Great plan, Ozzy.
You move heaven and earth (risking everything) just to keep Cochran in the game. And, after one conversation, he's Coach's man. Why was it essential to keep Cochran and boot Christine? Christine despises Coach. She doesn't even call him Coach. You would have been better off with her. Oh - I forgot. You wanted to play the hero. Good job, pal! You beat a 40-year-old Long Island school teacher. What a victory! We have an expression for that: Ozzy 'wins battles and loses wars.' You got outmaneuvered by Coach and threw away your immunity idol in the process. Atrocious. In Heroes vs. Villains, Rob got outmaneuvered by Russell while Coach got chewed up and spit out. In this game, Coach is owning you. That makes you a third tier All-Star caliber player. Boston Rob and Russell are two classes above you.
But, maybe I'm being too hard on you. How could you see this coming? After all, maybe Cochran liked being abused after every immunity challenge you guys lost. Your temper tantrum last episode wasn't unprecedented. I saw a disgusted Colby throw a bucket of water on Jerri in Australia after losing a reward challenge. So, you kicking the wall and blaming Cochran wasn't too bad. Then again, Colby wasn't counting on Jerri as an ally after that. Why did you count on Cochran? You had called yourself a free agent the night before the tantrum. You planted ideas. You're lucky Cochran even gave you the idol back (which you promptly threw away).
As for Cochran - what goes around comes around. There are no referees who will blow a whistle on you for an ethics violation. But, you have to face the jury - and that's where the game gets policed. Russell lost two jury votes because he pushed the envelope (actually, when it comes to Survivor ethics, Russell didn't just push the envelope, he split it in two and set it on fire). Similarly, a hyper-aggressive Boston Rob lost All-Stars to his more demure ally, Amber (Rob didn't just lose the game he lost friends - Lex, Kathy & Tom). If you go too far, the jury will punish you.
All this means two things for Cochran: his chances of making the finals just increased dramatically (someone will want to sit next to him), while his chances of winning have collapsed. He will get no votes from his former tribe and few from Coach's.
But, Cochran seemed resigned to the fact that he probably wasn't going to win, and seemed more interested in advancing as deep into the game as possible. He also seems terrified of going to Redemption Island (and humiliating himself). Hence, he threw his tribe (and more specifically, Ozzy) under the bus. Ozzy saved him from going to Redemption Island, last week. For that reason, I think he owed him some loyalty (he doesn't owe Jim or Keith anything - they treated him pretty poorly).
Survivor instituted the "drawing rocks" tie-breaker in season 4 (Marquesas) when Pascal drew the unlucky colored rock from the bag and was booted from the game. No one has drawn a rock since. All ties get resolved because the prospect of randomly getting the boot is so terrifying when the two people potentially going home does not include you. This was by far the closest they came to drawing rocks since season four, but the streak continues. Someone always waffles on the second vote.
Usually, at this point in the show, the losing tribe gets picked off one-by-one while the producers hype potential breaks in the majority alliance that never materialize. We'll see if that holds to form or if the minority in the majority makes a move at nine or seven. Either way, what had been an excellent string of episodes might have come to an end while Ozzy & Jim walk the plank over the next couple of weeks. I think they'll want those guns out before the majority considers cannibalizing each other. I'd say the odds of someone from Coach's tribe winning must now be at least 80%. There's only one example of a post-merge minority taking control of the game: Tocantins. But, those were extraordinary circumstances. The majority had a gigantic lead (7-3, I think), they hated each other, and Coach was in a fullblown delusion about honor that simply created chaos. Somehow, 2 of the 3 person minority made it to the finals. I don't see that happening here, though Coach is again involved.
It's going to be hard to watch tonight's episode as Whitney and Jim lecture Cochran about loyalty. How did they treat Elyse? The only one who has a legitimate gripe is Ozzy. He did sacrifice himself for Cochran. Cochran owed him for that. Ozzy now has to win almost every immunity. It would be a heroic achievement. That's why he'll probably be the least angry tribemember tonight. In some ways, Cochran gave him what he wanted - long odds, where only performing well in the challenges can save him.
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