Survivor Results: Week 4

Another Ozzeriffic episode to digest.

Returning stints by previous fan favorites like Rupert, Stephanie, and now Cirie have all been disappointments-- a detraction from the legends. But when Ozzy comes back, he just keeps adding to his mythology. First, his team strategically exploited a loophole in the reward challenge, allowing him to carry the weight of the challenge on his shoulders. Each team member could only put one coconut in the raft. However, since no one said each team member had to move the coconut along the underwater cage themselves, Ozzy did all the heavy water work for his team.

Then he goes and powers through the clue-finding portion of Exile Island to find the hidden immunity idol, apparently fooling Kathleen into thinking that he was searching for food. What's more, he credits Yau Man with the idea of planting a fake idol, and then carves a reasonable facsimile and plants it, all under Kathleen's nose.

Yup, it's a good week to be an Ozzy fan; Paul and Dawn are starting to look pretty smart for including him in their final 3.

Meanwhile, Chet and Eliza both seem close to death. Eliza has some moxie to make up for her sickness, but Chet just has, well, Tracy.

Last week, I wondered whether Mikey B.'s wits would be able to overcome Joel's pushiness in their power struggle. This week, we got a definitive answer to that question, and it also became more apparent that Joel is just a meat-headed pawn. It was really a struggle between Tracy and Mikey, with Joel doing the heavy lifting to save the old folks triumvirate from their status as obvious boot choices. Give credit to Tracy for turning her underdog status into a victory, at least this week.

Next week, we're getting a tribal mixup, which is kind of a shame, given that there doesn't seem to be a stable power structure in either camp. I would have liked to see another boot on each side with the current tribe division.

This week's winners: Ozzy, obviously, and also the Tracy-Kathleen-Chet triad, which is getting closer and closer to the point where their physical disadvantages will be an asset rather than a weakness.

This week's losers: Eliza, who went from being potentially able to worm her way into the couples alliance to the obvious boot. Also, Jonathan, who is going to have to live with a reputation as "the untrustworthy one," even though no one who's playing the game can be considered trustworthy.

On to the pool...


This Week's Standings:

1st: Matt: 109 (-2)
2nd: Dawn: 86 (+2)
3rd: Kim: 81 (-6)
4th: Paul: 69 (-7)
5th: Carl: 66 (-12)

Carl, Dawn, and I all got four points apiece for correctly guessing that the Favorites would win immunity.

I'm treading water in first place, having lost six points on the elimination, but earning four immunity pick points to mostly make up for it.

Dawn climbed past Kim to recapture second place, powered by her correct Immunity Pick, and by the fact that she alone picked Mikey B to go out early. Her prediction had him out in 15th place, so she actually gained points this week. Kim slipped to third, having predicted Mikey out in 11th.

Paul continues to plummet via his random picks, losing a big 7 points. He's going to have to turn in a stellar second set of picks to turn it around. Even though he had a poor showing, he climbed in the standings to fourth place, because someone else did even worse.

For the first time in the pool, someone lost their #1 pick. Unfortunately for him, it was Carl, who had tagged Mikey B. to go all the way. I think it's clear Mikey went before his time; he fell prey to general dunderheadedness rather than through any fault of his own. But Carl pays the price, losing 16 points on the elimination (but gaining four on the IP).