Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites – Episode 7, "A Couple Pairs Of Boobs And Ozzy's Head"

Previously on Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites Jonathan’s leg injury turned serious and became infected forcing him to leave the game against his will. Jason finds Ozzy’s fake Immunity Idol and mistakes it for the real thing. Strategies begin to break down for pretty much everyone as Ami, Tracy and Erik scramble for their game lives. Chet asked to be voted out and was granted his wish.

Day 18 At Malakal

Day 18 at the Malakal tribe finds Ozzy and Tracy arguing over chickens. Tracy wants to kill and eat the chickens for some stupid reason. Ozzy points out that they are a “renewable resource” since they lay three eggs a day which they can eat. He says they aren’t going to kill them. Besides they have plenty of other food to eat including a huge pot of cooked crabs.

Tracy whines about how Ozzy is the “kingpin” who tells everyone what to do. I guess she’s never seen this show before either. If she could have put together an alliance that worked she could have been the one telling everyone what to do. Of course, it probably didn’t help her mood that Erik views Ozzy as some kind of god. Erik even tells us (with a certain awe) that he wants to learn everything he can from Ozzy. Ozzy teaches him to climb a tree to get coconuts as the ladies watch. Cirie says that if Ozzy were to propose marriage to Erik it would be a done deal.

Well, they get the coconuts, I guess, and Ozzy decides that it would be better to move the boat to the “back beach” because there’s better fishing there. In order to do that they need Cirie’s help. Cirie isn’t shy about telling the camera that she doesn’t want to go out in the boat because she can’t swim very well.

So Ozzy, Erik, Amanda, and Cirie paddle out to sea (I’m not sure why they went out so far) while we hear Cirie’s voiceover talking about how Ozzy only cares about himself and how she’s freaking out because they’re too far from the shore. Ozzy decides that the reef they are at offers some good fishing as well so decides to fish there instead of going around the island. The others swim while Cirie continues to freak out.

Over At Airai

All the women are complaining about the rain…despite the fact that they’re in a nice, dry cave. James isn’t too happy about all their complaining. They even complain about the smell. James reminds the viewers that this game is called “Survivor.”

Krazy Kathy is more upset than everyone else for whatever reason. She said she has good days and she has bad days. Today is “a crap day.” She actually sounds a bit bi-polar. Kathy says that Survivor is “the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.â€Â? Okay, so now I’m ready for her to get voted out.

The Reward Challenge

Four members of each tribe will be blindfolded while the other two members use verbal directions to guide them while they push a traditional Micronesian moneystone (it’s a huge stone disk – like four feet around) that’s on a pole axis through a jungle course. In the course there are four stations where the disk must be used to crush tiles that have smaller moneystones beneath them. Those moneystones will be used to solve a rotating cog puzzle.

The tribes are playing for a spa retreat where they will be taken to another island where they can shower (with soap!) and eat and having a good time.

Airai has an extra person and decides to sit out Natalie. Malakal makes Cirie their main caller. Airai chooses Eliza.

Off they go. Malakal gets off to a rough start when Cirie tells her tribemates to go to “your left,” but really means to her left, their right. Ami points this out in a not so subtle way. Still, though, they get back on track and begin to lead the race.

Eliza seems to be doing an okay job for Airai but they aren’t moving very fast. Malakal extends their lead and makes it to the puzzle solving portion ahead of Airai. Only three people can work on the puzzle so Malakal has Cirie, Erik, and Ozzy take a shot at theirs while Airai chooses, for whatever reason, James, Kathy, and Eliza. Malakal wins!

It’s the first win for Malakal since the tribes were switched up. Malakal smartly chooses Jason to go to Exile Island. Unfortunately, they also have to choose one of their own who will have to miss out on the reward. Doesn’t seem fair, but that’s the way the game goes. Ozzy volunteers Tracy, asking her if she’ll “take one for the team.” She reluctantly agrees. No one else was going to offer, that’s for sure.

“Like A Wide-Eyed Kid In The Candy Store”

Malakal is quick to forget about Tracy (never actually mention her I don’t think) when they get to their reward. They find all sorts of assorted snacks including cookies, watermelon, bananas, and muffins. The team finds joy in Erik experiencing his first reward of his Survivor experience. They think he’s like a wide-eyed kid in a candy store.

It doesn’t take long for Ozzy, Amanda, and Ami to find the outdoor shower. They decide to use it…all at the same time. The two girls strip off their tops like they just spotted a pole and a drunk truck driver with a wad of one dollar bills. Ozzy obligingly helps Amanda soap down.

Erik just stares open mouthed from the sidelines – Ozzy’s legend grows. Cirie says it’s funny to look over and see a couple pairs of boobs and Ozzy’s head.

Krazy Kathy Goes Kuckoo And Kalls It Kuits

Ladies and gentlemen, we know begin the “Kathy whines” portion of our programming. Please do not adjust your dial. That shrill sound you hear is the sobbing complaints of a weak and pathetic Survivor player giving up on the game.

That’s right, Krazy Kathy finally went off the deep end after determining that she could no longer “feel” her family. I could explain in detail all the actual stupid things she said, but it would take too much effort on my part and, frankly, she’s not worth it.

The other people in her tribe remain supportive of her (at least on the outside). I’m not sure they actually understood her reasons for wanting to leave either. Probst shows up to get a handle on the situation. Kathy tells him that she’s “never leaving my baby girl or my husband again ever for this amount of time.â€Â? It’s day 19.

Probst is a perfect gentlemen and professional about the whole thing. Kathy says she doesn’t want anyone to think that she’s quitting. I guess she isn’t really sure what that word means. James is nice about the whole thing and even helps Kathy into the boat that takes her away.

Before leaving Jeff notes that the tribe is winning but they’re still down to six. I feel little sympathy for her to be honest with you. If she’s a fan of Survivor she should have been well aware of what that means, what being in the game involves. How can you go on the show and be so mentally unprepared? Jonathan showed a lot of strength of character by wanting to stay and fight even though he needed surgery on his knee. Kathy, just wimped out. In my book, that adds her to the list of losers who have played this game.

Cirie and Amanda Conspire

Over at Malakal, Cirie and Amanda are having a nice little heart to heart. Cirie is still harping on how Ozzy acted in the boat when they went fishing. She tells Amanda that maybe she got to see the real Ozzy. Amanda agrees that he did seem kind of arrogant, which bothers her. Cirie tells the camera that if she got Amanda to understand that Ozzy only cares about Ozzy then it was worth her having to go out on the boat.

Talk turns to how Erik, and others perhaps, think Ozzy is the greatest thing in the world. Cirie wants to vote out Erik but doesn’t think Ozzy will do it now that Erik is like his little groupie. Amanda says she thinks voting out Erik would be the best way to go even if Ozzy doesn’t think so. They just have to let Ozzy think he’s in complete control.

The Immunity Challenge

Apparently nothing happened on Exile Island that was worth noting because we never saw a single second of Jason and Tracy’s time there. You’d think that they would have used their time to forge some kind of alliance or something, but if they did we didn’t get to see it.

When everyone comes in for the Immunity Challenge Probst announces that “Kathy has left the game.â€Â? Everyone at Malakal is shocked and surprised. Jeff makes an understatement when he says simply, “she quit.”

Anyway, the challenge must go on. In today’s challenge, one member at a time of each tribe will race across a floating bridge with one end of a rope that’s attached to a huge winch. At the end of the bridge is a platform where they will clip the end of the rope onto a large puzzle piece and hang on as the rest of the tribe turns the winch and hauls them back to shore. There are five pieces to collect. After all the puzzle pieces are collected, two tribe members will unfold the puzzle pieces and use them to solve a puzzle that forms a perfect square.

Eliza and Ozzy are the first runners. They make it to the platform relatively tied, but Ozzy is smart enough to push off from the platform once he’s clipped in while Eliza waits for her tribe to pull her and the puzzle piece straight from the platform. Ozzy gets a big lead.

Ozzy ends up going back for the second puzzle piece and a couple more after that for Malakal. They get a pretty good sized lead on Airai and are able to start on their puzzle while Airai still has to retrieve one puzzle piece. Amanda and Cirie are the puzzle solvers for Malakal.

Malakal doesn’t get much solved before Airai has their puzzle pieces and Jason and Eliza begin work on the puzzle. Airai makes good progressive and quickly begins to pass Malakal. Amanda and Cirie look completely lost. Somehow, Jason and Eliza figure it out quickly and solve the puzzle. Airai wins Immunity! Again.

Ami Has A Plan To Oust Ozzy

Back at Malakal camp, Amanda apologizes to Ozzy for screwing up the puzzle after he worked so hard to give them the lead. He says (to her, Cirie, and Ami) that it doesn’t matter since “None of us are going home.â€Â? Ozzy says they need to vote out Tracy because it makes more since to keep Erik. He doesn’t really say why, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the hero worshiping Erik engages in around Ozzy.

Well, Ami isn’t too happy about that and isn’t ready to just let Ozzy get his way. Her plan, which she later shares with Tracy, is to get Ozzy to vote for Tracy, and Cirie and Amanda to vote for Erik, then Ami, Tracy, and Erik can vote for and get rid of Ozzy. It’s a smart, but really complicated play for Ami to pull off. The first thing she has to do is get Erik on board. She leaves that to Tracy.

Unfortunately, Tracy isn’t really up to the task. The one time her powers of persuasion should have helped her the most, they let her down. Tracy approaches Erik all wrong and just says that she’s voting for Ozzy and he should do the same because Erik’s the next to go after her if they don’t get rid of Ozzy. She doesn’t bother to mention any of the rest of the plan which might have been a good selling point considering Erik’s objection that if they can’t pull in someone else and it’s just him and Tracy that vote for Ozzy, he’d be dead meat for sure no matter what happened this vote. Why Tracy didn’t counter that with the plan I don’t know.

Tracy and Ami then try to talk Amanda and Cirie into voting for Erik, but they seem unconvinced. Separately, Amanda and Cirie talk and Cirie says she’s worried that Ozzy might team up with Erik after the merge. Amanda confides to us, however, that she’d rather try to convince Ozzy because if she goes against him she can kiss that relationship goodbye (and I don’t think she’s ready to do that just yet).

Tribal Council

Jeff doesn’t waste any time beating around the bush. This tribe is in trouble. They’ve lost three immunity challenges in a row and the only reason they’re still in it is because of odd circumstances that caused two people from the other tribe to leave the game.

Probst wants to know who is leading the tribe. Tracy quickly says, “Ozzy,” adding that he’s the one that told her to go to Exile Island and he’s the one that tells them who is going to compete, when tand what they’re going to eat.

Ozzy thinks this asserting is “ridiculous.” If he’s the leader of the tribe he doesn’t know about it. Hmm…that seems unlikely, Ozzy. As Probst asks more questions the others pretty much agree that Ozzy is the leader even if they’re more diplomatic about how they say it than Tracy was. Erik says the tribe would fall apart even faster than it is if Ozzy weren’t around. Gee, doesn’t sound like he’s into Ami’s plan.

Probst says there are two different approaches the tribe could take. They could take the short-term thinking approach based on winning challenges right now or they could take the long-term thinking approach based on who can beat them in the game. Ami probably doesn’t help her standing with Ozzy when she says that you always have to look out for who will be the biggest threat and when the best time is to get rid of them; and you have to play your cards when it makes the most sense.

Ozzy, in fact, says that hearing that is a little concerning. He says he’s not naive enough to think people don’t want him gone, even if they still need him for challenges. He says he’ll still give it his all and be loyal to the people he’s said he’ll be loyal to. If people see him as a threat and want to get rid of him they can play that strategy, but another strategy is to be with him (stop smiling Amanda, he didn’t mean it like that) and go with him to the end.

Tracy then takes her own shot at destroying Ami’s plan for some reason when Jeff asks her why the tribe should keep her. She pretty much calls Ozzy out and says she’s a better tribe member than somebody who will demolish you if you go to the merge (meaning Ozzy, of course). She would be less of a threat to Ami, Amanda, and Cirie than Ozzy. It’s black and white. So are your chances in this game.

With that, it’s time to vote. We see Ozzy and Tracy trade votes for one another as was to be expected. Jeff then goes and tallies the votes. Does anyone want to play the Immunity Idol? Nope. Ozzy’s feeling pretty good about his chances right now. Jeff reads the votes: Tracy, Ozzy (Tracy’s vote), Tracy, Tracy (it’s obvious now), Tracy. That’s enough. With that, Tracy is voted out of Survivor. For the record, everyone (including Erik) voted for Tracy.

What Went Wrong With Ami’s Plan

Ami’s plan was too complicated to have a very good chance of success. Similar moves have been made before (most notably by Cirie on her original season), but Ami was dealing with people who had a lot of other agendas which she wasn’t aware of nor a part of.

Tracy herself was the weakest link in the equation. If Tracy had been able to get Erik on board, the plan had a chance of success as they would have had three votes for Ozzy which would have forced a tie if nothing else. Erik, however, believes that he might have a chance at an alliance with Ozzy and was afraid that if Ozzy wasn’t voted out then he would definitely be the next to go after Tracy. Looking at it from Erik’s point of view, he could, in fact, have a chance of sticking around longer than Ami if he can figure out the dynamics of the Fave’s alliances. I could definitely see Ozzy keeping Erik around as a useful idiot vote and getting rid of Ami who hasn’t shown much inclination to follow Ozzy’s lead.

Without Erik, of course, Ami’s plan never had a shot. Amanda and Cirie were always in doubt. Ami was asking them to go against Ozzy’s wishes and it was pretty clear that Amanda wasn’t crazy about that idea. Cirie wasn’t about to jump ship for no reason either. The truth is, Ami was really the only one threatened by Erik sticking around longer than Tracy. All of them should have seen that Traci was much more dangerous than Erik as far as strategy goes and needed to be dealt with in case of a merge in the near future. Erik hasn’t shown himself as any kind of strategist or threat to the alliance at all other than the possibility I mentioned above that Ozzy could keep him and get rid of Ami.

Tracy’s departure, of course, was just another casualty of Chet’s exit from the game. If he had stuck around long enough to vote out Ozzy last week and then dropped out things would have been a lot different and Tracy would have had a much better chance. We did learn this week, however, that Chet really did have an issue with his foot that required immediate surgery upon leaving the game. Jonathan has confirmed in interviews that Chet was in the same hospital as himself recovering from the foot surgery as the same time. So, I suppose I shall have to take back a few of the things I said about Chet. However, I stand by my assertion that he was relatively worthless on the show.

There will not be an episode of Survivor next week so check back in two weeks for another recap.

Favorites – Malakal

Jon “Jonny Fairplay” Dalton (Ep1), Yau-Man Chan (Ep3), Joel Anderson (Ep5), Ami Cusack, Cirie Fields, Tracy Hughes-Wolf (Ep7), Amanda Kimmel, Ozzy Lusth, Erik Reichenbach, Chet Welch (Ep6)

Fans – Airai

Mary Sartain (Ep2), Michael “Mikey B” Bortone (Ep4), Natalie Bolton, James Clement, Alexis Jones, Eliza Orlins, Jonathan Penner (Ep6), Parvati Shallow, Jason Siska, Kathleen “Krazy Kathy” Sleckman (Ep7)