Wow that was nasty. That's the only way I could describe tonight's episode which contained a double boot of first Candice (good) and later Danielle (bad). Lots to get to here so first the recap and than the analysis:
-Things start off with a bang as Rupert unloads his feelings about Candice to Colby. Both are pretty ticked off at her for jumping ship and vow revenge. The next morning Rupert goes a step further and decides to rip into Russell in front of the rest of the tribe as a means of exposing his sadistic ways. Of course he started off by bringing up how despicable it was for Russell to swear on his kids and lie about it. Not one to bow down, Russell calls Rupert a dumbass among other things. Great stuff.
We quickly move to the first immunity challenge which entailed each tribe member hooked up by the wrist to a canister full of water above their heads. If the arm doops, the liquid falls and your out of the challenge. Of course these endurance challenges are made more interesting with Jeff bringing out temptations which begin 1minute in as both Russell and Sandra step off in order to get a plate full of cookies and milk. Colby goes next when a plate of donuts is brought out and than Jerri, Candice, and Danielle drop out when peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, milk, and a bunch of other snacks are brought out. So that leaves Rupert against Parvati for the necklace. After over one hour goes by, Rupert slips off and immunity goes to Parvati.
The twist in all this was a clue read by Jeff to everyone regarding yet another hidden immunity idol back at camp. This of course sets off a frenzy in search of the idol and in a huge shocker Sandra winds up finding it. To her benefit, no one saw her claim it and she quickly heads back to cmap. Meanwhile Rupert devises a plan to place a rock in his pocket and make it seem like he has the idol in order to buy him some more time. Russell sees the bulge in his pocket and falls for the ruse hook line and sinker (to borrow a phrase from him).
After the search, the plotting begins as Russell devises a plan to split the votes 3 to 3 on Colby and Rupert so that ensures one of them goes home and that the idol is played. In yet another move that trumps the Evil One, Parvati instead decides to get rid of his new ally Candice. Jerri and Danielle sign up for it and Colby overhears the convo and informs Rupert that if they join in, they will get their revenge on her and stay safe.
At tribal council, Colby exposes Candice for her flip flopping and rips into her for the disloyalty that she showed. Once the vote came down, Candice went home and Russell was left to wonder what went wrong.
Back at camp, Russell begins to realize that Parvati and Danielle are running the show behind his back and begins to formulate a plan to break them up. First things first though as another immunity challenge was up for grabs. This challenge centered on an obstacle course with four separate parts that whittles down the players until only three remain to fight it out for the necklace. Colby continued to show his ineptitude in challenges as he is the first to drop out followed by Sandra, Danielle, and Jerri. In the end, Russell holds off Rupert and Parvati for immunity and a major bargaining position before tribal council.
Back at camp Russell ratchets up his plan to split up Parvati and Danielle by approaching both and telling them that the other is plotting to vote them out. Parvati calls out the bullcrap and run to Jerri and Sandra and plead for them to stay the course and vote for Rupert. Russell enlists the desperate Colby and Rupert to come to his side and thats the setup as we hit the explosive tribal council.
The council was dominated by a fight between Danielle and Russell where she outs him as a huge liar and he calls her on being closer to Parvati than he. Danielle ends up in tears in an odd moment and in the end Jerri shockingly goes along with Russell's crap and Danielle is sent home.
Saying this was an intense episode is the understatement of the year. Lots of analysis to get to. Let's hit it.
-There is now absolutely no doubt that Russell's sealed his fate and guaranteed he wont win Heroes VS Villains. He has completely lost the respect and trust of pretty much everyone in the game that is or could be on the jury. We know Courtney despises him as does Coach. They have said as much on many occasions. JT will want revenge after being duped in incredibly idiotic fashion. Danielle and Candice no doubt are feeling burned by his betrayals. Rupert has expressed the most disdain and called him out in front of everyone. Sandra has been trying to vote him out from the beginning and Colby and Amanda have no reason to vote for someone who played the whole heroes tribe. It all goes back to the reasons why I say Russell can't be considered the best player ever. In order to get that title you need to win which he hasn't been able to do and won't do here in light of his actions this season. He has repeated last season's mistakes of alienating the jury and thus will always have the asterisk next to his name.
-It definately seems like Russell is even more nasty this time around. I am not questioning his move to vote out Danielle as he definately was right about feeling the two were considering him the third wheel. The thing that I dont get is since three go to the final, why not stick with what has worked so far and stay with them to the end???? Yeah they might be calling shots behind his back but they would almost surely take him to the final knowing how much he has pissed off the jury. The fact he didnt trust in that shows how much more paranoid he is this time around. I guess I am questioning the move now the more I think about it. Bad move is my conclusion.
-I absolutely loved the way Rupert ripped Russell apart in front of everyone at camp. Rupert was right for exposing how he swore on his kids and lied about it. Anyone who has kids, and I can relate with a 9 month old son, knows that the worst thing you can do is swear on your kids and not be truthful about it. Anyone who does that is a complete lowlife which Russell is. And Russell calling Rupert a dumbass and his mocking him was just more of the bullying that makes him look so classless.
-I have to admit that I felt bad for Danielle when she started crying. The game of Survivor is no doubt one that plays with your emotions and could lead to burnout. It certainly looked like that was the case with her. She was really hurt by Russell's accusations and betrayal and she wore her emotions on her sleeve. It was a very intense, real, raw scene that went to the core of what the game can do to you. Russell was not affected by hurting her at all which was not surprising.
-I just can't understand why Colby and Rupert would be receptive to anything Russell says. After he royally screwed them over at the merge, why would they want to do any type of business with him?? I guess at that point you have to do anything you can to stay in the game but I was hoping they would refuse to play with him.
-I still can't figure out for the life of me why Colby has become so bad at challenges. Finishing last in the latter challenge was a joke. And now Parvati and Danielle are using their opinion of him as someone who sucks at challenges to keep him around is comical. Could he have aged that much in ten years???? Apparently so.
-Loved how Colby admonished Candice at the first TC. She was such an idiot for turning her backs on the heroes and buying Russell's bullshit. She definately got hers. And its amazing how quickly Russell decided that he didn't need her anymore. It won't ever get much pub in light of JT's all time blunder but Candice's move last week was just as moronic.
-Sandra finding the idol was a great development. I have said all along that I strongly disagree with the perception that she was undeserving of winning Pearl Islands and I honestly feel she quietly is one of the better players ever. She has ratcheted up her game in the scheming department and has gone toe-to-toe with Russell and has so far been able to live to tell about it. Who else could make that claim? Short answer: NO ONE. She is this close to unbelievably grabbing the top spot as best Survivor player if she wins her second game. And even more mind blowing is that through one full season and a second almost completed season, she still has yet to receive ONE vote.
-Rupert is this close again to grabbing his first win which will further validate his legacy. Top ten peformer all time but a win puts him in top five range. Was surprised with his move a pretending he had the idol. I have always been critical of Rupert for not doing little things like this and thinking outside the box to further his game. Kudos to him for making the jump in game play. Overall this was a great episode for him.
-Parvati has her work cut out for her now. Her game with Russell is officially done and she is on thin ice.
-I mentioned Rupert is close to a validation win but so is Colby. The thing is that he has been so bad this season that I think he deserves it the least out of the final six remaining other than the idiot. Very dissapointing performance.
-Jerri totally frustrated me with her move to go with Russell. Just another example of how he always seems to get everyone to do what he says. He uses the kind of intimidation that makes most like Candice bow down to him. I thought Jerri would be too strong for that but I was wrong. Not good.
-My quick updated ranks for likeliehood of winning:
1. Sandra
2. Parvati
3. Rupert
4. Jerri
5. Colby
6. Russell
That's all I got for now. Be sure to vote on the new polls and post a comment about what you thought of tonight's show.
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