Michael Bortone the fourth castaway cut from 'Survivor: Micronesia'

Michael Bortone was blind-sided by Joel Anderson for the second time in as many Tribal Councils.


As a result, the 34-year-old Los Angeles writer and actor known as "Mikey B." became the fourth castaway eliminated from Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites during last night's broadcast of the long-running CBS reality show's sixteenth season.

"I'm not surprised it's me, no, because I'm playing with a bunch of weak players who listen to Joel. Don't trust Joel, he's gonna stab you in the back.  It was obvious who needed to go," said Mikey B. following his ouster.  "I wish I was in the game longer.  I guess I came out too strong. I was never lazy, I always did what I could to help the tribe, so yeah, they're gonna miss me. No doubt."

Survivor: Micronesia's fourth episode began with the eight remaining Favorites returning from the previous Tribal Council that saw the elimination of Yau-Man Chan.  Survivor: Panama's Cirie Fields -- who orchestrated Yau's ouster -- expressed her displeasure with Vanuatu's Amy Cusack, who voted for Cirie at the Tribal Council. 

However the main point of contention continued to be between Cirie and Survivor: Cook Islands' Jonathan Penner, who accused Cirie of having "flipped" on their original alliance, which he thought was a "disgusting" move."


"I'm just done," Cirie told Jonathan.  "You know that I broke your alliance. I don't trust you. You don't trust me. Everybody knows it. Done!"

Despite their lack of reliable shelter and having yet to win a Reward Challenge, the Fans were feeling pretty good about themselves having won the previous Immunity Challenge .  After Jason Siska caught an eel for some good eats, Natalie Bolton noticed Chet Welch was making no effort to help around camp.

"I don't feel like Chet really wants to help out and carry his weight," explained Natalie. "How do you not say, 'Dude, pick it up or go home.'"

Mikey B. agreed with Natalie's assessment of Chet, who laid in the surf.

"Chet is distraught, weak and decimated.  He is not in this game right now," said Mikey B.  "He's a physical and mental liability and he's horrible for morale around camp. He's gone.  Chet is gone."


At the Favorites' Malakal camp, Survivor: Vanuatu's Eliza Orlins commented how she was feeling "really sick" and realized unless she was able to recover, she's "probably the next to go."  Survivor: China's James Clement basically confirmed Eliza's thought, as he and Survivor: Cook Islands' Ozzy Lusth lamented their decision to go along with Cirie and boot Yau instead of Eliza.

"We kind of folded to [Cirie's] will, which was a big mistake," said James.

James subsequently called Eliza out for being sick, but she wasn't so weak that she couldn't defend herself.

"I'm not about to die.  I'm just taking it easy so I can perform really well in the challenge," said Eliza to Ozzy and James.  "Even being slightly sick, I'm still gonna do better at whatever challenge we have today than Yau-Man would have."

"You're sick and you got attitude?" questioned James with a laugh.


The two tribes then met for Survivor: Micronesia's third Reward Challenge and host Jeff Probst explained the rules. Four members from each tribe would swim out to a floating platform and dive down to a 30-foot long steel cage submerged in the water. They had to retrieve from the cage 10 tribe-colored coconuts with letters on them. Pushing the coconuts the length of the cage through an opening at the end, tribes must then retrieve the coconuts one-by-one and place them in a wooden bin floating above the cage.

After all 10 coconuts are in the bin, they had to swim the loaded bin back to shore where the four remaining tribe members would use the letters on the coconuts to unscramble a 10-letter word -- "triumphant." First tribe to unscramble the word would win three egg-laying hens and a rooster.

Ozzy, Jonathan, Amy and Survivor: Cook Island's Parvati Shallow were the Favorites' swimmers; while Mikey B., Jason. Natalie and Alexis Jones were the Fans' swimmers.

The challenge commenced and Ozzy immediately employed an interesting strategy, moving his tribe's coconuts to the front of the cage for faster removal later.  The strategy paid-off, as the tribes were tied at seven coconuts apiece until fatigue began to set in for the Fans while the Favorites didn't have to swim as far for their coconuts due to Ozzy's plan.

James, Eliza, Cirie and Survivor: China's Amanda Kimmel began to put the puzzle together.


"Triumphant?  Would that be a word?" asked James, as the others realized he was right.

"Alright... If I came up with the damn puzzle!" said James.  "Come on!"

The Favorites finished the puzzle before the Fans were even out of the water, and Malakal became 3-for-3 in Reward Challenges.  Malakal sent Kathleen Sleckman to Exile Island for the third straight time and Ozzy nominated himself to be the winning tribe's representative.

As the Fans returned to their camp empty-handed, Erik Reichenbach was confident Kathy wouldn't find Exile Islands' Hidden Immunity Idol.

"Kathy's a weak person," said Erik. "The other team definitely sees this just by the way Kathy is.  I'm pretty confident she's not looking for that idol right now. I'm pretty confident she's curled up in the fetal position just trying to stay alive."


Erik wasn't completely correct in his assessment, as Kathy had previously found all four clues to the whereabouts of Exile Island's Hidden Immunity Idol.  However she had no interest in going to search for the actual idol a third time.

"I don't care about the Immunity Idol," she said.  "I don't feel like doing it no more."

Ozzy -- on the other hand -- was enthused at the opportunity to locate the idol.  He told Kathy he was going to look for food but instead went in search of the idol, quickly finding all four clues before the sun set.

"If I could find the idol, that would make things so much easier.  There's a lot of guys out there that want to beat me," said Ozzy. "It's really key that I find the idol."

Find it he did, as it was located under a stone on a large rock above his Exile Island camp.

"I found the idol!  I found the idol!  I found the idol!" excitedly whispered Ozzy.  "Now that I've got the idol, that changes the game so much."


Not wanting Kathy to see he found the idol, Ozzy put it in his hat and nonchalantly placed it in his bag.  Obviously a Survivor student, Ozzy then followed a plan formerly used by Yau in Fiji -- crafting a fake Hidden Immunity Idol, which he placed where he had discovered the real idol.

"God I hope someone finds it and tries to play it... It's worth a shot," he said.

Feeling her neck on the chopping block, Eliza went for a walk with Parvati and swore allegiance to the couples' alliance if the Favorites' were to lose the next Immunity Challenge, instead trying to put the target on Jonathan.

"We can't trust Jonathan," said Eliza.  "We're better off with him not around."

Parvati agreed Jonathan's distrustful, and he overheard the two talking.

"It's so painful to watch somebody who's on the outside trying to get back on the inside," commented Jonathan about Eliza.  "I totally understand it.  I feel sorry for her."


Parvati agreed with Jonathan's assessment.

"Eliza's just trying to stay in the game.  She's trying to save her butt right now," said Parvati. "She's throwing [Jonathan] under the bus, and I'd say if we went to Tribal tonight, Eliza would be going home. So yeah, she should be saying anything she can to save herself right now."

The two tribes met for Survivor: Micronesia's fourth Immunity Challenge, and Jeff explained the rules as Kathy and Ozzy rejoined their tribes.

Six members from each tribe would race to open six locks releasing a large six-point sliding hub. Harnessing themselves into the hub, tribes would then maneuver through a large obstacle course by shifting, sliding, and adjusting each other in their hub. Along the way they had to collect six tribal bead necklaces.

Once all six necklaces were collected, the remaining two tribe members would match-up the colored beads on the necklace with the corresponding letters on a decoding wheel to spell a three-word phrase -- "Tribe Stays Intact." First tribe to decipher the phrase would win Immunity.  Cirie and Eliza were the Favorites' decoders, while Chet and Kathy did the same for the Fans.

The challenge commenced, and Erik immediately put the Fans at a disadvantage when he couldn't unlock the first lock.  The Favorites, meanwhile, were blazing through their locks and were the first team on the course.  The Favorites' lead would only grow from there as they easily maneuvered the course.  Once the Fans were on the course, they further had problems navigating it.


It was never really a contest as the Favorites easily won Immunity.

Airai returned to camp and Mikey B. was immediately wary of Joel, not surprising considering what had previously happened with his former ally Mary Sartain.

"I don't know what Joel has up his sleeve," said Mikey B..  "He backstabbed me early in the game and voted off Mary, so my goal is to pretend to be Joel's ally and that I forgive him, vote Chet out.  I'll keep Joel around as long as I can, until right before the merge and then cut his damn head off."

Mikey B. began to put his plan into motion and approached Joel about booting Chet since he's the tribe's weakest member.

"My mind is just spinning with the fact that he's still here," Mikey B. told Joel. "He is the weakest. He is the weakest.  If we get rid of him, then that will make me feel secure about your position to me.  Where you're still in control of the game, but you're not dominating the game."

Joel said he'd rather vote Kathy off, and Mikey B. reiterated he'd "join forces" with Joel if they ousted Chet.


"I need you to give a little to get a little," Mikey B. told Joel.

Since Chet, Kathy and Tracy Hughes-Wolf have been aligned with each other since the onset of the competition, Tracy was worried that Chet seemed to be physically and mentally checking out of the game.

"I think Chet could go home just like that," said Tracy.  "Then if Chet's gone, that's one of my votes.  Then Kathy and that's two and then I'll be next."

While Chet had seemingly given up on all hope of not being booted, Tracy wasn't going to let it happen without a fight and approached Joel, suggesting they team-up and vote Mikey B. out.

"It can't happen right now I don't think," said Joel.  "We need his strength right now to win challenges.  Basically Mikey and Jason feel Chet is weak, run-down and I think they're going to do whatever Mikey asks them to do."

"Why are you letting him call the shots right now?" asked Tracy.  "You're rolling over.  It's crazy.  You said you were going to get Mike off a long time ago, here's your opportunity."


Joel admitted to being "threatened" by Mikey B., which is why he ousted Mary.  Joel said he was also aware that eliminating Mary made him a target for Mikey B.  Tracy then fueled Joel's fears in an attempt to save Chet's skin.

"There's nine people here. All you need is one person and we can take Mikey down," said Tracy, explaining that once either herself, Kathy or Chet are gone, a numbers swing would no longer be possible.  "Mikey's going to take you down the next chance he gets because of what you did to Mary, okay?  So this is his next chance. Beware of that."

"We'll see. Tonight will be interesting," answered Joel.

Survivor: Micronesia's fourth Tribal Council commenced and Joel initially made it sound like Chet would be the one booted.

"It's extremely important [to keep the tribe strong to win challenges]," explained Joel.  "The weaker our individuals are, the weaker we are as a team."

Chet admitted he under-performed in the first challenge but has done well in more recent tasks where physical strength isn't as important. 


"I just don't think he has the physical capacity to compete," said Mikey B. about Chet.

Tracy pointed out that she, Chet and Kathy didn't compete in the previous two challenges and Airai still lost.

"I just want to vote out the people who are weak and who are physically unable to perform," reiterated Mikey B.  "I hope people who told me the way they were voting tonight stick to it, because sometimes you have to give a little trust to earn a little trust."

Erik agreed that the tribe needs to remain strong, but warned there's more to it than physical strength.  Joel agreed, and the first signs Mikey B. could be in trouble emerged.

"Alright, it is time to vote..." said Jeff before being cut-off by Jason.

"Again... I need to emphasize the importance of tonight's vote in determining our future as a tribe," Jason insisted. "We have lost four of six challenges! So, take a moment to really think about how important it is who we keep on the island and who we let go."


"Any other comments from anybody else?" asked Jeff. 

Nobody responded and the Fans cast their votes.  Tracy, Chet, Kathy, Joel, Erik and Natalie all voted for Mikey B., who voted for Chet along with Jason and Alexis.  As Mikey B. was blind-sided for the second time, Jason could only sit there and shake his head.

Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites next episode will air Thursday, March 6 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS, with some of the Fans and Favorites switching tribes.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio