Expeditie Robinson 2009 Netherlands/Belgium: Episode 8

Blog Post by Arthur

Episode 8

The show starts where it ended last week: team Noord and team Zuid come together for what they think is the merge. However, only ten of them will make it to the merge and three will be eliminated. Who this will be is decided by a fire-making challenge. The only person who won't take part is Marina: she is already a finalist and cannot take part in any of the challenges. She is sent to the beach where she can prepare a feast for the ten winners. The other twelve start the challenge. The challenge is to make a fire tall enough to burn through a rope. Once the rope is burned, the candidates have to grab their bag and run through a jungle. The first eight people to put their bag in the chest the men carried through the jungle a few episodes ago will go to the merge.

The first person to make fire is Marjolein, followed by Jeroen and Jill. Of the three, Marjolein is the only one to make her fire tall enough to burn through the rope. She grabs her bag and runs. The fires of Jeroen and Jill stop burning, whil Kurt, Marcel and Igor all make fire and burn through the rope. They also grab their bags and run to the jungle, where Marjolein is the first one to put her bag in the chest. She can continue walking to the beach, where Marina has started a barbecue. She is followed by the three men, Kurt, Marcel and Igor. Later, Dennis, Rita and Simone also arrive at the beach. Seven people have finished the challenge, only one more will qualify. Jeroen is the first one to make fire and runs to the jungle, but is closely followed by Yolanda. Jeroen wins the sprint and is the eigth one to place his bag in the chest.

The four losers are Yolanda, Jill, Eva and Esmeralda. The four will battle in a final challenge to determine who gets the last place in the merge. For the challenge, they have to build a tower of blocks. The one who builds the tallest tower in two minutes wins. Yolanda takes an early lead and is followed by Eva. Both towers collapse after one minute. Esmeralda is then in the lead and because her tower does not collapse, she wins the challenge and is the last person to qualify for the merge. The three losers are Yolanda, Jill and Eva, who have to leave the show.

The ten people who made it to the merge, Dennis, Esmeralda, Igor, Jeroen, Kurt, Marcel, Marina, Marjolein, Rita and Simone, take part in a huge feast. During the feast, Marcel drinks too much and is awake the whole night, talking gibberish. The following day, the other candidates start working while Marcel is still sleeping. He has an headache and wants to take a 'day off' to recover. While working, Igor takes off with a coconut again. Dennis sees him drinking the coconut and later accuses him of stealing. The whole team gets involved in the argument, which ends with Kurt making fun of Igor, which upsets Igor who calls him a stupid clown.

The immunity challenge is one where they have to eat horrible food. The candidates battle in three heats and the three winners of the heats qualify for the final. The first heat is between Dennis, Esmeralda and Igor. Igor wins this easily and beats the two people who he continuously argues with. The second heat is between Jeroen, Marcel and Marjolein and is - to the surprise of many - won by Marjolein. The third heat is between Simone, Kurt and Rita and is won by Simone. The three winners battle eachother in the final. This turns into a big battle between Simone and Igor, one that is won by Igor. He wins immunity and cannot be voted out. The other candidates are not happy with this, they all wanted to vote him out.

Back at the camp, people talk a lot about who they want to voted out. The two names that are mentioned the most are Marjolein, who works the least, and Simone, who curses too much. When the ten candidates arrive at the tribal council, there is a twist however. Rather than casting one vote, the candidates will cast two votes and the two people who receive the most votes will battle eachother in a challenge. The winner will remain in the game, while the loser has to go. The candidates cast their votes and when these are counted, it's Simone who has the most votes. To the surprise of many viewers, Jeroen has the second most votes. He got these votes because he was the closest friend of Simone. This means that Simone and Jeroen will battle eachother in a challenge. The loser goes home. Who wins will be shown in the next episode.