Previously on Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites, Jason became so desperate for friends and allies that he sacrificed immunity for a slim chance of staying in the game.  Thanks to some major backstabbing and blindsiding by Parvati, Jason’s stupidity was rewarded and Ozzy took his spot as the Survivor voted out as his friends watched their alliance crumble.

The Day After Voting Out Ozzy

It’s the day after Tribal Council and Erik is doing his best to kiss some butt.  He’s telling those who were involved in the conspiracy to vote out Ozzy that the only way that would have worked was if it was “airtight” and that he would have had to tell Ozzy if they had told him so it’s better that they didn’t.  He understands why it happened…why it had to happen.

Amanda and James are off by themselves talking about the same thing.  Amanda is upset, but James, surprisingly, recognizes it as a good game move.  Amanda says it’s like Cirie, Parvati, Alexis, and Natalie are a real alliance now.  Um, yeah.  Amanda does some more complaining.

A little later, we see a shot of James’ finger which is pretty messed up and Cirie, who is a nurse, tells us that it’s starting to look pretty bad (foreshadowing?).

A Definite Apple Chewer

Parvati eventually finds James because she wants to talk to him and get some “damage control” going because she realizes how pissed he and Amanda are at her.  When they’re alone James asks her where she’s going with this (her plan).  He wants to know who she’s taking to the final three.  She tells him that she’s taking all girls.  Great damage control, Parv.

James actually finds it slightly amusing.  Parvati tells him that she just wanted to say that she’s sorry.  James tells her that “sorry” isn’t what she means - “haha” is what she means.  She doesn’t actually deny it.  She says that she doesn’t want it to be awkward between them.  James says, “oh, it’s gonna be awkward!”

James doesn understand why Parvati couldn’t have left well enough alone.  He wonders why she always “gotta eat the apple - can’t just leave the apple alone.”  James knew she was a “definite apple chewer” from the first day he met her.  Now, all this is in Jamespeak, but he actually has an insightful and correct point.  What he’s saying is that Parvati was tempted by the apple (voting out Ozzy) when she should have left it alone because she was better off where she was at.  Good job, James.

Parvati tries to turn the conversation by accusing James of treating her like she was stupid (since the beginning).  He says she’s “selfish, not stupid.â€Â?  James goes on to tell us that Parvati’s move shows him who she really is - what kind of person she really is - and he doesn’t put up with people like that.  Somehow I think the showmance is over.

Parvati Moves On To Amanda

Not having any luck patching up things with James, Parvati moves on to Amanda.  Parvati tells her everything you’d expect her to say - she’s sorry she couldn’t tell her the plan, she doesn’t want Amanda to feel like she’s out of the loop, etc.  She further tells Amanda that the plan is a final five of all girls.  Amanda is still mad at her, but she tells us that she doesn’t want Parvati to know that because Parvati is obviously the one running the show right now.

Cirie joins them and basically reiterates everything that Parvati said about wanting to tell her but not being able to because they knew how close she was to Ozzy and everything.  They trust Amanda completely, though…  Amanda, like a frightened child, asks if it’s still the three of them to the end.  Parvati and Cirie both agree that it is and they all hug.  Amanda doesn’t believe them, of course.  She tells us that she knows they have other plans that doesn’t include her.

Survivor Auction

It’s time for the Survivor auction they do almost every season where the Survivors get to bid on mystery items that they hope will be food.  This year they have $500 and will bid in $20 increments but they can’t share food or money.

Cirie gets the first item, a hot dog with all the fixings.  Erik gets the second item, but trades it for a mystery item which turns out to be nachos (the item he bought was octopus).  Natalie bids up the third item and wins a bowl of bat soup.  She’s disgusted and turns it down.  James offers to eat it so Jeff gives it to him and he enjoys it.  Amanda gets the next item which they all know is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

The next item is covered and Natalie wins this one as well.  It turns out to be a note.  The note says she has to choose one person to go to Exile Island immediately and she gets to take all the money they have left.  James and Jason both have all of their money.  James yells out “damn!” while Jason just looks sad and starts begging her not to send him.  Natalie then asks Jeff about the hidden immunity idol.  Turns out, since Ozzy didn’t use it, it’s been rehidden and whoever goes out gets another clue.  Jason still begs not to go.  Natalie sends him anyway.  He has to leave right away.

Since Natalie has all of Jason’s money now, she wins the next item too.  It turns out to be a giant chocolate sheet cake with a note.  The note says to pick three people to share the cake with.  She doesn’t even hesitate before saying Cirie, Alexis, and Parvati (no question who her alliance is).  Right after picking them, however, she gives them a stern warning not to hog the whole cake cause she hasn’t had any food.  It was very unbecoming.  So, anyway, Natalie gets first taste then they all get 60 seconds to eat as much as they can.  It’s nasty. 

Even nastier is Erik who pays Cirie to let him suck the chocolate off her fingers.  The money is pointless, though, because the auction is over.

Natalie Is A Potty Mouth

They all go back to camp and discuss Jason and how lucky he is.  Natalie says she didn’t want to send him but no one else was volunteering.  Natalie says if he gets the idol, she’s going to lose it.

She then gets an extended interview which is probably more of her than we’ve seen all season.  It isn’t good.  She keeps calling Jason “the little Bitch,” and says that he’ll probably find the idol.  The whole thing really put me off of Natalie.  I have no idea where this personality came from.

Exile Island - Jason Proves He’s Lucky and A Moron

Jason begins searching for the idol as soon as he gets to Exile Island.  And I use the term “search” loosely since to search for something it would actually have to be “hidden.”  I think it’s pretty sucky how easy it’s been for the players to find the idol this season.  It’s more like a scavenger hunt than anything else.

Anyway, as Jason searches he voice overs that he was a little bummed when Natalie picked him to go to Exile Island, but then he realized that she sent him there for a reason.  She wants him to find the idol!  You see, he trusts her because she kept her word to not vote him out last week so they obviously have a strong alliance that’s going to go all the way to the end.  She wants him to find the idol so they can use it to help the alliance!  Good lord, this guy’s a brick.

He finds the idol, of course.  Then he says, “Right now, I feel the most comfortable I’ve felt the entire game.â€Â?  He’s doomed.

Natalie’s Plan

Natalie, along with the other women, hatch a diabolical plan to get rid of Jason (working on the assumption that he’ll find the idol).  Natalie will cozy up to Jason and continue making him think that she’s his friend.  She’ll point out how she saved him at the last Tribal Council and how she practically gave him the Hidden Immunity Idol by sending him to Exile.  He obviously owes her.  He’d be an idiot not to believe every word that comes out of her mouth.  (And they thought Jason was smug.) She’ll tell him that James is the target and then make him feel so comfortable that he won’t even consider using the idol.  Plus, she’ll tell him to let someone else win the Immunity Challenge (not sure what the logic in that is for him).  They think it’s a perfect plan.  To make it even better, they’ll split their votes so if he does play the idol James will be the one who goes home.

Immunity Challenge

In this challenge, all eight of them will race against each other.  First they will throw rocks to break tiles and release a bundle of puzzle pieces.  The first four to break their tiles move on.  Those four then dig to find a key that unlocks the pieces which will form a wheel.  That wheel turns a winch and lowers some planks.  The first two with the planks on the ground move on.  Those two then use their planks to cross a rope bridge.  They then have to cross a disk-on-ropes bridge and on to the finish platform.

As they get ready to start the challenge, Natalie begins enacting her plan.  She gets close to Jason and whispers to him that he needs to let anybody but James win.  James is going home and Jason shouldn’t ask any questions.  She sent him to Exile Island for a reason.  She’ll explain it all to him when they get back to camp.  Jason nods and whispers back that once he thought about it, he knew she sent him out there for a reason.  Idiot.  Moron.

It doesn’t seem like Jason actually tries to let anyone else win, though.  He, James, Erik, and Amanda break their tiles first and move on to the next round.  In round two, Erik and James dig out their keys first so they get a pretty good start on Jason and Amanda.  Jason is right behind them, but Amanda never even finds her key.  Erik and James finish first and move on.

The last round was actually a pretty good contest.  It was pretty neck and neck with both Erik and James fighting hard to win the immunity.  The girls all needed Erik to win in order to enact the full scope of their plan.  They cheered him on under the guise that today was his 22nd birthday.  It comes down to the wire, but Erik manages to leap to the finish platform just ahead of James.  Erik wins immunity!

The Black Widow Brigade In Action

Back at camp, Parvati tells us that the girls are coming together and spinning the guys around until they don’t know which way is up - like spiders, I assume.  She says they are the “Black Widow Brigade.”

Well, the BWB are sneaky because as soon as Jason leaves his stuff alone they go through his bags to see if he has the idol.  It’s in there, of course, so they know for sure he has it.  Natalie tells everyone (including James and Erik) what she said to Jason at the challenge.  They still don’t think Jason will play the idol.  James doesn’t look like he thinks much about them.

Natalie goes down to the beach and has a private discussion with Jason.  She tells him that she wanted him to find the idol.  He thanks her for keeping her word before - it really meant a lot to him.  Stop, I’m tearing up over here…  Natalie tells him they plan to get rid of James.  He tells her that he did, indeed, find the Idol. 

I’m Ruthless… and I Have a Smile on My Face

We see more Natalie interview.  I think one of the editors is in love with her tonight or something.  She says she’s “pretty evil” and is definitely in “I will get you mode.”  The good news is she’s having more fun now, plus she’s getting to be more of herself…which she describes as “ruthless,” “stone cold bitch,” and “cutthroat.”  And she says she has a smile…on her face.  Gee, her family must be so proud.

James and Amanda

On another part of the island, James asks Amanda what they should do.  Amanda says she has searched every avenue and doesn’t know what to do.  (I’m not sure that’s true Amanda because just watching the show I thought of several different options you had which were never even discussed.)

Amanda tells James that if everything works out tonight Jason will be the one to go.  She also says, however, that they’re dead set on sending him home next.  James says he’s writing Parvati’s name down and thinks Amanda should too in case Jason plays his idol.  James says “there’s no way that dummy is gonna not play his idol.”  Amanda just rubs his head and tells him that she doesn’t think he’ll play it.  James says, “If he don’t, that’ll be tragic.â€Â?  Amanda adds, “That’ll be awesome.â€Â?

Am I the only one watching that is completely sickened by the fact that these two seem to have completely given up and resigned themselves to whatever fate the others have in store for them?  OUTPLAY!  That’s part of the game!  Do some math!  Do I have to spell it out for you?

Natalie Is Going To Cut Jason’s Throat and Floss With His Jugular

Seriously, what is going on with the editing this week?  This is some of the worst editing I’ve ever seen on Survivor.  Once again we see Natalie talking about her evilness and her stupid little plan.  Enough already!  Geesh, we get it!  But apparently the producers want us to hear again how Natalie wants to blindside Jason so the “girl power” can remain strong and it will be two in a row.  She even literally says that she’s going to cut Jason’s throat and floss with his jugular.  Nasty.  I’m officially not a Natalie fan.

Tribal Council

Jeff brings in the Jury which consists of Eliza and a very pissed off looking Ozzy.  He then starts the conversation by talking about how Ozzy got blindsided.  They voted off a big physical threat, does Parvati think they don’t need providers anymore?  She says they’ve been okay on their own for a while now.  How about James?  Does he feel threatened because he’s a physical threat?  James says he definitely has his work cut out for him.

Jeff asks James some more about how frustrating it would be to get voted out at this stage in the game.  James begins going into how Parvati had to eat the apple.  His speech pretty much called Parvati out as the one who turned on Ozzy.  Ozzy hadn’t known up to that point.  He doesn’t look happy.

There’s some more talk and Jason does some more stupid speaking about how his place in the tribe is improving by him doing things around camp…  Natalie agrees that it’s possible to change your status really fast because things are always changing.

It’s finally time to vote.  Jason votes against James.  James votes against Parvati as we knew he was going to do.  Jeff goes and tallies the votes then asks if anyone, like Jason, would like to play the immunity idol.  He just sits there.  James is shocked.  Jeff reads the votes: James, Jason, James, Parvati, James, Jason (Jason’s a little confused), Jason (still pretty confused, but starting to figure it out), Jason.  With that, Jason becomes the eleventh person voted out and the third member of the jury. 

Jason doesn’t even turn around and look after Jeff snuffs his torch.  He just walks off.  The girls can barely keep from laughing out loud.

Final Thoughts

For a season that started off with some great strategic gameplay, it sure has fallen to a new low.  Some might argue that Natalie and the Black Widow Brigade did some strategic thinking in this episode, which is true, but it was only because their targets were complete morons that they were able to pull it off.  I didn’t find that to be satisfying.

How in the world could Amanda and James not think of anything to do.  Now, assuming that Amanda isn’t just playing James and siding with the other women, they did have some options.  The most obvious option was staring them in the face the whole time.  Amanda, James, and Erik all knew what the plan was.  All they had to do was go to Jason and tell him what was happening.  Surely the three of them could have convinced him of the truth.  Jason could have gone along with Natalie then played his Idol at Tribal Council.  He, along with James, Amanda, and Erik could have all voted the same way and taken out whoever they wanted to of the BWB (my choice would have been Natalie this week because she was so annoying). 

The BWB split their votes so they would have votes going to James.  Their plan COULD NOT WORK without Amanda and Erik playing along the way they did.  Heck, if they had simply voted with James they could have forced a tie between James and Parvati.  At least that would have been something.  James probably would have gone for that if nothing else.  Now, I’m not saying that would have been the best option, but it would have been an option.

If they had gone with the first option, they would gotten rid of one of the other power players and gained the upper hand in the game.  They then would have been able to pick off the other three girls, barring immunity wins which would be unlikely, and make it to the final four.  Jason is a great stooge to take the the final tribal council.  Why in the world would you want to get rid of him?

The whole thing was just insane.  And all in the name of “girl power,” which I think is stupidest reason of all.  Who gives a crap if it’s all girls in the finals?  Only girls.  Why are women like that?  I don’t get it.  Men don’t go around talking about how they have to get rid of all the women so they can have “guy power” and how it will be better if it’s all men in the final three.  It’s stupid and it’s about time somebody finally said so.

There, I’ve done it.

Merged - Dabu

Natalie Bolton, James Clement, Cirie Fields, Alexis Jones, Amanda Kimmel, Erik Reichenbach, Parvati Shallow

The Jury

Jason Siska (Ep11), Ozzy Lusth (Ep10), Eliza Orlins (Ep9)

Favorites - Malakal

Jon “Jonny Fairplay” Dalton (Ep1), Yau-Man Chan (Ep3), Joel Anderson (Ep5), Chet Welch (Ep6), Tracy Hughes-Wolf (Ep7), Ami Cusack (Ep8)

Fans - Airai

Mary Sartain (Ep2), Michael “Mikey B” Bortone (Ep4), Jonathan Penner (Ep6), Kathleen “Krazy Kathy” Sleckman (Ep7)

Television
fans vs favorites, Survivor, Survivor recap, Survivor strategy, Survivor: Micronesia

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