12:01 PM EST on Thursday, February 26, 2004

CBS DINNER: Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Richard Hatch clean eel that Hatch caught fishing.

Helen Glover, of Portsmouth, a contestant in Survivor: Thailand in the 2002 season, is now a freelance Survivor commentator. Here is her report on tonight's episode of Survivor: All-Stars (airing at 8 on Channels 12 and 4) in which three "tribes" of contestants are vying for a million-dollar prize off the Pacific coast of Panama.

Tonight's tension

Tonight, Rupert Boneham attempts to redeem himself from his past shelter-building fiasco by proving to be the best raft builder since Huck Finn. Things get physical during a challenge, and "Big Tom" Buchannan sips a little too much Panamanian moonshine.

The tribe that loses the immunity challenge will be dissolved, which could be disastrous for that tribe's members. Being forced into an already well-organized tribe sounds to me like a one-way ticket out of the game for the newcomers.

At the Chapera camp, Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich have formed a tight bond (read: romance) and it looks like no one will be able to break up that little twosome. Is this a dangerous game they're playing? Perhaps. But unless others in the Chapera tribe join forces and vote them out, we could see both Mariano and Brkich ride this alliance a long way.

Recapping last week

After suffering through one of the worst storms ever seen on any Survivor, all of the tribes seemed a bit water-logged. The Saboga tribe had it the worst, thanks to Rupert Boneham's insistance on building a basement in their jungle abode, which immediately filled with water, making sleep impossible. Jerry Manthey almost threw in the towel, but rallied with the daylight, and in true Survivor fashion, picked herself up and continued in the game.

In a reward challenge, the castaways were asked to put their brains to work in a memory game. Chapera won the reward: a basket filled with daily hygiene items that most of us take for granted. And what better reward for the "budding lovers" Mariano and Brkich than to have a shower, shampoo, soap and toothpaste?

Richard Hatch proved why he's the best of the best, bringing in three large eels for his tribe's supper. He was also invaluable in the immunity challenge, remaining calm amid the chaos, successfully navigating his tribe through a maze of puzzle pieces, and eventually assembling the cube, and avoiding Tribal Council yet again. The unlucky tribe was Chapera, and they took their first trip to the dreaded Tribal Council, where Rob Cesternino was voted out. Cesternino, once called by Jeff Probst, "The best player never to win the game," took the vote like a kid being told he'd be missing recess for the rest of the year. But as Buchanan said at the start, "This ain't no little boy's game."

What you don't know

Tribal Council is not only miserable because of the vote and the eventual departure of one of your tribe mates. It's also miserable because it involves a long journey through rugged terrain and seemingly always a late night. Before you begin the trip, you must pack up ALL of your belongings and bring them with you. If you are the one voted off that night, you leave directly from there, without ever returning to your camp. Many times when I was in Thailand, we would have to wade through waist deep mud and water, soaking everything we had, head through a mosquito infested jungle, and wait forever to begin our walk up the pier to where Jeff Probst was waiting.

The probing questions that Probst asks are well thought out because he knows, by watching videos of your daily life, where the tensions are in your camp. These questions almost always stir up emotions and make for an unpleasant journey "home."

When you return, it is in pitch darkness, you've often lost your fire and are wet from head to toe.

What's up with Richard Hatch?

Hatch has managed to become the sole provider for his tribe, bringing in more fish than they can eat, and proving himself a strong competitor in the reward and immunity challenges. While his tribe wandered, blindfolded, along the beach gathering puzzle pieces, Hatch gave clear, calm, concise directions so that his tribe mates could assemble the puzzle and win immunity for the tribe. By avoiding Tribal Council, Hatch also avoids being voted off.

However, Hatch seems to delight in keeping his fellow castaways irritated at all times, a strategy that may or may NOT pay off in the end.

My predictions

With the reluctant departure of Cesternino last week, each of the three tribes has now lost at least one member. I see trouble ahead for Ethan Zohn and Manthey. Zohn is a previous winner and has little support among the other castaways, even though he's known some of them intimately. Manthey's constant whining and demanding ways make her a likely target as well. Alicia Calaway narrowly escaped the vote last week and needs to do some speedy damage control to remain in the game. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Hatch can rest easy this week.