Episode Recap: Cook Islands - Week 9

Episode: Mutiny Original Air Date: November 9, 2006 The trouble with five-member Survivor alliances is that you usually end up with one airhead. In this case, it is Candice who has the wind rushing around inside her cranium. At the beginning of Day 19, Jonathan gathers the other four members of his Aitu alliance (Yul, Becky, Sundra, and Candice) and tries to come to an agreement on strategy. Candice confides to us that she doesn't want the alliance to survive the merge because she wants to get back into an alliance with Adam and Parvati. Of course, why would she want to stay in an alliance that has kept her in the game this long? Sure, keeping the alliance together would guarantee that she gets into the final five, but why would she want that? Why, that might actually help her win the game! Amazingly, Jonathan starts to talk privately with Candice about the possibility of flipping alliances after the merge and joining Parvati and Adam as well. But one has to wonder if Jonathan is just saying that to keep Candice on board for now. If so, it doesn't seem to be working. Candice tells us later that she doesn't trust Jonathan and he has to go. A number of contestants have suggested voting off Jonathan because they don't trust him. Is it because he manipulates the vote to keep himself and his allies on the island? Isn't that the whole point of the game? Let's see - "Outwit, outplay, outlast". Nope, I don't see any mention of "outtrust". Maybe these castaways are confusing Survivor with the Boy Scouts. Over at Raro, the position of Tribal Airhead seems to belong to Brad. Raro, too, is worried about the imminent merge. One would think Super Puzzle Boy would be trying extra hard to get in the good graces of the rest of his tribe after his failure to swim during the last rewards challenge. But during a conversation about the merge, after the rest of the tribe concludes that they have nothing to worry about for now since the tribes are still evenly numbered, Brad says, "Then it's every man for himself." Brad could've just said, "Vote me off at next Tribal Council. I'm an idiot." Convoluted Rewards Challenge - Before the challenge begins, Jeff tells the castaways that any of them may commit "mutiny". In other words, any castaway may choose to switch sides and join the other tribe. He gives them 10 seconds to decide. Candice steps forward. About one second later, Jonathan steps forward as well. They are then told to join Raro. This presents a few different possibilities: 1) Both Jonathan and Candice are as dumb as a box of rocks (not even the Pet Rocks, but the dumb, undomesticated kind). 2) Candice is dumb, but Jonathan doesn't see himself surviving long as the only caucasion in his alliance. 3) Candice is dumb, and Jonathan is really attached to her, rendering him temporarily dumb. 4) These two really, really connected with Parvati and Adam when they were all on the White Tribe and think they will have a better chance teaming up with them (if so, see possibility #1). After the mutineers switch sides, Jeff explains the next Rewards Challenge, which involves two guys stuffing two girls into a barrel, and rolling them across a bunch of speed bumps, then swimming the barrel with the girls inside out into the ocean and back. There's some flags and an ax involved, but who cares. Whoever thinks up these challenges have too much time on their hands and are way overpaid. Anyway, the prize for the winning tribe will be the chance to drink coffee and eat pastries in a "relaxing environment" (because we all know what a stressful environment a remote tropical island can be) and read letters from the folks back home. Aitu wins this one easily, mostly due to the fact that they still have Flipper (also known as Ozzy) on their tribe. Raro can't even swim the barrel where they're supposed to, and end up embarrasing themselves. As a result, Aitu gets to chose which member of Raro will be sent to Exile Island. They don't even have to think about it and quickly banish mutineer Candice. Later, Aitu is sent to a little cabana where they can put on bath robes and eat pastries. A sudden rash of crying and hugging breaks out as they read the letters from family. Yul says, "We're a family out here, guys." ... or maybe they're just crazy from being in the sun too long. Meanwhile, Jonathan is trying to make nice with the rest of Raro, his new tribe. He admits to us later that his mistake may have been trusting Candice too much. See possibility #3 above. Nate puts it best when he speaks to the camera later, "I knew Candice was coming over, but my man Jonathan rolled over too with her. He must be smokin' some good stuff if you think you're just going to just roll up into our crib and start stirring some waters... You really think we all have your back after we just watched you sell out your other tribe? Are you dumb?" Nate also tells us that Jonathan will be the next one voted off of Raro, even before Brad. Later, Jonathan can be seen working his dumpy, middle-aged butt off gathering coconuts while the rest of the tribe sunbathes. He knows how stupid his decision to mutiny was, so he takes Adam to the side to start up an all-white alliance with him, Parvati, and Candice. Adam is actually amenable to the idea. Convoluted Immunity Challenge - Four members from each tribe must row a glass-bottom boat over three underwater targets, line up the cross-hairs in their boat's glass with the target, so they can drop a canonball onto a spring which will release a pair of buoys to the surface. Once they have hit all three targets and retrieved all six buoys, they must row a shore and use the buoys (one of which has a clue, the others each have a letter painted on them) to form a word. Raro gets off to an early lead by hitting two of their three targets before Aitu is able to hit their first. But the Little Tribe That Could catches up when Yul realizes he can see the spring through the canonball hatch, making it unnessesary to line the boat up with the targets. Raro, on the other hand, starts to veer off course and is getting frustrated with Aitu's new momentum. Jeff shouting his usual blow-by-blow commentary doesn't help, "Raro still hovering right over their third target... Raro still unable to hit their target... Raro not paying attention when they released that last canonball." The last line actually provoked a response from Jonathan, who had just released that last caononball. "Oh, please, Jeff," he mutters. "What was that, Jonathan?" Jeff shouts out. "I said, 'Oh, please, Jeff'." Jeff continues his commentary, "Jonathan getting frustrated - at me." In the end, Aitu finishes the challenge before Raro is even able to hit their third target. Someone from Raro will be going home tonight. Back at the Raro camp, Jonathan still believes that he and Candice are tight. Candice tells Parvati that she and he are definately not tight. Nate tells Adam they have to vote Jonathan off, but Adam tells Nate they should keep Jonathan around for a while and vote off Brad, since Brad could possibly join Yul and Becky after the merge. He actually manages to convince Nate. Nate takes Brad to the side in an effort to make him think they'll be voting off Jonathan. He tells him, "We got numbers, Homey. Know what I'm sayin'? We can keep our family tight and chop them up like poop." Nate is like a poet. But later, Candice, in an obvious attempt to get Jonathan voted off, tells Adam that Jonathan was talking smack about him and that it was Jonathan's idea to send Adam to Exile island a few days back. This makes Adam angry, so he goes back to Nate and tells him that he wants to vote off Jonathan instead of Brad. Tribal Council - The only thing worse than answering Jeff's insipid questions would be having to do it in the rain. That is exactly what happens as everyone gets soaked, including Jeff. Things look bad for Jonathan as no one has anything nice to say about him. But in the end, Brad is voted off as a matter of strategy. Next week - Candice's real reason for switching tribes comes out as she gets all cuddly with Adam. A new twist that "turns this game on it's head".