Survivor South Pacific - October 26/11

It's night 16 and Upolu is returning from Tribal Council having just sent Mikhayla to Redemption Island. If there is one thing that the entire tribe agrees on it is that Brandon is a liability, as evidenced by his outburst at Tribal Council. The next morning we are promptly whisked off to the duel between Christina and Mikhayla. The two women must disassemble a crate and use the planks in a specific sequence to build a small bridge. Once the bridge is built and they have crossed it they take specific planks from the bridge and use them to assemble a puzzle. Once again Christine wins the duel...her fifth consecutive win. In the process she sends both Mikhayla and our own Selina home. After observing Christine at the duel Ozzie begins to hatch a plot. It is quite obvious that Christine will not be sympathetic to Savaii if she returns to the game. Perhaps Savaii needs to send someone to Redemption Island who can beat Christine and return to bolster their numbers in the expected merge. Back at camp Ozzie bounces the idea off Cochran who is in favour of any plan that will keep him in the game longer. Meanwhile the Upololites are having a revival meeting. Coach is having a chat with God on the beach telling him repeatedly that he (Coach) is unworthy. Brandon is still excited about finding the idol so Coach (who has the idol) leads a prayer asking God to help them find the idol and to lead them to victory. Coach and Sophie then head off into the jungle where they come across tree mail announcing the next challenge. They also make a stop to pick up the idol. Coach returns to camp rejoicing that he has "found" the idol and Brandon believes that God has very directly answered their prayer. Sophie admits to feeling a little squeamish when she hears Coach praying for the idol when he already has it in his keeping. The aforementioned tree mail tells the Survivors to pair up and to dress and paint their faces like twins. This is significant because their reward is a chance to go off to a jungle cinema to watch Adam Sandler's new movie, Jack and Jill (who are twins). To win the trip to the movie along with assorted candy, popcorn and hotdogs, two pairs from each tribe must be blindfolded. Guided by the third non-blindfolded pair they must travel along a rope, through an obstacle course and collect several masks suspended in bags along the course. At the end they must assemble all of the masks in matching pairs using only their sense of touch. The challenge is pretty close but as Ozzie and Whitney head out for the last mask they become tangled in their rope. As a result Savaii falls behind and loses to Upolu. So while Coach and his Upolu tribe head off to watch the movie, Savaii returns to camp led by a very angry Ozzie. It was Cochran who miscued on the rope and every finger on the tribe is pointing at him. Bizarrely they are encouraging to Cochran, telling him that he can defeat Christine and that this is his chance to redeem himself. Ozzie's plan to go to Redemption Island seems to be put aside. But the next morning Ozzie tells the tribe that he dreamed about giving someone the idol and going to Redemption Island. He returned to the game, he says, for Redemption and this will be his chance. Of course there is no argument from Cochran but Ozzie's other tribe mates are less thrilled about his plan. After all, the merge may not happen right away and they may have to do another challenge without Ozzie. No one really questions that Christine might beat Ozzie in the duel. All concerns revolve around the timing of the merge. Cochran's emotions are up and down like toilet seat. He is safe, then he isn't, then he is safe again...maybe. In the end though the tribe cooperates and votes for Ozzie sending him to Redemption Island to do battle with Christine. Ozzie gives Cochran the idol for safe keeping, asking him to give it back when he returns to the tribe. So Ozzie and his alter ego Donna skip off (literally) to Redemption Island where Ozzie believes he may be making the biggest move ever in Survivor history. Will Christine be able to hold off another assault...this time from the mighty Ozzie? If Ozzie returns, will Cochran give him the idol back? Oooooh the tension. Stay tuned next week for these answers and more. Until then... Outwit, Outplay, Outlast Pat (aka Christine bring 'em on Markoski)