In one of the most pathetic Tribal Council exchanges between Jeff Probst and a contestant ever broadcast — this coming on the heels of Probst's convoluted taunting of Janu last season in Palau — Yaxha's short and stumpy fishmonger Lydia (so probably strong as an ox) is mashed in front of her tribe for being, essentially, short and stumpy. I gritted my teeth as the question was being asked: "Lydia, just looking at you from the outside you could say maybe you're the least equipped for this game. It must run through your head a little bit on this tribe, if I'm the least athletic I could be the first to go." Besides being pejoratively — hilariously and blindly — chauvinistic... this rather crude aside, it must be pointed out, is a non sequitur. All its conclusions, whether underlying or not, are utter rubbish.

By David W. Taylor (Email Me)
Reality Reel Media
09.25.05

Probst's whole string of words in that query are bizarre in every context. "Just looking at you from the outside," suggests that Lydia is being scrutinized like some sort of zoo creature or some poor lab rat. That Probst chose to address Lydia separately ("outside") from her courage shown in Guatemala is simply hideously in bad taste. Then what follows: "... you could say that you're the least equipped on this tribe..." This can, I guess, possess any meaning one might care to attach to it. Hmm. Least equipped? Well, she doesn't have enough insect repellent to pass around or, shoot, Lydia showed-up at camp without the damned portable hibachi grill? Of course, what Jeff Probst is really trying to intimate — and as some other cohorts on her tribe don't have the guts to verbalize also — is that because Lydia is of small stature and squat — wink, wink: "least equipped" — she is dismissed as a useless appendage.

And Jeff tells her... mind you, TELLS Lydia rhetorically "... if I'm the least athletic..." On what warp does Jeff Probst, or any member of Yaxha, or Nakum for that matter, have to conclude that Lydia is "the least athletic?" She finished the harsh show-opening eleven-mile jungle hike without vomiting, without muscle cramps, or the eye-rolling dementia of the six-pack muscle-studs like Bobby Jon or a Blake; she even escaped the relatively minor wooziness of such men as Jim or Judd. And her tribe, Yaxha, won the very first Immunity Challenge.

During the Spider Web Reward Challenge, Lydia completed her routine without fault. Two other members of her tribe didn't. Brianna failed in her bid to untie a bag, dropping from the rope ensemble fairly early-in. Raf — a wilderness guide! — not only also dropped raggedly from the rope-web (without clinching a bag) but then he wasted several minutes trying to scale a rope ladder on his wretched return to the starting line. He flailed around like a rag doll, repeatedly tumbling into the drink; even stumbling on the netting once he got over. His decidedly un-athletic prowess certainly cost Yaxha a nest of fishing gear.