Surviving the Cook Islands, Episode 6: Deep Voodoo

Last week, Stephannie opened mouth and inserted foot – and her tribe voted her out unanimously. This week, previews indicate that both tribes will be voting somebody out. Who will be sent packing? Will there be any twists? Let’s sit back and find out!

We begin in Raro on night 14. Cristina was offended by what happened at Tribal Council. Hey, she should just be glad she’s still there! She and Adam argue over whether or not she’s been rude lately. Brad tells us Cristina is not annoying, she’s just used to being in control and telling people what to do. Oh, well, that’s much better.

Adam doesn’t seem to want to hurt Cristina, he says she’s annoying and “that’s just the way it is.” But Cristina obviously isn’t happy with this but she’s survived a lot in her life and she’ll survive this.

The next morning at Aitu, Ozzy is spear fishing and handing his catches to Jonathan, who is sitting on the boat. Ozzy tells us he can catch 10 fish easily in an hour at his favorite fishing spot. Jonathan says Ozzy can hold his breath for two-and-a-half minutes “or something crazy like that” and is a great fisherman. They need his strength but if the merge were to happen today, Jonathan wouldn’t want him around because he’s too much of a threat.

Treemail arrives in the form of a sail and a note:

Since the note doesn’t say anything about immunity, it’s obvious they don’t need to bring the immunity idol. But Cao Boi wants to do so anyway, because he feels like they’ll win when they carry it around – it represents a god to him. Jonathan doesn’t want to and tells Cao Boi it may be his spirituality, but it’s not all of theirs. And he thinks it will seem like they’re sticking it in Raro’s face if they bring the immunity idol to a reward challenge. I think this can be summarized easily: Jonathan understands this game, Cao Boi doesn’t.

Jonathan says the whole tribe should discuss it (they have pretty much stood around watching the discussion and keeping their mouths shut) but Cao Boi will have none of that – he just says “to hell with it” and gives up. Jonathan tells us Cao Boi is rubbing some people the wrong way. Ya think? Yul says Cao Boi has gone through a lot in life and knows a lot, but he can be very hard-headed. Again, ya think?

The tribes arrive at the challenge, where host Jeff Probst explains what they’re going to be doing. Each tribe will select three people, each of whom will be stationed at their own post, holding on with all their might. On his go, two team members of the other tribe will race out and attempt to physically remove them from their posts and drag them through the sand to the finish line. Once they’ve accomplished that, two other members will try to do it to the second person. Etc. First tribe to get all three of the opposing tribe members across the finish line wins.

What are they playing for? Well, Probst has good news and bad news. The good news is that the winners will feast on lamb shanks, bread, and apple cider. The bad news is they will feast at Tribal Council. Win or lose, both will go to Tribal Council tonight and vote somebody out. The winners will go first and vote somebody out. Then they will take up the jury’s seats and feast while listening in on the losing tribe’s Tribal Council.

This challenge requires equal numbers of men and women on each tribe, so Aitu has to sit out a man – they choose Cao Boi. Then the tribes choose the post-holders. For Aitu, it’s Candice, Ozzy, and Sundra. For Raro it’s Cristina, Nate, and Jenny.

They will start with the women. And they’re off! Jessica and Becky are working on Jenny and managing to pry her legs apart. But Parvati and Rebecca are having more difficulty with Candice. Jenny is being dragged away. Candice is finally pulled from the post but then lunges back and grabs onto it – she’s putting up a hell of a fight! Becky and Jessica drag Jenny across the line, while Candice continues to fight for Aitu.

Jonathan and Yul run out to try to pry Nate off the post. Candice will not go gently across the line, giving her team an even bigger lead. Yul and Jonathan get Nate off the post, but he is putting up a good fight too. Still, they get Nate over the line before the Raro women can get Candice across the line!

After Jessica and Becky head back out to get Cristina, Candice is finally across the line, sending Adam and Brad out to get Ozzy. Brad and Adam are really tackling Ozzy. Jessica gets Cristina in a chokehold and gets a warning. Cristina is not happy. Various scenes of fighting until Cristina tries a different move to slow down her attackers – pulling Jessica’s pants off. Ooookay.

Adam and Brad are getting closer while Cristina slows things down for the women. Parvati and Rebecca head back out to get Sundra. Becky and Jessica are locked in wrestling holds with Cristina and they try to roll as a group to the line while Cristina gets warned for hair-pulling. Sundra, meanwhile, is not budging from the post.

Becky stands up to get leverage for the drag and they manage to pull Cristina to the line. Aitu wins!

Probst reiterates how things will work with the Tribal Councils and says there will be one more surprise. I’m betting Aitu gets to give somebody on Raro immunity.

Aitu heads home and discuss how difficult the challenge was. Sundra tells us how proud she is of the tribe and how they worked together. Not quite sure how much “together” there really was, given the nature of the challenge, but okay. Ozzy says it all came down to the women, and Jessica says she’s never wrestled a cop before! She tells us she thought it was a little uncalled for when Cristina pulled her hair and tried to take her clothes off. But the flip side of the win is that they still have to vote somebody off.

In the shelter, Cao Boi tells Yul about a dream he had where people would come into a village and use a rope to take people away. Or something like that. He explains to us that it dealt with supernatural beings and a shaman lady with credit card applications. She says he needs three for Visa and three for American Express. Cao Boi uses his dream to figure out how to flush out the hidden immunity idol – have three people vote one way and three another. He calls it “Plan Voodoo.” Great idea! The problem is that he’s telling it to the guy who has the immunity idol!

Yul tells us that Cao Boi believes Jonathan is the one with the idol, and the vote split would be between Jonathan and Candice. Wow, Cao Boi really is clueless, isn’t he? He doesn’t realize that both of them are Yul’s allies? Yul tells him it’s an interesting idea (he tells us it’s “ingenious”) and sort of nods along. Cao Boi continues that no matter what, they get rid of a Caucasian, a group that’s five strong overall in the game right now and could join back together again at a merge.

Over at Raro, Nate tells us the loss hurts but he’s going to get some food even if they can’t feast. He spears a nice-sized octopus.

Meanwhile, Cristina is bummed because she figures she’ll be the next to go. Probably a good guess. But she’s going to see what she can do. She talks to Brad and Parvati, asking if he’ll give her a chance. Both say they will, with Parvati saying (lying?) that she doesn’t know who she’s voting for.

Cristina moves on to Adam to apologize if she annoyed him and try to gather support. But he knows she’s scrambling and trying to get them to turn on one another. Jenny asks for reassurance that he won’t pull anything on her, and he says he won’t. He tells us they’ve got a game plan that they’ll stick to – Cristina is going.

Nate, though, is thinking she might be valuable. Besides, if they keep her, she’ll be loyal. But Jenny might go back with the other Asians if they merge. Nate is debating between the two of them.

Back to Aitu we go, where Jessica and Cao Boi are doing stretching exercises together. Meanwhile, Jonathan talks to Yul, saying he knows he and Becky are concerned with making enemies of the others, but he’s less concerned about it. He thinks Cao Boi is too much of a wildcard and it’s time to vote him off.

Meanwhile, Cao Boi is telling people who they should vote for – three for J(onathan), three for C(andice). Sundra tells us maybe Cao Boi’s idea of voting out Jonathan or Candice makes sense, because she’s suspicious of Jonathan. Even Becky may be on-board, as she relates the same thing to Yul, saying Jonathan is constantly trying to make people feel some bond with him.

The funny thing is that right after that, Yul tells us he’s in “a tight alliance” with Jonathan, Candice, Becky, and Sundra. Those last two would be the ones talking about how they are suspicious of the first one. So now he’s not sure how good the alliance is, and their suspicions are starting to rub off on him.

As Jonathan goes fishing, Cao Boi talks to the others, including Yul. They seem to agree that Plan Voodoo is in effect. But Ozzy isn’t sure if he’s on-board. And Yul gives the standard “integrity” speech where he talks about how difficult it is, etc. What game did these folks think they signed up for?

Cao Boi tells Jessica they’re all on-board, but Jessica wonders why the others are all in the shelter talking. He assures her they’re fine. Uh oh. That’s a warning bell if ever I heard one! Here’s another: Cao Boi says, “I have the utmost faith in them.” Oh, he is so being voted out.

But wait! Jonathan tells us, “if I get voted off, I will be shocked. I don’t believe that’s going to happen.” Uh oh, now what? The foreshadowing gods have given us two different fateful statements.

Aitu arrives at Tribal Council and Probst begins the questioning with Cao Boi, who brought the immunity idol (which Probst notes is “a first”). Why’d he do that? Cao Boi says they have no more immunity, so it made sense to bring. Probst says, a bit irritated I think, that he didn’t ask for it back, so what is Cao Boi going to do with it? Cao Boi says it will be another tribe member.

Probst still seems annoyed and asks Ozzy what the deal is with the idol. He says Cao Boi feels very connected to it, some are against it, others don’t care. It’s symbolic for other issues in the tribe.

Yul is asked to describe Cao Boi. He says he’s a mixture of a shaman, cheerleader, and fire tender. He’s very loyal in his way. He can’t say he completely understands Cao Boi, though.

Probst moves back to Cao Boi, asking if he’s often misunderstood. Cao Boi says he’s typically either hated or loved, and is often misunderstood, but with time people come to understand he means well.

Back to Yul. Are their clear-cut leaders and followers? There aren’t any designated leaders, though Jonathan and Cao Boi are the most vocal in stating their opinions (and thus they have the targets on their backs tonight!). He says Jonathan is a natural leader who is good at articulating his position and speaking for the group.

Is that a fair assessment? Jonathan appreciates Yul saying that, but it’s not like what he says goes. He doesn’t patronize “these people” or talk down to them. Er, isn’t calling them “these people” kind of patronizing? I think so.

What will Ozzy base his vote on? He doesn’t know yet. How about Cao Boi? He says looking down the road to see what’s going on. It’s all a big chess game and he wants to expose the queen. Probst claims confusion – what does the queen represent? Individual immunity. He admits flat-out that the vote is to expose who has the immunity idol. The tribe will walk away tonight and have a clearer picture of what they need to do.

With that, it’s time to vote. Jonathan votes for “Cowboy,” saying he has to take out the wildcard. Jessica votes for Jonathan, saying sorry but she lost her trust in him. Cao Boi votes for Candice, saying he hopes people stick with the plan.

Probst tallies and reads the votes: Cao Boi, Candice, Jonathan, Cao Boi, Cao Boi (uh oh, I think that pretty well ruins Plan Voodoo), Cao Boi. So he puts down the immunity idol (the big one, not the individual one) and gets his torch snuffed. Plan Voodoo got a big pin stuck in its head.

The hard part for Aitu is over. Now it’s time to eat and listen. They all move to the jury section as Raro is brought in.

In his final words, meanwhile, Cao Boi tells us it was a wonderful experience, though he didn’t make it as far as he planned. He did learn he is most vulnerable among the Asian community – people who are like her. He should have known better than to trust them. And for the record, the only people who stuck to Plan Voodoo were Cao Boi and Jessica. That doesn’t bode well for the roller girl.

Before Raro gets grilled, the food is brought out for Aitu. Oh, and Candice blows Adam a kiss. Raro looks on jealously as Aitu digs in.

But Adam says he doesn’t really like lamb or apple cider, and they have plenty of food at camp, so he’s fine. Nate says it smells good even though they did have a good octopus dinner. He says he gave the challenge all he had, but they didn’t have enough as a team.

How frustrating is it to have lost 2/3 of the challenges? Adam says it’s frustrating, but Candice set the tone by getting a good lead for the other team while wearing out the women on Raro. He smiles at Candice.

Probst notes that Raro always prided itself on physical strength. But today it didn’t work that way. Brad says maybe Aitu has a stronger team, but it’s not about one particular challenge. They really need to look at the bigger picture of who is working hard at camp and getting along with everyone.

Does Cristina have a feeling of a sinking ship with loss after loss? She says no, sometimes it just happens. They still have a chance and need to hold their heads high.

Did Brad feel badly due to the criticism Cristina took at the previous Tribal Council? He did, because everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt and sometimes things are better left unsaid.

When they got back to camp, what happened? Jenny says Cristina was angry that somebody would flat-out say she’s annoying. Aitu notices that particular statement! Jenny says it’s embarrassing.

Cristina admits it bothered her because she considered them friends and she let her guard down a bit. She doesn’t want to beat a dead horse, but it’s definitely a blow to her.

Did Adam feel like Cristina was a unified part of the tribe? He thinks so, and says she’s always been contributing – that was never an issue. It’s more that her personality “clashes with ours.” So apparently, he now speaks for the whole tribe, and the rest of the tribe has a single personality. “That’s just the way she is.”

At what point will people have to look out for themselves? Nate says it’s survival mode. But for now, they still want to come back and smoke the other tribe.

Before they vote, time for the twist. Aitu gets to kidnap one member from Raro. They will be immune from Tribal Council, will get a plate of food, sit with Aitu, and return to camp with Aitu – being a part of their tribe through the next reward challenge. Interesting.

Aitu confers among themselves and decide on… Nate. Really? I would have gone with Cristina, just to throw a wrench into their plans. But Nate is sent over to Aitu.

With that, it’s time to vote. Adam unsurprisingly votes against Cristina, saying she’s nice but the tribe is stronger without her. Brad votes Jenny, as does Cristina.

Probst tallies the votes. But before he reads them, Aitu is dismissed back to camp. Now for the reading: Jenny, Cristina, Jenny, Cristina, Cristina, Cristina. Not exactly a huge surprise there. Again, that’s why I would have saved her instead, had I been on Aitu.

In her final words, Cristina says she really enjoyed being there and is disappointed she got voted off so soon. She says she feels she got taken advantage of, which I don’t really understand (note to self: ask her about it in my interview with her). She met some really good people and some really awful people, but that’s just part of the game. Overall, it was a great experience.

Next week: Nate causes stress for Aitu as there are strategy discussions held in front of him. Ozzy’s stock skyrockets as he gets food from the trees as well as the water. And one player on Exile Island takes a beating in a nasty storm.

We’ll be back next week to find out more. Of course, before then we’ll have plenty of other coverage, including two planned interviews, two looks at why people lost, etc. So be sure to check back to RealityNewsOnline regularly.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

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