Drop your Buffs! Night 6 The Aitu tribe returns to camp, and just like the rest of us, they’re still trying to make sense of Whack-a-Doo Billy’s love confession at Tribal Council. Cristina, ever the softy, is still trying to defend Billy, saying that maybe there was something there that the others just didn’t see. No Cristina, he’s a Whack-a-Doo. A crazy, lazy, food-consuming, nap-taking, excuse-making, skill-lacking, boring, snoring, blonde-stalking, Whack-a-Doo. You and your tribe are all better off without him… and he is in a happier place. Let’s move on. Day 7 Puka Tribe After some fishing, the tribe sits around the campfire trying to enjoy a quiet meal. This is not possible however, because Cao Boi is there. And if Cao Boi is there, he’s got something to say… and he’s saying it to anyone within squawking distance whether they want to hear it or not. He goes on his political diatribe about people that come to the U.S. from Vietnam for a better life, only to see their children get drafted into the war against Iraq. Let’s all agree that there is quite a bit of nonsense in what Cao Boi is saying, (keyword: draft), and the topic is really for a different type of blog that what I am mucking around with here. Instead, we will just pull out the relevant nugget which is: Cao Boi is driving everyone in his tribe nuts because he won’t ever shut up! Brad looks up into the sky, hoping an alien craft will come and beam him far away from Cao Boi and his droning. Becky and Jenny start rubbing their heads to try and keep their brains from exploding. The entire tribe would happily switch places with Yul who is still on the peaceful shores of Exile Island. Cao Boi is oblivious, and continues to yammer on… pausing occasionally to laugh loudly at his own humor. Raro Tribe It’s tree mail time, and the tribe is informed that there will be an early morning challenge. Suddenly there is much frenzy, as all the members of the tribe feel the need to “warm up” for this unexpected challenge. Flicka starts hanging from trees, Parvati does a non-graceful backbend or two, Jonathan does some yoga-type move that must be called “rabid-dog-retching”, and Candice eats a coconut. Adam is not shown. Clearly he is buff, toned, and ready at all times and needs no warm-up. Either that or he is somewhere still sulking and kicking rocks because his tribe didn’t back him on the “we don’t need a floor, we can sleep on the cold wet sand” idea that he tried to sell them all last week. We get no more information though, because now it’s challenge time. “Surprise” Challenge (actually, we all know it’s not a challenge, and is going to be a merge… but THEY don’t know that yet. Shhhhhh…. ) Jeff waits for them on the beach in his safari hat. Aitu trudges in and reveals that they have voted out Billy. Candice reacts, not at all. Jeff collects the 3-in-1 Immunity Idol from the rest of the tribes, and then hits them with, “Drop your buffs!” There are heavy sighs and glances to the heavens. Cao Boi is confused, never having it explained to him that the traditional tribal headdress that he has been wearing is actually called a “buff”, and can be purchased online at CBS.com. Finally, he grabs the correct piece of clothing and disposes of it along with the rest of the castaways. Jeff then has all the ladies line up on one side, and all the men on the other. And then all of the individuals of each group must reach in a bag and pull out a tile. Two of the men, and two of the women reveal their picks and discover that they have an “X” on their tile. Cecilia and Parvati are the lucky lady winners, and both become new team captains. Brad and Jonathan both pull an X-tile, and become new team captains as well. The ladies then get to take turns, picking other ladies for their new tribe. However, they are required to pick someone from a tribe different than the one they just left. Cecilia goes first and picks Jessica. Jessica squeals, and then instantly whispers to Cecilia that she can call her “Flicka”. I imagine Cecilia instantly regrets her decision. Pavarti is told she must then pick someone from one of the old ethnic tribes that hasn’t been selected from yet, so she picks Jenny. Jessica/Flicka now has to choose another person, and is told she must select someone from the one tribe that hasn’t been selected from yet, so she chooses Sundra. It goes back and forth… Jenny chooses Cristina, Sundra chooses Becky, Cristina chooses Rebecca, Becky chooses Candice, and Rebecca chooses Stephanie. So now there are two ladies-only tribes: Cecilia, Jessica/Flicka, Sundra, Becky and Candice. Parvati, Jenny, Cristina, Rebecca, and Stephannie. A similar process is followed for the men, and the result are two men-only tribes: Brad, J.P., Nate, and Adam Jonathan, Yul, Ozzy, and Cao Boi Now the four captains are each told to select an egg and hold it tightly in their hands. At Jeff’s signal, they are instructed to squish it in their palms. In a somewhat mean, but colorful and effective stunt, the production crew has filled the four eggs with paint. Suddenly blue paint and red paint is exploding over the team captains, and in this way the male and female components of the new tribes are matched up. Jonathan and Cecilia are covered in red paint, while Parvati and Brad are splattered in Blue. The “red” groups become the new Aitu tribe, and the “blue” groups become the new Roro tribe. So our brand-spanking-new, totally integrated tribes are: New Roro: Pavarti, Jenny, Christina, Rebecca, Stephannie, Brad, J.P., Nate, and Adam New Aitu: Cecilia, Jessica/Flicka, Sundra, Becky, Candice, Jonathan, Yul, Ozzy, and Cao Boi Jeff tells them that all the items that the individual teams have accumulated will be pooled together and be shared equally among the members of the new combined tribes. The “New Roro” tribe is told to go back to the Roro campsite, and the “New Aitu” is told to return to the original Aitu campsite. So, with final waves goodbye to old tribemates, they all set off on their way. Raro Tribe The new Raro tribe returns to their beach, and in celebration of their new integrated family, they decide to have a feast of sorts. Nate might as well be singing “Movin On Up” from The Jeffersons, given his excitement level about the new digs. I guess things were hard back at the old Hiki campsite? They had shelter, water, and fire… right? And access to the same ocean full of fish? Well, for whatever reason, he is way happy to be at the new camp. Soon they all sit around and get to know each other. They chat a bit about how they all reacted to the realization that the game was going to start with ethnically separated tribes. They are all very polite about it… “I was surprised, but I didn’t really have a problem with it.” “I thought it was okay, because it brought attention to the differences, and made people think…” Etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. If anyone did have a problem with it, they’re not admitting it now since they have a new tribe to impress. Stephanie sums up the Kum Ba Yah attitude of the new Raro by telling us that now they are all together, “You don’t see color, you just see the heart of the individual.” I see another T-Shirt coming: Survivor Cook Islands: It’s not about the color of your skin, It’s about the size of your heart. (Hey, anyone that makes a shirt out of that owes me 10%) Parvati is very happy about the new tribe. She gives us some hoopie about it being a melting pot, and more representative of America. But what she’s really excited about is that there are lots of attractive young men around her camp now. Before she just had scowling Jonathan, and Adam who was all ga-ga over Candice. Now she still has Adam, sans Candice… plus Nate, J.P. and Brad. Parvati makes a mental note: Flirt with boys. Rinse, Repeat. Aitu Tribe The new tribe arrives as their beach, and Cecila and Ozzy give them the grand tour. Jonathan is all impressed by their shelter, it has walls and everything! There isn’t mention of a floor, but I’m sure Jonathan will get right on that if it’s missing one. Cao Boi and Flicka beginning bonding at once while building a makeshift torch. I believe any fire-related activity will win Flicka’s heart. Flicka mentions that she can feel a change in the energy of this new tribe, and can feel a vibration from the new people that she didn’t feel before at the old Roro. Cao Boi generously tells her that he loves her, even though she’s not Asian. (Oh please, don’t let us have a repeat performance at Tribal Council. “I found my prize… his name is Cao Boi!”) Cecila pulls Candice aside, and gives her the run down of the last Tribal Council and how Billy professed his love for her. Candice is flustered, dumbstruck, confused, embarrassed… and then back to flustered. Jonathan just about loses it when Cecilia tells them all how Billy considered his love with Candice to be his million dollar prize. Then the tribe teases her about leading him on. Candice laughs it off, but I’m sure she’s about ready to crawl under a rock to escape it all. Luckily, she’s about to win an all-expense paid trip to Exile Island. (But again, shhhhh… she doesn’t know this yet.) Raro Tribe Back at tribe Raro, the men decide to impress the ladies by randomly moving rocks from one side of the beach to the other. There is some unspoken competition to see who can carry the most rocks at one time. The men all wish they were peacocks so they could just display their colorful tails to the ladies to impress them, and stop having to carry all of these heavy rocks. Brad and J.P. carry rocks to try and impress each other. Parvati has her flirt on. She goes up to Adam and starts grooming him and calling him her baby monkey. (My husband now wants me to refer to him as my baby monkey. This will soon be sweeping the nation, you watch.) Then Parvati the slut begins flirting with Nate. She coyly, and hopefully, tells him that his pants are falling down. There is lots of smiling, and lots of giggling. Man, if this girl can catch a fish, the guys will keep her around forever. Aitu Tribe Meanwhile, back at Aitu, Jonathan is busy cutting up bamboo. I assume he is building a floor. This man loves floors. If he wasn’t already a successful Hollywood movie guy, he should get into flooring. He has a passion for it. On the beach, Becky is pouncing on Candice, similar to how she pounced on Yul last week. She approaches Candice, and suggests that they team up. They both agree it makes sense, given the fact that they are both wickedly smart, attractive, and female. They trust each other, they’re both female… they respect each other, they’re both female… and they admit that they would naturally and automatically ally with each other since… they are both female. Once the allying is official, Becky mentions that she also trusts and respects Yul, and he is allied with her as well. She asks Candice if she trusts and respects Jonathan, and maybe he could be the fourth for their little bridge club? Candice says she clearly trusts and respects Jonathan, and that it would naturally and automatically make sense that the four of them should bond together in a mutually trusting and respecting alliance of four. Hmmm… but they need a fifth to have the numbers in their favor. Who should it be??? Becky approaches Jonathan, and informs him of the mutually trusting and respecting thing with Candice and Yul. Becky asks him whom he think would make a good fifth. Jonathan know the perfect person that he mutually trusts and respects… Flicka. Wha…? Flicka that made him crazy on day one, Flicka? Flicka that let the chickens loose, Flicka? Flicka that only helped him with his damn floor on the other island so he would stop yelling at her about the newly free-range chickens, Flicka? Jonathan trots off to talk to his friend, Flicka. Flicka, that today is sporting a Pippi Longstocking inspired hairdo, stares at him blankly as he tells her that they need to ally with a couple of the Asians in order to go further in the game. Flicka is excited until she realizes that the Asians he is considering do not include her friend, Cao Boi. Jonathan coaches her, telling her not to let anyone know about the alliance if she is asked… that she should look blank and confused if anyone comes sniffing around her about it. Flicka has no problem with the blank and confused look, and starts practicing it right away. After Jonathan is gone, Flicka tells us that she’s not sure about this alliance, because she actually didn’t like the people from her original tribe that much, and is much more comfortable with the people in her new tribe. Flicka is conflicted. She works on her blank and confused face. Becky brings Yul up to speed on the mutually trusting and respecting thing that she’s set up with Candice, Jonathan, and Flicka. Yul agrees, and then tells Becky that because he trusts and respects her so much, he has to tell her something. He lets her know that he found the Immunity Idol on Exile Island. He felt he needed to let her know, as a gesture of how much he trusts and respects her. He then tells her that if needed, he will use it to save her someday… because he trusts and respects her that much. Becky tells him that he is right to trust and respect her, because she won’t tell anybody. She then gives him a big hug full of mutual trust and respect.