Storytellers

[Colleen Haskell]

Rupert and Colleen: A Love Affair for the Ages

Once upon a time, a long time ago in the far away land of Malaysia, there was a beautiful young girl by the name of Colleen. She was a fair maiden with beautiful brown hair. Her smile was one of a kind; it had such an innocence that beamed from it. She was that innocent. Her smile didn’t lie. She smiled through her eyes that reinforced her youthful beauty.

Then there was Rupert; a Grizzly Adams kind of guy. Boisterous, hairy, tie-dye wearing, gentle as a teddy bear, kind of man. He always had a smile across his face. No matter what he was going through, no one ever knew. That smile could hide the world behind it.

When 18 castaways got off the boat in the beautiful Malaysia, Colleen noticed this guy standing behind everyone. He had an interesting face; she knew she had to get to know him better. When Amanda and Erik had divided them up into tribes, Colleen was extremely happy to find out that Rupert was on the same tribe with her. Little did she know Rupert was pining for her as much as she was for him. They worked side by side daily. Losing their first challenge they tried to rid the tribe of a sex-crazed maniac. They failed, but redemption was soon to come. Rupert stood on his head to impress Colleen, they worked on another game together, and they were even subject to a tribe shuffle which left their union intact. That was until that fateful night. Both tribes had merged and Rupert had a secret. Colleen was also very good friends with the “Dragon Slayer” Coach. Rupert had met Coach a while before Colleen and had a plan coming into the game. To take down not only Coach, but a friend of his and Coach’s as well, Lex. But in order for things to fall into place, Rupert had to break a trust with Colleen and help Lex take down Coach. Coach was a dangerous factor in this game. Coach, Colleen, and Candice had come into this game together as the 3C Bitches. Rupert and Lex suspected something along these lines, so the two of them along with Frosti and a couple of others, they blindsided Coach. Rupert had betrayed Colleen. Colleen wasn’t one to get upset or angry easily. But she did this time. She was pissed off! She confronted Frosti, Lex, and Rupert. Frosti and Lex found it so funny at what they had done. Rupert was happy with what he had done but was upset that he had hurt Colleen so. He valued what they had developed and it hurt him to know he had hurt her so much.

Colleen and Candice were left speechless. They knew they were next. They had to come up with a plan. Colleen used her innocence and Rupert being sweet on her to bring a plan to Rupert. The next round, if Lex did not win immunity, he would be taken down. And that he did. Rewards flew everywhere and Lex was blindsided by a 10-0 vote. So maybe it was a bit much, and in the end it hurt Colleen. Lex had won a tie-breaker vote during the Survivor Auction and at final 6, Colleen was sent to the Jury by her nemesis Lex. Rupert continued on in the game and made the finals with her very good friend Candice. Colleen was a touch jealous. She wanted to be playing the game with Rupert. She wanted to be playing with her friend Candice. She just wanted to be there. She would soon get her revenge. There was this thing called All Stars to be played. Little did she know that her and her love, Rupert, would soon be reunited.

At the end of the Survivor season in Malaysia, both Rupert and Colleen were asked to come back after a season of Survivor in Manchuria to play in the coveted All Star game. They could hardly wait. They knew they could keep in touch in between the seasons by e-mail, IM, phone calls, and snail mail aka USPS. And that’s what they did. They went on with their respective lives, but stayed in touch by all means necessary. Their love started to blossom, they soon realized they couldn’t be apart any longer. Although they both debated whether they should play or not, Rupert having other commitments and Colleen getting ready to go back to college at the influence of Rupert, they decided this was the only way for them to be together at this point in time. There was still one resounding factor. They may end up on opposite tribes, opposite alliances, opposite sides of the game. They made a vow to one another that no matter what happened, they wouldn’t get mad at one another over anything. That if they had to vote the other out, they would tell each other and remember that what they had was much more important than any game. Their love was real and there was no denying that. This game was just that, a game.

The game begins and they are on opposite tribes of course. Rupert with that bastard from Malaysia, Lex, her good friend Candice, Todd, Sierra, Alina, and Jimmy. Colleen’s tribe consisted of Brett, who was actually Coach in disguise, Austin, Russell, Kim, who was actually a very good friend of Colleen’s from many moons ago in this place called Tonga, and Jenna, another good friend of Colleen’s both from Tonga and this place called Bermuda Triangle. Bermuda Triangle was another story. And then there was Darrah. Darrah had this hatred Colleen and Colleen couldn’t figure out why. Everyone loved Colleen. Colleen loved everyone. She would soon find out why Darrah hated Colleen. Like Coach who was in disguise, so was Darrah. Darrah was Colleen’s nemesis Sydney from Malaysia. Sydney was this sex-crazed maniac who was jealous of the relationship between Rupert and Colleen. Rupert was one of the guys who wouldn’t return Sydney’s sexual flirtations. So Sydney transformed herself into Darrah to hide who she was. She did that for two reasons. One, to finally get her hands on Rupert. Two, Sydney wanted to avenge her torch being snuffed in Malaysia by Amanda, who only done so because Colleen and the rest of the tribe had voted out Sydney in Malaysia. Darrah tried her best once again to get Rupert to pay attention to her. She flirted with him anytime the chance presented itself. She tried to get him to call her on the phone; to talk on this thing called Skype once they returned to the main land, even to meet her in person. Rupert was having none of it. That aggravated Darrah to no extent. What Rupert didn’t realize is that Colleen was just as jealous of Darrah as Darrah was of Colleen. Rupert would complain about Darrah’s persistence, the things she would say to him. Call me Rupert, meet me here Rupert, let’s Skype Rupert. That’s all Colleen would hear about. She knew Rupert had no interest in Darrah, but it still annoyed her that he would talk to her when he could just as easily walk away. Colleen had real feelings for Rupert where Darrah just wanted to prove a point. The Fēngbào tribe lost the immunity challenge. Darrah was so sure that everyone wanted Colleen gone as badly as she did. She even went to Brett and said “Five of us are voting for Colleen, if you want to join us feel free. I’m just letting you know so you aren’t out of the loop ” What Darrah failed to realize when the rest of the tribe told her they would vote me out, they had no intentions of doing that. They were appeasing her. She was entirely oblivious to the fact that no one on the tribe liked her at all. She was so hurt by the fact she was voted out of the game by a 5-1 vote. So she tried even harder to get at Rupert. Continuously flirting with him, trying to get him to leave the game and come home with her. Colleen knew she had nothing to worry about. But it still got to her. She just never told Rupert how much. Colleen thought with Darrah gone, Darrah would go away. But alas she didn’t. However, the game continued on. Boston Rob defected to Rupert’s tribe. Boston Rob had a reputation for having a big mouth. He told everyone everything. There was one time however, he didn’t. He had a tough choice to make. Vote out his friend Candice or vote out another dear friend Sierra. Both would remain extremely loyal to him. And he wanted to remain loyal to them. But the vote was clear. It was either Candice or Sierra. He chose Sierra. But Rob made one fatal mistake. The one time he didn’t open his mouth was this vote. He never told Candice that he was voting her out. When Colleen found out that Candice had been voted out and Rob never said anything, she was furious. Yes, Colleen understood the tough choice he had to make. But he could have avoided the entire thing by telling Candice what he was doing. He chose to keep his mouth shut this time. Colleen verbally attacked Rob for this. She told him off. This was not unlike Colleen. Although she had this sweet and innocent side, when provoked she had no qualms about giving folks a good what for. Colleen now had a new target. It was Rob. All she had to do was make the merge, and hope that Rob did as well. Colleen was going to take Rob out the game. She knew she would get plenty of help from Rupert and the others who made the merge. But first they both had to make the merge.

And then there was that fateful vote. The vote that happened right before the merge was to happen. Fēngbào had won tribal immunity again and once again kidnapped Austin. Kidnapping was a way for the winning tribe or tribes to keep the losers weaker than them. Or in this case, keep an ally safe from the vote. The kidnapped person would not only get a clue to a special prize, but would also be safe from being voted out at Tribal Council. Colleen had a bad feeling that if Rupert wasn’t kidnapped, he would be voted out. But the other Fēngbào tribe mates wouldn’t hear of it. They wanted Austin and so he was the one who got kidnapped. Rupert was especially torn with this vote. On one hand, he wanted out of the game. His personal life was being put on hold for the game. He was constantly stressed out and taking it out on everyone around him. Including Colleen. But he also knew that if he was out of the game, his love Colleen would not want to play any more either. They had essentially came in the game together, and made an unspoken promise to leave together. Colleen was eternally torn over each vote. Not wanting to vote out friends and Rupert was the same.

They knew it was a game, but there were feelings getting hurt. Like an incident that had happened the round before. Once again Fēngbào had won immunity and had kidnapped Austin. That left a friend and ally of Colleen’s, Jenna, vulnerable to be voted out. And that was the plan of Verraad, to vote her out. Rupert trusted Colleen with that information and Colleen told Brett. Brett quickly went and told his buddy Lex and Lex was furious that Rupert had told Colleen that. Which made Rupert upset with Colleen. Colleen was so upset with everything that she contemplated leaving the game. She couldn’t handle it any more. It was too much for her to handle. But Rupert talked her out of it. He told her he wouldn’t be able to stay if she wasn’t there. He apologized for getting upset with her and that he realized what a terrible spot she was in with the vote. That was when Colleen realized Rupert’s true feelings for her. And she could no longer deny how much she loved him.

But here she was again. Knowing that either Rupert would be leaving the game or Rob would. Right now she was doing to Rob what she had yelled at him for doing. She knew that Rupert would be voting for him. But she had this strange suspicion that Rob wouldn’t be the one who was voted out. With that bastard Lex around, she knew he would want to not only pay him back for what Rupert did to him in Malaysia, but Lex also knew that Rupert and Colleen were close and they would find a way to take him out of the game. When the votes were read, there was only one vote that was read. It said “Rupert” and below that it said “I never forgot about Malaysia. Happy Birthday from the Bastard”. Lex had gotten rid of everyone else’s votes so that he had the only vote. He wanted to make sure that Rupert knew it was his idea and that he had extracted his revenge on Rupert. Colleen was not only devastated but she was furious at Lex. He not only voted out her love Rupert but he made it personal by wishing him Happy Birthday. Yes it was Rupert’s birthday when Lex pulled this bastardly deed. Colleen wanted to leave the game right then and there. She was done. But another amazing friend and ally Kim needed her. Both Rupert and Kim talked Colleen into staying and exacting out revenge on Lex. She knew she had to do this for Rupert. She knew Kim needed her. Colleen knew she had to kill Lex for the death of Rupert. She was a woman on a mission. The mission has yet to complete but she will not forget. Much like Lex didn’t forget Malaysia, Colleen will not forget either. Little does Lex know, Colleen is much more ruthless than he’s ever known her to be. And he has crossed the wrong person this time.