Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites – Episode 5, "You Need To Stop Bitchin' And Start Throwing!"

On last week’s episode of Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites the women started making plays to take control of the game for good. Tracy and Cirie began cementing their standings in their tribes while Ozzy found the Hidden Immunity Idol. This week, however, we were promised some major shake-ups in the tribes. Would the women still be able to work their magic? Or would someone else be able to use the new tribes to take control?

Up to this point I have been doing a blow by blow, play by play, recap of each week’s episode. I will begin altering that from this point on to be more of a shorter recap with more discussion of strategy and gameplay. There are tons of places online to get a recap and CBS posts each episode online for you to watch so I’m not sure there’s a need for a detailed recap.

On with the show.

Strategy This Season

By now everyone in this game should know that the others are all thinking way ahead in the game. Unlike a lot of past Survivor seasons, strategy has played its part this season practically from day one. The people who are here this season are either Favorites who have, for the most part, played well during their season or are Fans who have, theoretically, shown an understanding and passion for the game.

There’s really no reason why anyone should be caught off guard this season as they should all be thinking far in advance of their current situation. Of course, we know that’s not the case. The four who have already left the show did not show much of a strategy at all. Several others have shown some seriously flawed and short sighted strategy that is sure to get them into trouble. There is one person, however, who really stepped up her game this episode and has put herself in a position to dominate this season if she plays her cards correctly. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

The Tribes Switch Em Up Up And Around

We barely had time to watch Ozzy tell the other three members of the Four Lovers alliance that he has the Hidden Immunity Idol at the Fave’s camp and watch Jason talk about how Chet needs to go at the Fan’s camp before Jeff Probst had everyone lining up for a big surprise.

Probst says that after 12 days of competing against each other, it’s time for the survivors to get to know one another. “Drop your buffs,” he says. Which, if you think about it, kinda sounds dirty.

Anyway, they draw rocks to see who will be team leaders. The leaders are Ozzy for Malakal and Natalie for Airai. They will alternate choosing players. They can choose male or female but it must be someone from the opposite tribe. You can guess how this played out for the most part.

James and Joel go first followed by Alexis and Amanda. The last four standing are the most telling because it gives you a sense of who everyone thinks of as being the weakest. The last four were Kathy, Cirie, Eliza, and Chet. I’m sure Cirie would have gone before Krazy Kathy, but it was Parvati’s pick and she had to take a Fan. Still, though, the pecking order had to play on Cirie’s mind.

The New Tribes

Malakal
Ozzy, Joel, Amanda, Erik, Ami, Tracy, Cirie, Chet

Airai
Natalie, James, Alexis, Jonathan, Jason, Parvati, Kathy, Eliza

So the Four Lovers were split right down the middle with both members of each couple on the same team (James and Parvati on Airai – Ozzy and Amanda on Malakal). Two of the three Flakes (Tracy and Chet) were sent to Malakal while Kathy went to Airai.

The best immediate news was probably for Eliza and Jonathan. They went from a pretty hopeless situation to actually being in a position to really turn the game around. Whereas before both of them would have been considered the next on the chopping block they now have a chance to form a new alliance (with people who aren’t yet annoyed with them).

James and Parvati are now the ones who should be worried as they have no allies on their tribe and there’s no clear strategic reason for any of the former Fans to align with them. Natalie, Alexis, and Jason, however, have perfectly good reasons for going after Jonathan and Eliza if they can ascertain how precarious Jonathan and Eliza’s positions were in their former tribe. That’s not to say it wouldn’t be in Jonathan and Eliza’s best interest to try to align with those three fans because it would certainly be a mutually beneficial alliance.

Ozzy and Amanda don’t face the same situation as James and Parvati because they still have Cirie and Ami who now must attempt to be an outsider in an alliance with the Fans or stay true to the Faves and hope for something to change her fortunes.

All of the members of the Flakes faced a daunting situation as well since the timid alliance Tracy had constructed in last week’s episode was now for nought. Even worse, the three of them are seen as weak, making them easy first targets on new tribes.

Reward Challenge

As soon as they get their new tribes it’s time for the first Reward Challenge. Both tribes will be divided into pairs who will then be harnessed together. The challenge will be in rounds. Each round one pair from each tribe will start at opposite ends of a sort of maze/course. One pair will be the chaser and one pair will be the runner. The object for the chasers to grab a flag off the back of a member of the opposite tribe while the runners have to stay away from them for one minute. The pair that succeeds gets one point. The first tribe to three points wins a get-to-know-you barbecue with steak, sausage, veggies, etc. Also, Exile Island will be called off so they can all get a chance to know one another.

• Round One – Erik and Ozzy (Malakal) chase Kathy and Natalie (Airai) – Malakal scores
• Round Two – Parvati and Eliza (Airai) chase Chet and Joel (Malakal) – Airai scores
• Round Three – Ami and Amanda (Malakal) chase James and Jason (Airai) – Malakal scores
• Round Four – Jonathan and Alexis (Airai) chase Cirie and Tracy (Malakal) – Airai scores
• Round Five – Chet and Joel (Malakal) chase Eliza and Parvati (Airai) – Airai scores

Airai wins! It’s not without drama, though. Round Five was hard to watch. Joel pretty much dragged Chet through the course, at one point slamming his face into a post. Joel drags him into several posts actually and it gets to where Chet can’t even stand up by the end of the round.

Now, I’m no Chet fan, but what happened next was the saddest thing I think I’ve seen on Survivor. As the winners celebrate, Chet goes up to Joel and says, “I hit my head back there.â€Â? Joel says simply, “I don’t care.â€Â? Chet replies with a sad and dejected, “I know.â€Â? Joel then unharnesses himself and leaves Chet on the ground unable or unwilling to get up.

I have to say. That was cold hearted. I actually felt kind of bad for Chet there even though he’s been pretty useless in the challenges. He’s still a human being and deserves to be treated with some measure of respect.

To The Victors Go The Suffering

The new Airai tribe returns to a camp life that is not at all what the Faves have been used to. James can’t even understand how they’ve survived under the conditions which they’ve been living. Indeed, as they try to cook the reward meal the tide comes in and actually washes over the fire because it’s too close to the water’s edge.

Airai may have won the Reward Challenge, but the victory didn’t come without it’s price. Jonathan suffered some sort of puncture wound that actually requires the Survivor medics to come and very graphically stitch him up. Parvati also suffered a pretty messed up looking fat lip. Guess her and James won’t be doing any lip locking tonight.

Ozzy and Joel Plot the Future of Malakal

It doesn’t take long for the two alpha males of the new Malakal to begin plotting their next move. Ozzy easily identifies Chet as the most obvious weakling that needs to be cut to make the team stronger. Joel doesn’t disagree at all, but is smart enough to realize that giving the former Faves a 4 to 3 advantage probably isn’t a great idea. He suggests that if Ozzy were to agree to vote off Cirie first then he could agree to voting off Chet. Ozzy seems to agree, but there’s no way he would really agree to that for real.

Amanda The Shark Hunter

So somehow Amanda manages to wrangle a 35-40 pound shark from the net in which it had become stuck. She brings it back to camp like a mighty huntress. You can almost see Ozzy falling in love right before our eyes. They cook it and eat it, of course. Baby or not, them sharks is good eatin’.

Immunity Challenge

Four members from each tribe will take turns throwing rocks at ceramic tiles hanging by ropes. When a tile breaks completely, a bundle of wooden puzzle pieces is released. When all four of their bundles are released they will collect them then three other members of the tribe will assemble a puzzle from pieces that were in the bundles. A caller on a tower will try to help. The first tribe to solve the puzzle correctly wins immunity.

I won’t bother with all the details of the challenge except to say that for some reason Airai’s tiles weren’t breaking all the way which led to Jonathan complaining loudly and annoyingly. That led to Jeff Probst getting annoyed and telling him, “You need to stop bitching and start throwing.â€Â?

Needless to say, Malakal takes an early lead. It looks like there’s no way Airai can catch up. Chet is the caller for Malakal, however, and doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. This annoys Joel who only causes more confusion by barking out his own orders and completely ignoring what Chet is saying. Airai not only catches up, they pass…and win.

He’s A Ball Of Goo!

Joel goes back to the Malakal camp even more convinced that their loss is Chet’s fault once again. He tells Eric that he no longer cares if the former Fans will lose their numbers, they need to vote Chet out. Erik agrees. So Chet tells Ozzy that they should target Chet then Cirie then Tracy. Ozzy agrees completely. Erik tells Amanda and Cirie that they want to get rid of the weakling Chet. They agree. Everyone agrees.

Cirie Makes Her Move

Well, maybe not everyone… See, Cirie agrees in theory. Unfortunately for everyone else, Cirie is smart enough to realize that she’s included in the group of weaklings that the others are going to want to target. Oh no, no, no. That’s not going to work for Cirie.

So Cirie, smartly, first goes to Chet and Tracy and makes her case (which isn’t very hard to do with these two). Chet claims it was Joel’s interference that cost them the challenge anyway. So Cirie gets both of them on board for voting out Joel and effectively forms a new alliance for herself, an alliance of Weaklings (which is what I’ll call them).

She next must convince Amanda and Ozzy which is not nearly as easy. Ozzy wants to keep Joel for the challenges, of course. Cirie smartly argues, however, that Joel really hasn’t been performing well in challenges at all. Not only that, but he’s playing that game like crazy while Chet is an easy pawn to do with as they please. Ozzy likes the sound of that.

Tribal Council

Tribal Council starts off with the usual question and answers about how everyone feels about everything. Probst wants to know if the first team picks were about size (they were) and if Chet felt badly about not even getting picked (he’s okay with it because he ended up on the tribe he wanted anyway). They bring up how Joel treated Chet in the Reward Challenge. Everything we hear makes it clear that the battle is between Joel and Chet.

Before you know it, it’s time to vote. Probst tallies the votes and reads them off: Joel (no worries, he knows he’ll get a vote or two), Chet (no expression at all), Chet, Joel (he smiles, still not worried), Joel (ok, a little worried, he might be trying to do the math in his head), Joel (I think he just figured out the math and he’s pissed), Joel.

And with that, Joel is voted out of Survivor. Jeff snuffs out his torch and Joel walks away without saying anything to anyone.

Cirie Is Now In Firm Control

With the brilliant move she made this week, Cirie not only protected herself a few votes from now, she began setting herself up to be in a position of power seldom seen on Survivor. It is possible, conceivable even, that Cirie could be the power broker in not one, but two five person alliances which would make her, however briefly, the most powerful person ever in the game.

The Weaklings
Tracy and Chet need Cirie no matter how the numbers fall when the tribes merge so Cirie has a strong alliance with the Weaklings. If she can keep them in the game she should do so at all cost – even at the expense of Amanda and Ozzy. Since Cirie is a physically weaker player, she would be better suited to be the alpha player in an alliance of weaklings. Her other alliance should now become her secondary alliance.

If Cirie can make the merge with Tracy and Chet in tow she will be in a good position. Hopefully, Kathy will still be in the game and they can pull her right back in. Erik or Jason either one should and probably would step into the fifth spot. Since Erik is on her tribe now, Cirie would be wise to begin courting him to join the Weaklings now. With him they would have four votes and would control the vote in Malakal. If they lose again they should vote out Ami then they would have to target Amanda and Ozzy.

The Lovers
Should something go wrong with her new alliance of weaklings, Cirie is still the fifth person in the Lovers alliance and is very important to them. She shouldn’t do anything to break their trust unless she absolutely has to decide between them and her new alliance. Cirie’s goal should be to make it to the merge with as many people as she can from Malakal that are in both of her alliances. That means she can lose Ami and Erik if he won’t commit to the Weaklings or cozies up to Ozzy and Amanda too much, but she doesn’t want to lose more than that.

When she reaches the merge she can reassess who she has left from each alliance and see what kind of deals she can broker. It’s usually in the best interest to get rid of the strongest players first once the merge occurs and this would be the case for Cirie as well if she has enough people to keep her Weakling alliance in power. She needs at least five to control. If she doesn’t have the numbers and the Lovers are still intact then she might have to go that route. Either way, if Cirie plays her cards right, she’s already positioning herself for top five and maybe even a run at the win.

Favorites – Malakal

Jon “Jonny Fairplay” Dalton (Ep1), Yau-Man Chan (Ep3), Joel Anderson (Ep5), Ami Cusack, Cirie Fields, Tracy Hughes-Wolf, Amanda Kimmel, Ozzy Lusth, Erik Reichenbach, Chet Welch

Fans – Airai

Mary Sartain (Ep2), Michael “Mikey B” Bortone (Ep4), Natalie Bolton, James Clement, Alexis Jones, Eliza Orlins, Jonathan Penner, Parvati Shallow, Jason Siska, Kathleen “Kathy” Sleckman