Survivor Results: Week 9

The expected merge happened without a hitch, with the tribes choosing to set up on Malakal beach in a no-brainer. Cirie complained about new people setting up on her beach, and Jason proved that he can suck up to Ozzy as well as Erik can. At least, he sucks up to Ozzy's face. Behind Ozzy's back, he plotted as much as he possibly could.

Erik hatched his Muppet equivalent of a dastardly plan, falsely telling everyone that the local word for good was "Dabu," and should therefore be the tribe name. When everyone went along with this, he was as excited as if he'd found the hidden immunity idol.

He should take an evil lesson from Parvati. She went from annoying pseudo-pretty girl to out and out bitch this episode, snotting left and right about Eliza, among other things.

The immunity challenge was one we've seen before, with tribe members attempted to outlast each other under a metal grate, while the rising tide ensured that less and less breathing room was available. The challenge came down to Jason, Ozzy, and, surprisingly, James, with each of the three taking a page out of "man-among-men" Tom Westman's book and creating an air funnel with their hands. Ozzy's hand funnel was less effective, and so Jason took the first individual immunity challenge.

The alliances seem pretty clear cut at the moment. The threesome of Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie have two pairs of people (James/Ozzy, and Alexis/Natalie) who believe they comprise a final five alliance. This leaves Jason, Erik, and Eliza on the outs, although Erik probably thinks he, James, and Ozzy have a final three as well.

The tribal council was probably the least suspenseful of the season, with Eliza's ouster a near-certainty. The only question was how stupid she would look if she played the fake idol, with the answer being, not very. She knew it wasn't the idol, but played it just in case it was (and to out Ozzy as the individual idol holder).

Eliza really had some horrible luck this season. In the first episode, she saw her group of five lose out to another group of five when Fairplay quit and Cirie jumped ship. After the tribal mixup, her group of four lost out to the other group of four when Jonathan hurt his leg and was forced to exit the game under threat of death. And before the merge, all of her potential alliance-mates were voted out, with her original five opponents dominating on both sides of the island. She solved many a challenge puzzle, but this one proved insurmountable. As Jeff said, it's hard to miss when she rolls her enormous eyes, and I'm sure we'll get plenty of that in the coming weeks from her spot on the jury.


This Week's Standings:

1st: Dawn: 263 (-12)
2nd: Kim: 233 (-12)
3rd: Matt: 228 (-14)
4th: Carl: 218 (-23)
5th: Paul: 210 (-9)

No one received any bonus points after Jason won immunity.

Dawn kept things status quo for herself by losing only 12 points. This was in the same range as pretty much everyone else, so she advanced her agenda by maintaining her lead.

Kim also lost 12 points, and so stayed as close to first as she was last week.

I lost 14 points, and also cleared my last place finisher in both sets of picks, so at least I don't have to worry about Eliza any more.

Carl had by far the worst week of anyone, dropping 26 points. This was mostly due to his pre-merge prediction that Eliza would last until third.

For the second week running, Paul did the best of anyone in the pool, losing a scant nine points. He's still in last place, but he's crept closer to everyone else. One more week like this one, and he won't be in last anymore.

Good luck everyone!