Another episode to dissect. Commentary first and than the commentary that is not suitable for children. Lets get to it.
Things start off back at the Zapatera camp as Steve tries to patch things up between Sarita and David. They all discuss coming together so that they don't crumble as a tribe. Sarita tries to smooth things over with David but he quickly shoots her down. Clearly he is agitated that she is still around.
The next day, we go over to Redemption Island as Stephanie and Matt talk. They discuss food they miss and Stephanie goes on and on. Matt just sits and takes it all in. He wants to go right to the duel and kick her out. Meanwhile at Ometepe, Phillip and Rob decide to go see the battle. Phillip reiterates about how he doesn't trust Rob anymore due to him trying to keep him out of the loop with the idol. Rob on the other hand feels he has to go and chaperone him there. They convene at Redemption Island with Ralph and David as Matt and Stephanie are told what they have to accomplish.
Both are instructed that they will play a memory game. First person to make five matches wins and stays on Redemption Island with the loser leaving. Both shockingly get a match right off the bat but soon Matt winds up winning again, sending her out of the game. Crazy stuff as he just cant seem to lose a challenge. Stephanie goes out by telling Ralph he should boot Sarita. She also warns Rob the Zapatera tribe will try to get him later on. She than burns the buff and leaves. Rob also leaves annoyed at Phillip even more as he knows he is planning a big move at the merge.
Back at Ometepe, Rob and Phillip talk about not dividing the tribe and they should discuss with them everything that went on during the duel. They get back into the camp and report everything that Stephanie said. He also tells the others what Phillip said when he walks away and Rob suggests to them that he will flip when he gets the first chance. The plan is hatched that he is going home next.
Over at Zapatera, the tribe asks David and Ralph what happened at the duel. David walks away as Ralph tells the others that he think he will flip as well. Eventually David suggests they go fishing while the others ignore him. They all agree that he has to go next.
The next day, we find Ometepe hanging out eating rice. Phillip observes the girls talking about saving rice for Rob and they wont let him eat the crispy bunch that Rob likes. Phillip gets mad and notes how they all kiss up to Rob. Rob soon walks back in and the girls tell him what happened. It brings us to the immunity/reward challenge which is an all-out obstacle course where both tribes will go through the obstacles working together to grab balls which they must use to shoot in a basket. First tribe to score six wins immunity and reward which entails the winning tribe being taken for a picnic. As always making a long challenge short, Ometepe wins yet again. Sarita visibly struggled during the challenge so based on that she could be the one to go.
Soon we see Ometepe flown to their reward which brings them to the top of an active volcano. The picnic begins as they all dig in. Rob looks for the clue again and zeroes in on the cookies. He sees it and slyly slips it into his pocket. Than in a big comical scene, he flips the clue into the volcano.
Back at Zapatera, the mood is awful as they are starving and realize how bad things are in now being down 6-5 in manpower. Sarita asks about who they will vote out and they all say David. Ralph however speaks up about how good David did in the challenge but Sarita continues to push him to be kicked out. Soon though Mike and Steve talk about Sarita's weakness and that they got to keep the tribe strong. They are torn in that they don't trust David but note Sarita is poor at challenges. They soon arrive at TC to determine who goes. In the end Sarita goes home by a count of 3-2 as she laments not bringing her stuff. David throws in one last dagger when he says "Don't get too confident."
All right now for the good stuff...the commentary.
-First off, I feel bad for Sarita. That is the prevailing feeling I had in all of this. You could see the betrayal on her face and no matter what you thought of her as a player, she stayed true to her tribe to the end and didn't deserve the shots she took from David. In fact it was truly classless when he threw that last dart at her after she was voted out by saying "don't get too confident." That was unnecessary and it shows he was studying Russell a bit too much. She has no chance of beating Matt. I don't care if Matt's foot fell off. He is going back into this game which will make things very interesting.
-Speaking of going back into the game, we saw in the previews that the merge is here and since I fully expect Matt to go back in, this sets up as a very interesting development as far as what Rob's game plan is. Clearly Matt feels betrayed by Rob but Rob has Andrea in his alliance. We all know she has a thing for Matt and I am curious to see how that dynamic unfolds. Does Matt swallow his pride and do whats best for his original tribemates? Does he convince Andrea to jump ship to Zapatera? Does Andrea and Matt disagree on how to proceed? Looking forward to it.
-Getting back to TC, it was obvious that Sarita was going based on the edit. They tried to convince us David was the slam dunk choice but the losing streak in challenges necessitated David staying. The 3-2 count was a surprise though and I surmise that Ralph was the other who voted for David. Steve, Mike, and Julie probably felt Ralph was too in his own world to trust telling him it was Sarita.
-David is starting to take on a starring role alongside Rob and whether you like it or not Phillip. He has that edge to him that makes you want to dislike him. His in your face style will keep you tuning in to see if he gets voted out. He also is not to be taken lightly since we have seen great minds like his do very well in this game. Julie has been my darkhorse all along but David is a contender.
-If you weren't convinced Sarita was the boot the first half of the show, than it was confirmed when she was shown to say "help me" twice in the challenge. That sealed it.
-The immunity challenge was great. Even though we have seen this challenge before, the intensity was huge. Grant was the MVP for the second week in a row and he is stealing Rob's thunder a bit when it comes to that part of the game. Grant is interesting to me as physically he is a beast but his edit is inconsistent. Its looking like he goes far but I haven't seen anything yet that tells me he will win.
-The Phillip saga goes on and on. Unreal.
-Getting back to the upcoming merge, Rob has a lot to deal with and no doubt is going to be incredibly paranoid. He knows they are coming for him which is where his hidden immunity idol comes from. Based on the fact he has the idol, there is very little chance he goes home next week. We could be looking at a big blindside when he plays it but the key will be if he gains an advantage after the vote. There are a ton of worries in the form of the out for revenge Matt with Andrea, the flipping Phillip, and all of Zapatera. This is going to be the critical part of the game that will determine if he wins or not. If he gets through this with a leg up, than write the check.
-Speaking of Rob, the best part of the episode was when he tossed the idol clue into the idol. That was great. And it goes to show you how much of an advantage he has and how experience is everything in this game as he continues to zero in on the idol clues and slyly puts them away before anyone sees it. The rest of the tribe are clueless and its amazing to me that they don't have the notion to also look for it. As annoying as Kristina was, she had that part down pat which is why Rob sent her packing.
-Natalie and Ashley continue to do nothing. They cant win right???? I don't think so.
-The Curse of Russell????? It seemed like Zapatera was going to buck the trend of tribes going into the toilet after they throw a challenge when they wont the first one after Russell got the boot. Now they are on a three challenge losing streak and in chaos. Yup the Russell curse is at work. Even when he is out of the game, he still affects it.
-I said it once and I will say it again. I am already tired of the Redemption Island concept. I hope when Matt gets back in next week that this is the end of the line with it.
-By the way I am so tired of hearing tribes worry about going into the merge down in numbers. Forget that already. No matter what the numbers are, the tribe with the advantage almost never picks off the other team one by one. It just never happens. That concept should be put to rest forever.
-Boston Rob is kicking ass. Hope you enjoy watching it Russell. He is better.
That's all folks. Check back in tomorrow for more. In the meantime lets hear your thoughts. Post it below and lets discuss.
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