SURVIVOR REDEMPTION ISLAND EPISODE 11 COMMENTARY AND WRAPUP

Lets get the damn wrapup over with and onto the joyous commentary.

Things start off at Redemption Island as Ralph heads in. Ralph tells them what was going on and they soon see Steve walk in as well. The guys start to bond and discuss what will occur next. They also note how if they get to the finale, they will win since Zapatera will make up most of the jury.

Back at camp, the Ometepe six start talking about how great it is to be the last standing. We also see Natalie start crying as she begins to worry about the next step of the game. Rob seems concerned and he starts comforting here in an effort to keep her under his spell.

The next day, the girls get the tree mail and they realize that the family visit could be here. They find a cell phone in the box and it contains videos from home. The tears start to flow as they watch all of the messages from their relatives. Morale gets boosted as they go to the Redemption Island battle. The guys at Redemption Island also watch their videos.

Soon the duel beckons as the contestants are told that the winner gets to spend time with their relatives. Each guy has to toss a ball to break a tile a distane away. The top three stay in the game and the top finisher gets to spend time with family. The duel begins and in the end we see Mike win the overall challenge with Ralph and Matt staying in it. Steve gets sent to jury duty. We than see Mike's mom Jane come into the arena. He is told that he can give Matt and Ralph their relative visits instead along with the others and forgo his visit. Mike of course chooses to give the visits to the others and his mom and Ralph's and Matt's relatives were sent away.

Back at Redemption Island, Ralph was annoyed that Mike chose to give the visits to the Ometepe group. Matt also seems like he would have gone the other way as well. Mike admits that he made the decision only on the basis that it was the right thing to do.

Meanwhile the Murloni clan start enjoying the visits with their families and they show them around. Natalie continues to cry in talking with her mom as Phillip talks strategy with his sister. Rob too talks about the game with his sister and gives the lowdown on whats going on. Soon the famillies leave and the game is back on.

The next morning the tree mail comes in and the immunity challenge beckons. Rob notes how Andrea has to be the one to go if she doesnt win immunity since she has a strategy game. They all go to the challenge and Probst explains that they all have to race to collect puzzle steps and they have to place them in order from bottom to top. First person to the top wins immunity. As always making a long challenge short, Rob wins immunity as he almost collapses at the end of it. He is cramping like crazy and get help to stand.

Back at camp, the rain begins as they all applaud Rob. Soon Rob tells the other that someone has to go to Redemption Island. They all seem to be in on voting out Andrea as she asks for confirmation that it is Phillip. Phillip than starts acting stupid again and gets everyone annoyed. He admits that he tries to act like a jerk in order to confirm his place in the finale since everyone will think they can beat him in front of the jury. Grant and Rob start talking as the latter starts thinking of dumping Phillip. He gets the nagging thought that Phillip is playing him but also talks about how Andrea is a tough opponent. They head to TC however and the vote winds up eliminating Andrea by a count of 5-1. Rob is still around in his quest for his first title.

All right onto the good stuff.

-First off, the vote for Andrea was the right one and overdue. I couldnt even believe that Rob have a debate in his mind about kicking off Phillip instead. That could have been a fatal error for all the reasons I spoke about before and so he made the right call. Once again Mariano is making all the right moves. Also Rob winning immunity again was tremendous in that he continues to file away reasons why he should win the bucks and he still has his hidden idol in his pocket. So in other words he is good for at least another TC and getting closer and closer to the end of the game. Hoenstly how can anyone not give him the money this time around? Yeah he is playing a hard game but he hasnt made any outward direct enemies like he did in the past. Its his to lose.
-As far as the immunity challenge was concerned, Rob had his finest moment in that respect in his long history in the game. Seeing him literally dragging himself up those steps in the last few minutes of the challenge was incredible and what an awesome win it was. I got worried for a second there that he was going to pass out and have a medical issue but thank goodness nothing came of it.
-Despite her outster, Andrea was impressive in her time in the game. She was one of the better female challenge performers I have seen on Survivor in awhile and the fact she was so hot made it even better.
-Phillip really does in fact seem like he is playing everyone. He finally admitted to acting like a jerk on purpose so that the others will take him to the finale and honestly you cant say his strategy is not working. And what really stuck with me was the fact that Andrea noted in her final words how she was annoyed how the other BUT Phillip basically stabbed her in the back. An omen for the final TC if he gets there? She obviously would have a prime reason not to vote for any of the Ometepe's other than Phillip based on feeling backstabbed. Very interesting for sure.
-All right now onto the Redemption Island challenge. I really think its totally unfair and in bad taste for Probst to put Mike in the position he did in having to choose giving the family visits to the Omete's six and not to himself or Ralph or Matt. Someone will be annoyed in that scenario and sure enough Ralph was ticked and Matt admitted he wouldnt have done it either. First off Ralph is an idiot and we all know this. To be angry at Mike for doing something so selfless is just plain idiotic. The guy has a first grade education though so I guess you cant expect much there. Still it put him in a terrible spot and it couldnt have happened to a nice guy. And as far as the decision goes, he made the right call. Try to please as many people as possible which he did and really after seeing that, I started feeling strong feelings for the guy in the sense that I wanted him to get to the finale and win if Rob doesnt get there. Classiest Survivor player I have seen since Roger Bingham in Australia.
-Matt keeps getting it done. Now his g-friend Andrea will be heading in to cuddle. Interesting to see how that goes there.
-Natalie crying like a 7-year old was funny. Damn she is young. Still she is in prime position to be a factor here at the end of the game.
-The family thing is always fun to watch but it wasnt as interesting this time around. Also I was shocked not to see Amber in the video for Rob but since she was home with the kids, it made sense that his sister was there. Not much noteworthy came out of this however.
-Zapatera being made up of the majority of the jury was a very intersting note here as its obvious that if Mike, Ralph, or Matt makes it through, than they are the winners. I cant argue with the digits advantage.

Thats all I got for now. Check back for more tomorrow. Post your thoughts below and lets debate.