Surviving the Cook Islands – A Closer Look and Some New Scenes

Survivor pulled a fast one on me last week. Silly me, I thought the “next time, on Survivor” promo at the end of the episode meant this week. Nope. This week is a recap episode that promises new scenes – 14 of them, in fact. We’ll see how well they do with that. So let’s sit back, relax, and relive the past few weeks.

We begin with an old scene that relives an older scene as the contestants are told to grab provisions and jump off their boat. And surprise, surprise – the tribes have been divided by race! We hear from a few contestants that I don’t remember hearing from before. Jessica says she’s never been separated out because of the color of her skin before. Yul says kids used to pick on him because he’s Asian, including coming around and smashing his family’s Christmas lights. Billy says being a Dominican-American means “squat” to him.

We relive Aitu’s arrival on the island and Billy trying to take the lead but being fairly clueless. At Puka, Cao Boi says he’s never fit the Asian stereotype. Sekou emerges as a natural leader at Hiki – and quickly burns out.

This leads to our first new scene – helpfully labeled “NEW SCENE” on the screen. Host Jeff Probst voices over that Sekou was not the only one lacking outdoor skills. They find a boat and he gets in – and tips! The rest of them can’t seem to help him as it happens several times over. Sundra says it’s not the color of their skin, but the fact that they’re city kids that’s a problem. And Sekou gets dunked again. One of the women says they have an excuse – their people had a really bad experience with boats some 500 years ago.

At Raro, we have another new scene involving a boat. Adam and Candice decide to go out fishing. The problem is that a storm rolls in and catches them in the water. It’s not really raining, but it’s windy enough to keep them from being able to paddle back to the island. Adam notices that the water where they are is shallow and they hop out to drag the boat to a sandbar. There they ride out the wind and cold for hours, holding on to one another for warmth. Candice is really shivering! They decide to sacrifice the boat and swim back to the island.

Parvati tells us she was initially concerned about Adam and Candice. But when she saw they were okay, she became worried about the boat – they need it to fish, for example! Whoops. It’s not made clear exactly whatever becomes of the boat. Did somebody go back to the sandbar to get it? Did they not care and the merge from four tribes to two made it moot? Your guess is as good as mine.

Switching gears to Aitu, we get a new scene of shelter-building. More importantly, we see what we’ve been told by voted-out original Aitu members in interviews. Specifically, Billy first makes a “to the end” alliance with J.P., and then goes to tell the women he wants to align with them. This is what made Billy untrustworthy.

At the first immunity challenge, Hiki comes in last. And then we get a new scene of Hiki discussing their loss. Rebecca says they learned about working together. In particular, they don’t like losing because they feel they are representing their race. In deciding on who their weakest link is, the women pick Sekou. We get a brief post-vote interview where he says Nate warned him “the sistas” would target him. He admits he didn’t know a lot, but that’s what made it an adventure.

At Puka on day 3, Yul and Becky form an alliance. A new scene shows us Cao Boi finding a nut. No, no – one you can eat, not him looking in the mirror! He tries to create a bond with Yul and suggests when there is a merge, they should keep an eye out to help each other. Yeah, we all know how well that works out!

At Aitu, Billy gets lazy and Ozzy suggests they throw the challenge. They do so and send Yul to Exile Island. Just before the tribes go back to their camps, we get to relive Billy’s supposed love connection with Candice, where she says, “We love you” in an “aw, I’m sorry you’re leaving” way, and he replies, “I love you,” in an “I want you to have my babies” way.

At Aitu’s Tribal Council on night 6, Billy and J.P. have their verbal battle. Then Billy drops the bomb: “I fell in love in this game. … Her name is Candice.” This gives us one of the best “What the hell?!” shots of Probst ever, and Billy’s tribemates absolutely crack up.

Billy, of course, gets voted out. In a post-vote interview, he says he learned a lot about himself, such as that he’s not motivated by money. The game favors those who are willing to stoop low and he’s definitely not the conniving type.

Meanwhile, Yul finds the idol on Exile Island. In a new scene, we see how he tries to hide this fact. He rips up the note about the idol and throws it into the water. Then he attaches coconut husks to the box that held the idol and floats it out to sea.

We get a few amusing new scenes of Jonathan on Exile Island searching in vain, followed by Candice doing the same. Then Adam does the same, wandering around the island and trying to figure out the clues.

On day 7, the tribes were merged into two integrated groups. At new Raro, Brad says it’s all smiles but the game still hangs over them. At new Aitu, Yul and Becky team up with Jonathan and Candice.

Back at Raro, Parvati uses her flirting to her advantage. And her itsy bitsy, teeny weeny black bikini helps too! In a new scene, we hear more about how the guys on the tribe love to watch her. Can’t say I blame ‘em! Nate describes her as “Dayum!” Adam says she’s great scenery. Parvati wants to get in tight with all of them and manipulate them. Dating game or game of survival is all the same.

The first immunity challenge with the two tribes has Aitu losing and Candice going to Exile Island. Is Becky on the chopping block? Hell no! Yul convinces Cao Boi to get rid of Cecilia. And so she goes. After being voted out, she says she tried to play the game with integrity and the other people missed out.

That night at Raro, we get a new scene of Stephannie singing “Amazing Grace” by request as the rest of the tribe just sits and listens. Even Simon Cowell couldn’t complain about that performance.