Survivor South Pacific episode 9 recap, November 9, 2011

A full moon rises over the South Pacific as the merged Te Tuna tribe returns from tribal council on Night 21. Keith has been ousted after a tie vote and re-vote that saw Cochran flip his vote, much to the consternation of his former Savaii tribe. Ozzy confronts Cochran and Cochran says that he wasn’t getting back at anybody. Cochran tells him that he “has been obsessed with this for eleven years” as a hardcore Survivor fan and he didn’t want to leave his fate to the draw of stones in case of another tie vote. Ozzy tells Cochran that he “screwed him over”.

Brandon, Cochran’s new protector (who told Cochran to “stay with me” after Jim called Cochran a coward at the tribal council), joins in the conversation. Ozzy tells him that he wants to talk with Cochran privately and, after a few words, Brandon leaves them. Ozzy tells Cochran, “I put my a** on the line for you directly, personally, and you just turned around and stabbed me in the back so hard.” Cochran replies, “This was self-interest, self-preservation.”

A very angry Jim approaches Cochran and calls him a coward yet again. Then Whitney approaches Cochran asking, “So you’re the vote?” He says yeah, and she goes on about how she and Keith saved him three times. She’s telling him that he “threw the whole tribe under the bus” and they’re going to get knocked out one by one. “You’ve got a lot to learn, buddy. You disgust me,” she says as she walks off.

Cochran walks over to the gathering of former Upolu tribe members and they ask him if he’s okay. Cochran says he got a “frosty reception, which is understandable.” That might be a major understatement, to say the least, as Whitney says he wasted six weeks of her life and Jim calls him a “piece of **** nerd”. In confession, Cochran says that he’s actually glad that he stood up to his former tribe members “who called me indecisive, weak, even annoying…” Needless to say, Cochran is no longer welcome in his former tribe, as the Upolu tribe — Brandon in particular — embraces him.

Day 22 dawns with Coach saying there’s cause for celebration and time for a little prayer. He does his prayer ritual thing along with tai chi on the beach as we’ve seen before. At the conclusion of his routine, though, we see gripping his fist so hard that it’s shaking.

With Brandon and Sophie present, Coach asks Cochran, “Who would you like to see go home next?” Cochran replies that on a challenge level, it’d be smart to see Ozzy out, but at a personal level, he’d like to see Jim out. “Really?” Coach asks rhetorically.

In confession, an angry and worried Ozzy says that “Survivor can be really cut throat… my total strategy is gone, I have nothing more to do.” He says now he has to keep winning challenges “until there’s nobody left.”

And now it’s time for the individual immunity challenge. “First things first”, Jeff takes back the individual immunity idols that Dawn and Ozzy won in the last challenge. This challenge begins with the tribe members tossing a coconut into a small ring. The first four will advance to the next stage, where they will have to hack coconuts open. They’ll drink but hold the water in their mouth to spit into a tube that they’ll reach after crossing a playground gym obstacle. They’ll continue cracking open coconuts and drinking and spitting coconut water until they fill the tube. The first one to fill the tube wins immunity. Notably, only one person will win immunity this time instead of two.

In the first round of coconut tossing, Dawn gets a coconut in the ring. The others try again next round. Whitney, Sophie and Jim each land a coconut in the ring in the second round and they advance to the next stage. Ozzy cusses. At Jeff’s mark, the four contestants start the routine of cracking open coconuts, drinking and holding the water, crossing the obstacle, spitting the water into a tube, and returning back to the coconut rack. Jim and Sophie are running ahead of Whitney and Dawn. On the next to last circuit, Jim’s water level is just short of the black line and Sophie is ahead of him. But Sophie suddenly begins to choke and vomit and she spits the water out at the obstacle. Jim races ahead and spits his water in the tube, going over the black line. Jim wins immunity!

After the challenge, Brandon tells Cochran, with Edna and Sophie present, that there are going to be six votes to take Ozzy out of the game. “How many chances to you get to vote him out of this game?” he asks. “Apparently two,” Cochran replies with a smile.

Meanwhile, Coach meets with Ozzy. Ozzy sees what’s coming and says, “I don’t want to go. All I can offer is just who I am.” Coach just hugs him and tells him, “You’ll be back”, with the notion that Ozzy can win the upcoming duels on Redemption Island. “I’ll try,” Ozzy responds as they part ways. Privately, describing Ozzy’s situation, Coach says, “Sometimes inspiration is born out of desperation.”

Privately, Dawn considers whether it’s best to remain with the Savaii tribe “and go down in flames” or to flip her vote and go with the former Upolu tribe.

Meanwhile, Jim and Whitney go wading in the shallows of the lagoon alone. He says, “I’m the most hated person in the tribe right now,” due to what he said to Cochran. Whitney tells Jim that she told Cochran that he disgusts her. Ozzy joins them. Jim’s telling Ozzy about a plan that he’s hatching. He intends to give Ozzy the necklace to give him immunity and try to swing a way to vote Cochran out of the game. Jim privately says the he doesn’t think he has that many “nights left here” because of the way the rest of the tribe perceives him after what he has said to Cochran. The question is whether he can swing two votes from the other tribe to take Cochran out.

Now it’s time for tribal council. Jeff begins, “The theme of the last two tribal councils has been — big moves.” Jeff asks Cochran what the reaction was to his flipping the vote at the last council. Cochran responds that the “reaction was understandably kind of chilly, a lukewarm reception, to put it mildly.” Jeff asks who in particular was critical of Cochran and Cochran mentions Jim. Cochran goes on to say that it was his opportunity to control his own fate with the kind of people he wanted to play the game with. “I didn’t mentally prepare for this eleven years to have my fate decided by drawing a rock out of a bag.”

Jim counters that by saying that he and Whitney and Keith saved Cochran in past votes and Ozzy saved him by going to Redemption Island in his stead. Jim implies that Cochran is dishonorable by indicating that he thinks the six members of the Upolu tribe have acted honorable. But Brandon doesn’t buy it. He reminds everyone that the last tribal council had “a way different tone… it’s kind of poetic justice… the smaller people don’t have to take it any more.”

Then Jim speaks up and reveals his plan. “I win immunity, I immediately think I’m going to give it to Ozzy tonight.” A lot of eyebrows are raised at this revelation! Jeff asks, “Why would it make sense to give Ozzy your necklace?” Jim replies, “Here’s why,” and he goes on to talk about honor, saying that ten people have kept their honor with their tribe and not wavered from it, but there is “one person who has” wavered, clearly indicating Cochran. “If you’re a turncoat, you’ve got no place in my tribe. You can say that by voting out Cochran!” Whoa, this is getting hostile.

Coach responds to Jim’s idea of voting Cochran out, “I think it would send a message to everybody, if you’re going to stick up for yourself, you’re going to get screwed. And I’m not going to see that happen.” So, it’s clear that Jim’s plan isn’t going to work unless two people from Upolu change their minds. It looks like Ozzy will be the target. Ozzy says he’s going to do everything he can to stay in the game, “My message is, I will be back… I’ll be putting every ounce of my soul into Redemption.”

Now comes a crucial decision before the vote begins. Jeff tells Jim, “You have the immunity necklace. You can assign it to somebody else if you want to, or you can keep it for yourself.” Jim replies, “I’m going to keep it tonight.” Hah! Ozzy doesn’t look surprised.

The tribe votes. Ozzy runs to his vote. Jim says, “I really don’t like you” as he votes for Cochran. As Cochran votes for Ozzy, he says, “You’ve been trying to get me out since Week One, so I don’t think it’s that inappropriate for me to be voting for you.”

Jeff reads the votes… Ozzy, Cochran, Ozzy, Coc, Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy… and Ozzy is out. “You guys fell for my master plan!” Ozzy exclaims as he walks over to Jeff and gets his flame snuffed out. “For twenty two days, this game has been unpredictable,” Jeff remarks, adding, “for Whitney, Dawn and Jim, you’ve just got to hope it stays that way.”

Ozzy meets Keith in the dark at Redemption Island. “We got frickin’ betrayed, man,” Ozzy tells him upon greeting him. It’s Day 23 on Redemption island as Ozzy goes fishing underwater in the reefs. He comes back with a huge 15-pound fish in hand and a starving Keith smiles back. They enjoy a sumptuous meal afterward.

Meanwhile, the next individual immunity challenge is held for the Te Tuna tribe. For this challenge, tribe members will have to stand on a narrow wooden beam while balancing a red ball on an inverted bow and then walk down the beam. Anyone stepping off of the beam or dropping the ball is out. There is a twist… anyone who wants to pass on the challenge will be treated to pastries, sweets and iced coffee. What a temptation! But the eating ends when the challenge is over, so whoever decides to sit out the challange had better make it a quick breakfast!

Jim remarks, “There are seven people who don’t need to compete today.” Jeff asks who wants to compete. Not surprisingly, only Jim, Dawn and Whitney raise their hands. While six original members of the Upolu tribe and Cochran enjoy their sweets, the challenge is on. Jim is the first to go out as his ball rolls off his bow. Dawn comments that she’ll go as long as she can do everyone can eat. She also says it feels like it’s one tribe in a gesture of solidarity with the former Upolu tribe. Brandon is full on his breakfast and rests his head on Cochran’s shoulder.

Dawn almost loses her balance on the beam, but manages to right herself and recenter the ball on her bow. Nice recovery. Brandon cheers her on, earning Whitney’s ire, who says, “You can tell who Brandon likes more.” Just as she says that, she loses her concentration and her ball almost falls off of her bow. She also makes a good recovery. Soon after that, Dawn loses her balance from the beam and steps off. Whitney wins the individual immunity challenge! Jim gives her a hug as the others, now full with their breakfast, clap.

Privately, Albert thinks they were a little too nice to Dawn during the challenge and “I thought we were too inclusive with her… I want to nip this in the bud as soon as I can.” He’s obviously thinking the others will never like Jim or Whitney, so it’d be best to get rid of Dawn first with them to follow.

Back at camp, Cochran is strutting around with Coach’s “Dragon Slayer” coat on. Coach and some of the others are cheering him on. Jim isn’t pleased. “Cochran is playing the most brilliant third-place game in Survivor history,” he begins. “People would take Cochran to the end.” Jim realizes he’s in trouble. “I am 100% going to Redemption Island unless I makes some moves right now.”

Jim goes and talks with Albert and Sophie and tries to talk them into voting Edna out, drawing alliance votes out with a stick in the sand. Albert hears him out, but privately thinks he has a better plan than Jim. Rather, he’d like to see Dawn out, as “she is slowly, but surely, eating her way into our alliance.” Sure enough, Dawn is with Edna washing clothes and hanging them up to dry, like a pair of housewives. Albert talks with Sophie and tells her that they should take Dawn out since she’s more likable and nobody would “gravitate towards Jim”. Sophie says, “I think we’re fine.” Albert also proposes this to Brandon and Coach.

Coach likens Jim to a “rhinoceros that comes charging in straight at you” and Dawn to a “serpent or a snake, sneaking through the grass.” He adds, “They can both kill you, so hopefully we send the right person home tonight.”

It’s time for the next tribal council. Jeff asks Coach whether it’ll be Dawn or Jim being voted out, with Whitney wearing the individual immunity idol. “Yes, absolutely,” Coach responds. There is discussion about who the greater threat is, who’s better at challenges and who’s more likable. Then Brandon and Dawn get into it about whether she was trying to be nice to them by staying as long in the challenge as possible so that the others could have time to eat breakfast. “They’re being nice because they have to,” Brandon remarks. Dawn takes offense to this and argues with him. Brandon ends the discussion with, “None of us are going to stop until that whole Savaii tribe is completely…” (wave of the hand, meaning “gone”).

Dawn looks exasperated. On the verge of tears, Whitney says he knows how Dawn is feeling, saying they’ve been completely vilified even though they’ve been playing as honorably as the others have, as “real people”. Then she cries and Dawn pats her. It’s time to vote.

Jeff reads the votes… Edna, Edna, Edna, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, and Jim. Jim is voted out! After Jim walks off, Coach waves him goodbye with a wicked grin on his face.

Next week: Albert makes a big move, but Coach is on to him and Ozzy lies in wait on Redemption Island.

Stay tuned!