It's over Johnny!

Last night a collective "Nooooo!" resounded through the halls of Nerdsburgh as favorited Survivor: South Pacific contestant John Cochran was voted off the island.

To be fair, this particular version of Survivor does feature a remote location called Redemption Island where eliminated players can duel each other for a stay of execution and a chance to reenter the game at a later time.  It is here, in this tropical purgatory-like remote holding cell, that Cochran will encounter his former tribe mate and biggest rival, one of the most physical and versatile players to ever play the game, the unbelievably agile and notoriously skilled Redemption Island duel champion, Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth.

I'm not saying with any certainty that Cochran will lose but, according to Jeff Probst during last night's live tweets, the uneven pairing is being likened to a "David and Goliath" type scenario.

Early on in last night's episode (airdate 11/30/11 entitled "Cult Like") I did reserve some hope for my favorite nerd survivor's odds for escaping elimination when unofficial tribe leader Coach demonstrated a desire to form a Jedi/Padawan relationship with him.  

   
The silver tongued, and two time Survivor veteran, Benjamin "Coach" Wade had been wooing the impressionable Cochran since his flip from Savaii with unconditional acceptance and inspiring words in eloquent nerd language.  At one point, during the Thanksgiving clip show, a bonus scene of Coach comparing Cochran to Hercules lit the cyber world ablaze with sarcastic comparisons:

For a foolish time, I entertained impossible fantasies of a future Coach/Cochran alliance.  And my unrelenting faith was almost vindicated when, despite complaints around camp of Cochran's annoying habits and awkward personality traits, Coach insisted that "the weak will become the strong and the strong will become the weak. That's what Cochran is going to do for the game."  

He insisted that Cochran was valuable and worth keeping around...all the way up until the moment when he voted him off. 

Although I will keep hope alive that my favorite nerd castaway will somehow reenter the game, I offer this bonus clip featuring Cochran discussing his "thinking chair" as an homage and possible epilogue...just in case:

Thank you Cochran for being the most controversial and exciting player of this entire season of Survivor: South Pacific and, in the event you do end up tossing your buff into the fire next week, your presence on the island will be sorely missed.

NERDS FOR COCHRAN!