South Pacific Episode 3: The Famous Five

Christine is now on Redemption Island, somehow surprised at having been voted off. She tells Semhar that Coach is "a pain in the ass". It's nice to see Semhar get a friend at last, but does anyone care who wins this duel? Neither have much of a shot of making it back in.

Stacey and Christine share a thumbs up

Coach goes to the duel with Stacey, wanting Christine to lose. Semhar tells Jeff, and spectating Savaiis Ozzy and Elyse that she felt abandoned by her tribe. Semhar gives a poetry recital before the duel. Even Ozzy looks weirded out by it, and he actually liked her once upon a time. The duel involves holding a statue on the top of a large stick. Much to Coach's dismay, Christine wins. I suppose this was my preferred outcome, as Christine has more potential to cause drama the longer she sticks around.

Brandon isn't proud of what he did at the last tribal, and he admits to the whole tribe he is Russell's nephew. Didn't take long to go from "I will never tell them" to actually doing it. I guess the Hantz family are famous for not being able to keep their mouths shut. Coach reckons telling everyone was a mistake, and I agree.

Not one of the cool kids

Good times for Savaii as Ozzy retrieves another fish. Not for Papa Bear, though. He sits swinging in his hammock, knowing that he's at the bottom of the totem pole, frustrated that he's been unable to connect with the tribe. It's kind of sad to see, as I remember how happy he was on day one.

Ozzy tells Keith he has the idol, because he thinks he can trust him. Cut immediately to Keith telling Whitney what Ozzy just told him. Hmm, maybe that was a mistake. Keith is not happy about Ozzy having the idol because that gives him all the power. So, the seed has been planted for a blindside against their glorious leader somewhere down the line.

Mikayla needs a hug

Mikayla takes Brandon alone and asks him why he doesn't like her. Brandon gets mad and blows up in front of the whole tribe. Even his allies are nervous now, and recognize that he's a loose cannon. Both Mikayla and Brandon cry. My sympathies are with Mikayla though, as she's done nothing wrong. It does look like Brandon is struggling though, particularly with his internal "good vs evil" battle.

So, now we have a water challenge! It's been a while since we've had a decent water challenge. Of course they would bring them back for Ozzy though, that's kind of his thing. The challenge involves running out to grab a board and then having your team reel it back in on a cable.Ozzy goes head-to-head with Brandon on the first run, and Brandon comes out on top. Ozzy's getting no help from his tribe. Dawn does two runs for Savaii and is surprisingly awesome, managing to get back before Albert.

Brandon thanks Jesus

The final showdown is Albert and Ozzy, and Ozzy loses his board, giving Upolu a lead. The next stage of the challenge involves the last two members pulling their banners up to the top with a grappling hook, and them displaying them to make their tribe face. Coach and Edna manage to out-grapple Elyse and Whitney, and finish arranging their banner before the Savaiis even get started. Coach shouts out "you better believe it, baby!", like his Tocantins immunity win. Shades of the old Coach at last.

Jim trashes Papa Bear for his poor performance on the reel, saying he should've been the first one out. Back at camp, it was interesting to see Ozzy defer to Jim for the final decision. Probably a good thing for his game though, the last thing he wants to come off as is as the dictator.

Is that an idol in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Cochran is told he is safe, but they're telling Papa Bear it's him. Unsure if they're telling the truth, Cochran has to resist going into another paranoid scrambling session similar to the one where he dug his own grave last time. Ozzy tells Papa Bear it's Cochran, but Papa Bear is suspicious and starts asking why. He's not convinced, and goes looking for the idol in a last-ditch attempt to save himself, something that does not go unnoticed by Elyse. Unable to find the idol, he decides to fake one, and tell Jim he found it. Will it work?

At tribal council, Papa Bear lets some truths be known. He talks about how he's not one of "the five", and that him, Dawn and Cochran are the outcasts. Jim argues with him over this, despite blatantly knowing it to be the truth. Papa Bear casts his vote for Jim, and likely spewed something venomous doing it too, which we never saw. Unfortunately, everyone votes him out, even his best friend Dawn (though Jim did vote for Cochran as an idol safeguard). He goes to Redemption Island, where his chances do not look good. Maybe Christine does have an outside chance of "pulling a Matt" after all.

STAR OF THE WEEK: MARK "PAPA BEAR" CARUSO

As a rule, I generally don't give this award to people in episodes where they got voted out, but Mark really was the star tonight. He managed to demonstrate some self-awareness and honesty, and his scrambling to save himself was very endearing. I love how he's getting credited as "Papa Bear" on his confessionals now too. What a sweetheart. I'll miss him.