Episode Report Card Sara M: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I'm In Such A Hot Pickle!
By Sara M | Season 16 | Episode 9 | Aired on 04.10.2008
The gang arrive at tribal council, and Probst starts off by asking Alexis if she's been sizing up her competition. Alexis says she looks at strength three ways: physical, mental, and social. Probst asks Cirie which strengths Alexis has, and Cirie says "all three" while Ozzy smiles and Amanda rolls her eyes. Cirie concludes that Alexis is a "triple threat," then apologizes for calling her out like that. Oh, shush, Cirie. You aren't sorry at all. Alexis says she's not worried about Cirie because there are plenty of "triple threats" left in the tribe. Probst keeps on talking to Alexis, asking her what Eliza's skills are. Alexis answers honestly that Eliza played a strong game mentally and physically, but not so much socially. Meanwhile, she is using the past tense, which Probst totally picks up on. He asks her about that. "Pardon me?" Alexis asks. Eliza scoffs at the dicks she's on a tribe with, who can't even wait for her to be voted out before acting like she isn't even there. She helpfully explains things to Alexis: "You said it in the past tense, as if I've already been voted out." "Okay. Sorry," Alexis says, not even looking at her. "It's okay," Eliza responds. Alexis might want to go back to not speaking at all so she can stop putting her foot in her mouth.
Probst asks Eliza if she agrees with Alexis's assessment of her. Eliza says she does. Her social game "has been lacking" on one hand, but on the other, some people are being "short-sighted" and "overestimating their own social game." She's probably right, for all the good it'll do her. Probst asks Ozzy if you want to keep people in the game who are threatening socially or keep the ones who aren't and are therefore better to go against in the final two. Ozzy agrees that if you take someone no one likes to the end, you win. James says that's in the How to Win Survivor notebook that Richard Hatch probably would have written if he didn't get sent to jail. Probst tells Eliza her eyes are hard to miss when they roll. Or, like, ever. "Do you think you're liked?" he asks her. "No, not really," Eliza answers immediately. Parvati speaks up and says it's Eliza's fault, since she's been running around trying to get Parvati voted out and then saying she's loyal to Parvati and wants the "Favorites" to stick together until the end. Eliza denies this, saying she heard the plan was Favorite all the way and was simply checking with Parvati today to see if that was still going on. Parvati says she simply couldn't keep quiet anymore. "I definitely got myself into this mess," Eliza says while Parvati rolls her eyes. Why, Parvati? What are you rolling your eyes at? Self-awareness? Maybe you should try some on for yourself. And why does Amanda look stoned every time they cut to her? Eliza says that she shouldn't go home tonight because she's the perfect person to go against at the end. She warns the Favorites not to make the same mistake twice and go to the end against "the best." We see shots of everyone nodding at this sage advice. Nice try, editors.