out.	”

Much like the women, Rory Freeman suggested they come up with a game plan to get to their camp, and the guys settled on continuing their walk to camp, which did not take them that long to find. Upon arriving at their new camp, the men celebrated after finding their way there. The women made it to their camp and celebrated as well.

	Brook	“	Rory, I don't think he's gonna fit in. There's one in every bunch, you know what I mean? To see, like, Rory already barking out orders, what is he thinking?	”

	Eliza	“	We see the flag and, you know, all the trouble, all the conflicts, like, dissolved. We're all hugging and thrilled to death that we're here.	”

Day 2

At Yasur, about half of the women work on building their shelter, while the others are hanging out in the ocean, chatting, and rubbing sand all over themselves. Scout calls them "bowheads" and Twila Tanner is working hard on the shelter, and Eliza feels that it makes those who took breaks look bad and seem like they are not making an effort to help.

	Scout	“	I call these sorority girls "bowheads." That's what we call them back in Oklahoma. They all like to hang together. They're like cattle. I mean, really, cows, they just cluster. And those sorority chicks, they aren't paying attention to any damn thing but themselves. You know, they're their favorite topic.	”

	Eliza	“	Twila has been working on the shelter constantly. I feel like her continuous work has made those of us who ahve taken reasonable breaks look bad in her mind to think that, oh, they're not pulling their weight.	”

At Lopevi, the men get ready to start a fire. John Palyok demonstrates a way to make fire in a bamboo stick, and thinks they can do it if the Aborigines can. As the guys continue to make fire, Chad Crittenden reveals his prosthetic leg to the tribe, much to everyone's surprise. He tells them he lost it due to a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma, and the men praise him for being there.

	Chad	“	After doing things that are physically demanding, I felt like it was the right time to-to reveal the fact that I have no foot, that it is a prosthesis. They were pretty surprised.	”

	File:S9 name t.png Name	“	I had absolutely no idea that Chad had no leg. I mean, he had…he was wearing pants the whole day, so he just goes, "Hey, guys, look." And then he unzippered his pants, and there was no leg. It was pretty…it was pretty shocking.	”

	Brady	“	Great! The guy with the mechanical leg's gonna win for sure. He's nice, he's smart, he's quiet, and he…you know, he's got the underdog thing going on, so we're screwed.	”

	Brook	“	I'm amazed. All the power to him. I totally think that's inspirational, but if I have to vote his ass out of here tomorrow, I'm still gonna vote his ass out of here tomorrow.	”

Day 3

After the tribes received Tree Mail, they met Jeff for their first Reward/Immunity Challenge.
When they got there, Jeff asked both tribes how they were doing, and they both said they needed to make fire.

Both tribes were dead even when they started in the mud pit, with John Kenney and Lisa Keiffer being the first ones through the mud pit. Lopevi gains a small lead on Yasur, as they have to pull Scout from the mud. Lopevi then gets to work on the table maze, with Yasur right behind them, but Lopevi manages to get their ball through the maze faster. As the men are trying to get across the balance beam, the women gets their ball through the maze and can move on. Lopevi maintains their lead, until Chris falls on the net, letting Scout catch up and give Yasur the lead. The women head to make fire as Chris attempts to cross the balance beam, and they are able to make fire quickly. The fire burns through the rope, and Twila runs with the torch to the finish line, giving Yasur the win, sending Lopevi to Tribal Council.

	Lea	“	J.P., Brady, John, and Brook, they basically said "Sarge, we need to get rid of the weakest link. It's tricky to decide who I'm going to vote for. I said I'm going to think about it. They said the weakest link. They're assuming that I agree that the weakest link is Chris.	”

Back at camp, John P., Brady, John K., and Brook decide to vote for the weakest link, and that Chris is the weakest link. However, Lea Masters talks to Chris about voting off the young people. Chris suggests John P., but Lea says he is the only one trying to make fire and suggests they vote Brook for his cockiness.

	Chris	“	I prepared to come here mentally, and I prepared to play the game. I'm not vulnerable at all. We got a plan.	”

	Brook Geraghty	“	Personally, I think these are all young guys on the team, guys are going to be targets. I feel like I am one of the stronger, younger guys who's going to be a target.	”

	Brady	“	Well, obviously I haven't fully made up my mind on who I'm going to vote for yet tonight. I'm thinking about Chris right now, but Rory, he's kind of on his own sheet of music a lot of the time. I think maybe some people feel like Rory is maybe not putting out as much group effort as some of the other guys, and the group right now is where it's all at.	”

Jeff welcomes them to their first Tribal Council, and asks everyone if they were thinking Chris was killing them after constantly failing to cross the balance beam, to which almost everyone agreed. Chris said he was not thinking he was gonna get voted out, because he does not categorize that, even claiming to not view Rory as the first one going home after leading them on the first night. After everyone recognizes how well the women did in the challenge, Jeff calls them to vote, with Brook up first. Brook cast his vote against Chris to save himself, but it was all for naught, as he was voted out in a 5-3-1 vote over Chris and Rory respectively.

Challenges

Reward/Immunity Challenge: Fire Starter
This challenge consists of a commando crawl through a mud pit, three players moving a ball through a table maze, grabbing the ball, climbing a ladder to a balance beam, net slide back to the ground, three other players then using provided materials and matches inside the ball to build a fire in a cauldron to burn through a rope, lowering a torch, lighting the torch, and crossing the finish.
Reward: Flint
Winner: Yasur

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 1: Lopevi
Voted Against	Voter
Brook (5 votes)	Chad, Chris, Lea, Rory, Travis
Chris (3 votes)	Brook, John K., John P.
Rory (1 vote)	Brady
VOTED OUT: Brook Geraghty

Voting Confessionals

	Brook	“	(voting against Chris) Chris, I'm making this vote to save my own butt, and it's definitely strategy. Good luck, bud.	”

	Brady	“	(voting against Rory) If you get voted off tonight, we'll miss your sage comments around camp. Right now, man, it's all about team and winning.	”

	Chris	“	(voting against Brook) Just playing the game, man. I started playing it when I got to the beach. It's all part of the game.	”

Final Words

	Brook	“	The one thing I didn't want was to be the first person off. Who the hell wants to be the first person off? But, uh, during these three days in the game, I don't think I have learned much about myself. My only problem was the other seventeen people here just gave me an absolute schooling in the game of Survivor. So, uh, you know, I got beat. The bottom line, someone got me and they got me good. Peace out, Survivor land.	”

Still in the Running

Brook 18th	Ami Yasur	Brady Lopevi	Chad Lopevi	Chris Lopevi	Dolly Yasur	Eliza Yasur	John K. Lopevi	John P. Lopevi
Julie Yasur	Lea Lopevi	Leann Yasur	Lisa Yasur	Mia Yasur	Rory Lopevi	Scout Yasur	Travis Lopevi	Twila Yasur

Trivia

• This episode was meant to last 90 minutes, but production decided to cut it to 60 minutes one week before its airing.
• This episode is the only time that eventual winner Chris received votes against him.
• Lopevi's defeat mirrors Tambaqui's loss during the first Immunity Challenge of Survivor: The Amazon, where the all-male tribe dominated through the course, but stumbled with the balance section of the challenge.
  • The results of both seasons' first Tribal Councils are also mirrored: a younger, physical contestant (Ryan Aiken and Brook) was voted out, while an older contestant (Roger Sexton and Chris) received three votes, and a third contestant of different ethnicity (Daniel Lue and Rory) received one vote.
  • Additionally, both of the voted out contestants cast their vote against the older contestant.