If there’s anything we’ve learned on Survivor: Micronesia, it’s that words are simply just that: words.  They may sound nice, but they mean nothing.  The first couple of competitors blindsided this season had to figure that out the hard way.

But after 20+ days on the island, it was apparently some had failed to learn that invaluable lesson.  In this episode, we saw shady deals created, old alliances counted on and assumptions made.  Who made one of the stupidest deals in show history…and who should have sensed it coming?  Read on!

Needless to say, Eliza’s embarrassing reveal had the rest of the crew still talking long after Tribal Council had ended.  Jason was forced to admit he found the etched stick and Ozzy (surprisingly) owned up to creating it.  Although Cirie felt momentarily nervous about the potential shakeup, she privately felt an Ozzy elimination wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Later, the remaining survivors joined Jeff Probst for their next Reward Challenge.  For this event, the challengers were divided into two teams of four.  One by one, a person from each group had to swim to a multi-layered net tunnel, navigate that, and then reach a nearby platform.  After memorizing a wall of Micronesian symbols on a wall before them, they then had to return to the beach and reproduce their own puzzle wall as quickly as possible.  The first team to finish would win a group reward.  Since there were nine survivors for only eight spots, the remaining person was destined for a trip to Exile Island.  Once the captains were determined and the selections made, this was what the teams looked like: Jason/Ozzy/Amanda/Erik versus Natalie/James/Parvati/Alexis.  (Odd man out = Cirie.)

Although Jason and Ozzy were clearly the fastest swimmers, the contest was fairly even throughout.  (Not that it made a difference, though, since athleticism and smarts are two completely different skills.)  The trick was deciding which was most important: taking the time to memorize or wasting little time getting back to the beach.  In the end, Amanda’s team managed to pull out the narrow victory.  For their reward, the foursome won an overnight stay at a small island nation.  The villagers there treated them to a large feast and entertainment.

While Ozzy, Amanda, Erik and Jason were busy getting their cooked pig on, Cirie was spending another night on Exile Island.  Since the idol was already gone and the weather was uncooperative, all the nurse had time to do was think about Ozzy’s powerful position in the game.  She felt that it might just be the right time to get rid of him and his and lucky charm.

Back at Dabu, Parvati and James started to grate on each other’s nerves.  The charity organizer was irked that he would dare make noise while the other ladies were trying to sleep.  Meanwhile, the gravedigger was peeved that she would dare yell at him since he worked all night to keep a fire burning for them.

When the challenge winners returned to camp, the feelings of annoyance grew even stronger.  While most people would have downplayed their excursion, Ozzy obnoxiously chose to describe his feeding adventure in full detail.  This tacky move gave something for Parvati and Alexis to bitch bond over.  Unfortunately, the closer the two girls got, the more Amanda became worried.  Would her former friend really align with the girls in her second alliance…or would she stay true to her original group?  James said Parvati was in love with ‘girl power’ and that he wasn’t quite sure which way his former fling would go.

For their next individual Immunity Challenge, the competitors were put through a basic test of endurance.  With one arm raised above their heads, the contestants had to stand as steadily as possible.  If they were to drop their limb at any point, they would accidentally lower the bucket of water attached to it.  While some contestants were eliminated for lack of concentration (Alexis, James, Natalie), others chose to give up when Probst lured them with away with food (Cirie, Erik).  Surprisingly, Ozzy – who had just come back from a large feast – felt comfortable enough to trade his spot for chocolate glazed donuts.

After a whopping 5 hours, Amanda caved in when nature urgently called.  This left Jason and Parvati to duke it out.  Once another 1.5 hours had elapsed, Probst offered one more deal in hopes of ending it once and for all.  If someone were to opt out of the contest, they would share a large feast with the rest of the Dabu tribe.  While this would mean giving up an assured immunity, it was possible – possible – the charitable move would win that person brownie points.

Parvati – realizing Jason was an idiot (refer to ‘fake immunity idol’ move from last week) – encouraged him to take the deal.  And for some reason, he considered it.  But the gymnastics instructor didn’t want to make any rash moves.  He wanted assurances from his desperately hungry teammates that they wouldn’t vote for him at Tribal Council.  So with eyes winked and fingers (literally) crossed – they all eventually gave him their promise.  That was enough for the gullible dude to give up the necklace to Parvati.  Why, why….why???

Although he knew he had given up a lot, Jason honestly believed that risking it all could have been his saving grace.  (How could they not love him now?)  Meanwhile, Ozzy couldn’t stop talking about the Fan fell for “one of the oldest tricks in the book.”  The Favorite felt it was quite clear everyone should vote for the Fan that night.  If they didn’t, the strong newbie could later go on an immunity challenge rampage.

While Ozzy and his close followers were comfortably kicking their feet back, Cirie was working to get Operation Blindslide #125 in motion.  She confronted Alexis, Natalie, Parvati about her idea.  Assuming Jason voted along with them – and no one let the information leak – they could easily shock Ozzy that night.  He fully believed Jason was going home, so he wouldn’t be prepared to pull out his idol.

Of course, all the last-minute side meetings did get Ozzy a bit worried.  Even though he was “pretty confident” with his alliance, he debated bringing his security blanket with him just in case.  Meanwhile, Parvati was still conflicted about how she would vote.  Should she stick with the group that had gotten her so far – or should she eliminate the guy who would prevent her from winning it all?

Later that night, Eliza (a.k.a. The Woman Who Ratted Ozzy Out) got a nice view of the Tribal Council proceedings.  She had the opportunity to hear Ozzy admit he had a large target on his back, James admit he made a promise he probably had no intention in keeping and Jason admit he may have made the biggest mistake around.

When it came down to the actual voting, I found myself incredibly tense.  Could the women of Survivor for once in their lives finally do something smart for themselves????  They know they can’t compete physically – why do they always let these men go so far????

Without any interruption from Ozzy, Jeff started to read the votes.  Jason, Jason, Ozzy, Jason, Jason.  (Okay – all of those were expected…how were things going to go from there?)  Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy.  (Cue shocked faces for James, Ozzy and Amanda.)  But there was still one vote left to go.  What did Parvati finally end up doing???

LOSER: Ozzy!

(Claps from the little guys could be heard across the country.)

As Ozzy walked up to get his torch snuffed, he made sure to deliver his teammates one last death glare.  Once he was gone from Tribal Council, Probst smartly noted that this “very big blindside” would make things “very unpredictable.”  (I hope everyone made sure to properly thank Eliza before they headed back to camp.)

On a side note:  In his exit interview, Ozzy wanted the person(s) who backstabbed him to know that, right now, he pretty much “hated them.”  Ohhh, poor baby.

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