Previously on Survivor Sahara:

·         The teams jumped from a helicopter down to their camps to start off the game. Angela: "That was a bit of a scary thing, parachuting down into the desert."

·         And alliances were born. On Fulani, Brian: "When we arrived, I talked to Angela, Wade, and Tim and came up with a plan. The four of us formed an alliance." And on Tuareg, Dennis: "Hey guys, so are we set? This is the alliance to the end?"

·         At the first Immunity Challenge, the tribes competed in a relay race, answering one question after another. The teams were tied until Fulani pulled ahead and won. Mr. Moderator: "Fulani wins immunity!"

·         Sending Tuareg to Tribal Council, where they voted out Vanessa. Mr. Moderator: "Vanessa, you need to bring me your torch. The tribe has spoken." SNUFF!

·         15 remain! We're just getting started. But one question remains: Who will be voted out tonight?

Theme music begins as snapshots are shown. Snapshot: The Sahara landscape. Snapshot: A Tuareg Family. Snapshot: A coyote howling at the moon. Snapshot: A scarab beetle crawling along a leaf. Snapshot: A horned viper leaving a trail in the sand behind. Snapshot: Close up of a cactus. Snapshot: A hut belonging to a nomadic tribe. Snapshot: Sand dunes blowing in the breeze. Snapshot: a yellow crate with Fulani printed on it. Snapshot: Angela. Snapshot: Tim. Snapshot: Brian. Snapshot: Jasmine. Snapshot: Sahara. Snapshot: Ryan. Snapshot: Chelsea. Snapshot: Wade. Snapshot: 39 Days. Snapshot: Tuareg flag blowing in the breeze. Snapshot: Dennis. Snapshot: Heidi. Snapshot: Snuffing Vanessa's Torch! Snapshot: Kristi. Snapshot: Eric. Snapshot: Justin. Snapshot: Jennifer. Snapshot: Anidas. Snapshot: A bird silhouette. Snapshot: A glowing fire. Snapshot: Snuffing a torch. Snapshot: Sahara Logo. Finish.

Day 4

Jasmine and Sahara decided to check the treemail on the morning of Day 4. In the mailbox, they saw a plastic insect and on its belly was a poem written. It informed the tribe that they had to be ready for the Reward Challenge by noon. Jasmine and Sahara walked back to camp and found almost everybody asleep except for Angela, who was making a list of chores that needed to be done that day and who needed to do what. She had assigned two people to watch the fire and gather firewood, two people to make a run to the oasis for water and then to boil it once they got back and four people to work on the shelter.

"Wake up, everyone! We have treemail!" Sahara waved the bug in the air. "It looks like we got to eat something disgusting like this bug." And with that, Tribe Fulani packed up and headed off to Challenge Dunes, where they met Tuareg.

Mr. Moderator was sitting at the end of a long picnic table with 16 plates, eight on each side. Team Fulani sat on one side, Tuareg on the other, each tribe member facing their opponent for the challenge. Mr. Moderator spoke, "Welcome tribes. Fulani, you're getting your first glimpse of Tuareg minus Vanessa. So Fulani has 8 and Tuareg is down to 7. But on to the challenge. If you're good at guessing, you've probably figured out what this challenge is all about. It's called "You Are What You Eat." The clue that you received in your treemail is an insect called the Scarab Beetle, which is native to the Sahara. What each of your tribemates must do to win this Reward Challenge is eat one live beetle. It sounds simple, but your stomach might not like it. Here are the rules: if you swallow it and you show me your empty mouth, you earn one point for your team. If you don't swallow it, or throw it back up or refuse to eat it, you don't get any points for your team. The team who has the most points after 8 rounds wins. If there's a tie, there will be a tiebreaker.

"Okay, so let me tell you what the reward is. The winner receives 100 waterproof matches, plus this fishing gear set. It is complete with hooks, bait, tackle, poles, nets, fishing line...the works! Worth playing for? I thought so. Okay, as I pass out the main course, I'll tell you a little information about what you're going to be eating. There's actually a legend of the Scarab Beetle. Ancient Egyptians have a hieroglyph of the beetle, and that hieroglyph means to become or to come into existence. For food, the beetle uses its front legs to gather dung, then forms a ball, and transports it below ground to be consumed over the course of many days. These beetles can roll balls of dung up to fifty times their own weight and they lay their eggs inside the dung. Males and females form pairs to perform the task of taking the balls of dung into the tunnels. The female sorts through the dung and arranges it for placement throughout the tunnel. The only part the male contributes in this housekeeping chore is to keep the female well supplied with fresh dung." With that, Angela said, "It's just another case of the man not helping out with the housework." Everybody laughed.

Mr. Moderator continued, "Okay, well, now, all you have to do is dig in. The first pair to face off is Chelsea and Jennifer." Chelsea tried swallowing the beetle, but when it started crawling in her mouth, she spit it back up. Jennifer wouldn't even touch it. The next two to face off were Wade and Anidas. Wade crunched his beetle up and showed the host his empty mouth. Wade teased Anidas, who had coughed his back up. After two rounds, Fulani led 1-0. The next two in line were Sahara and Dennis. Sahara downed hers easily, but Dennis was making an effort not to vomit. He didn't succeed. Fulani now led 2-0. After that, Angela and Justin squared off. Both ate their scarab beetle. Tuareg was now on the board, but trailing 3-1. Jasmine went next for Fulani; Kristi went for Tuareg. Neither of them successfully swallowed the insect.

Mr. Moderator said, "Tuareg, you're down 3-1 after five rounds. If the next person for Fulani eats the bug, then you're out. So, all the pressure is on Brian." Brian went up against Heidi, from Tuareg, and Heidi didn't even want to touch the bug, much less eat it. But Brian held his nose and downed the beetle. He chewed for a while and then showed the host his empty mouth. He had eaten it.

"Fulani wins reward! A much deserved win. You will receive these matches plus this fishing gear. Good luck with the fishing, Fulani." The tribe screamed and all gathered around Brian.

The dejected Tuareg headed back home, feeling bluer than blue. Once they got back to camp, perhaps it was the heat or the fact that they had just lost their second challenge in a row, but Dennis began to feel light-headed, almost to the point of becoming delusional. He kept asking questions like, "Did the host give us any food rations? What's there to eat out here in the desert? For God's sake, do we have any water?" His tribe confirmed that they had plenty of food and water, but became worried about Dennis.

Dennis was getting worse by the hours. Later on, he complained about quitting. "I don't want to play anymore. I have no desire to continue playing," he told his teammates, as he cooled off in the shade of their shelter. "We had some momentum built, but it's now all gone. I just don't think I can make it anymore. I'm tired of losing and waiting around for nothing. I can't take it anymore. Sorry to let you guys down: Jennifer, Justin, Eric, Heidi and even Kristi. I just want to quit the game."

His teammates were shocked to hear Dennis say these things. He was once so strong, and now he was babbling about wanting to quit and give up. Justin told Dennis, "We need you a whole lot. You've done so much for us and there is a lot we can't do without you. The game had some troubles at the beginning, but we've worked through them and it should just get better." Jennifer came over and comforted Dennis as well. "Who else will do any chores if you aren't there? Please stay. Are you leaving because I flashed you earlier at the water hole?" Dennis still had mixed emotions, and said he'd sleep on it. As he slept away the afternoon, Eric told Jennifer, "I wish he'd stay. I'd hate to lose another member."

Now, that one of the tribe members was gone, chores became a problem. "I feel like we really need to work together a little more than we did before," Kristi said in a confessional. But Dennis, who wasn't doing any chores at all that day, had the idea that "the less people to provide for, the easier it becomes to do chores." Besides chores, another loss put the tribe in a bad mood. But they didn't lose hope. When asked about being defeated by Fulani, Kristi responded, "It only makes me and my team a lot more motivated and makes us say, 'This time we are gonna kick their butts!'"

At Fulani, the team couldn't be happier about winning the reward. "We don't have to worry about fire too much. And now that we have the fishing gear, we can actually go fishing," said Wade. "We're 2 for 2 now, I think we can make it 3 for 3."

Before they had received the fishing gear, fishing was a painstaking task for Fulani. Angela would sharpen sticks to use as spears to catch fish. But after they won the Reward Challenge, Angela and Chelsea went off to the oasis to try their luck at fishing using the fishing gear. They came back with 3 tiny fish, which didn't have much meat on them, but the tribe cooked them anyway. Brian said in a confessional that night that Angela made a good leader because she always knew what to do in situations. He said, "To be honest, I think that without her, our tribe would fall apart." Angela didn't always like being a leader, though. She said, "I wish that someone else would take some of the responsibility of designating chores around the camp. I don't want to have too big of a target on my back."

On Day 5, Dennis made a complete turn-around. He was feeling much, much better. He even helped out with chores. He and Jennifer went off to the oasis to fish. Jennifer had made some makeshift fishing poles and nets using her sewing and fabric kit. But the thread and yarn snapped easily, so they didn't catch any fish. Instead, they had rice for dinner. Still, Jennifer and Dennis were getting along really well. Jennifer told one of the cameramen, "I could find myself getting close to Dennis and make a Final 2 pact with him. Plus he is my age...Dennis is proving to be a good player, even though he jumps to conclusions." The two even shared a sleeping mat that Jennifer had made. Jennifer thought that the sleeping arrangement was great for strategy, plus "no more cramped neck in the morning."

If Angela was the tribe leader for Fulani, Jennifer was the leader for Tuareg. Kristi told Heidi that Jennifer made a good leader for their tribe. But besides being a leader, Jenni was also a good ally to Justin. Justin talked about his alliance with Jennifer. "She might be the person I'm closest to. We do a lot of work together and talk a lot. She's tough and won't go down without a fight, so she's a good ally to have." And to Jennifer, Justin was her rock.

While Dennis and Jennifer were away at the oasis, Justin tried to wake up the rest of the tribe, so they could start working on chores like filling in the gaps of the shelter to prevent drafts, and making their beds and pillows by stuffing fabric with leaves. But nobody budged, especially Anidas. He slept the day away and only woke up to eat. But food was hard to come by for Tuareg. The tribe needed more people to hunt and gather food because they were starving. So Jennifer found some mushrooms and dates at the oasis.

But the real problem was the fire. When they had built their fire, they wanted it close to their shelter, but it was too close. On Night 5, nobody was watching the fire and it started burning part of the shelter. Justin got up during the middle of the night to make a trip to the commode and when he came back, he smelled smoke. Part of his pillow had caught on fire as well as the west wall of the shelter. He woke everybody up and they managed to put out the fire safely. Nobody was injured or burned. Justin offered to watch the fire for the rest of the night, and he knew that his chore tomorrow was to move the fire away from the shelter.

At Fulani, Ryan and Sahara walked to the oasis together, and for the first time, they really got to know each other. They talked and as Sahara said later, "Ryan and I have started to bond. He is my age, which rocks because there is someone who I have stuff in common with. And who knows? Maybe something could happen there...I really think that I may have a crush out here in the desert." She blushed and laughed. Ryan, after talking to Sahara, said in a confessional, "I'm glad that I have someone around my age that I can hang out with it...and it doesn't hurt that she's hot."

While Angela delegated tasks for the day, Sahara told her true feelings to Chelsea. "Angela is really good at making sure everything gets done," Sahara said, "but sometimes she really comes off like Roger from the Amazon. I think that she treats me like I am kind of dumb or something, like I am just there to look at and that I can't really play the game. She definitely takes charge. I mean the one day we were all just sitting around in the morning and she said, 'Ok step on up and get your chores.' Why can't she just let us have some fun and relax?"

Chelsea continued to listen as Sahara talked. The two of them were becoming really good friends and they talked a lot more with each other. When Chelsea was feeling sick the other day after eating some of the rice, Sahara looked out for her. Sahara claimed to be the cheerleader of the tribe, as well as one outside the game and she shared that passion with Chelsea. Both liked to keep the tribe spirit high and everyone upbeat.

But while Sahara looked out for Chelsea, somebody else was looking out for Sahara. She talked about Wade in a confessional that afternoon. "He is the closest friend I have out here. I got a great opinion of him from the get go. And he has looked out for me in the game thus far. Wade and I have really gotten close. He's like a little brother to me and he wants to look out for his big sis!" Wade shared the same feeling. "She's a really good person, and that sucks, because it's going to suck to have to backstab her. She isn't in my original alliance of 4."

That night, Angela approached Sahara and they started talking. Angela and Sahara hadn't really talked before now. They didn't know about each other, but soon each got a better understanding of the other. Angela told Sahara, "Since we're in this alliance of five right now, eventually, we will have to start voting ourselves off, but I don't feel like I have any definite alliance with any one person so far." She told Sahara that they boys were the strongest and that they'd be a threat down the road. "I would like to have someone that I am close to, if you know what I mean, someone totally loyal." Angela confessed that she wanted Sahara to join the alliance so there would be another girl included. She was afraid that the guys would get rid of the girls first. Angela didn't know how long the alliance would last, so she offered to have an alliance within an alliance with Sahara. "Loyalty is rewarded in my books," Angela reminded Sahara. Sahara thought about it as she left for her daily walk.

Justin decided to go for a walk the same time that Sahara decided the same thing. Justin got lost on his way back, but then was relieved to see somebody. However, it wasn't whom he expected; it turned out to be Sahara, from the opposite tribe. He debated about whether to walk over, but just then, Sahara walked over to him and they started talking. They talked about how hard it was for them to fit into their own tribes, but then the conversation ended. Justin said afterwards, "We have quite a bit in common and we'd probably get along well." They both agreed not to tell their tribes about this occurrence because they didn't want the others to be suspicious of them.

At Fulani, Angela voiced her opinion in a confessional about the upcoming challenge. "If we do lose, we do have some deadwood that we could afford to vote off," Angela stated. But Tim was not considered deadwood because Angela liked Tim and enjoyed chatting with him. "He has a great sense of humour, and we joke around a lot. He is a hard worker, and pulls his share. He is probably my favorite guy in the tribe at the moment."

Meanwhile, Wade was building a shelter to protect the fire from the elements. He worked on making a small screen to shield the fire. And the rest of the tribe worked on filling up water jugs and canteens and boiling the water. Angela prided herself on the tribes teamwork, but reminded herself not to get too cocky.

"Everyone is always working and I am afraid that if I take a break from work to stop and talk to them, they will take it as a sign of laziness." Jasmine said, "I basically do what I am told and I don't fuss about doing it." But on Day 5, Jasmine came up with a brilliant idea. She thought that she could set up traps to catch rodents for food. She twisted palm strips into a rope and made a trigger and placed the traps near animal tracks. "If any rodents get caught, I will pull a string and capture them in a little ditch that I dug." But she was unsuccessful.

At Tribal Council, Tuareg entered in a single file line and each hit the gong to announce their arrival. They sat down on the tree stumps, with their torches glowing behind them. The sky was cloudy, so it showed no stars. Then Mr. Moderator spoke, "Welcome back, Tuareg. This is your second Tribal Council; you know the drill. So, let's get started. My first question goes to Eric. We haven't talked about alliances yet in this game. In your opinion, do you think it's important to have an alliance at this stage of the game?"

Eric replied, "I do feel that alliances are important, but they aren't necessary. Relationships change with people whether you are allied or not. So yes, alliances are important, but I think that if you do your best here, and actually do something in a challenge, talk to people, or whatever, then you don't need an alliance. Just be yourself."

"Jennifer, do you think Fulani is the better tribe flat out?"

"That is really hard to answer, especially because we lost the last two challenges," Jennifer said. Eric interrupted and said, "I don't want to be a pessimist, but it's now three in a row." Jennifer continued, "I do not think they are the better tribe. We have the potential to kick some butt if we all get together on this! I can feel it. We will win the next challenge. I know it!"

"Dennis, earlier, you felt like quitting. But after a while, you decided you wanted to play after all. What made you change your mind?"

"Well, I was wasting a lot of energy and I saw the game going nowhere. But after thinking about it, I realized that I can't let my tribemates down and even if I don't win the big prize, if one of my tribemates wins it, that'd be totally cool with me."

"Kristi, how does it feel to be voting out another person in this tribe? Is it strengthening the tribe or are fewer people meaning the tribe is falling apart?"

Kristi said, "I think it is strengthening us in a way because everyone who is left communicates a lot and we are getting really motivated more and more."

"Okay, well with that, its time to vote. Kristi, you can go first." Kristi crossed the rope bridge and entered the voting booth. She came back and Jennifer went next to vote. She showed her vote for Anidas. Next in line was Justin. After he voted, Anidas went to the voting booth and wrote down his vote. Heidi voted next, followed by Eric and Dennis, who said, "Good Riddance" to Anidas.

Mr. Moderator tallied the votes and came back with the decision. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final. The person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. Here are the votes: 1^st vote: Heidi. 2^nd vote: Anidas. 3^rd vote: Anidas. 4^th vote: Anidas. 5^th vote: Anidas. 6^th vote: Anidas. Final vote and second person voted out of the Sahara is...you guessed it, Anidas. That's 6-1. Anidas, I'm sorry but you have to bring me your torch. The tribe has spoken. You are no longer in this game! You can head back home." Mr. Moderator snuffed Anidas's torch and Anidas walked away, waving goodbye to his teammates.

"As for the rest of you, congratulations on surviving your second Tribal Council. Now get out of here. I don't want to see your faces here for a while. Just remember, in the desert, things aren't always what they seem to be: it's called a mirage. Think about that on your way back to camp."

A light rain started to fall as the tribe walked back to their camp. Justin said, "What did he mean about that mirage line? Whatever it is we're seeing isn't real? Sounds ominous. Maybe we've made some assumption or thought something that wasn't accurate, and we might see the error?"

Dennis said, "Who cares what it means? Let's just promise ourselves not to come back here for a long time."

• At Tuareg, Eric expresses his concern about losing. Eric: "We got to do something. We need to work together more or something."
• At the Reward Challenge, one tribe wins a feast fit for a king. Mr. Moderator: "You will receive spices, chocolate, sodas, chips, snacks, so eat your hearts out!"
• And love blooms between two tribe members. Dennis: "Looks like Justin found his shadow."
• And if you thought the last Immunity Challenge was too close to call, just wait until you see this one!