Surviving the Cook Islands, Episode 4: Zen Fire Master

Stephannie tells Cristina she hates that she said that – join the club! Stephannie says she was thinking they were family and she could share her honest feelings. Hello? You do know you’re on Survivor, right? Cristina tells her the others saw it as a form of weakness. Stephannie realizes she set herself up, but she tells us she’s not giving up.

Jenny joins the two and says there is a way to save Stephannie – if the women band together. They are ready to jump in, especially when they hear Rebecca is game. Cristina advocates booting J.P. because he knows how to play everybody and she doesn’t trust him.

But what about Parvati? Cristina is afraid she’ll tell Nate and Nate will tell the other guys. Jenny hops up to grab Parvati and bring her up to speed. She tells Parvati they’re switching the game up and voting out J.P. Parvati says she doesn’t know if that’s a good idea. Um, why not?

Jenny tells Parvati they have to stick to the numbers and explains how Stephannie just had a momentary lapse of reason. “It’s all on you,” she says, but Parvati just doesn’t know if it’s in their best interest and wants to think about it. I’m betting the translation of that is: “I want to talk to Nate.”

But, as Obi Wan once said, “there is another.” Brad comes walking down the beach and joins the three women. Stephannie tells him, “I need you.” They bring him up to speed. Jenny tells us she doesn’t completely trust him and she hopes he does what’s best for the tribe and not just what’s best for him. Can somebody please clue Jenny in that Survivor is an individual game and only has one winner? Thanks.

Raro arrives at Tribal Council and Probst starts the questioning. How is Nate feeling in the game? He says they’re all still feeling the water – he isn’t breaking out of his shell yet because it could bite him in the butt. If you’re too assertive in the beginning, the rest of them will eat you up.

Jenny is asked if there is a leader on the tribe. Not really, she says. What does that mean? He presses her and she says J.P. likes to take command. J.P. says he has no problem with her saying that – he doesn’t tell people what they have to do. In fact, there are times, he says, when he goes to take a nap! Really? Nobody had noticed. Snort. He continues that he gives suggestions but doesn’t tell people how or when.

Why was it Rebecca, Jenny, and Stephannie lighting the fire? Rebecca says they were all confident – they have started fire on a daily basis. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t get the right spark.

Stephannie is asked if it would be right to vote one of the three of them off just because they couldn’t get it done? She says no, it could have been any of them. To vote somebody off, you should consider the big picture.

J.P. nods along with Stephannie and Probst asks if that means he agrees. Yes! He says he admits he got his butt kicked in the swimming portion, but that’s not a reason to vote him off. (No, it’s not – there are so many other reasons!) So he agrees 100%.

Brad is asked if there is a philosophy he brings to the game, and he responds that trust is everything to him. He goes with his gut, which is right 95% of the time. Does Parvati trust everyone in the tribe? For the most part. How about Stephannie? No, this is a game, but she does feel comfortable enough to share certain things.

When Rebecca goes back to camp, will she be able to easily let this vote go? Not easily, but she knows they have to move forward. J.P. says it will probably be his hardest vote. Hey, he might not know the half of it.

With that, it’s time to vote. Rebecca votes for J.P., saying she’s sorry but it’s either him or her. J.P. returns the favor. Cristina votes for J.P., saying none of them want to be played. Nate votes for Stephannie, saying, “Your wish is my command.”

Probst tallies and reads the votes: Stephannie, J.P., Stephannie, J.P., J.P., J.P., and… J.P.! He says, “Wow.” And continues, “Holy crap… you guys outwitted me big-time.” With that, his torch is snuffed and he says, “That was pretty good,” before walking off.

Probst says they just voted out somebody who appeared to be one of the strongest members of the tribe, and he obviously did not see it coming. He’s hoping this means they have a plan on how to get the tribe working together and winning challenges.

In his last words, J.P. repeats his “Wow.” He says he never saw it coming. It takes more than being physically strong and mentally tough – you have to watch your back. He says there are no hard feelings, that’s the way the game is played. And man, they really pulled one over on him! You just can’t trust anyone in this game.

In looking at the votes, not only did the women pull in Brad and Parvati, but Adam too! Ironically, they were afraid Nate would be the problem, but instead he was the only one apparently left out of the loop with J.P.

Next time: Cao Boi fumes over the women’s work ethic and says they should be eliminated. Raro gets unexpected company – apparently somebody from Aitu. All in all, a pretty meaningless preview. But I’ll be right back here when the episode airs, and I hope you’ll join me again.

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