Survivor: Cook Islands

It's time for "Survivor: Cook Islands," and of course this series is my favorite and closest to my heart. I have so many of my fondest memories from my time on the show.

This season has been very controversial because of the tribal race divide. Let's see if it really makes a difference with the contestants (but I doubt it will).

The show starts the way the first season did, which is great. All the contestants have a few minutes to grab whatever supplies from the boat, and jump ship and paddle to their island. It's frantic and crazy.

There are Hawaiian slings, bananas, chickens, fish traps, etc. I would try to grab everything possible, and that is the same plan it looked like everyone else had!

So, here are the tribes:

African-Americans:
Nate
Sundra
Sekou
Rebecca
Stephannie

Latinos:
Ozzy
Cristina
Cecilia
JP
Billy

Asian-Americans:
Cao boi
Yul
Becky
Brad
Jenny

White (I can say white, and I will because I am white. I have never heard anyone use the word Caucasian, so I can't. Sorry if it offends anyone, but too bad!):
Jessica
Jonathan
Candice
Parvarti
Adam

OK, let's get to it.

Billy from the Latin tribe comments on how ironic it is that he is rafting to an island when his parents did this long ago. Ha! I laughed out loud. I love the humor. It's a great way to start a stressful game.

Cao boi on the Asian-American tribe seems to not fit in with his younger tribe members. He seems very wise, and I hope that his tribe utilizes that. He does come to the rescue when Brad has a headache. He uses an eastern medicine technique of pulling out the bad energy from the forehead. It leaves a red mark on his head but Brad admits his headache is gone. Looks like Cao boi is smarter than his tribe thinks.

The white tribe has a setback when Jessica accidentally lets out the chickens they stole from another tribe. That is a major loss on their part.

Chickens are a great source of protein, and if I was in her tribe and they lose the challenge, I would vote her off in a second! And it looks like a love connection is formed between Candice and Adam. I hope they come to their senses!

The African-American tribe is making their shelter and getting it together. Even though they say their shelter is "low income housing."

Hey, it's still something to sleep on, and under.

Challenge time.

The challenge is to put together a boat that is in puzzle-like pieces, row to get fire, row back and solve a puzzle.

The Asian-Americans took first place while the Latinos came in a close second. The white tribe took third. The African-American tribe came in last and is forced to go to tribal council, but they also get to send a person from any tribe to Exile Island to spend two days alone.

The only ray of light is there is another hidden immunity idol on the island. They sent Jonathan because he was the one who stole the chickens from the Asian-American tribe.

The three winning tribes also won fire, so there will be some eating tonight!

Tribal Council time. It seems the girls are going to gang up on the guys. At tribal council, Rebecca and Sundra admit their obvious friendship, which may hurt them later. It's too early to be paired up with someone. Everyone seems to agree that Sekou is the leader, whether they liked it or not. And it turns out that it hurt him because Sekou is the one voted out tonight.

I love it so far, and I am excited to see this season all the way through. Go "Survivor"!