TV: Survivor South Pacific (ep. 5)

Week five of the new season of Survivor was titled "Taste the Victory" after the reward/immunity challenge and it was DIS.GUST.ING. More on that in a bit as well as the bold move that the Savaii (red) tribe takes.

Let's take a look at the details of the episode.


We open with Christine and Stacey on Redemption Island. These two former allies spend the night fuming about how Coach is running the Upolu (blue) tribe and how they plan to blow it all wide open to the other tribe at the competition. And Stacey does just that - calling about Albert as well and putting a little bit of fear into him (so much so he scrambles to find an immunity idol the next day). The competition is an interesting one - drop balls into a ramp contraption and catch them at the end, drop in and repeat. You keep the balls moving, adding more to the mix as time goes by. First one to drop is out. Stacey seems very focused, like a machine. Christine juggles a few for saves. In the end, Stacey's focus drifts and she's out. Clearly Christine wants back in as this is the third Redemption Island competition she has won. Is she going to pull a Matt?

Back at Savaii, Jim (the poker player) uses information from the competition to start sowing the seeds of a plan. He, Dawn and Cochran already have sub-aligned and want to break up the Ozzy/Elyse pair. He approaches Keith with the possible plan. Keith discusses the options with Whitney who he has a sub-alliance with. Keith and Whitney know Ozzy has the hidden immunity idol and are concerned with rocking the boat at this point.

The tribes come together for the reward/immunity challenge. They have two huge pigs on spits. With their hands tied behind their backs, they have to use only their mouths to pull meat off the carcass and drop it in a basket. First team to have the most meat in the basket at the end of the time wins. Now, I have a forty-six inch HD television, and this competition was disgustingly vivid. You could see the saliva, the spit, etc. And then players pulled meat out of others' mouths using their own. Ugh. Cochran was right after Savaii got back to camp - someone could have easily picked up something from someone else after that challenge. Upolu won the challenge, keeping Coach and his crew well fed and happy for a week.

At tribal, it was time to see if Jim's seeds would sprout or not. Lots of discussion and clearly Cochran was a target. Ozzy had already made it known he wanted Cochran gone. Jim, Dawn and Cochran went for Elyse as planned. Ozzy and Elyse went for Cochran as planned. Keith and Whitney instead voted for Dawn, sending a clear message that the two didn't want to dirty their hands but at the same time also showing they were voting as like minds. In the end, Elyse was sent to Redemption, Ozzy was realizing he does not have a hold on the tribe which he thought, and the group is officially divided.

I like to see bold moves on Survivor, and Jim's plan was bold. He now needs to reel Keith and Whitney in to their new alliance as it appears next week Ozzy puts them all on notice that he's now playing for himself and a free agent. Next week should be good.