Survivor: Cook Islands - Episode 3

Survivor: Cook Islands Blog
Episode 3 Elimination: Cecilia

Seriously, can Survivor: Cook Islands get any better?  As I mentioned when covering last week's episode, it was probably the best second episode in the show's history. Even more impressive is the fact that this week's episode was probably the best third episode in history.

While those claims may sound a little stupid, you have to realize that the first four or five weeks of the show are generally pretty dull. Usually,

The show started off with a merging of the four teams into two. While it would prove to make things extremely interesting, I personally thought that it was way to early in the show to break up the "race" gimmick, if for no other reason than that it proved the "race" gimmick was exactly that. If you really want the show to be a social experiment to see how the different races interact, then you'll probably try to keep the teams together long enough to see how it actually plays out. If you're just trying to lure viewers with a semi-controversial twist, then you scrap the idea after two weeks and just go back to the way things have always been.

To keep this as least confusing as possible, here's the breakdown with Asians in Green, Whites in Blue, Blacks in Purple (because Yellow doesn't show up well), and Latinos in Red:

So the teams were broken up into groups of nine. However, since the Asians and the Whites had yet to lose a member, they managed to have three members a piece on the new Aitu Tribe, and somehow the Blacks ended up as the dominant party on the new Raro. That left the Latinos severely outnumbered on both tribes. (Throwing that challenge really looks like a good idea now, doesn't it?)

Did I tell you Becky was the biggest threat in the game or what?  As soon as the teams merged, she was all over Candice trying to form an Asian-Caucasian alliance, which was met with open arms by the melanin-impaired. So now does she not only have Yul and the hidden idol in her back pocket, she's got the Aryan nation on her side as well. It seemed as if everything was locked up for her...  (Notice the trailing periods for dramatic effect)

When it came time for immunity, they pulled out the classic challenge from Palau where the two teams start on opposite sides of a giant oval and run in opposite directions until one catches the other. It was world-class entertainment back then. This time, it was over in what appeared to be five minutes as Raro just destroyed Aitu.  As an added bonus, Raro got to send a member of Aitu to Exile Island, and they selected Candice.

If Becky has one flaw, it's that she has the tendency to fall into the same trap as Ozzy and play the game a little too hard. Her one saving factor is that she's got Yul completely wrapped around her finger and he trusts her completely. That should prevent her alliance members from turning on her, which is what was happening to the Ozster. However, it didn't prevent the people who weren't in an alliance with her from realizing how big of a threat she actually is and making a move to oust her.

When Candice got sent to Exile Island, her vote in tribal council went with her. Suddenly, Team CaucAsian (clever, huh?) didn't have the same pull they once did. As I was sitting with my adopted family, I told them that this was the one chance that Ozzy and the rest of the misfits had of overthrowing Becky. However, they were far too unorganized and probably not smart enough to realize it.

Much to my surprise, Cao Boi proved me wrong by orchestrating a five-person alliance with Jessica, Sundra, Ozzy, and Cecilia. They immediately targeted Becky as the threat who had to leave. I was in shock. Stuff like this never happens. Last week, Ozzy almost got the boot, and this week Becky was going home. Simply amazing!

However, I think it's clear that we've found this season's Danielle, the person who always makes the worst move possible. It's Jessica, who after aligning with Cao Boi and crew decided to go tell Jonathan, who had been obviously trying to manipulate her for days, that she wasn't going to follow his every command any more and they were voting off Becky.

Her loose lips set off a series of events that would ultimately foil the biggest upset in early-season history. It sent Yul on a mission to turn Cao Boi back to the Asians, and it caused Jonathan to start working Jessica like a greasy used-car salesman. The latter was so pathetic, it was painful to watch. Jonathan was absolutely relentless, and in the end he won out.

Both Cao Boi and Jessica joined team CaucAsian and voted Cecilia out, making the Latinos the game's endangered species. Not that it even mattered, since you know Becky had sweet-talked Yul into handing her the idol.

So what does all of this mean?  Well, it further cements the fact that Jessica and Cao Boi have no idea how to play this game. Why would you leave a five-person alliance where you have large amounts of pull to join a six-person alliance where the other four are going to vote you out?  It also means that Becky is primed to take home the million dollars assuming Aitu isn't annihilated in the coming weeks. I see Adam, Parvati, and Cristina going home for Raro before either Brad or Jenny, making it very likely that there could be all five Asians going into the merge. And as for my pick, Ozzy, he's valuable enough to hang around for a few weeks, and sneaky enough to potentially pull something off, especially if he makes it to the merge. But I think he's met his match in Beckzilla.

Hey, I came up with classics like Dumb Aras, The Axis of Idiots, and Team CaucAsian, so cut me some slack with the last nick name.