| 'Oh My God' - they've ambushed Amber! 04/13/2001 Ed Bark / The Dallas Morning News And Amber waves of pain.
Amber Brkich, the resident Li'l Debbie Cakes, got pink-slipped Thursday night on Episode 11 of Survivor: The Australian Outback.
The eviction, on a 4-2 count, reduces the group to five and sends Amber to "jury" duty with previous castoffs Alicia Calaway, Jerri Manthey and Nick Brown. But of more import, perhaps, the vote against her fractured the previous hardbound Ogakor alliance among Texan Colby Donaldson, Tina Wesson and Keith Famie.
The latter two went against Amber and were joined by ex-Kuchas Elisabeth Filarski and Rodger Bingham. Colby and Amber tried to oust elder statesman Rodger, the bucolic Kentuckian who still says "supper" and probably eats vittles, too.
Colby, who won his second straight immunity "talisman" and also the night's food-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow reward challenge, said he was "just stickin' with the battin' order" by writing Rodger on his ballot.
Ominous then, that Tina and Keith filled out a different lineup card. And in a preview of next week's episode, Colby was shown accusing Keith of cooking "way too much rice."
"The guy's a bozo," he added. "My game with Keith is done. It's over."
Problem is, Colby needs him unless he somehow runs the table on talismans. As the most formidable of the remaining competitors, he's ripe for eviction if anyone else manages to win the precious weekly necklace. Colby seems to know as much, even if host Jeff Probst tried to tell him otherwise.
"You're obviously going to have a leg up, 'cause right now this food's gonna give you a lotta energy," Jeff informed him after Colby rode on horseback to a campsite full of provisions and bonhomie. His first of two bounteous reward-challenge meals was beef stew, bread and plenty of bottled beer to take the edge off.
"Well, physically maybe you have a leg up," Colby told the dunce. "Politically you're a leg down ... Inevitably there's got to be some resentment there. And a lot of that goes through your head."
As he said this, the other five contestants saw their camp reduced to a waterlogged mess by a torrential downpour. While Colby enjoyed a warm fire and the company of convivial Australian ranchers, Amber and company shivered through a horrid night.
As the "Oh my Gods!" piled up, reverential Rodger was moved to observe, "Survivor is definitely real."
When Colby returned, with a gut full of bacon and eggs, he piled on by winning a slingshot competition in which the targets were plates with contestants' names on them.
"Nothin' personal," Colby said after knocking Amber out of the game.
Amber, a 22-year-old administrative assistant from Pennsylvania, had been widely ridiculed as she-devil Jerri's pliant handmaiden.
In her closing words, she said, "I don't hold anything against anybody ... I'm actually kind of relieved. Those last couple of nights were really, really rough. I'm very proud of myself to make it this far, and I'm going to be thinking about you guys a lot. You're going to be in my prayers and thoughts. I will never ever regret anything that has happened here."
Respondents to the DallasNews.com Survivor Web site made the correct pick for the third straight week. Amber received 38 percent of 2,452 votes, followed by Elisabeth with 22 percent.
CBS announced Thursday that the eventual $1 million winner will be announced live from Los Angeles on the show's two-hour May 3 finale. Votes cast in the final tribal council were sealed in a lockbox – somewhere Al Gore is smiling – and have been there ever since, CBS says.
A live, one-hour reunion show will follow, with Bryant Gumbel hosting.
• Cheap come-on: Want to know where to buy an outback hat just like Colby's? Check out our Web-exclusive "Colby's Corner" for further details. You also can scope out our latest "Survivor of the Week" - nefarious Tina Wesson.
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