Survivor: Micronesia review and preview

Well, I thought the Favorites would maintain a strong united front until the last of the Fans were extinguished. But poor Ami, her song and dance routine with a few dog tears to try and seal the door just did not win her any sympathy points.

Its one thing to have an emotional moment on Survivor and it pays off to your advantage. It’s another when the team doesn’t buy into it. The ploy, whether sincere or strategic, wasn’t enough to save Ami.

Now to last week’s episode of Survivor: Micronesia:

After the tribe unanimously voted out Tracy, Erik realized that he was now the last standing Fan on the Malakal tribe. His only hope for him to remain in the game was for his tribe to win Immunity. Being singled out as the tribe leader by Tracy, Ozzy worried about the target she quickly put on his back. He stated, “Even though I think I’m a valuable asset, I’m going to have a giant target on my back.”

Ozzy’s troubles

The next morning after Ami and Cirie trekked out and captured eight giant land crabs for the teams morning breakfast, Ozzy still wrestled with the idea of him being the leader that was planted into the minds of the other tribe mates by Tracy. Ami quickly reassured Ozzy that he was safe and gave him a little leverage by telling him that she stopped any thoughts of the tribe conspiring to vote him out last night. After listening to what Ami had to say, Ozzy immediately got an uneasy feeling about her loyalty.

Over at the Airai beach, they too were eating hearty. Jason aggressively chased down a rather large rat with a canoe paddle and the tribe enjoyed cooked rat. Jason mentioned, “Nobody’s eaten a rat since the first season of Survivor, so it’s kind of cool I’ll be able to bring that tradition back.”

Receiving Tree Mail, the tribes were informed that the challenge would be for both Reward and Immunity. The tribes were instructed to select a member of the other tribe to head to Exile Island. The catch would be that the person chosen would not compete in the challenge and would be granted individual immunity.

A challenge

Arriving at Challenge Beach, Ozzy was selected from Malakal and Alexis from Airai to head off to Exile Island.

The challenge consisted of running across a balance obstacle course over a pit of water while the opposing tribe tried to knock the other tribe members off by swinging heavy canvas bags. The first team to retrieve five flags would win Immunity and a pizza party back at camp.

As the challenge came down to the wire, it was the Airai tribe and Jason pulling out the victory for his tribe.

Back at the Malakal tribe a very disappointed Erik stated, “I tried my damndest [winning immunity] was my last real attempt I think that I could have.” As much as Ami liked Erik, she knew that he would be the next to go and that the Favorites allegiance to each other was secure.

Enjoying their Pizza party of pizza, beer and root beer, the Airai tribe ate to their hearts content. Feeling like the MVP of the tribe, Jason knew he would still have to be a strong competitor and win challenges for his tribe in order to stay clear of the vote.

Spending their day at Exile Island, Ozzy took a visit to the place where he discovered the real Hidden Immunity Idol (HII) and replaced it with a fake one. Immediately he noticed that the fake one was gone. His first thought was that someone took the bait and now has the fake one thinking it’s the real HII.

A matter of trust

Realizing he had to try and save himself from the vote, Erik approached Cirie and Amanda with one last attempt to get the target off his back. He instantly threw Ami under the bus and informed them that Ami made several attempts to align with the Fans to oust Ozzy. Stunned by the new information, Cirie wondered about the trust she had for Ami and Erik. The question was, “Who do I trust to most?”

Walking in on Erik’s conversation with Amanda and Cirie, Ami pleaded with the two informing them that Erik was merely trying to save himself.

Arriving back from Exile Island, Erik quickly talked to Ozzy about Ami. Already having suspicions about Ami, Ozzy tracked down Amanda to hear her thoughts before heading to Tribal Council. As Amanda reassured Ozzy that Ami was legit, Ozzy disagreed.

Tribal Council turned out to be an emotional roller coaster for Ami as she not only had to defend her game play, but also her character. Begging her tribe mates to believe that her motives in the game were pure, all she could do was deny Erik’s accusations and hope for the best.

Unfortunately, the worst got the best of Ami as her strong allegiance of Favorites just didn’t trust her and sent her packing.

Conclusion…

With 10 tribe members left in the game, it’s definitely time for the merge and this is when the game gets interesting. There are four men left in the game and both Ozzy and James feel their alliance with Parvati and Amanda is secure enough to take them to the end. But don’t underestimate the power of women (especially when they are leading in the numbers). There are now six women and four men remaining in the game. If the women are smart, they will pick the guys off one at a time leaving them with an island of ladies to rule the nest.

I predict one of the men will be next to go.

Until next week.