Survivor: Cook Islands, Episode 2: Questions and Questionable Behavior

It occurred to me while taking notes for this article that one of the bad things about having four tribes instead of two is that we see less of each tribe, and so there’s not always as much to go on. Of course, if all four tribes have conflict and turmoil, that means four groups to keep up with instead of two, and so far, there seems to be plenty of conflict to go around. No, every tribe doesn’t have the same amount, but some seem to have enough conflict for two tribes.

Let’s start with the Hiki, or African-American tribe. Sundra alluded to the pressure of having to represent her race, which brings us to this question: while in this game, is it fair for them to have to carry the expectations of an entire race on their shoulders? I think back to Real World: Boston, when the lone African-American contestant was a young lady named Kameelah. She said that before she left to tape the show, ladies from her church said to her, “Now you go represent us.”

But eventually, she realized she was just better off being Kameelah, and if the African-American community came out of that, so be it.

By the same token, I wonder if the Hiki tribe could enjoy this game more if they felt as if they were representing just their team instead of a whole race of people. But then, maybe that’s what happens when you divide the game up by races. Whatever the case, the Hiki tribe this week seemed to be perhaps the only tribe without too much questionable behavior.

The same can not be said regarding the Aitu, or Latino tribe. First off, was Billy’s demise really due to his culture being heavy metal and not Latino, as stated in his post-game interview with RNO ? Personally, I think he’s kidding himself if he really believes that. I don’t know that it was the culture of heavy metal that bothered the others so much as the culture of lazy.

Yes, there have been plenty of lazy players in the history of Survivor, but that only works if that’s what the majority are doing. Here, Billy was clearly outnumbered by those working, but it didn’t seem to matter. Maybe he’s right about the rest knowing more about how to do things then he did, but it could not have hurt his game to say to them, “You know more about food preparation than I do, but I’m certainly willing to learn and pitch in.”

Instead, he used the excuse of saving his energy for the challenges, a questionable strategy, at best. The irony is, some of the others saved their energy during the challenge. By the time he tried to expend energy on keeping himself in the game, it was already too late, like a football team that’s behind by five touchdowns with two minutes left in the game.

Suppose Billy had gotten his wish and been on a heavy metal tribe? That may have not made much of a difference, given his work ethic, or lack thereof, unless the others in the tribe were equally lazy.

Many of us found his sanity questionable when he made his comments regarding Candice, and love at first sight. When I heard him say that, I had to go back and check the tape. What Candice actually said was, “WE love you,” not “I” love you. Big difference there, Billy Boy. Was it really a moment of weakness, as he explained in his Early Show interview, or was that the explanation he came up with after thinking about if for three months? Only Billy knows for sure.

Here’s a question about Cristina from Billy’s now-former tribe. Is she putting her pride above the good of the tribe? She claimed that every idea had to be Ozzy’s idea, but when his idea of how to catch the chickens worked, she stomped off, unable to be happy for the tribe. Hmmmm…maybe every idea had to be her idea? In this instance, at least, her behavior was extremely questionable.

Speaking of Ozzy, at first I thought he was a bit of a know-it-all, and no one likes a know-it-all, especially one ten years younger than you. Yet, in this setting, it seems as if Ozzy really does know it all. Even Billy, who didn’t particularly like Ozzy, noted his tribemate had “an extraordinary amount of skills.” If J.P. and Cecelia can be happy his idea worked for the good of the tribe, why can’t Cristina? Could this make her the next to go?

Speaking of which, was throwing a challenge the best idea? Talk about questionable behavior! I’ve never liked this particular strategy, because that’s one less buffer between you and eviction from the game. Jeff Probst probably said it best during Pearl Islands when he stated, “Throwing a challenge is really cocky.” But in that case, at least the Drakes had a numbers advantage when they did it. The Aitu tribe enjoys no such advantage, and should they lose again, they may wish they’d kept Billy around for when they needed someone to boot.

Throwing the challenge was apparently Ozzy’s idea too, though in my opinion, not one of his better ones. Maybe because he knows so much about the environment, the others assume he also knows a few things about game strategy. But this is one decision that, despite what Ozzy thinks, can not bode well for the tribe, and may prove fatal.

Finally, how would Ozzy fare if he were in a tribe with Rob Mariano from Marquesas and All-Stars? In a way, Ozzy is the “Hunter” of his tribe, at least as far as knowing what do to in the environment. But we all saw how Rob M. made short work of the pilot. No, booting Ozzy so early wouldn’t make sense, but then, neither did booting Hunter.