By Kim
Remember when Ozzy voluntarily got eliminated and sent to Redemption Island and gave Cochran of all people the Immunity Idol? So that happened. So Ozzy goes to Redemption Island and lies to Christine that Cochran blindsided him with the Immunity Idol and he got voted out. So that's step one in his plan. Now he needs to beat her at the Duel and then give the other tribe false information headed into the merge (that he and Cochran are at odds). So when the Duel comes, it's the one where you had to build a pole and then use it to retrieve three keys, Brady Bunch style. Ozzy struggles a bit at first but then dominates the Challenge and sends Christine home.
Immediately following the Duel, Ozzy rejoins his tribe and they merge. That seems a little convenient, no? So the first day of the merge, Cochran goes to Coach and tries to pretend like he sent Ozzy out. Coach somehow knows THE ENTIRE PLOY. Someone must have told him because he lays out exactly what they did, point by point, right down to Cochran having an Idol in his pocket. So Cochran realizes the plan isn't going to work, and jumps to his Plan B – he admits everything to Upolu and throws himself on their mercy. Then he also goes to Dawn and talks to her about doing…something? I'm not really clear on what he proposed. But if no one flips on their former tribe, they will "go to rocks" at Tribal, meaning they will have to pick rocks to determine completely by chance who goes home, since any vote will be a 6-6 tie. Cochran and Dawn have to decide whether they want to chance "going to rocks" or flip on Savaii and become number seven and eight in the Upolu alliance, or stick with Savaii where they are numbers five and six. Crappy choice either way, really.
The Immunity Challenge is to hold a coconut balanced on a sort of hammock made of two ropes while standing on a perch. At intervals, they lengthen the rope, making it easier for the coconut to slip through. Dropping the coconut or leaving the perch means elimination, and there are two Immunity Necklaces awarded: one to the last man standing and one to the last woman standing. Dawn wins for the women, pretty easily – it was only the second round. Ozzy wins over Albert in the third round.
Savaii discusses their options. Ozzy and Dawn have immunity and they decide to give Whitney the Idol (Why Whitney? Unclear.) Cochran tells Sophie the truth, that his tribe is voting for Rick and will play the Idol. He posits that Rick should play the Idol too – then Cochran won't have to reveal his loyalties with a vote. Sophie's like, "Yeah, we're not wasting our Idol to save your ass." Other than that, Cochran is given a warm welcome by Upolu, though Dawn is in his ear telling him that Upolu will promise him anything to get his vote and he shouldn't trust them.
At Tribal, Savaii finds out that Upolu didn't buy their story. Ozzy admits that it was a ruse and his team plans to play the Immunity Idol, but obviously he doesn't tell them who will play it, and we (the viewers) don't know who Upolu is planning on voting out. After the votes are cast, Ozzy plays the Idol for Whitney. No one on Upolu plays an Idol. Keith gets six votes and Rick gets six votes (so why did they give the Idol to Whitney again?). That triggers a revote, where they can only vote for Rick or Keith. Will Cochran flip now? That was his original plan. And he does. I gasped out loud. So Keith goes to Redemption Island. Jim calls Cochran a coward repeatedly and Brandon yells at him, saying that behavior is why Cochran flipping in the first place. I don't know what Cochran has to gain from going from the sixth person in a six-person alliance to the seventh person in a seven-person alliance, but maybe he's hoping he can leapfrog some of the people in his new tribe. I guess at least he tried something and made the game a little more interesting.