Heroes’ edition of "Survivor"

In part because Heroes won’t be coming back to work until summer, and because everyone is bored to death doing nothin’ after the strike, the gang decided to play a game of Survivor. The powers behind Survivor dropped the pack of heroes in the wilderness called Washington DC, where all the action seem to be happening of late.

Two tribes were formed – Tribe “Fierce” lead by Claire Bennet, Hiro Nakamura, Nathan Petrelli, Jessica Sanders and Sylar. Tribe “Righteous” includes Peter Petrelli, West, Matt Parker, Micah Sanders and Elle Bishop (who’s eyes sparked at the thought of being around Peter again). Tribe Fierce set up camp behind Lincoln’s memorial, and Righteous chose the island of Jefferson. Jeff Probst predicted that this Survivor: DC season would have more twists and surprising alliances than any of the seasons he has hosted.

The rules are simple: Win the challenges, else get voted off. The use of powers are allowed, but not to deliberately kill a fellow tribesman or opponent. Peter and Sylar were allowed only one power each. Sylar is going for telekinesis and Peter will borrow DL’s phasing ability.

Challenge 1: Climb the Washington Monument, and memorize the five original inscriptions on the walls. The race was on! Hiro teleported to the top of the obelisk and beat the fly boys, West and Nathan, by a few seconds. Hiro and Nathan worked together to memorize the four messages. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack were frantically climbing the 897 steps of the stairwell, when Elle zapped everyone behind her! Stunned, Sylar took a rest halfway up and accidentally found the fifth inscription. This won the challenge for Tribe Fierce, rewarding them with all-season tickets to the Washington Wizards game. At the Tribal Council, Tribe Righteous unanimously voted out ELLE BISHOP. She whined all the way home to her daddy Bob, and vowed to take revenge on every hero she meets next season.

Challenge 2. Drive around the I-495 beltway during rush hour. The tribe that takes the fastest (minutes averaged across the tribe) to complete the circle wins a 2009 Nissan Rogue XLE. Claire deliberately injured herself and called 911, which responded with a wailing ambulance that took her around the beltway in half the time. But Nathan miscalculated his strategy by using a Hummer, and that cost his tribe several hours. Micah talked to the cars’ computers and synchronized the speed of every vehicle that his tribesman rode in, by doing so Tribe Righteous all arrived at the same time and won. Tribe Fierce voted out NATHAN PETRELLI.

Challenge 3: Eat at least one hotdog from each stand peddling around the National Mall. The tribe to eat the most hotdogs from all the kiosks wins a whole year supply of Slusho. Each tribe member did their best to wolf down ‘the best hotdogs in America’. All, except Jessica. She wouldn’t eat at all. This refusal to participate eliminated her, and Tribe Fierce lost. JESSICA SANDERS’ last words after were, “I’d rather die before you can make me eat that.”

Challenge 4. The tribe to find a Tim Sale painting at the National Gallery of Art wins a lifetime supply of all comic books that Tim Sale in involved, and the person to find it has immunity in the next challenge. Because the National Gallery is too big to tour in one day, everyone scrambled to find the painting in a panic. Several players had an unfair advantage in this match. Micah searched the computers, but could not find Tim Sale indexed anywhere in the museum. West was flying in an out of exhibit halls. Matt listened in everyone else’s thoughts to eliminate rooms that he had to search. But it was pure luck that did it. Sylar found himself looking at a British portraiture, and saw a Tim Sale self-portrait staring right back at him. Tribe Fierce won, and Sylar got immunity. At the Tribe Righteous camp, WEST got eliminated. He was never really that popular with the guys to start with.

Challenge 5: Find the 21 pieces to a puzzle hidden inside the US Capitol. The tribe who solves it first gets to participate in a session of Congress. Matt suggested to Tribe Righteous that they start searching the Chambers of the House. In a rather intentional move, all the 21 pieces were hidden under the chair of a certain delegate. The Righteous tribe solved the puzzle and its message so shocked them that they decided they can not share it with the world. Maybe after the elections, they will. Because of Sylar’s immunity, Hiro decided for Claire to vote him out, because he thought Claire has a better chance of beating Sylar. So the tribe spoke, and HIRO NAKAMURA went home.

Challenge 6: Build a replica of the Wright Flyer and make it fly during the Smithsonian Kite Festival this week, to win a ride on Air Force 1 with the President. Sylar’s intimate knowledge of how things work came in handy with this challenge. He and Claire got the airplane flying in no time. Unfortunately for the Righteous Tribe, MICAH SANDERS got voted out because his computer skills proved useless in building the plane.

So now the fight is among Peter, Matt, Sylar and Claire. The tribes merge and all challenges after this would be individual competitions.

Challenge 7: Stand like a famous stone statue at the Mall for a whole day, to win a Secret Service security detail against paparazzi. Matt had the ingenuous idea of dressing down like Michaelangelo’s David. But a large crowd immediately gathered around to admire him that he twitched and moved. MATT PARKER got eliminated. Claire Bennet won when she played dead.

Challenge 8: Be the first to get inside the White House lawn and pluck a rose for the First Lady from the Rose Garden, to win a dinner date with the First Couple. Claire saw a group of cheerleaders touring the White House and so she thought she could pass for one of them and get close to the First Lady. But to her horror, the squad had first to present a whole routine in front of the Mrs.’ guests! She watched deflated, as Peter, dressed as a gardener, casually handed the rose to the First Lady. CLAIRE BENNET got voted out.

Challenge 9: Get the President to recognize you and talk to you in detail. Peter thought of calling his mom, Angela Petrelli, to refresh the President’s memory of their family connection. Sylar thought of cheating… he has Candice’s ability to create an illusion…

… YOU FINISH THE EPISODE!

Between Peter Petrelli and Sylar, who do you think deserves to become the Heroes Sole Survivor?