Survivor Episode 9

Unfortunately, it's really hard for me to take notes while I'm watching Survivor, so this won't be a play-by-play.

Last week on Survivor:
Ozzy caught a bird. Aitu won reward because Brad was "better at puzzles." Raro had a come from behind victory in the IC when Jenny was actually the better one at puzzles. Flicka was paranoid. Aitu had a bad feeling about Jonathan but let go of Flicka.

This week:
Basically three things happen- Mutiny has Candice and Jonathan switching to Raro, which makes Aitu very very mad. Aitu destroys Raro in the challenges. Raro votes off Brad instead of Jonathan and then find out Brad is the first member of the Jury. I'll cover the episode by talking about those three points.

1- Mutiny:
At the reward challenge, Jeff says they're going to try something new. He will give them ten seconds to change their fate and the fate of this game forever. I think this twist was invented when they cast Adam and Candice who either fell for each other really quickly or were dating before this game began and the producers just forgot to tell us. They knew Candice would switch. I really don't think anybody would have switched in any other season.. maybe Shii Ann in Thailand, but it depends.

So Candice steps off the mat when there's three seconds left. Then when Jeff says "1," Jonathan quickly skips off of the mat. I really think he left the mat after Jeff finished the countdown, but it doesn't matter. I just think it would have been hilarious if Jeff told him he was too late and had to stay on Aitu. Hahaha, that would have been awesome.

So apparently Jonathan trusts Candice 100% and Candice trusts Jonathan, oh, like 15%. Haha. When explaining why he mutiny-ed, Jonathan said he trusted Candice and if it was bad judgment on her part, he was a fool to follow. As if they have to act in tandem. Whatever, Jonathan. You two aren't even each others' puppets. And Parvati doesn't like you.

So Aitu is pissed. I mean pissed. After the mutiny occurred, each of them had the look of fiery rage in their eyes. They almost burned holes through Candice and Jonathan. Well, Becky normally has an "I will cut you" look, but the other three were all so steaming as well.

How good was this as a strategic move? On Candice's part, it seems like her stock didn't go up nor down in the game, she's just now with Adam. She has effectively dropped his stock a couple notches, though. I think he will leave this game before her and he will leave because of being with her. On Jonathan's part? Boneheaded move. He's stupid. He is in much more danger being on a Raro tribe that isn't looking for a loud-spoken leader type. Nobody wants him there, not really even Candice.

2- Challenges:
Reward- This is right after the mutiny. Each tribe has to put two people in barrels while two other people roll them all over the freaking place. I would puke. I would hate that challenge. If I were there, I would force a six foot tall, 250 pound man to go in the barrel so I wouldn't have to. That's why I will never be on Survivor. Although had it been last season, Cirie would have said, "You get your ass in that barrel, Aras. I'm not about to be rolled around by you." Oh, Cirie, I miss you.

As a side note, I'm in the computer cluster of my dorm. The lights in here are turned on by motion and if you're sitting relatively still like all people do when they're at a computer, the lights eventually turn off after ten minutes. It sucks balls.

So Aitu puts the girls in the barrels while Yul and Ozzy roll them. Raro has Jenny and Candice in the barrels while Adam and Nate roll them. Here's how it basically goes: There's no time lost by either team in the rolling process. It's getting the barrels out to sea to get the flags that makes all the difference. Yul pulls the barrel with the girls while Ozzy goes off into his natural habitat to snatch the flags. They get back on land, put the flags up, and together dig for a hatchet of some sort to cut a rope and release a flag. Aitu creams Raro. Raro basically sat in the water floating around for half an hour. It was like watching Tom and Terry in a boat: pathetic.

Aitu is excited, especially Ozzy, who rubs it in Raro's face and yells, "Mutineers are the first to die." A little unnecessary, but I understand his rage and triumph. Good for you, Aitu. They get breakfast, buffet style, and letter and pictures from home. It's a great moment between them as they enjoy their letters. Sundra is obviously really emotional, but she doesn't try to steal the moment and just cries quietly to herself. I like Aitu. I'm not a huge Ozzy fan like everybody else seems to be, but he's grown on me. And I'm a Yul/Becky fan. Sundra has been really quiet in the tribe, but I do like her a lot as well.

Oh, so Aitu sends Candice to Exile because, well, she's dead to them right about then. She feels bad and tries to look at them apologetically, but they don't care. We see her cracking a coconut open and then finding it to be rotten. That's about it.

Immunity- The challenge is also pretty neat. They've done a good job this season with exciting and unique challenges. The tribes are in glass-bottom boats and have to navigate around and line up with targets where they will release cannonballs, aiming to release two buoys at a time. They have to do this three times, then row to shore until they hit a mat, and spell a word with five of the buoys. Awesome.

Here's how it goes down.. Raro takes a huge lead to begin with (well, not huge, but it would appear so given the task). They're ahead two to none until they run into a wall: Jonathan. He totally loses focus because he's freaking out. He even says, "Oh, please" to Jeff. You do not talk back to Jeff like that. Yul figures out that it's easier to look through the hole than to line up the crosshairs. He just drops the cannonball when he sees the target through the hole. Why does he figure this out? Because he's smart and inventive. He tries to tell his tribe, but they understand what he's doing and tells him to shush because they like to watch Trainwreck Jonathan. (Tangent: There's a guy in my dorm that always talks when he's in the computer cluster. He talks to himself but it's like everybody else in the room is his audience. It's annoying. If I wanted to socialize with you, I wouldn't do it in the cluster. People come to the cluster, you know, to work on homework or study. Stop talking, please. I cannot concentrate.)

So Jonathan totally starts watching Aitu. Parvati tells him to stop taking them with him to this trainwreck and please focus. It's hopeless as Raro starts throwing cannonballs left and right while Aitu rushes back to shore and figures out the word is BOUNTY. Aitu wins immunity.

3- Vote:
So after Jonathan joined Candice in an expedition to Raro, Nate was all "Jonathan's gone." He thinks Jonathan is stupid for coming over. Blah blah blah. Nate talks to fill air and pass time. He says nothing about Candice because he doesn't want to upset his buddy Adam. Nate understands. He wants to get into Parvati's pants.. Adam is already in Candice's. So, in general, there's a lot of pissing and moaning about Jonathan. Jenny and Rebecca look a little pissed in general that new people are around. They have this quiet pissed air about them. Like, "I won't say anything, but try to tell me this is okay. I will slap you." They don't like it.

Somewhere in the midst of questions and scrambling, the decision is made that Brad will go. Nate says he'll play the good actor and good friend and assure Brad that he's safe. Which is another way that Nate can fill air and make himself look important. Brad doesn't need assuring. He's not that type. He doesn't care about you, Nate.

They vote out Brad and Jeff announces that he's part of the jury. This means a 10 person jury, which is odd, but could potentially be funny. I wonder if CBS would say the final two have to share the money if it comes to a tie. So, the whole Raro tribe looks shocked. They're all kinda laughing, which I heard in forums some people thought was Raro laughing at Brad. I think it was more of Raro laughing at having potentially chosen the wrong person to send to the jury just yet.

Let's talk strategy. I like this season because there's no definite tribal loyalties. The current tribes are comprised of different original tribes. People mutiny-ed. It's gonna be exciting. I really think when the merge occurs, Jenny and Rebecca should join up with the Aitu alliance. That could be a tight alliance. They might sacrifice Ozzy because he's such a threat, but I can see Yul, Becky, Sundra, Jenny, Rebecca really teaming up. I hope this season comes down to the immunity idol making a huge play. I can see Yul having the balls to use it to change the game, unlike Terry, who couldn't think big picture. How incredible would it be if he pulled it out to save his ass or even Becky and in turn send home somebody like Nate or Adam. Can't wait to see.

Next week on Survivor: Jeff has some vile with sand or something. Another twist. Everybody looks shocked. Another immunity idol? I don't know. Merge or no merge? Will Adam and Candice do it on camera? Will Nate stop blowing smoke? What will Ozzy catch this time, a bear?

Until next time..