Nico's luck runs out

2006-10-16 06:57

Ryan Calder

Cape Town - How to win friends and influence people, rule number one: Don't follow the example of Nico Hinis.

He received the boot at last, and became the seventh contestant voted out of Survivor South Africa - and on his way out, the spiteful smoker even managed to steal his tribe's flint for making fire.

Clearly, the restaurateur couldn't last any longer without a puff, which he admitted was the first thing he did when he got voted off.

So the "comeback kid", who managed to re-enter the game several times, even managed to tick off lady luck and he duly ran out of fortune.

Brigitte survived, but will be lumped into the same category as Nico by viewers as the next most entertaining (or irritating?) person to watch according to the Survivor website.

As always, there was a heated exchange of words between Nico and Brigitte, whom he now calls "Bruschetta", at tribal council.

After losing eight out of 12 challenges, and not being able to clinch a single reward challenge, Rana turned the tables on Aguila.

This week's reward challenge, called "Grab the stick" was based on a pirate game that honed the skills of the seamen of old.

Rana was better at the snatch-and-grab task, and jubilantly enjoying the reward - a proper South African braai with steaks, wors, mealies and potato salad. Meanwhile, Aguila's Mzi made a plan of his own. He hunted down an injured pelican, which the rest of the tribe then plucked and roasted.

That guy should be president.

The immunity challenge, "The Mast" tested the strength of the two teams. Together, they had to balance on a platform while hanging onto a bar. After clearly leading for more than 40 minutes, Aguila was defeated when Nico unexpectedly plunged into the water first. Rana's Zayn took a lot of strain and afterwards, tears flowed freely.

Seven people remain, how much longer can we cope?

"Tribe has spoken" after-parties

This week's parties promises to be as much fun as the show itself. The last two voted-out contestants, Nico and Danielle will make appearances at clubs around the country.

Catch them at Emperors Palace's Monsoon Lagoon on Thursday; 80's in Durban on Friday; and Café Vacca Matta in Tygervalley, Cape Town, on Saturday night. The parties all start at 21:00.

On the net:

www.mnet.co.za

- The Witness