Originally aired on Thursday, 06/14/2007

Episode Rating: ** (2 stars out of 5)

Episode Overview: This week on Pirate Master, there's a sea change as a new leader emerges on the crew.

Episode Highlights:

• The treasure challenge this week is a close race, and one team finds itself in the middle of the sabotage.
• A new leader brings about a new mood on the ship.
• One pirate tries to make the best of the old and new regime.

On last week’s episode, Louie Frase’s buddy Christian Okoye was set adrift, and Louie is still smarting. He kvetches to another shipmate about the vote and vows to get back at captain Joe Don Norton, whom he blames for the vote.

Meanwhile, Joe Don continues to solidify his position, earning loyalty from his officer Cheryl Kosewicz, and buying it from his bosun, Jay Hatkow.

After a morning spent re-doing their eye make-up and setting sail, the pirates meet with host Cameron Daddo to open the next compartment in the Chest of Zanzibar and find out about their next expedition.

Jay unlocks the compartment, revealing two scrolls which contain the map and clues for their next challenge.  The teams are split up: Captain Joe Don and his two officers, Cheryl and Ben Fagan, make up part of the black team. The others on the team are assigned randomly: Sean Twomey, Joy McElveen, Alexis Shubin and Laurel Schmidt. All the others (Azmyth Kaminski, Christa Deangelo, Kendra Guffey, Jay, Jupiter Mendoza, and Nessa Nemir) are on the red, and Louie is thrilled. Not only is he not forced to work with nemesis Joe Don, if his team wins, they get to replace Joe Don as captain.

Everyone else on the red team, says Jay, is also thrilled to be on the same team as Azmyth because he had proven himself to be a good competitor and leader.

The two teams paddle ashore, and are mainly neck and neck until they momentarily get out of the boats to cross a sandbar. After crossing, everyone jumps back in to complete the trip, except Alexis. She wanders ashore on foot, frustrating and slowing down her black team.

They catch up to the red team on foot, and both Sean and Azmyth arrive at the sabotage – a tunnel of bamboo poles – simultaneously. Sean hopes his black team can catch up, but all the red team makes it through first. The black team is on the verge of passing through when the red team releases the sabotage. Sean stands in the middle of the tunnel and manages to hold it up enough that his team can make it through without as much of a delay.

They are still behind, though, and the red team is able to find the key hidden in a skull underwater and, ultimately, the treasure behind a waterfall before the black team. Louie is ecstatic: this means Joe Don is out.

Back at the boat, Daddo has Joe Don clear out his things and return his captain’s garb as the red team triumphantly counts its winnings. Joe Don is feeling a little apprehensive, figuring his role as captain (and his attitude as a jerk) have put a big target on him.

The red team counts out its gold: $35,000. Half of it goes to the new captain: Azmyth, voted in happily without much discussion. His two officers, Jupiter and Jay, share one quarter of the treasure, and the rest of the red team gets a share of the remaining quarter.

As Azmyth and his officers settle into their new digs, Azmyth offers up two new developments: one, he wants to share the winnings equally among the team. Two, the captain’s hat has apparently conferred an arbitrary British accent on him. As he discusses his plans to share the wealth, neither his socialist attitude towards gold, nor his newfound verbal affectation much pleases Jay, who now wonders who they just made captain.

No matter, Azmyth is busy making friends for life as he shares the wealth. But it’s not all celebration. Once the wealth distribution is completed, the captain and the officers also have a less pleasant task to attend to: assigning the three black spots to the crew.

Azmyth thinks that Alexis is a clear choice due to her lack of full participation in the physical challenges. Laurel is suggested mainly due to a lack of distinguishing herself as a very hard worker or competitor. Azmyth wants to mark Joe Don, but Jay protects his benefactor, since he knows that he can continue to milk Joe Don for some of that gold. Jay doesn’t give the real reason, but offers up Cheryl instead, saying that she hasn’t been a team player. Azmyth agrees to go along.

The letters are distributed and jockeying for votes begins. Jay is determined to get Cheryl off the boat. So much so that he gives $1000 in gold to Sean, who is the swing vote. Sean is conflicted; he’s not sure if it’s the right way to play it but because he is a swing vote, if he doesn’t go through with it, everyone will know.

At court, it’s time for confrontations. First, host Daddo stops the proceedings to ask with disbelief if Azmyth now has an accent. It’s a very Jeff Probst-y moment. Azmyth laughs it off and then proceeds to explain why each person was picked to receive a black spot.

Then the three women each defend themselves. Alexis uses the ever-popular “I might be useless and somewhat unpleasant but at least I’m not phony about it” defense. Laurel says that she has heart and has been working hard. Cheryl says her position as officer made it difficult for her to mingle with the crew, but she did always fight hard physically in challenges and supported her teams.

Joe Don speaks up to bolster Cheryl’s speech, saying he indirectly steered his officers towards keeping themselves separate. He makes a plea for Cheryl and then aims at Alexis, basically also pointing out she’s been useless.

The pirates vote, Daddo counts. No mutiny, and Laurel is safe. But there is a tie between Alexis and Cheryl, so it’s up to the captain. Azmyth ponders it and says that based on future performance in challenges, Cheryl is a better bet. Alexis is cut loose.

Azmyth probably made the right decision, but he just put Jay in an awkward position. Is Jay now in the hot seat for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering? Tune in next week to find out.

- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist