Surprisingly, Aitu took a lead, but at one point, the girls strapped to the rope had to crawl under a log lying in the sand, and unfortunately, poor Becky got stuck. It didn't help that she went through feet first. Yul tried to yank her, but the poor girl looked like she was lodged in there pretty tight -- not that Cao Boi cared. He kept yelling at everyone, "Get up! Don't worry about her!" Nevertheless, Becky managed to make it through this nefarious obstacle, and the tribe's lead continued to grow, especially as Raro became entangled in the obstacles. Soon, the Raros all began to bicker over strategy, losing valuable time in the process. While they were still stuck in the obstacle course, Aitu had reached the puzzle, and before we knew it, Ozzy already had the decoder wheel for them. Shockingly, even with their high Asian population, Aitu struggled with the word challenge, so much so that Raro managed to catch up completely. Soon, both tribes were working hard at decoding the secret phrase, but ultimately, Aitu managed to figure it out first: "Last castaways back cast one away." And with that, they won reward and the chance to send someone to Exile Island (however, that person would be back for the Immunity Challenge, meaning that he or she wouldn't be exempt from Tribal Council if necessary). The unlucky person heading out for some quality alone time: Adam. I thought Aitu would send JP, but then again, how can you pass up the opportunity to punish an Aaron Eckhart doppleganger?

After the commercial break, we headed over to Aitu where the gang all applauded themselves for a job well done. We then cut to Ozzy fishing (he HATES that!), and while I was hoping he too would have a battle royale with an octopus, he merely wound up with a rather large fish (marine biologists: feel free to tell us what his catch of the day was). In fact, Ozzy and Jonathan managed to bring back to camp about eleven fish, nine of which came from the Oz-man. He then told us that he was the sole provider (pun intended!) and said that if the tribe were to get rid of him, they'd lose a lot of power. And a lot of crabbiness. Shut up, Ozzy.

Nevertheless, Yul praised Ozzy's fishing abilities, officially anointing him Poseidon. However, since we're pretty much dorks here at TVgasm, we decided that this nickname was not quite as fitting as perhaps Ebisu, the Japanese god of "good fortune, the Ocean, and Fishing Folk." Just thought you should know, YUL.

Over at Raro, JP took lounging around to stunning new levels as he sprawled out in front of the campfire and subtly ordered all the women around, directing them on how to use logs and rocks, etc. Not particularly enjoying this was Poverty -- sorry, Parvati -- who felt like JP was sitting on a throne, his vassals carrying out his every command. It was time to shake up the boys club, and she was just the person to do it. After all, she's been the only one this season to display any inklings of naughtiness, what with her crafty flirtations last week.

Sure enough, that night, Parvati targeted her prime patsy, Nate, who was busy trying to open up a nut. Too bad said nut was actually a hermit crab. Damn those fiendish beasts! Memo to Nate: if your nut has little feet and pincers, chances are it's probably a crab. (That's right. I'm the Jeff Foxworthy of crab humor.)

Anyway, Parvati expertly insinuated herself into Nate's heart, and even after he revealed that he was in an all-male alliance, he still said he had her back and wasn't going to blindside her. "She's my ace right now," he said, meaning that by the end of the episode, one of them would be betraying the other.

Nevertheless, Nate did have his reservations as he noted, "I don't want to find myself thinking like a dumb-dumb." I think that moment already passed when you thought a crab was a nut.

Sensing a level of trust in Nate, Parvati then set about planting seeds of dissension. When Nate said "the guys" at one point, she smirked back, "By 'the guys,' you mean JP. He's the one calling the shots. He's the one making decisions." I was quite happy to see this gentle brewing, but ultimately, the two decided that they weren't going to attack JP just yet. They were going to let the king "sit pretty."

The next day at Aitu, Ozzy, Jonathan, Jessica, and Cao Boi were taking a lazy stroll through the jungle when all of a sudden, they came across some boobies. Literally. Boobies in the jungle. Before you get all excited, however, let me inform you that a booby is a sea bird (I know, that was anticlimactic).

Anyway, turns out the gang stumbled upon a booby in her nest, causing everyone to go "Awww..." and move on. Everyone but Cao Boi, that is. For whatever reason, he decided to climb up the tree and battle the bird. Who knows? Maybe he just wanted to pull out the booby's bad wind...

"He gave me a red spot, didn't he?"

Posted by B-side on October 6, 2006 4:15 PM