Survivor retro rewatch: Cook Islands episode 3, “Flirting and Frustration”

Survivor: Cook Islands set up some of its key relationships and alliances in its third episode, thanks to Jeff Probst saying three words.

Survivor doesn’t keep multiple tribes for long, especially not four tribes. One suspects it has to do with screen time. The show has to juggle a lot already, and small tribes limits the number of interactions. Both the premiere and episode 2 had to show shorter scenes to make sure that everyone had at least a little screen time.

This episode of Cook Islands continued that trend by opening with three short scenes for episode 3, one for each of the tribes except Hiki, furthering some storylines: Aitu broke down Billy’s elimination, Puka had more Cao Boi, and Raro was, if you’ll excuse the pun, ready to go. Yul made his triumphant return at the challenge.

But it was not a four-way challenge. It wasn’t even a challenge at all. You know the words Jeff Probst said.

"“Drop your buffs!”"

Jonathan and Brad built the men’s parts of the new tribes. Cecilia and Parvati got to pick on the other side. Our new tribes, presented in order of choice:

Aitu: Cecilia, Jessica/Flicka, Sundra, Becky, Candice, Jonathan, Yul, Ozzy, and Cao Boi.
Raro: Parvati, Jenny, Cristina, Rebecca, Stephannie, Brad, J.P., Nate, and Adam.

The storylines? Well, Parvati talked about “luring into her web,” which, wait a second, spiders (black widows) are a Micronesia thing! Far too early.

But Aitu had strategic discussions already, thanks to Becky trying to build a quintet for herself and Yul. She went to Jonathan and Candice, though, and he said he’d pull Flicka in. However, it was also time for a Becky and Yul strategy session, where he mentioned he had the idol. A strategic partnership like that matters.

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For the first large immunity challenge, each tribe was strapped together, with each person carrying 15-pound bags. They had to move around a course to try and tackle the other tribe. Raro took the win and sent Candice to Exile, sparing her from Tribal Council, which did not bode well for the nascent alliance.

To make matters worse Cao Boi and Ozzy hatched a plan to get rid of Becky with Sundra, Flicka, and Cecilia. Flicka told Jonathan about it, though, and Jonathan went over to Yul about it.

The Yul-Jonathan relationship is another key part of this season, and it’s one to pay attention to. Both of them have serious strategic capabilities. Jonathan played a social game that’s more abrasive and not quite as smooth as Yul, and it’s pretty clearly shown in this episode with his trying to sway Flicka while Yul worked on Cao Boi. The latter was more effective, because Cao Boi started making a case to Flicka.

At Tribal Council, Yul brought up the subject of “priorities” to sum up the new Aitu experience. One has to wonder if, by then, Survivor intentionally still cast people more in the vein of Pagong players rather than Tagi players, to make the Borneo metaphor. It’s a little less common now to see people who seem quite as openly willing to question the necessity of alliances, or at least willing to talk to other people about it. Probst explained the rules of the idol to everyone, confirming that the person who had the idol (read: Yul) could play it after the vote.

Cecilia went home in a 5-3 vote, with Becky taking the other three. A couple notes about who voted for whom here: Sundra and Ozzy voted against Becky. If you’re familiar with this season at all, that might seem odd, but remember: there’s a very specific event that leads to the formation of the biggest alliance in this round of Survivor. We’re not there yet. We’ve seen its nascent form, but it has to evolve a little more.

Next: Survivor's best locations

And if you haven’t seen the season but are watching along for the first time … keep an eye on those two.

For episode 4 of Cook Islands, we’ll talk more about the Raro side of things.