Survivor South Pacific Episode 5 recap, September 12, 2011.

Welcome to the fifth episode of Survivor: South Pacific!

Stacey, just ousted in council, joins tribe mate Christine on Redemption Island. They both share hugs even though they will soon be competitors in a duel to remain in the game. Not a minute passes by and Stacey is already badmouthing the rest of the tribe. “Lies straight from Hell. All y’all gonna go to Hell with gasoline drawers on.” She says Coach is a holier-than-thou type and she’s going to “start up a bee’s nest.” Now that’s some kind of firebrand Texas Baptist talk!

It’s dawn of Day 12 and we return to the Upolu tribe. Everybody is waking up as Brandon announces they’ve got tree mail. Privately, Brandon mentions that he’s not happy with how Mikayla responded to Jeff’s question at the most recent tribal council about how she perceived Brandon, mentioning his Hantz family name (“the same blood” was what she said). Brandon is visibly upset and says he’s a good guy in spite of what his uncle Russell may have done. The tree mail announces the next duel on Redemption Island. Coach is worried that Christine and Stacey will reveal “intel” about the Upolu tribe to the representatives from the Savaii tribe during the duel.

Mikayla and Albert appear as witnesses to the duel for the Upolu tribe, while Dawn and Whitney are present for Savaii. Jeff asks Stacey what she thinks of her tribe mates who voted her out and Stacey doesn’t hesitate to blab on about “Benjamin” (Coach) running of the tribe. She openly warns the “red tribe” (Savaii) of the duplicity going on. Christine supports her statements. Stacey goes on about Coach, saying he’s not Coach, his birth name is Benjamin. Mikayla and Albert are shaking their heads with furrowed foreheads, while Dawn and Whitney are openly amused at the Stacey’s open rebellion.

The duel calls for putting balls into a spiraling metal frame where the balls go around and around until they reach the opening at the bottom. The duelists must catch the balls as they come down to the bottom opening and not let them drop on the ground or else they are out. There are two frames for each contestant, one for each hand. More and more balls will be added as they continue to catch balls and place them back up top to spiral down again. They will have to concentrate and not panic, along with being physically coordinated as more balls are added.

Christine and Stacey say, “Go you, girl” to each other in a friendly way and then the competition starts with a single ball in the spiral frame. Easy enough. Then second ball goes into the frame and two balls are spiraling down. It’s a challenge to keep track of even these balls as a third ball is added. Timing and spacing are important here so that they don’t have to try to catch two balls at the same time, left and right.

It isn’t long before a ball drops and Stacey is the next one sent home packing. Christine has now won three duels in succession after being the first one voted out from her tribe. Jeff reminds the witnesses that what they share with their tribe is up to them. There’s no question Coach is going to hear about this and so will the other tribe!

Albert reports back to Coach and says “it was bad”, with Stacey telling everyone that “we’re all liars” and Coach, Albert and Sophie were running the show in Upolu. The other tribe members approach the discussion as Albert also says Stacey made fun of Coach’s name, saying he’s Benjamin (his real name) not Coach. Coach is angry now, saying that “if anyone calls me Benjamin in front of my face, I’ll go nuts. My parents called me Coach.” Coach is angry and privately says, “It just ruined my day.” Sorry, Benjamin Coach, that’s what you signed up for.

Finally, we visit the happy and merry Savaii tribe, where a conspiracy lurks behind hidden trees (there are no closed doors here). Ozzy is lazing out with bikini babe Elyse by his side, as usual. It’s like they’re on a casual holiday. The only thing missing is the Coronas. Ozzy tells her, “You’re like my little omen.” Privately, Elyse talks about the firm alliance with her, Ozzy, Keith, Jim and Whitney (leaving Dawn and Cochran out in the cold, which they well know).

Meanwhile Cochran shows up with a pile of firewood and jokes, “I’m the little engine that could, man.” Elyse jokes, almost condescendingly, “The little Cochran that could.” Hmmm, that almost sounds obscene, ya think? And sure enough, Ozzy asks Cochran how that’s spelled. C-O-C-H. Cochran is privately not amused, saying Ozzy and Elyse are always “wrapped up in their love blanket” even late in the morning. Neither Ozzy or Elyse seem to be doing anything, just lazing about together, and this may come back to bite them.

Dawn and Whitney return from the duel and retell everything that went on during the duel, including Stacey’s comments about Coach. Now they realize the other tribe is anything but unified and Coach could be a dangerous adversary. There’s some speculation whether Coach would target Albert from his own tribe to get rid of a strong competitor while he can. Ozzy agrees.

Privately, Jim interprets Ozzy’s agreement with Coach’s strategy to rid his tribe of strong competitors as a threat to him and Keith. Jim says “Nothing sells like fear. I’m going to put that fear in Keith and tell him to get Elyse gone next.” Considering that Cochran and Dawn are already planning to usurp Ozzy’s power base, bringing Keith into their rebellion will guarantee the votes to see Elyse out. Little does Bambi and her zookeeper know of the danger ahead.

We head back to the Upolu tribe, where Albert privately says that Stacey said some painful things during the duel about him being part of the triumvirate running the tribe, putting a target on his back in the eyes of the other tribe. Albert says he’s got to find the individual immunity idol now to protect himself. Lo and behold, he finds the clue.

It’s definitely near the jungle,
Somewhere by the beach.
The important things to realize,
It is just barely out of reach.
You could stay dry,
If the tide is right.
But you’ll need to climb,
To have the idol in sight.

Albert goes climbing trees near the beach but doesn’t find it yet. Unable to find it, he tells Coach and Sophie that he has found the clue to the idol seek their help to find it. Coach says privately, “You want a job done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. So I said to myself, I’ve got to take this into my own hands.” Coach then goes searching for the idol alone, climbing trees in the area and checking all of the crooks and nannies up in the branches.

And “lo and behold” (hey, Coach, you’re using my words!), he found it! Coach has an even more Gollum like look on his face than Ozzy had when he found the other idol. Coach reveals his find to Albert and Sophie. He lets them touch it, but he keeps a hold of it. Finder’s keepers! Albert and Sophie get hugs, but no idol. Privately, Coach grins, “I’m not running the show, but at the moment, pretty close!” Dumb, Albert, very dumb. Stacey was right.

Then it’s back to the Savaii tribe. Ozzy and Cochran decide to go fishing, with Keith joining them. “The ocean is my canvas, and the fish are my palette,” Cochran recites a Semhar-style bit of poetry. Cochran privately says he’s not the outdoorsy type (and he signed up for this?!), but he wants to step up and contribute, even if he has “zero experience, zero ability and zero confidence.”

We get some beautiful underwater shots with Ozzy adeptly going underwater to spear some fish. Ozzy is happy to play the role of being the provider, even if just for a short while. Cochran comments that Ozzy is a “lazy ass” who occasionally goes out and does something to make himself “look like a superhero”.

It’s challenge time! In front of the tribes are a pair of roasted pigs. Hands tied behind their backs, each tribe must bite chunks of pork from the roasted pigs and then spit it out into a collection basket. The tribe that collects the most meat in their basket after 10 minutes wins the challenge, immunity, and a basket of goodies that includes fruits and vegetables, bread, various condiments and cookware. The winning tribe will also find another clue to find the hidden individual immunity idol (now already found by Ozzy and Coach, although Ozzy’s tribe doesn’t know it and only two people from Coach’s tribe know it).

They all look like two packs of hyenas gnarling away at a pig carcass and shredding the meat. Icky. Sometimes the meat gets stuck between their teeth and a tribe mate has to pull the meat away, mouth to mouth. Double icky. Some of the guys have figured to try to tear off larger chunks instead of a bunch of small chunks to increase the take. With about 30 seconds to go, Rick drops a piece on the ground, but leaves it to gnaw off another bite and Mikayla chomps it up from the ground and spits it into the basket. Triple icky.

Savaii collects 22 pounds, 12 ounces of meat. Upolu collected 12 pounds and… 14 ounces! Barely beating the Savaii tribe by a mere 2 ounces, Upolu wins immunity. In addition to the fruit and vegetables, they also get all of the meat that they collected. Let’s hope they recook it!

And indeed they do, as we join the Upolu tribe not wasting a moment to prepare a sumptuous meal with the pork and vegetables and fruits. Coach calls it a “taste of victory.”

Meanwhile, back at the defeated Savaii tribe, Jim complains he lost half of one of his molars. Cochran says they’re all going to have oral herpes and the girls go “what?”. He’s just grossing them out with his Harvard knowledge. Ozzy privately observes that Cochran is working really hard, but “… it’s too late. I think pretty much everybody in the tribe thinks he is the weakest link and I think everybody feels good about letting him go tonight.” But…

Dawn privately says it’s time to “break up that alliance between Ozzy and Elyse.” Both she and Cochran know they’ll be next if there isn’t a split in the original alliance of five with Jim’s help. So now Jim has to find that fourth vote and it’s got to be either Keith or Whitney. Jim approaches Keith to let him know about the plan to oust Elyse. He instills the fear in Keith by letting him know Ozzy’s comment about how Coach would take out a strong person like Albert out in his tribe, thus Ozzy would take out one of them before the merge.

{We continue to get bikini babe shots of Elyse worthy of inclusion within Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, courtesy of the Survivor camera crew.}

Jim and Keith are “on the same page for about 30 seconds” until the question comes up about whether they’ll tell Ozzy. Keith wants Ozzy to know, but Jim says, “We’re not going to tell Ozzy.” Keith privately says that the way the votes are falling, it leaves him and Whitney “some room to play.” Keith is concerned that he was the first to ally with Ozzy and now he would lose Ozzy’s trust by blindsiding him by voting Elyse out.

Keith talks with Whitney and they deliberate which way to go. Whitney doesn’t have a problem voting Elyse out, but she also still wants to keep the alliance with Ozzy intact. Whitney comes up with the idea that she and Keith vote for neither Cochran (which Ozzy wants) nor Elyse (which the three rebels want) and vote for someone else. This would result in a 3-2-2 or 3-2-1-1 vote that would see Elyse out without her and Keith having voted for Elyse.

It’s time for what should be an interesting tribal council and vote. Jeff questions Ozzy and then Elyse about tribal unity and what constitutes a strong tribe member. They give stock answers as if though they themselves contribute to the unity and strength of the tribe. Cochran says that it’s not a matter of just strength and he feels the novelty of tribal council has worn off. Jim adds that it’s not about strength, but trying and everyone tried to win the challenge, but they had injuries.

Jeff looks surprised and asks what injuries. Jim mentions his broken molar, Ozzy says cuts on his lips and a chipped tooth (oh, really?), and so on down the line with Cochran finishing with his “shifting teeth” without his retainer. Jeffs asks Cochran to smile and Cochran gives Jeff a toothy growl. “That’s not a smile, that’s a grimace,” Jeff remarks sarcastically.

Dawn comes to Cochran’s defense saying, “he’s endearing”. Well, as an English prof, she’d find any Harvard man endearing. After a discussion about Cochran’s communicable disease comments after the challenge, Cochran admits that he’s a little quirky. Jeff tries to nail him with would he be the last person chosen for a soccer team question and Cochran comes back with he wouldn’t put himself in a position to be picked to play on a soccer team.

Jeff asks Elyse about voting Cochran out and she makes an offhand remark about how Cochran appreciates the game, even if he were to go to Redemption Island. You may have forgotten to mention how Cochran plays the game, Elyse. We’ll soon find out.

Now it’s time for the votes… and this should be interesting. Cochran, Elyse, Cochran, Elyse (she’s looking worried all of a sudden and Ozzy flinches), Dawn (she smiles at this!), Dawn (whoa!)… and with it 2-2-2, the last vote goes to… Elyse! The rebellion succeeds! Jeff notes, “judging from the look on Elyse’s face, I’d say that was your first blindside”. Hah! Ozzy is looking glum. There goes his trusty bikini babe.

Next episode: Coach is having flashbacks, Ozzy calls himself a “free agent”, and there’s a call for Cochran to help in a challenge.

Until next time, folks, stay tuned!