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.