'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - Ep. 3 -or- "Drop Your Buffs"

18 are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

Well, I was right. I had predicted the merge would come about three weeks in and, here we are at the third episode and it's a done deal.

So much for segregation, eh?

In my opinion, the diverse cast working together on tribes not separated by race or culture will be more interesting to watch. It's more how we have to work things in the world - thrown into a mix of folks. At least, around here, that is!

Onto the show...

Billy's ex-tribemates still can't get over his "love at first sight" with Candice of the Raro tribe. They're befuddled and confused. Obviously, so was he. On Puka, Brad is becoming increasingly annoyed by Cao-Boi's incessant talking, whether telling jokes or just droning on... and on. "This guy just doesn't shut up! I don't think he's all there!" I personally think that Cao-Boi's definitely a bit "out there." I enjoy watching him, but I might feel the same as Brad if I had to spend days and nights with him.

Tree mail made the tribes think there was going to be a morning challenge, but Jeff Probst had a different surprise in store for them. Merge time! "Drop your buffs." Cao-Boi wasn't sure what a buff is. I snickered. "It's time to integrate!" Well, yeah, the social experiment lasted two weeks. Too bad history made it stretch out so long, huh?

The men and women were lined up separately and tiles were passed to each castaway. When they revealed the tiles, four (two men, two women) had tiles with an X on them. They were deemed the captains. The captains (Cecilia, Jonathan, Brad, and Parvati) were instructed to choose the same gender, but not from their own tribe. Then the chosen chose the same gender, but of a tribe not represented. So, then there were four tribes still, this time segregated by gender. A big improvement.

But, wait! Then each of the captains were given an egg. At Jeff's direction, they squished the eggs to reveal either red or blue paint. And, the skies parted and new tribes emerged from the dust of racial separation. Or, something to that effect.

The new tribes were named Aitu and Raro; they'd be taking over those camps. Aitu's new color is red and the tribe has Jonathan, Yul, Ozzy, Cao-Boi, JessFlicka, Cecilia, Sundra, Becky, and Candice. Raro wears blue buffs and includes Parvati, Jenny, Cristina, Rebecca, Stephannie, Brad, JP, Nathan, and Adam.

Happy, happy, joy, joy was the sentiment of the tribes, for the most part. JessFlicka thinks she may finally fit in somewhere, Parvati has a new flirting target (Nathan), although she seems to want to flirt with almost all the men except for Cao-Boi and perhaps Jonathan. Cecilia asked Candice about Billy's "love at first sight" with her. Candice was, without a doubt, not in love. It took her a moment to recall that she even said "we love you" to try to make him feel better.

Over on Raro, Yul and Jonathan were instantly drawn together. They wanted to create an alliance to the final four consisting of themselves, Becky, and Candice. They want to bring in at least a fifth, possibly a sixth, as they figure numbers will be strength. Jonathan thinks he can bring JessFlicka about to their side. JessFlicka has other plans, though. Hey, girls just want to have fun! She came to have a good time, make new friends, and all this alliance talk is confusing her. [@@ - I must roll my eyes at roller-girl.] She's bonding with Cao-Boi and doesn't like Becky. After all, she can't be fake, y'know. Yul let Becky, his true ally, know that he had the hidden Immunity Idol from Exile Island. They won't tell anyone else.

Nathan is struttin' his stuff and caught a huge octopus with a spear. He's the hero of Raro and a very happy man indeed. Wait until Parvati gets her tentacles around him; he'll think the octopus was a playtoy.

The Immunity Challenge was similar to one they had last season. The tribes were tied together by tribe and each given a fifteen-pound sack of sand. They had to race an roughly rectangular course starting at opposite ends, trying to catch the other tribe. If a person dropped out, he or she had to pass their weight to another. The goal was to tackle a member of the opposing tribe. Oh. Did I mention this was about thigh-deep in water? Why, yes, it was.

The course set-up, and the tornado watch warning on CBS Channel 2, New York City in the screen cap on the right.

The women dropped out first and no man was a true Terry. Remember how much weight he lugged in the similar challenge last season? Rebecca was the last woman staggering. Once it was down to all men, Raro put the push on and, despite a heroic effort from Yul to block, they brought Cao-Boi down. Raro won Immunity.

This time, the winning tribe chose someone from the losing tribe to send to Exile Island. That person would be safe from Tribal Council. Raro unanimously chose Candice.

Once back at camp, Ozzy again wanted to run the show. Unbeknownst to him, he's going up against Yul and Jonathan when he decided Becky would be the target. Things looked iffy for a long time on this one, at least the way they edited the show. JessFlicka didn't want to commit to Jonathan as she didn't click with Becky. Becky gives her bad vibes. [@@] Cao-Boi said Becky was a "weak link" and a "princess" as Yul and Jonathan worked on him for the vote. They wanted Cecilia, Ozzy's buddy out.

And, so it went down.

At Tribal Council, despite the editing, the vote ended up being 5-3 (remember, Candice was still on Exile Island) to cast off Cecila. The votes to off Becky were Ozzy, Cecilia, and Sundra.

Ozzy isn't happy. Although he was an early favorite of mine, this week I chortled at his unhappiness. I know, I'm cruel. Too many Alpha Males on that tribe and Ozzy is probably the weakest Alpha Male link. He'd be a better Cao-Boi at this point.