Now that there are two people on Redemption Island (Semhar and Christine), it's time for a duel. As with last season, two people from each tribe are invited to witness it. Upolu sends Coach and Stacey and the Savaii tribe sends Ozzy and Elyse. The challenge involves balancing a totem on a platform on top of a pole. At regular intervals, they have to add a segment to the pole, making it longer. If the totem falls, you lose. Before they start, Semhar does a weird spoken word thing all about this awesome man whom she has not yet met. I think she's losing it on Redemption Island. That's assuming that she was normal before she went there, though, and I'm not so sure about that. Semhar eventually loses, which means Christine and her filthy neck (seriously, there were layers of grime) get to stick around for a while. Semhar gives a big speech about how she felt abandoned by her tribe and whatever. That girl needs therapy.
Brandon finally takes off his shirt and reveals that he's Russell's nephew, mostly because he's feeling guilty about getting caught trying to oust Mikayla. Not that I don't think he felt guilty about trying to oust Mikayla; just that he got caught. The tribe is pretty whatever about the reveal. Later, Brandon kind of goes off about Mikayla and tells her that he's not the only one who wanted her out, and yells at her in front of the whole tribe. And then Brandon reveals to the camera how much he struggles with good versus evil. He needs to join Mikayla at the therapist's office.
Over on the other tribe, Ozzy reveals to Keith that he has an Immunity Idol. Keith immediately tells Whitney. Meanwhile, Papa Bear is feeling like an outcast in his own tribe, because he's not clicking with anyone.
The Immunity Challenge is as convoluted as they've all been lately, which is fun to watch but difficult to explain without a visual. I'll give it a shot. One person runs out a floating dock holding a body board attached to a rope. That person grab a bag, then hops on the body board and the rest of the tribe cranks a winch to pull him or her back to shore. Repeat five times. When all the bags are retrieved, the rest of the tribe is on top of a wall, and they use grappling hooks to retrieve the bags, which contain puzzle banners (because that's a thing). They must unroll the banners and arrange them on the wall to make the tribe's flag. Got all that? Good. In addition to immunity, the winning tribe gets reward – some staples like sugar and coffee, along with milk and cookies, as well as another clue to the Immunity Idol, because those clues have been really useful, historically.
Brandon and Ozzy are chosen to run out to the bags first. One glitch not mentioned in Probst's description is that the tribe has to feed the rope OUT before cranking it in, and Ozzy's tribe does a terrible job, so Ozzy can't go very quickly. It doesn't really matter, as the lead changes several times during this segment and the teams are dead even going into the grappling hook portion. Coach is some sort of grappling hook savant and gets the pieces up pretty quickly, earning enough of a lead that Upolu wins handily.
Papa Bear catches wind that he's probably going to be voted out so he goes hunting for the Immunity Idol. He obviously doesn't find it, since Ozzy has it, but he makes a fake one. No one is fooled, and he is voted out. He did call out the alliance of five during Tribal Council, but the others on the outs (Cochran and Dawn) don't seem overly concerned.
Redemption Island. Night 5. Christine arrives and finds Semhar huddled up under a blanket. They introduce themselves, since they've never met, being on different tribes and all. Christine tells the camera that she's not sure why she was voted out, except that maybe her tribe wasn't ready for someone who wanted to play the game. I don't know if that was the problem. I think it was that Christine didn't know enough to keep her mouth shut in the early days and avoid making enemies before the power structure of the tribe was established. Once Coach kind of took over, Christine was on the wrong end of the power balance, and was his most vocal opponent. And then she was gone. At least, that's my take on it. Christine just thinks Coach didn't like her for random reasons, but she's happy that she gets another chance at the game due to Redemption Island.
The rest of Upolu arrives back at camp, relieved that they made it another day. Mikayla expresses concern to the camera that Brandon targeted her to be voted out, since she has no idea why he would do that. Back at camp, Coach tries to reassure her that she's not in any danger, but before they can talk too much, Brandon barges into the conversation, mostly just to break it up. He doesn't have anything to add, and Coach and Mikayla clam up as soon as he appears. Coach even gives Brandon a little hug, which only reveals that Brandon might be under five feet tall. Seriously, he is a short little thing.
In a confessional, Brandon talks about how he lied to everyone and feels horribly about it. Just to review, he lied to Coach and said that some of the other women were going to vote out Mikayla, in an attempt to get Coach to persuade the rest of the tribe to vote out Mikayla too. Brandon did this because he resents that fact that Mikayla is so hot and he wants to do dirty things to her. At least that's the only viable reason he's given. And it's not really that viable. Anyway, at Tribal Council, Brandon's lie was outed so now Mikayla is all, "What the hell?" and everyone else knows that Brandon is a liar, and not a very good one at that. So Brandon is acting all sorry, but it's fairly unclear if he's sorry that he lied, or sorry that he got caught. If his lie had worked, and Mikayla had been voted out, would he be giving us this sob story? Probably not.
The morning, the tribes get a Treemail, informing them that the first Redemption Island challenge will be happening today, and two people from each tribe will be invited to witness it. I really don't get this whole "two people from each tribe business." Is it an attempt to get people to lie about what they see to the rest of the tribe? Is it to get two people away and hope that the others plot against them? I would just love to know what the producers were thinking when they came up with that rule. Anyway, Coach asks to go and Stacey (the older African-American woman) wants to go with him. Everyone else is like, "Whatever," because what's the point? It's so dumb that they don't even show how the other tribe decided who got to go. Coach claims he wants to go to make sure Christine loses. Because if he didn't go, Christine would win? I'm done trying to figure this out.
So Coach and Stacey and Ozzy and some other chick are sitting up in the bleachers. Why do they have full bleachers in the Redemption Duel Pit or whatever it's called when they always have only four spectators? Semhar and Christine arrive on the scene. Probst asks Christine if there's any lingering bad blood after she was booted. Christine says that she was just saying what everyone was also saying, that Coach had to go early, and it caused Coach to target her. Probst asks Semhar how she's doing on Redemption Island. Semhar looks like a bag of shit. I mean, she looks exhausted and starving. I can't imagine her winning any competition right now, unless it's a bag of shit competition. Then she would totally take first place. She claims she's ready to keep going, but I'm not seeing it.
Probst explains the competition. They have to place a wooden idol on top of a platform, which is on a pole. At regular intervals, they will have to add another section to the pole, making it longer and thus more difficult to hold steady. The first person to drop the idol goes home. So let's get started! But wait. First, Semhar has to drop some spoken word on us. It's really weird. She just starts going off on all the things she would do for the man she loves. So at first, I'm like, "Okay, she gains strength from thinking about her man, although it's a little weird that she's talking about how she would do a striptease and give birth to eleven children without drugs to prove her love. I didn't know that getting an epidural equals not loving your baby daddy. I wonder what it means that I had a C-section? How am I still married?" Coach and Ozzy exchange an eyeroll, which was pretty awesome. And then Semhar concludes that she hasn't even found this awesome guy yet. So she's going to do all those things for some man that she hasn't yet met? She's a friggin' weirdo. She claims that doing that calms her down.
So finally, we're ready to start. They place their idols and Probst reminds them to keep both hands on the handle. They continue to add sections, and it seems like a really difficult task. Christine's idol wobbles a bit, and she looks up to see it. You can see the dirt in the folds of her neck. It's really gross. I am paranoid about neck grime. After what seems like a fairly short period of time, Semhar's idol falls and she loses. Christine gets to stick around, but Semhar is going home. Probst asks her how she's feeling. Semhar gives this whole speech about how she moved a lot as a kid and this brought up old feelings of abandonment, and her tribe was really cruel. Yeah, how dare they...play the game and vote someone out. Probst points out that she signed up for the game, and Semhar kind of misses the point and says that she's really proud of herself for not quitting. Yeah! She lasted three whole days without quitting! Give her the million dollars! God. Get out, loser. Anyway, Christine and Semhar hug as Semhar passes over a blanket to Christine. Semhar drops her buff in the fire and leaves. Christine gives a thumbs up to Stacey and goes back to Redemption Island. She interviews that Coach only came to watch in hopes that she would lose, and she wants to "pull a Matt" and stick around for a long time. But hopefully not truly pull a Matt and not win the game, right?
Upolu. Day 7. Brandon interviews that God was chastising him, and God and his family were displeased. How did the camera crews miss that? Look, I hate to question anyone's spiritual beliefs, but does he really believe that God was speaking to him? And how is that any different from schizophrenia, really? Although I guess if God is telling him to be a good person, that's fine. It's not like Son of Sam or anything. Anyway, Brandon wants to be a good person and stop lying and playing games. I don't know that the first week of being on Survivor is the best time for that epiphany. Because there is a lot of game time left, and there might need to be some lying and game play.
Brandon is sitting on the shore with his tribe mates and he very obviously says that he really wants to take his shirt off. No one cares. He takes his shirt off and no one notices or comments on his giant tattoos, so he makes a big announcement that he's Brandon Hantz and he's Russell Hantz's nephew. No one really seems to care still, except maybe Stacey. Brandon claims he's not like his uncle, and he just wants to make friends, more than he wants the money. No, he doesn't. He's lying again. No one goes on this show for the networking opportunities. Mikayla interviews that she was shocked, but she knew that something was going on with him, and she still doesn't trust him. Stacey tells Brandon that she won't judge a book by its cover, and Brandon interviews that he loves God and Jesus Christ. Ugh. I mean, I have many friends and family members that are Christians, and I love and respect them and their beliefs. But when someone has to mention their beliefs in every other sentence, I start to wonder a bit. Seems like that's never a good thing.
Brandon and Coach take a little walk. I think they're going to get water, since they're each carrying multiple canteens, but it's not like the show would ever tell us that. Remember when they used to have to find water and boil it, and food was an issue? You know, surviving? I miss those days. Anyway, Brandon apologizes that he didn't give Coach a heads up that he was going to reveal his identity, and Coach says it's no big deal. Coach interviews that Brandon is young, and he lets things bother him that probably shouldn't, and he should have kept his identity a secret. However, Coach still thinks Brandon is a valuable member of his alliance, even if he doesn't trust him fully anymore. When will Coach figure out that Brandon is crazy nutballs? When did Coach start being the sane one?
Meanwhile, over at Savaii, Ozzy is catching fish and Papa Bear is hanging out in the hammock. He interviews that there's a pecking order, and he feels like he, Dawn, and Cochran are on the outs. He hasn't clicked with anyone. And he's making up for that by... isolating himself in the hammock? Look, on this show, if you don't feel like you're in with the in crowd, you have to at least make yourself useful. Catch fish. Build a fire. Do some chore that the others consider a pain in the ass. Then when your name inevitably comes up for eviction, someone might say, "Yeah, but if he's gone, then one of us will have to do Chore X." And maybe they will reconsider. And then hopefully you can stick around long enough for the power balance to change, which seems to happen every few Tribal Councils. Dummy. What's not going to help is if you pout alone in the hammock. You're just making it easier to get rid of you, because then at least someone else can use the hammock, which looks pretty comfy.
Ozzy explains to the camera that he has an alliance with Keith, Whitney, Elyse, and Jim, but he feels closest to Keith, so he's going to tell him that he found the Immunity Idol. I'm wondering what Ozzy's motivation is here? He probably wants Keith to feel special and honored, to strengthen their alliance. It also serves to get word out that they shouldn't bother trying to vote Ozzy out, because he'll just play the Idol, I guess? Seems like it could also cause people to turn against Ozzy and try to flush the Idol. If Keith were smart, he'd go tell the people on the outs that Ozzy has the Idol, and try to get them to throw some votes Ozzy's way, then tell Ozzy what's happening so that he'll play the Idol. That seems like it would take a lot of finesse though, and I don't think Keith has those skills.
Instead, Keith immediately tells Whitney. They both seem annoyed that Ozzy has so much power, which is probably good. At least they're not just rolling over and letting Ozzy win. Keith interviews that he doesn't like that Ozzy has all the power, but he's telling Whitney about the Idol so that she will trust him in case they need to make a move against Ozzy later. So he's not so dumb. Keith makes Whitney promise to keep quiet, and she says that she will.
Back at Upolu, Mikayla and Brandon go for a walk and Mikayla wants to know what Brandon has against her. Brandon says he wanted her out. Which doesn't really answer the question. Mikayla asks if he just doesn't like her, and Brandon says that was it. Mikayla wonder why he doesn't like her. Throughout, she's being pretty neutral and seems to really just want to get this all out in the open and settle it. She's not screaming or being aggressive in any way. Brandon gets defensive and says that she doesn't get that he's trying to apologize. Mikayla points out that he's not apologizing, and he's actually just saying that he doesn't like her. Brandon's defense this time is that he's not the only one who doesn't like Mikayla's attitude. Then he interviews that Mikayla was coming at him like a bulldog, which is totally not true, and that he knows that, as a Christian, he's supposed to be meek and turn the other cheek. Okay, so he's going to apologize for real?
Brandon calls the rest of the tribe over, presumably so they can all hear his apology and clear the air. Instead, Brandon just repeats that he didn't like Mikayla and that's why he wanted to vote her out, and then adds that she needs to figure out who's loyal to her, because she doesn't seem to have much of an alliance. I don't get what that has to do with anything. The others all sort of stand around and look confused and/or awkward. Brandon asks everyone to keep him out of the drama. So he called everyone over so that he could give a dramatic speech about how he didn't want any more drama? I think Mikayla was trying to avoid drama by asking Brandon one-on-one what the problem was. He freaks me out.
Sophie, who seems really on top of things and is rapidly becoming my favorite, which means she'll probably be voted out soon, interviews that Brandon has crazy religious beliefs, and he seems to think Mikayla is "the Whore of Babylon." She adds that Brandon is trying to be good, because of his religion, but he's also a Hantz, and they are devils. I don't know if we should blame his bloodline or his brain chemistry.
Mikayla sits alone on the beach, crying. Brandon sits by the fire and voices over that his family told him not to lose his temper, and he did, and then interviews that he's constantly in a battle between good and evil, and he really wants to do good. I... really don't have that much trouble avoiding evil things. I don't think I'm a great person. But I don't feel like a struggle with evil on a daily basis. Am I alone in this? I seriously think he might need medication.
Coach and Sophie have a chat on the beach about how Brandon's little tantrum is going to affect the game. Coach is worried that it's going to spook his alliance (because they know now that Brandon is a loose cannon) and it's going to spook Mikayla (who might decide to make a big move to guarantee her own safety). Sophie and Coach agree that Brandon is definitely a Hantz in some ways, and they hope it doesn't hurt their alliance in the end.
Time for a Challenge! Both tribes arrive, but there's no checking out to see who was voted off, since they presumably know because of the Redemption Island duel. Okay, so here's the Immunity Challenge. One person from each tribe runs out on a floating dock while carrying a body board attached to a rope. That person grabs a bag, and then hops onto the body board while the rest of the tribe cranks a winch to pull him or her back to shore. This happens five times so that five bags can be collected. Once all the bags are in, two people go up to the top of a wall and use grappling hooks to snag the bags and pull them up to the top. Each bag contains a banner, and those five banners must be hung from the wall in a certain order to make the tribe's flag. The first tribe to finish their flag wins immunity and also a reward -- sugar, coffee, tea, milk, chocolate, and some cookies. The winning tribe also get a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol.
The challenge begins. Ozzy is running first for Savaii and Brandon is running for Upolu. They take off, but Ozzy only gets about halfway out before he runs out of slack on the rope. His tribe either isn't un-cranking fast enough or Dawn (who is in charge of feeding the rope out) lets it get tangled. Upon review, I think what happened is that they were actually unrolling the rope too quickly, so there was a bunch of slack just sitting there and as Ozzy pulled it out, it got tangled up. Brandon grabs the first bag and gets pulled back fairly quickly. Ozzy keeps having to stop and starts yelling at his tribe like a dick. He finally gets on the board and his tribe starts cranking him in. Papa Bear is on the crank along with three others, and he can't keep up and doesn't seem to be adding much value.
Upolu sends out Albert and Dawn follows for Savaii. She manages to get out and back quickly and Savaii regains the lead. Ozzy and Mikayla head out, and Ozzy keeps the lead. Dawn and Brandon head out to get the fourth bags and Brandon catches up. I'd like to note that Sophie is like a cranking monster for her tribe. Albert and Ozzy head out for the fifth and final bags and they are neck and neck until Ozzy loses his grip on the board. He gets back on and they end up hitting the beach pretty much at the same time.
Now we move on to the grappling portion. Coach and Edna are grappling for Upolu while Whitney and Elyse are grappling for Savaii. They start out equal, but Coach is like a grappling savant and manages to get all five up while Savaii still only has four. Coach starts unfurling the banners and then Sophie and Mikayla tell them how to arrange the pieces properly. They get their flag formed before Savaii even has their banners unfurled. I'd say Coach and Sophie deserve most of the praise for that one. The two tribes head back to camp, and Jim interviews that Papa Bear isn't even a zero when it comes to challenges -- he actively slows them down. Ruh-roh.
Savaii returns to camp and dissects the challenge together. They basically just say that no one did poorly and it was just one of those things. Of course, with everyone sitting together, no one is going to point fingers. Ozzy interviews that it sucks to lose, and it hurts morale, but there are three people on the outs in this tribe: Dawn, Papa Bear, and Cochran. Dawn did really well in the challenge, so it's between the two dudes. Papa Bear and Cochran have a little chat where they talk about how much it sucks to have been put on a tribe with five beautiful people who naturally connected, and they're the outcasts because they look and talk differently. Look, I don't deny that there are cliques. But I also don't think that either of those two is doing much to contribute either in challenges or in camp life, so they aren't helping their situation any. But the bottom line is that those two know that they are the two to go, and neither wants to leave yet.
Ozzy meets with Keith, Jim, and Whitney. They all decide that Papa Bear was worthless in the challenge and he should go. But they know that they need to tell Papa Bear that Cochran is going so he doesn't try to rabble rouse. Ozzy tells Cochran not to worry, but they will be telling Papa Bear to vote for Cochran as a decoy. Cochran interviews that he's worried that his name keeps coming up, and he wants to do some scrambling, but he knows that he has a reputation as a "nervous neurotic scrambler" and he doesn't want to fan the flames.
Ozzy and Jim tells Papa Bear that Cochran is going home. He questions them about it and they unconvincingly say that Cochran was supposed to be voted off last time and it didn't happen, so they're just following through. Papa Bear doesn't believe it, and knows he's on the chopping block. He decides to look for the Idol, but instead of pretending to go chop wood or whatever (which no one would buy because he has never done any work around camp), he kind of wanders into the woods and once he's three steps past Elyse, he just takes off at a trot. Because that's not obvious. Elyse immediately reports back to the rest of the tribe that she saw something suspicious, and she and Jim walk into the woods to see what's going on. They see Papa Bear digging in the dirt, and they know that he's looking for the Idol.
Time passes, but he doesn't find it, so he tries to rig up a fake Immunity Idol and hides it in his underwear. He hopes that they think he found the Idol and decide to vote for Cochran instead of wasting a vote on him. Cochran reports that Papa Bear waltzed back into camp with a big smile and "an extra large bulge in his underpants." Yuck. Papa Bear tells Jim he found it and hides something in his pants pocket. Cochran points out that he could be faking it, and interviews that he hopes his tribemates don't fall for it. I honestly don't think anyone is fooled by this charade, but I've been wrong before. Ozzy just laughs, since he actually has the Idol, so he knows that Papa Bear doesn't. And Keith knows. Hopefully, the two of them can quell any fears without revealing their secret.
Tribal Council. Probst starts out by asking Cochran about what happened after their last Tribal, when he was called out for failing to contribute. Cochran says that he's tried to do better and he thinks that, despite his physical limitations, he did well in the challenge. Papa Bear adds, at Probst's behest, that Cochran's physical limitations are his downfall. Now Probst wants to know who the leader of the tribe is, and Cochran says that there are "multiple layers of leadership" but that they follow Ozzy's lead in terms of surviving the elements. Probst asks Papa Bear if Ozzy is the leader, and Papa Bear says that it's a tribe of Type A personalities, and none of them sit back. He adds that he's a retired NYC detective, and he likes to be a leader, but "The Five" have taken control of the tribe and he doesn't have anything in common with them. You know, I think another part of the problem is that he sees them as "The Five" instead of trying to get to know each one as individuals. He might have been able to break in that way, and make a sub-alliance with one of them.
Dawn speaks up and says that she doesn't see the cliques as locked in as Papa Bear does, and she thinks they shift throughout the day. Papa Bear wants Dawn to get real and admit that she, Cochran and he are on the outs. Dawn just shakes her head and Jim says that he agrees with Dawn about the shifting, and he thinks Papa Bear knows he's on the chopping block and is just trying to stir things up. Papa Bear thinks Jim should be worried because he's part of "The Five." He doesn't explain. I guess he means that you can't take five people to the end, so at some point the five will fracture and Jim needs to worry about his standing in his group? I don't know. Ozzy looks confused too.
Probst asks Jim if he's worried about the Idol being played, and Jim says that, if you play the Idol this early, it really only buys you three more days. That said, three days can change a lot. Probst has to remind Ozzy that he was voted out while holding onto an Immunity Idol. Ozzy says that the Idol can be a game changer. Probst asks Cochran if he thinks he can find the Idol, and Cochran says there are pros and cons. Obviously, an Idol gives you some power, but if you're constantly searching frantically for it, it shows that you don't trust the other people in your tribe. Cochran thinks he's just talking about Papa Bear, but Keith kind of winces, knowing the truth of what Cochran says in relation to Ozzy. And also, I really don't get why you have to pretend to trust everyone on this game. Everyone lies. Everyone backstabs. That's the point. I guess early on, you have to all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" or whatever, but trust no one. That's my motto. Me and Mulder.
Has anyone noticed that Jim looks exactly like Mark Ruffalo and Seth MacFarlane's love child? Just me? Anyway, the voting begins. Jim votes for Cochran but spells it "Cockran." Heh. Cochran votes for Papa Bear. Probst leaves to tally the votes, then asks for anyone to play the Idol if they so desire. No one does. First vote, Papa Bear. Second vote, Cochran. Third vote, Jim. That was Papa Bear's vote. I don't know why he didn't vote for Cochran, unless he's trying to stay friends with Cochran in case he comes back. Anyway, the rest of the votes are for Papa Bear and he's going to Redemption Island.
Probst tells the tribe that their votes have been decisive, which is a sign of tribal unity, but they have to wonder if they're voting out the right people. Over the credits, Papa Bear says that he wants to win all the duels on Redemption Island and then return to the other tribe, because he doesn't want to go back to the tribe that voted him out. I don't think he gets to choose, but I also think he's getting a little ahead of himself.
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