Surviving the Cook Islands, Episode 13: “Being Foolish”?

Last week on Survivor, Yul & Co. voted out Jonathan, and just about everybody on this website and elsewhere said, “You did what?!” Will this come back to bite the Aitu alliance? Will they split into factions and allow Adam and Parvati to stay in the game? Frankly, I don’t think so. I think they’ll still get rid of a Raro. But then, I thought that last week too, so what do I know? Let’s find out together.

We begin on day 34, with Adam saying he and Parvati feel better with Jonathan voted off. Adam wants to stay in the game as long as possible and try to crack into the Aitu four, though Parvati says they know they’re in a tough spot. She needs to make a play but do it in a way that doesn’t make it sound like they’re betraying their allies. Hmmm. “Vote against him, but that doesn’t mean you’re betraying him.” Yeah, good luck with that.

Treemail arrives, which Yul reads. It’s a reward challenge that involves swimwear and mud. The reward sounds like they will spend the night eating and sleeping someplace nice. Parvati tells us she or Adam has to win or else Adam will end up at Exile Island.

They show up at the challenge, and host Jeff Probst explains it. They will be diving into a mud pit and covering their bodies with as much mud as they can. They will race back and scrape it into a bucket – they cannot carry mud, only use their bodies. The person with the most mud in their bucket after ten minutes wins.

What do they win? A luxury spa reward – massage, pool, bed, laundry, food, drink, and dessert. The winner will be joined by two people – the second- and third-place finishers (so no choosing, which is sure to split up the group quite well. And, of course, the winner also gets to send somebody to Exile Island.

And they’re off. Surprising nobody, Ozzy takes an early lead by hurdling the fence that surrounds the mud pit. They are rolling around in the mud, some putting it on their heads, etc. The guys are first back. Thing is with this challenge, it’s kind of hard to say who’s leading at any given point, because we can’t see the buckets. Yul is using his back to bring mud, Parvati is using her chest, Ozzy has his hair. As they scrape off, Probst says, “It’s like watching bad performance art.” Heh.

Ozzy appears to be in the lead with one minute left, as he has used the back of his neck to carry a huge load of mud. Yul does the back trick again. Parvati has a humongous mud pile on her head. But Ozzy has a bunch too, and Probst says his bucket is almost full. And… we’re done!

Probst starts with the one he thinks will be heaviest – Ozzy’s, at 45 pounds of mud. Can anybody beat him? Parvati has 24 pounds, Adam has 22 pounds, Sundra has 20, so she’s out of third place for sure. Becky is also at 20 pounds. Yul has 22.5 pounds – just enough to bump Adam! It will be Ozzy, Parvati, and Yul going for the reward. Meanwhile, Adam gets the expected news when Ozzy sends him to Exile Island.

The two losing women arrive back at camp, still full of mud. But it’s raining, so maybe they’ll get cleaned off that way. Nope, they hide in the shelter instead. Sundra tells us if she has to be stuck at camp, she’s happy it’s with Becky, because they’ve been through everything together.

Becky tells Sundra they’re “being foolish” by keeping Ozzy around – he’s just way too competitive. They need to get rid of him now rather than staying four strong. They discuss how it wasn’t even close! He is a bigger threat than people realize.

The three winners fly on a plane to their spa – the seats are covered with plastic because they’re still full of mud. Parvati tells us how frustrating it is being on the outside. She thinks Ozzy is the only hope she has of pulling somebody to her side.

They arrive at the spa and shower off. Ozzy says it was the best shower he’s ever had. Then it’s time for massages.

Meanwhile, Adam isn’t having quite as good a time on Exile Island. He’s just lying around, then he eats some raw seafood. Ick. A storm rolls in, forcing him to hide under what little shelter he can find.

But let’s not worry about him – there are people enjoying the high life! Parvati and Ozzy talk about how there will only be four more days left. Ozzy says Parvati has to win immunity if she wants to stick around. She’s playing the charming/flirting game to try to stick around.

The storm hits the spa too and the power goes off! But that’s okay. They light candles and an island band and dancers show up to perform by candlelight.

Then the alcohol kicks in, and it’s time for naked hot-tubbing! Alas, we only get a blur shot of Parvati. And one of Ozzy for the women. Yul, meanwhile, notices how much Parvati is flirting with Ozzy and wonders whether he will fall for it somehow. Parvati, meanwhile, talks about how she is with two naked guys in a hot tub and the numbers are in her favor here! Well, especially with Ozzy, who has already been naked and had sex on a reality show!

Ozzy tells us he’s been playing the game individually since the beginning, and he’s still thinking of number one. That could mean joining up with Parvati while he has the chance. Hmmm. Truth or red herring? I think the latter.

Back at camp as the winners are returning from the spa trip, Becky tells us how she missed Yul and has been having some thoughts about new strategies and how she’d like to get Ozzy out sooner. Yul can immediately tell that something is a bit tense with Becky, so they go out to talk.

Becky gives Yul her thoughts on Ozzy and how he needs to go. Yul admits he wouldn’t want to face Ozzy at the end – anybody would lose to him. The jury, Yul says, probably sees Ozzy a guy who has been playing on his own, winning challenges, and not building coalitions. Yul says they need to decide whether they take the high road and bring Ozzy to the final four or they really play the game and get rid of him.

Next, Yul talks to Sundra and Becky, mentioning how Parvati was giving Ozzy the hard-sell flirt. Yul believes she’s a threat because of that, but they could also eliminate part of that threat by getting rid of Ozzy. They decide to see what happens at the immunity challenge.

Which, not so coincidentally, is right now! Probst brings in Adam and goes on to explain what they will be doing: They have to carry four bundles of big puzzle pieces (one bundle at a time) over a series of balance beams that step up in height along the way. Once they have all four, they use them to create a table maze. And then they use the maze to maneuver two cannonballs past decoy holes into two corner pockets.

And they’re off! Without even watching yet, I’m going to type: Ozzy takes an early lead. Let’s see if it’s true. … Yup! He’s the first across as Adam falls off just before the end of his beam and has to go all the way back. Becky jumps for it and makes it just as Ozzy is across with his second. Parvati keeps falling, as does Sundra. Yul has his first bundle. And Ozzy has his third!

Parvati has her first and Yul has his second. Adam and Sundra are pretty much done. Becky takes a nasty fall. Ouch! Ozzy is across with his fourth. Parvati has her second and Yul has his third.

Now Yul has his fourth as Ozzy is untying his maze. Parvati has her third. Adam and Sundra should just sit down now. Parvati has her fourth.

Yul and Ozzy get their mazes together at about the same time, but Yul’s isn’t correct. Ozzy drops in a cannonball and starts maneuvering the maze. He gets around the first decoy hole and the second, and into a corner pocket it goes!

Yul is trying to fix his maze while Parvati is figuring out how to put hers together. But it doesn’t matter – Ozzy gets his cannonball into the second pocket easily and wins! Well, I guess they won’t be voting him off!

The tribe returns to camp and Yul tells us, “Ozzy won immunity… as usual.” He believes his group knows they will be voting out a Raro – but which one, Adam or Parvati? Adam drops by to ask if he’s going. Yul says he doesn’t know for sure, but he doesn’t think so. He’s pretty sure he can work it so Adam stays. Adam tells us Yul is the puppetmaster. Adam figures as long as he gets to stay a little longer, he’s fine with it. He doesn’t want Parvati to go, but if it has to be one of them, well, goodbye, Parvati.

Now it’s time for Parvati to talk to the puppetmaster. Yul honestly tells her she’s probably the bigger threat because she has better coordination as far as balance and agility (which she showed in the immunity challenge). But then he confuses me by saying that since Ozzy is better than she is, that means Adam is actually a bigger threat. Huh?

Parvati and Adam talk in the shelter while Ozzy is lying there, and Adam says he doesn’t know who he’ll vote for – one of the other three. Ozzy chimes in that he’s going to vote for Sundra. Wha? Adam and Parvati just kind of look at him, stunned. But then Parvati asks Ozzy who he’s voting for and he says he doesn’t know. OK, now I’m confused.

Adam asks if there is any way Ozzy would vote for one of his allies. In particular, he notes that Becky and Sundra are just along for the ride. Ozzy says he feels his position is already so precarious, if he did that and then didn’t win immunity, he’d be gone. Adam says that’ll happen anyway because he’s such a threat.

Ozzy tells us that he knows he dominates the challenges, but his three allies might turn on him if he loses at some point. So he’s trying to cover all his bases. Not sure what he means. But he once again suggests Sundra.

Speaking of whom, Sundra notices that Ozzy is in the shelter with the two Raros. Yul wonders if they’re trying to work him over. Nooooo. Don’t be silly. They’d never do that. The next question he asks is if they think he might listen. Well, yeah, they think he might.

So to mitigate that possibility, Yul goes to the shelter. He flat-out tells Adam that he knows he has to play the game, but he shouldn’t try to turn Ozzy against them. Um… Yul, what do you expect him to do? That’s just kind of a ridiculous thing to say. Adam says he can’t just sit around and not say anything. Duh. Sometimes, I just wonder where Yul’s mind is.

Well, right now it’s apparently on Jonathan’s hat. When he was voted out last week, Jonathan said he wanted his hat back. So Yul figures he’ll wear it to Tribal Council and give it to him – after all, Jonathan will be right there, on the jury. But he worries Probst might get mad at him. Ya think? After all, you’re not supposed to address the jury. But Yul says he thinks it’s just a nice thing to do.

As the tribe arrives, Yul goes over and drops off the hat on the jury bench. I think that’s the best way to do it – he can’t be accused of sucking up to Jonathan because Jonathan doesn’t know who left it for him. Jonathan does indeed laugh when he arrives and sees it.

Probst says that normally, the jury doesn’t have any involvement in Tribal Council, but he notes, “Yul brought your hat, Jonathan.” OK, so Yul didn’t have to suck up – Probst did it for him. Jonathan thanks Yul, and Probst says it might be the boldest move made in trying to win a vote if the player should make it to the end. But Yul says he just wanted to give Jonathan his hat back. Probst says he just wants to get the facts straight: This is the same guy who was an ally but was blindsided last time? Yup.

Did Becky know Yul was doing this? Yes. And even though he won’t admit it, she’s sure he was thinking about the vote in the back of his mind. What does Parvati think? She says Yul has been playing the game to win votes from the beginning.

Is Adam starting to see people play for the jury? He doesn’t think Sundra, Becky, or Ozzy are. Yul might be, though. Yul jumps in and says that he voted the guy out and he asked for his hat back. So he would want to give it to him anyway, but it also helps to appease him, thus serving both purposes.

Moving away from the hat, Parvati is asked if she bonded with Yul and Ozzy at the spa. She coyly says she “bonded with the fellas.” They had a good time. Is Adam concerned that Parvati went up a notch because of that? He says he’s at the bottom of the totem pole anyway.

Why does Adam think he’s still in the game, given that he’s the biggest physical threat on paper? Adam says he hasn’t produced. Speaking of challenges, does it concern Yul that Ozzy has been so dominating in the challenges? Yul, as usual, answers honestly. He says they’re very tight and get farther working together than they would individually.

With that, it’s time to vote. Parvati votes for Sundra, saying she loves her, best of luck, enjoy. We don’t get to see Yul’s vote, but we do hear him. He says the person he’s voting for is a strong competitor and he definitely underestimated them. I’m thinking that means Parvati, because I doubt Yul underestimated Adam.

Probst tallies and reads the votes: Sundra, Parvati (well, we know who’s leaving), Parvati, Sundra, Parvati, and… Parvati. Her torch is snuffed and off she goes. In her final words, she says she knows she could have worked it more in the hot tub, but she doesn’t think it would have helped. She’s learned so much about herself – she realized how strong she is and what she’s capable of.

Before sending them back to camp, Probst notes that in just three days, one of the five will win. Indeed he’s right – in three days, Sunday, the finale will air! And of course, we’ll be right here to bring you full coverage. Indeed, in the couple days leading up to it, RealityNewsOnline will be jam-packed with Survivor articles, so check back often!

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

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