Survivor: Cook Islands Ep. 14 - "Arranging A Hit"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Oh My Og, what dumbasses!!!

I’d rather fall on a barrel than slice my finger with a machete. And I agree Aitu boned the vote tonight. An annoying kingmaker like Jonathan is someone you want to keep with you to Final 2, not someone you let be voted off. I cannot believe Yul made the decision to boot Jonathan. I suspect one of the girls in his alliance made the decision, and Yul is playing along to maintain harmony.

I think Yul wants Adam and Parvati to save face by staying longer than Jonathan. And I think he might be drunk with immunity idol power and deluded enough to think they’re still a lock to leave in the next two votes. Anything can happen, Yul! Wake up and plan for the worst, hope for the best.

I laughed out loud multiple times this episode, most notably when Sundra slammed into the platform. That looked like it hurt like a mofo, but since she was just bruised, it was comedy gold. I rewound it multiple times. Then Ozzy laughing about everybody “eating it” had me cracking up all over again. Hey, for the Ozzy lovers, ya’ll are aware and have seen his “softcore” stuff, right? It was mentioned in tv guide. Something to hunt down to keep you going until next week, at least.

The palpable sense of discomfort when Jonathan sat down with the group was hysterical. What a douchebag Jonathan is, and I liked him a lot on Rude Awakenings. First he shoehorns himself into the mutiny, then he turns around and bails on Raro. He set records for backstabbing. His big blunder was when he switched back to Aitu because the dumbasses on Raro didn’t believe Yul had the idol. What he should have done was tell them Yul had shown him the idol, especially since the only reason he flipped was because he honestly believed that Yul did have it. That would have saved him major integrity points, he’d still be in the game right now with four Raro and Ozzy, and nobody still in the game would be pissed at him except Ozzy.

Speaking of integrity, I will break custom and use an emoticon for the first time in over two years: Survivor players who talk about integrity? :rolleyes: Give me a fucking break. The game is all about backstabbing; the only question is who can piss people off the least while doing it. There is no other way to play. (Well, except for Rudy from season 1, but his wasn’t a viable strategy.)

Another hysterical moment was when either Jonathan or Adam was whining at the other how they didn’t deserve the be there, the camera pan to Becky was evilly perfect. WTF has either Becky or Sundra done to merit being in the game this long? What do they do, boil water?

I think Yul hit an all-time scuzzy low with his suggestion to hide the food. I give Ozzy credit in that he kinda trapped Yul on that one. Ozzy said “should we do something about the food situation?” and left it at that. Yul volunteered “you mean hide it?” And then followed up his own question with “yeah, we should hide it.” You know that’s what Ozzy was thinking as well, but he has plausible deniability. (“I meant we should switch to everyone for themself.”) The hiding of the food was more skeevy than anything Johnny freakin’ Fairplay would ever do. It was funny that they brought all the food back right after, though I’m guessing without the presence of Sundra at the reward they may not have been so generous.

As for the finale, TV Guide has an unmarked spoiler in the current issue (no player names, just logistical info):It will be a final 3, and with a jury of 9 there is a mathematical chance for a two or even three way tie. When I say final two down below, I don’t care who the third is.Should be good.

Anyway, I’m still rooting for Ozzy and Parvati to be the final two. Speaking of Parvati, she had and will continue to have no chance in the immunity challenges with that thumb. Swimming is fine, but this is the most knot-happy season I’ve ever seen. It’s gotta suck to untie shit with a severed thumb. (Which grossed me the hell out; my skin was crawling.)

Oh yeah, holy shit was Adam smarmy after the vote at tribal council. That was up there with Jonathan loudly saying “And we can’t share, right?” when he won the pizza at the food auction.

Refresh my memory on who Adam backstabbed. From what I recall, he has been unwaveringly tight with the original Raro then the new Raro (in that priority order) the whole game. The only exception has been his hatred for Jonathan, yes? Jonathan turned on everyone in the game at one point or another. Yul, Becky, Parvati and Adam are the ones who have never flipped by my reckoning. Ozzy engineered throwing a challenge to get a guy on his original tribe booted, Jonathan wholesale flipped tribes twice, and I don’t have any memory of Sundra except her spectacular wipeout during the challenge this episode.

Is there an anti-jock/homecoming queen bias clouding opinions, or have I missed some backstabbing?

Jonathan is no worse a douchebag than quite a few other people in Survivor history, at least one of whom has won the game. He himself admitted that the mutiny was a bad idea, an impulsive one. But it wouldn’t have saved him anything to stick with Raro afterwards – if he had, he’d have been voted out at the first merged Tribal Council, instead of Nate (because Yul would have used the Idol to save himself). That’s all. Jonathan’s problem wasn’t the loyalty violations, it was his mouth: he should have kept it shut. And say this while kind of liking the guy, a little bit.

I don’t think this is true. Certainly Ethan Zohn would beg to differ, and probably Tom Westman. I would even argue that Brian Heidik didn’t backstab all the time – is it really backstabbing if you’re honest about the fact that you want to get rid of anybody who isn’t you? When the tribes first merged, Jonathan tried to tell Adam et al. that Yul had the Idol, and they didn’t want to listen. I can’t blame the guy for flipping. Nobody wants to be the last rat on the sinking ship. I would have probably done it myself.

They boil water, and they make their vote available to whoever will keep them in the game. This strategy won Sandra Diaz-Twine a million dollars, so it’s hard to argue with it. It’s the same strategy that Jonathan was trying to use, except that it is most effective when you keep your mouth shut about it, and just, you know, do it.

It’s not like they hid the coconuts well, or buried them under rocks, or anything like that. They just threw them in the trees and decided to make everyone else do their own “shopping.” The lowest thing? Happened in the Pearl Islands, when the aforementioned Sandra secretly hid stuff and threw out food in an effort to sabotage camp when she thought she was going to be voted out. And then, when she wasn’t? She let someone else take the blame for it. She admits to this. That was pretty rotten, and also kind of awesome.

Not just someone else, but her closest ally left in the game…

He did tell them that Yul showed him the idol. They didn’t believe him.

Actually, he told them that Yul showed him the idol after the eviction that got rid of Nate, because Yul didn’t actually show him the idol until after the conversation where everyone said, “No WAY he has it!”

I spent a few minutes explaining this to a non-Survivor friend who was over last night. Still one of my favorite moments ever.

I have nothing to say that hasn’t already been said, but could Adam look any more like his dad?

Yeah. I think that Sandra is my favorite winner, mostly because she used the exact same strategy I would have to use*. I call it the “Mercenary Tactic.” The funny thing is, in any other season, it wouldn’t have worked – I mean, we can all see how well things worked out for Jonathan. It worked for Sandra because of who she was up against: Lil, who everyone hated for being an Outcast, and Johnny Fairplay, who everyone hated for being Johnny Fairplay. Unfortunately for Jonathan, nobody really hates Yul, except for the usual class of “h4t3rz.”

** Unless being pudgy and pasty suddenly counts as having “sex appeal,” in which case I’m golden.*

My wife saw it last night - has watched few if any previous eps this season. She kept commenting on what a jerk Jonathan was, and I kept trying to tell her that while he has a certain personality, I didn’t really think of him as way more of a jerk than everyone else. In fact, I generally appreciate folks who are willing to say what they think and feel.

Her other comment was that everyone must have had their teeth whitened and capped before the game started.

Man, I’ve taken a few hard falls, and that hit Sundra took was MAJOR! Pavarti’s finger slice was no treat either. Ouch.

I was impressed at how much I wanted someone to smack Adam across the face with a 2x4. Wierd that they let him and Candace communicate so openly, and Nate be so demonstrative. (She sure does clean up good!)

Thought it was a fun twist making Pavarti’s dad pick who went with them.

Have we had a gross food eating challenge yet this season? Those are always among my favorites.

I’ve always thought some challenges need Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano from MXC as guest announcers.

Kenny: Oooh! Sundra hit that barrel like a Nurse hitting an uncooperative Alzheimer’s patient!
Vic: Right you are Ken!

I was wondering why Jeff referred to Ozzy’s “pole” so many times during the challenge. “Ozzy’s laying things out just to see how much pole he’s got to work with!” “Ozzy’s doing the whole thing with his pole!”

Man, Parvarti was such a bitch. I hate her and Adam but now I kinda hope both of them end up the final two just to teach a lesson to the rest of those schmucks.

I wonder if Ozzy and Sundra (both having been shown to have continued issues with Jonathan) persuaded Yul on this issue… I could see this happening, as he is a team player.

Of course, now we have to put up with Adam’s grin for another week…sighs sadly

I would have liked to have Jonathan for a bit longer, if only for the comedy factor. He said some funny things! And he really was trying to play the game, as opposed to just skating along like others…

Is it just me, or is the Jury more annoying than the current competitors? Nate bops around and makes these…faces…that make me twitch and Candice was still so smug looking from the Jury! Boggles the mind.

And how is it that Brad is still the prettiest person on the Jury with three other women there?

My roommate went into the other room for a minute just before the challenge, came out in time to see Sundra bite the big one, and said “Hey, is this Log Drop??”

I would like to see a Survivor Most Painful Eliminations, that’d be fun.

They haven’t had a gross food challenge since Pulau. They had the challenge where people had to eat pickled duck embryos (baluts?); kind of like a crunchy hard-boiled egg (tom: “hm… there was a bit of bill in that one…”). In a later challenge, when Jeff was trying to bribe people out of the post-standnig competition with food, Ian requested baluts… they haven’t had gross food since. Besides, these people have been eating worms and snails and raw sea cucumbers.

Yeah, we were making up our own commentary for that.

“Ozzy sure seems like he’s handled long pole before!”

I think the best play was for Yul to break up the Adam/Parvati duo when he had the chance. That said, he was likely under serious pressure from his own alliance to get rid of Jonathan first, and under pressure from the Raro’s with the threat of the F2 vote. I can see him seeing this as a smarter long-term political play.

There may also be elements of complaceny at work, because as much as Yul says he’s not comfortable being the leader, he’s lying. He’s secretly enjoying being safe and in charge.

Parvati and Adam still have a chance. Many folks are making decisions based on likability over other factors. Bringing back food was a very smart move for them.

Back when the mutiny happened and Candice and Jonathan joined the Raros, all the original Raros declared that they would stick together and vote out the newcomers. Adam was one of the Raros who was saying this. However, instead of doing it, he was one of the people who then voted to kick Brad, then Rebecca, and then Jenny out of the game while keeping Candice and Jonathan in.

Man, that blew. Poor Yul surely got pushed into that decision by the others in his alliance. Adam was the clear choice. But oh well, hopefully they can get him next time, and don’t get too worried about Ozzy too soon. Ozzy just dominated that immunity challenge. It was a beautiful thing to see. (Sundra- Ouch!) But any risk of a Raro in the final is too much, especially with Sundra ripe to flip.

Ordinarily I’d have thought the food hiding thing was low, but Parvati and Adam are perfectly capable of getting their own food, if they’d just get up off their asses.

when Adam told Jonathan he didn’t deserve to be there because of his “integrity” I was practically screaming at the screen. I didn’t know the name of the game was “Integrity-haver: outtrust, outcommit, outtruth.” It’s Survivor, dammit! Your supposed to get past each elimination however you can! the only benefit to Jonathan going this week is at least we don’t have to see the smarmy twins hold hands in the Jury box, unless they do so over Jonathan’s lap.

I don’t think anyone has formed a Final 3 alliance yet (at least, not that I recall). All Adam & Poverty have to do is promise Becky or Sundra to take them to the F3, and the Balance of Stupidity has shifted.

It’ll be interesting to see how Jonathan votes – he’s got reason to hate everybody who’s remaining, but presumably he has to vote for somebody.