'Survivor: South Pacific' votes off Ozzy Lusth again and Jim Rice

Survivor: South Pacific's merged Te Tuna tribe voted "Ozzy" Oscar Lusth and Jim Rice out of their tribe at two separate Tribal Council sessions during Wednesday night's broadcast of the ninth episode of the CBS reality series' 23rd edition.


"I played a really hard, hard game. I've played and made big moves and I'm pretty much proud of what I did. I took big risks. They didn't work out in my favor, but you gotta take big risks to get big rewards, and I'm ready to do really well at Redemption," Ozzy, a former Survivor: Cook Islands and Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites castaway, said upon arriving at Redemption Island.

"I'm sad, you know? I think I played a great game and I think I positioned myself very well for the million dollars. It's still a shot, but it doesn't feel as good of a shot as I had three days ago," Jim, a 35-year-old medical marijuana dispensary owner from Denver, CO, said upon meeting Ozzy and Keith Tollefson at Redemption Island after all three of the former Savaii tribe members got voted off their tribe.

Jim, Ozzy and Keith, a 26-year-old water treatment tech from Edina, MN, will now 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 ninth broadcast began on Night 21 with the Te Tuna tribe arriving back at camp after John Cochran, a 24-year-old Harvard Law School student from Washington, DC, decided to flip and join forces with the former Upolu tribe members at the previous Tribal Council session -- ultimately turning his back on the remaining Savaii members by getting Keith voted out and making the Upolu tribe stronger by giving them numbers.


Ozzy, a 30-year-old currently residing in Venice, CA, pulled Cochran aside and asked him what happened because Cochran clearly had turned his back on his tribe and Ozzy was frustrated because he saw his strategic game plans crumble before his eyes. 

Cochran said he didn't want to have his fate decided by picking a stone out of a bag -- the tiebreaker used if a Tribal Council vote remains a tie after two rounds of voting -- but Ozzy told Cochran his actions stabbed him in the back since he had gone out on a limb for Cochran by giving him his hidden Immunity Idol when he asked to be sent to Redemption Island.

Ozzy felt he had a better shot to win the duel before the merge against Christine Shields Markoski than Cochran, which would allow him to re-enter the game and retain Savaii's numbers. However, once Ozzy won the duel, rather than having six castaways on both tribes after the merge, Cochran's flipping gave Upolu seven members and left Savaii only five before Keith was voted out.

"Cochran said it was all about self-preservation, and sure, that's the easy way out. That's how a wiener plays," Ozzy said.

Jim told Cochran he was a "coward" and "a poor excuse for a man," while Whitney Duncan, a 27-year-old country singer and former Nashville Star finalist from Nashville, TN, told him that she and Keith had saved him three times at Tribal Council. She said his decision threw the whole tribe under the bus and she was furious.


"You have a lot to learn, buddy. You disgust me," Whitney told Cochran.

Cochran said he was glad he stood up to the Savaii tribe because they had treated him poorly the entire game and made him feel like a very weak player, while Upolu was embracing him. However, Cochran felt a little guilty because he knew he had lost respect from all of his former tribemates.

On Day 22, former Survivor: Tocantins and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains castaway "Coach" Benjamin Wade, a 39-year-old currently residing in Susanville, CA, was happy with the way the game was going. Ozzy was angry because he felt helpless in the game, but he said and he intended to keep winning the Individual Immunity Challenges so he could continue to stick around. He hoped to just keep winning challenges until the very end.

Later on, the merged tribe met Survivor host Jeff Probst, who then explained the rules to what would be their second Individual Immunity Challenge. Jeff told the castaways there would only be one immunity necklace up for grabs and they would be required to toss coconuts, attempting to land them in a ring. The first four people to successfully land one coconut in the ring would move onto the final round.

During the final round, the four castaways had to crack the coconuts using a rock, get a mouthful of coconut water, make their way through an obstacle tower, and then finally empty the water out of their mouths and into a tube. The first person to fill their tube with coconut water would win immunity and be safe at the next Tribal Council session.


Dawn Meehan, a 41-year-old English professor from South Jordan, UT; Sophie Clarke, a 22-year-old medical student from Willsboro, NY; Whitney; and Jim were the four people who were able to move onto the final round. Jim ended up winning Individual Immunity.

After the challenge, the former Upolu members -- which consisted of Sophie; 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 Ma, a 35-year-old anesthesiologist from Los Angeles, CA; Rick Nelson, a 51-year-old rancher from Aurora, UT; and Coach -- and Cochran planned to all vote for Ozzy at the upcoming Tribal Council session. Ozzy told Coach he pretty much knew his fate but didn't want to go.

"Ozzy knows that there's a good chance he could get voted out tonight, and there's a huge difference between yesterday when he held all the cards and the cockiness that he had and today. I actually appreciate Ozzy's humility. If it's fake, if it's too late, or if it's just born out of desperation, that's okay. Sometimes inspiration is born of desperation," Coach said.

Meanwhile, Dawn was trying to get on Upolu's good side in attempt to join their stable and strong alliance.

"We go to Tribal Council tonight. There's really four Savaii tribe members. Jim has immunity, Ozzy, myself, and Whitney are going to Redemption. So we either have to really just stay loyal to the final four of us and just go down in flames or I'm going to need to consider flipping and voting with the Upolu tribe," Dawn said.


Jim and Whitney continued to bond over their "disgust" for Cochran, and Jim said he never would have thrown his tribemates under the bus. While Jim knew he was safe from the vote, he began to devise a plan to help his fellow tribemates.
 
Jim told Ozzy he was going to give him his immunity necklace at Tribal Council and tell everyone there were 11 people playing the game, but only only 10 of them were doing it loyally and honestly -- suggesting Cochran was the only person who had betrayed his former tribe and was not playing a respectable game.

Jim planned to ask the former Upolu members to vote for Cochran although they had every intention to get rid of Ozzy. He believed that when he shocked them by giving Ozzy the immunity necklace at the last minute, they wouldn't be able to conspire and discuss what to do, and then would maybe vote out Cochran because he was the last person mentioned and fresh on their minds.
 
Jim knew he was going to be voted off at any point in the near future, so he decided to do his best to make a speech and try to get at least two of the seven members of the Upolu tribe to switch and vote for Cochran -- a move that would give the former Savaii members a real game to play.

"Everything is pretty surreal to me right now. If Jim honestly gives me the immunity necklace tonight, I'll feel like I'm dreaming. Knowing Jim, I believe that if he says he's going to give me the necklace, I believe he will. Who knows what will happen in this game. Who really knows, and I'm never going to give up as long as I live -- certainly not here on Survivor," Ozzy explained.

That night, Survivor: South Pacific's Upolu and Savaii tribe castaways arrived for their second Tribal Council as a merged Te Tuna tribe. Jim immediately hopped on Cochran and followed through with his plans.

"I've gotten to know the Upolu tribe over the last several days and there's not a single one of them that would let somebody fight their battles for them and there's not a single person among that tribe that would do something so dishonorable in my opinion," Jim said. 


Brandon said the smaller weaker people in the game shouldn't have to be bullied. Cochran told Ozzy the former Savaii tribe made him feel small by attempting to vote him out at the first few Tribal Council sessions based on his weakness in the challenges.

"[Upolu's members] consistently say honor, honor, honor. I know they respect us as competitors, and I know that all 10 of us have not tried to waver from our tribe once. There's one person who has. Today, we can be one voice and send a message to anybody who ever will play Survivor that you can go through this game honorably, and if you turn your vote, you have no place in my tribe. You can say that right now by voting off Cochran," Jim added. 

Coach said he listened intently, but voting off Cochran would also send the message that if you stand up for yourself, you'd get kicked out. Coach was not willing to take that approach to the game although he saw Jim's perspective. Ozzy said if he got voted out, he would put "every last ounce of his soul" into Redemption Island and come back strong.

Before Jeff revealed the votes, Jim announced that he decided to keep the immunity necklace and not save Ozzy.

Jeff then announced that Ozzy had received six votes, while Cochran had two votes. Six votes was enough to constitute for Ozzy's elimination, and as his torch was extinguished, he told everyone they had all fallen for his "master plan."

The show then revealed all the former Upolu members had voted for Ozzy and were joined by former Savaii members Dawn and Whitney, while Jim and Ozzy voted for Cochran.


On Day 23, Ozzy went fishing and he and Keith ate well on Redemption Island. Ozzy said he was just as excited to be on Redemption Island as he had been to be in the game.

Meanwhile, the Te Tuna tribe met with Jeff and learned they'd be competing in their third Individual Immunity Challenge. Jeff explained only one necklace would be up for grabs and the castaways would be required to stand on a very narrow beam while balancing a ball on a wooden bow. At a certain point, they'd move further down the beam, making it more difficult.

If at any point the ball dropped or someone happened to fall off the beam, they would be out of the challenge. The last person left standing would win Individual Immunity and be safe at the next Tribal Council session. 

However, Jeff told the Te Tuna tribe there was a twist. He announced that whoever firmly believed they were guaranteed to stay in the game longer and had a 1 in 10 shot to win the million dollars could choose to sit out of the challenge and enjoy a feast of pastries and ice coffee. The three Savaii players did not feel good about their positions in the game, so they opted to compete. However, Cochran and the rest of the Upolu tribe members chose to relax and eat.

Jim, Whitney and Dawn then competed in the challenge. Dawn surprisingly said aloud that she would try to last as long as possible in the challenge so that the Upolu members could eat as much as they wanted. She said that although there were three former Savaii tribe members against the Upolu tribe, she still felt as if they were one united tribe and wanted to do what was best for everyone.

The Upolu tribe members agreed that Dawn was "awesome," although Albert felt his Upolu tribe was becoming too inclusive with Dawn and he didn't like it. Jim was the first person out of the challenge and he was followed by Dawn, who had lost her balance but recovered numerous times. In the end, Whitney won Individual Immunity.


On Day 24, the Upolu members in the Te Tuna tribe were loving Cochran's entertainment and humor, which angered Jim even more.

"Cochran right now is playing the most brilliant third-place game in Survivor history. Every one of those people would love to take Cochran to the end. Cochran ain't going nowhere, but it's not looking good for me. I'm 100% percent going to Redemption Island unless I make some moves right now," Jim said.

Jim then approached Albert and Sophie and told them he had a plan to vote off Edna. Albert said he didn't need to entertain his offer because he already had a better thing going with the Upolu tribe. Albert felt if anything, Dawn was more of a threat because she was slowly working her way into his alliance and everyone found her very likeable.

"I've always seen myself as a person that can bring together different types of people and so, for me, it almost couldn't be better at this stage to be that kind of person. I'm probably a good person to try to get myself in with the former Upolu tribe members and see if there's some wiggle room there. It's just whether I can hang on long enough," Dawn explained.

Albert was ready to make some moves and wanted Dawn gone instead of Jim, but Sophie was happy with following their tribe's orders and waiting a bit longer to do anything drastic. Albert then approached Coach and Brandon and suggested they should vote out Dawn because it seemed like people were gravitating towards her. Coach considered the idea.

"Jim is like a rhinoceros. He just comes charging in straight towards you and then you've got somebody like Dawn. She's the serpent or the snake who comes sneaking through the grass. People are genuinely starting to like Dawn. So I see Dawn as the snake and Jim as the rhinoceros. They can both kill you, but hopefully we're going to send the right person home tonight," Coach said.


That night, Survivor: South Pacific's Upolu and Savaii tribe castaways arrived for their third Tribal Council as a merged Te Tuna tribe.

The vote came down to a choice between Jim and Dawn since Whitney had the immunity necklace. The tribe discussed how Jim was a bigger threat in challenges, but Dawn was a tough cookie in challenges as well and was also extremely likeable. Albert said Dawn had a "posing presence."

Dawn then admitted it was hard for her to watch everyone eat while she competed in the previous Immunity Challenge because she felt they were one tribe and she was surprised they chose to do that. However, during the challenge, Dawn told the Upolu members she was thrilled they were eating and wanted them to consume as much as possible.

Brandon immediately jumped on Dawn's case and no longer found her trustworthy. He said he didn't buy Dawn's statements because she had just contradicted herself. He then called out the former Savaii members for being nice just because they had to be. Brandon also said the Upolu members had every intention to still completely wipe out the Savaii members, sticking with their original plan.

Whitney said she felt like she had played a loyal game and the Upolu members weren't even treating the former Savaii members like human beings. She said she wasn't a bad person and never acted like a bully towards Cochran. Whitney began to cry, and although Brandon said he felt bad for her, nothing would change his mind.

Jeff then revealed the votes and three castaways voted for Edna, while six people voted for Jim. It was another obvious split between the two former tribes, and as a result, Jim's torch was extinguished and he headed off to Redemption Island to join Ozzy and Keith.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski