In this clip from CBS's Survivor 2, the two teams (Okagor and Kucha) are racing through an athlos, a contest of both cunning and endurance. A leader from each team must guide his or her teammates through an obstacle course, guided only by the sound of their heroic voice. The penultimate obstacle--in which the contestants must fill jugs that are then poured into a large barrel--is in fact a variation on the punishment of the Danaids, murderesses who are forever condemned in Hades to carrying urns of water that leak.
Fortunately, this particular athlos has a telos: the team that carries the last picnic basket to the finish line wins a picnic of Doritos and Mountain Dew (product placement at its worst, though Mountain Dew might be a fine epithet for ambrosia). The obstacle course boasts a really an exciting finale: leader Jerri seems to be guiding Amber to certain victory (the Sapphic resonances of Amber are beautiful: nubile woman as natural substance) when suddenly Kucha races from behind and plants the winning picnic basket on the table.
The aftermath is too beautiful for words. Kucha is elated, and one can understand why Pindar would be moved to capture that spirit of elation in song -- Kucha's victory is truly worthy of a kleos-producing medium, whether it be a Pindaric ode or 10 minutes on CBS. And note Ogakor's utter humiliation: the flipside of nike is disgrace. In fact, Colby is so upset with Jerri that he throws the contents of a bucket at her: sarcastically Jerri confesses that (as in Pindar's Olympian 1.1) "water is best." (In fact, nike is best: water isn't even a close second.)
