Lets get the wrapup out of the way and than the commentary that everyone and your mother loves.
Things starts off at Redemption Island after TC as Russell meets up with Matt. Matt was shocked to see him as Russell tells him his tribe lost the challenge to kick him out. Russell talks about how he is ticked he was lied to and doesnt think Matt will be much of a challenge in the duel.
The next day back at Ometepe, Phillip wakes up the tribe with his sweeping around camp. Rob and Grant mock him in the tent regarding his tight pink underwear. The girls join in as they think he is gross. Meanwhile over at Zapatera, Krista and Stephanie talk about their bad spot in the game and how they are not having any fun. Ralph and Steve vow to keep their eye on them however as Ralph decides to show the rest of the group the hidden idol. Everyone is ecstatic. They talk of using the idol as a defense against Russell if he returns.
We go back to see Phillip getting the tree mail as he tells the others about how only two can go see the duel. Kristina agrees to go with Phillip along with Ralph and Sarita from Zapatera. They soon arrive at Redemption Island as Russell and Matt get set to go. Both guys are instructed they have to stack block on a platform while avoiding tripwires which can cause the blocks to drop. They must build enough to knock them over like dominoes which will force a ball to smash a tile to win. Matt soon takes the quick lead as he gives it a shot to win it all. Unfortunately the blocks fall short. Russell then falls short as it gets so tight. Matt gives it another shot and ultimately wins, sending Russell home for good. Russell breaks down in tears as he is upset about finally being kicked out. The highlight is Russell getting into it with Ralph who retorts that he found the hidden idol in 15 seconds when the game started. Russell asks to see it as Ralph begins to dig into his bag. Realizing he is giving away too much info to the others, he claims he was bluffing. Russell calls him a liar and tells Phillip and Krista everything he can about the Zapatera dynamics. Phillip says he know Ralph was telling the truth originally and that he will try to vote him out later. Kristina and Phillip have a ton of info now to bring back to the others. Russell exits the game soon after as Matt remains on Redemption Island.
Back at Ometepe Rob calls for beach day as he wants to look for the idol privately. He starts a game called Royal Treatment as he tells others he is constipated as he brings the others well down the beach as he makes his escape to go to the "bathroom." Soon he is off an running back to camp as he goes full bore for the idol. He concludes its by this one tree and eventually the others start to wonder where he went. Finally though he looks up and finds it in one of the last trees he looked at. He makes his way back to camp as the others ask if he is all right.
Back at Zapatera Sarita and Ralph report on the fact Russell is out of the game as he was defeated. They also told the others about how Russell revealed everything to the others. They all start to pound on him as Stephanie and Krista get annoyed. They begin a debate about how dumb it was to toss the challenge. We than see Phillip and Kristina talking about what to do with the information they just discovered. Phillip starts to talk strategy as Kristina is all ears. Kristina however thinks he is a windbag and will sit back and let him dig his grave. Once they get back to camp they tell the others about what happened. We than see Rob and Phillip walking with Grant as he asks Rob about whether they will take Kristina into an alliance in order to give up the information. Rob is annoyed at this and tells him what he wants to hear so he can get the news. Phillips tells everything as Grant confirms that Phillip has no trust left and that he has to leave the game. Rob is in agreement.
Back at Zapatera the tree mail arrives as the challenge is layed out. They figure they are building something. The two tribes arrive as the challenge will center on how good they use tools. Both tribes will search for an ax which will release saws. They will cut down planks which gets the rest of the group up on a platform where they will hammer in three nails and break tiles. Whoever wins gets immunity along with a barbecue. Zapatera went nuts in the challeneg as they completely destroyed Ometepe early on. Stephanie and Sarita screw up at the end which made it a game. Still Zapatera takes it at the end of a very close challenge.
Back at Zapatera the tribe basks in the feast they won. They talks about how much stronger they are as a team now. As we head over to Ometepe, Phillip calls a tribal meeting as he tries to keep their spirits up. Rob is so done with Phillip as he continues to annoy everyone. The girls start talking amongst themselves as Kristina tries to incite the girls. Natalie gets concerned about her and talks to Rob about it and how she thinks she might have an idol. Rob continues with his thought about how Kristina is dangerous and they talk about splitting it again with three on Kristina and two on Phillip. Things never being easy when it comes to votes, Grant and Ashley talk about how Phillip should be the one to go. Grant takes it to Rob as they discuss the merits of Kristina or Phillip. Rob is worried about this and thinks its possible one of the girls could flip. He believes tonight's vote will determine if he is in control.
Once they get to TC, Kristina once again talks about how she feels she is in trouble. Rob however talks about how Kristina really just became a part of the team recently. Kristina soon discusses about how Phillip is disruptive at camp and that he should go. Phillip retorts right back at Kristina about how she doesnt do anything around camp and that she should go. Each of them get a chance to discuss why they should stay. Soon the votes are cast as Krstina goes home by a count of 4-3.
All right now for the good stuff. Lets get to the commentary.
-First things first. I cant believe that Russell Hantz is officially out of the game after only four episodes. No doubt the whole Rob VS. Russell storyline that this whole season was centered on was a complete bust. Not even the Redemption Island concept could keep him around long enough for them to meet up. Just a big disappointment all around when it came to this part of the game. I am 100 percent certain that when Russell was dueling Matt, Probst and Burnett were saying in their heads "please Russell just pull it out long enough so we can get you back into the game." And I honestly thought there was no way he was going to lose. Russell being done this early? No way. And when Matt failed on his first attempt, I thought he was finished. But obviously it didnt go that way and once it was finished, Russell broke down and started to cry which was unexpected. I think all of the effort and emotion he has put into the game the three times he has played washed over him and it was understandable. I was completely cool with it and wasnt going to take him to task. After all the guy pretty much has played Survivor for like half of the previous year and a half. He has the perfect opportunity to go out there with dignity and respect from the others who seemed to feel a bit of sympathy from his show of emotion. However in typical Russell fashion, he became a classless jerk once again and ripped apart Sarita and Ralph and exposed the dynamics of the tribe to Kristina and Phillip in a vow to live on in them. It was a pathetic display and horrible sportsmanship. Just say "you got me" and move on. But no Russell has to make an ass of himself one last time which is not a surprise. Good riddance is what I say. Yeah he was a great player but I also think he was overrated. Thats for another post which I will get to this week (keep checking back) but overall I think Russell Hantz will go down as the biggest villain ever on the show.
-Usually I start off talking about the boot but since the Russell dynamic and Redemption Island played such a big role today, lets stay with that. We already touched on the Russell aspect of it but Ralph screwed up big time and got too caught up with his battle with the Evil One to the point that he needlessly gave up the fact he had the idol. He even almost took it out and showed it to everyone but Sarita stepped in and said no in a vain attempt to salvage the situation. Ralph than tried to play it off like he was joking but no one was buying it. Phillip and Kristina were all over it and that was it. In a game where secrets and information is everything, the cat was now way out of the bag for Ometepe to hear. To that point Ralph had played a great yet annoying game but this was a major blunder for sure and could ultimately cost him big time. Yeah he seemingly won his battle with Russell but in the end the fact that Russell got that info out of him could give him the last laugh.
-Now to the boot. Kristina was a dead woman walking since episode one so it was basically just putting her out of her misery. It also was a confirmation that Rob is completely in charge over at Ometepe as clearly Grant and Ashley wanted Phillip gone but they played the good soldiers and didnt question orders. Kristina was a terrible player as was shown when the first person she targeted was Boston Rob. Just a dumb move that ruined her from the start. And trusting in Phillip? Are you kidding me? Yeah she was horrible and deserved to go. Now as far as keeping Phillip around, I really didnt care which way the vote went. But the fact of the matter is that Phillip is a major distraction and he is likely taking away a lot of the focus of the tribe. He is as big a loose cannon as there ever was on Survivor and the decision to keep him around could blow up big in Rob's face.
-Now I noted how the tribe continues to pay homage to Rob and do what he says but if Ometepe continues to lose like this, the troops will start to get restless. Ometepe really has not won any challenges since Zapatera threw the last one and there really hasnt been anyone to blame. They just physcially are not as strong as Zapatera with both the men and women (have you seen the size of Julie?) and ultimately thats what it comes down to.
-Speaking of Zapatera, the tribe was awesome in the challenge and proved to themselves that they were in fact a stronger tribe without Russell. The proof is in the results no matter what Stephanie and Krista bitch about.
-Speaking of Stephanie, she has lasted about three more episodes than I thought she would.
-OH I ALMOST FORGET. TERRRIBLE JOB BY PROBST IN NOT GETTING A REACTION FROM BOSTON ROB ABOUT RUSSELL BEING VOTED OUT. THERE WASNT EVEN A FACIAL REACTION SHOT TO IT. NO "YOUR NOW GETTING YOUR FIRST LOOK AT ZAPATERA MINUS RUSSELL WHO WAS VOTED OUT AT THE LAST TRIBAL COUNTIL. JUST AN AWFUL JOB THERE. YOU MAKE THE SEASON ABOUT THEIR RIVALRY AND THAN YOU DONT GET A PARTING SHOT FROM THE ONE WHO OUTLASTED THE OTHER? NOT GOOD AT ALL. STOP THINKING OF THAT EMPTY CHAIR THAT WILL BE NEXT TO KELLY RIPA DUDE. WELL I CANT BLAME HIM FOR THINKING ABOUT KELLY BECAUSE SHE HAS THE NICEST.....ALL RIGHT I DIGRESS. I got to also stop shouting as I am starting to get hoarse. On we go.
-Rob finding the hidden immunity idol is obviously huge. He still has threats remaining like Matt on Redemption Island and a numbers dilemma if they get to the merge at this point so having the idol is immense. Once again he played it perfectly with setting up the others to go rest away from the beach as he went to look for it. Great job my man. Russell a better player? I dont believe that to be true. That sounds like a good poll!!!!
-Forgot to mention Matt. The kid has great nerve and is becoming a big factor. No way Kristina beats him and so the scenario remains for Matt to come back in and hook up with Andrea and try to oust Rob. Which is why its so key for Rob to have the idol. Good stuff ahead.
-All right let me say this. I do feel a bit letdown that Russell is completely out of the game for good. Lets face it he made it interesting. I also am upset we wont get to see Rob vote him out and settle the duel. We got robbed (sorry for the poor choice of words) there for sure and thats a shame. I will also say this. I have this nagging feeling we havent seen the last of Russell in THIS season. I dont know why but I still cant wrap my head around the fact he is really gone. Its the same feeling you got when Jason or Fredd Krueger were killed in the 1783682 movies they starred in. You never got the feeling they were completely gone not matter how many "final chapters" there were. Just saying. You heard it hear first.
I have nothing else to say on this. In the next few days you will get:
1. Updated Tribe Rankings
2. A Russell Hantz Epilogue
3. A Rehash Of The Rob/Russell Battle
4. There is no four.
Check back in tomorrow for number 1 and if I am not too tired number 2. And I am not talking about going to the bathroom. Peace.
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