On tonight’s episode of Survivor: Micronesia, the castaways were really starting to feel the effects of their long stay on the island.  After over two weeks in the game, the survivors were starting to grate on each other’s nerves.  The miserable weather was also taking a toll on their psyches.  Who was able to power through – and who just had to throw up their arms and quit?

Frustrated by the lack of eggs they were receiving, a hungry Tracy suggested killing off one of Malakal’s three resident chickens.  If they weren’t going to put out, she was going to cut them up.  Ozzy, knowing that he could always fish for more food, thought that this was a ridiculous idea.  The birds were still producing, just not as many as she would like.  Why would she get rid of a renewable source?  Ozzy’s bossiness, of course, frustrated underdog Tracy because he was acting like a “kingpin”.  Not only was he the retriever of the food, he was also the decision-maker on when they would eat it as well.

Day 18 for the Airai members seemed particularly miserable.  (Either that, or they just whine less at Malakal.)  Because the rains would not let up, the campers were forced to hibernate in the dry caves.  This kicked off a case of cabin fever.  If the girls weren’t complaining about the stench, they were bitching about the lack of cooked food (no fire), wet clothes or the skeeters that would bite them on the ground.  This moaning and groaning was just too much for James, who knew that you had to learn how to survive if you were going to play Survivor.

Back at Malakal, there were a mix of emotions floating around for the ‘leader’, Ozzy.  While Erik’s man-crush for the ‘amazing’ guy was becoming more and more apparent, Cirie’s intolerance of him was growing stronger.  She reluctantly agreed to go on a long boat adventure so Ozzy could search for fish, only to regret the chore later.  She said that ‘Oscar’ was only looking out for Number One and that he would no longer have a reef adventure at her expense again.

For their next Reward Challenge, the challengers had to steer a large ‘money stone’ through an obstacle course while blindfolded.  Two guides per team would lead their fellow tribal members through the field and bring them to certain stations.  At these stops, the groups would then have to carefully maneuver their large disc over the ramp to break tiles down below.  Those tiles would reveal two smaller money stones.  Once they had finally uncovered all 8 stones, they could then use them to solve a puzzle.

The race was neck-and-neck for the most part, but Malakal had a slight lead going into the puzzle phase.  Although it appeared that Eliza and Kathy might stand a chance, the purple team pulled out one of their first wins in quite some time.  For their reward, they were being treated to a nice day of cleanliness (thanks to products from Herbal Essence) and a small feast.  Unfortunately, after sending one of the opposing teams’ members to Exile Island (they chose Jason again), they had to send one of their own to it as well.  Since no one wanted to miss out on their spa day, Ozzy asked Tracy to go and “take one for the team.”  (Funny – I don’t recall Amanda ever taking one for the team.)  For some reason, Tracy didn’t put up much of a fight and eventually agreed to it.

It soon became apparent that ‘Oscar’ had his reasons for keeping Amanda around; he wanted to take a shower with her.  And with Ami.  Although they never fully stripped down, the two girls felt perfectly comfortable going topless in the open-air shower with Ozzy.  Cirie, of course, could not see herself participating in something like that.  Meanwhile, Erik made sure to sit within sight of the spectacle.

While Malakal was getting all clean and refreshed, the castaways at Airai were starting to break down.  Okay – to be honest, it was really only Kathy.  After another miserable night of eating cold food and cold rain, the golf course vendor completely lost it.  “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done with my life.”  When a comforting hug from James failed to help her, she then proceeded to cry her eyes out in front of the shocked ladies.  Once she finally realized that she was no longer meant for this game, she told them all she wanted to go home.

Unfortunately for Jeff Probst, this meant dragging his comfy butt all the way to their island so that he could offer a few kind words.  “This adventures means different things to different people.”  Blah, blah, blah.  He then escorted Kathy onto his boat and carted her way from the wretched camp.  James surprisingly had no bad words for the quitter.  “She lost her motivation, so what’s the point of going through the suffering?  It’s sad, but it’s up to her.  You can’t be mad.”  Alexis brushed the whole thing off.  “There’s a reality that we haven’t had water in three days or a cooked meal because we’ve had no fire.  Survivor continues on for the rest of us.”

Once they were finally back at camp, Amanda made some interesting statements about Ozzy.  She claimed to Cirie that she was finally starting to notice his arrogance and led her to believe that she might be willing to vote against him someday.  In the meantime, the two agreed that Erik might have to be the next one to go – even if Ozzy didn’t want his latest fan to departing so soon.

For the next Immunity Challenge, we once again saw two of the show’s favorite elements:  water and puzzles.  One team member, with a rope in hand, had to walk across a floating bridge to a platform in the water.  Once there, they had to hook the rope up to a bundle and hang on; their teammates on shore would use a crank to pull them both in.  After all five bundles were retrieved, two people from each tribe would take apart the ropes and solve the puzzle.

The ever-so-nimble Ozzy helped get his team to a nice start.  Because he was so swift at maneuvering over the bridge, he chose to do it 4 out of the 5 times.  (It also didn’t help that the orange team had a problem getting their crank moving from the get-go.)  But despite the lead the purple team had going into the puzzle phase, Airai was slowly starting to catch up.  It all came down to strategy.  Cirie/Amanda went about the challenge a different way than Eliza and Jason.  And unfortunately for Malakal, it was the wrong way.  Airai came back from behind to win their third Immunity Challenge in a row.

From this point on, the viewers had to sit patiently through another confusing back-and-forth about who was going to be eliminated next:

• Ozzy wanted Ami, Cirie and Amanda to vote off Tracy next.  (He definitely felt Erik should stay around a little longer.)
• Ami, Cirie and Amanda considered voting off Erik instead behind Ozzy’s back.
• Ami – realizing that she needed to make a move – decided to make another pact with Tracy.  She would let the other girls believe she was voting for Erik, but she wanted Tracy and Erik to vote with her and knock off Ozzy instead.
• Erik said they discuss the Ozzy vote with Cirie and Amanda (why?).  He was afraid they would retaliate against him later.
• Cirie and Amanda were starting to question their original plan.
• Ami was unsure which duo (Amanda/Cirie, Tracy/Erik) was the best one to align herself with.

In the end, Ami once again proved that she will never vote the way she claims she will. She always chickens out in the end.  Every single person in the tribe voted to send the commercial builder home.  LOSER: Tracy.

(You can review last week’s episode here.)
(You can read next week’s episode here.)