Episode Recap: Cook Islands - Week 7

Episode: A Closer Look Original Air Date: October 26, 2006 After 6 whole episodes of Survivor, do you feel like you need a review of the season so far? Do you miss Billy, Sekou, and the other castaways that have been voted off the island? Do you wish you could watch more dramatic footage of the tribes trying to make fire from bamboo? Me neither. But CBS is giving it to us anyway tonight with "a closer look". Tonight we "revisit the first 18 days". Ah yes, the first 18 days, it seems like it wasn't very long ago when I saw the first episode... Oh, wait, it wasn't very long ago. However, we are promised "never before seen footage". So basically, this is a clip show of all the stuff that wasn't good enough to make it on the air the first time. Instead of doing a blow-by-blow recap this week, I'll just provide a bullet-point list of the new stuff: - Before the tribes merged, Cao Boi tells his Asian comrade Yul, "When the tribes merge, we'll be looking out for each other. That will be the difference in our culture versus others." Great prediction. I wonder if he learned that in one of his dreams. - Footage of the night Raro won the wine shows that Stephannie can not hold her liquor. After just a few sips from the bottle, she can't even sit up. When it's time to go to sleep, one of the other girls has to walk her to bed. - Demonstrating the equality between the races, neither the black nor the white tribe can paddle a canoe. The Black tribe is very excited to find their canoe, then promptly tip it over as soon as they get into it. After tipping it over several times, they give up and pull it ashore, or rather the girls pull it ashore and lift it onto the beach, while big, strapping men Sekou and Nate standby. "I don't know, I've never been on a boat that did that," Sekou says as the camera pans over for us to see the crossbeams that were supposed to be attached to the boat to keep it from tipping lying on the beach. But they have a reason for their naval ineptitude, and one of the girls explain, "We have an excuse. Our people had a really bad experience with boats 500 years ago." Meanwhile, Adam and Candice from the white team have so much trouble steering their boat in choppy waters that they strand it on a sandbar far from the beach and swim ashore. - Billy on the Latino tribe tried to form alliances with both the men and the women separately, thinking he was "playing both sides". - After losing the first Immunity Challenge, members of the Black tribe feel particularly guilty. They are concerned about "what people will say" about black people. They really shouldn't worry. Anyone who judges an entire race based on whether a handful of half-naked lunatics can assemble a boat out of bamboo on a reality TV show is an idiot. Sure, probably somewhere there's some hillbilly picking his one remaining tooth, saying, "Yeah, ok, they got Collin Powell and Barak Obama and that Tiger Woods feller, but didya see them ones on Survivor? They cain't even make fire outta two sticks! That's why ain't none of 'em no good." But do you really want to worry about what Cletus thinks? - After Yul finds the Immunity Idol on Exile Island, he does a very smart thing and destroys the clue along with any evidence the idol had been found. He even constructs a tiny raft out of coconuts and sets the empty idol chest adrift in the ocean. Then finally we are treated to footage of Jonathan, Candice, and Adam digging up the entire island trying to find an object that isn't even there any more. That is something that was sorely missing from the regular episodes. - We are shown new footage of Parvati being a hoochie, or as she puts it, "doing what I do best". - The day leading up to JP getting voted off, we see just how clueless the rest of the tribe kept JP. The tribe, especially Stephannie, played him like a fine violin. If you recall, the whole tribe originally agreed to vote Stephannie off, after she pretty much volunteered. Later, the girls get together and decide to form an alliance to vote off JP instead. In the new footage, after changing the minds of almost the rest of the tribe and turning them against JP, Stephannie approaches him to tell him goodbye, as if she's resigned to leaving the island. JP falls for it hook, line, and sinker, even giving Stephannie a hug to console her. In the background, Rebecca can barely keep from laughing. - After narrowly avoiding elimination at Tribal Council, that night Christine confronts the rest of Aitu for calling her "annoying". The next day, she still can't let it go and gripes about it some more. Of course, this smart move gets her voted off that night. Next week - Things get awkward with Nate hanging around the Aitu campsite.

Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 6

Episode: Plan Voodoo Original Air Date: October 19, 2006 Last week, Raro tribe was down to five women and three men. The women had decided to take advantage of this opportunity by banding together and forming an alliance. Yet, when the time came to scheme about who should be voted off, it was between two women. Way to close ranks, sisters. Raro, Night 14 - Christina, self-appointed master chef, confronts her tribe mates about comments they made during Tribal Council. It seems no one bothered to inform her that they had considered her bossy. Adam counters that he did tell her she was being annoying. Later, Christine tearfully tells us that, as a policewoman, she's survived being shot and she'll survive this. Well, being shot is certainly similar to being told you're bossy - to a crazy person. There must be something about Survivor that just makes the contestants lose their minds. I'm still waiting for the cannibalism to erupt. Aitu, Day 15 - Super Outdoors Man, aka Ozzy, is out spearing fish. Jonathan, who accompanied him in the row boat, remarks to us that even though the team benefits from Ozzy's strength, as an individual he's the biggest threat. Jonathan says, "If the merge were to happen today, I wouldn't want him around." That's exactly what I've been saying here for the last six weeks. Showing off your superior survival skills will eventually come back to bite you on the butt. Later, Jonathan and Cao Boi have an argument about whether to bring the Immunity Idol to the Reward Challenge, which isn't required. Jonathan thinks to bring the idol would be to rub Raro's immunity in the faces of the Aitu members. But Cao Boi thinks they should bring the idol because it helps him feel "holy". Someone should remind Cao Boi that he is a Buddhist. The Reward Challenge - Aitu shows up without the Immunity Idol. For this challenge, three members of each team will wrap themselves around a pole. Two members from each tribe will try to pry the three members of the opposing tribe from the pole one-by-one and drag them a certain distance across the sand. The first tribe to successfully pull all three members of the opposing tribe off the pole and across the sand wins. The prize is a feast of lamb shanks, bread, and apple cider. Puddles of drool form under the malnourished tribes as Jeff announces the menu. There is a twist, though. The winning tribe will be eating their feast at Tribal Council, for both tribes will have to vote someone off tonight, regardless of which team wins. However, as the winning tribe eats, they will get to listen in on the losing tribe's Tribal Council meeting. At first, Aitu gets off to a big lead, thanks to Candice. She doesn't look it, but she's quite the scrapper. Rebecca and Parvati, two bigger girls, have the hardest time trying to pull her off the pole. When they finally succeed, she fights them off and wraps herself around the pole again. Once they detach her from the pole for good, she fights them all the way across the sand. In the meantime, her fellow tribe mates are able to remove two of Raro's members from their poles. Apparently, Parvati's boxing skills don't come in handy here. Whenever Parvati's name is displayed on the screen, "boxer" is listed underneath as her occupation. However, a quick check of her bio on the CBS Survivor website reveals that she's part of a boxing league made up entirely of models. Wouldn't that be like having a football league made up entirely of Girl Scouts? What's the point? One can imagine the phrase "not the face!" is heard a lot at these "boxing" matches. Back to the challenge. Nate is the second member of Raro to be pulled off of his pole and manages to put his tribe back in the challenge as he gives Aitu's Jonathan and Yul the fight of their lives. Even as Jonathan and Yul are dragging him across the sand, he manages to jump up and tackle Yul to the ground. It doesn't gain enough time back for Raro, however, since Parvati and Rebecca are still trying to drag Aitu's Candice across. It starts to get close, however, when Raro's Brad and Adam are able to rip Aitu's Ozzy right off the pole. It comes down between Aitu's Becky and Flicka dragging Raro's Christina and Raro's Parvati and Rebecca trying to pull Aitu's Sundra off her post. Christina starts off by whining that Flicka (Jessica) is "choking" her but then starts to fight dirty herself, including pulling Flicka's hair, kicking Becky, and trying to pull Flicka's pants off. But tiny Becky and Flicka are too plucky for Christina. At one point, as all three of them are tangled together, Becky and Flicka decide just to start rolling across the sand. It works and Aitu wins the challenge. This was as violent as it sounds. When the dust settles, big red, nasty scratches can be seen on Ozzy's neck. Cry-baby cop Christina is holding her neck. Jeff announces there will be another twist at Tribal Council. Back at the Aitu camp, Cao Boi tells Yul his plan for figuring out who has the Immunity Idol. It came to him in a dream. In his dream, he was dealing with supernatural beings. Then a shaman lady tells him he needs an American Express card (I am not making this up). He asks her why he needs an American Express card, to which she answers by showing him items he needs to buy. She tells him he needs to buy three of each item. Cao Boi, believing that the number three is signifigant here, hatches a plan whereby three of the tribe will vote for Jonathan at Tribal Council and three will vote for Candice. Since Cao Boi believes that one of these two must have the Immunity Idol, this will force that person to reveal himself/herself and use it. This scheme would also succeed in weakening the alliance. Cao Boi calls it "Plan Voodoo". The plan is actually brilliant, the kind of brilliant plan that only a crazy person could come up with. The funny thing is that neither Jonathan nor Candice have the idol. Yul, the first person Cao Boi shared this ingenious plan with, is the one possessing the idol. Meanwhile at the Raro camp, Christina is trying to make nice with the rest of her tribe. Having narrowly escaped being voted off the previous night, she's nervous about tonight's Tribal Council. Nate, who is impressed with the effort she made during the last challenge, is inclined to vote Jenny off instead. Once again, even though there are four women and only three men, the vote is going to come down between two of the women. You've come a long way, baby. Back at Aitu, the scheming gets complicated. Jonathan tries to pull his alliance (called the "white alliance" even though only two of the members are white) of Yul, Candice, Becky, and Sundra together to vote off Cao Boi. But Cao Boi's "Plan Voodoo" seems to be winning some over, simply because the girls have decided that Jonathan isn't trustworthy. Becky says it's the way he "looks at" people. Paranoia, one of the first steps on the road to cannibalism. Tribal Council - Aitu, today's winning team, arrives first. Cao Boi is holding the Immunity Idol on his lap. Jeff asks him what he plans to do with it. Cao Boi sets it down and says, "It's another member [of the tribe]." Jeff asks Ozzy what's up with the idol. "Sometimes you bring it to challenges when you don't need to. Tonight you brought it to Tribal Council when you didn't need to." Ozzy explains how Cao Boi feels "connected to" the idol. I think he should've responded truthfully, "Cao Boi is frickin' nuts, man!" The vote is taken. Cao Boi is the sixth survivor eliminated. Since Cao Boi and Flicka are the only ones who didn't vote for Cao Boi, it's apparent that the girls don't distrust Jonathan as much as they thought. It's also apparent that everyone thinks Cao Boi's name is spelled "Cowboy". The remaining members of Aitu adjourn to the jury section to eat their lamb and listen in on Raro's Tribal Council. After Raro files in and takes their seats, Jeff announces that before he gets to their Tribal Council, he owes Aitu some food. So, while Raro watches, Jeff hands Aitu a big pot of lamb shanks, big rolls of fresh bread, and a jug of apple cider. The look on Nate's face as he watches the other tribe eat reminds me of the way my dog looks at me when I'm eating dinner. After Jeff solicits comments from Raro about Christina, he tells Aitu that they must "kidnap" a member of Raro. The person they choose will come over to the jury section, eat some lamb, stay with Aitu through the next immunity challenge, and be immune from tonight's Tribal Council. Aitu chooses Nate. The vote is taken, and Christina is the seventh person voted off Survivor. She and Brad were the only members who voted for Jenny. The rest voted for her. Next week - The presence of Nate causes stress in the Aitu camp. Ozzy kills even more fish.

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.

Episode Recap: Cook Islands, Week 4

Episode: Ruling the Roost Original Air Date: October 5, 2006 Poor little Ozzy. As the episode begins, the Aitu tribal members are coming back from Tribal Council, having just voted off Cecilia, Ozzy's teammate from the former Latino tribe. Ozzy's not too happy about it either. "I feel like I'm on the outside," he confesses to the camera, "To lose to the only former member of my tribe, the person who helped me lay the foundations of everything these people are going to enjoy, makes me feel like crap. If they want to vote me out, they should do it soon so I don't have to keep catching food for them. I just don't feel like playing along anymore." Aww. It's kind of hard to feel sorry for this guy after he convinced his old team to throw a challenge just so they could vote off Billy. (Yes, I know it was a couple of episodes ago, but I'm still bitter.) Ozzy's words here reveal a misunderstanding about the nature of the game. Specifically he whines about the fact that he and Cecilia "laid the foundations of everything these's people are going to enjoy". Look, demonstrating your superior outdoorsman skills gets you absolutely nowhere in Survivor. When it comes to Tribal Council, no one cares if you killed a herd of wild boar with your bare hands, then field dressed them, cooked them, and served pork chops for dinner to your entire tribe that day. No one cares that you alone erected the two-story, eight bedroom shelter out of twigs and dolphin snot. All that stuff only makes you seem like a threat and earns you no brownie points with anybody. The fact is, you don't "earn" your way out of getting voted off. You either scheme and manipulate your way out of it, or you stay way under the radar. This show has run for 13 seasons now, you'd think some of these people would get a clue. Day 9 - Candice returns from Exile Island. We are not treated to any footage of searching in vain for the Immunity Idol. This is disappointing. I would've liked to see her on all fours digging in the sand for something that isn't there. The other members of Aitu ask her why Raro chose her for Exile. Some speculate that Adam and Parvati were behind it and wanted to protect Candice from Tribal Council. Unless there's something going on that wasn't shown on camera, I think these people are getting paranoid. Cannabilism should erupt any time now. At Raro, resentment is brewing amongst the girls against the guys. While the ladies are hard at work improving the shelter, the guys are just sitting around drinking coconut milk, reveling in their manliness, and probably comparing six packs. These he-men figure the simple womenfolk will need their masculine strength to get through the game. Later, one of the manly men ask the others if they thought the girls were annoyed about them laying around. JP isn't worried, "Even if they are, what [are they] going to do to us?" He then goes on to brag to the camera about how strong he and the other three guys are. "We're way, way stronger than the men on the other team," he says, then most likely leaves to stare at his own muscles some more. The Convoluted Challenge comes early this episode. For this challenge, two tribal members will be hooked to a rope which in turn is tangled around a complicated obstacle course. The other tribe members will push and pull the two in, under, and around the course until it is completed. Once the obstacle course is completed, one tribe member is to swim out and then dive under water to retrieve a wooden wheel that has numbers painted on it. The wheel will help the tribe to decode a word puzzle back on the beach. The first team to decode the puzzle wins a set of pillows, blankets, and hammocks, and gets to choose a member of the losing team to be exiled. Aitu wins this challenge pretty easily, in spite of all the rugged manliness that exists on the Raro tribe. Ahh, sweet, sweet irony. As a result, Aitu must choose a member of Raro to be exiled until the next Immunity Challenge. They choose Adam. Since he will be brought back before the next challenge, Adam will not be immune from the Tribal Council. Back at camp, Ozzy spears several fish to feed his tribe. He's pretty proud of himself. He tells the camera that the fact that he's able to provide food for his tribe gives him "power". How much do you want to bet he's voted off in a couple of weeks? Cut to Raro. One can imagine that JP has been taken down a peg by his tribe's recent loss. Instead, he's not only back to laying around and doing nothing, but he's also bossing everyone else around, even demanding that people bring him food. Even the Tribal Hoochie Parvati is frustrated with him. That night, Parvati and Nate sit around the fire talking strategy. Parvati's shameless flirting has paid off. Nate tells her, "You know I got your back... You have no idea how tight you and I are." He goes on to tell her that there's no way that he'll let her be voted off by the guys. "But JP's the one calling the shots. He's making those decisions," she points out. "Right now the ball's in his pocket," Nate concedes, while mixing metaphors, "but it can easily leave." For now, they agree to "just let the king sit pretty", in Nate's words. The next day at the Aitu camp, the tribe is walking through the woods when Ozzy says, "See, those are the boobies." Unfortunately, he's talking about the birds called "Boobies". They contemplate having a booby dinner that night, but think better of it. My goodness, people, can't you leave at least some of the wildlife alive on the island? How much do you have to eat anyway? Cao Boi, however, decides he wants some eggs. He climbs the tree and knocks the nest out from under the mamma bird sitting there. Below, Jonathan discovers the nest didn't contain eggs, but a hatched baby bird instead. Everyone feels bad, and Jonathan, who is holding the baby, looks like he's about to cry. Thankfully, the baby bird is still alive and they return the nest and hatchling back into the tree. Both tribes converge for the Convoluted Immunity Challenge. For this challenge, four tribe members must assemble a stretcher and run through the jungle with the stretcher until they reach the beach. Once at the beach, one tribe member will swim out to release another tribe member who is tied to a ship's mast. Both the "rescuer" and the "rescued" tribe member will then swim back to shore while they hold on to a single lifesaver. The rescued tribe member will then lay on the stretcher while the other four carry her back to the starting line. That's plenty for any challenge, right? But no, there has to be more. Once back at the starting point, the remaining three tribe members will try to make a fire from a hatchet, flint, and some straw. The first tribe, not only to build a fire, but build a fire that blazes big enough to burn through a rope and drop a flag, will win immunity. I think I've developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome typing the details of that challenge. Raro gets off to an early lead, being the first to assemble their stretcher and reach the beach. But the incredibly fit Ozzy comes from behind, almost running on top of the water half-way to the ship's mast. He easily swims past JP to rescue Candice. Aitu reaches the starting point first and gets started on their fire. However, Raro arrives shortly thereafter. Cao Boi from Aitu gets a little fire started but looks like he's about to lose it and have to start over. Suddenly, he starts waving the smoking hay around like some kind of madman. Jeff keenly observes, "Cao Boi is either going to be a hero or look really silly." In the meantime, Raro can't start a fire to save their lives. Jenny eventually cuts her hand with the hatchet. Cao Boi's crazy hay waving works, and Aitu's fire is saved. It eventually grows big enough to burn the rope. Aitu wins and Raro hasn't even started a fire. So much for Team Testosterone. Back at the Raro camp. Stephannie, maybe in a moment of weakness or maybe because she's had too much sun, tells everyone that she's the "weakest link" and pretty much states that she would understand if the tribe voted her off. At first, the rest of the tribe agree to take her up on that. Then a couple of the girls realize that voting one of their own off would make it harder to protect themselves from a male alliance. A plan is hatched among the women to vote off JP. The only woman not fully on board is Parvati, who isn't sure it's wise to vote JP off at this point. Tribal Council. Jeff asks Jenny if Raro has a leader. Jenny hesitates, then says, "Um, no, not really." When Jeff asks her what she means by that, she responds, "You're trying to put me on the spot, aren't you?" Duh, Jenny. It's Tribal Council. Haven't you ever watched the show before? The votes are cast. JP is voted off. "Holy crap, you guys outwitted me big time," he says. Then, as he's walking away, he turns around, smiles, and says, "That was pretty good." Personally, I think JP could be "outwitted" by a developmentally challenged chimpanzee, but I have to give him credit for being a gracious loser. As the closing credits roll, we see that the only two people who didn't vote to eliminate JP were Nate and JP. Even Brad and Adam voted for him to leave. Next week - Cao Boi isn't happy with the girls' work ethic, while Becky, Candice, and Sundra compare armpit hair.