Survivor: Cook Islands – Survivor Live, Episode 8

First, my trivia question. Brad is now the second person to be named to a jury before the two tribes were united into one. Who was the first? As usual, the answer will be near the bottom of this article.

The show begins with Dalton welcoming Jenna back. She says the Model Challenge was a lot of work, but worth it, and also that she had a root canal on Monday. Dalton jokingly offers her 10 seconds to decide if she wants the chance to mutiny and jump to another Internet interview show. Feigning that she’s considering it, Jenna decides to stay put.

Brad is introduced next. He looks about the same as he did on the show, but better dressed.

Jenna says she’s never rooted for a tribe more than the underdog Aitu tribe last night. Brad jokes that he did, too. Asked if he thought about jumping to the other team, he says he thought about it briefly, but didn’t want the other five Raro members gunning for him.

They discuss the idea of the mutiny. All feel that to accept the offer is not a smart move because it makes you appear to be a back-stabbing traitor. Dalton asks about Candice’s claim that she switched tribes because the other was “more fun.” “Bull!” says Jenna, explaining that Candice just wants to be with Adam.

Dalton brings up Jonathan’s last-second decision to change teams as well. Brad calls Jonathan “a Slim Shady.” He says, “He drove me crazy. He’s a good guy, but on the island he was pretty conniving.” Everyone notes that traitor Candice seems to be getting a free pass while Jonathan is catching all the flak. Dalton says Jonathan’s playing in too obvious a fashion, but at least he’s playing the game.

Dalton observes that Nate pounces on everyone’s innocent statements and uses them to his advantage. Brad feels his line about “the individual game” was greatly overplayed and adds that Parvati played it up big as well.

The topic of the one challenge (last episode) where he chose to do the puzzle instead of swim is brought up. Brad says he was tired of losing challenges in the last step. Additionally, Rebecca stepped up and volunteered to swim, saying she had been practicing. Needless to say, it didn’t work out.

Dalton notes Adam not swimming in the subsequent challenge didn’t raise anyone’s ire. Commenting on Adam, Brad says, “He’s a decent guy in the physical challenges overall.” He also says Adam plays a decent game and adds cryptically, “We’ll see what happens next.” On Jenna’s prompting he agrees that Ozzy is a great swimmer and climber.

Chatting about the reward challenge, Jenna likes the shoving of the girls into the barrel with all the buoys. It WAS funny, especially if you consider that the challenge was amusingly entitled “Barrel of Monkeys.”

Our first caller today is Ed from Connecticut. He asks, “How did you feel when Nate called you a “Nancy-boy?” Brad says, “When I saw that I thought, God, what a jerk.” He also says, “It still kind of pisses me off to this day. But at the end of the day, it’s just a game and you have to take everything with a grain of salt.” Dalton says he hasn’t heard that one since 1975. Brad feels he would match up well against Nate in any type of challenge, including swimming.

Dalton asks if Brad was aware of Nate’s comments about him, or did he just see them on TV. Brad admits he was “blindsided completely… I didn’t see any of it coming, and it hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it on TV.” He felt his alliance consisting of Nate, Adam, Parvati and himself was tight.

Jenna sees Nate as the type who is nice to your face and nasty behind your back. Brad agrees. She calls it unnecessary to go out of your way to lead someone on, because you never know when the tables might be turned. Her suggestion is to just avoid the targeted person like everyone else does.

Dalton reminds Jenna that Brad didn’t really know what Nate was saying at the time, and that telling someone they are being booted is dangerous as well. Brad concludes the topic with, “Some things are better left unsaid, right?”

Sara of North Carolina is a Jenna fan and hopes to be on the show one day herself. She asks if the hosts would consider mutinying. They pretty much covered this in their introductory comments. Dalton says “not a chance” and Jenna agrees. She points out that the merge is imminent anyway. Also, keeping your options open is important and the mutineers will get no future support from the four remaining Aitu members. Raro is now their only real option, and we’ve seen they have little support there.

Dalton reminds us of the lesson of Cirie. It looked like she was doomed to an early eviction and was an outcast on her tribe, but things happened and she lasted until the final four. I recall a similar thing happened with Lydia in Survivor: Guatemala, though she may not have worked to save herself as much as Cirie did. Brad reiterates he thought about mutinying for a second but knew it was a bad idea.

Dalton runs the clip of the mutiny. The idea is not new to the show, but no one has ever been foolish enough to actually take the option before. I remember Shii Ann seemed to consider it in Survivor: Thailand, but saw the pitfalls and stepped back from the precipice. I like Ozzy telling the mutineers, “They’re going to get their fate, sooner or later.” Jenna says she’d have made similar comments.