An "Insider" Look at Survivor: Cook Islands, Episode 7 - The Oddest Person Out

Jenny thinks the twist was interesting. She thought Aitu was not paying attention and too busy eating, so they picked Nate to go with them. If they had been thinking, they would have picked Cristina and forced Raro to scramble about who to vote for. Jenny’s happy Nate got some food because he really needs it. She also trusts him to listen to Aitu and gather information. Jenny still can’t believe Aitu didn’t pick Cristina. She thinks Aitu must have thought taking Nate away would hurt Raro in a challenge, but Jenny thinks that strategy was a mistake. And she’s right.

Reward Challenge: Smash & Grab

This is the reward challenge shown on TV. We see Raro’s bizarre reward choice of bread again, and Aitu’s more sensible choice of potatoes. Aitu rightly sits the visiting Nate out of the challenge and makes the poor choice of not having Brad swim. And Becky does a good job putting the puzzle together. I’m just happy Aitu won this one because Raro didn’t deserve to win after picking bread as one of their reward items.

Interview with Rebecca

Rebecca says her body just didn’t have the energy today to do well in the reward challenge. She couldn’t find the key and come back in enough time, so the loss was her loss for this challenge. She says she was clearly the weakest in this challenge and if her tribe votes her off because of it, she couldn’t argue with them. (What’s with the women trying to talk themselves out of the game this season? How about Brad bearing responsibility for not swimming?) Rebecca wants to prove herself in the immunity challenge. Her mind is really in the game, but her body isn’t as strong as when she arrived. She needs to get her body back in the game somehow.

Rebecca says the tribe missed Nate a lot at the reward challenge. He’s a strong swimmer and still has a lot of strength. He’s been with Rebecca since day one and he’s a good friend. When Nate came back, he told Raro that Aitu isn’t as strong as them and that they have a lot of mini-alliances going on. Nate said it isn’t the same kind of family unit as they have at Raro. So that made the tribe want to hold on more and stay strong and get through this.

Rebecca thinks Aitu does a better job at telling each other what they’re good at and utilizing those skills. She thinks Aitu had their strongest swimmers swimming today, but Raro didn’t do that. Rebecca really feels like she’s been lacking carbohydrates. She hasn’t really had any in over two weeks. She swims a lot, but she just couldn’t do it being so exhausted and dehydrated. She felt dizzy and like she couldn’t even breathe during the challenge.

Rebecca now turns to the mystery vote (made by Brad) against Jenny in the last Tribal Council. She says no one has confessed to the vote and that creates tension in the tribe. They want to trust everyone, but they can’t given that vote. Rebecca rightly thinks that Brad wrote Jenny’s name down. She thinks Brad sees Jenny as a threat.

Poor Adam had to go to exile today. It’s freezing and miserable and he did such a great job in the challenge today. Rebecca feels bad and she’s sure Adam is frustrated with his tribe that he’s sitting on Exile Island because of their performance.

Rebecca goes on some more about her body being in poor shape and how much she really wants to be in this game and prove that to her tribe.

Immunity Challenge: Stairway to Heaven

This is a clip from the show. We get to see Raro win again, largely due to Jenny’s superior puzzle-solving skills. It was clear that she took complete charge of the puzzle and got the job done, earning Raro a come-from-behind win they badly needed. Jenny was a total puzzle goddess in this challenge!

Tribal Council

Let’s see what the Aitutaki had to say about voting their friend Flica out.

Ozzy votes for Flica. “Sorry, girl. It’s what I got to do to stay in the game. I’m sure you’ll understand. I hope you’ll understand.”

Jonathan votes for Flica. “I really admire your spirit and the way that you live your life. And I think with another group of people you would have coalesced and felt more comfortable. I think at this point in the game, you were the oddest person out on our team. I appreciate all the hard work you put into our challenges and all the work you did around the tribe. Good luck.”

Candice votes for Flica. “I know we haven’t been the greatest of friends. This is not a personal vote. This just has to do with what we need to do for our tribe for the future.”

Sundra votes for Flica. “Flica, I don’t even know what to say. I know you were trying to get me out and you were trying to get everybody out. You were just flying with the wind, going wherever you could go, and it’s just too, too hard to trust you. Sorry.”

Flica votes for Jonathan. “I didn’t trust you before and I’m not going to start now.”

Becky votes for Flica. “I’m just really, really tired of dealing with your wishy-washiness, your ongoing paranoia, your desperate lies...”

Yul votes for Flica. “I admire your spunk, your spirit, and your colorful personality, but Survivor is a game and that’s why we’re all here. You need to make a nominal effort to try to play the game. I think you did, ultimately, after Cao Boi left, but I think it was too late. So I wish you the best.”

Aitu, with the lone exception of Ozzy, who smartly went along with the crowd, seemed utterly united in their vote for Flica. We’ll see what happens with the tribes next week.

Teeuwynn is a professional puzzle, game and event designer. You can check out one of Teeuwynn's current projects at: www.angelquest.com. You can reach Teeuwynn at Teeuwynn@gmail.com

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