Survivor: Cook Islands – Survivor Live, Episode 14

Following the final exciting episode of the season of Survivor: Cook Islands is the penultimate episode of CBS’s Internet interview show, Survivor Live. Co-hosted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly and Survivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca, it features interviews with recently eliminated contestants.

This episode features the four runners-up – genial doofus Adam Gentry, firewomen Sundra Oakley and Becky Lee, and challenge master Ozzy Lusth. In that order, each will be available for about a fifteen-minute conference call.

Why most of the primary players in the game get this minimalist treatment is beyond me.

Dalton starts things off by bragging a little that his pre-season choice won the game. I did OK myself, but I missed the big one at the end by a mile. Dalton says it could have been even closer if Becky had gotten a vote, and Jenna replies, “I had forgotten Becky was even in the final three.” Dalton replies, “You may not be the only one.” Nice.

Jenna says the reunion show was boring. Dalton says that may be because all three finalists were well-liked and respected, so there was no one to dump on. For me, it’s because almost every question was a repeat of something I’ve typed into one of the articles from this series!

Adam is brought up first. We hear his voice and see a stock picture of Adam. He knows Jenna has given him hell every week.

Dalton says that Adam was portrayed as “laid back and goofy, but always with a smile on his face,” yet he did well in the tough final challenge, and earlier he won the math challenge and showed well in one other puzzle. Adam jokes, “Dalton, what does smiling a lot have to do with not being able to do puzzles?” He adds, “I just like to have a good time and be happy.”

Dalton queries Adam about giving Yul his vote for eliminating Jonathan before himself. Adam says he felt Yul was indeed the ringleader and was the most deserving of winning the million. However, had that not happened, he would have voted for Ozzy. Adam kept his word to Yul.

Jenna asks Adam if Yul was really the better player, if he were so willing to switch his vote. Adam says it was a toss-up between the two, and that both were deserving winners. Then he reiterates that he wanted to keep his word. He admits that when Ozzy kept winning challenges, he would have voted for Ozzy had he not already given his word to Yul. Jenna notes Parvati didn’t keep her word, and Adam says she wasn’t really part of that promise.

The first caller is Elaine from South Carolina. She asks for a Blast game, but they don’t have them today. Her question is, what did Raro lack that they couldn’t do better in the challenges? Adam says Ozzy was by far the best competitor, and although he didn’t win them all alone, he was a big factor. He adds that Raro was overconfident when they had the numerical advantage.

Dalton asks Adam about his plan to force Yul to use the hidden idol. I thought this was very smart play on Adam’s part. He asks, if Adam was surprised they didn’t go along with it, and Adam says, “Not really.” Dalton adds that if it had happened, Ozzy probably would have won the million. Adam says that Ozzy’s mentality was just to win individual challenges. He says Ozzy didn’t want to hear a lot of strategic talk, and also the Aitu group was really tight.

Jenna asks if Becky and Sundra were playing for second place. Adam asks, what else could they have done? He likes them, but Adam is sure they weren’t going to win anyway. I must agree.

Doug from Wisconsin asks Adam what was his biggest mistake. He quickly responds, “Voting off Jenny.” Adam takes responsibility for the error; he didn’t see the possibility that Jonathan would try and flop back into a tight, loyal group like the Aitu four. He is sure Jenny would not have flopped at the merge. It’s true; she told us this in her own Survivor: Live interview.

That’s it for Adam and the first segment.

Segment two features Sundra and Becky. It begins with a “Probst’s Thoughts” feature, where a message is played that Jeff Probst previously recorded about the departing players. Jeff remembers Sundra smiles on even the darkest days.

Again, we will only see a stock photo of Sundra and hear her voice.

Dalton asks Sundra to compare the game to being in an on-screen catfight with Kim Catrall. Although “pulling Kim’s hair was up there on my life experiences,” being on Survivor “takes the cake. There’s nothing like it at all!”

Jenna says Sundra cleaned up better than any previous Survivor. I gotta agree!

Dalton calls Sundra “The True Survivor.” She was at the bottom of the pecking order on a weak tribe from the second episode onward, and she kept improving her position. In this respect I see her as similar to another city-girl from last season, Cirie.

Sundra admits she didn’t know a lot about the game beforehand, but decided she would keep her eyes open and work hard. She knows she had the opportunities to make wrong moves, but she avoided the lure. She also says, “I never put on a front for anybody,” and she is quite proud of herself.

Jenna asks, “Especially maybe for you and Becky, was there a point where you said, okay, there’s no way I’m going to win because Ozzy and Yul are such dominant forces, I just want to survive with my tribe through to the four?” Sundra says she wanted to stay loyal, even if she didn’t win. She gave it her all in every challenge. The last morning, she woke up seeing in her mind that she was going to win the final challenge. Getting back to Jenna’s comment, Sundra says that she wasn’t going to let the obvious skills of Yul and Ozzy deter her from doing her best.

Jenna asks Sundra how she voted. It was for Yul, because their bond was tighter. They had many private moments together that were not shown. She calls both “very deserving,” but Yul being a little older, they related on a different level.