'Survivor II': Three Down

“Survivor: The Australian Outback” and “Friends” went head to head again last night . . . in the ongoing battle of CBS vs. NBC. Rachel celebrated her 30th birthday on “Friends,” but will NBC be celebrating a victory in this week’s ratings? Time will tell. (Last week, “Survivor II” beat friends in the ratings game, with an estimated 29 million viewers. “Friends” secured 22.2 million viewers.) Meanwhile, in the Australian Outback, Maralyn became the latest casualty. And like her or not, the image of the 52-year-old retired police officer leaving the tribal council area with her skinny legs and her socks pulled up to her knees was a sight. Maralyn fumbled during the immunity challenge — an intense obstacle course in which all of the team members were bound together with rope — arguably causing the Ogakor tribe to fall further behind and lose. The songbird and frequent sunbather, also known as “Mad Dog,” thought she had found a comrade in Tina, a 40-year-old nurse, even going so far as to say “I am conjoined with Tina — she is a constellation” at tribal council. But apparently Tina didn’t feel as conjoined with Maralyn — she voted her off, adding that it was “nothing personal” and “I hope you’ll understand.” Survival, indeed. Other Okagor members also agreed that Mad Dog needed to go decided to vote her off as well.

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