Wow – the decisions made by this year’s crop of players never cease to amaze me.  We’re already four weeks in now, and I’m not quite yet sure whether Survivor: Micronesia boasts the stupidest or the cleverest cast of characters yet.

The strange choice to eliminate Yau-Man continued to have aftershocks long after the Tribal Council.  Ami apologized to Cirie for surprisingly writing her name down, but said she only did it because she didn’t like how Cirie was going back and forth.  Later, Jonathan had his own exchange with the swing vote – but that conversation was far less cordial.  He accused her of being far more manipulative and devious than he.

At Airai, it was becoming clear that Chet was simply there to occupy space.  The man-who-should-have-been-eliminated-on-Week-2 simply sat around and picked at his teeth while the rest of his team members did work around camp.  Mikey B., still convinced they had to trim the weak fat, made it clear he wanted to get rid of him next.  “Chet is gone.”  Good to know.

Back at Malakal, James was seriously regretting the vote he recently made.  They just got rid of Yau-Man when Eliza – who’s now coincidentally sick – had the greater potential of weakening their team.  He was so pissed, he openly talked about the mistake in front of Eliza.  Although she was certain she could do better at any challenge than Yau, she was now feeling a bit uninspired to contribute.

For their next Reward Challenge, the teams had to participate in another water-related event.  After swimming out to a floating platform, four members from each tribe had to then take turns retrieving coconuts from a long underwater cage.  The ten coconuts – each marked with a letter – would later be rearranged by the puzzle experts waiting on shore.

Ozzy quickly proved that he is not only one of the most athletic players on the Malakal side, he was also probably the smartest.  Instead of selfishly swimming down to retrieve his one coconut, the skillful swimmer also took time to set up the rest of his tribe.  While submerged during his first attempt, Ozzy pushed along as many shells as he could.  That strategic move spared the players to come; all they had to do now was grab and go.  This smart thinking, coupled with James’ mad unscrambling skills, gave the Favorites team another victory.

For their win, Malakal got to take three egg-laying hens, one rooster and chicken feed home with them.  They also had the opportunity to punish Kathy with one more trip to Exile Island.  Fortunately for her, she had the hunky and skillful Ozzy accompanying her this time around.

Although Kathy had an advantage going into their temporary banishment, she simply did not have any interest in searching for the hidden Immunity Idol once again.  (Idiot.  What else do you have to do?)  This left the determined Ozzy to his own devices.  While off ‘looking for food’, the scrappy fella made great progress while the sun was still out.  Not only did he discover all four clues already unearthed by his opponent – he managed to find the idol!  Believing he also had master carving skills (after all – he can do just about anything) he tried whittling a fake idol to put back in the ground.  While I’d like to believe no one would eventually fall for a fat, pointy stick – I wouldn’t bet against it.

Back at Malakal, Eliza did her best to prevent her future elimination.  Unfortunately for her, Jonathan overheard her trying to convince Parvati that he was the most dangerous one around.  It really didn’t matter though – Parvati was intent on getting rid of her next.

The next Immunity Challenge required serious coordination, teamwork and the ability to work a key.  Six members from each tribe had to first harness themselves in a 6-point sliding hub.  After successfully unlocking their individual chains, the entire group then had to maneuver through an obstacle course to retrieve six necklaces. Those items would later be used to decipher a phrase on a decoding wheel.  Sadly, this event was long over before it had truly begun.  Malakal, for some reason, couldn’t figure out how to get themselves unlocked.  Airai had basically retrieved all their items before the Fans team started Phase Two.  Quick puzzle-solving on behalf of Eliza and Cirie officially closed the deal.  Malakal would soon be going back to Tribal Council.

Back at camp, Mikey B did his best to kiss Joel’s ass while manipulate him at the same time.  To get Joel to vote for Chet instead of Kathy, the writer whipped up one of the most confusing arguments I had heard in some time.  Mikey B said that eliminating Chet would make him more “secure in his position” to the firefighter.  That decision would allow Joel to “still control the game” but not dominate it.  Huh?

Tracy, smartly realizing a vote for Kathy or Chet would soon bring her demise, decided that she would do her best to go down fighting.  When she found out that Joel was letting Mikey select the next victim, she instilled a bit of paranoia into the current team leader.  She tried convincing him that getting rid of Mikey was the better option.  If he didn’t get rid of him now, the tables would soon on Joel later.

Later at Tribal Council, you could almost sense a rumble around the fire pit.  The varying definitions of ‘strength’ told you something ill-advised was about to happen.  While some believed they needed to be physically strong to carry them through the game, others reasoned that strength could come in other forms.  (Only the weak or sneaky ones belonged in that latter camp.)

In the end, Malakal delivered the fourth surprising elimination in a row.  Instead of striving to defeat Airai at future challenges, they instead made a controversial choice that will most likely set them further behind. 

LOSER: Mikey B.

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