Surviving Micronesia, Episode 4: Moving Targets

Last week on Survivor, Cirie turned into the Queen of the Favorites by demanding that the Romantics alliance vote as she wanted them to in order for her to side with them. Unfortunately, that vote pitted one of my favorite Favorites against another, and Yau-Man was sent packing early. Dammit. Now we get to see if Cirie can continue to wield that power or if a shift will turn the tribe against her. It might not happen right away, but I have a feeling about this…

The next morning, Cirie wants to have a little chat with Ami about why she wrote down Cirie’s name. Ami says she wouldn’t have done it, but Cirie said she was fine with voting out Parvati until the very end. Cirie says she was fine with it, but she didn’t trust Yau-Man and Jonathan.

Jonathan, a few feet away, chimes in a “Yeah, whatever.” Cirie says she wasn’t talking to him and he says, “I’m sorry, I’m here.” Heh. I happen to agree with him – does she think she should just be able to talk about him a few feet away and he’s not allowed to comment? Please.

Jonathan tells us Cirie gave her word she was with them, but saw a better chance and took it at his expense. He says she’s “much more manipulative and devious than” he is. Maybe, but she generally goes about it in a much quieter way than he does – though that obviously didn’t happen this time.

Cutting back to the discussion, Cirie says she doesn’t want to hear anything from Jonathan. He says too bad, he’s going to tell her. Cirie tells us Jonathan is pissed off because he couldn’t make her vote the way he wanted her to.

Jonathan tries to talk to Cirie some more, but she breaks down the situation: She broke the alliance and he’s upset. He doesn’t trust her; she doesn’t trust him. Everybody knows it, and that’s that. Yeah, that pretty well sums it up.

Over at Fan camp, they are discussing who might have gone home. Chet and one of the women believes either Eliza or Yau-Man was sent packing. Bingo! Joel tells us there have been some dissension in the tribe, so the immunity win we saw last week was good for them.

Then somebody sees an eel wash up on the beach, and Erik (or maybe Jason – I’m having some difficulty telling them apart right now) runs to grab it. He chops off its head and I’m sure they cook it up.

In a discussion with the camera that I’m sure foreshadows events later in the hour, Natalie tells us that she thinks everybody needs to work and have a role. She has done nothing but keep her head down and work hard since she got there. Chet, on the other hand, not so much. So how can she not tell him to either pick it up or go home?

Chet’s out lying in the water as Mikey and Jason (I think) similarly discuss his lack of work. Jason (again, I think) says if he did that, his mom would spank him when he got back. Mikey continues that Chet is “a physical and mental liability” and horrible for morale. “Chet is gone.”

Back at the Favorites, Eliza is feeling sick and also figures she’s the next to go if they lose immunity again. James tells Ozzy they should have voted out Eliza. “We’re stupid,” he says, as Amanda joins them. He notes that she can’t even stand up!

James reiterates to us how weak Eliza is and how they shouldn’t have kept her, but Cirie was hell-bent on getting rid of Yau-Man, so they gave in to her will, “which was a big mistake.”

He continues to rant to his alliance and possibly some others about how stupid their decision was. Eliza is lying nearby and says, basically – Hello! I’m still here! He says he knows she’s still there, but she’s dying. Heh. She says she’s not dying, she’s pining for the fjords. Wait. Sorry. Wrong show. She’s resting so she can do well at the coming challenge.

Ozzy says he didn’t know she was so sick and Eliza assures him it’s not contagious. He says that’s not what it’s about, which prompts her to say she’ll be fine and will do better at whatever challenge they have than Yau-Man would have. James says, “We’ll see, darling.”

Eliza points out that the way they’re acting towards her doesn’t exactly make her want to do well in the challenge. She thinks it might help if they were supportive. James sarcastically remarks about how she is sick and has attitude. Nice. Eliza says she hates these people and almost hopes they get sicker than she is and have to be removed from the game. Yikes!

Time to find out if Eliza’s resting has paid off, as it’s the reward challenge. Host Jeff Probst explains it: On go, four members of each tribe swim out to a floating platform. One at a time, they dive down to a 30-foot-long steel cage with tribe-colored coconuts – ten of which have letters painted on them. They need to remove their tribe’s letter coconuts one at a time and place them in a floating bin. They then swim the bin back to shore, where the four remaining tribe members unscramble the letters to form a one-word answer, “triumphant.”

They are playing for… chickens! Three egg-laying hens and a rooster, to be exact. And some chicken feed. Looks like the chickens have already laid three eggs since they’ve been there. Go, hens! The fans have one extra person, so they sit out Chet. Big shock. (Actually, they probably should have saved him for the immunity challenge.)

And they’re off! The swimmers take off for the platform, with Ozzy and Jason heading for the cage first. Jason finds a letter coconut and starts moving it along, while Ozzy is taking more time.