"What exactly did he do to deserve bullying?"
I guess I don't know how he was bullied. Keith said he should take ownership of his actions. Ozzy said that he was voting him out (several times). I hope that's not really bullying. There was no taunting, no stealing, no humiliation that was shown to us, other than "pressure" to "step up." Maybe he was bullied to participate in the various water adventures (swimming, sliding)?If anything, Coach "bullied" him into saving himself (without Coach himself doing what he pressured Cochran into doing).
"What did he do besides not be great at challenges and be self conscious about his body?"
Besides costing his team at least one challenge? He flipped on a perfectly good plan, tossed out the goodwill (and reprieve) that the tribe gave him, and squandered a chance to become a "hero" and possibly final-3.
He also asked to be called by his last name (hubris), in order to be grouped with the other famous heroes of last-name infamy (before actually earning that "reward"). He claimed to be a student of the game, but he neglected to mention that he's a C+ student of the game (at best).
"It was easily his best move."
Perhaps his easiest move, but not his best move. He bought himself 3 more guaranteed days, but if he had risked everything on a 1-in-7 shot at the purple-rock, there was a 5-in-7 shot that his group (with him as the hero) would have been up 6-5... from there, it would be simple to pagong the other tribe, hook up with Jim & Dawn, convince Keith & Whitney to vote out Ozzy first, then take out Keith & Whitney. Bam, final 3 (barring anything crazy like Ozzy returning from RI a second time and winning a spot in the F3 and not taking the guy who helped make their tribe the winning tribe). The game respects big moves, and his was a small move.
It just brings back memories of Tyson not realizing his odds in the game.
Maybe I like my heroes to be in control, and my villains to be villainous. Cochran seems accidentally a villain... neither hero nor villain.