'Survivor 13: Cook Islands' - Ep. 7 -or- "Peanut Butter Love"

Thirteen are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

After last week's entire recap show, we saw an extended recap of the previous week. They must think our memories fail us, eh?

The show opened with the Aitu tribe on Day 16 and with JessFlicka feeling blindsided by the vote to boot Cao Boi in the last Tribal Council. "No one ever tells me anything, fuss, fuss." And, of course, she was saying it all in front of Nathan, the kidnapped Raro member spending some time with the Aitu tribe. Not too cool; Nathan was all but taking notes and the other tribe members caught onto issues with her loose lips, as well.

In strategy talks at the tribe (most not around Nathan), it looks like the tribe members are having trouble trusting Jonathan. Fueled mainly by JessFlicka, but even his alliance members (Yul, Becky, Candice) expressed increasing doubts about him.

In the tree mail, the castaways received a Survivor's Catalogue and were instructed to pick two items. If they win Reward, they will receive the chosen items and the opportunity to send a member of the opposing tribe to Exile Island. The hidden Immunity Idol was found long ago by Yul and, while only Becky and Yul know it, the rest are pretty sure someone has it.

On Raro, Brad was pushing for potatoes as they'd stay fresh longer than bread, the item which the rest wanted. Peanut butter was a hit for both tribes and chosen without argument. No one listened to him, so their choice was bread and peanut butter. Aitu, on the other hand, went along Brad's school of thought and chose potatoes and peanut butter. There were spices, sewing kits and more in the catalogue, but the peanut butter had cast its spell.

The Reward Challenge had the tribe members grabbing a club, swimming a distance, climbing to a platform, and then jumping off swinging the club at a wooden box to break it. A key within the box then falls in the water. They must dive down and retrieve it, then return to shore. Then it's repeated by others. The keys open chests to puzzle pieces and the tribe who completes the puzzle first wins.

It was very rigorous, especially diving down to retrieve the key. The girls, in particular, were spent. Although Aitu had Nathan (a good swimmer) through the challenge, they didn't quite trust him and had to sit a member out. So, he sat. For Raro, Brad wanted to do the puzzle solving instead of the physical part of the challenge. Oops, Raro lost. Aitu chose Adam to be the Exile Island exile.

Back at the Raro camp, they were all up in arms about Brad choosing to put together the puzzle. Nathan, in a confessional spot, called him "puzzle boy" and "such a Nancy boy." Ouch. Then Nathan went fishing and providing so the women could rest.

Adam didn't even search for the Immunity Idol on Exile Island. A nasty storm moved in and he spent the night huddled in the broken hull of the abandoned ship on the island.

Returning to Aitu, the tribe members awakened to Ozzy carrying a bird he had caught in his hands. Although Jonathan was a bit reluctant, it was decided that the bird was food. They seemed very respectful about it, but I'm sure that someone will be upset. I couldn't kill a bird unless I was starving, but Yul can. Finger-licking good!

Ozzy's "Jungle Boy" abilities continue and the tribe members appreciate them more and more. Ozzy himself seems to have changed a bit and I don't see that huge chip on his shoulder he was carrying in the past. Oh, yeah, there's still a chip on his shoulder, but he's wise enough to put it in his pocket when talking to the others.

The Immunity Challenge had tribe members building a staircase with logs of ascending heights. Once built, they had to climb them to a ramp, take a zipline across the water, and retrieve a bag of puzzle pieces. (Have I mentioned how much I love ziplines? I do, I really do.) Another puzzle? They're having way too many puzzles this season, methinks.

In a shocking conclusion to the challenge, Raro actually won. Yes, you heard me right. Raro won something. So, they're safe until the next Tribal Council and Aitu must lose a member.

Once again, the discussion was regarding trust issues with Jonathan and flaky issues with JessFlicka. Ozzy thought he was pretty safe this time around. He called it right. At the Tribal Council, despite editing to make it look like Jonathan would leave, it was JessFlicka. All votes except for her own vote (Jonathan) were for her exit. Another performance artist bites the dust.
I had some major issues with the editing of tonight's episode. Perhaps I've just watched the show too long or something. But I could tell that Aitu would go to Tribal Council because they focused much too much on the tribe discussing the vote while nary a mention of it from the Raro camp.

I also knew the vote was almost unanimous when they showed JessFlicka's vote for Jonathan first. I didn't have to see any more votes. I recognized the handwriting and knew that since they showed her casting the vote for him and then pulled that vote first, it had to be the only one for him.

I'm not all that sorry to see her go, although she's strong in challenges. If I had to hear how "left out" she was one more time again, I was planning to sneer at her. I'm liking Ozzy and Nathan more each week, while waning my cheering on of Jonathan. I'm ambivalent about Adam and most of the women. Yul is still the one I like for the win.

I think I want to see more sneakiness. I need more. It's Survivor, right?