Survivor: Cook Islands – Survivor Live, Episode 5

It’s time for the fifth 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. Hosted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly and Survivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, this week’s guest is potato-lover Stephannie Favor.

This week’s trivia question is this: This season, only one contestant has received votes at more than one Tribal Council. Who? As usual, the answer will be near the bottom of this article.

Both hosts liked the show Thursday night, including both challenges. Jenna liked the Nate-Adam man-love from the reward challenge (called “Never Tear Us Apart”) and calls the conclusion of the immunity challenge (called “United We Stand”) as “like a clown car!”

Dalton asks the obvious question, about the mashed potatoes thing and Stephannie perhaps giving signals indicating she wanted to quit the game. Did she, or didn’t she?

Stephannie says, “It’s all overrated. It’s edited to look a certain way. Last week’s comment was taken out of context. I did say that I thought I was the weakest link, and I explained why. But I said that to Nate, not the entire tribe.” Stephannie now realizes she talked too much to Nate. She says, “I internalized (that defeat), then vocalized it. That planted the seed.”

Turning her attention to this week’s faux pas, Stephannie continues, “We all talked about the food we crave.” Nate took that one line and spread it through the tribe. She was honestly surprised when Parvati came to her and asked if she wanted to go home.

Jenna points out that Parvati seemed to be supportive of Stephannie and asks if Stephannie was secretly bonded with her. Stephannie says she was not. She says the whole tribe got along well together and adds, “I had no special cliques with anyone, I just stayed really neutral.”

Jenna doesn’t understand why last week, they got rid of J.P. for being annoyingly bossy and yet this week, equally annoying Cristina was retained. Stephannie says she was very disappointed to be voted out. She thought it was going to be Cristina to go. She was “very disappointed” to see her name keep coming up, even more so now that she knows she got all seven votes.

Dalton tells us Stephannie is a fan of the show and had tried out several times before to become a contestant. He asks her how soon it dawned on her that she made a mistake. “Instantly!”

Stephannie is pretty sure no one was going to beat Cao Boi in a fire-building challenge, because he builds fires every day. She also says that being the oldest on her tribe didn’t help her any, either.

Jenna and Dalton agree that talk of food is a Survivor norm, there’s nothing unusual about it at all. Jenna recalls Jerri Manthey on All-Stars talked about food so much, she made them all hungry.

Stephannie’s disappointment with Nate comes up next. Jenna asks if she felt he back-stabbed her, and she does, “He kind of set me up, basically.” She relates Nate often said, “I got Hiki love for my sisters.” (“Hiki” is the common short name for the Manihiki tribe, Stephannie’s original tribe). Stephannie felt the same toward him and still doesn’t know why he turned on her. She is disappointed he voted against her two weeks in a row.

The clip is run showing Stephannie making the “mashed potatoes and gravy” comment to Nate, him spreading it around, and the subsequent discussions. Dalton notes that ethnic bonds have not been strong this season. Two weeks ago, Cao Boi almost flipped on Becky, then Cristina was the one to put J.P.’s name forward, and now Nate orchestrating Stephannie’s ouster. Stephannie agrees, saying, “It all boils down to what Jeff (Probst) said… who you like and who can you get along with.”

Stephannie calls the race issue “over-rated and nice hype. But that’s not what this game is all about.”

Jenna doesn’t understand the logic voting out your close allies. Stephannie feels their original tribe didn’t use their numerical superiority on the new Raro tribe, and that was an advantage that turned into a lost opportunity.

Brett in North Carolina wonders why Cristina doesn’t fit in with the tribe and asks if that was editing. It’s apparent Stephannie doesn’t want to speak ill of anyone. The Tribal Council comments were “somewhat accurate, but innocent. It’s just her personality.” Jenna notes that when you get comfortable in your tribe, you relax and then your true nature comes through. In the game, everything is heightened and can send you home.

Both hosts feel like Raro has started a major losing streak. On the other tribe, the Aitus work together better. Stephannie agrees, but isn’t sure why that is. Jenna suggests it’s a communication problem, and that no one wants to be the boss.

Raymond in Miami revisits the question of Nate’s loyalty. Stephannie reiterates that they ought to have had a tighter bond, but she might have misinterpreted, or maybe he had another agenda. She says she doesn’t fault him or blame him, he’s just playing a different game. She confided more than she might have to him, and she may have been too trusting and probably let her guard down around him.

Dalton remembers that pre-show, the bugs were a big issue for Stephannie. It turns out the bugs were worse there than in the game! He wonders if the elements were a factor for her in the game. No, it was not the elements that got to her. She missed her family a lot and had to force herself to stay focused on the game. In what she calls “her down time,” she thought about her family a lot. She thinks some of the others may have interpreted that as “being checked out of the game.”

Jenna offers some more Amazon background. She says that Deanna didn’t like to talk about family, but she and Heidi did. Ethan also didn’t like to talk about family during the game. Stephannie agrees, and adds that Jenny didn’t want to talk family either. Dalton admits if he got one of those videos or letters from home, he’d lose it.

Stephannie says when it was a challenge she was totally into the game. Other times, like time around camp, she considered those were “down times,” and when she thought about her family she felt “encouraged and supported.” Myself, I’m unsure if how successful this approach can be. Winners and high finishers usually insist they had to be playing the game “24/7.”