Episode Report Card Kim: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Cannibalism
By Kim | Season 23 | Episode 11 | Aired on 11.30.2011
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.All the former Savaii members are gone (except Cochran), with Ozzy, Dawn, and Whitney on Redemption Island. Cochran makes a plea to Albert, Rick, Brandon, Sophie, and Coach to let him stay over Edna. Albert and Coach are inclined to keep him, but Sophie wants him out, mostly because she's realizing that he's really annoying.
Redemption Island Duel is the ever-popular balancing a stack of dishes. Dawn is out first, and then Whitney. So Ozzy remains on Redemption Island. Boo.
Coach tries to decide whom he should get rid of (because it's 100% his decision, apparently), and seems to think he should keep both Edna and Cochran, because he doesn't think either of them would ever vote him off. In other news, Edna and Rick are sick of Albert and his doing-nothingness. Rick gives him the nickname "Prince Albert."
The Immunity Challenge is a redux. First round, toss beanbags on platforms. Those who succeed (Albert, Rick, and Sophie) use slingshots to hit targets with coconuts (like the challenge that led to Mikayla's ouster). Albert is the only one who's done this challenge before, and he was really good at it the first time. Rick puts up a good fight, but Albert ultimately wins immunity and a reward of a shower and a massage. Albert chooses Coach to go with him, and then gives up his own reward to let Cochran go in his place.
Albert finds out about "Prince Albert" (which somehow got twisted to "Princess Albert") and tells Cochran they can join forces and vote out Rick, if Coach agrees. Edna's also on board. Cochran takes the idea to Coach, who gets all Shakespearean about it but we don't see what he plans to do as they head to Tribal Council.
At Tribal, Edna gets emotional because she felt they were all equal (how could they be, dummy?) and now she's finding out that she's going home soon, if not this week, then next week. Edna admits that she's open to wheeling and dealing. Brandon says that it's black and white, not gray, and says that he's voting out Cochran tonight and Edna next week, and then starts crying because he's having such a hard time reconciling his beliefs with the gameplay. Everyone else on the tribe basically admits that they don't even try to talk strategy with Brandon because he's got his ideas and they are set in stone, and there's no wiggle room based on changing events. Ultimately, they stick to the pecking order and vote out Cochran, with Edna and Cochran voting for Rick. And Cochran is shocked! Who didn't see that he was seventh in a six-person alliance? I guess just Cochran and maybe Edna. He's an idiot. I don't like Cochran, but how awesome would it be if he beat Ozzy on Redemption Island? Really freaking awesome.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Te Tuna. Night 27, immediately after ousting Dawn and Whitney. Coach proclaims that Upolu has eradicated all former Savaii members. Except for Cochran, but I guess we're pretending he's Upolu now. At least until the next vote. Edna comments that she's getting used to seeing her name at Tribal Council, and Coach asks if anyone was worried about the vote tonight. They all say no. Edna interviews that on the way home from Tribal, there seemed to be a lot of wondering who was in the fifth, sixth and seventh positions in Upolu, and who's in the Top Four. Are they really wondering? I mean, I know we have more information than they do, but Coach, Albert and Sophie are obviously tight, and Coach is clearly calling the shots. Or everyone is letting him think that he does. Are people like Edna seriously thinking, "I'm definitely in the Top Four"? I guess she is, or she wouldn't be so complacent.
Cochran says that he's happy with his decision to flip at the merge, and he thanks Upolu for adopting him into their family. Sophie looks really awkward, like this whole conversation is making her cringe. Cochran interviews that he's a little worried because it was made clear at Tribal that he's in seventh position in his tribe and will probably be next to go. A little worried? I think he should be a lot worried. It's not like he has two or three more votes to get things together, like he did when he flipped. He's got to make a move now. And he should have started making a move six days ago. Coach notes that he's happy all those extra people are gone because now it feels like their tribe again. Cochran interviews that he's starting to do what he can to ensure he's not taken out by "The Family." And yes, he makes the requisite Manson reference. But again, "starting to"? Too little, too late, Johnny.
Te Tuna. Day 28. Everyone sits around the campfire and Cochran tells a story about how had a reputation as a brown-noser as a kid, and he wanted to change that, so he decided to make prank calls when he was in fifth grade. Okay, fine. In the pre-Caller ID era, who didn't make prank calls in fifth grade? So he called up girls (he knew?) and said, "I think I wanna trade sperm with you." Okay, there is a huge difference between prank calls and sexual harassment (albeit ill-informed and misguided sexual harassment.) That's just creepy and gross. Sophie lies in the shelter nearby and looks appropriately disgusted. She interviews that she used to feel bad for Cochran about the bullying, but after spending time with him, she gets why people were annoyed by him. She stops shy of saying he deserved the bullying (and was it really bullying? Or just people making it clear that they didn't like or respect him? Is there a difference?). She's frustrated with his attitude, because he's still gloating over his flip and seems to think that someone will take him to the end. She ends simply, "I don't like him." Me neither, Sophie. Let's be friends.