SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA - FANS VS. FAVORITES

Little Ol Me | 01/29/2008 | Cuz It Aint Their Money

[JillValentine]

Well, Steph and Rafe always seemed to be picked by others for rewards. Lydia and Danni never got to go unless they earned it on their own.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Greetings all, its time once again for your:

SURVIVOR RECAP!

The Airai Tribe: Orange Buffs
Alexis, Chet, Erik, Jason, Joel, Kathy, Natalie, Tracy

The Malakal Tribe: Purple Buffs
Amanda, Ami, Cirie, Eliza, James, Jonathon, Ozzy, Parvati

The Losers:
Jonny Jackass, Mary, Yau-Man, Mikey B.

WRITER'S BLOCK: MIKEY B. VOTED OUT

After being annihilated by the Favorites in both the Reward and Immunity Challenges, the Fans once again found themselves at Tribal Council on Day 11. Joel, the mastermind of the Mary blindside, faced a difficult decision—risk losing future challenges by voting out Mikey, a strong competitor but a major threat to his game, or strengthen the tribe in challenges by getting rid of Chet, a physically weak player who poses little threat to him.

In the end, Joel opted to protect his individual game, and the suave Mikey Bortone, a 34-year-old aspiring writer from Los Angeles, California, was cut loose by his tribe when they voted him out 6 votes to 3. Disappointed, Mikey leaves us with his final words: "I'm not surprised it's me, no, because I'm playing with a bunch of weak players who listen to Joel. Don't trust Joel, he's gonna stab you in the back. I guess I came out too strong. I was never lazy, I always did what I could to help the tribe, so yeah, they're gonna miss me. No doubt."

A Broken Tribe
After a dramatic Tribal Council where the Favorites' alliances were shattered, Jonathan confronts Cirie about betraying their alliance of five with himself, Cirie, Ami, Eliza, and Yau-Man. They duke it out; Cirie telling Jonathan she doesn’t want to hear his complaining, and Jonathan calling Cirie's betrayal 'disgusting'. Refusing to discuss the matter any further, Cirie, very simply, breaks the situation down for Jonathan: "You know that I broke your alliance. I don't trust you. You don't trust me. Everybody knows it. Done!" Frustrated with Cirie and disappointed with his broken alliance, Jonathan faces a major problem: the numbers are no longer in his favor.

Pick It Up or Go Home
The Fans, up early at the Airai beach, scurry about their daily tasks. Jason even catches an eel for the hungry tribe, hacking at it in the water with a machete. When Chet makes no effort to help around camp, his tribe mates take notice. "I don't feel like Chet really wants to help out and carry his weight," explains Natalie. "How do you not say: 'Dude, pick it up or go home.'" Fed up with Chet's laziness, Mikey threatens to vote him out if they end up at Tribal Council. "He's a physical and mental liability and he’s horrible for morale around camp. Chet is gone."

A Sickly Target
At Malakal, Eliza comes down with a vicious case of tonsillitis. Seeing how sick and weak she is, Ozzy and James regret voting out Yau-Man instead of Eliza, and tell her so point blank. Eliza snaps back at them, "Even being slightly sick, I'm still gonna do better at whatever challenge we have today than Yau-Man would have." To which James retorts, "You're sick and you got attitude?" Annoyed with her tribe's lack of empathy, Eliza begins to worry about her place in the tribe. "I feel like I'm probably the next to go if we lose another Immunity Challenge because my tribe thinks I'm weak, and being sick probably doesn’t help that."

Reward Challenge: Diver Down
The Fans and Favorites arrive at the Reward Challenge where Jeff Probst explains the rules. Four tribe members will swim out to a floating platform and dive down to a 30-foot long steel cage submerged in the water. They must retrieve from the cage ten tribe-colored coconuts with letters on them. Pushing the coconuts the length of the cage through an opening at the end, tribes must retrieve the coconuts one-by-one and place them in a wooden bin floating above the cage. After all 10 coconuts are in the bin, they must swim the loaded bin back to shore where the four remaining tribe members will use the letters on the coconuts to unscramble a ten-letter word. First tribe to unscramble the word wins 3 egg-laying hens and a rooster. In addition, the winning tribe will send a member from both tribes to Exile Island.

The tribes race out to the floating platform where Ozzy and Jason dive into the water first. Jason quickly retrieves an Airai coconut from the cage while Ozzy takes his time underwater, moving his tribe's coconuts to the front of the cage for faster removal later. His strategy pays off for the Favorites as they dive into the water to the awaiting group of coconuts Ozzy left them, quickly outpacing the Fans. Ozzy drops the tenth and final coconut for the Favorites into their bin, and they begin swimming the loaded bin back to shore. The Fans struggle to catch up, gathering their remaining coconuts from the underwater cage. Amanda, Eliza and Cirie shuffle the Favorites' lettered coconuts trying to unscramble the word when James surprises himself, blurting out, "Could it be Triumphant?" Rearranging the coconuts, the ten-letter word indeed is 'Triumphant' and the Favorites win Reward. For the third time in a row, the Favorites opt to send a distraught Kathy to Exile Island, with Ozzy to accompany her.

Empty Handed
The Fans, who have yet to win a reward challenge, return to camp bummed about losing the chickens and jealous of the Favorites’ prosperity. "Malakal has won every reward challenge," laments Joel. "They're living a life of luxury out here compared to what we've got, which is jack-squat." Alexis and Mikey are amazed by Ozzy's swimming abilities as Erik worries about Kathy on Exile Island."Kathy's a weak person," says Erik. "I'm pretty confident she's not looking for that Idol right now. I'm pretty confident she’s curled up in the fetal position just trying to stay alive."

A Discovery and A Ruse
Forever the fan, Kathy gushes to Ozzy how excited she is to have him at Exile Island with her. "I love meeting the Favorites, I wish I was on their tribe," she exclaims. As Kathy works on making a fire, Ozzy pretends to go "get some clams" but races through the four clues trying to find the Hidden Immunity Idol before the sun sets. "There's a lot of guys out there that want to beat me," he confides. "It's really key that I find the idol." Following the fourth clue to a large rock above his Exile camp, Ozzy rolls the stone over and unearths the Hidden Immunity Idol. "I found the idol!" the ecstatic Ozzy whispers excitedly so as not to alert Kathy. "I found the idol! I FOUND THE IDOL!"

Taking a moment to compose himself, Ozzy stashes the Idol first in his hat, then transfers it into his bag right under Kathy's nose. Taking a page from former tribemate Yau-Man's book, Ozzy carves a fake Immunity Idol from driftwood and hides it where he found the original Idol. He prays, "God I hope someone finds it and tries to play it." Save Yourself

At Malakal, Eliza fears her days may be numbered and she scrambles. Attempting to deflect the target onto Jonathan instead of her, Eliza offers Parvati her allegiance while pointing out Jonathan's likeliness to flip on them without hesitation. "Eliza's just trying to stay in the game," shrugs Parvati. "She's like throwing [Jonathan] under the bus, and I'd say if we went to Tribal tonight Eliza would be going home. So yeah, she should be saying anything she can to save herself right now." Jonathan comes upon them walking in the woods and overhears part of the conversation between the girls. He takes pity on Eliza: "It's so painful to watch someone on the outside who's trying to get back on the inside. I feel sorry for her."

Immunity Challenge: Crosswalk
The tribes arrive at the Challenge where Kathy and Ozzy return from Exile Island and rejoin their respective tribes. Jeff Probst explains the rules to the Immunity Challenge. Tribes will race to open six locks releasing a large six-point sliding hub. Harnessing themselves into the hub, tribes will maneuver through a large obstacle course by shifting, sliding, and adjusting each other in their hub. Along the way they will collect six tribal bead necklaces. Once all six necklaces are collected, the remaining two tribe members will match up the colored beads on the necklace with the corresponding letters on a decoding wheel to spell a three-word phrase. First tribe to decipher the phrase wins Immunity.

On "Go," the Fans immediately have trouble unlocking their locks, unable to release their hub from the starting block and giving the Favorites a dangerous lead. Easily opening the six locks and strapping themselves into their hub, the Favorites quickly discover how to maneuver through the obstacle course, collecting their necklaces. The Favorites gather four of their six necklaces as the Fans finally unlock their hub, strap into their harnesses and start out onto the obstacle course frantically trying to catch up. The Favorites snatch up the last two necklaces, handing them off to Eliza and Cirie, who begin to decode the phrase. Collecting their third necklace on the course, the Fans watch horrified as the massive lead the Favorites gained in the beginning of the challenge pays off. Eliza and Cirie decipher the three-letter phrase: "Tribe Stays Intact," winning Immunity and sending the Fans to Tribal Council for the second time.

Pros and Cons
The defeated Fans return to the Airai camp facing Tribal Council. Joel is pulled in two directions. First, Mikey corners him, offering to bury the hatchet – after Joel blindsided Mikey by taking out Mary – if Joel will help vote out Chet. "My mind is spinning with the fact that he’s still here," complains Mikey to Joel. "[Chet] is the weakest. If we get rid of him, that will make me feel secure about your position to me." Sick of losing challenges, Joel agrees to vote with Mikey for Chet, until Tracy approaches him with a different plan. Worried that she, Chet, and Kathy will be systematically voted out, Tracy tries to get Joel to vote against Mikey instead. Using the three votes of Chet, Kathy and herself as leverage, Tracy bargains with Joel, "There's nine people here. All you need is one person and we can take Mikey down." Joel at first is reluctant to lose Mikey's strength in challenges, leading a frustrated Tracy to berate him for letting Mikey call the shots. "Mikey's going to take you down the next chance he gets because of what you did to Mary, okay?" warns Tracy. "So this is his next chance. Beware of that." Joel takes this in, weighing the two arguments presented to him. He tells Tracy, "We'll see. Tonight will be interesting."

Tribal Council
At Tribal Council,the importance of keeping the Airai tribe physically strong comes into question. Jason senses that Mikey, his close friend and ally in the game, is in trouble and moments before the vote, makes an impassioned plea to his tribe, begging them to focus on preserving the strength of Airai. "I need to emphasize the importance of tonight’s vote in determining our future as a tribe," Jason lobbies. "We have lost 4 of 6 challenges! So, take a moment to really think about how important it is who we keep on the island and who we let go." In the end, Tracy’s hard bargaining skills pay off. The tribe casts their votes sending Mikey home 6 votes to 3, he becomes the fourth person voted out of SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA -- FANS VS FAVORITES.

I’ll be back Thursday morning with this weeks picks. So till then,
Take care,

FReepmail me if you want added to (or removed from) the Survivor Ping List.

[mtbopfuyn]

Joel opted to protect his individual game

What an idiot. Now is not the time to think individual games, now is the time win tribal immunities or you will be sent packing. Chet was the obvious boot from day one.

[PeteB570]

Ol Tracy appears to be a sharp cookie but it looks like there is a shake up in the two tribes this week.

Chet or Chatty Kathy gets the boot?

[mtbopfuyn]

The Losers: Jonny Jackass

That sure does look nice!

[Right Cal Gal]

What is REALLY becoming interesting cuz, is that Ozzy’s finding of the immunity idol indicates that the generally reliable spoiler sites have been completely and utterly WRONG in this and in the boot order. Maybe Burnett’s finally found a way to keep it a secret. Sucks, True Dork Times, even Acme Brain Trust aren’t getting it right.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Sucks, True Dork Times, even Acme Brain Trust aren’t getting it right.

Don't look now, but True Dork Times has quit updating their website since before the very first episode. And Acme Brain Trust has been a "agree with what everybody else is saying" for so long, I doubt they are capable of an original thought even if they tried. And lets face it, Sucks just plain sucks.

[Right Cal Gal]

And yet, cuz, remember when for spoilers, those three were the gold standard? People seem to look at Survivor Fever, but they got Mikey B’s boot wrong! Sucks isn’t even doing it’s customary Thursday “Across the Board” picks this time for some reason.

I think reality shows are taking their toll on me - Other than Tracy, who has more backbone than her entire tribe - I gotta give her credit - she played Joel like a Stradivarius - and color me surprised when her gambit worked, because I would have bet anything that it wouldn’t. The fan tribe is now 5-3 rather than 7-1, which is what they should be. I’m thinking Joel is conceited enough to take out another strong player, thinking it helps him be “heap big tough guy” at the merge, only to find the fan tribe pagonged.

[girlscout]

I vote Chet, but I guess that depends on how bad Jonathan’s knee/leg injury is. Did I hear Eliza say he might loose his leg?

[JillValentine]

I looked at Survivor Fever to get Yau-Man’s boot. If I’d been doing it this week and looked there again, I sure would have looked dumb! LOL.

[I Drive Too Fast]

"IF" you really want to know who gets booted, go to survivorfever.net. They will list who is safe in the episode and who is vulnerable (which could be several players). Last week they listed Mikey B. as most vulnerable. They are 100% accurate so far and they tend to get their spoiler info from several websites. True Dork Times is known for not being too accurate.

I can send you this weeks boot or a hint of who goes if you want by freepmail. Let me know if you want the info.

I have seen several different final 3 lists. There was a very early list which a bunch of wrong spoiler boot info on it, but it was funny to read.

[I Drive Too Fast]

boot list spoiler

They had Yau Man go the week he went when I looked. Let's see if they are right this week. The bootee they list will be one of the fans who gets sent over to the faves in the tribal shakeup.

[I Drive Too Fast]

People seem to look at Survivor Fever, but they got Mikey B’s boot wrong!

I looked at their boot info before last weeks episode and they had Mikey B as "most vulnerable in episode 4". They also list others who are slightly vulnerable and who is safe.

[Right Cal Gal]

Sucks is relying most on SurvivorFever as well, it would seem. Original boot spoilers had Parvati going 4th and she didn’t. SurvivorFever seems to be updating their bootlist page as new information is received, etc., including video clues from CBS.

At this point, I can take anything but a Parvati or a Joel win. Of all the faves, mine are Jonathan and Cirie, although both have been a bit of a disappointment to me with their snottiness to each other this early in the game. I wonder if the “Fans” remember that once you’ve merged, the trick is to get rid of the strong people (to keep them away from an immunity run) and the nice people (because the jury will vote for them every time), which is what made Cirie such a threat when they hit Final 4 in her season. People liked her, she strategized while flying under the radar in many ways, etc.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

TONIGHT 8:00 PM (EST)

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen, its Thursday, and that means its time once again for your:
SURVIVOR PING!

The Airai Tribe: Orange Buffs
Alexis, Chet, Erik, Jason, Joel, Kathy, Natalie, Tracy

The Malakal Tribe: Purple Buffs
Amanda, Ami, Cirie, Eliza, James, Jonathon, Ozzy, Parvati

The Losers:
Jonny Jackass, Mary, Yau-Man. Mikey B.

The title for tonight’s episode is “He's a Ball of Goo!”

From the website:
After an epic battle between tribes of Fans and Favorites, the tribes are finally mixed up. Will old tribal lines stick, or will former enemies now try to work together?

And from a SeeBS press releases:
After an intense reward challenge, several castmates return to camp with injuries, and one proves serious enough to threaten the fate of the castaway's future in the game. Also, one woman catches a shark that provides a feast for her tribe. At tribal council, one person is voted out of the game.

Now for those who don’t want to have tonight’s episode spoiled then hit your back button now.

Otherwise, start highlighting at the - - > below:

- - > First off, lets start with the tribal switch-up. The sharp eyes at Survivor Phoenix have determined that each tribe will draw stones from a bag. The one member of each tribe to pick the odd stone will be designated the Team Captain for that tribe. Ozzy is the captain for the Malakal tribe and Natalie is the captain for the Airai Tribe. This is followed by a typical “School Yard type pick-em.” After all is said and done, the new tribes are:

The New Airai Tribe: Alexis, Eliza, James, Jason, Jonathan, Kathy, Natalie, Parvati
The New Malakal Tribe: Amanda, Ami, Chet, Cirie, Erik, Joel, Ozzy, Tracy

To further confuse and confound the players, they will then have to participate in a brutal Reward Challenge with their new tribes. The title of this Reward Challenge is “Cat and Mouse”. The tribes are split up into same-sex pairs. These pairs are tethered together by a length of rope. Each pair will also carry a tribal flag somewhere on their persons. The object of the Challenge is to negotiate an obstacle type course while tethered together, capture the opposing tribes flag while protecting your own flag at the same time. Vidcaps show us a few of the pairings: James & Jason; Eliza & Parvati, Joel & Chet, Ozzy & Erik. These same Vidcaps emphasize the struggle of Joel & Chet, to the point that Joel seems to be dragging Chet around the course most of the time. Even so, I’m gonna say that the New Malakal Tribe wins this Challenge.

Next we are also shown vidcaps of Jonathan’s knee with a particularly nasty looking gash in it. The medics are called in and they drain fluid from his knee with a syringe. Does this force Jonathan from the game for medical reasons? I doubt it. I think its more about showing the presence of the Medical Team and how they play a more important role in later episodes. Anyway, Jonathan is safe for this episode at least.

The only thing we are shown about the Immunity Challenge is players throwing stones. And that the title of this challenge is “A Stone's Throw”. Not much else to go on here, other than all the spoiler sites are saying that Joel is voted out at Tribal Council. If this is the case then the New Airai Tribe must win this IC and send the New Malakal tribe to tribal council.

So how does Joel end up getting the boot? Keep in mind the New Malakel tribe consists of Ozzy, Amanda, Cirie and Ami from the original Favorites tribe. Ozzy, Amanda and Cirie were an alliance and Ami will probably go along with them, just to stay in the game. Now look at the other half of the tribe. Chet, Erik, Joel and Tracy. Joel and Erik will probably have had enough of Chet by this time, and Tracy being the schemer that she is, will try to protect Chet again by throwing in with the original Favorites. Ozzy sees Joel at the biggest threat, so Ozzy, Amanda, Cirie, Ami, Chet and Tracy all vote to boot Joel. Say bye-bye Joel.

Well, there you have it:
CUZ’S WEEKLY SURVIVOR PICKS!

- - >
Reward Challenge: New Malakel
Immunity Challenge: New Airai
Removed from the game: Joel

I’ll be back Monday morning with a recap. So till then,
Take care,

FReepmail me if you want added to (or removed from) the Survivor Ping List.

[PeteB570]

Looks like a good night to get comfy in front of the TV.

I can agree with your assesment of the situation.

[I Drive Too Fast]

Tonight’s tribal coucil should be fun. I can’t wait to see the expression on the “bootee’s” face tonight.

[kmiller1k]

Thanks for making Thursday night TV so much more enjoyable!

[Tatze]

Ozzy is damn lucky he ended up back on the same beach, unless he brought the idol with him to the reward challenge.

And they better wake up soon to the threat that Cirie is. She needs to go. Of course, so does Chet. Penner might be a medical removal next week.

[EveningStar]

Just started here on the West Coast. :)