Survivor: South Pacific "Loyalties Will Be Broken" (Episode 14)

Episode 14: "Loyalties Will Be Broken"
Original Airdate: December 18th, 2011
American Ratings: 13.07 million viewers (Reunion show: 9.92 millions viewers)

Brandon joins Ozzy on Redemption Island. He tells him that he was blindsided. Ozzy opines that Brandon is playing a "blind faith" kind of game.

Sophie says that tribal council was crazy tonight. Both she and Benjamin are disappointed in Albert for lying and politicking in front of the jury. Coach says that he won't be made a fool by Albert.

No fool, Albert realizes that he is in deep trouble and he must find a way to get back into his alliance's good graces.

Day 36

Ozzy is ready for this last duel. His home for the last few weeks, Ozzy will miss Redemption Island.

At the duel, Jeff Probst confirms that the winner gets back into the game. They must hold on to a pole for as long as possible. As usual, Ozzy gets no support from the Upolu alliance. Nevertheless, Ozzy is victorious.

I may have lost the game of Survivor, but I've won.

Brandon becomes the seventh member of the final jury. Ozzy claims that Redemption Island has allowed him to come back stronger then ever.

Back at camp, Ozzy immediately realizes that he is not welcome. The Dragon Slayer can't help but be impressed by Ozzy's duel run at Redemption Island. Coach says that he'll give Ozzy his hidden immunity idol if he thinks the other is in trouble. Understandably, Ozzy doubts his sincerity.

The only thing I can do is win.

Benjamin realizes that it's his game to lose right now. Everyone wants to bring him to the final three.

Day 37

To win immunity, the castaways must use one hand to steady a balancing board while building a stack of cards with the other. Sophie uses up all of her tiles without reaching the mark, and she is forced to start over. Ozzy runs into the same problem. Seeing that he has no chance to win the challenge, Sophie orders Albert to drop his stack and pick up the tiles she dropped on the ground. Albert has no intention to comply, but Jeff forbids them from doing so anyway.

If you want Ozzy out of this game, beat him.

The Upolu members are pissed by Ozzy's inopportune victory. For his part, Ozzy wants to try to look like the good guy. He wants to attempt to pit them all against each others.

Albert and Coach consider getting rid of Rich. Ozzy tries to get Albert to vote out Sophie. Rich is worried. He discusses voting out Sophie with Coach, but he doesn't like the vibe emanating from the other man.

Ozzy reveals to Albert that Coach promised to bring him to the final three. Albert doesn't believe such a wild claim, and Coach lies when asked about it.

At tribal council, Ozzy explains that he knew he needed to win or he was gone. The Dragon Slayer is wearing the hidden immunity idol. Ozzy reveals once again that Coach wants to bring him to the end. Sophie claims that Ozzy has no respect for her. Ozzy counters by saying that everyone who came through Redemption Island had bad things to say about Sophie. She breaks down and cry when her character is put into question.

As the votes are tallied, Rick is booted out by beating Sophie in a 3-2 vote.

Oh, have a seat.

Ever the family man, Coach gets up to give Rick a hug, but the cowboy is having none of that.

Day 38

For today, Ozzy's plan A is win. His plan B is also win.

Sophie can't stand Ozzy being around. Coach is pissed at Ozzy for disclosing their secret. He feels like Ozzy stabbed him in the back. But Ozzy explains that he was burned badly in the past and he felt he couldn't trust Coach yesterday.

Ozzy would like Albert and Sophie to make fire tonight. He would like to force a tie.

This is the moment of truth. This challenge for me is worth a million dollars.

To win immunity, the castaways must run through a flower-shaped obstacle course, collecting five bags of puzzle pieces along the way. First person to complete their puzzle wins immunity. Ozzy takes the early lead, but Sophie comes back from behind and secures her place in the final three.

So close, but so far away. Yet again.

Ozzy is disappointed by his failure to win the challenge. Coach claims that Ozzy was the dragon and Sophie slew him, hence becoming a new Dragon Slayer. Both Albert and Sophie wonder if Coach is playing a secret game with Ozzy.

Ozzy wants Coach to give him the chance to fight one last battle. He wants to make fire against Albert. He reminds Coach that Albert betrayed him in the past. The Dragon Slayer is aware that Ozzy is a worthy warrior.

At tribal council, Sophie feels great to be in the final three. Looking back, Ozzy explains that it was a million dollar puzzle for him. Coach understands how a deserving competitor like Ozzy feels. Ozzy hopes Coach will live up to his word. When Jeff Probst asks for clarification, Coach explains that Ozzy would like to face Albert in a fire-making challenge.

As the votes are tallied, it comes as no surprise when Ozzy comes out at the losing end of a 3-1 vote. What comes as a bit of a shock - a first in Survivor history, if I'm not mistaken -- is that Ozzy receives an ovation from the jury.

Back at camp, the three of them are ecstatic. Coach is happy they came back as a family.

Day 39

Proud of themselves, Albert, Coach, and Sophie enjoy their final three breakfast.

Sophie wants to keep her composure at the final tribal council. Albert feels that he played a better game than the other two. Coach claims that it's the third and final chapter in his Survivor journey. He wants the final chapter to have a great ending.

As a matter of course, they burn down the camp before leaving.

At tribal council, Jeff Probst gives each of them the opportunity to give an opening statement. Albert says that he's honored, privileged, and humbled by being in this position. To him, Survivor is a social experiment, a game about people. He is thankful for the opportunity to be part of it. Sophie opines that she outplayed them by winning three immunities. The strategy she had from the beginning permitted her to outwit them. And her social game was to be as honest as possible. Zeus can't believe he's sitting before the final jury. It was an uphill battle coming into this game. He looked to everyone to give him the strength to go through this journey. As usual, we get the compassion, loyatly, yada yada yada, spiel.

Not unexpectedly, they are standing before a rather harsh jury. Ozzy takes the floor first, saying that nobody wants to vote for any of them. He challenges Zeus about his honor bullshit. Jim wants the three of them to explain why the people sitting next to them don't deserve to win the million dollars. Dawn only asks Sophie to explain what her strategy was when she allied herself with Albert and Coach. Still bitter about his elimination, Rick question Coach about his honor and integrity speech. He scolds Albert for playing the religious card when he helped get Brandon sent to Redemption Island. Not surprisingly, Brandon wants to know how, when they claimed to be men of God themselves, both Albert and Coach betrayed him. Whitney berates the three of them for the way they played the game. Edna claims that they used manipulation to reach their ends, but she asks the jury not to be mad at them for being duped. Keith wants to know if Coach planned to use the hidden immunity idol individually or for the tribe. At that point, Sophie seized the opportunity to undermine Coach by revealing just how and when the idol was found. Cochran explains that Benjamin tricked him. Zeus indeed played a terrific game, as basically everyone believed they were in the final three with him.


As the votes are tallied, Albert unfortunately fails to see his name appear on a single parchment. Sophie beats Coach to claim the title of sole survivor and the million dollar prize by a vote of 6-3.

Survivor: South Pacific, though uneven and rough around the edges, turned out to be better than both Survivor: Redemption Island and Survivor: Nicaragua. The bar hadn't been set too high, true, but Survivor: South Pacific nonetheless offered a few extremely entertaining episodes. Sadly, the pagonging of the Savaii tribe took a lot out of the last few episodes, but for a strech Survivor: South Pacific was a lot of fun to watch.

Let us hope that the One World twist will work better than Redemption Island ever did. . .