So. Easter Island. It's actually owned by Chile, so it's technically South America. I've never been there. The first time I was made aware of the famous heads was during a scene in an Eighties cartoon version of Alice Through The Looking Glass. She visited...Easter Egg Island, so the heads were replaced by beautifully decorated giant eggs with faces. I don't know if I'd like to go to Chile or Easter Island one day since I'm very uneducated about South American cultures in general, but maybe...thanks for reviewing, OmniUIShaggyOverexaggerated.
Alejandro chose to take me to First Class that night, but I didn't feel as grateful as I should have. Only four days ago, I would have been happy, because we'd actually get some alone time. First Class had a sofa. We'd agreed not to go too far on the show, just in case things didn't work out in the real world, but that didn't stop us from twenty minutes of making out.
They were the only twenty minutes where I could forget everything that was going on around me that night. The second we stopped, everything, all the strategy and intensity and scheming, hit me once again. That was why I found it so hard to feel grateful for the night in First Class.
I don't think I even slept properly. I must have dozed off, but it felt like I was trying to sleep all night. When I finally opened my eyes again, though, it was light outside the windows. Alejandro was across from me, already awake and looking totally well-rested. He smiled at me. "I think we're going to touch down soon." he said. "I was just about to wake you, because Chris delivered my reward for winning the last challenge." He pulled across a trayful of various sweets and chocolates.
I raised an eyebrow. "You seem happy. You told me you don't like chocolate."
"And that was true." Alejandro said, not losing his cool one bit. "I don't have much of a sweet tooth. And as my Mamma always says, I am sweet enough already."
"And you don't want the artificial sweeteners in this stuff, right?" I asked. "So what are you planning to do with it?" We both knew the answer.
Alejandro said nothing and just gave me the tray. I couldn't help giggling. Then I took a handful and said "Excuse me for a moment. I can't eat everything on that tray..."
I was telling the truth, to a point. I wanted to share the sweets with Lindsay anyway, because of our friendship, but I figured making nice with Noah couldn't hurt, even if it was bribery. As it was, both of them took the candy, Noah with a shrug and Lindsay with an almost lustful stare at the chocolate (well, who doesn't lust after a food that makes you feel like you're in love?).
One of the things on a tray was a basket, which I decided to keep. Who knew, it may come in useful. It helped that I hadn't finished all the peanut butter cups in it, but I wanted to keep it when it was empty. If nothing else, it would be memorabilia from the show. Although to be fair, we'd probably have my face splashed all over the internet once TV aired the show, so a recording of at least one clip from an episode we'd done (and I was pretty sure we'd done 18 by now, not including the Aftermath shows) would always be available.
We knocked something over when we landed. To be fair, it probably was easy to knock one over where we were, but we didn't have to land there, did we?
"Another piece of world heritage, destroyed." Alejandro commented as we exited the plane, gazing at the fallen sculpture.
I hadn't thought too much about this place. The only time I'd heard of it was on a Season 8 box set of The Simpsons. There had been a deleted scene from one episodes where a bunch of cartoon writers were sitting around, and one of them said "So, who do you think built those heads on Easter Island?" Only now, I knew what they were talking about.
Easter Island was another name for Rapa Nui, a little island in Polynesia. It was actually a Chilean territory, even though it would take a while to get from there to the mainland of Chile. Anyway, that's not what Chris was interested in. He was interested in why the heads were built there. "Ten bucks says it was a dare."
Our challenge? Well, the first thing we were given were headdresses. Alejandro got a blue one, mine was purple, Lindsay's was red and Noah's was green. We had to climb up and around the heads to find three eggs in our colour. Then we had to hike up a tunnel to the highest point on the island.
Noah raised his hand. "What if we drop one?"
"You'll have to come all the way back for a replacement." Chris answered. Alejandro raised his hand. "And no, you cannot take a back-up egg.". Alejandro put his hand back down at that.
"So there's more than three in our colour?" I asked.
Chris grinned. "Maybe. You might want to make sure you don't lose all your eggs more than once."
We must have been put in a specific area where all the heads were close together. Alejandro was the first to notice something weird. "These look disturbingly familiar..."
I looked at the closest one. The face was smiling, for one thing, and it was feminine. When I climbed up, I was lucky enough to find one of my purple eggs nestled in a little nook between her head and her...ponytail?
I put the egg in my candy basket and slid down. "Everyone who was voted out!" I whispered, staring up at the Bridgette head again.
Yes, someone had gone to the trouble of carving our ex-competitors heads and putting all the eggs around those designs. I came across other people's eggs a few times, but I mostly left them where they were. Okay, mostly meant the guys' eggs. I left one of Noah's in Courtney's ear for him to find, but when I found a red one in Heather's mouth, I gave it to Lindsay.
My second egg was in the gap where Cody had lost a tooth. That was pretty easy. Finally, I found a third one in Duncan's ear – the one that had less piercings than the other – or at least the statue had less studs in one ear.
I wasn't finished first or anything. Alejandro had already gone and Noah and Lindsay were still searching, but I caught Lindsay's eye anyway, to let her know I was going. She gave a nod to signal she was OK with me not staying like we agreed, and I set off.
That's how I was the second to have boulders hurled at me. I soon clued in that I'd need to stick close to one side of the cave, because they kept being rolled down the passage and I could just about avoid them if I crammed myself in flat against one side. My basket was surviving, too.
I was actually first up, mainly because Alejandro managed to break his eggs and he raced right past me on his way back. Being small was kind of an advantage that way – I was little enough to be able to avoid the boulders.
Lindsay arrived soon after me, followed by Noah, who looked as if he'd actually bothered to exert himself more, since he looked a bit pink in the face.
Alejandro was last, running with a look of terror on his face.
Why? Apparently he was being chased by a giant condor, and we just managed to push a boulder in front of the tunnel before the condor could peck out our eyes.
"Did you seriously have to make us take condor eggs?" I asked Chris, exasperated. "That's cruelty to animals as well as another attempt to kill us!"
"Right on one count, wrong on the other." Chris said, his usual grin on his face. "It won't be cruelty to animals when you finish the second part of the challenge. And maybe you'll survive it. And speaking of which – Jemma, here's your advantage for getting up here first." He tossed me a baseball catcher's helmet.
I frowned. "How does this make eliminating taking the condor eggs away?"
Chris pointed out the giant nest and the much bigger condor settled in it at the top of a giant tree, telling us how she was bigger because of being female, and how wide their wing span would be.
"That's like, two Alejandros wide." Alejandro said, looking a bit unsure of himself.
"Anyway," Chris continued, 'She's kind of peeved cause you guys stole her eggs."
I scowled. "Under your orders."
"She'll still think it was you." Chris shrugged. "So each of you gotta shimmy up to the nest and give 'em back, in the order of which of you first arrived."
So I was first. I shrugged, pulling the helmet on. It protected my eyes, I guess. I knew even seagulls pecked out eyes if they had no other moisture, and if a condor was angry...well, I had to have a go.
And then guess what Chris made us do? Ding-ding! "It's for your own protection." he said. "Keeps the birds calm. I'm lying. Or I'm not. You choose."
Whichever it was, I had to sing. "I'm small, and scared, and young, and no threat!
I'm climbing to give back your babies, so be nice, sweet condor,
Let me keep my life, please..."
I pulled myself up to the nest, and found to my pleasure that the condor really couldn't reach my eyes, even though she tried. "Please don't, be so mad," I continued singing, "Cause I've got protection.
I'm trying to help here, so save those objections,
Be nice, condor, let me in the final three!" I had two eggs in by that point, but that's all I got. However, my basket saved the last one.
"You can have another chance later!" Chris informed me. "But we've got three more to go!"
I couldn't actually hear anyone else's singing as Lindsay's voice was a bit shrill, Noah's was monotone, and Alejandro sang more softly than I'd expected. None of them got their eggs in first time, either. Lindsay got none in at all, Noah managed one and managed to save the other two, and Alejandro got as far as me but his last egg splattered.
I didn't sing on my way up on my second try. But I had my last egg, and I left the basket on the ground. It was only when I wisely only put my hand up, let the egg go, and climbed down. As I climbed down the last few feet, I sang my last line. "Thanks, my sweet condor, now I'm in the final three!"
And I had First Class, too.
We voted for Noah, that night. It was between him and Alejandro, and I chose Noah purely because I could tell he cared more about the outcome than he admitted and I got the feeling he was starting to scheme something. He voted for Alejandro. But in any case, it was just a reward challenge, so Lindsay and I went off to First Class to enjoy our Chilean hot dogs.
If you're wondering, it was giant hot dogs with every trimming you could imagine, but we'd kind of worked up an appetite after that challenge.
Well, I know Jemma's been in First Class a lot, but to be fair, this was her first individual challenge win. Her other one was with Noah, and he had to do most of it, what with giving her directions and then carrying her across a tightrope. I personally liked this episode, but I don't really know what other people thought about it.
And I know I just modified Alejandro's verse for Jemma, and then she totally just took Heather's canon line, but...well, I wanted it to fit in with the tune. And Alejandro sing-talks so much of it, that was not an easy task, and I'm still not all that happy with having "I'm trying to help here" rather than "I don't feel that pecking", but it is what it is.
