Just when you thought it was safe to be an arrogant twentysomething!

The kids get screwed as Mark Burnett mixes things up. Plus: A very scary robin!

Nov. 8, 2001 | It is a night of profundity, betrayal, justice and intellectual challenge on "Survivor."

We see terrible elephants, graceful zebras and a menacing, um, robin redbreast. There are unexpected surprises, including one we'd never seen on "Survivor" before.

There are goats, and Jeff Probst in a cowboy hat.

Oh, yeah: Plus Lindsey gets a big old tick biting into her ass!

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Emotions run deep tonight, on the most confusing "Survivor" yet.

There's something delightful about seeing Brandon, the scornful, useless gay bartender from L.A., whining about the annoying, bitchy women he pledged his troth to in the Samburu tribe two weeks ago.

Last week, the divisions in the camp coalesced, and we watched as the four lazy youngsters -- Brandon, indistinct Kim, the searchingly annoying Lindsey and the stolid and unimaginative Silas -- started picking off the oldsters. Last week they kicked off Linda, the fortysomething from Harvard, and had their sights on Frank, the Regular Army martinet, and Teresa, the go-getter from Florida, in upcoming weeks.

We have to say it looked like "Survivor" wasn't going anywhere. The Samburu were hopelessly lame. Anything could happen, of course -- Brandon, we speculated happily one evening, could stomp off in a huff some day, be kidnapped by a band of passing predators , be spirited into Tanzania and live out his days as a baboon love slave in the Serengeti -- but it seemed as if the weakened and hapless Samburu would just keep losing challenges. It would then go into the merger of the two teams the smaller, and be matter-of-factly eaten by the rampant and focused Boran.

This would be satisfying, but we guess that Mark Burnett, too, found it a little too predictable.

Was his response legitimate?

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Boy, does life suck in Samburu. It's like a live version of the episode in "The Twilight Zone Movie" where the little boy with psychic powers holds life or death power over his family. He at least was cute.

The ruling Taliban of Samburu are by contrast unappetizing youthful specimens of bitchicus twiticus.

Via the night-vision camera we can see the six remaining Samburu fighting wildly back at their camp after the tribal council in which Linda was walked off the plank. Frank and Teresa are unrepentant. The kids had wanted the oldsters to vote again for Lindsey, who already had votes against her. (The stray votes can matter later on in the show in the event of ties; the kids' logic was that it would keep the risk centered on one tribe member after the merge.)

Next page: The most menacing African predator yet!