Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 5

Episode: Don't Cry Over Spilled Octopus Original Air Date: October 12, 2006 Raro - Day 12, morning after Tribal Council. The tables have turned on the manly men of the Raro tribe. After losing their alpha male JP to a female alliance, they no longer feel they have the freedom to sit around revelling in their own testosterone. Instead, the three remaining boys spend the morning scrambling around spearing small animals and gathering a humongous pile of wood in an effort to prove to the women how much they need the men. They still don't get it. You could go around killing every defenseless little critter on the island. You could start fire by rubbing your own chest hairs together. You could build a bamboo mansion for your tribe, complete with jacuzzi and wet bar, and no one in the tribe would care. Sure, they might act incredibly grateful after you've done the work. But when it comes to Tribal Council, it's all about who you've ticked off or who feels threatened by you. It doesn't matter that you've single-handedly saved your tribe from the brink of starvation with your secret earthworm souffle recipe which you've been saving just for this occasion. If you're on the wrong side of the wrong person when it comes time to vote, your butt is toast. Afterward, your tribe mates will be relaxing in that jacuzzi in the bamboo mansion feasting on your earthworm souffle, while they laugh about how easy it was to vote you off the island. In Raro's case, a much smarter strategy for any one of the men would be to ally himself with the women, then try to cause some friction between at least two of the women by the time the other men are voted off. Of course, if these people were smart, they wouldn't be on Survivor in the first place. We're not exactly dealing with a group of Mensa members here. Aitu - This morning Cao Boi is busy spearing fish while Candice, Sundra, and Becky are absorbed in the important work of comparing each other's armpit hair. For some reason, Cao Boi doesn't see this as a productive use of time and complains to the camera about the girls' lack of work ethic. Maybe the prize in the next challenge will include some Epilady products. The Challenge - The tribes are gathered at the challenge site and given instructions. Each tribe will be split into four pairs. Three of the pairs from each tribe will each be strapped together while each member will be holding on to a rope which is attached to a pulley and supporting bags of sand. One pair from each tribe will be loading the bags of sand for the opposing tribe. The first tribe that drops all of its bags loses (once one member of a pair drops his/her bags, that pair is out). The winning team will receive a box containing more fishing supplies (because apparently there are still a few fish still alive within spearshot of the island), cooking spices (because octopus can taste rather plain), and wine (because the castaways still have a few shreds of their dignity left). Sorry, no Epilady. Raro decides the best strategy is to spread the weight out among Aitu's three pairs, while Aitu decides to first load almost all of the weight on to Raro's Nate and Adam. Eventually, each of the Aitu contestants are holding up from five to fifteen pounds apiece while Nate and Adam are each holding up 30 pounds with only one arm. First, one Aitu pair drops their bags, then a pair from Raro drops their load. Another Aitu pair drops their bags. Nate and Adam, visibly straining under the weight, pull the ropes close to themselves while tightly clutching each other. It is somehow both incredibly manly yet borderline fruity at the same time. Cao Boi makes a crack about what a 'handsome couple' Nate and Adam make. Nate responds by singing "Ebony and Ivory". Finally, the last Aitu pair drops their bags while Raro's Nate and Adam are still hangin' strong. Raro wins the challenge. As a result, Raro gets to choose which member of Aitu is sent to Exile Island. They decide for some reason that it would be best to send someone who has been before. Jonathan is once again exiled. Raro - Day 13. Adam starts the day with an octopus stuck to his foot, and really, who of us hasn't started a morning in that situation? Though it probably would have been immensely entertaining to watch how this happened, the episode leaves us in the dark about the cause of Adam's predicament. But if I were to hazard a guess, I would say Adam was not employing proper octopus-hunting technique. This is just the sort of thing that happens if you go around hunting octopus all willy-nilly. The creature is pried from Adam's foot and Brad remarks, "That is like, lunch and dinner." He must be right, because as we all know, octopus is definately not breakfast food. Later, Christina is preparing lunch. No, actually she's supervising. The stupidest thing a castaway can do is to boss other castaways around. The second stupidest thing is for a castaway to assume she is valuable because of some wilderness survival skill she brings to the group. Yet Christina, who is pretty proud of being the tribe's cook, is simultaneously doing both this morning. As Jenny says, "Anyone can cook coconut stew." She's right. I think I saw Rachel Ray do it on her show the other day. Christina's stupidity is compounded by the fact that just two days earlier JP was voted off for acting pretty much the same way. It doesn't take long for Rebecca to whisper to Jenny, "Is it horrible if I ask for [Christina] to go next?" Making matters worse, Christina drops the pot of octopus, spilling octopus nuggets all over the beach. Then she tries to blame it on Jenny. (See what I'm saying about no Mensa members here?) Aitu - Because resources are running out near their camp, Ozzy, Cao Boi, and Flicka decide to paddle the canoe out to a nearby island to examine its resources. Evidently, they've killed every living thing on their own island and want to see if there's anything they can kill on the next island over. Yul, Becky, and Sundra take this opportunity to approach Sundra about joining their alliance. With Jonathan, who is currently on Exile Island, they will have five if Sundra joins. She says she's with them, but confesses to the camera, "that could change five minutes from now." Whether she's talking about the fact that her fellow tribe members have accepted her, or her commitment to the alliance is unclear. Meanwhile, Cao Boi, Flicka, and Ozzy reach the other island and discover they've actually reached Raro's camp. The Aitu trio thinks it's hilarious, but Raro is not amused. Cao Boi sits down, makes himself comfortable, then proceeds to talk on and on about Chinese astrology. Some members of Raro start to yawn, but Cao Boi is not one to be discouraged by mere social cues. Much like a relative who invites himself to your house then doesn't leave until he's eaten all of your food, Cao Boi ends the conversation by asking if he and his tribe-mates can take some coconuts and noni from Raro's island. He's told no, so logically Cao Boi asks for some of Raro's cooking spices. Surprisingly, Raro doesn't think that's such a great idea. The Aitu trio leave empty-handed. Exile Island - I was disappointed last week when we weren't shown Candice frantically searching for an Immunity Idol which wasn't even there. But this week, we get to see Jonathan digging a huge trench way into the night. In the morning, he concludes, "Either the idol's been found, or I'm a moron." Why can't both be right? The Incredibly Convoluted Immunity Challenge - In this week's Immunity Challenge, the tribes must assemble three "stepping poles" on the beach, then run to the water where they will be transporting two of their members by means of the stepping poles from one platform to another. Once both members are on the second platform, the rest of the tribe must climb on to the platform, then jump off and swim to a tower with a much smaller platform. All eight tribe members must climb the tower and find some way for all of them to fit on or above the small platform. The first team to accomplish this will win immunity. Aitu achieves an early lead but quickly loses it when their stepping poles fall apart. From then on it is fairly close until Raro reaches the tower first and is within one person (Rebecca) of fitting their whole tribe on the small platform. Rebecca tries to step up to the platform, and succeeds in pushing her entire tribe off into the water. Aitu gets everyone on and wins the challenge. Back at the Raro camp, the confused manipulation begins. At first, there is a unanimous agreement that Christine should go. But later Stehannie comments to Nate how she'd love to be home eating mashed potatoes and gravy. Of course, Nate takes this as proof-positive that she wants to quit the game and tries to convince others to vote off Stephannie. Tribal Council - After some prodding by Jeff Probst, it comes out that Christina's been pretty bossy (Jeff's obviously been watching the tapes). Christina, acting surprised to hear this revelation, apologizes for "offending anyone" and says she'll work on it from now on. Jeff then asks if the tribe has been honest enough with each other. Honest? This is Survivor, for Pete's sake! That's like asking a boxer if he's been hitting the other guy politely enough. Sometimes I think that a chimpanzee with a severe learning disability could ask more intelligent questions than the ones Jeff comes up with. The vote is taken, and Stephannie is the fifth survivor voted off the island. As the closing credits roll, it is revealed that the vote was seven to one, with Stephannie voting for Christine. Next week - An argument erupts in the Raro tribe, Cao Boi believes he's been told in a dream how to find the Immunity Idol, and regardless of who wins the Immunity Challenge, both teams will be voting someone off.