Surviving the Cook Islands, the Finale: Brains vs. Brawn

The final four burn the torches while holding hands at the fire. When it’s all over, they head to the final immunity challenge. Probst tells them they will be standing on a small steel perch in the water. Each one has been individually proportioned to their foot size – so no problems like Yul described in the earlier pole-hanging challenge. Every 15 minutes, a section of the perch will be removed, making it smaller and smaller. When they are down to the last piece, it will be less than half the size of a postcard. The last person standing, of course, wins immunity.

This will put the winner in the final three. Probst continues that this is so important because for the first time ever, the final Tribal Council will include three people! Three people will take part in the final vote, three will be eligible for the million dollars. Yul has got to be thinking, “Bonus!” He has immunity no matter what. At this point, he’s only competing to help Becky.

The four go to their perches, and they’re on! Yul begins squatted down while the other three are standing. Ozzy is popping his lips to a tune only he can hear. After 15 minutes, everybody has to release the first section. Another 15 minutes pass, and the second section is released. Yul is still squatted down while the others remain standing.

Fifteen more minutes have passed, so the third piece is removed. And Becky immediately falls! Yul gets back into his squat again. Ozzy is looking shaky, but steadies himself.

Now it’s time to release the final piece. Ozzy looks like he’s about to go in… but saves himself again! Yul stays in his squat. Sundra is on one foot and the ball of her other. Wait, Ozzy looks like he’s about to go and actually takes one foot off, but he recovers again.

Probst asks Ozzy how his toes are, and he says fine. He adds that the sweat is the biggest problem for him, making his “nether regions itchy.” Sundra starts to laugh a bit and almost loses her balance!

Probst tries to engage Sundra and Yul in conversation, but doesn’t get much out of them. Yul says his toes and ankles hurt, and then tries to step up out of his squat – but loses his balance and falls in! So it’s down to Sundra and Ozzy. Becky looks depressed.

Ozzy once again looks like he’s going to lose his balance, but once again recovers nicely. We’re at the two-hour mark, meaning it’s been an hour on the smallest section of the perch. Sundra almost loses her balance but catches herself. Ozzy has a couple.

Sundra is trying to move her feet to a more comfortable position while Ozzy just looks like he’s gritting himself through the pain. Another half hour passes. Bobble after bobble, they keep catching each other – until Sundra loses it and goes into the water. Ozzy wins again!

Time for a quick bit of analysis. I think if Ozzy is smart, he will go along with Yul and Becky to vote out Sundra. Why? Because Yul and Becky are such a pair that they might split any votes that would otherwise go to one or the other.

Anyway, the four return to camp and Sundra jokingly says, “Ozzy, give a girl a chance!” Heh. He tells us he is “so pumped” about winning, and Sundra completely stunned him because he thought she would have been gone much sooner.

Sundra tells us she’s disappointed – she really thought she had it and was going to shock the jury. Yul says either Sundra or Becky will be voted off. He and Ozzy chat, with him saying if he votes for Becky, she will feel betrayed. Ozzy says it’s definitely different for him because he doesn’t have any tie to either of them. He thinks unless “something gets figured out,” it’s going to be a tiebreaker. I guess I don’t see why he would want to vote out Becky, given what I said above, but okay.

Ozzy tells us that since the mutiny, they’ve tried to be as fair and equal as possible. Therefore, the fairest thing he can think of is to cause a tiebreaker. Ah, okay, now I see. I don’t agree, but I see.

Yul talks to Becky, telling her that Ozzy recognizes how strong Sundra was and noting that Ozzy doesn’t want to be the one making the decision about who leaves. (You know, it occurs to me that Yul could use this against Ozzy in the finals. If a juror brings up that Yul made the decisions about booting them, he could say that at least he was willing to make those decisions, and then relate what happened here.) Anyway, he continues that if she wants the idol, he will give it to her. He’s willing to expose himself to that risk.

Becky tells us that the jury might think it’s bad to have a sneak attack like that, but it’s her or Sundra, so… Mind you, the sneakiest thing for her to do would be to tell Ozzy and Sundra she has the idol, and get rid of Yul, who is truly her competition at this point (since she can’t get rid of Ozzy). It’s a hard choice, and we don’t know what she decides.

Sundra asks Yul if there are going to be any surprises at Tribal Council, and he says no. She asks if Becky asked for the idol. No again – which is technically true, since he offered it to her. Yul tells us he has made so many compromises and broken so many promises, but he’s always tried to stay true to his friendship with Becky.

They arrive at Tribal Council and the jurors return. Probst says that after this vote, three of them will move on to the final Tribal Council, with the person voted out becoming the ninth and final juror. To review, Probst says Yul and Ozzy appear to be safe.