‘Survivor: South Pacific – Cut Throat’ Recap

Posted on 10. Nov, 2011 by Michelle Ealey in Survivor Reviews, Survivor Season 23 "SOUTH PACIFIC"

Two immunity challenges. Two tribal councils. One hour of ‘Survivor.’ What a night!

Whitney tells Cochran he disgusts her.

Tonight begins when Te Tuna comes back to camp after Cochran’s refusal to follow Ozzy’s plan. Ozzy and Cochran talk alone—well they do after Brandon makes sure Cochran’s not getting bullied. Ozzy tells Cochran that he feels betrayed and thinks Cochran screwed him over. Cochran counters that he did it out of self-preservation; after studying the game for 11 years, he didn’t want his fate to come down to a rock. The rest of Savaii is not as civil as Ozzy. Jim calls Cochran “a coward” and “a poor excuse of a man.” Whitney says that Cochran “disgusts her.” Really, Whitney? Cochran lied about who he was voting for; it’s not as though he lied about his dead grandmother.

After taking a verbal beating from his former tribe members, Cochran goes over to the former Upolu members. Brandon welcomes him warmly. Rick puts his arm around Cochran. Fake or not, Upolu has made Cochran feel a part of the group, which is something Savaii never completely did.

The next day is the first immunity challenge. The first four castaways to toss a coconut in a ring will move to the second round. Dawn, Whitney, Jim, and Sophie advance to the next round. They have to crack coconuts open, fill their mouths with coconut water, go through an obstacle course, and spit into a tube. The first to fill the tube with coconut water wins. The race is close between Jim and Sophie. Sophie has a chance to win, but she cannot hold the coconut water in her mouth. She has to return to the start, and this allows Jim to win.

After the challenge, Ozzy knows he is going home. He tells Coach that he doesn’t want to go. Coach respects Ozzy, but Ozzy was cocky the day before, so it’s too late for Ozzy to win Coach over. Coach tells Ozzy to keep fighting and win back a chance to get into the game.

For a moment, Ozzy might have hope. Jim suggests that he give Ozzy the immunity necklace at tribal council. Jim would make an impassioned speech, hoping to sway two Upolu members to vote for Cochran. At tribal, players don’t have the opportunity to talk in private, so Jim is betting on his words changing people’s minds at the last moment.

The conversation at tribal council is very interesting. Jim believes he saved Cochran many times. Cochran doesn’t agree. Their disagreement centers on perception. Jim sees changing his mind before tribal council and voting for someone else as “saving” Cochran’s life in the game. Cochran views being on the chopping block and getting votes as having to constantly fight and beg to stay in the game. Same events. Two different interpretations.

Cochran feels welcomed by the former Upolu tribe.

Jim makes a speech about integrity. He says Upolu should stay true to their beliefs about honor. Tonight, they can make a statement about how ‘Survivor’ is played. With one voice they can declare that traitors do not belong in the game. To prove he means what he says, he is willing to give his immunity necklace to Ozzy.

Jeff asks Coach what he thinks. Coach sees Cochran’s actions as standing up for himself. Voting Cochran out will send a message that standing up for yourself will bring you harm. Coach thinks standing up for yourself is an honorable act.

Ozzy declares that being sent to Redemption Island will be good for him. He’ll only have to feed himself. He will be rested and fed, ready to win.

Jeff asks Jim about the immunity necklace. Jim keeps the necklace. So much for integrity.

The tribe votes. Cochran receives two votes. Ozzy is sent to Redemption Island again. What’s interesting is how Whitney and Dawn voted. The ladies voted for Ozzy. Are they working together or are they just being cautious?

Day 23 starts on Redemption Island. Ozzy catches fish. The men eat well. There is no duel at Redemption Arena.

Cochran offers his shoulder to a stuffed Brandon.

The tribe battles for individual immunity again. For this challenge, the players must stand on a balance beam and hold a ball in a bow. If contestants last the first round, they will move to the narrower part of the beam. Jeff announces a twist. For those who feel safe in the game, they can eat instead of competing. Coach thinks about competing, but his alliance wants to eat; since they are a united front, Coach and his allies eat while Dawn, Jim, and Whitney compete.

During the competition, Dawn says she’s happy the others get to eat, and she wants to stay on the beam as long as possible so they can eat. She feels they are one tribe. Obviously, Dawn demonstrates she is open to forming relationships with the former Upolu members. Strategizing during an immunity challenge? Maybe Dawn has her head back in the game.

Jim is out first. Dawn and Whitney advance to the second round. Dawn tries to recover, but her balance doesn’t last, and she falls. Whitney wins immunity.

Jim, knowing he is the target, tries to save himself. He presents a plot to Albert and Sophie. According to Jim, Albert and Sophie should team up with him, Dawn, and Whitney and vote out Edna. This is a good plan, and he’s right about no one suspecting Edna to be a target right now. However, his plan has a flaw—Albert and Sophie would be outnumbered in Jim’s alliance. Albert and Sophie still have numbers on their side, and they are not going to risk a move this soon. Besides, Albert claims to have a more creative plan in motion.

Jim tries to convince Albert and Sophie to follow his plan.

Albert sees Dawn’s friendly personality as a threat. He approaches Sophie, but she doesn’t want to veer from the plan and neither does Coach or Brandon. Sophie notes how nervous Albert is. This is not good for Albert. Acting rash and paranoid is not advantageous at this point in the game.

The editing is to make us wonder if the vote will be for Jim or Dawn, but we know who is going home. The interesting moment of the second tribal council involves Brandon. No, he doesn’t do another outrageous outburst, but he does have a misunderstanding with Dawn. Brandon misinterprets her comments about the immunity challenge. After a brief exchange, Brandon accepts her apology, but says that it doesn’t matter. He can’t wait to get all of the Savaii people out. Brandon is looking forward to when the seven of them are left. This is great news for Cochran. When only the Upolu 6 plus Cochran are left, he will be a swing vote again. Which way would he go? He wears Coach’s jacket during council, and Brandon is very protective of Cochran, so sticking with Coach and Brandon might be his ticket to the final four. His odds will increase if Albert continues to be paranoid and begins to make rash decisions.

Whitney cries about feeling vilified and labeled as a bully. Again, this is about perception. The members of Savaii still don’t understand how their actions and words made Cochran feel. Since day one, Cochran has felt belittled, isolated, ostracized, and ignored. From his perspective, his fellow Savaii never treated him with respect, so, to Cochran, joining the Upolu alliance was a rational and understandable act.

The tribe votes Jim out. Jim joins Ozzy and Keith on Redemption Island. Whether there will be a duel next week is uncertain. After the merge last season, duels had three and four competitors, so having more than two castaways on Redemption Island is not unprecedented.

Ozzy has competed and won the duel before, so he might just do so again. If Ozzy does return to the game, can he find a crack in the Upolu alliance? To echo what Ozzy said earlier in the show, this is ‘Survivor.’ Anything can happen.

If you missed the last episode you can read our ‘Survivor: South Pacific – Double Agent’ recap to catch up.

Tags: Survivor, Survivor South Pacific, Survivor South Pacific Cut Throat episode, Survivor South Pacific Cut Throat episode recap, Survivor South Pacific Cut Throat recap