Category: survivor south pacific

With everybody else gone, the CRABS (Coach, Rick, Albert, Brandon, Sophie) alliance finally had to stop pretending they were there to make friends and do God’s will, and instead vote out one of their own in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 14. After Brandon foolishly gave up his immunity idol to Albert, who would have gone home otherwise, it was Brandon who was sent packing instead. Interesting, for a tribe that keeps running its mouth about integrity and loyalty and all these other concepts that out on Survivor island are fleeting at best, they sure didn’t seem to have any trouble picking two targets to eliminate. Brandon’s elimination brings us down to a final 4. +1. One of those will be the Survivor: South Pacific winner.

Survivor this year is like this season’s The Amazing Race. I’m not sure I care who wins. As long as it’s not Ozzy. Strangely, I find myself pulling for Coach above the others. Sure, he may not be very good at this game, but at least he sucks less than the rest.

The season started with the announcement of two very disappointing choices for returning contestants, Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth and Benjamin “Coach” Wade. 23 seasons and more than 350 castaways later, and this is the best you can do? Two of the worst players in the history of the game. The sad thing is that one of them will probably end up winning. They are joined in the final 4/5 by Sophie Clarke, Albert Destrade, and Rick Nelson.

Coach has surprisingly been largely in control of the game. His choices have been questionable (Brandon and Mikayla specifically), and I’m not sure how far he could have gotten if he weren’t “famous”. That aside, it’s hard to argue that everybody seems to be following him around.

Albert gets an A for effort. He’s certainly not without his plans and not afraid to try to make something work. The problem is it never works. His plans always fizzle out or blow up.

I appreciate some of Sophie’s insights, but I can’t point to anything she’s actually done.

Rick is perhaps the most invisible contestant in Survivor history. Even people who have been eliminated first have had more screen time. How does someone make it to finale night and still have people asking “Who?”

Then there’s Ozzy. He’s already been voted out. TWICE. My problem with this is that he hasn’t had any impact on the game, aside from handing the game to the other tribe by not getting rid of Cochran. He hasn’t been in the game long enough to be able to do anything. Sure, Boston Rob made an impact in Marquesas in 7 episodes, convincing the idiots in his tribe (1 episode too late) that they needed to take action to avoid being steamrolled by the dominant alliance, but Ozzy ain’t no Boston Rob. I’ll give him credit for winning a lot of duels. Almost as many as Christine. But that shouldn’t give him a trip straight to finale night. Bad twist is bad. That said, he’s a big threat to win. Not having done anything, he hasn’t made any enemies either.

Brandon Hantz now joins Ozzy on Redemption Island, on the heels of him getting himself voted out by throwing away immunity. Another disappointing casting choice. Anybody expecting him to be like his uncle Russell has been disappointed. Instead, we’re left with a confused person desperate to prove something but not sure how to do so. So he just keeps invoking the lord’s name and hoping something will stick. He somehow managed to get into the dominant alliance, but since then it has been downhill. I don’t deny that his inability to keep his mouth shut and need to blab every plan to everybody makes for good TV, but it makes for a terrible survivor.

Probst’s line of questioning seems to have had the desired effect. Whatever chance Albert may have had seems to be gone. My problem with the question remains the same. There was no reason to ask whether he wanted to refuse the necklace. Who would do such a thing?

In the final duel, Ozzy and Brandon are battling against each other. Neither of them belongs back in the game, but the last person left holding on a pole will be given another shot. For Ozzy, it would be his 5th shot, 3rd just this season. This looks like the type of duel that Ozzy should win. However, Brandon’s looking a lot stronger out there than I would have expected. As Ozzy continues to readjust, Brandon just sticks in one spot. Around the 40 minute mark, there’s a lot of movement from both of them. Brandon has been eliminated, for which he thanks god. Ozzy returns to the game. Again.

Coach offers to give Ozzy his idol. Ozzy doesn’t believe him because he sees himself as too big a threat. Ah, great, the battle of egos.

At the immunity challenge, they will build a stack of cards with one hand while balancing a board with the other. Albert and Rick are irrelevant. They’re about an inch off the table by the time the others are approaching the end. Sophie has a great structure, but she runs out of pieces. Coach’s stack comes crashing down. That puts Ozzy in the lead. Ozzy then finds out his stack is not quite high enough. Half of Sophie’s stack comes down, as Ozzy takes his down himself. Sophie decides to try a new strategy. She tells Albert to drop his damn stack and come work for her. Really? Probst puts her in her place and tells her this is against the rules. Sophie keeps stumbling as Coach and Ozzy fight for the win. Ozzy wins immunity.

Coach is leaning toward getting rid of Rick, the good old boy who hasn’t pissed anybody off. I don’t see how he could.

Ozzy tells Albert he wants to get rid of Sophie. They discuss her running her mouth at the challenge. He also lets him know that Coach made a deal to take him to the end.

Coach leads Rick to believe he can’t trust Sophie. At the end of the day, Coach wants everybody to only be able to trust him, a good plan unless everybody gets wind of it.

Rick’s pitch why they should keep him around: he hasn’t won anything.

Not content with just telling Albert Coach’s plan, Ozzy sticks his foot in his mouth and tells everybody at tribal council. This is followed by Sophie telling Ozzy he doesn’t respect her, and him responding by saying she’s a spoiled brat. Then comes a big meltdown and the waterworks.

This is the last night to play the hidden immunity idol, but Coach declines.

Votes
Rick
Sophie
Rick
Sophie
Rick

With 3 votes, Rick has been voted off the island. We hardly knew you. Even in the episode in which you’re getting eliminated, you’ve been largely invisible. He says his vote will be for Ozzy, a sentiment I fear much of the jury will share.

So after Ozzy just got done throwing Coach under the bus, Coach goes up to him and buys his sob story about how he’s been hurt before by trusting people, so they kiss and make up.

For their final immunity challenge, they will race through an obstacle course to collect puzzle pieces and then solve a puzzle. Obviously, Ozzy will be the first to grab all the puzzle pieces, but he’s not the sharpest tool out there. Coach and Albert both make mistakes forcing them to have to repeat legs of the course. Sophie gets the first piece of the puzzle, evaporating Ozzy’s very large lead. Each piece placed makes the others easier because the other pieces spin but are locked once the pieces are correctly placed. She manages to get a 3 piece lead before Ozzy starts to come back. Ozzy ties it, but then Sophie goes on a run and wins immunity.

Nobody’s sure what Coach is going to do. Is he dumb enough to send this to a tie, which would be the biggest threat to his ability to win this game?

Votes
Ozzy
Albert
Ozzy
Ozzy

With 3 votes, Ozzy has been voted off the island. Again. Let’s hope it sticks this time and there are no more ridiculously stupid twists ahead.

Now Coach’s biggest obstacle is that he’s more likely to seen as the backstabber of the three, whether he’s been in control of all these idiots all along or not. The majority of the jury members had some sort of final three deal with him, and they all believed it would pan out until they were getting their torches snuffed. Control of the vote ultimately rests in the hands of Ozzy’s idiot tribe that threw the game away.

Ozzy calls Sophie a privileged, pretentious brat. Albert didn’t really do anything. But he gives Coach credit for getting to the end as a veteran. He’s going to use this opportunity to whine and complain about getting voted out for a third time. Coach acknowledges that there were times he was dishonorable.

Jim wants Albert to tell him why the others should not be there. He denies that Coach brought them there, claiming instead they brought Coach there, and Sophie didn’t play a social game.

Dawn asks Sophie’s strategy of picking who she did. Sophie’s answer seems aimed at trying to get the female vote. Not a lot of jury members who fall under that description, but it’s a good start that brings her just 2 votes shy of a win.

Coach apologizes to Rick, who refuses to let Albert talk and calls Sophie a liar. For somebody so irrelevant, he sure is bitter.

Brandon wants to talk more about the lord and forgiveness. It got old a long time ago. Apparently, the lord has a short attention span because Brandon does not have time for more than a yes or no answer from Albert. I don’t know why Albert is attempting to humor this moron, who already made up his mind days ago and can’t be reasoned with.

Whitney calls Albert sleazy. This from the married woman who’s been sleeping with somebody else while on the island. Meanwhile, Coach used god, and Sophie is condescending.

After six very bitter people get their chance to speak, Edna is the first voice of reason in the jury, most of whom beat themselves by being stupid. She reminds them that it’s a game they signed up for that has a purpose of manipulation of which they are all guilty.

Keith asks about the hidden immunity idol that Coach did not use. Coach explains that he only would have used it if there were a 6-6 tie, and Sophie pipes in to reveal that it had already been found long before Brandon’s god intervened.

Cochran thinks Coach played a great game, but he’s getting tired of the word honor being thrown around so much.

Votes
Coach
Sophie
Coach
Sophie
Coach
Sophie
Sophie
Sophie

With 5 votes (6 in total), Sophie is the Survivor: South Pacific winner. Still can’t figure out what she did other than win a couple of challenges, but by not doing much, she also didn’t make the enemies that Coach did. Ultimately, she still did more than Ozzy, though, although this whiny jury still would have voted for him.

On a site note, this is yet another example, as if one were needed, of the foolishness of this final 3 twist. Not only did Jim and Keith not contribute anything to the jury that made a 9 person jury more suitable than a 7 person jury, but as always there was one contestant who was in the finals who did not receive a single vote, in this case Albert.

Russell says that Brandon didn’t do anything right (he didn’t). Jeff proposes: Russell vs. Brandon. I think both of them have overstayed their welcome.

By the biggest margin ever, Ozzy wins the audience prize of $100,000.

So ends a lackluster season with some lackluster twists. Next time, let’s make Redemption Island reasonable (or eliminate it altogether), not a pass to the end. Also, if you have to bring someone back, bring back somebody worthwhile. Rob and Russell were great. The women from Micronesia were awesome. But Coach and Ozzy? I still can’t wrap my head around that one.

Season 24 will pit two tribes against each other on the same island in Survivor: One World.

The carnage concluded as “the five” got rid of Edna in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 13.

Coach tells us the real game begins tonight. Well, it sure hasn’t begun before now, considering that these people aren’t playing.

Albert’s not sure he wants to go to the end with Sophie any more. Invisirick would be more suitable.

Ozzy and Edna battle in today’s duel. They will complete a slide puzzle to release a hatchet, then stack cubes so that there are no repeating colors on any side. If ever there were a challenge that favored Edna or at least did not favor Ozzy, this would seem to be it. Ozzy releases his hatchet first. With help from the people who just got rid of her, Edna finally gets her hatchet, but Ozzy’s got a nice head start. With Sophie yapping in the background, Edna tries to answer but no dice. Ozzy wins the duel. From the looks of it, they’re not going to give him a shot to actually play the game badly and shoot himself in the foot (again) until finale night, as he heads back to Redemption Island.

Brandon believes the final three to be himself, Albert, and Coach.

Sophie wants to get rid of Brandon because he’s loyal, trustworthy, and godly. Really?

Coach, the experienced loser he is, wants to explain to Albert how the jury works. Do tell, wise one. During this, Brandon asks what’s going on, and Coach blows up at him and tells him to stop being a bully.

At the immunity challenge, they race up a ramp to grab bags of puzzle pieces, put the pieces together to reveal a number code, and use that code at the top of the ramp to raise their flag. Reward is pizza. Brandon’s in the lead from the start. Coach and Sophie are behind him. Albert’s in last. Rick and Brandon are the first two to complete the first part of the challenge. Coach is behind them. The other two are out of it. Rick drops out when it comes to the puzzle. Brandon edges out Coach to win immunity and reward, thanks to Jesus. He chooses Rick to get some pizza with him.

That blows Coach’s and Sophie’s plan to hell.

Sophie now wants to get rid of Albert. Coach should be easy to convince of that. Then Rick starts talking about how Albert promised him a trip to the final three, Brandon doesn’t like what he hears, and shouting ensues. Coach just sits on the sidelines and lets all these idiots yell at each other.

Brandon comes to the conclusion that he’s going to stick with Albert, and if he has to, he’ll give him is immunity necklace. Coach’s solution to this proposal: he will pray and do whatever the voices in his head tell him.

Tribal council opens with an offer. Brandon wants to give his immunity necklace to Albert. We’ve seen this twice before. Erik gave it to the girls and was promptly voted out. Before that, Jenna gave it to Heidi, and in spite of sucking at the game, she won the million dollars anyway.

Probst then asks Albert to give the necklace back. I don’t understand how this would make any sense or why there would be any expectation of it. Why don’t we just sit here all night and pass immunity back and forth? Anybody in the jury feel like having it?

Votes
Brandon
Sophie
Brandon
Sophie
Brandon

With 3 votes, Brandon has been voted off the island, as his buddy Coach turns on him.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 15, where we will find out who the Survivor: South Pacific winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

Cochran was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 12. Tonight somebody actually has to start playing.

Cochran says he’s not sure he made the best move, but it’s not like he had a choice.

Before morning prayer, Edna would like to just excuse herself since she’s not really part of this tribe. At least her anger is polite in nature.

The competitors for today’s duel: Ozzy and Cochran. They will use grappling hooks to retrieve three bags and then use a ball to solve a table maze. The grappling hook part is obviously Ozzy’s to take, but the maze is anybody’s game. Ozzy manages to grab his third bag as Cochran is stuck at 1. In his first try, Ozzy comes just a turn shy of success, and Cochran’s right back in it, as his tribe that got rid of him pretends to be on his side. Cochran drops as well. Cochran makes it right to the middle but misses the mark. Seconds later, Ozzy wins the duel.

Following the duel, everybody gets visitors from home. Ozzy must choose someone to spend time with their loved one. He picks Albert, who will visit with his mom. His second choice is Coach, who visits his brother. Lastly, Brandon gets to visit his dad, but not his uncle. That’s something of an odd trio because they really don’t seem to mesh.

Coach promises Ozzy a trip to the final three. As a Christian man. Oh, he’s going to the finals with you, too?

Brandon’s dad doesn’t want him to be a dumbass. He’s there to win the money, not keep talking about religion. His grade for him on his gameplay: C. I’d say that’s being generous. Because his son is not willing to play, he approaches Coach to make sure he’ll take him to the end.

At the immunity challenge, they will keep flipping over board pieces and making moves as long as they still have room to move. Albert is the first eliminated. Brandon follows, after which he explains that his only goal was to make sure that “a particular person” can’t win. I think Edna has managed to crack your brilliant code. Rick’s the next one done. Sophie follows. Edna is the last one eliminated. Coach wins immunity with nobody coming even near attempting to knock him out.

Edna’s last hope is to get rid of Brandon, so she approaches Coach, Albert, and Sophie to form a foursome. As much as Coach tries to convince us this is a viable plan, I’m not buying it.

Votes
Edna
Brandon
Edna
Edna
Edna

With 4 votes, Edna has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Another night of double eviction showed the end of a dumb tribe that played badly, as both Dawn and Whitney met their demise in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 10.

Sophie’s mad because Cochran’s getting along with her tribe better than she is.

Cochran pulls his tribe aside to ask for them to save him for just one tribal council. The entire rest of the tribe, even Rick, other than Edna, is there to weigh in (well, Rick doesn’t so much weigh in as just sit there). Coach and Albert support the move. Sophie does not.

Ozzy, Dawn, and Whitney are the competitors for today’s duel. They will balance ceramic dishes on the end of a long wobbly arm. With 11 dishes, Dawn is the first to fall. Had she chosen an alternate course, rather than siding with her doomed tribe, she may have had a good shot at winning this game, but now she is out. Whitney is the next to drop, and now she can head to Ponderosa to continue making babies with Keith, not to be confused with the guy she’s married to. Ozzy wins the duel and stays alive.

Ozzy continues to talk about how well suited he is to Redemption Island. He sure isn’t very well suited to being a castaway with the others.

Albert doesn’t care about camp life. The housework is not his problem. Rick refers to him as Prince Albert.

Coach is trying to make a choice. Does he stick with “the five”, or does he keep Edna and Cochran, who will never vote against him?

In the first stage of the immunity challenge, they will toss sandbags on crates. The first three will move on to slingshot coconuts at targets. Everybody gets on the board with Coach in the lead with two. Albert is the first to land his third and final bag. Rick, who we have seen three whole times tonight, is next. Cochran and Sophie have managed to hit their second targets. Sophie is the third person to head to the finals. Albert scores first. Then Rick. Then Rick again. Albert ties is at 2. Albert wins immunity and reward, a massage and an island shower. He chooses Coach to go with him. Because he can’t choose a third person to go and wants food for next time, Albert gives his reward to Cochran. This is a nice birthday present for Cochran, even if his birthday is not really in two days but rather in six months.

A new plan has formed. Edna, like Cochran, is on the bottom of the totem pole. If they can join with Albert and Coach to vote out some guy named Rick, that would save them and potentially get them to rise to the top. Albert gets wind of Rick talking about how he doesn’t do anything and calling him Princess Albert. Now it’s just time to convince Coach to flip.

Brandon opens his mouth at tribal council. That’s never good. Tonight, he’s voting out Cochran. Next time, he’s getting rid of Edna. He doesn’t plan to change.

Votes
Cochran
Rick
Rick
Cochran
Cochran
Cochran

With 4 votes, Cochran has been voted off the island. I don’t think this was as foregone a conclusion as his old tribe had hoped, but unlike the other tribe and their big stupid move, nobody around here wants to do anything, instead just coasting with the status quo.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 13, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Cochran’s old tribe got narrowed down quickly in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 9 with Ozzy being eliminated and then Jim following him.

Upon arrival at Redemption Island, Jim continues his whining. Apparently, there is something wrong with the other tribe sticking together. When can he and Ozzy be officially done already? Obviously, the other tribe has to implode eventually, but that time does not necessarily have to be now nor benefit a hot headed player who may have been able to get farther in the game if he kept his mouth shut once in a while.

Keith, Ozzy, and Jim head to the duel. Yeah, more duels, as if we have not had enough already. I got an idea. Why not just give Ozzy a free pass to the finals? It’ll save you the effort of having to give him 12 chances. The duel is an endurance test of balancing poles on their hands. Whoever wins sticks around. The two losers will be the first and second members of the jury. Brandon is rooting for Jim. Whitney is rooting for Keith. Anybody rooting for Ozzy? No. He’s what you call a free agent. Jim is the first one out. Keith is next. Ozzy stays alive.

With her numbers virtually wiped out, Dawn now acknowledges that she played stupidly.

For the immunity challenge, they will balance a bowl of rice on their heads and race across two teeter totters to fill a container on the other side. Aside from Brandon, the men predictably all fail on their first attempt, while Dawn and Sophie succeed. Whitney and Edna slowly makes their way across before finally dropping near the basket. Cochran is unsurprisingly the most awkward of the bunch. It continues shaping up to be a battle between Brandon, Dawn, and Sophie. Sophie takes the risk of filling her bowl as high as she can, and that’s enough for her to win immunity in spite of Brandon being faster than she is.

Probst warns of a twist at tonight’s tribal council.

Dawn and Whitney realize they’re on the chopping block. Brandon is a loose cannon. Rick is invisible, aside from that one time he cast the deciding vote. Edna is too attached to Coach. That leads them to Albert. Working in their favor, Albert doesn’t care about Edna anyway, as he tried but failed to get rid of her in episode 6. To get Cochran onboard, he tells him that he will be the target when they get down to 7. Albert then approaches Sophie, who voted with him to try to get rid of Edna last time when Mikayla got booted instead.

Coach sees that Albert is playing for jury votes, something that it’s a little early to be doing.

Dawn and Whitney discuss how the people in 5th, 6th, and 7th would be better off flipping than maintaining that status quo. Whitney reiterates that Cochran’s 7th. I’m not so sure of that. If using them for votes makes that much sense, wouldn’t using him for a vote make even more sense in another few nights? 5 and 7 are a lot more important votes than 9. I do agree, however, that there are problems over on that other side. Rick isn’t playing, which makes him unpredictable, and Brandon’s equally unpredictable. Coach and even Cochran for that matter may be in a good spot if they get rid of Dawn or Whitney, but I don’t know what Albert and Sophie plan to do.

I see we have a good chunk of time left as the vote looms. Something time consuming is about to happen.

Votes
Dawn
Edna
Dawn
Edna
Dawn
Dawn
Dawn

With 5 votes, Dawn has been voted off the island.

Now another immunity challenge and another vote. The immunity challenge is based on survival questions.

How much purified water should they drink each day to prevent dehydration?
1 gallon. You’d think everybody would get this right, but Albert, Edna, and Rick do not and are eliminated.

The coconut crab gets its name because its favorite food is coconut. True or false?
True. Cochran and Brandon are out.

The soft, edible flesh found inside a fallen coconut is called what?
Heart of palm. Coach is out.

You should not attempt to remove giant South Pacific clams from the ocean, as they are considered dangerous. True or false?
False. Whitney is out, and Sophie wins immunity.

Well, that was close, but now everybody should be able to breathe easily. Granted, I would think they were smart enough to have planned for this. After all, this was a scenario Cochran came up with in his confessional.

Votes
Cochran
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney
Whitney

With 5 votes, Whitney has been voted off the island. Another productive episode.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 11, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

In a shocking turn of events in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 8, Ozzy’s brilliant plan to get thrown off the island on purpose ended up backfiring and led to Cochran betraying them and voting alongside the other tribe to get rid of Keith.

Ozzy’s somewhat calm about the fact that his plan blew up in his face. Jim, however, calls Cochran a coward and a poor excuse for a man. Whitney continues Jim’s whining ways and says he has a lot to learn and disgusts her. He has what to learn exactly? How to be loyal to a sinking ship that wanted to get rid of him last week?

Ozzy says that his strategy is gone. It was there in the first place?

The immunity challenge starts right off the bat. They will toss coconuts into a ring, then move on to the next round where they will crack coconuts, get the water in their mouths, and spit it into tubes located past the obstacles. Dawn scores in the first round. Whitney, Jim, and Sophie score in the next round, and those four advance to the final stage. Jim and Sophie take the lead. Dawn’s out of it, and Whitney is even more out of it. Jim wins immunity.

With Ozzy not having immunity, the plan is to get rid of him. How many chances do you get to vote him out? Apparently, two. That said, the stupidly vocal Jim would be a good target because he just keeps running his mouth without thinking. He’s safe, though, as long as he holds on to immunity, which he will do in spite of all his talk to the contrary.

Votes
Ozzy
Cochran
Ozzy
Cochran
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy

With 6 votes, Ozzy has been voted off the island. Whitney and Dawn were at least smart enough to realize that voting against Cochran would accomplish nothing. It’s not over yet, though. He’s going to Redemption Island again. Oh c’mon. Really? This is stupid. If somebody plays this badly, enough chances are enough already.

Time for immunity challenge number two. They will stand on a beam while balancing a ball on a wooden bow. Anyone who thinks they don’t need immunity can feast on pastries and iced coffee instead. Jim, Dawn, and Whitney will compete in the challenge. Upolu and Cochran will eat. That’s certainly a first. Typically somebody bites on this offer but not quite that many. Jim is eliminated to some celebration. Dawn starts talking about how they’re all one tribe. Where was this attitude last week or before the last vote for that matter? Ultimately, I’m not sure how much it matters because Jim and Whitney have been vocal enough to secure their positions as the first to go. Whitney and Dawn survive to move on to the next section. Dawn falls, and Whitney wins immunity.

If Jim could shut the hell up once in a while, he wouldn’t have to worry. Anyway, his plan is to get rid of Edna. Nobody cares.

His potential saving grace is that Albert views Dawn as a bigger threat. She’s the person who could actually integrate into the other group and who nobody would view as a threat, thereby feeling more comfortable keeping her around longer. This sounds like just all talk to me, even if he has a point.

Votes
Edna
Edna
Edna
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim

With 6 votes, Jim has been voted off the island. Well, this has been a productive episode.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 10, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

In perhaps the riskiest but most lacking in brains move we have ever seen, Ozzy asked his tribe to vote him out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 7.

Everybody from both tribes heads to the duel. Ozzy’s putting on his act about how he got blindsided, Cochran’s a traitor, and now Ozzy is a free agent. The other tribe is not buying it. The duel is using sticks and rope to make a pole, retrieve keys, and unlock themselves. The winner of today’s duel returns to the game. Either Christine wins the duel and we have to listen to her talk about how she’s always been a force, or Ozzy wins and we have to listen to him instead. Neither option particularly appealing. Christine is the first to give it a go. Her pole is not strong enough. She tries again but still no dice. Ozzy grabs a key but drops it. He tries again and grabs the first key. Then he grabs the second key. Then his third. Christine is dead in the water. Ozzy wins the duel to return to the game.

Now everyone can drop their buffs. It’s the merge. Everything seems to have worked out as planned, although they did just hand a lot of power to Cochran, an outcast who they told was going home the night before.

So Cochran goes into his act. Granted, he’s just saying things like Keith doesn’t like him and the tribe erupted at him after their last loss. This is all completely true. Anyway, Coach tells him he doesn’t believe their story, with a warning that his tribe’s voting 6 strong, so either vote with them or draw rocks. This from a tribe that two episodes ago was split down the middle. After this talk, Cochran tells Upolu what they already knew, but with more details.

As planned, Cochran returns the idol to Ozzy. That was kind of stupid, particuarly if he plans to switch sides.

Like Cochran, Dawn’s not terribly concerned with remaining loyal to these people who haven’t liked them anyway.

The first individual immunity challenge is generally endurance. Two people (one man and one woman) will leave with immunity. They will balance on a small perch while holding a coconut with two ropes, with more rope being added at regular intervals. Edna drops quickly, and Cochran is right behind her. Whitney is the first to fall in the second round. Sophie follows. Dawn wins immunity. Coach is out next. Rick’s been shaking for two rounds and finally drops. Jim and Keith both fall with seconds remaining in the second round. On to the third and final round. Brandon is out. Albert drops. Ozzy wins immunity.

Te Tuna is the new tribe name.

Savaii discusses targeting either Rick or Sophie. As for their own tribe, Ozzy and Dawn both have immunity. Then it comes up that maybe they should play the hidden idol as well. Jim suggests giving it to Whitney. Wait a minute. Who’s Whitney?

Double agent Cochran tells Sophie the whole plan, but she is not equally willing to share.

Now Dawn has decided she no longer wants to switch sides.

Giving up his unconvincing charade, Ozzy acknowledges at tribal council that he has the idol. After the vote, he plays it for Whitney.

Votes
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick

In the event of a tie, they revote and can only vote for Keith or Rick. If it comes down to a tie again, they will draw rocks, and whoever gets the odd colored rock is out, something that happened to Paschal way back in Boston Rob’s first season in Marquesas. The odds are good (1 in 9), but that doesn’t make it a smart risk to take.

Votes
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Keith
Rick
Rick
Rick
Rick
Keith

With 6 votes, Keith has been voted off the island. Cochran flipped, and his tribe is not happy. You idiots gave him both the opportunity and the reason in the first place. Brandon tells Jim that calling Cochran a coward shows why he flipped.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

In a tribe split down the middle, Mikayla was voted out in Survivor: South Pacific Episode 6.

Edna, Coach, and some guy named Rick (is he new?), who were the idiots who sided with Brandon (to be fair, Edna had no choice), feel he is a liability. Ya think? Edna believes this is a good thing. If her name comes up again next time, so will his. Rick is worried Brandon will completely botch the merge. He probably will. Coach, however, wants to remain loyal, until such time as he deems it necessary to put a bullet in his head.

Christine is in a duel with Mikayla. They will take apart a crate, use the planks to build a bridge, take the bridge apart, and solve a puzzle with some of the planks. Christine is the first person to make it to the bridge and the first to complete it. During this, Albert is giving Mikayla whatever help he can give her. He does not support his other former teammate, who is bitter anyway. In cases like this, it normally comes down to who’s the best puzzle solver, although this puzzle doesn’t appear particularly complicated. Mikayla thinks she has it. Not quite. Christine is correct and stays alive. So is anybody happy with this result?

Christine’s former tribemates look annoyed. More importantly, Ozzy is afraid of Christine’s winning streak. He has a proposal: send somebody to Redemption to beat her. Ozzy volunteers. Works for me.

Coach says he is not worthy about 10 times in a row. I know. So after they’re done praying for God to help them find the hidden immunity idol, they “search” for a while, and return to camp, deciding to let everybody in on the secret, minus the part about finding it weeks ago. Brandon views this as divine intervention, a sign that the man upstairs really does watch reality TV.

They head to the immunity challenge dressed as pairs of warriors. Reward is a preview of Jack & Jill starring Adam Sandler plus, more importantly, popcorn, candy, soda, and hot dogs. One set of twins will be the callers. The other two sets of twins will be tied together and blindfolded and must go through obstacles to collect bags of masks. One set will empty the bags and, using only their sense of touch, pair up the masks into matching pairs. Coach & Rick and Jim & Cochran are the callers. Upolu starts off with the lead. They increase this lead by a good margin with the second bag, but it evaporates with the third bag. Savaii takes the lead but blows it when they get tangled up in their ropes, and the blame for this falls universally on Cochran. Upolu is in the lead after all four bags are returned. Then Coach starts praying for victory. Really? Upolu wins immunity and reward. You know what that means. Time to pray some more. Meanwhile, Ozzy flies into a rage and starts hitting things.

In spite of Ozzy’s earlier brilliant plan to get voted out on purpose and give away his idol, Cochran no longer feels safe, what with Ozzy’s latest temper tantrum added to an anger management problem. So apparently, Cochran has volunteered to go to Redemption for the good of the tribe. At least that’s how Ozzy tells the story.

The next morning, after some dreams about going away (I await it as well), Ozzy wakes up, goes to get his immunity idol, and puts it around his neck. He again makes his offer to head to Redemption. Keith is the most vocal against this. What if the merge doesn’t happen when they think it will?

If Ozzy is sent packing, the plan is for him to go to Christine and say they tried to vote out Cochran, but he played the idol and saved himself. They’d like to turn Cochran into a double agent. After they almost voted him out and have treated him like something of an outcast for most of the game, his odds of actually flipping and not just pretending to flip are good. This seems to benefit him more than anyone.

After the vote, Ozzy hands the idol to Cochran, who promises to return it if he comes back.

Votes
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy
Ozzy

With 4 votes, Ozzy has been voted off the island. As dumb a move as this is, if it actually works, it can be easily pointed to as one of the better strategic moves in the game, something Ozzy never had in his last two seasons. It would be hard to classify this as a smart move, but it’s still a huge move that makes things interesting.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: South Pacific Episode 8, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.