Survivor: Cook Islands, Episode 13 MVP – The Wedge

Don’t you love it when you don’t have to wait a whole week to see the next episode of Survivor? Not only do we have some Probsty goodness ahead of us on Sunday, but it’s also the finale with reunion special! It’s like Christmas came early for us Survivor fans.

Parvati and Adam scored a victory in Episode 12 by getting rid of Jonathan, but realized they had more work to do. How could they drive a wedge into the lovefest that is the Aitu four?

Picking Ozzy as the one to potentially flip was a good idea. Everyone knows he’s the biggest challenge threat, which means that Yul, Becky, and Sundra might want to dump him while they still can. Becky and Sundra discussed that very option when they were alone at camp after the reward challenge. So, Parvati did her best to work her feminine wiles on Ozzy. Flirting with him while naked in the hot tub? Not bad. Laughing at his jokes while naked in the hot tub? Even better. Implying that she’d peed in the hot tub? Not so sexy.

Luckily, this wasn’t the only effort she and Adam made to sway Ozzy. The two of them asked Ozzy directly if he’d consider turning on his alliance. After all, they might well vote him out if given the chance. Ozzy seemed to consider this possibility. The trouble is, Adam and Parvati couldn’t really offer him much. They didn’t have the numbers to straight up get rid of Sundra – at best, there would have been a tie-breaker between Sundra and Parvati. If it’s a fire making challenge like we saw last season, Parvati wouldn’t have had much chance of winning.

If Ozzy had tried and failed to turn on his alliance, the consequences would be pretty dire. Not only would his treachery be exposed, but it would kind of blow the kind of game he’s been playing. Right now, Ozzy can stand in front of the jury and tell them that he played straight up. He never lied to anyone, and stayed in the game by playing hard and staying loyal. That’s a great argument to present. If he were disloyal at this point, he’d have to overcome that in talking to the jury. So, despite Parvati and Adam’s best efforts to drive a wedge into the Aitu alliance, they failed and Parvati went home.

The person who did drive a wedge into other people’s plans was, of course, Yul. He managed to be a third party at the spa, keeping Parvati from really getting her claws into Ozzy. Then at camp, when Adam and Parvati were working over Ozzy, Yul actually marched right into the tent and told Adam to stop trying to change Ozzy’s vote!

It was more than a little bit unreasonable for Yul to tell Adam not to change Ozzy’s mind. After all, Adam has the same right to try to win the game as Yul does. But what matters is not that Yul put things a bit awkwardly; what is more important is that he managed to derail Adam and Parvati’s attempts to change the vote. He was able to drive a wedge into their plans, and for that, Yul is this week’s Most Valuable Player.

I may have just given Yul another trophy to add to his shelf, but I’m not quite done talking about what happened on last night’s show. Yul’s leaving Jonathan’s hat in the jury box became a major source of discussion at tribal council. Was Yul just trying to curry favor with someone who he had a hand in voting out? Yul answered honestly: on one hand, he was doing something nice for Jonathan, but on the other, if it made Jonathan feel better about him, then so much the better.

I’m not sure how Jonathan feels about Yul right now. If Yul has to face Jonathan in the final tribal council, then I guess we’ll find out. Maybe Jonathan will be resentful because he helped the Aitus stay in the game, only to be voted out after he served his purpose. Or maybe (and I think this is more likely knowing Jonathan), he’ll respect his game play.

Either way, I wish the hat issue didn’t enter into it at all. Yul left the hat in Jonathan’s space. He didn’t do it in front of Jonathan, nor did he leave a note saying, “From Yul” on it. Furthermore, it really wasn’t all about Yul doing a nice thing, as no one else on the tribe had a problem with Jonathan getting his hat back. Had Jeff not said anything, Jonathan would have just enjoyed his hat from an anonymous benefactor. Did he really have to say who the hat was from?

The jury is supposed to be at tribal council just to observe, but this year we’ve seen an awful lot of interaction between them and the players. Nate has made huge reactions to things said at tribal council, making it perfectly clear to the other players how he felt about the proceedings. And after Jonathan was voted out, Candice mouthed, “Good job” to Adam. Then, most recently, Yul left was could be considered a bribe for Jonathan. I’d really rather not see any interaction between the players and jurors at all until the final tribal council. Jonathan could have waited to get his hat back, and Nate and Candice should keep their opinions to themselves. It seems to bias the proceedings in a way I’d rather not see.

We’ll find out in just a few days if it’s made any difference, as our Survivors battle it out for the million bucks. I’ll be glued to the TV!

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She can be reached with any feedback at Betsywasser@Gmail.com.

Reality News Online will be chock-full of Survivor articles between now and the finale. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles:

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