Survivor retro rewatch: Cook Islands episode 13, “Arranging a Hit”
Survivor: Cook Islands had some weird overtones in episode 13, thanks to one confessional from Yul that ended up naming the episode.
Yes, really, Yul names this episode of Survivor: Cook Islands. Granted, as things unfold further, you’ll start to see why.
Night 30 on Aitutonga gave Jonathan the chance to offer his immediate reaction to a Tribal Council that got more than a little nasty, which was basically “I’m not going to let it get to me.” When you think you’re in good with the don of the game, this is an expected reaction.
On the morning of Day 31, the music got a little ominous right before Parvati cut her thumb with a machete. In came the Survivor medical team to stitch her thumb (with a couple lingering shots of her injury).
The reward challenge brought in a different emotional turn, as family members walked in to greet their players. Together, each pair had to toss water into buckets to raise a flag, with the added chaos of the Survivors going blindfolded. Even mostly doing it one-handed, Parvati won the reward. She sent Jonathan to Exile Island. Her dad got to pick who came with them, and he chose Sundra and Adam, which actually isn’t the worst mix ever. Maybe if Parvati had had the opportunity, she would have chosen Yul to try and sway him.
At first, the whole tribe, family members included, went back to camp, but soon enough, the boat arrived to take Parvati and everyone else off to the reward: a picnic and the chance to jump into a sacred cave lake. However, neither Adam nor Parvati appeared to overtly play politics, though she did mention beating Jonathan.
Ozzy, Yul, and Becky chose to start concealing some food as well, primarily from Parvati and Adam. However, Ozzy also mentioned not wanting to feed Jonathan, either, to the camera. Just to twist things around though, the three who went on a reward brought extra food, and Becky confessed that things seemed better with Jonathan gone and the hiding would end. The conclusion to draw here, though, isn’t about food so much as it’s about Jonathan affecting the social mood.
For immunity, players had to run a floating obstacle course two times to get bundles of sticks. Then, they had to build a superpole (the Superpole 2006, perhaps) to get rings. Since the course got wet, people slipped … although Ozzy basically owned it and won immunity.
Things grew very quiet back at camp, and Jonathan saw that his social game had tanked while he was off at Exile Island. Speaking of tanking, Adam continued his argument about the jury vote to Yul, who then had the following confessional:
"“It’s a little bit weird for me because I feel like I’m kind of like the godfather or something, arranging a hit on somebody, and someone’s asking, like, to take out one person or another. The truth of the matter is, I don’t know if I’m entirely comfortable with it.”"
At least he hadn’t gone full Corleone, right? Yul also did his best to reassure Jonathan, but Jonathan made his case nevertheless.
During Tribal Council, things once again became contentious between Adam and Jonathan, and the latter continued his case about how he had “earned” a bit of safety. Yul was shown voting last. It was very subtle, but considering that the vote went 6-1 Jonathan, that was basically the kiss of death. There was no “I know it was you, Fredo” moment, but the Aitu Four kind of broke Jonathan’s heart all the same, which Jeff Probst talked about a bit as he sent Aitutonga off.
Next: Survivor rewatch: Gabon episode 6
The Aitu Four will start rumbling and shifting in the next episode of Cook Islands.