Survivor: South Pacific 23.03 “Reap What You Sow” Recap

In case you missed last week’s episode, catch up with my recap here.

The episode begins at Redemption Island where Christine arrives and tries to wake up Semhar. Christine doesn’t know what happened at Tribal Council. Maybe her tribe just didn’t want someone who was ready to play the game from the beginning. At least RI gives her another chance to play. Back at Upolu, the tribe returns from Tribal Council. Mikayla can’t figure out what she did to Brandon. She’s glad Coach took the heat off her at Tribal. Brandon confesses that he regrets his blatant lie, as he didn’t want to play like his uncle. “I reap what I sow, man.”

The next morning at Upolu, the tribe receives Tree Mail instructing them to send two members to the RI Arena. Coach and Stacey will go for Upolu. Coach hopes Christine loses so she can’t come back to haunt him. At the Arena, Jeff welcomes in Semhar and Christine. Ozzy and Elyse are there for Savaii. Christine calls out Coach for his part in ousting her. Semhar admits RI is scary before they move to the Duel. For the Duel, they each must place a totem on top of a pole. After a time, they must add more pieces of the pole. The first one to have her totem fall is eliminated. “One shot,” Jeff says, “Take your spots.”

Semhar recites one of her poems about her man and birthing his baby, causing Jeff to sighs. Each player put their totem on top of her first pole piece. They each add a second and a third section of pole. Semhar’s totem rocks, but stays up. Christine’s totem starts to wobble, but Semhar’s falls and Christine stays alive! Jeff asks Semhar what emotion she is feeling. She feels like she has been abandoned so many times in her life; she can’t understand why her tribe abandoned her. Semhar says she played faithfully and as a good person. She puts her buff in the fire and leaves the Arena. Christine has a thumbs up for Stacey before departing back to RI. She hopes to pull a Matt and have a run on RI to get back at Coach.

Day 7 at Upolu. Brandon is not pleased with himself; he doesn’t want to lie anymore. So he gathers the tribe and takes off his shirt in front of everyone, admitting that he is Russell’s nephew. He accepts the consequences of what he did. Brandon then tells the group that he’d rather make friends than win a million dollars. Mikayla doesn’t trust him, “It’s like he’s covering his tracks before he even makes them.” Coach commends Brandon for being honest. He has no beef with Brandon whatsoever, but he confesses he wouldn’t have admitted what Brandon did. Brandon is an asset, according to Coach. He trusts Brandon, but not completely anymore.

Over at Savaii (finally), Papa Bear says they are doing well as a tribe, but there is a pecking order. He, Dawn and Cochran are, clearly, at the bottom. Meanwhile, Ozzy thinks he and Keith are brothers and he needs to trust someone, so he tells Keith he has the Hidden Immunity Idol. Keith immediately tells Whitney what Ozzy told him. Keith confides to the camera that he’s mad Ozzy has the HII because it gives Ozzy all the power. He told Whitney to try to keep numbers on his side in case Ozzy makes a move against him.

Back at Upolu, Mikayla asks Brandon what the deal is. He admits he doesn’t like her, supposedly because of her attitude. He then calls everyone over and says Mikayla attacked him because she doesn’t have much of an alliance. Brandon confesses that he wants to stay out of the drama, but he IS the drama!! Sophie was in shock by the whole display. Brandon, Sophie says, is torn between whatever “crazy religious beliefs he has,” and that in his bloodlines he’s a jerk. Brandon said that he shouldn’t have lost his temper. He is in a constant battle between the good and evil within him, and asks the Lord to not sin anymore. Coach tells Sophie that he is concerned with Brandon’s outbursts. Unfortunately, he sees a little Russell in him. This is not a good way for Upolu to go into the…

…Immunity Challenge. For the Challenge, one player from each tribe will run across a floating bridge carrying a body board attached to a long rope. When they reach a platform, they must grab a bag, jump onto the body board, and have other members of the tribe winch the board and player back to shore. After collecting five bags, two remaining tribemates will use grappling hooks to bring bags up a wall. The bags contain five puzzle banners that must be arranged to create a picture. Besides Immunity, the tribes are playing for a Reward of coffee, tea ,sugar, milk, chocolate, etc.

Ozzy and Brandon run out on the bridges first. Savaii gets a knot in their rope immediately, allowing Brandon to get his first bag. Ozzy recovers and grabs his first bag. Papa Bear has trouble keeping up, but Albert loses Upolu’s lead to Dawn. Upolu loses all momentum, but Ozzy drops his board going for the final bag, letting Albert get back to the beach with Upolu’s final bag first.

Coach and Edna, and Elyse and Whitney are armed with the grappling hooks. Coach and Whitney alternate in securing their puzzle bags, but when Whitney tries to get the fifth, she can’t grab it. This allows Upolu to quickly unfurl and arrange their banners. Upolu wins Immunity! Jim tells the camera that Papa Bear slows them down too much, and should have been first one voted out.

Savaii, Day 8. Cochran feels they are still the stronger tribe. Ozzy admits losing is bad for morale. Dawn did great, according to Ozzy, so it is between Papa Bear and Cochran. Those two talk about not being in the “group of five.” It’s obvious they are the next two to go. Ozzy says Papa Bear was worthless in the Challenge. He tells Cochran that they are going to tell Papa Bear that it is Cochran who they are voting out, but it’s really Papa Bear. Cochran is worried that his name keeps coming up, but he doesn’t want to be known as the “nervous scrambler.”

Papa Bear asks Jim and Ozzy if it is Cochran, and though they say yes, he knows that he is on the chopping block. Finding the HII is his only hope, so Papa Bear goes on a dead sprint into the jungle. Elyse notices, so she and Jim follow after him. He can’t find it, so he makes a fake Idol to make the tribe believe he has the HII. Cochran notices the obvious charade, but Jim think Papa Bear might have it. Ozzy just hopes nothing goes wrong at…

…Tribal Council. Cochran says he’s trying to make himself more of an asset. Cochran, are you a little defensive in life, Jeff wonders? Papa Bear says Cochran is a physical threat to himself. Cochran is asked who are the leaders on the tribe. Ozzy, he responds. Papa Bear says they are all leaders. Jeff asks Papa Bear what he did for a living. He’s an NYPD detective, a natural leader, but has nothing in common with the rest of his tribe. Dawn is asked about alliances in the tribe, and says that the alliances shift all the time. Papa Bear admonishes her, saying he, Dawn and Cochran aren’t in “the five.” Jim says Dawn is right, but Papa Bear cuts him off. Jeff asks Jim if he is worried about the HII. He is, because it guarantees its holder with three more days. Jeff points out that Ozzy was voted out with an HII in his hand, so it’s not automatic extra three days. Cochran says searching for HII is not best way to stay off the chopping block because it doesn’t foster trust with one’s tribemates.

With that, it’s time to vote. Jim votes for Cochran in case Papa Bear has the HII. Jeff gathers the votes and asks if anyone wants to okay the HII. No one rises so Jeff reads the votes. The first vote is for Papa Bear, while the second is for Cochran and the third for Jim. Vote Four is for Papa Bear, as is Vote Five. Jeff reads the sixth vote, “The third person voted out of Survivor: South Pacific…Papa Bear!” Papa Bear’s torch is snuffed and he’s off to RI through the Blue Light of Death. Jeff tells the remaining Savaii members that the good news is that both votes have been decisive. The bad news is they are down two members. The question that remains is: have they been voting out the right people?

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