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"Survivor: South Pacific" Recap Episode 2

Jeremy Fuster |
September 22, 2011 | 8:59 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

This week on "Survivor," formalities gave way to social strategy as the two tribes formed alliances and some players found themselves on the outside looking in. 

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After getting voted out last week, Semhar tearfully set up camp on Redemption Island, using her poetry to cope with her loneliness.  Meanwhile, her former tribe mates at Savaii began making deals.  Ozzy, Keith, and Jim, the strongest men in the tribe, formed a final three alliance and vowed to remain together all the way to the end.  But individually, each of them felt confident they had the most power in the tribe.  As the creator of the alliance, Keith felt he had negotiated his way to the top of the totem pole.  Jim, on the other hand, had deals with Elyse and Whitney, the two youngest women in the tribe, and believed he could have their votes to control who goes home.  Wait…making deals with beautiful women to take control of the game?  Hey, Jim, that's Ozzy's job!

But Ozzy's confidence may prove to be the strongest.  After fishing for food, he went searching around camp for the hidden immunity idol.  And sure enough, while searching in a tree hanging over the shore, he found the idol.  Seriously!  It's only four days into the game and he has found the idol!  That sound you hear is "Survivor" internet fans furiously typing conspiracy theories about the producers giving Ozzy a map with arrows pointing to the idol's exact location.  

While Ozzy was celebrating his new advantage, Cochran, who found himself on the chopping block at the last Tribal Council, began working harder around camp to gain the trust of his tribe mates.  He quickly gathered coconuts and chopped them open to give Savaii a constant source of milk.  His efforts got mixed results.  He gained Ozzy's admiration for his passion for the game, but Jim felt that Cochran simply didn't fit into the tribe and expected him to be gone before the merge.

Over at the Upolu camp, Brandon's grand plan to keep his last name a secret cracked after four days, and he revealed to Coach that he was Russell Hantz's nephew.  Coach was shocked at the revelation, since he was one of the many, MANY victims of Russell's serious case of chronic backstabbing disorder.  Still, he decided to continue trusting Brandon and saw his confession as a sign of honesty.  Of course, if Brandon ends up ruining Coach's game, don't be surprised if the Dragon Slayer jumps off the highest cliff he can find on the island.  Of course, he'll find some way to survive so he can have another story to tell.

Meanwhile, Christine, a New York schoolteacher, continued her quest to find the hidden immunity idol.  She began searching for the idol as soon as she arrived at camp, and was determined to get the idol to ensure her safety.  During her search, she found the clue that her tribe had earned at the last immunity challenge, which stated that the idol was close to the shore and "barely out of reach."  Unfortunately, her searching made her a bigger target in the eyes' of Coach's alliance, who felt she was doing no work around camp and could become a threat if she did find the idol.  Christine may need the idol fast to avoid an early exit.  Unfortunately, the disadvantage of not being Ozzy Lusth may result in her downfall.

Finally, we come to the Immunity Challenge.  Four players are attached to giant cloth ribbons that are wrapped around a pole.  Once they are unwrapped, the other four players have to solve a giant slider puzzle made out of heavy boxes.  First team to solve both puzzles wins immunity, along with pillows and blankets.  

At the start of the challenge, Upolu gained an early lead on the pole puzzle as Cochran struggled to unwind his ribbon from the pole.  You could almost see Jim preparing his confessional speech as he writes down Cochran's name.  But when the tribes reached the block puzzle, the strongmen of Savaii used brains and brawn to easily navigate the block in the correct order.  The red tribe came through in a comeback victory, and Upolu faced their first Tribal Council.

Back at camp, Coach told his alliance that they should target Christine to flush out the hidden immunity idol in case she found it.  It seemed like a straightforward plan, until Brandon suddenly announced that he wanted to vote out Mikalah, the lingerie football player.  Brandon explained that he thought Mikalah was being underhanded by using her looks to seduce the men in the tribe so she could stay in the game.  The Coach Alliance, which all the Upolu men are a part of, were completely confused by Brandon's observations, and saw Mikalah as a strong player that was an asset to the tribe.  Still, Brandon was focused in his goal, and he told Christine and her alliance partner Stacey to target Mikalah if they valued their safety.  

At Tribal Council, rumors flew all over the place, and of course, it began with Coach.  Coach revealed to the entire tribe that Stacey and Christine were targeting Mikalah.  The two women immediately defended themselves, saying that they never considered voting for her.  A heated debate about honesty emerged between Stacey, Christine, and the Coach alliance.  Finally, just before the vote, Brandon revealed that he told Stacey and Christine to vote for Mikalah, though he didn't say that the two did not explicitly declare they would vote for Mikalah.  Still, the entire tribe was stunned by the confession.

In the end, Brandon abandoned his plan, and the Coach Alliance split their votes between Christine and Stacey.  When Jeff Probst tallied the votes, Christine was voted out by a 4-3-1-1 vote and sent to Redemption Island.  

So next week, it will be Semhar vs. Christine in the first Redemption Duel.  Who will stay and who will be booted?  Will Ozzy reveal he has the Savaii idol?  And will Brandon's standing on the Upolu totem pole plummet now that he has put his cards on the table?  Find out next week!

Reach writer Jeremy Fuster here

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