Milquetoast Lives!

No more under-the-radar skating for Seattle's Alex. At the start of the episode he was busy badmouthing his teammate Stephanie, and we cringed, thinking, oh dear, don't go there. Much to our surprise and pleasure, he stood up and became Magna Corp's project manager for a PS2 Gran Turismo 4 "graffiti mural" (aka advertisement) in Harlem.

'Twas a nailbiter. Alex and the rest of his lily-white team hit the 'hood and floundered majorly until he crossed the street to get some input from the locals. Even with the input (which was, basically, "show money") we were nervous: the local graffiti artist they'd hired was hardly being utilized and the team doofuses were busy painting ivy on the wall.
Meanwhile, the "street smarts" team hired a classic graffiti artist and came up with what looked like a standard wall painting...basically cars bursting through the wall, with a wild-style logo up top.

Well, never doubt the "wisdom" of marketers. They (and the focus group) preferred Alex's mural, for it "told the story" of Gran Turismo 4--which, as far as we could tell, has little to do with ivy, although it may have something to do with deserts. Magna Corp won the challenge and Alex will be exempt next week.

Meanwhile, over in Palau, Bellevue lawyer Willard frightened us this week. Last week his tribe--older, wiser, less buff--capsized their canoe and lost their fire-making doodads. This week, the Koror tribe wiped out pathetically at a ropey obstacle course thing (which had a Most Extreme Elimination Challenge twist: opposing tribe members slinging sandbags at you). Willard sat out and coached from the sidelines (and did so very well, thank you).

Again with the nailbiter: the immunity challenge involved diving down and pulling a trunk across the seafloor; we were horrified to see that Willard's swim stroke of choice is the sidestroke. He held up the team, but manly Tom the firefighter and oddly endearing (or endearingly odd) dolphin trainer Ian rocked it, and the tribe won immunity. Thank heavens, because otherwise Willard might have bought it. Survivor in Palau and your swimming's not so hot? We're worried.

Willard popularity watch: he's still third.

Don't forget: auditions for two shows, The Apprentice and the new Martha Stewart reality show, Saturday in Tacoma. We posted the details here.