Recap, Episode 6 (10/19)
DOUBLE TROUBLE Cao Boi and Cristina Voted Out In a monumental twist in the game on night 15, both tribes are sent to Tribal Council. Despite Aitu's dominance in the Immunity Challenge, they are forced to send a member home and choose the wild card, Cao Boi, as their sacrificial lamb. Anh-Tuan "Cao Boi" Bui, the 42-year-old Prelate of the Loyal Order of Moose from Christiansburg, Virginia, is sent home with six votes against him. As his torch is extinguished he presents his final words: "It was a wonderful experience. I had a great time. I didn't make it as far as I planned on going, but that's how it goes. I did learn I am most vulnerable among the Asian community. People who are like me, but not like me, I was aware of them in the beginning but eventually I learned to trust them. I should have known better." Cao Boi wasn't the only sacrificial lamb on night 15. As Aitu feasts in front of Raro during their Tribal Council, they watch Raro send home Cristina Coria, the 35-year-old police officer from Los Angeles, California. Cristina's abrasive conduct and condescending tone ostracized her from her tribe, and she receives a majority of four votes against her. As Cristina leaves the game, she explains, "I really enjoyed being on Survivor. It was a great experience. Just disappointed I got voted off so soon. Basically I almost feel like I was taken advantage of. But you know what, I met some really good people and I met some really awful people. I guess that's part of the game. But it was just an awesome experience overall." The Way You Are On night 14, still boiling from an eye opening Tribal Council, Cristina confronts Adam and her tribe about calling her annoying and overbearing. Hoping for an apology, Cristina is yet again confronted by Adam who asserts himself as the leader of the anti-Cristina campaign. "I just don't understand. I never thought that's what they thought about me. But I'm going to stick my head up high still. I know I survived a lot of other things in my life, I'm going to survive this," notes a frustrated Cristina. Voice of Reason Mystically attached to the Immunity Idol, the unpredictable Cao Boi suggests to his tribe that he bring the idol with them to the Reward Challenge. "I would bring the Immunity Idol with us, at all times. Every challenge we should bring him." Jonathan, feeling that it would be an unnecessary rub in Raro's face if they brought the Idol when it wasn't needed, urged Cao Boi to rethink his reasoning. Frustrated with Cao Boi's attitude, Jonathan grumbles: "Cao Boi, he is rubbing some people the wrong way. He does have to get talked out of a tree once in a while." Reward Challenge: Kicking and Screaming The tribes assemble at a sand pit, where Jeff Probst explains the rules of their next challenge. Each tribe will select three people to be stationed at a post. Two members from the opposing tribe will try to physically remove them from their posts, drag them through the sand and over the finish line. First tribe to get all three opposing tribe members across their finish line wins a feast consisting of lamb shanks, bread and apple cider. The catch: they will be indulging at Tribal Council, where both tribes will vote one member out of the game. Holding on the posts for Aitu are Candice, Ozzy and Sundra while Jenny, Nate and Cristina take their places on the Raro posts. In a brutal battle, Candice holds her own against Raro's Parvati and Rebecca, giving Aitu an incredible lead. Raro's Adam and Brad give Ozzy an equally brutal fight. Using any means necessary, Aitu manages to pull all three of the Raro members off their poles first and viciously drags Raro's last member, Cristina, across the Aitu finish line winning the right to feast at Tribal Council. Plan Voodoo Aitu returns home thrilled with their win, joking about wrestling a cop and defeating the muscle of the Raro tribe. But the win is bittersweet as Aitu faces the unenviable task of voting someone out. Believing Jonathan to be in possession of the hidden Immunity Idol, Cao Boi reveals a plan to Yul that could flush out the Idol. Plan Voodoo would create a tie: three votes against Jonathan and three against Candice, forcing Jonathan to play the Hidden Idol to send Candice home. "I think the plan's ingenious. I know that neither Jonathan nor Candice has the Immunity Idol because I have it," smiles Yul. Second Chance? With her neck is on the line, Cristina pleads to her tribemates for a second chance to prove herself an asset to the tribe. "Cristina's close with me. lots of good characteristics about her," says Nate. "She gave it her all today, and that for me was enough to say, 'Okay maybe you could be valuable.'" Still uncertain about his vote, Nate weighs his options with Rebecca. "If I were to keep Cristina, Jenny would have to go. She's one tough cookie. Cristina's strong but her mouth's strong. Jenny's sweet but I don't know if I can trust her yet." Conspiracy Theory Gearing up for Tribal Council, Yul contemplates Cao Boi's Plan Voodoo and the tribe's feelings for Jonathan. Meanwhile, Cao Boi reassures Flica that Plan Voodoo is in effect, confident his alliance with Becky and Yul will hold true. Jonathan, irked by the shift in the game, sees an opportunity to free his tribe from Cao Boi's antics. "We did not lose the challenge today; we won. It was just a twist in the game that said we have to vote somebody off and the consensus is that Cao Boi should go because he is pissing people off." Not one to put all his apples in one basket, Jonathan contemplates his position: "Tonight if I get voted off I'll be shocked. If I'm wrong then I've been outplayed and the conspiracy is much bigger than I can picture." Idol Mania At the first Tribal Council of the night, Cao Boi sinks further into his obsession to expose the hidden Immunity Idol. But Cao Boi's trust in his tribe is shattered when Plan Voodoo fails and his seemingly loyal tribemates vote him out of the game with six votes. Jonathan and Candice earn only one vote each. Kidnapped Eyes bulging, Raro watches as Aitu devours loaves of bread, tender lamb shanks and apple cider on the jury seats. With Aitu observing Raro's Tribal Council, Cristina's overbearing personality is brought to attention once again. Before Raro can cast their votes, another surprise twist is revealed: Aitu will kidnap one member of the Raro tribe. This member will feast with Aitu, return to Aitu's camp and remain a member of the Aitu tribe through the next Reward Challenge. Aitu promptly kidnaps Nate and watches the depleted Raro vote Cristina out of the game, four votes to two.

Surviving the Cook Islands, Episode 6: Deep Voodoo by David Bloomberg -- 10/20/2006 Cao Boi has hit on a plan to expose the holder of the hidden immunity idol and go after a group he believes will take over the game. Will Plan Voodoo work? Why is it called that? And what happens when Probst drops the bomb that both tribes have to vote somebody out? Read on to find out! Last week, Stephannie opened mouth and inserted foot – and her tribe voted her out unanimously. This week, previews indicate that both tribes will be voting somebody out. Who will be sent packing? Will there be any twists? Let’s sit back and find out! We begin in Raro on night 14. Cristina was offended by what happened at Tribal Council. Hey, she should just be glad she’s still there! She and Adam argue over whether or not she’s been rude lately. Brad tells us Cristina is not annoying, she’s just used to being in control and telling people what to do. Oh, well, that’s much better. Adam doesn’t seem to want to hurt Cristina, he says she’s annoying and “that’s just the way it is.” But Cristina obviously isn’t happy with this but she’s survived a lot in her life and she’ll survive this. The next morning at Aitu, Ozzy is spear fishing and handing his catches to Jonathan, who is sitting on the boat. Ozzy tells us he can catch 10 fish easily in an hour at his favorite fishing spot. Jonathan says Ozzy can hold his breath for two-and-a-half minutes “or something crazy like that” and is a great fisherman. They need his strength but if the merge were to happen today, Jonathan wouldn’t want him around because he’s too much of a threat. Treemail arrives in the form of a sail and a note: This head to head match Needs a well-balanced team. To win your first feast, You’ll kick and you’ll scream. Since the note doesn’t say anything about immunity, it’s obvious they don’t need to bring the immunity idol. But Cao Boi wants to do so anyway, because he feels like they’ll win when they carry it around – it represents a god to him. Jonathan doesn’t want to and tells Cao Boi it may be his spirituality, but it’s not all of theirs. And he thinks it will seem like they’re sticking it in Raro’s face if they bring the immunity idol to a reward challenge. I think this can be summarized easily: Jonathan understands this game, Cao Boi doesn’t. Jonathan says the whole tribe should discuss it (they have pretty much stood around watching the discussion and keeping their mouths shut) but Cao Boi will have none of that – he just says “to hell with it” and gives up. Jonathan tells us Cao Boi is rubbing some people the wrong way. Ya think? Yul says Cao Boi has gone through a lot in life and knows a lot, but he can be very hard-headed. Again, ya think? The tribes arrive at the challenge, where host Jeff Probst explains what they’re going to be doing. Each tribe will select three people, each of whom will be stationed at their own post, holding on with all their might. On his go, two team members of the other tribe will race out and attempt to physically remove them from their posts and drag them through the sand to the finish line. Once they’ve accomplished that, two other members will try to do it to the second person. Etc. First tribe to get all three of the opposing tribe members across the finish line wins. What are they playing for? Well, Probst has good news and bad news. The good news is that the winners will feast on lamb shanks, bread, and apple cider. The bad news is they will feast at Tribal Council. Win or lose, both will go to Tribal Council tonight and vote somebody out. The winners will go first and vote somebody out. Then they will take up the jury’s seats and feast while listening in on the losing tribe’s Tribal Council. This challenge requires equal numbers of men and women on each tribe, so Aitu has to sit out a man – they choose Cao Boi. Then the tribes choose the post-holders. For Aitu, it’s Candice, Ozzy, and Sundra. For Raro it’s Cristina, Nate, and Jenny. They will start with the women. And they’re off! Jessica and Becky are working on Jenny and managing to pry her legs apart. But Parvati and Rebecca are having more difficulty with Candice. Jenny is being dragged away. Candice is finally pulled from the post but then lunges back and grabs onto it – she’s putting up a hell of a fight! Becky and Jessica drag Jenny across the line, while Candice continues to fight for Aitu. Jonathan and Yul run out to try to pry Nate off the post. Candice will not go gently across the line, giving her team an even bigger lead. Yul and Jonathan get Nate off the post, but he is putting up a good fight too. Still, they get Nate over the line before the Raro women can get Candice across the line! After Jessica and Becky head back out to get Cristina, Candice is finally across the line, sending Adam and Brad out to get Ozzy. Brad and Adam are really tackling Ozzy. Jessica gets Cristina in a chokehold and gets a warning. Cristina is not happy. Various scenes of fighting until Cristina tries a different move to slow down her attackers – pulling Jessica’s pants off. Ooookay. Adam and Brad are getting closer while Cristina slows things down for the women. Parvati and Rebecca head back out to get Sundra. Becky and Jessica are locked in wrestling holds with Cristina and they try to roll as a group to the line while Cristina gets warned for hair-pulling. Sundra, meanwhile, is not budging from the post. Becky stands up to get leverage for the drag and they manage to pull Cristina to the line. Aitu wins! Probst reiterates how things will work with the Tribal Councils and says there will be one more surprise. I’m betting Aitu gets to give somebody on Raro immunity. Aitu heads home and discuss how difficult the challenge was. Sundra tells us how proud she is of the tribe and how they worked together. Not quite sure how much “together” there really was, given the nature of the challenge, but okay. Ozzy says it all came down to the women, and Jessica says she’s never wrestled a cop before! She tells us she thought it was a little uncalled for when Cristina pulled her hair and tried to take her clothes off. But the flip side of the win is that they still have to vote somebody off. In the shelter, Cao Boi tells Yul about a dream he had where people would come into a village and use a rope to take people away. Or something like that. He explains to us that it dealt with supernatural beings and a shaman lady with credit card applications. She says he needs three for Visa and three for American Express. Cao Boi uses his dream to figure out how to flush out the hidden immunity idol – have three people vote one way and three another. He calls it “Plan Voodoo.” Great idea! The problem is that he’s telling it to the guy who has the immunity idol! Yul tells us that Cao Boi believes Jonathan is the one with the idol, and the vote split would be between Jonathan and Candice. Wow, Cao Boi really is clueless, isn’t he? He doesn’t realize that both of them are Yul’s allies? Yul tells him it’s an interesting idea (he tells us it’s “ingenious”) and sort of nods along. Cao Boi continues that no matter what, they get rid of a Caucasian, a group that’s five strong overall in the game right now and could join back together again at a merge. Over at Raro, Nate tells us the loss hurts but he’s going to get some food even if they can’t feast. He spears a nice-sized octopus. Meanwhile, Cristina is bummed because she figures she’ll be the next to go. Probably a good guess. But she’s going to see what she can do. She talks to Brad and Parvati, asking if he’ll give her a chance. Both say they will, with Parvati saying (lying?) that she doesn’t know who she’s voting for. Cristina moves on to Adam to apologize if she annoyed him and try to gather support. But he knows she’s scrambling and trying to get them to turn on one another. Jenny asks for reassurance that he won’t pull anything on her, and he says he won’t. He tells us they’ve got a game plan that they’ll stick to – Cristina is going. Nate, though, is thinking she might be valuable. Besides, if they keep her, she’ll be loyal. But Jenny might go back with the other Asians if they merge. Nate is debating between the two of them. Back to Aitu we go, where Jessica and Cao Boi are doing stretching exercises together. Meanwhile, Jonathan talks to Yul, saying he knows he and Becky are concerned with making enemies of the others, but he’s less concerned about it. He thinks Cao Boi is too much of a wildcard and it’s time to vote him off. Meanwhile, Cao Boi is telling people who they should vote for – three for J(onathan), three for C(andice). Sundra tells us maybe Cao Boi’s idea of voting out Jonathan or Candice makes sense, because she’s suspicious of Jonathan. Even Becky may be on-board, as she relates the same thing to Yul, saying Jonathan is constantly trying to make people feel some bond with him. The funny thing is that right after that, Yul tells us he’s in “a tight alliance” with Jonathan, Candice, Becky, and Sundra. Those last two would be the ones talking about how they are suspicious of the first one. So now he’s not sure how good the alliance is, and their suspicions are starting to rub off on him. As Jonathan goes fishing, Cao Boi talks to the others, including Yul. They seem to agree that Plan Voodoo is in effect. But Ozzy isn’t sure if he’s on-board. And Yul gives the standard “integrity” speech where he talks about how difficult it is, etc. What game did these folks think they signed up for? Cao Boi tells Jessica they’re all on-board, but Jessica wonders why the others are all in the shelter talking. He assures her they’re fine. Uh oh. That’s a warning bell if ever I heard one! Here’s another: Cao Boi says, “I have the utmost faith in them.” Oh, he is so being voted out. But wait! Jonathan tells us, “if I get voted off, I will be shocked. I don’t believe that’s going to happen.” Uh oh, now what? The foreshadowing gods have given us two different fateful statements. Aitu arrives at Tribal Council and Probst begins the questioning with Cao Boi, who brought the immunity idol (which Probst notes is “a first”). Why’d he do that? Cao Boi says they have no more immunity, so it made sense to bring. Probst says, a bit irritated I think, that he didn’t ask for it back, so what is Cao Boi going to do with it? Cao Boi says it will be another tribe member. Probst still seems annoyed and asks Ozzy what the deal is with the idol. He says Cao Boi feels very connected to it, some are against it, others don’t care. It’s symbolic for other issues in the tribe. Yul is asked to describe Cao Boi. He says he’s a mixture of a shaman, cheerleader, and fire tender. He’s very loyal in his way. He can’t say he completely understands Cao Boi, though. Probst moves back to Cao Boi, asking if he’s often misunderstood. Cao Boi says he’s typically either hated or loved, and is often misunderstood, but with time people come to understand he means well. Back to Yul. Are their clear-cut leaders and followers? There aren’t any designated leaders, though Jonathan and Cao Boi are the most vocal in stating their opinions (and thus they have the targets on their backs tonight!). He says Jonathan is a natural leader who is good at articulating his position and speaking for the group. Is that a fair assessment? Jonathan appreciates Yul saying that, but it’s not like what he says goes. He doesn’t patronize “these people” or talk down to them. Er, isn’t calling them “these people” kind of patronizing? I think so. What will Ozzy base his vote on? He doesn’t know yet. How about Cao Boi? He says looking down the road to see what’s going on. It’s all a big chess game and he wants to expose the queen. Probst claims confusion – what does the queen represent? Individual immunity. He admits flat-out that the vote is to expose who has the immunity idol. The tribe will walk away tonight and have a clearer picture of what they need to do. With that, it’s time to vote. Jonathan votes for “Cowboy,” saying he has to take out the wildcard. Jessica votes for Jonathan, saying sorry but she lost her trust in him. Cao Boi votes for Candice, saying he hopes people stick with the plan. Probst tallies and reads the votes: Cao Boi, Candice, Jonathan, Cao Boi, Cao Boi (uh oh, I think that pretty well ruins Plan Voodoo), Cao Boi. So he puts down the immunity idol (the big one, not the individual one) and gets his torch snuffed. Plan Voodoo got a big pin stuck in its head. The hard part for Aitu is over. Now it’s time to eat and listen. They all move to the jury section as Raro is brought in. In his final words, meanwhile, Cao Boi tells us it was a wonderful experience, though he didn’t make it as far as he planned. He did learn he is most vulnerable among the Asian community – people who are like her. He should have known better than to trust them. And for the record, the only people who stuck to Plan Voodoo were Cao Boi and Jessica. That doesn’t bode well for the roller girl. Before Raro gets grilled, the food is brought out for Aitu. Oh, and Candice blows Adam a kiss. Raro looks on jealously as Aitu digs in. But Adam says he doesn’t really like lamb or apple cider, and they have plenty of food at camp, so he’s fine. Nate says it smells good even though they did have a good octopus dinner. He says he gave the challenge all he had, but they didn’t have enough as a team. How frustrating is it to have lost 2/3 of the challenges? Adam says it’s frustrating, but Candice set the tone by getting a good lead for the other team while wearing out the women on Raro. He smiles at Candice. Probst notes that Raro always prided itself on physical strength. But today it didn’t work that way. Brad says maybe Aitu has a stronger team, but it’s not about one particular challenge. They really need to look at the bigger picture of who is working hard at camp and getting along with everyone. Does Cristina have a feeling of a sinking ship with loss after loss? She says no, sometimes it just happens. They still have a chance and need to hold their heads high. Did Brad feel badly due to the criticism Cristina took at the previous Tribal Council? He did, because everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt and sometimes things are better left unsaid. When they got back to camp, what happened? Jenny says Cristina was angry that somebody would flat-out say she’s annoying. Aitu notices that particular statement! Jenny says it’s embarrassing. Cristina admits it bothered her because she considered them friends and she let her guard down a bit. She doesn’t want to beat a dead horse, but it’s definitely a blow to her. Did Adam feel like Cristina was a unified part of the tribe? He thinks so, and says she’s always been contributing – that was never an issue. It’s more that her personality “clashes with ours.” So apparently, he now speaks for the whole tribe, and the rest of the tribe has a single personality. “That’s just the way she is.” At what point will people have to look out for themselves? Nate says it’s survival mode. But for now, they still want to come back and smoke the other tribe. Before they vote, time for the twist. Aitu gets to kidnap one member from Raro. They will be immune from Tribal Council, will get a plate of food, sit with Aitu, and return to camp with Aitu – being a part of their tribe through the next reward challenge. Interesting. Aitu confers among themselves and decide on… Nate. Really? I would have gone with Cristina, just to throw a wrench into their plans. But Nate is sent over to Aitu. With that, it’s time to vote. Adam unsurprisingly votes against Cristina, saying she’s nice but the tribe is stronger without her. Brad votes Jenny, as does Cristina. Probst tallies the votes. But before he reads them, Aitu is dismissed back to camp. Now for the reading: Jenny, Cristina, Jenny, Cristina, Cristina, Cristina. Not exactly a huge surprise there. Again, that’s why I would have saved her instead, had I been on Aitu. In her final words, Cristina says she really enjoyed being there and is disappointed she got voted off so soon. She says she feels she got taken advantage of, which I don’t really understand (note to self: ask her about it in my interview with her). She met some really good people and some really awful people, but that’s just part of the game. Overall, it was a great experience. Next week: Nate causes stress for Aitu as there are strategy discussions held in front of him. Ozzy’s stock skyrockets as he gets food from the trees as well as the water. And one player on Exile Island takes a beating in a nasty storm.

Strategic Overview of Survivor, Episode 6: Give a Man a Fish... by Jeffrey D. Sadow -- 10/20/2006 SOS! It's the dreaded return Professor Sadow's old nemesis, bad strategy, to Survivor: Cook Islands. How could each tribe have chosen better Survivors to vote off? And what major mistakes did Yul and Jonathan make? Find out inside! It took a while, and hopefully it’s temporary, but this episode finally reverted to where recent seasons of Survivor tended to inhabit – unwise, strategically poor play. Aitu committed two blunders. Yul would not have gone terribly wrong by accepting the 3/3 “voodoo plan” because it would have exited one of the biggest threats for him, Jonathan, who was not a problem anytime soon but potentially in the future. If observant enough, he might have noticed Candace’s flirting with Adam and begun to believe the haole threat existed (although it appears Jonathan knows nothing of Candice’s and Adam’s double-secret alliance, and certainly Jessica doesn’t), making Jonathan seem even less valuable. His problem in taking this route, however, is that it would have knocked a prop out of his alliance, meaning he needed a replacement. Ozzy would not do because he is the biggest threat perhaps in the entire game to Yul, leaving just Cao Boi and Jessica. But neither would they do as they were a dyad; one would not align without the other, making the alliance too big. At the same time, refusal to cut Jonathan loose did not mean Cao Boi, or even Jessica, should have gone next. Instead, by far the best target was Ozzy. Yes, he catches fish and is helpful in challenges. But, to repeat the maxim that ought to be burned into the minds of all players, when you have a knife at throat of your strongest enemy… and Yul’s group of five had the knife, their votes, ready to wield. Instead, they took out somebody who they could have afforded to take at least a little farther, Cao Boi, or even Jessica, their only threat down the road being they are two votes; otherwise, singly, either is an excellent choice to carry. While this may constitute another reason to send one of them packing, it still does not justify allowing such a serious threat such as Ozzy to continue. Give a man a fish, and soon he’ll be voted off. Learn to fish, and you may become a millionaire; the Jonathan-Candice-Yul-Becky-Sundra axis doesn’t need Ozzy around just for that reason. The other mistake came with the selection of Nathan as a temporary member, shielding him from ejection by Raro. Perhaps the choice of Nathan has some rationale, as the next episode may reveal, but on the surface it seems at best suboptimal. In a situation where a tribe gets to protect the member of another, you pick the most obviously weak person – if that person is revealed. And, guess what? Cristina was demonstrated to be on the outs with her tribe. She needed protecting, for three reasons. First, weaker players should be carried until they no longer serve any purpose, as long as a stronger player not in your alliance gets targeted in their place. Second, removing obvious targets may cause greater damage to other alliances on the other tribe – even if you have no knowledge of any such alliances, you do know that the weak player does not belong to any so removing her increases the chance that an alliance must eat its own member. Third, even if you just have her for a couple of days, such contestant will be particularly vulnerable to your entreaties; since she feels like an outcast in her other tribe, this would be an opportunity to make her feel welcome and, if she survives to the merge, get her to join your side at the first chance. Choosing Nathan seemed to have no good purpose and only gives a presumed stronger member of the opposition a chance to gather intelligence. But then, the remaining members of Raro whiffed on sending off Cristina, for the same reason – weaker members should be retained. Oddly, Jenny, who does not seem to be one of the more powerful members, was tagged as the other choice. Again, some attentiveness would have revealed the Adam-Candice connection which should make him a logical target (it’s not like they’re now winning even the physical challenges with him), even if operator Parvati would want to keep him for his manipulability. (Perhaps it’s only now becoming evident, however.) Interestingly, a couple of players brought up the ethnic angle – and perhaps deservedly so referring to the haole threat. With Cao Boi’s departure, only whites now remain all intact. Consider that Jonathan and Candice have bonded, as have Adam and Parvati, and the previous link between Candice and Adam appears intact. Further, Ozzy still appears as the obvious target on Aitu, preserving Jessica almost certainly until the merge. All five are likely to be part of that when (if) it happens. Candice may be playing a great game behind the scenes. She’s got a open partner – but one not trusted by others so they could be convinced at a certain point to dump him and keep her – and a secret partner. She would have to wait until Adam was threatened, probably not long after a merge if the Raro losing streak continues as seems likely, then make a move to dump Becky (rather than Yul because she should suspect that he has the idol) and then pull Adam into the mix, which will pull Parvati and Jessica can tag along. Next, Jonathan also would lose his spot, then his game life, creating a group of Candice, Adam, Parvati, Jessica, and Yul. The latter would then be put on the defensive, having to remain in the group to stay in the game but vulnerable with five, or even more, remaining (assuming he doesn’t pull a Terry-like torrent of immunity challenge wins). Now that the threat has entered Yul’s consciousness, he must construct a plan to counteract it. He must not let Adam or Parvati survive long after a merge, if either makes it that far, and must protect Becky. Jonathan does not appear to have the wherewithal to think this far ahead or as strategically as necessary, while Becky and Sundra show no signs of being anything but ciphers ready to be used and thrown away, perhaps only he stands in the way of any such plan by Candice to come to fruition. Of course, whether this scenario emerges depends upon happenings at Raro. Besides Parvati, the only other person that seems to show a spark of strategic thinking is Nathan. So far, with the exception of J.P., his preferred targets have gone, and now he has an intelligence-gathering opportunity as Aitu’s hostage. If he is smart, he’ll gather some, and, back at Raro, will understand that Adam and Parvati are the growing threat, meaning he will have to rally the others to counter that. Neither Jenny nor Rebecca has shown inklings of strategic thought, while Brad got hung out to dry on the last vote. The game is getting to the point where some interesting, good strategic moves may come in a flurry.

Re: Survivor
Cao Boi and his crazy antics were one of the only entertaining things about this season. And now with him gone... well, there's even less for me to look forward to each Thursday night on CBS.

Survivor: Cook Islands- Survivor Live, Episode 6 by Brian Towers -- 10/24/2006 It’s time for the sixth episode of the season of Survivor Live, CBS’s Internet interview show that features the most recently eliminated contestant from the previous night’s Survivor: Cook Islands episode. The show is co-hosted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly and Survivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca. This week we have two guests, the enigmatic and now beardless Anh-Tuan Bui (known to us as “Cai Boi”), plus allegedly-annoying Officer Cristina Coria. First, my trivia question. This week, the Aitu tribe got to sit in on Raro’s Tribal Council. Of course, this has happened before. This week’s trivia question is this: Who was the first ever to be allowed to sit in at another tribe’s Tribal Council? Proceedings start off for real as Dalton reiterates that he hates when the winners of a challenge also have to vote off a tribe member. This season, Cao Boi was the unfortunate victim of that twist. Oh heck, two bootees, let’s have a second question. The first time we saw this dopey twist (with the challenge-winning team also sending somebody out of the game), who was the unfortunate victim? As usual, the answers will be near the bottom of this article. Cao Boi says he was only bummed for about five seconds after being booted out, explaining, “After that, let it go. Deal with it, then let it go. The next moment is a different moment.” He wanted to participate in the last challenge but with three other strong younger men on the team, he was outvoted by the others. Dalton compares “Plan Voodoo” to Big Brother 5’s Nakomis’ “Six Fingered Plan.” Both hosts like the plan. Jenna likes the idea that it would either force the hidden idol to be played, or show where it is. Either way, everyone would be back on a level playing field. Cao Boi says he asked Yul if he had the Idol, and he said “No.” Both hosts are surprised Yul pulled off the lie. Dalton gives credit to Cristina for putting up a good fight in the challenge. It is appropriately called “Kicking and Screaming,” by the way. All agree that it got a bit dirty out there. Cristina says that afterward, Yul (from the other team) gave her water. However, her whole tribe didn’t even talk to her, not even saying “nice job” as she lay there, exhausted and choking. Cao Boi confirms that they just left her sitting there. Jenna assumes Adam (an alpha male, one notes) is the one directing the anti-Cristina “Haterade.” Cristina says Adam and Jenny are the ones manipulating the tribe. Today’s first caller is Sho, from New York. He asks what they learned from the game. Cao Boi says it’s not to naively trust people who haven’t proven they deserve it. Cristina pretty much agrees. Dalton asks Cristina who she trusted that then betrayed her. After initially waffling she says, “Jenny said one thing and then did another.” She didn’t get along with Ozzy initially, but they got past it. She was never sure if J.P. and Cecilia were on her side or not. Later on, she got to know J.P. better and now realizes he is a great guy. Dalton mentions that Jenny drew a shooting gun on the voting card as she voted out Cristina. Classy. Not. Cristina wasn’t sure if it was Parvati or Jenny who had done it until she saw the show. Asked her reaction, she says, “It was hurtful, it was disrespectful.” Jenna points out that it is a bad move, in case Cristina comes back into the game. Well, since Cristina didn’t know for sure who did it, maybe not. Cao Boi asks if they knew she was shot on the job and she says that she told them. She cannot be absolutely positive Jenny was there at the time, but she thinks so. More on this topic later. The clip where Cao Boi outlines “Plan Voodoo” is run. Dalton likes that the plan because both the hidden idol holder and the original White tribe need to be attacked; both their positions in the game are too strong. With Candice sending unsubtle messages to Adam to Tribal Council, it’s apparent that bond is still strong. Cao Boi jokes that Candice probably DID send a come-on to Billy, too! Andrew from L.A. asks Cao Boi if he told the rest of Aitu that they stumbled into Raro’s camp. They did, and they told the whole story truthfully. It took over an hour to row there and even more to come back, because of the wind and currents. Candice raised the idea of going back to raid the other island at night. However, when Cao Boi told her she’d be rowing this time, that was the end of that! Cristina feels her tribe was inhospitable and rude to the visitors, however they did give them some tape off of their paddle. Cristina knew you might need these people as allies down the road. Jenna admits she wouldn’t be giving up anything that was edible, like the spices or cocoanuts. Don from Toronto wants to know how they think they’d have done if, when the tribes were redrafted, they ended up on the other side. Cristina says she would have tried for an alliance with Yul and Becky. She’s not too sure that Jonathan, Ozzy, or Candice were trustworthy. She expects she would have gotten along with Flica and Cao Boi as well. Cao Boi doesn’t answer but reminds us that every tribe had an “oddball” member. Jenna says that Flica referred to them as “alternative.” Dalton jokes that in Cao Boi’s case, “he’s an oddball.” Cao Boi confirms that Jonathan also got the “bad wind” treatment. Dalton reminds us Jenna said she would get the treatment on the show. She says, “Maybe later.” Cao Boi says the red mark fades in five minutes if you aren’t actually sick with bad wind. Cristina relates that after her treatment she kept picking at the mark and now she has a permanent scar… but, the pain did go away! Dalton introduces a “Probst’s Thoughts” segment, where series host Jeff Probst records a message to the departing player. This message is for Cao Boi. Jeff says, “If we could have a guy like you on every season, I promise you, we would.” Jeff goes on to say he likes his sense of humor, even his pushing the envelope by making ethnic jokes within his Asian tribe and insisting it was appropriate. Perhaps everyone didn’t agree, but Cao Boi stood his ground. Jeff ends by saying, “You brought a lot of entertainment to the show with you funky ways and it was very fun to have you on.” Expressing his thoughts on the initial ethnic tribal split, Cao Boi wonders how five people could represent the millions of Asians. He insists you can only represent yourself. Jenna comments that some stereotypes came out (like Africa-Americans not doing well in the water), but most of the jokes were made within their own original tribes. Cristina doesn’t necessarily agree with all Cao Boi is saying. I’m not clear if she’s addressing him in particular or talking about folks in general, but she cautions that one needs to be careful what they say and consider how it may be interpreted. I get the feeling Cao Boi gets and ignores that particular bit of advice at least one a week! Segment two begins with a call from Mike in Boston, who asks if they all saw Candice blowing kisses to Adam at Tribal council. Cristina says she was a little more concerned about getting voted off. Jenna suspects watching people eat held little attraction for her, either. Cao Boi reminds us he is a vegetarian, so he didn’t miss the feast. Jenna’s dad told her that as a show of solidarity, Nate should have announced he was not going to partake in the feast. Cao Boi likes the idea because it shows loyalty to your tribe. Jenna says she wouldn’t miss out on a feast. Dalton says it’s a delicate balance; you don’t want to offend future possible merge-mates on Aitu. Jim in Texas asks Cao Boi about the Aitu tribe’s distrust of Jonathan. He says Jonathan’s eyes roll when he talks and he constantly goes back and forth to people, so you know he’s working them. He’s aggressive and makes people feel uncomfortable. The hosts like that Jonathan’s playing hard but say it has to be done in a more subtle way. Still pictures of both Ethan and Ozzy are shown. The resemblance, to my eye, is very slight. When prompted by Dalton, Jenna says Ethan is the cuter one. Just. Shoot. Me. Dalton says he’s waited long enough, he wants to see the challenge clip run, complete with choking. Post clip, Dalton says the only thing missing was handcuffs. He asks what rules the players were given. Cristina replies, “No choking, pressure points, no control holds, no kicking.” No hair pulling, either, I guess. I think every one of those rules was violated, but rule enforcement was non-existent. They all agree that Candice set the tone with her high level of resistance in the first leg. I can testify that Parvati and Rebecca had nothing left when it was time to pry Sundra away from her perch! Dalton asks Cristina about the decision to send Candice to Exile Island several episodes ago. Cristina didn’t think it mattered, and Adam was very vocal about it. She now realizes the other white tribe members may indeed have been trying to protect Candice. Brett from North Carolina wonders if their opinions of their tribe mates changed after watching the show. Cristina initially thought everyone was nice, but then found them “very rude, conniving, and very disrespectful. It wasn’t a game any more, it was more of a personal thing with me, and about me being a cop. It got out of hand and I had to say something around the campfire. I knew it was a risk but I had to say what I had to say.” Cao Boi says, “I have no hard feelings. You gotta take people the way they are and accept them the way they are. If you don’t like them, then keep them out of your life. Surround yourself with as many good people as you can.” Dalton comments on Cao Boi’s “inner calm” that he (Dalton) noticed back in the pre-show interviews. Jenna says his tribe may have been too young to truly understand him. Cao Boi says that as Asians growing up in America, they all have issues from suppressing their true feelings because it’s how they were brought up. Dalton asks Cristina about throwing a challenge, noting the “karma chameleon” is still in effect (except for self-evicting Stephannie, a Latino has gone every week). She says initially, she was not in agreement with the decision but really couldn’t do much about it. Some new information comes out next. Cristina voted Billy off because, although it was not shown, he was sick (up-chucking and dehydrated), and not drinking the water. “He was not going to be able to help us later on,” she says. Rich from Long Island is a retired New York police officer and knows former winner Tom Westman. He thinks Jenny has transformed from a background character to the series villain. He is outraged at Jenny’s classless voting card. In fact, he’s pretty pissed about doing that to a cop and hopes Cristina gets back at Jenny at the Reunion Show. When he calls Jenny the “lowest of the low,” Dalton mercifully cuts him off before he says something too wrong… or too slanderous. Dalton is not defending her but wonders again what Jenny’s intentions truly were. Jenna says even if you don’t know Cristina’s history, you don’t go there with a cop. Additionally, “It’s a very cowardly way to pick on someone, because they can have no retaliation.” Cao Boi notes that in other votes Jenny has also included little diagrams, and thinks it’s probably not maliciously intended, but just immature. Maybe, but I’m with caller Rick on this one. Even if her crime is merely being thoughtless, I say she has some serious explaining and apologizing to do. Whew, some heavy topics are coming up this week! Ashley from Oregon asks Cao Boi, was he comfortable making “Plan Voodoo” on the assumption Jonathan had the idol? Yes, he believed Yul when he claimed not to have the idol. Cao Boi insists he would have continued to work to flush out the hidden idol and understands why Yul went after him. Dalton says it was a good plan because Cao Boi was already a target and needed to deflect attention elsewhere. Jenna asks why he was a target and he says it was either Flica or himself. It’s time for more of “Probst’s Thoughts,” and this time Cristina is the subject. Jeff says he liked Cristina the minute he met her. “She takes life seriously, maybe a little too seriously at times,” he says. Jeff respected that she held her ground and fought for what she believed in. Cristina appreciates these thoughts. Both players like Jeff Probst a lot. Dalton asks Cristina if being a police officer affected how others perceived her. She suspects, “I think it played a big factor. It overshadowed who I was as a person.” “It was more about me the cop” and says no one else was referred to as, say, “Becky, the real estate lawyer.” Ricky in Chicago wants the tied vote situation clarified. Cao Boi says they “duel” to resolve it (usually a race to make fire). Jenna says they used to revote, but the two who tied were immune. As far as I know, Cao Boi has it right for the current show. Cao Boi details for us that his plan called for the guys were to vote for Candice and the ladies for Jonathan – split by gender, to keep it impersonal. This brings us to the final segment. Cao Boi reveals his presence on Survivor was foreseen by many Vietnamese fortunetellers. They told him that around age 41-42 (he’s 42) he would be in a situation, jail-like, where people would be eliminated all around him. But he would survive it and never have to worry about money again. Umm… wow. Cao Boi is looking forward to being judged by the whole world and Jenna notes he scores high in the CBS popularity poll. Actually, he was ranking high earlier on but now he has dropped back into the pack. Parvati has assumed a tiny lead over Yul. Me, I just don’t get the whole Parvati thing, my tastes run more to Ms. Oakley! Cristina says she’s getting plenty of ribbing from her fellow cops, but it also comes with a lot of support from Survivor fans. The clip is run from the start of this week’s episode where Cristina is displeased how she was at being called “annoying” at the previous Tribal Council. Adam insists she doesn’t say “please.” The hosts commiserate with her. Cristina says she opened herself up and if the worst that happens is she cried a bit, that’s not so bad. Cristina says both Adam and Jenny have a way of talking that deflects attention from themselves and onto others. The next caller is “Big Daddy” from Alabama, who does Jenna’s MySpace page. Jenna plugs her upcoming VH1 appearance on Sunday the 22nd, 10PM. He wonders why Nate and not Cristina was the one kidnapped by Aitu and thinks it was a bad decision. Cristina and Jenna agree with Big Daddy. Dalton suggests Cristina is the strongest female; so if he were in Aitu, then letting Raro vote her off is fine by him. No one else agrees. Cao Boi says they all liked Nate. Dalton disagrees, saying, “I can’t believe that with Yul and Jonathan and Becky, that this would be a decision based on who they want to hang out with. It’s got to be strategy all the way. So what’s the strategic reason?” Jenna notes Aitu doesn’t need Nate’s strength because they are already winning most of the challenges. She thinks that by removing Cristina from the equation and forcing Raro to make a quick decision, they might make a mistake and vote out someone like Adam. I’m guessing it would probably have been Rebecca going, but it would have been interesting to see how some of the folks in multiple alliances like Parvati, Adam and Jenny would have voted. Todd from Georgia is surprised he’s on the air. He uses many words to ask how it feels to be eliminated. Cristina says, “It sucked!” Cao Boi says, “I don’t get to continue my adventure any further, so it’s time for a new one. It’s fine for me.” We almost missed it this week, but it’s time for the “minus 10” feature. Dalton reads ten categories for Cao Boi and Cristina to comment on, each in less than ten words. They will respond to alternate questions, Cao Boi first. Here’s how it went: (Cao Boi) “Plan Voodoo” – Awesome (Cristina) Throwing challenges – Not called for Marathon softball – Lack of sleep Law enforcement – Really awesome Bad wind – Be careful, you may get it Billy Garcia – Incredible person, off the game Ethnic stereotypes – We all do it Being called “annoying” – Rude and disrespectful The Loyal Order of Moose – Take care of the young, take care of the old, take care of each other (too many words, he’s buzzed) J.Lo – Beautiful Some notes on the above. Cao Boi played in a charity softball event that was a hundred hours long. The Loyal Order of the Moose is a fraternal organization dedicated to making lives better for children and the elderly, and Cao Boi is a member. Additionally, Cristina worked as a technical consultant on JLo’s movie, “Angel Eyes.” Sharon from Ohio asks when they noticed the romance between Adam and Candice. Cristina never saw it. Cao Boi says she’s a smart player and a great liar, but Dalton says she made a mistake that tells her current team she is ready to throw them under a bus Austin from California has his question reworded to be, “What other player do you like?” Cristina names Brad. Cao Boi likes Brad too but picks Ozzy. He also likes Flica. Time must be drawing short, as it’s time for “Jenna’s Big Question of the Week.” She asks Cao Boi, “What are you going to do now?” he says, “You know where I’m at? If you have an adventure, give me a call!” Cao Boi tells us he’s a priest in the Moose Order, and as such he has to play the game without backstabbing or being devious. Jenna asks Cristina the same thing. Her plans are just to go back to work and do some charity events. Jenna mentions Ethan’s annual Survivor soccer charity event. I’ll be telling you more about that in a few weeks and the organizer is a regular reader of this column. Dalton has the promo clip for next week run. Nate causes Aitu stress; Ozzy’s stock skyrockets; and one Exiled Survivor takes a beating. Morasca the mean wants them to make a rule about not eating any more fish because they aren’t suffering enough. Cao Boi says he only drank cocoanut juice and ate cocoanuts. For him, that was all he wanted. Dalton points out that they aren’t being given food, they’re finding it. Cao Boi and Ozzy thought they’d be better off if the game was in a tougher environment and without Survivor school, because they are better at that aspect of the game. Alas, that’s the end. To the rocking strains of the Survivor: Live theme, Jenna dances us out in a wacky Bizarro-Riverdance fashion. We’re done! CBS Website Clues: Last weeks’ promo items were pretty indicative of the episode. So this week, I’d be expecting smoke and mirrors. Or I would be, had any website clues been posted. Trivia Answers: Here are the answers to my trivia questions. First off, in the Survivor: Vanuatu season, Lopevi tribe member John K. was the one who sat in on the Yasur Tribal Council, surprisingly bestowing immunity to Ami. Secondly, Survivor: Palau’s Willard was the victim of the first incarnation of what I call the worst Survivor twist since the ridiculous “Outcast Tribe.” In Conclusion: This was a very enjoyable episode. It’s too bad we didn’t get a full episode of Cai Boi, who is one of the more interesting players ever. It was also unfair to Cristina, who was rather shafted in the game and never got to fully tell her tale.

Survivor Cook Islands, Episode 6: Back on the Island again. by Ken Kelham III -- 10/23/2006 Watching Survivor for the past few weeks, Ken’s been thinking about past contestants. Who would have cried fowl about the booby bird? Who is “one tough chick”? And who would’ve created a great brawl at that immunity challenge? Read on for more thoughts and observations. Before I go forward with episode six, there are a few loose ends to tie up. I had already started working on last week’s article, and was about half-through, but then, shall we say, personal issues came up, and I realized that by the time I finished, it would be rather late, and I didn’t feel it was fair to do that to the editors. Plus, my computer went haywire and lost the article, and I decided to just give it a rest for one week. After the episode a few weeks ago in which Jonathan found the baby, someone in my workplace, who wasn’t talking about Survivor, used the phrase, “Are you my mother?” I thought about how funny it would’ve been to hear the baby chick say that to everyone on the island. Okay, funny and sad at the same time. And how good it was that Jan from Thailand wasn’t on this tribe? No telling what her reaction would’ve been. I recently heard from a reader in the journalism field, who said it was all right to identify him as “Some editor dude from the Land of Lincoln.” He suggested that the producers leave fake copies of the immunity idol on Exile Island. That way, when they got voted out, and presented the idol, Probst could say, “I don thin so Lucy.” Okay, he didn’t exactly put it that way, but you get the idea. Just think of how that would change the game, especially if the players didn’t know beforehand there were fake idols lying around. Okay, onward and upward to Episode 6. Let’s start with the opening scene. On the way back from tribal council, one of the players commented, “It was a rough tribal council.” Isn’t that like saying “It was a wet rainstorm?” Have you ever heard anyone say “Boy, what a neat tribal council that was?” The problem here was, after Adam made his comments about Cristina in tribal council, she was still in the tribe. Usually, when that type of conflict takes place in tribal council, it means one of the parties involved is going home. But thanks to Stephannie, that wasn’t the case. While it’s true Adam was prompted by questions from Jeff Probst to say what he said about Cristina, it probably wasn’t the greatest idea. After all, for all Adam knew, a merge could be around the corner, and Cristina could jump ship. Having said that, Cristina should’ve taken the hint from her tribe, been thankful she got a three-day reprieve, and made the most of it. However, she couldn’t leave well enough alone, and got into an argument with Adam. She eventually tried to redeem herself by asking her tribemates for another chance, but there was one flaw in her plan: somebody had to go. This wasn’t like The Real World when Puck’s tribe, er, roommates couldn’t stand him anymore and, shall we say, “voted him out.” For Cristina to stay, someone else had to go, and unfortunately, in Survivor, arguing your case means arguing against someone else, and I’m not sure how well Cristina did that. While watching the episode, it occurred to me that Jonathan’s voice sounds like somebody famous. I couldn’t figure out who, then it hit me: His voice sounds like that of sportscaster Al Michaels. But when I pitched this idea to some other fans of the show, they seemed to think he sounded more like Alan Alda, a.k.a Hawkeye on M*A*S*H., and now that I think about it, they’re absolutely right. Oh, how great it would be to have someone with Hawkeye’s wit on this season’s cast. When Cao Boi (not Cowboy, as some of his teammates apparently didn’t realize when voting him out) started talking about taking the immunity idol everywhere they went, several thoughts came to mind. One was, how interesting would it have been to see him in the same tribe as JoAnna from the Amazon season? To refresh your memory, she was the one who saw the idol as a type of “graven image,” and thus thought to have it around was sinful. Oh Boi, talk about drama. I can just see the previews for that episode “Next time on Survivor, Cao Boi and JoAnna clash over the immunity idol.”) In the long run, these two, while having polar opposite stances, actually had one thing in common: They both had strong opinions on something they considered to be a spiritual issue, felt obligated to impose this stance on their tribemates, and were voted out shortly thereafter. Don’t get me wrong: Each is entitled to his/her views, and I respect those views. But there are some subjects that are very touchy in discussion, (i.e. religion, politics, morality), and taking a firm stance either way can spell your doom in a game like Survivor. It’s similar to when Kimmi was voted out of Kucha after her vegetarian stance. Contrary to what Judd Nelson said during an awards show, Kimmi was NOT voted out for being a vegetarian, but rather, because she couldn’t quit reminding everyone she was a vegetarian. By the same token, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Cao Boi broaching the idea of taking the immunity idol everywhere they went, but when no one in his tribe rushed to take his side, he should’ve just dropped it. Instead he pouted, and said “Hell with it,” an ironic statement given the topic was a spiritual one. Personally, I sided with Jonathan, who felt that showing up with it all the time would be rubbing it in the other tribes’ faces, but at least Jonathan did say he respected Cao Boi’s views, even though he obviously didn’t agree with them. Jonathan was in no way ridiculing Cao Boi’s spiritual beliefs, but rather, was looking at the issue from a game standpoint. Now it was time for the reward challenge. At the risk of intruding on the territory of RNO’s “MVP” articles, what kind of performance was that by Candice? Yes, she eventually got dragged across the line by Parvati and Rebecca, but it took them forever to pry her off the pole, and once they did, she went right back to it, eating up even more valuable time, and of course, energy for the other tribe. Back in the Vanuatu season, eventual winner Chris told Twila she was “one tough chick.” After this last episode, I think the same could be said of Candice. Do any of us realize how much stamina it took to fight off two people like that for as long as she did? And not only was she physically tough, she played a good mental game, smartly placing herself on top of Rebecca and making Parvati try to drag them both. One amusing aspect was when Parvati said to Candice, “Dang, lady, let go!” Just what was Parvati expecting her to do? It brings back images of baseballer Pete Rose complaining about the kind of pitches he was seeing during his run at Joe DiMaggio’s record for most consecutive games with a hit. Any time you expect help from your adversaries, something’s wrong with your line of reasoning. What also stood about this challenge were Cristina’s attempts to fight off Jessica and Becky. After Jeff Probst warned Jessica, “no choking,” we next saw Cristina warning Jessica to steer clear of her neck. My first thought was, “Boy, Cristina is bossy even to people on the other tribe.” But unlike Parvati telling Candice to let go, this was a safety issue, and the host had already admonished Jessica/Flica, so I can see where Cristina was coming from. However, there’s one small problem: While Cristina was telling Jessica to “Get away from my neck,” she had her own forearm on Jessica’s neck, and found herself admonished as well. In the heat of battle, it probably didn’t occur to Cristina she was guilty of a similar infraction she was warning Jessica about, and by the same token, it didn’t occur to her how she’d been coming across to her tribemates. If this lack of awareness didn’t directly lead to her eviction from the tribe, it certainly didn’t help her cause. F inally, kudos to Mark Burnett and company for yet another awesome challenge. It never ceases to amaze me how season after season, the producers keep coming up with things we haven’t seen before. And in this case, they chose a challenge that made for great television, unlike the endurance challenges that take several hours, and are most notable for the bargaining and bantering that goes on while they’re in progress. But one thought came to mind: While the challenge was a fun one to watch, I couldn’t help but wonder about the potential for injury. Yes, the entire game is inherently risky, but in a challenge where limbs are tangled up and twisting every which way, it seems like someone is more likely to end up with a muscle pull, sprain, or other potential game-ending injury. At the very least, I can’t bet the participants weren’t sore for a couple of days after this one. And I won’t even get into the possibility of sand burn. Here’s another question: If Rupert from Pearl Islands were in this challenge, would he be more useful as the guy pulling people off the poll, or the guy hugging the poll? Just how much energy would it have taken the other team to drag his hefty frame across the line? Or, suppose Rich Hatch were a poll hugger? Would he have done this challenge in the nude, just to freak out the other team? And how uncomfortable would that have been for the ones who had to drag him off? Or, from the same season as Rupert, how about Jonny Fairplay? Even though he’s not the biggest guy, he’s obviously learned a few moves from his wrestling training. Would any of them have come in handy as either a puller or pullee? Actually, what I’d really like to see Rupert pull on Jonny Fairplay. At the very least, Rupert would’ve roughed him up a bit, and it may have ranked as everyone’s favorite piece of footage of all time. I’ll just stop right here while we all wait to see how Nate handles being a “kidnap” victim.

Survivor: Cook Islands – Advice for the Remaining 13 by Jeffrey Clinard -- 10/25/2006 Both tribes played politics, with different reasoning and strategy going into their votes. Why was Cao Boi’s plan to force the hidden immunity idol out of the game flawed? What huge mistake did Candice make after her stellar performance at the challenge? And why should Nate take see his “kidnap victim” status as a golden gift handed to him? Jeffrey has the answers. Cao Boi wasn’t the most strategic Survivor ever, but he did seem to understand the problem of the hidden immunity idol. He attempted to manipulate the vote so that the idol would be used and a power structure would be broken at the same time. It wasn’t a bad idea, but he guessed wrong as to who had the idol. He also failed to realize the dominant alliance had a vested interest in keeping their other members around at this stage of the game. Yul probably didn’t think that the voting scheme was a good idea because he’d lose an ally either way. Besides, even if Plan Voodoo had worked, Jonathan would not have produced the immunity idol. Cao Boi might have come up with Plan Voodoo 2 and gone after Yul next time. In any case, Cao Boi did Yul a favor. He seeded the rumor that Jonathan has the hidden idol. If somebody does try to force the idol out of the game, Jonathan will be the target. Yul keeps it and has one less competitor to deal with. In some ways, Jonathan also benefits from the incorrect assumption. If people think he has the idol after the merge, they won’t vote for him under the assumption that the votes will ricochet. To get rid of the idol, players have to control enough votes to both eliminate the target and set up another person to take the hit. That’s quite difficult. If Jonathan continues to be tightly allied with Yul, he has an excellent position in the game. Post merge, a coup attempt against the Yul / Becky / Jonathan / Candice alliance would go after the strongest player. Yul might be that person, and the ricochet effect of the hidden immunity idol eliminates one of their conspiracy members. I loved the reward challenge. While last time I said that Raro had strength on their side, I neglected to mention the men had the strength. In any case, both tribes were correct in their decisions to use their strongest women and weakest man to defend. None of the men were weak, and in a two against one situation, two men win every time. Even if the defense player gets a strong guy into a bear hug against the ground, the other strong guy has enough strength to drag them both if he has to. The better strategy is to try and tangle the legs of the attackers. For the women (at least among this crop of Survivors), the strategy is a bit different. A woman who makes herself and one of her attackers dead weight cannot be easily dragged by the remaining attacker. Candice defended herself well, starting with tight arm and leg holds on the mast. Once dislodged, she did not go quietly, pinning down Rebecca at one point, and Parvati at another. Sundra might have done equally well. We’ll never know as Candice put up such a fight that Aitu gained a huge lead and the Raro attackers (Parvati and Rebecca) were exhausted when they started on Sundra. They never even got Sundra’s legs dislodged from the mast by the time it was all over. However, I’m bothered by the warning system involved when it came to rule violations. Choking, hair pulling, biting, punching, attacks on the groin, and attempts to injure, maim or disfigure were probably banned, and for good reason. However, while Probst issued three warnings (two to Cristina and one to Jessica), they were not strong enough in certain cases. Jessica pulled Cristina off the mast with a choke hold. She got a warning by Probst, but it was a good trade to get her off of the mast, which was Cristina’s primary means of defense. Similarly, using an illegal move to regain a position on the mast is a good trade, if the only penalty is a warning. I like warnings for actions that are illegal, but incidental, but penalties for illegal moves that are either deliberate or result in an advantage for the person who violated the rules. Finally, Nate has been “kidnaped” by the Aitu tribe. I find it amazing the difference a label makes. Calling it a kidnapping makes it seem like the target is a victim. Jeff Probst could have told Aitu “I’ve got some bad news. One member of Raro is going to go home and spy on you until after the next reward challenge. The good news is you get to pick the spy.” I suspect that in that case, Aitu would have had a different reaction and possibly picked somebody else. The only difference between a kidnap victim and a spy in practical terms is the phrasing. Two more Survivors were voted out, and the merge is getting closer. What should each player be doing to improve their position in the game? I have advice for the remaining 13. Aitu: Nate is an interesting choice for a kidnapping victim. While picking Cristina might have done damage to the enemy politics, I can see where Nate makes some sense. The decision makers in the tribe are the whites and Asian-Americans. Nate is neither, so he’s neutral, and he’s also a male. That leaves the tribes unbalanced at four men for Aitu and two for Raro, while Aitu has four women compared to three on Raro. Sit Nate out if the challenge requires equal number of men, or if the tribe has to sit out people for balance. However, do not talk strategy around camp until he’s gone. He’ll go back with a better understanding of your tribe and may use that against you after the merge if you aren’t careful. Candice: You did a stellar job in the challenge, putting up so much resistance that your tribe was able to haul two people over the line by the time you were finally dragged across the finish line. However, blowing the kiss to Adam wasn’t a very bright idea. Too many people might have noticed it, and unless you had told your alliance you were going to con Adam, they will read it the wrong way. Jonathan: In a strange sort of way, Cao Boi’s failed scheme worked to your benefit. You don’t have the hidden immunity idol, but if people think you have it, it’s almost as good. Plan Voodoo’s spectacular failure should make the others more cautious in trying something like that again. In addition, when push came to shove, your alliance held. You have a great position. Yul: You did a great job of keeping a poker face when Cao Boi proposed Plan Voodoo. He had made a big mistake in thinking Jonathan had the idol, and as long as he was around, there was always the chance he could decide you had it and form a new plan to take it away from you. I only hope you didn’t give the details of Plan Voodoo to anybody except maybe Becky, who knows you have the hidden immunity idol. Jonathan knows he doesn’t have it and might guess you have it if you gave details instead of just saying “Cao Boi goes home tonight.” Sundra: Things look good. After getting the alliance offer in the last episode, you’ve just gotten the assurance that you are a full-fledged member. The others gave you the target, and you voted out Cao Boi with the rest of them. With two outsiders in the tribe, you are probably safe, and while you did a great job in the reward challenge, nobody really knows if you were just as resistant as Candice. If you are politically safe until the merge, it’s usually better for people think you might be strong rather than demonstrate it and remove all doubt. Jessica: You have massive problems, and it all stems from your basic problem in understanding the game. Game strategists love players like you who wanted to hang out with cool people because they throw away the game in the process. You had your chance to be solid with the white / Asian alliance and you blew it. Now you’ve lost your only friend in the game and your fellow outsider Ozzy is pulling in ten fish an hour. You need to make sure your tribe wins immunity, or try to out-Ozzy Ozzy or you’ll lose the game. Ozzy: You did a great job in the challenge because you assaulted the weak spot of the Raro men - their legs. While they yanked you off the mast without much effort, you had a lot more fight in you than they thought. You are also following my advice; political outsiders need to make themselves so valuable they are hard to cut. You are probably safe for another Tribal Council as you are a huge provider but vulnerable after that. Thus, you better work your tail off to help your tribe win immunity. Becky: I give you a lot of credit; you are one feisty woman and stronger than you look. You helped dragged a couple of women and did a lot of the heavy lifting in the challenge. When Cristina had you down, you moved her closer to the finish line by rolling together. Right now you’re in a secure position as your alliance held up in its second test. With the past record, making the merge shouldn’t be a problem for you. Nate (Kidnapping Victim): You should be overjoyed to be the “victim” of a kidnapping. Lamb shanks, bread, and apple cider were yours. In addition, you were the only person in the game who had protection from the vote. I advise you to be polite at the other camp, make friends, hang out, but above all, learn everything you can about their politics. I’d suggest you make friends with Jessica, as I peg her as the tribe member who has the loosest mouth. Remember, if you make it to the end, you need votes, and they will control some of them so there is no reason to make enemies while in their camp. However, despite your talk of being the fourth quarter crew, you must sit out of the reward challenge, or subtly insure Aitu loses no matter how nice the reward is. A victory under their belt is a great morale booster. When you go back to your camp, say it’s good to be home. Cao Boi: What went wrong? Well, despite your claim, your eviction had nothing to do with your race or prejudice among the Asian community. Your problem was that you were an outsider who failed to take the deal offered by the dominant alliance, then made a huge error in judgment by deciding Jonathan had the hidden immunity idol. You had a good idea of how to force it out of the game, but you told it to Yul, who actually had it. Your outsider status, combined with Yul’s self-interest in not exposing hidden immunity, resulted in your loss. Raro: You’ve lost two thirds of the challenges since the shuffle, and both of them were based on strength. Now you lost a strength-based challenge, largely because your women are not as strong as the ones on Aitu. You also blew it at Tribal Council; all of you should have made a pact to pass along false information as the Aitu tribe had your session as a dinner show. Even if they didn’t believe you were being honest, that was better than Aitu learning the truth. Adam: I hope nobody was watching when you acknowledged the kiss Candice blew, as it puts you in a weakened position. If the rest of the tribe decides you are going to sell them out after you merge, you signed your death warrant. Still, you were quite diplomatic in shifting the blame for the challenge loss to Candice rather than your own tribe members. However, your confrontation with Cristina at the beginning of the episode marked you as undiplomatic. You have to tone it down when dealing with people or they’ll get sick of you and eliminate you. Brad: I don’t think it was wise to suggest that pound for pound Aitu has a stronger tribe. It bruises the collective ego of your tribe mates for no good reason. You need to keep your vote against Jenny hidden. If the word gets out, you’re going to be hurt. You should only have voted her out if you had formed a solid new alliance where you had a stronger position. If any good came out of it, it might be that Jenny is now a natural target. Jenny: I hate to say it, but I think you put up the worst fight among all the defenders in the reward challenge. Given that your name came up twice at Tribal Council (and might have come up another time if Nate hadn’t been kidnapped), your position is looking a bit more grim. Part of the problem is the women failed to keep control of the big picture, which was maintaining your female alliance. When Nate returns, there will be three members of each gender. You’re going to need to prove yourself at a challenge or at camp, or you’re looking like a target. Be willing to shift the target to Nate if he helps Aitu win the reward challenge, or at Adam for his attitude and flirtation with Candice. Parvati: You keep making the same basic mistake of being reluctant to lie. Cristina wanted a second chance, and you simply said you didn’t know how you were going to vote. Next time, just say you’d be willing to give somebody a second chance, then vote them off anyway. All you need to do is to tell your alliance that you lied to her. Rebecca: I’m quite interested in what your vote would have been if Nate had stayed and one of the people who voted out Cristina had been kidnapped. If you had voted for Jenny, you’d been in a solid four person alliance. If you were going to vote her out, you were wise to shift back to Cristina in order to avoid the tie vote. You’re still in a good position and aren’t in the immediate sights of anybody. Your position is fairly secure right now. Cristina: What went wrong? Well, I give you credit for trying. You took advantage of the information you received at the last Tribal Council, and tried to make amends and get a second chance. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for the rest of the tribe to decide you had changed (or for somebody else to shoot themselves in the foot). Your elimination was only delayed an episode.

Survivor: Cook Islands, Episode 6’s Missing Intelligence Award – God Created the Flirt As Soon As He Made the Fool by Jeffrey Clinard -- 10/25/2006 And the Fools and the Flirts play Survivor! They all also deserve MIAs. But there can only be one winner, so who will it be? Will Cristina suffer the one-two punch of being eliminated and given an MIA? A big ol’ raspberry to those responsible for the “double boot” scenario again. That challenge was brutal, and Aitu deserved the chance to celebrate their win fully without some damnable Tribal Council hanging over their heads. If you want to boot two off, make it two off the losing tribe. And tell you what, make it a real twist. Don’t tell them! The top two vote-getters are gone, and you don’t say that until you’ve got them captive at Tribal. Throw another twist in it and allow the winning tribe (or a representative thereof) to give immunity to one person, preferably before the double boot twist is revealed. I should work for these people. Oh, speaking of! Does anyone else think that Julie might be one of the “testers” that they show significant, but never identifying, body parts of when showing us how the challenges work? I can’t think of a better way to stay with the loverboy, yet still feel productive while having fun! I also believe they should do a weird all-star version of Survivor. I may have said this before, so bear with me. Take two groups of 16, and do not let them even have a HINT of each other’s existence. Run each group like it’s a real version of Survivor, with whatever twists you want to have, until you get down to ten on each side. Here, at this almost midway point of the game, people are starting to break down more, they’re hungry, they’re mentally fatigued, etc. Then merge them into one tribe of ten on each “game” so they feel like, “Woo hoo, I made it to the merge,” and then suddenly, slap them with it! Two tribes of ten meet in the beach. This season could be a tad longer than other seasons. You could also run back-to-back immunity challenges for a while to help whittle away numbers quicker. Oh, and if you really want it to be odd, one team is comprised of new players, but one team is an all-star team. I want pay if this ever happens! All right, enough speculating and so on. On to the episode! First off, everyone’s right to start thinking about Jonathan as someone to be wary of. He appears wily, so they may want to oust him soon. Plus, there are still five left from the white tribe, and some of them seem tight. Might want to start picking them off now! Jenny stirred up some controversy on the Jenna/Dalton show this week. I hadn’t noticed the gun on her card for Cristina. I’m wondering, though, if people aren’t reading a bit much into it? Perhaps she just scribbles things that to her symbolize the person she’s voting out. A gun would make sense for Cristina because she a) made an issue over being shot, and b) is a cop. I haven’t noticed anything malicious about Jenny yet. Actually, I haven’t noticed much of anything about Jenny yet. We’ll see. Cristina? I am sure you’re a lovely person. However, the “cop thing” you complain about being a shadow over you? That’s your own fault. You make it such a part of who you are that others can’t forget it either. If you make a big deal out of something, don’t be surprised if you are either treated accordingly or judged accordingly, etc. You could have played this game differently, so don’t blame being a cop on why you couldn’t have or didn’t or whatever. Oh, and the whining over being “choked” by Jessica? Good gods. She hadn’t even seemed to barely touch you when you were whining loudly enough to draw Jeff’s attention. And then you did the same thing! Pot meet kettle, and if you dish it out, learn to take it. While I’m at it, another thing, Cristina. It’s not disrespectful for someone to joke about being able to wrestle a cop or take down a cop. To me, that’s a JOKE. You know what one is, right? Like I said above, you made being a cop an issue. So don’t be surprised when people run with it. Some people hide being a lawyer, as we’ve seen in previous seasons, because they don’t want to be associated with the negative stereotypes surrounding lawyers, so it’s not just you. You want to bet some good lawyer jokes might have been flying if people weren’t busy trying to shut Cao Boi up from telling good Asian jokes?! Plan Voodoo: very interesting concept, Cao Boi. Of course, it all depends on how tiebreakers work, which seems to be a fluid process that I’ve never quite grasped. I wish they’d lay it out clearly at the beginning of every new season what the new rules are for that. It was probably smart of Yul not to go along with it, since it would be one step closer to revealing who had the immunity idol. Not a good thing for Yul. I can’t remember where I read it, but speaking of the immunity idol, I do agree it would be highly amusing for Cao Boi and for Joanna of Amazon to be on the same team. Two spiritual people, and I bet Cao Boi could respect her spirituality, but I bet she couldn’t respect his! Not when she couldn’t handle an idol around the camp! Ah, but enough about this. We have an award to give! Might I have a drum roll please? How about a random BOING noise of stupidity? Groovy, thanks. The winner of this week’s MIA is Candice! Yes, scrappy Candice who impressed the hell out of me during the challenge wins this for making sheep’s eyes at Adam all throughout the freakin’ Tribal Council. Woman! Do you not realize that is an absolute clue that the two of you will probably pal up at a merge, and ergo, one of you should not be around at the merge?! Your tribe already suspects Parvati and Adam of sending you to Exile Island to save you. His tribe already suspects that your original tribe will all pull back together, and you’re still five strong. Not since someone’s “remember the merge” sort of comment a few seasons back that led automatically to someone’s ouster have I seen so blatant a display of companionship between opposite teams. So Candice, for inexcusable lapses in judgment during Tribal Council, this Missing Intelligence Award is for you! Keep heart in the fact that you can wrap your legs and arms around a pole like nobody’s business! Ah, the comments I could make!