12/07/2002

How many freaky-looking bugs would you eat to hug a loved one you haven't seen for 31 days?

Survivor: Thailand basically came down to that question on Thursday night.

Middletown's Helen Glover survived for another week. But first, she won an emotional "reward" challenge that reunited her with her husband, Jim, for a full-day visit of Koh Tarutao, the island off Thailand that is home to CBS's Survivor 5.

And actually, Jim, not Helen, did the heavy lifting to win the reward challenge -- a Fear Factor-inspired eating stunt that included a menu of red ants, a water roach and live grubs.

Jim, sporting a baseball cap with a hometown "M" logo, swallowed a boiled tarantula (tastes "like a peach," Survivor host Jeff Probst quipped.) Then he beat out Survivor Jake Billingsley's wife by a hair, gulping down a furry boiled scorpion for the win.

In an earlier Survivor episode, Helen watched a videotaped greeting from Jim, her daughter and the family cat.

This time, Jim and Helen -- whose luxury item is a doll belonging to her daughter -- reunited face to face with a hug and a kiss. Helen gave Jim a tour of camp, pausing on the toasted coconut, shredded coconut and other daily eats. The comforts weren't quite as cozy as home.

"I'm looking at it and going, 'Get me to a hotel,' " Jim said.

Away from the action, Jim said that he was happy that Helen, a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy who works as a water survival instructor at the Naval Education and Training Center, was adapting to the game. "She's going to do what she has to do to win," he said.

The loved ones stuck around to help the Survivors with the "immunity" challenge -- a bonus for the castaways.

Ted Rogers, Jr., with the help of his brother, was the fastest Survivor to construct a cube out of a puzzle of blocks, winning the talisman that guaranteed he could not be voted off the island. And while Helen's reunion visit was an emotional pick-me-up, it wasn't important to the outcome.

Producers had suggested that Billingsley, 61 year-old land broker from McKinney, Tex., or Clay Jordan, 46, of Chuay Gahn, a restaurateur from Monroe, La., were on the chopping block. The five remaining members of Chuay Gahn stuck with tribal loyalties, keeping Jordan and voting off Billingsley.

Chuay Gahn now must turn on each other. The final votes have already been cast, of course, but the Survivor: Thailand season finale airs Dec. 19 on CBS.

-- VAUGHN WATSON