Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 3

Episode: Flirting and Frustration Original Air Date: Thursday, September 28, 2006 During the review of last week's episode, we find out what made Billy think that Candice is in love with him. At the end of the last challenge, Billy turns to the White tribe and says, "I'm next." Feeling sorry for Billy, Candice says, "We love you." Billy smiles and responds, "I love you." So Billy wasn't crazy, just hard-of-hearing. Day 7 - Cao Boi of the Asian tribe is still talking. He hasn't stopped since he got on the island. Brad reflects, "I have had a coming to Jesus in my own mind about Cao Boi - the guy just does not shut up. I don't think he's all there ... and don't think he will ever be there, unless he's medicated." All of the teams are called together and find out that's it's time for desegregation. Four people, two guys and two girls are chosen by lot to be team captains. These team captains are to choose teams. The women are to choose only women and the men, only men. Suddenly, flashbacks of being the last one chosen for softball at gym class are going through my mind. Cao Boi has the destinction of being chosen last. After the teams are chosen, Jeff hands an egg-like object to each of the team captains and tells them to squish it as hard as they can. This results in the team captains being splurted with red or blue dye. Sometimes I wonder if I'm watching Survivor or something on Nickelodeon. Jeff then tells them that the two red teams are to combine and become the new Aitu tribe while the two blue teams will combine and become the new Raro tribe. So there will be two tribes now. So this grand "social experiment" of splitting the teams up by race lasted an entire six days. Boy, I sure learned a lot from those two episodes. Sociologists and human behavior experts will be studying the data accumulated from that 2 hours of television for years to come. Nate of the new Aitu tribe is happy about the change. "It's like they took us out of the ghetto and took us to Bel Air." Members of the new Raro tribe start to bond as well. "You're not Asian," Cao Boi tells roller girl Jessica, "but I love you. I think you're awesome." Careful, Cao Boi. Those three little words are dangerous on these islands. Speaking of which, Cecilia tells Candice about Billy's claim of "love at first sight". "I have to ask you something. Don't be offended, but..." Everyone has a big laugh as a result. If I were Billy, I would have to go into hiding and change my name after this episode aired. Embarrassment City. Back at Aitu, Parvati decides her strategy will be to flirt with all the men. That should make her real popular with the other women. An opportunity opens up as once again, Nate's butt crack begins to peek over his pants. "Your pants are falling off, Nate," she says. "You're on top of everything," he replies. It's kind of hard not to notice. Meanwhile, an alliance forms on the Raro tribe. Becky and Yul, formerly of the Asian tribe, team up with Jonathan and Candice, formerly of the White tribe. They decide they need a fifth member, and Jonathan says he's confident he can get roller girl Jessica ("Flicka") to join. "I can get her to do anything we need her to do." But when Jonathan asks Flicka, she doesn't seem too excited about joining. She agrees to join, but confesses to the camera that she's not comfortable with it. "I'm just here to make friends... and, you know, just go as long as I can without feeling fake." It seems like there'd be a lot easier ways to make friends than getting stranded on an island with a bunch of half-naked people who are mostly concerned about how to vote you off so they can win a million dollars. But that's just me. In the mean time, because he 'trusts her', Yul confesses to Becky that he found the Immunity Idol while he was on Exile Island. He says he might even use it on her behalf at some point. Becky then repeats to Yul how she trusts him as well. It's funny how easily we trust people we think are cute. Later, Nate of the Aitu tribe kills a little octopus while spear-fishing. "I felt like the Mack!" he says. "That's a lot of meat," Parvati smiles as Nate, "You need it. I bet you could eat that whole thing yourself." This girl's about as subtle as a jackhammer. Finally, we get to this week's challenge which, surprisingly, isn't all that convoluted. Each team is placed at opposite ends of a large roped circle set in knee-deep water. Each team member is tied by rope to the rest of his or her team, and has to carry a satchel packed with fifteen pounds of sand. The point of the challenge is for both teams to race around the course until one team catches up to the other. The first tribe to tackle a member of another tribe wins. This challenge is much more difficult than it sounds because the teams have to race through knee-deep water. A tribe member can decide to quit at any time. However, he or she must then give his or her bag of sand to the nearest teammate to carry for the rest of the race. Shortly into the race, Aitu adopts a strategy of having all of their women drop out, leaving the team lighter and more agile ... at least in theory. It doesn't take long for Raro to gain on them. Raro drops some of its members and gains even more on Aitu. As Aitu closes in, Yul sees that trying to outrun them is hopeless and declares his intention to "just fight them". Alright! Rumble!! Yul, who is at the rear of his team and closest to Aitu, turns around to stand his ground. But his much weaker teammate, Cao Boi, is also targeted by Aitu and is quickly tackled. Aitu is declared the winner. As a result, Raro will be voting off one of their own at Tribal Council. This week's twist is that the winning team, Aitu, is able to choose a member of Raro to send to Exile Island. That means whomever they choose will be spared elimination at Tribal Council. Raro chooses Candice for exile, which completely torpedos the little alliance that had begun to form. Cao Boi, who seems to get along a lot better with non-Asians than with Asians, forms another alliance with Ozzy and all of the remaining women, except for Becky. They decide to vote for Becky. Even Flicka is convinced to go along. Yul takes Cao Boi to the side and seems to convince him to vote for Cecilia instead. Cao Boi then talks to Flicka about voting for Cecilia. All of this scheming is a bit too much for Flicka's little head to handle. It'll be interesting to see if Yul will be true to his word and step in with his Immunity Idol to keep Becky in the game. Tribal Council convenes and as everyone is shown casting their vote, it appears that it could go either way between Cecilia and Becky with Cao Boi and Flicka being the swing votes. Jeff reads off the votes. Cecilia is voted off. As the closing credits roll, we see that both Cao Boi and Flicka voted for Cecilia. Next week - Parvoti's upset that some team members aren't pulling their own weight around camp, while Cao Boi disturbs a bird's nest.

Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 2

Episode: Dire Straights and Dead Weight Original Air Date: Thursday, September 21, 2006 This week's episode opens with the "Hiki" (Black) tribe. After four days without clean drinking water, the team is desperate to start a fire. They take turns striking their machete against their newly-acquired piece of flint over and over again until finally, after a lot of frustration, Sundra succeeds in starting a fire. I expected to see a victorious Tom-Hanks-in-Castaway kind of declaration, "I... HAVE MADE FIRE!" Instead, Sundra looks around and says, "Um guys, it's lit. What do we do now?" The team gets together and builds the fire bigger, enabling them to boil much-needed water. As they dance around the fire, part of the screen is blurred out directly behind Nate. Apparently, Nate is smiling at both ends, if you get my drift. And this guy isn't even a plumber. I would think that minimal behavior when on national television would be the ability to keep your britches up. Next, the "Aitu" (Latino) tribe. They've just speared a bunch of fish and crabs and are pretty full of themselves. "Latinos are just good workers," Ozzy says, "It's in our blood." They next decide to challenge themselves with catching a couple of the chickens, which are now running free on the island. It's odd, because they're free, but they never seem to stray too far from the castaways. It's like they're taunting the tribes, messing with their minds. Evil chickens. The tribe members devise a plan that involves setting some bait out, then dropping a net over any chicken that comes near it. It sounds so crazy it just might work. However, the planning stage of this brilliantly complicated plan takes a while as Ozzy and Christina disagree about how to execute it. This is completely understandable. You can't just go out and hang a chicken net all willy-nilly. I mean we're talking about outsmarting chickens, for Pete's sake - evil, jungle chickens. Eventually, they hang the net and trap a chicken. Shortly thereafter, Christina walks off into the Jungle, noticably upset. Ozzy provides some insight, "Christina and I don't get along, because one thing, she's a cop. And also just the fact that I'm ten years younger than her. And I understand. If I had a fourteen-year-old telling me what to do, I'd get a little [ticked] off myself." He goes on to add, "I feel like I've shown what I offer to the tribe, so I'm comfortable with my standing in the group." Ozzy doesn't get it. In this game, your teammates don't care if you're Crocodile Dundee. They don't care if you can make a fire just by looking at kindling, or that you can catch fish with your teeth. They don't care. If you annoy enough of your teammates, or worse, if you're so good you look like you might be a threat, your butt will get voted off the island. But for now, it seems like Christina is the only person annoyed by Ozzy. "Puka" (Asian) tribe. This tribe is also busy attempting to thwart the evil chicken menace. Yul is trying a slightly different approach from that of the Black team - he's placed bait under a crate propped up with a stick tied to the end of a long string. He manages to catch two chickens at once this way. At least now we know that if there is a Great Chicken Uprising, humans will be able to defeat them quite easily. Evidently turned on by Yul's mad chicken-trapping skills, Becky forms an alliance with him. To have an effective Survivor alliance, you really need at least four people. But that may not be the kind of "alliance" these two have in mind. "Raro" tribe (Team Whitebread). Jonathan comes back from Exile to find that no work has been done on the shelter since he's been gone. He and Jessica immediately start building a floor for the little shack. Adam seems irritated that he wasn't consulted on this decision, and complains that whether or not the shack should have a floor should have been put up to a vote. "I think this is the dumbest thing to be doing this," he gripes, then asks Jessica, "Why do you think you'll sleep better if it's raised than sleeping on the ground?" "Because it's cold and wet." "How will it being raised change that?" "Because we won't be on the cold, wet ground." Duh. After failing to get support for his position from either Candice or Parvati, Adam declares, "I just don't want to waste energy," like he's got so much else to do while he's on the island. How selfish of the other team members to disrupt Adam's busy schedule of tanning and gossiping with the girls by working on their shelter! The jerks. Back to the Latino tribe, Day 5. Everybody is busy spearing fish, gathering coconuts, and cooking food. Well, everybody except Billy the Heavy Metal guy. He mostly spends his time sitting around. I guess Ozzy hasn't given him the speech about hard work being in Latino people's blood. Billy describes his philosphy this way, "I've been trying to conserve my energy because A) I don't have a lot of energy to burn, and B) I think it's stupid to waste your energy on things you don't know anything about. Since they know more about spearing fish and getting coconuts and whatnot, I'll just let them burn the energy and I'll just go ahead and have some of whatever they catch." That's a brilliant Survivor strategy! Lay around while the rest of the castaways do all the work, then eat their food. Brilliant! There's no way anyone would vote you off the island if you do that. Meanwhile, at the Asian camp, Cao Boi is leaving one of those nasty red marks on yet another patient. This time Jenny has the headache and needs some of Cao Boi's Vietnamese mojo. She asks him not to leave a mark on her head like Brad got on the last episode, but winds up getting two. She's happy anyway. Dr. Cao Boi's headache therapy obviously works. It just seems like a violent way to get rid of a headache. Later that night, Cao Boi starts telling a bunch of Asian jokes to his team mates, who are not amused. Why doesn't he just volunteer to get voted off? The Latino tribe. As if he hasn't endeared himself enough to the rest of his team, Billy is snoring so loudly that no one else can sleep. Ozzy suggests to the rest of the group that they "throw" the next day's challenge so they can vote Billy off the island. JP is all for it, but Christina is dead-set against it. She thinks it's wrong and will make the tribe look bad. She decides Ozzy is not to be trusted. Morning of Day 6. The Latino tribe is still discussing losing the challenge on purpose. Ozzy keeps saying how Billy will hold them back. Hold them back how? By making the tribe lose a challenge? Isn't that what they're planning on doing anyway? There is no logic in Ozzy's argument. He and the others just don't like Billy (for good reason). Instead of pretending it's some sort of creative strategy, why not just say, "We're all tired of this guy. Let's lose him." Convoluted Challenge 2. All of the tribes are gathered at the challenge site. First, they must listen to Jeff tell the story of James Cook. Then, while tied together by rope, they must traverse an obstacle course, climb some scaffolding to retrieve several wooden planks with answers on them, then cross a rope bridge and proceed to a board with a list of questions on it and line the answers up with the board. If they are not %100 sure they can remember all of the details of the story Jeff told them, they can choose to stop and read the same story in a book that's been laid out for them. Of course, if they do that, they can lose valuable time. However, they must do this with only four members instead of five. One team member must sit out. Billy begs the rest of his team to let him sit out, but they choose Oscar instead. Hmm, how odd - they make the tall athletic guy sit out in favor of the fat lazy guy. Yes, odd indeed. The race starts and all the teams run straight past the book. All the teams except the Latino tribe who stop at the book and carefully read its contents. What a strange strategic decision. Between the four of them, they wouldn't be able to remember a few details from a simple story? Hmm... As the three other teams are climbing the scaffolding and retrieving their answer planks, the Latino team is just now starting the obstacle course. Yet, they don't seem to be in a hurry. I wonder why. Don't they see that the other teams are far ahead of them? The Asian and White tribes get their planks and run to the question board while the Black tribe has only a couple more planks to grab. The Latino tribe gets to the scaffolding and starts leisurely removing answer planks. The White and Asian tribes finish the challenge at the same time and the Black tribe crosses the rope bridge and makes it way to the answer board shortly thereafter, leaving the Latino tribe way behind. As Ozzy spies the other teams progress from his spot on the scaffolding where he is slowly untying an answer plank, it almost looks like he's smiling. Now why would he be doing that? As the Black tribe finishes answering the questions, the Latino tribe is just now crossing the rope bridge. Wait, is Ozzy purposely swinging the rope bridge to make his team members fall off? No, he couldn't be. Confirming his loser status to the world, Billy is the only tribe member to actually fall off the rope. The challenge is over, with the Asian and White tribes tying for first place and the Black tribe in third, or second, I guess. The two winning tribes win tarps to put over their shelters while all the tribes except for the Latino tribe win immunity. So thanks to Ozzy's clever strategy, not only will the Latino tribe be a man short, but they won't have those tarps either. The Latino tribe gets to choose who from the other tribes get exiled. They choose Yul from the Asian tribe. Once Yul gets to Exile Island, he follows the simple clue and promptly finds the immunity idol. When Jonathan came back from Exile Island, he told his team mates that he "looked everywhere" for the idol. I don't think he even really tried. Back to the Latino tribe. Billy concludes that it's "looking pretty bleak" for him. Thank you, Captain Obvious. But Billy plays it smart and approaches Christina, who hates Ozzy. Christina knows she's the next to go if Ozzy remains in control of the tribe. She approaches Cecilia who feels badly about throwing the race. Cecilia comes on board. This could be a huge upset. Throughout the episode, Ozzy and Oscar keep talking about how they can't "trust" Billy, without giving a reason why. Yet, they are the ones who threw the race. Tribal Council. It comes out that the team did indeed throw the challenge. There is some bickering back and forth and suddenly, out of nowhere, Billy reveals that he's in love with Candice from the White tribe. "Candice?" Jeff asks in disbelief, "from the Raro tribe?" "Yeah," Billy explains, "after the last challenge, we sorta mouthed the words 'I love you' to one another." Jeff tactfully asks Billy why Candice would be in love with him. This is a reasonable question. After all, most women do seem to have the odd habit of only falling in love with men to whom they've said at least two words. They can be picky that way. Billy responds, "It was just love at first sight, a rapport kind of thing." Then he concludes, "I'm dead serious." Billy is crazy, and not in the good way. Each member votes. The votes are read. Billy is the second castaway voted off the island. As the closing credits roll - footage of how each tribe member voted is shown. Everyone, even Christine voted for Billy. Maybe she and Cecilia were a little creeped out by his hallucinated love affair with Candice. Having a stalker on the island could get a little awkward. Next week - Parvati makes her moves on Adam. On a more serious note: When the Black team was trying to start a fire, there was once again talk about how the pressure was on for them to "prove" they can start a fire, since they're the African-American team. Last week, I thought this kind of talk was silly. After all, there are Black senators, brain surgeons, astro-physicists, writers, and Supreme Court Justices. I wondered why anyone would think that Black people need to prove they can paddle a boat or make a fire. But reflection on this has led to me to realize that this feeling didn't just come out from nowhere. Obviously, race relations in America still have a long way to go if the everyday experiences of at least some Black people move them to feel this way. Maybe racism is a bigger problem than most of us would like to admit. So, maybe this season's Survivor is a beneficial, thought-provoking, "social experiment" after all. ... nah.

Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 1

Episode: I Can Forgive Her But I Don't Have to Because She Screwed With My Chickens Original Air Date: September 14, 2006 Do you find yourself longing wistfully for the days before Desegregation? Does the term "separate but equal" sound like a pretty good idea to you? Do you ever wonder why people can't just go be with their own kind? Nah, me either. Yet, in an apparent effort to turn back the clock on American race relations 40 years, Mark Burnett and the other powers that be at Survivor have chosen to divide this season's batch of contestants into tribes based on their ethnicity - Black ("Hiki"), Latino ("Aitu"), Asian ("Puka"), and White ("Raro"). CBS calls this a "social experiment". Social experiment my grandmother's bunyons. This decision was made in order to create controversy, which in turn creates "buzz". And "buzz", good or bad, will almost always translate to higher initial ratings for any program. But really, the segregation isn't the worst aspect of this season's Survivor. What bothers me is this - if you're White, who the Heck are you supposed to root for? If you root for the Home Team, you appear to be racist. If you root for one of the other tribes, you appear to be either trying too hard not to appear racist, or you seem like a reverse-racist (whatever that is). Fortunately, I've decided to avoid this conundrum altogether by hating all of these losers equally right off the bat. My disdain is based on a prejudice that is rooted deep inside me - not for any particular race, but for Survivor contestants in general. I would make an exception for the contestants in Season 1 because they didn't really know what they were getting into. But anyone who had seen Season 1 would know that signing up for this show means signing one's dignity away for the off chance of maybe winning a million dollars. They know they will be giving up their dignity because there's something about being half-naked, sun-burnt, hungry, and stinky that causes people to be somewhat less than polite. By "somewhat less than polite" I mean what is supposed to be a friendly contest eventually descends into Lord of the Flies. And by "eventually" I mean by the end of the first episode. Then there's the added charm of showing the worst side of yourself to millions of people each week. So how can I be expected to care about anyone who chooses to do this? But on to the episode. It starts out with all 20 "castaways" frantically scurrying about an old wooden ship trying to grab what supplies they can and throwing them overboard on small wooden rafts. Jeff Probst tells us the castaways have two minutes to scavenge what they can before they have to jump off the boat and row to shore. Among the supplies - chickens. That's right, live chickens. Here's another thing - apparently chickens can float. I did not know that. But we find that out as one of the castaways throws one of the poor birds overboard. It misses the raft and lands in the water, bobbing easily on the surface. Thirty seconds into the first episode and I've already learned something. As the hapless castaway jumps into the water after his chicken, Jeff yells out, "That's right! Get that chicken! You're gonna need that for food!" That Jeff, always being helpful. As the teams row to shore, Billy (Heavy Metal Musician) from the Latino tribe has the best line. "I don't know about you," he says to the rest of his tribe, "but I feel like this is *** backwards, like, our parents got on a raft... and paddled away from an island, and here I am paddling back to an island." Billy later goes on to say how he thinks the Hispanics have an advantage since they're from tropical climates. Judging from his Heavy Metal clothing ensemble, including long black pants, his parents never taught him how to dress for a tropical climate. Once his team arrives on the island, Billy takes charge and announces he knows how to build a hut and that he'll 'just explain it to everybody so that we're all on the same page'. His position as Resident Carpentry Expert is short-lived, however, as it soon becomes clear that cutting bamboo is too much of a challenge for him. Ozzy steps in and finishes the building work. Meanwhile, as the Asian tribe rows to shore, their oldest member, Cao Boi (pronounced "cowboy"), remarks, "I can't believe a bunch of Asians who are so little weigh so much. All that rice." "No more Asian jokes," another tribe member responds. "Don't make stereotype," yet another chimes in. "We made it!" Cao Boi proclaims after reaching land, "My second time as a boat person." Cao Boi, a long-haired refugee from the Vietnam war, will probably be the first voted off of his tribe. He's already getting on everyone else's nerves. He even says himself that he's concerned about being on an all Asian team. According to him, he's never been accepted by the Asian community. "I just don't fit the stereotype," he says. Of course then we find out he's a nail salon manager. OK, Mr. Outsider. You rebel, you. Cut to the black tribe. One thing all of these team members agree on is the importance of "representing". Rebecca (make-up artist) puts it this way, "Because we're divided by race, now we have to step up to the plate and show that, yes, Black People swim. Yes, Black People know how to get on a boat and paddle. I mean, we don't just run track." Proving that Black people can paddle a boat. Martin Luther King would be so proud. Sundra (actress) thinks her team may be at a disadvantage, "It has nothing to do with race... we're a bunch of city-slickers." Nate (retail sales) sees another problem. "Black people don't like to be told what to do." But Sekou (I think he made up that name for Survivor), a jazz magician, proudly states for the camera his ability as a "warrior and leader" to bring the group together. Yes, maybe there's hope after all, and it's name is Sekou. Lastly, my peeps, Team Whitebread. Speaking to the camera, Adam (copier sales), makes the first official "I Am Not a Racist" speech of the contest. He comments on how it doesn't matter to him what ethnicity his team mates are, but what matters is what kind of people they are. In other words, "I'm not a racist". Most White people have made this speech at some point in their lives. I don't know who we're trying to convince. It's not like someone has to accuse us of being a racist in order for us to give this speech. Usually, it just comes out of nowhere, as if to say, "In case anyone was wondering... I'm not a racist." What strikes me, though, is how two of the girls on this tribe are dressed. Jessica, the tatooed roller girl, is wearing blue stockings, while Candice comes dressed in a blue button-down blouse and long pants. Have you seen the show before, ladies? Jessica, who says her friends call her "Flicka" (no, she hasn't seen the movie) gets off to a good start by accidentally releasing the tribe's chickens. They quickly dash off to the jungle to heed the Call of the Wild and fulfill their destiny as Jungle Chickens. Jessica, however, doesn't seemed destined to last long in this contest. Jonathan (writer) is not happy. "I could forgive her [Jessica]," he says, "but I don't have to. She screwed with my chickens." I think we have an episode title. Back to the Black team. They've discovered their water barrel. Score one for the city kids. Unfortunately, the water is not clean and needs to be boiled. They need fire. In order to solve this problem, "Warrior Leader" Sekou gathers everyone around while he rubs a little piece of wood against a bamboo pole. "OK, everyone," he instructs, "focus your energy." Apparently, the energy was a little unfocused as all Sekou succeeds in doing is to carve a groove into the bamboo pole. "I need a break," he declares, then promptly collapses on to the raft. His team mates, especially Stephannie (nursing student), are unimpressed. I don't see the old warrior lasting too long. It's the second night, and everyone on the White tribe is cold. In order to conserve body heat, they decide to form a "cuddle puddle" as one of the girls puts it, and line up on the ground for a five-way spoonfest. I would've chosen a different approach, for instance, oh I don't know, putting some clothes on. All of the guys are bare-chested at this point and the girls aren't much more covered. I know I saw these people wearing shirts earlier. In addition, it's obvious that Candice and Adam are really enjoying the cuddling. Later, during the daytime, Brad (Fashion designer) on the Asian tribe has a bad headache. Cao Boi offers his official diagnosis, "You got a bad wind." I don't know, but that sounds to me like someone farted in Brad's face or something. Cao Boi proceeds to treat Brad by squeezing the bejeezus out of his forehead, leaving a nasty red mark. "He did that to your face?" one of the girls ask. Facial disfigurement notwithstanding, Brad's headache is cured and he's happy. Finally we get to the first challenge. Each tribe has to race to a "puzzle boat", put it together, paddle out a certain distance, light a torch, paddle back, use the pieces of the boat to build a replica of the Empire State Building, or some other crap. I don't know. Jeff loses me about half-way through the explanation. All I know, is that there's puzzles involved in at least two parts of the challenge. As it turns out, the Asian team is really good at solving puzzles. But the Latino team is really good at paddling a small boat in the ocean. Must resist urge to make obvious jokes about stereotypes. Both teams are neck-and-neck for the lead until the Asian team pulls ahead at the end by solving the second puzzle and climbing the tower first. The White and Black teams were not so impressive. The White team was third to put their boat together and managed to paddle out to light their torch and be almost all the way back before the Black team even had their boat together. Unfortunately, they were slowed down by their boat coming apart while they were in the water, as well as their apparent inability to paddle. Great, thanks to these guys, now White people have to prove we can paddle a boat. Eventually, the White tribe manages to come in third, leaving the Black tribe in last place. This is unfortunate for the Black tribe as they now will have to vote one of their own off at Tribal Council. However, they do get to choose someone from any of the other teams to spend two days on "Exile Island". "Exile Island" is evidently even more sparse than where they are now. However, there is Immunity to be found there if the exiled castaway can find it. Can this show possibly get more convoluted? "Chicken Man" Jonathon (who had stolen a chicken from the Asian team before coming to the island) is chosen for exile. Jeff notes that the two men on the Black tribe took it upon themselves to make this decision without consulting the women. Fascinating. Once on the island, Jonathon expresses how "shocked" he was to be chosen. He seems to make a half-hearted effort at solving the clue provided him for finding the immunity and then talks about how cold he is and how he misses his wife. I wonder how his wife feels about the "cuddle puddle". Meanwhile, the Black tribal member discuss who should be voted off. They're divided down gender lines. The women seem to want to vote Sekou off (big surprise), while the men are just afraid of the women. Simple math, 3 against 2. They would've been smarter to try to drive a wedge between the women early on. Stephannie had already remarked how the other two women were already much closer to each other than she would be to either one of them. The guys talk about how the women would not be able to get along without them. "They can't build a fire. They can't even build a hut," Sekou says. What he seems to forget is neither can he. Regardless, the guys decide to attempt to convince Stephannie to ally herself with them. Sekou points out that because of how close the other two women are, once the two men are voted off Stephannie will be next. He also talks about he's the one who can 'bring the fire'. "But we don't have any fire yet," Stephannie replies. She later remarks to the camera that the two men are also close, so either way she's in the same boat. I may be wrong, but I think Sekou's efforts are too little too late. The tribe gathers at the Tribal Council, which takes place in the middle of the SS.ObviouslyFakeShipwreckedShipSet. Jeff asks his typically insightful questions ("Nate, what's the feeling of this tribe?). The tribe votes. As the votes are read, it quickly becomes obvious that the vote is between Sundra and Sekou. It also becomes obvious that no one on the tribe can spell "Sekou". Finally, Jeff reads the last vote. It's for Sekou. Next week - The Asian tribe gets tired of Cou Boi's Asian jokes and the Latinos take "drastic measures" in response to Billy's slacking.