It's Been Real and It's Been Fun

It's Been Real and It's Been Fun is the recap episode of . Whilst revisiting the key moments of the preceding twenty-seven days, the episode featured fourteen new scenes that revealed more about the contestants' struggles with the elements, their lighter moments in camp and the rising tensions amongst the survivors.
==Story==
===Introduction===
Jeff Probst narrated the episode, and began by introducing the seven contestants remaining in the game: Todd Herzog, Courtney Yates, Peih-Gee Law, Erik Huffman, Denise Martin, Amanda Kimmel, and James Clement.
===Days 1-3===
On Day 1, the sixteen contestants arrived at a Buddhist temple and were forced to carry their luggage up an enormous, winding staircase. As most of the group joked about the long climb, with Jean-Robert Bellande jesting that they just build their camp on the side of the stairway, Denise and Chicken Morris fell to the back of the line and tried to enjoy a leisurely hike at their own pace.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, the men were separated from the women at the gates by several Buddhist monks. The women were given shawls to cover themselves (because, as the monk said, "their clothing was too short") before entering the temple, embarrassing Ashley Massaro. The group then participated in a Buddhist welcoming ceremony, where Leslie Nease was faced with a moral dilemma due to her Christian faith. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the group was split into two tribes: Fei Long and Zhan Hu.
After settling into camp at Fei Long, Todd nominated Aaron Reisberger to lead the tribe. Aaron, somewhat reluctantly, accepted. Meanwhile, at Zhan Hu, Chicken's attempts to direct the construction of the shelter were shot down, prompting him to stop giving his opinion.
By Day 3, hunger was beginning to set in. Zhan Hu began eating worms to survive. Erik was the first to try, and with instruction from Peih-Gee, squeezed the excrement out of the worm before consuming it. Peih-Gee continued harvesting the worms, urging the rest of her tribe to try them, including the squeamish Dave Cruser, Jaime Dugan and the unfazed Sherea Lloyd who commented that worm "wasn't bad at all! I could do another one!" At Fei Long, Amanda began catching frogs for the tribe, and both tribes found themselves eating leaves (with Jaime noting that she "preferred the worms over the leaves") and the roots of lake-plants ("sea celery," as James termed it).
However, not all food was good news. Jean-Robert vomited after ingesting spoiled rice, and the clams that Fei Long dug out of the lake were equally suspect (and prompted bouts of bickering between James and Jean-Robert over the latter's determination to eat anything they found). When Fei Long later found a series of small plant bulbs, and Courtney asked whether or not they were poisonous, James jested that they "usually just [gave] it to Jean-Robert."
At the first Immunity Challenge, a lack of food and sleep affected Zhan Hu's performance and sent them to the first Tribal Council where they voted out Chicken.
===Days 4-6===
The next day at Fei Long, Amanda and Todd formed an alliance, and Aaron began to take control as the leader of the tribe by singling out Jean-Robert for his laziness around camp. However, Jean-Robert revealed in a confessional that his lazy attitude was part of a long-term strategy.
However, it wasn't long before Aaron's leadership abilities began to be questioned. James noticed Aaron, and several other members of the tribe, sunbathing and napping on the boat and grew furious with their lack of work ethic. Leslie suggested he talk to the sunbathers, and despite Jean-Robert's protest, James waded out to the boat to confront Aaron. He told the tribe leader that he needed to be contributing, and when Aaron claimed he'd tried to get a fire going, James was shocked that he'd given up. The gravedigger continued to rant at Aaron about the fact that the two of them were the only people who were helpful at camp (citing the "stewardess," the "two older ladies who don't do much" and the "card-player" as useless), but adamantly argued that he couldn't do all the work on his own. Eventually, he dragged a reluctant Aaron out of the boat, threatening that he wasn't going to continue to pull all the weight on his own.
At the first Reward Challenge, Fei Long came out victorious and the kidnapping twist was revealed. The red tribe kidnapped Jaime, and she received a sealed bamboo tube to open back at camp. On top of their defeat, Zhan Hu returned to a flooded camp. However, Dave took control and suggested cutting out a channel in the dirt with a machete to drain out the camp area. The tribe unified to clean up their campsite and an efficient drainage system was put into place, much to everybody's joy.
Meanwhile, at Fei Long, Jaime opened the sealed tube to discover that it contained a clue to the whereabouts of a Hidden Immunity Idol hidden at the Fei Long camp, and she would have to give the clue to a member of the opposing tribe before rejoining her own. In an attempt to sabotage Fei Long, she chose to give the clue to Leslie, their weakest member. However, Leslie then chose to share the clue with Todd, hoping to form an alliance and taking him completely by surprise. 
The next morning, Aaron woke the tribe early to lead a pow-wow. After prefacing his speech with a cheesy motivator - "It's been real and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun" – Aaron announced that he was going to step down from his leadership role. This surprised everybody, particularly when, immediately following his abdication, he began to dole out the day's chores.
At Zhan Hu, Dave was beginning to struggle with a lack of sleep. His crankiness with his tribe continued as he refused to eat before the challenge, wanting to prevent energy being wasted through digestion. The rest of the starving tribe persisted, wanting to eat to give them energy for the challenge. In the end, Dave was proven wrong when his exhaustion cost Zhan Hu immunity. Yet despite his poor effort in the challenge and his constant bickering with Ashley, it was Ashley who was voted out at Tribal Council.
===Days 7-9===
===Days 10-12===
===Days 13-15===
===Days 16-18===
===Days 19-21===
===Days 22-24===
===Days 25-27===
==Still in the Running==
							
							
==Trivia==
* This is the first episode since to show the full opening credits sequence featuring all sixteen contestants.
* This is the only recap episode to air in the middle of a cliffhanger episode. This was because CBS could air only recaps on Thanksgiving of odd-numbered years due to NFL coverage.
* The episode title was said by Aaron Reisberger during his tribe "pow-wow" in which he abdicated his leadership: "It's been real and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun."
Category:Episodes
Category:China Episodes
Category:Recap Episodes
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor (U.S.) Episodes
Category:Survivor: China