Ozzy is a little shaken by talk at the last Tribal Council about how people think he’s a controlling leader of the tribe. He doesn’t see himself that way — he thinks he just has a lot of good opinions and know-how. But apparently not the good sense to not cuddle with Amanda around the rest of his tribe.
Ami tells Ozzy that Tracy was trying to get her to overthrow Ozzy, but Ami prevented anything crazy from happening, and Ozzy shouldn’t worry about his safety. He feels uneasy, thinking that Ami is a little too adamant in her assurance.
Over on Airai, the tribe is hungry and sick of eating coconut. Natalie dreams about nachos, Parvati dreams about pizza, and Jason catches a rat that gets too close to camp. He says there’s not much meat on the rat, but he plans to eat him — “nobody’s eaten a rat since the first season of Survivor, so it’s kind of cool to be able to bring that tradition back.” If it hasn’t happened since the first season, it’s not much of a tradition, is it? That would be like the Cubs trying to uphold their tradition of winning the World Series.
James and Parvati talk about how they’re afraid that if Alexis and Natalie get to the merge, Eliza and Ami will scoop them up into an alliance. Parvati then tells Natalie that she’d like the two of them and Alexis and James to be a block of four; once they get to the merge, Amanda would join the girl group, the targets would be Ozzy and James, and the four-woman alliance would hopefully make it to the final four. I thought that Parvati was just snowing Natalie in order to keep her and James around until the merge, but she repeats to the camera that she doesn’t think she’ll win against Ozzy or James, so maybe Parvati does plan to backstab her man James.
Each tribe has to pick someone from the other tribe to sit out the immunity challenge and go to Exile Island — that person gets individual immunity for that Tribal Council only (if their tribe goes). The two chosen are Ozzy and Alexis.
The challenge involves running through an obstacle course and collecting flags and trying not to be knocked off balance by the weighted bags being swung by the other tribe. With Ozzy off to Exile, Erik tries to fill his speedy shoes and carry the team to victory, running the course so aggressively that he slams his ribs into a platform.
But Airai wins immunity, along with pizza and beer that arrives later at their camp via the pizza delivery boat (thus fulfilling Parvati’s pizza prophecy). James opens beer bottles with his teeth, but Jason can’t do it. So even though Jason captured four of the five flags and now fancies himself the MVP of the immunity challenge, he is defeated by a bottle cap.
Over on Exile, Ozzy and Alexis go searching for the idol Ozzy already found. They search in the place where Ozzy hid the fake idol, and he’s delighted to see that someone took the bait and the piece of wood is gone.
As the last Fan on the Malakal tribe, Erik knows he’ll probably be voted out. Trying anything to stay in the game, he asks Cirie and Amanda how much they trust Ami, and he tells them all about her past efforts to join with the Fans to kick off a Fave. Cirie and Amanda tell him that he’d jump over to his old Airai tribemates when the tribes merge, and Erik points out that Ami would probably switch alliances as well.
Ami comes over while Erik is talking with Cirie and Amanda, and she asks him, “Are you telling them everything since day one?” “Trying to,” he answers.
So then Ami has a heart-to-heart with Cirie and Amanda, telling them that she wants to stick with them the whole way, and they have a group hug.
Ami doesn’t mind that Erik ratted her out — in fact, she tells him, “I owe you a thank-you” because she’s pleased with the talk she had with Amanda and Cirie, and she now feels like she’s part of their group. “No problem,” he responds through clenched teeth. (Mind you, Ami’s casually pointing a machete at Erik at the time — I’d also be quick to agree with anyone aiming a machete at me.)
When Ozzy returns to camp from Exile, Erik greets him like a child running to a parent to tattle on his sister. He barely lets him get off the boat before telling him of Ami’s former plans to vote Ozzy out.
So Ozzy, Amanda and Cirie have to decide whom they trust less. Amanda thinks that at least they know what Ami’s capable of — the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.
It’s an emotional Tribal Council — Ami says she didn’t pull the trigger and vote off a Favorite when she could have, and now she finally feels like a part of the tribe, so it kills her to hear that Ozzy doesn’t think he can trust her. She swears her undying allegiance to the Favorites, but they vote her out and decide to keep the unknown devil instead.
As Erik casts his vote for Ami, he says to the camera, “You’re an awesome, awesome woman. I’m sorry it had to come to this. What can I say? This game’s hell.”