Jay's pretty bitter that Sean went back on his word during last week's Pirates Court. Jay calls Sean to a sit-down, where Sean apologizes for voting out Alexis instead of Cheryl the way Jay wanted. Jay tells us that Sean is dead to him now. Is neither of them going to bring up the $1,000 that Jay slipped Sean for his vote?
Nessa flirts with the guys, claiming it's part of her strategy. The other girls think this is a dumb strategy, since women currently outnumber guys on the boat. I tend to think that it's not a strategy at all, and that Nessa just likes flirting. Ben complains about Azmyth not being the tough disciplinarian that Joe Don was. Ben, of course, was one of Joe Don's officers, and thus is invested in the Joe Don regime. Also, he seems to think this is an actual pirate ship. Captain Azmyth is still persisting in pronouncing most of his words with his goofy fake accent, causing Laurel in turn to pronounce Azmyth a "weirdo." No argument here, especially when we see Azmyth going on and on about having "a conversation with God" before today's expedition.
When it's time to open a new compartment in the Chest of Zanzibar, Cameron tells us that this week's treasure was hidden by Henry Steel's master craftsman, who liked looking at his own reflection. Whatever could that mean. They pick teams in the usual way. The Black crew will be Azmyth, his officers Jupiter and Jay, Laurel, Christa, Cheryl, and Joe Don. The Red crew is Ben, Louie, Joy, Kendra, Nessa and Sean. Sean is bitter about the way the crews shook out, because he thinks he's the only one on his team worth a damn. Not that that makes him unique. As they hop into their separate longboats to row ashore, Azmyth interviews that he isn't nervous, because he plans to win. As they head out, Cameron narrates that the crews have to row to an anchor on the beach. The two crews are looking pretty even as they make landfall and head up the trail inland, but Azmyth is first to the sabotage point, which is a rockslide made of coconuts. A coconut slide, I guess you'd call it, which sounds to me like something that comes in a tall glass with a paper umbrella and a tiny plastic sword and which would make watching this show a great deal more enjoyable. As soon as all of the Black crew is through, Azmyth orders the trap sprung. Too bad for Joy, who's already had one knee injury on this show. The coconut slide comes down right on top of her. Maybe there should be a rule about not activating the sabotage in cases where the other crew is already there.
But then after the commercial, we find out that it doesn't really matter, because the coconuts must be hollow or something. All they do is interfere with the Red crew's traction. Still, Black is first to the landmark indicated on the map, which is a rock formation on the shoreline shaped just like two giant crocodile heads. Mark Burnett's location scout gets a bonus this week. Inside a pile of rocks on the beach nearby, Black finds a wooden box containing a clue and a map which leads them to a small cave. There's a ladder to get down there and everything. The cave has a small window for the sun to shine through, and an empty frame on the wall to slot their map into. When Azmyth does this, he sees that the X-shaped reflection on the map leads them right back to the anchor where they made landfall. So Black heads over there. When no treasure is immediately apparent, Azmyth leads his crew on a wild goose chase up the beach, until they realize that they're on the wrong track. As Jay interviews, Azmyth was the only one who saw the reflection on the map in the first place. So now they all have to schlep all the way back to the cave to check out the clue again. It's not so much the Black crew as the Black committee.
Meanwhile, Red has followed the same clue and is taking a more aggressive approach to looking for the treasure near the anchor, by which I mean that they are actually digging for it. When Black comes back -- again -- and joins the dig, it looks for a moment like they've found it. But it turns out to be nothing but a rock, and Red finds the treasure first. Louie is already looking forward to cutting Joe Don adrift. Because that worked out so well last week. I think Louie's plan is just to eliminate Joe Don every week until Joe Don gets the point.
It's nearly dark when the Red Crew finally returns to the ship and heaves its tiny little box on board. This week's haul is a mere $5,000. Sean's kind of irritated. The Red crew unanimously elects Louie as the new captain, awarding him $2,500. Louie picks Sean and Nessa as his officers, saying it's because Sean is a "raw animal" he doesn't want to go against, and that Nessa is a "rabbit" that he wants on his team. I'm sure his selection of Nessa has nothing to do with the fact that he confessed to ogling her ass in the jungle earlier. The casket also has a false bottom containing a document. It's called the Royal Pardon, and it's basically a Life Shield or Golden Veto or whatever. The way it works is that whoever has it can't be cut adrift, and the pirates can bid for it. Cameron explains that all bids have to be in by the time Louie bestows his Black Spots, and then Cameron will reveal the highest bidder at Pirates Court. Much like on eBay, the highest bidder has to pay whether he or she needs it or not, and if not, they have to sell it to someone else before the Pirates Court.
In the Captain's Cabin, Sean demonstrates his poor grasp of reality as he scoffs at the small take "from a Frenchman who, you know, spent all his loot on that pardon" Louie starts out by deciding that all of this week's treasure will be divided evenly. So, wow, that's like, three figures for everyone. Sean "strategizes" to Louie that they need to make Joe Don bid for the pardon, since he's the richest person on the ship right now. Louie's doubtful that Joe Don will cough up that much. Louie and the officers go out into the mess to explain the Pardon again, and then Azmyth explains it to us again, and then we're back in the mess in time for the fighting to start. Joe Don goes on the offensive, calling out Louie for having been on the winning team four times. Which, Joe Don says, means that Louie has a lot of money. Good argument, if it had come from anybody but Mister Fifty Percent. Louie angrily says that Joe Don's sitting on thirty grand. Joe Don admits to us that he's nervous about getting cut loose. So Joe Don pulls Jay aside and asks if Jay can get rid of Louie instead. But then he quickly backs off of that, and merely says that he doesn't want a Black Spot. Jay says that he'll do what he can, but when Joe Don overplays his hand and threatens to end his pact with Jay if a Black Spot comes up for him, Jay gets pissed and calls it off first. And then Jay goes back to the rest of the crew and tells them all about it, and tells us that he's bidding everything he has -- $6,001 --- to get the Black Spot for himself and drive up the bidding. Since it's a silent auction with secret bids, I wish Jay the best of luck on that.
day, in the Captain's Cabin, Louie tells his officers -- and us -- that he's planning to get rid of Joe Don, with Cheryl as his plan B. Sean still wants Cheryl to stay, but he's overruled. And Louie's third nominee is Azmyth, because he figures that every Captain who loses should get Spotted. "That's the test of a true Captain," Louie tells us. I'm sure it makes sense to him. They head up to the deck and pass out the summonses, and Azmyth interviews that he's 99.9% sure that nobody wants him to go. Cheryl's pissed and hurt that she's been nominated twice in a row, because she doesn't think she's done anything wrong. And aside from being friends with Joe Don, she hasn't. As Joe Don gets his summons, Louie jokes that he's got three Spots on his. Joe Don tells us that he isn't surprised to have been Spotted, and blames it on Louie's personal vendetta and -- get this -- Louie's greed. I don't get how Joe Don could have been on the losing team this week, being the master of projection that he is.
Jupiter talks to Jay about Louie's revenge Spottings, while a single tiny tear trickles down Cheryl's cheek. Jay talks to Joe Don, who admits to being nervous. "I would be too, bro," Jay says, adding that it's too bad for Joe Don that "the person who has it out for you is the Captain." Joe Don agrees, and Jay remarks that Joe Don doesn't have much chance of staying unless he wins the pardon. Jay, that's how you run up the bidding. Much better.
At Pirates Court that night, Joe Don, Cheryl, and Azmyth stand in the dock. Cameron gives his little weekly speech and asks Louie how he likes being Captain, after having been Spotted himself in the first week. Louie says he doesn't "like the blue suit," since now there will be grudges against him for putting people up. Cameron asks Louie why he Spotted the people he did. Regarding Azmyth, Louie repeats his philosophy that "the crew has a right to test their ex-Captain," and invites the captain to do the same to him. As for Cheryl, Louie says the only reason she's up is because "she's associated with Joe Don." Which leads Louie to enter into his old rant about Joe Don keeping half the money for the first two expeditions. Cameron points out that them's the rules (although he says it's "The Pirate's Code," like, whatever), and asks if Louie thinks it should have been his money. Joe Don smirks as Louie just says that a Captain should be more fair with the money.
Now it's time for the Spotees to defend themselves. Azmyth goes up first, saying he's a man of his word and will continue pushing them on to more treasure all the way to the end. Cameron points out, "The reason you're not Captain is because your Black crew lost." Good point, that. Azmyth claims it wasn't a loss, and spouts off about how the memories and experience they gained were priceless, like one afternoon's scavenger hunt is The Amazing Race or something. Everyone shakes his or her head, like, "Could he just go back to doing the accent?" Cameron turns to Jay to ask what happened. Jay says that Azmyth was the only one to see the clue. Azmyth cops to that.
Cameron gives the floor to Cheryl, who repeats her position that Spotting her for messing up a clue is one thing: "But putting me up here because I associate with the Captain? That's difficult for me to understand." Except Joe Don's not the Captain anymore. Kind of a telling choice of words there. Cheryl says that she works hard for the whole team. Seeing Nessa roll her eyes, Cameron gives Nessa a chance to tell Cheryl that she thinks she's full of shit. "There were more people than you think that felt alienated by you when you were [an officer]," Nessa says from the officers' platform. Jupiter, on the other hand, thinks that Cheryl's nomination creates a bad "vibe." When it's Joe Don's turn to talk, he disputes Louie's claim that it's a happy ship. "Really, you're an angry Captain....You're real focused on one thing: money." Joe Don still thinks the Captain should get extra, and lies that he loves Louie and has nothing against him. Which we'll see about if Joe Don ever gets to be Captain again. Cameron asks Louie if he isn't being unfair. Louie admits that it isn't fair, but that whoever gets cut adrift can blame Louie. "That's why the Captain is a marked man," he says. Tell it to Joe Don.
Cameron says that it's time to vote, but he's still not saying who won the Pardon. He says that if the pirate with the most votes has the highest bid, then he or she is safe, and the pirate with the highest number of votes will be cut adrift. Not that that would ever happen.
There are seven pirates voting tonight, which reduces the chances of a tie. Cameron takes the ballots off the dagger, but he says he's going to reveal the highest bidder for the Pardon before counting the votes. There were five bids, and the winner of the Pardon is...Joe Don, who bid $7,000. Cheapskate. Cameron calls Sean down to deliver the Pardon to Joe Don. Sean hands it over, and Joe Don passes over the cash on the spot. So it looks like Louie's getting some of Joe Don's money after all. Louie smiles to hear that there are no votes for mutiny, as if the game isn't completely stacked against that possibility to begin with.
Before saying who lost the vote, Cameron informs Joe Don that he just dropped $7,000 for nothing. And now Joe Don has to sell it before the Pirates Court, to somebody much poorer than he is. That leaves Cheryl and Azmyth up for elimination, and to nobody's surprise (least of all Azmyth's, judging by his expression), it's Cheryl who's going home. Jay quietly smirks that his plan to oust Cheryl came about eventually. It only cost him $1,000 and an extra week. Louie comes down to cut Cheryl's raft loose, and she coasts out to sea. In her exit interview, she says she didn't even bid for the Pardon: "If they don't want me here, then I'm gonna go." She says that she's a better person for not succumbing to the backstabbing and the lying. Plus, as she doesn't mention, she's already got 25% of the first two treasures, so it's not like she's leaving the table empty-handed.