Episode Recap: Cook Islands - Week 15 FINALE ... and the Reunion Show

Episode: This Tribe Will Self-Destruct in 5, 4, 3, ... Original Air Date: December 17, 2006 We're down to the final five, and this contest is truly up in the air. Yul is definitely the smartest castaway, but will that be enough to put him in the final two? If he gets to the final two, will he find out that his skillful manipulation of the game has earned him enemies in the Jury? What about Ozzy? The fact that he's half-monkey, half-dolphin makes him the biggest threat, but will he be able to win every single immunity challenge that's left in the game? That's probably what he will have to do in order to make it to the final two. As the episode begins, the realization suddenly dawns on Sundra that the alliance is going to start voting each other off pretty soon. She tells us that they've "never discussed" what they will do once only the four of them are left. Maybe Sundra's never discussed it, but she should bet that Yul and Becky have thought about it well in advance. Becky tells us that even though Ozzy is a part of their alliance, he's too much of a threat to keep around. She thinks they should get rid of him at their earliest opportunity. Unless they find some Kryptonite lying around somewhere, that opportunity may never come. First Convoluted Immunity Challenge - Forget the rewards challenges. We're down to the wire now, and the eliminations are going to come pretty fast. The first challenge involves an incredibly complicated obstacle course made of ropes and a really difficult puzzle. Jeff says it's the most difficult puzzle in the history of Survivor. The castaways are to reach eight different points on the obstacle course and retrieve eight different bags of puzzle pieces. Once they've retrieved the bags, they will assemble a puzzle shaped like an eight-pointed, compass point star. The first to assemble the puzzle wins. Yul gains an early lead and is able to retrieve three bags in the time it takes Ozzy to get his first. But Ozzy is just toying with us. After giving Yul and others this lead, he springs into action, swinging from the ropes with his toes while retrieving the puzzle pieces with his teeth, all while keeping his hands behind his back and his eyes closed. Ozzy is the first to retrieve all of his puzzle pieces and the first to assemble his puzzle. He wins Immunity, again. Back at camp, Adam knows it's his last day on the island. But he wants to stir the pot one more time, just to spite Godfather Yul. He approaches Ozzy and Sundra with the possibility of forcing Yul to use the Immunity Idol at tonight's Tribal Council. If the three of them vote for Yul, while Yul and Becky vote for Adam, Yul will have to use the Idol and Adam will still be voted off, leaving the alliance on the island. This would be a smart move for Ozzy and Sundra, because it increases their chances of making it to the final two. It's an uncharacteristically brilliant plan for Adam. Where was all of this brilliant strategizing earlier when he was complaining to Candice about the game causing his head to hurt because it "makes you think all the time"? First Tribal Council - As the Jury marches out, Nate is limping and using a stick as a crutch. What the heck? The guy spends over three weeks as a castaway, climbing trees for coconuts, diving for octopus, and performing one ridiculous challenge after another, but can't chill out a couple of days at whatever island resort they've housed him at without hurting himself? Hopefully, they'll explain that one on the Reunion show. It's established early on during Jeff's interrogation that Adam is on his way out tonight. Because he has nothing to lose at this point, Adam decides to tell it like it is. He says that Ozzy's job has been to win the challenges for the alliance, and Yul has been controlling the game, but he has no idea what Becky's and Sundra's functions are. He says they've just been along for the ride. He also admits to trying to get Ozzy and Sundra to force the Idol out tonight, but they are "boring people" who don't take risks. Jeff almost gets Becky to admit that the rest of them have been riding Ozzy's coattails so far, but she backtracks quickly. A knowing grin from Nate and others on the Jury reveal that they agree with Jeff on that one. Ozzy may be a favorite among the Jury. The votes are cast and Jeff reads them out. There is only one vote for Yul (this maybe a dumb move on the part of Ozzy and Sundra). Adam is the 16th person voted off of this season's Survivor. Day 38 - Tree Mail reveals to the remaining castaways that they will be competing in their final Immunity Challenge today. This is not what they had planned. Either they will be voting off two members tonight, or the Jury will be choosing from three final castaways instead of two. They do their little march along the torches bearing the names of the former castaways on the island. As each former castaway delivers a brief commentary, we find out that Jonathan lost over 30 pounds in 33 days, and Parvati thought she was actually "running the show" for awhile. Final Immunity Challenge - Each castaway must stand on top of a high perch. A piece of the perch will be taken away every fifteen minutes until the perch is only half the size of a postcard. To make it fair, each perch is constructed in proportion to each castaway's foot size. The last castaway standing wins Immunity. The twist - this time the Jury will choose from three castaways instead of two. Becky falls off early, while the other three castaways manage to stay on their perches until after the final piece is removed. Ozzy teases us by almost falling several times, but is able to recover each time. He tells Jeff the hardest thing for him is the sweat, which is making him itch in "the nether regions". (TMI, Ozzy! TMI!!) Yul is the next to fall when, after squatting on his perch for over an hour, he decides to stand up. Both Ozzy and Sundra stay on their perches for over two and a half hours. Both seem to be on the verge of falling when Sundra finally loses her balances and drops from her perch. Ozzy wins the final Immunity Challenge, in spite of his itchy nether regions. Back at camp, Ozzy and Yul discuss whom to vote off at Tribal Council. Ozzy decides he doesn't want to choose between Becky and Sundra. He thinks that two of them should vote for Becky, and two for Sundra. That way, it can just be left to a tie-breaker. Yul lets Ozzy think he'll go along with that plan, then secretly offers the Idol to Becky. It's a risky move for Yul. Becky worries how it might look to the Jury. Sundra asks Yul, "There won't be any surprises at Council tonight, will there?" Yul shakes his head "no". "Did she ask you for the Idol?" Sundra asks. "No." Poor, sweet, naive Sundra. Second Tribal Council - Nate is still limping, and he's wearing a pink shirt. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would go pink. What the heck's been happening since he's joined the Jury? Jeff indirectly asks Yul if he gave away the Immunity Idol. Yul and Becky both deny it. The votes are cast and there is a tie between Becky and Sundra. Jeff asks the girls if either of them have the Idol. Sundra shakes her head. Becky shakes her head. For the tiebreaker, the girls must build a fire that grows tall enough to burn through a rope. They have a machete, coconut husks, pieces of wood, and a piece of flint. 3o minutes go by, and neither girl has been able to get a fire going. The Jury is starting to look bored. An hour goes by, and still no results. Every one is on the verge of falling asleep. Finally, Jeff stops the girls and tells them to switch to matches. Another half hour goes by and still no fires. As Jeff tells them, they've been on the island for 38 days, they should know how to start a fire by now. Sundra starts a promising fire, but it goes out. She then announces that she is out of matches. Becky keeps going and finally starts a fire that grows quickly and burns the rope. Sundra is the 17th person voted off Survivor. Day 30 - Two young native woman row to the island in a canoe loaded with cooked food for the castaways. Yul and Ozzy are there to receive it, but Becky is nowhere in sight. Ozzy thinks it's symbolic of how the vote will play out tonight. He thinks the he and Yul will receive the majority of the votes since they've been the strongest, but Becky will fare poorly, "especially," he says, "after that embarrassing display of fire-making skills last night". Becky tells us she's played "a very social game", and she's proud of it. Final Tribal Council - Nate is still limping. The three remaining castaways give their "please vote for me" speeches. Yul pleads from the standpoint that he's played "every aspect of the game". He no longer denies his leadership role, but says his plan was not to play an "individual" game, but to bring people that he cared about with him. Yes, he's had to deceive some people, but he never deceived anyone that was loyal to him. Becky says she knew she wouldn't be the strongest, fastest, or smartest player, but that she would have to rely on her social skills. Jonathan just shakes his head. Ozzy is the only player who has nothing to explain or apologize for. He wouldn't have to say anything, but he manages to make himself look even better by painting himself as the underdog and reminding everyone how he fed them. Most of the questions from the Jury are along the lines of "why do deserve to win instead of the other two?", or in Becky's case, "why are you even here?" Under pressure, Becky turns on Yul and reveals that he offered her the Idol, but she turned it down since she's such a nice person. Brad asks Ozzy to tell him something about himself, and Ozzy works the Jury by crying as he talks about his absent Father. Jonathan asks Yul if he were running for office, how could he justify all of the deception. Yul responds by stating Survivor is just a game and that he would never do anything like that in real life, even if he is really good at it. Jonathan then accuses Ozzy of acting arrogant and entitled, and asks how giving a million dollars to such a person would make the world a better place. Ozzy totally turns it around by stating that he would take the money and finish college, since he's had to pay for it himself. Candice asks Yul a question, but says if he answers with any words other than a "yes" or "no", that she will not vote for him. Yul answers "yes", but then messes up by responding to a follow-up statement from Candice. The votes are cast. Jeff gathers them. He says the castaways will have to wait until they get home to see who won. Next scene - Jeff walking on to a stage in Hollywood before a studio audience. The stage looks like the Tribal Council set, but everyone is all cleaned up and shiny. Yul is the only one who doesn't look different. Ozzy, on the other hand, has put on some weight and no longer has any facial hair. Jeff slowly reads the votes one by one - Yul...Ozzy...Yul...Yul...Ozzy...Ozzy...Ozzy...Yul. Yul and Ozzy are tied. It comes down to the last vote. Jeff points out that if the last vote is for Becky, it will have to go a tiebreaker. He looks at the parchment - it's not for Becky. The winner of Survivor Cook Islands is Yul. Reunion Show I'll spare you the blow-by-blow. Here's the highlights. Adam reveals that he made a deal with Yul to get Jonathan voted off. If Yul made it happen, Adam would vote for Yul during final Tribal Council. Adam held true to his word and, as Jeff puts it, that was the "million dollar vote". Becky reveals that there was no romance between Yul and her. Jeff tells Yul that he couldn't tell if, during the time he was naked in a hot tub with Parvati and Ozzy, if he was really happy to be there, or if he thought it was his worse nightmare. Yul says he "just wanted to get the [Heck] out of there", but felt he had to stay to keep Parvati from strategizing. Yul says the first thing he did after coming home was to buy so much food at Costco, that it wouldn't all fit in his fridge. He ate the excess right there. Ozzy learned to swim in his family's pool. He learned to spearfish a few years ago when a friend showed him how. He's fantasized about being stranded on a deserted island since he was a kid. After he got back home, he missed the island so much that he fell into a "deep depression". Jeff asks him if he knows whether or not his father has been watching the show. He says he doesn't, but the man he considers his father is in the audience. He starts to cry again. Jeff asks Jonathan if he was a villain. Jonathan responds by saying it's a game, and there's no villains in games. "There's no villain in Monopoly!" Sekou performs a song he wrote about Survivor. (It's ok - don't go out an buy the cd). Stephannie felt betrayed by Nate, feeling he should have 'had her back' since they were both Black. Rebecca also felt betrayed by Nate, not because of the race issue, but because she thought they were close. Brad thought he had done a good job of combating the Asian stereotype of "nerdy" and "bookwormish". This from the guy who relied on his ability to solve puzzles. According to Adam, though there was some romance with Candice on the island, they live separate lives now, so they just going to be "good friends". Nate admitted to having some feelings for Parvati while on the island. Everyone laughs at Parvati as she explains that she's a "model" boxer. JP is now a professional model. Billy, who is wearing the exact same clothes he wore on the island, says his professed love for Candice was just "in the heat of the moment". (That's not what he said in an interview on a local Orlando radio talk show the morning after the episode in which he got voted off aired. He said he realized after watching the show that he had misunderstood Candice, but that he still wanted to go out with her and planned on asking her out after the Reunion show.) An online vote had been held to determine the "cleverest" player. The vote was very close between Ozzy and Yul, with Ozzy winning by less that 1%. As a result, Ozzy will be awarded a 2008 Mercury Mariner. Next Season - "Survivor Fiji". One tribe will live luxuriously while the other will have almost nothing. Exile Island will have two Immunity Idols and deadly sea snakes.