Survivor: South Pacific Episode 7 Thoughts

Random thoughts scattered throughout the show...

The overestimation of Christine as a threat

First, let me say that this week's Redemption Island duel was probably the best one that they've done. Granted, that is damning with faint praise, but it was actually intriguing and not that obvious.

With that said, let's not pretend that Christine is some kind of threat here. She was won games of bean bag toss, shuffleboard and balancing idols. These are not your normal individual immunity challenges. Let's not mistake it for the real thing.

Also, Mikayla might have been a threat to win a challenge, but anybody else? Are you really betting on PapaBear, Stacey or Semhar on winning an individual challenge?

Christine has had a great run, but let's not put her in a position where she's a top player or anything.

What is with Survivor choosing bad movies for cross-promotion?

Last year was Gulliver's Travels, this year is Jack and Jill. A note for movie exectuives: do not cross promote on Survivor.

(BTW, good thing it wasn't Footloose - that would have been awkward for Whitney since she has a single on the soundtrack.)

Ozzy's dumb plan

Thinking Christine might go back to Upolu after being voted out is some major unawareness of what is going on. Last week Christine is giving Rick the finger. She has seen all of the outsiders get voted out of her tribe. Why would she want to go back to Upolu instead of helping Savaii for revenge? Not to mention the theory that the merge is coming is not guaranteed.

(BTW, what is with Ozzy and dumb Survivor moves? His first time around saw him throw a challenge for no good reason just to get rid of Billy Garcia. Fans vs. Favorites had him leaving an immunity idol in his pocket while getting voted out. And this time has him wanting to get voted out. I hope he doesn't play again, because I don't know how he tops this.)

Ozzy's meltdown

If Ozzy was willing to be voted out to save his tribe, that went out of the window after Cochran seemingly blew a challenge by himself. Super competitive Ozzie has returned, and with that he brought back the desire to have the strongest members on the tribe. Which means Cochran has to go.

Cochran's self denial of being "redeemed"

Cochran is smart. Getting voted out is never a smart plan, even if you still have a chance of coming back into the game. Even still, he should accept what his tribe is saying. They are trying to support him and build his confidence, which is something that he has definitely been lacking. That he refuses to accept this is his own problem.

Why doesn't he accept this rah-rah speech? Part of it is because he doesn't want to get voted out, without question. But another issue is that he has fluked out of getting voted out each other time Savaii has gone to Redemption Island. He seems to be under the impression each time Tribal Council comes along that it is him who is going to get voted out, then doesn't do anything about it. He has always been saved by somebody else, and doesn't have the feeling that he has done anything to further his game. Redemption Island might have actually been better for him, to make him think that he can be an actual relevant player, instead of an incidental player while others actually play the game.

Ozzy's dumb plan, redux

But wait! Ozzy had a dream, y'all, and it's his time for redemption. He even compares it to his gut feeling about not playing the hidden immunity idol during Fans vs. Favorites, as though that is a positive thing. To compound his stupid plan, ozzy seems to think that it would be a good idea to paint Cochran as the villain, and somehow plant him in the other tribe as a double agent. What the hell are you thinking? And then, just to put a cherry on top, you give Cochran the idol? What in the sweet blue hell are you thinking?

I could list the many different ways that this is the dumbest thing move that Ozzy has ever made, but it would be redundant. If there are Survivor gods out there, it's pretty obvious that Ozzy is going to lose, and Cochran is going to screw over Savaii with the hidden immunity idol. But at the same time, the Survivor gods like a good redemption story as well. Maybe it's time for Ozzy to come out looking good from one of his silly plans.

At least this season has been interesting.

(Programming note: Due to my vacation, no power rankings this week - if there were going to be any major changes from last week, it would be Savaii dropping, while Upolu rising.)