'Survivor: South Pacific' votes off Mikayla Wingle, ousts Elyse Umemoto

Survivor: South Pacific's Upolu tribe voted Mikayla Wingle out of their tribe during Wednesday night's broadcast of the sixth episode of the CBS reality series' 23rd edition.


"Tribal was a mess, man. Every time Brandon has a blowup, it's always pointed at a stronger woman. I just don't understand how [Edna Ma] has made it this far and I would love to definitely get some people back," Mikayla, a 22-year-old model and Lingerie Football League player from Tampa, FL, said upon arriving at Redemption Island.

"After what's just happened, I'm just going to laugh and I hope the next challenge is something physical."

In addition, previously voted off contestant Elyse Umemoto, a 27-year-old dance team manager and former Miss Washington from Las Vegas, NV, lost the season's fourth Redemption Island duel to Christine Shields Markoski, a 39-year-old teacher from Merrick, NY, and was permanently ousted from the game.

"I think for me, I'll take away a sense of accomplishment because I gave my all. I did. I never would have known that I could push myself so far. I'm stronger than I think I am," Elyse told Survivor host Jeff Probst when asked what she will take away from the experience.


As the game's newest Tribal Council victim, Mikayla will now take Elyse's place on Redemption Island, where she will battle Christine in the game's next duel and attempt to eventually earn a chance to rejoin the game's other remaining castaways and resume competing for Survivor: South Pacific's million dollar prize.

Survivor: South Pacific's sixth broadcast began on Night 14 with the Savaii tribe -- which consisted of John Cochran, a 24-year-old Harvard Law School student from Washington, DC; Dawn Meehan, a 41-year-old English professor from South Jordan, UT; Whitney Duncan, a 27-year-old country singer and former Nashville Star finalist from Nashville, TN; Jim Rice, a 35-year-old medical marijuana dispenser from Denver, CO; Keith Tollefson, a 26-year-old water treatment tech from Edina, MN; and former Survivor: Cook Islands and Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites castaway "Ozzy" Oscar Lusth, a 30-year-old currently residing in Venice, CA -- returning from the season's fifth Tribal Council session after Ozzy was blindsided when most of his alliance had turned on him and voted out his closest ally.

"I'm pretty pissed off. Keith, Whitney and myself, we had a good thing going and they just went behind my back and voted someone out without telling me and made me look like an idiot. How can you trust somebody when they go behind your back? It goes against everything that an alliance is supposed to be," Ozzy said.

Ozzy declared himself a "free agent" to his tribe in which he would fight and fend for himself from that point on. He was angry he was not involved in or confronted about such a crucial move in the game that ultimately affected him because he had a close bond with Elyse. He said he saw being on the other side of the blindside a betrayal even though his own position in the game was spared.

While Ozzy was complaining about his tribe's lack of loyalty, Dawn stuck up for herself and called him out for not sharing everything he knew or thought with his tribe either. In a moment of pride and defiance to prove he is an honest man, Ozzy admitted he had the hidden Immunity Idol, which shocked some of his tribemates.


Ozzy kept insisting the game was about redemption, and Keith -- who was frustrated with Ozzy's apparent immaturity over the tribe's strategic decision -- said if he wants redemption so badly, let them all know so they could vote him off to Redemption Island.

On Day 15, Ozzy was still reeling from what had happened. He said he hated how his tribemates felt the need to go behind his back when he was trying to build tribe immunity. Ozzy added that they had to be forthcoming if they wanted his loyalty and they needed to trust him.

However, the tribe didn't care and they all thought as a unit that Ozzy needed to grow up and was handling the situation childishly.

Keith said if they were really trying to blindside Ozzy, they would have just voted him out instead of Elyse. Cochran thought the whole situation was great because Ozzy's attitude was helping his own case to stay in the game longer.

"The plan's coming together better than I could have ever drawn it up. Now, as opposed to Ozzy being the leader, he chose what only could be described as a hissy fit. I kind of thought Ozzy would wake up this morning and realize he needed to apologize to everybody. That wasn't the case. He's taken his ball and is going to the other side of the island and still huffing and puffing -- not talking to anybody. It's been 12 hours after the fact and he's still this pissy? Come on! Not only that, he revealed that he had the Idol and says he's a free agent. The guy couldn't have made any worse moves than he did," Jim explained.


Meanwhile, the Upolu tribe -- which consisted of Sophie Clarke, a 22-year-old medical student from Willsboro, NY; Albert Destrade, a 26-year-old "baseball/dating coach" from Plantation, FL; Brandon Hantz, a 19-year-old oil tanker crewman from Katy, TX; Edna, a 35-year-old anesthesiologist from Los Angeles, CA; Rick Nelson, a 51-year-old rancher from Aurora, UT; Mikayla; and former Survivor: Tocantins and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains castaway "Coach" Benjamin Wade, a 39-year-old currently residing in Susanville, CA -- watched Brandon search frantically for the hidden Immunity Idol after he had discovered the third clue.

However, Coach had already found the Idol but decided not to share the information with Brandon because he sometimes acted like a loose cannon. Coach wondered whether withholding information was lying, as he wanted to play an honest Christian game just like Brandon, but he decided there were just gray areas to what should be considered a lie.

Albert, whom Coach had previously told about the Idol in confidence along with Sophie, tried to convince Coach to continue to keep Brandon in the dark because the young castaway would "fly off the handle" and lose his temper if he found out Coach and his alliance hadn't been completely open and honest with him from the second they had found it. It still seemed to haunt Coach that Brandon was the nephew of former Survivor: Samoa, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Redemption Island castaway Russell Hantz.

"I want to play this game honorably, but now after watching Brandon search for that Idol, he looks like Russell. I'm having flashbacks and when I see something that reminds me of some horrible nightmares that I lived through on Heroes and Villains, it scares me. It scares the heck out of me," Coach said.

Later that day, Jeff met with Elyse, Christine and the onlookers who came to watch the duel. While Sophie and Rick attended the duel on behalf of the Upolu tribe, Ozzy and Keith were the witnesses for the Savaii tribe.


Jeff then explained the rules to the duel. Elyse and Christine were required to play a Survivor version of shuffleboard and each person would have four pucks on a board with their names on them. The goal was to knock off the other person's pucks by pushing one puck up the board before their own were knocked off.

The last person standing with pucks still on the board would remain on Redemption Island and stay alive in the game, while the person to lose the challenge would be immediately sent home. Elyse and Christine then squared off in the duel.

Elyse won the game "rock, paper scissors" and asked Christine to go first. Elyse got off to a rough start, as she knocked one of her own pucks off the board. However, they ended up in a 3-3 tie, only to have Christine knock Elyse's final puck off the board. Christine won her fourth duel in a row and was proving he was a tough competitor.

"Christine, if she comes back, I think she would flip in a hurry. I'll guarantee you, she's going to have fire in her eyes. She's going to come back smoking, ready to kill us," Rick said following the duel, referencing how Christine had given him the middle finger when he was cheering her on and supported her during the competition.

When Sophie and Rick got back to camp after the duel, Sophie agreed that Christine was bitter and felt that if she'd come back in the game, she would certainly switch sides and turn her back on Upolu.


"She has no allegiance to us. I think Christine would be the worst person to come back from Redemption Island," Sophie said.

Edna and Coach continued to build their connection and their alliance with each other. Edna felt safe under Coach's wing, while Coach felt she would be his most loyal ally that would stand by his side throughout the entire game if he chose to keep her around. Edna told him she'd follow him into battle even if it got ugly.

Meanwhile, Ozzy got over his apparent temper tantrum and confronted Keith about the situation. Keith assured him they could go all the way to the end together, and Ozzy said he'd move on from the Elyse incident but admitted he wished he hadn't told everyone on their tribe about the hidden Immunity Idol.

Ozzy then apologized to the rest of the camp and told them he'd rather be tight with them than be by himself in the game.

"Ozzy finally realizes he's got nowhere to go. His whole speech after Tribal Council about being a free agent? A free agent for who? He's got nowhere to go except for us. I like having Ozzy on my side. Ozzy helps me win immunity challenges before the merge -- after the merge, he's a bigger target than me. There's nothing more I could want from somebody on my team," Jim said.

On Day 16, the castaways met Jeff again and he explained the rules to what would be their sixth Immunity Challenge and sixth Reward Challenge.


The tribe members learned that each tribe must race to assemble a wheelbarrow and then push it through a series of obstacles, stopping along the way to collect two loads of coconuts. Afterward, they had to dump the coconuts into a trough and then the remaining tribe members would be required to take the wheelbarrow apart and use the pieces of it to build a giant slingshot. The tribe members must then use the slingshot to fire coconuts at targets. The first tribe to knock down all their targets would win the challenge and immunity. The losing team would have to vote someone out -- who would then be sent to Redemption Island.

In addition to receiving immunity, the winning tribe would also be given an afternoon of fun -- enjoying a natural waterslide known as Sliding Rocks and a picnic lunch by the water. They would also be given another clue to the location of the hidden Immunity Idol.

Edna sat out for Upolu since they had one extra member. During the challenge, Upolu had a steady lead, as they conquered most of the tasks quickly and efficiently. However, Mikayla was not landing targets with her coconut slingshot and she refused to sit out when Coach repeatedly suggested she do so. Keith and Jim nailed many targets for Savaii, and Jim got the last one before Upolu, so they won the challenge.

"It's Mikayla's fault we lost. I gave her directions in the challenge today and she wouldn't take it. If I'm going to coach this team, I need the people in the heat of battle to listen to me. She's a problem. Mikayla should go home," Coach said following the Immunity Challenge.

After the challenge, Savaii enjoyed their reward, and Ozzy felt like the nice afternoon finally reunited their tribe. Ozzy even acknowledged how he would like someone from his tribe to win the million-dollar prize if it couldn't be him.

Once Upolu got back to camp, Coach got down to business and said his alliance had to vote off Mikayla or Edna. However, he told everyone how Mikayla was not coachable in the challenge and didn't follow orders, so he wanted her to go home next. Albert disagreed with his ally, and felt it should be Edna to go instead.


Albert then warned Mikayla that Brandon and Coach were trying to get her out, but Albert insisted he'd have her back and wouldn't let that happen because he could make Coach listen to him.

"So we lost the challenge, and now Al told me that Coach is skeptical about me, and it just makes me laugh because all these people are about strength and you're really throwing my name up again instead of a girl who is half my size -- almost double my age? You've got to be kidding me! It sucks that I'm always the one kind of stuck in the blue about it, but I definitely trust Al and I hope when it comes down to it, he'll trust in me," Mikayla said.

Albert then tried to convince his alliance that Edna was worse at challenges than Mikayla and was also tactful and intelligent enough to make threatening strategic moves later in the game. Rick and Sophie agreed with Albert and wanted Edna out, thinking it was best for their alliance.

Once Albert began to gather numbers, he attempted to talk Brandon and Coach into following his plan. However, neither Brandon or Coach was going for it.

"I would not vote Mikayla out of this tribe. I'm uneasy about Edna. She's got this look on her face like she's playing people and I don't like it. I'm starting to trust Mikayla more because Edna's just acting too, too sweet to not be playing us. I don't know if Edna's fooling me; I don't know what she's doing. But I'm starting to not trust her," Brandon said.

Coach also told Albert and Sophie that despite how they believed Edna would eventually pull them down, she could follow instructions unlike Mikayla -- which he felt was the reason why they lost the challenge.


"The reason Coach wants to keep Edna is because Coach feels Edna is directly in his pocket. He thinks she's going to listen to everything that he says and is going to follow him blindly to the end. My cap off to Coach for actually having a little bit of strategy in this, but realistically, keeping Edna around is a bad play for us winning the next challenge and it's a bad play for me in my end game," Albert explained.

However, Coach knew Edna was loyal and he would do everything in his power to keep her around. While Sophie, Albert and Mikayla were ready to vote Edna off, Coach, Brandon and Edna were prepared to vote Mikayla off. As a result, Rick ended up the swing vote and both Coach and Albert tried to convince him to join their sides. 

Rick then believed he had a target on his back since he became the swing vote, because whichever side he happened to disappoint would most likely turn against him and felt he betrayed them. 

That night, Survivor: South Pacific's Upolu tribe castaways arrived for their third Tribal Council.

Brandon felt the next challenge would be crucial to their tribe and if they lost, it would be detrimental to all of them come the merge. They then had a conversation about whether loyalty or numbers were more important after the merge and Albert and Sophie both agreed loyalty didn't really matter at that point. Sophie said it would be important to enter the merge with the best and with numbers, and then deal with loyalty later.

Coach disagreed and felt the Survivor game was all about honor, loyalty and integrity. Albert defended his opinion and said a smart person could con people into believing they were loyal, while a strong person couldn't lie about their strength.


Brandon then jumped into the debate and said loyalty and honesty was key. Albert felt loyalty and opinions were two different topics, but Brandon -- frustrated how the tribe seemed so split about morals and ethics -- told them to vote him out right away if that's what the tribe had became.

Brandon then admitted he didn't trust Mikayla or Edna in the game, but he was bound to his word with Coach and would vote out Mikayla as a result. To end the discussion, Coach said it's important to not be too honest in the game, as cards need to be revealed or withheld at certain times depending on the situation. Brandon countered and said honesty and loyalty is black and white with no gray lines.

The voting then commenced and Jeff revealed the votes. Three castaways voted for Edna, while four people voted for Mikayla. Rick chose to stay loyal to his alliance with Coach.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski