Survivor: Cook Islands – Survivor Live, Episode 3

It’s time for the third episode of the season of Survivor Live, CBS’s Internet interview show that features the most recently eliminated contestant from Survivor: Cook Islands. Hosted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly and Survivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, this week’s guest is the victim of a last-minute voting switch, Cecilia Mansilla. She looks stunning in a red dress with matching lipstick.

Let’s begin, as usual, with a trivia question. Since I’m not too inspired by all things Cecilia, I’m diving into my generic bag of questions this week. Here it is: which Survivor winner picked up the most Tribal Council votes (excluding final Tribal Council, of course) throughout their season? As usual, the answer will be near the bottom of this article.

Dalton begins the show by alluding to the tribal realignment. Both hosts figure it came way too early, and I agree. When talking with Mark Burnett pre-season, Dalton got the impression the four tribes were going to be in play longer than last season’s gender/age split. Jenna calls it “lame” that the “experiment” was abandoned so early.

Cecilia says she knew the boot was coming but was surprised that Cao Boi had flipped his vote. She feels Jonathan was so aggressive in arguing with Jessica, he just wore her down. Jenna doesn’t know why anyone trusts Jonathan. Cecilia reveals that they felt they needed to keep him because they wanted to keep strength around. Dalton thinks it odd that Cao Boi was ready to roll over on one of his original tribemates so early.

Dalton brings up last week’s thrown challenge. Cecilia says they didn’t expect Billy to stay loyal after the merge, and “he was sucking the life out of us.” She adds that the way the picking worked out, he probably would have ended up on the other tribe, and that wouldn’t have helped her position any. Well, had he been there as an option, your team could have picked him over Cao Boi…

Jenna notes that Ozzy stepped back from his former prominent role to be more of a follower. I’m surprised he didn’t work hard to save a former alliance-mate. Cecilia says that although it wasn’t shown, she was the one who decided “Princess” Becky was going to be the target. Jenna suggests it’s better to lay low and not be doing the dirty work in the early stages of the game.

The first caller today is J.P. from Illinois. No, not that J.P.! He notes Cecilia wasn’t shocked when she was voted off and asks her thoughts before, during, and after Tribal Council. Cecilia repeats she wasn’t shocked; she knew Jonathan was winning the battle for Flica’s vote. Cecilia admits she lost some of her spirit and was ready to go. She thought it was about to get ugly and she didn’t want to partake in that. “It’s all about the experience. I got what I wanted, so let me go on to something else.”

Oh, please – you deserve to be voted off. Where are the REAL Survivor players?

The clip is run of Jonathan trying to get Flica to think strategically. There’s no one home under Flica’s bandana, and I think she’s another non-player who needs to go away.

Candice’s name comes up. It’s noted that there was no coverage of her stay on Exile Island. Cecilia informs us that Candice is the smallest player on her tribe and that’s probably why the others chose her as the one to go to Exile Island.

Dalton wonders if Aitu’s non-performance in the challenge last week made other players decide that Cecilia was a weak link for challenges in general.

Jenna says it’s too early to plan a final five. I have to disagree again. Successful alliances in the Borneo, Africa, and Palau seasons were all formed in the first few episodes.

Cecilia points out that many players this season are not fans of the show and don’t have advanced strategies. No, really? She says mostly they just play week to week. Cecilia points out that Yul did all the work to save Becky. Becky did nothing to save herself.

Heidi (no, not that Heidi) in North Carolina asks Cecilia her opinion of throwing the challenge. She was definitely in favor of it. She says within 20 minutes of hitting the island, Billy was trying to form conflicting alliances and kept stressing team-negative things such as “he wasn’t Latino, he was metal.”

Dalton still hates the idea of throwing a challenge. He agrees that, had they tried, maybe they wouldn’t lose that particular challenge, but how about the next one, or the one after that? Cecilia still doesn’t admit to the possibility that they would lose any challenges in the future. After trying to advance the point twice, Dalton gives up.

Young Lindsay from California has skipped school today. She asks all three to name their favorite Survivors from other seasons. Jenna asks Cecilia if she’s seen the show - ha! Cecilia says Cirie, Dalton names Sally from last season, and Jenna names – surprise – Ethan. Jenna adds Big Tom, and Dalton names Rupert and Boston Rob, but from their initial seasons only. Jenna doesn’t care much for Rupert and adds Jerri and Rob Cesternino to her list.

Jenna notes the challenge was an exact repeat of recent one, from Palau. She adds that if Cao Boi hadn’t fallen, they might have won. I don’t know about that, but there’s no doubt he was lagging badly and that’s what hurt them. Perhaps he should have dropped out as well?

Dalton thinks they made a big tactical error by having the women all bail out so quickly. Cecilia says it was Yul who figured the other team was more physical and this was the way to play it. Cecilia thinks she could have made another lap without losing pace.