Last week, tension brewed at Zapatera between Evil Russell and good ol’ boy Ralph; Russell, you see, took great pains to swipe a clue to the HII without anyone noticing; Ralph, much wilier than he looks, two-upped Russell by not only catching Russell doing it, but by going and finding the HII without the benefit of any clues whatsoever. Methinks that Russell’s time on the show this season may be short-lived. However, Russell’s dysfunctional crew won immunity again, sending Ometepe back to Tribal Council. Though it seemed that Special Agent Crazypants (Phillip) was going to be joining Francesca on RedIsle, Boston Rob engineered the season’s first blindside, sending the golden-haired Matt out the door, much to the chagrin of Matt’s new BFF Andrea.
Redemption Island, Night 5. Matt arrives to find Francesca sleeping. He rouses her, and she is shocked at who her first opponent is. She asks Matt why it’s him and not Phillip, and Matt, unsurprisingly, can’t provide an answer. He wonders where it all went wrong, but looks forward to returning victorious to the game and finding out. The next morning, on RedIsle, Francesca and Matt get their marching orders and prepare to get their duel on.
At Ometepe, Rob is elated that his plan went like clockwork. He congratulates Phillip on being the perfect decoy, and then tells him that he is currently the #5 man in Rob’s alliance, along with Natalie, Ashley and Grant. He feels good about the way the game is going so far, but now has to wonder about how to handle Andrea, who is probably smarting after TC. (Uh, not to mention being down two people, dude. That escape your attention?)
Day 6 tree-mail at Zapatera brings news that there will be no inter-tribal challenges that day; rather, two people from each tribe (chosen by drawing colored stones from a bag) would have the privilege of being spectators to the first RedIsle duel. Steve and David gets the honors from Zapatera, while over at Ometepe, Ashley and Andrea draw the orange stones. Probably don’t have to think hard about who Andrea will be rooting for.
Duel #1. And so, the moment that the show has been building up to since the last season ended is finally here. With Ashley, Andrea, Steve and David in the bleachers, the combatants enter the arena. Jeff asks Matt what he’s thinking, and he responds that it would be the comeback story of all time if he could survive a blindside and RedIsle with naught but the clothes on his back. Francesca, classily, says that she has nothing against Matt personally, but it’s game on, and she’s there to win.
The challenges: Matt and Francesca must tie together several pieces of bamboo to create a pole in order to retrieve three keys; the winner will be the first person to unlock the three locks and get through their assigned “door”. Pretty straightforward. And they're off! Francesca gets her pole built quickly, and is able to retrieve the first two keys before Matt can get a workable pole together. However, Francesca’s pole falls apart on the third key, allowing Matt to catch up. Both have trouble with the third key, which is just a little further out than the others. Ultimately, it’s Matt who gets the third key first, and he claims the victory, to Andrea’s delight and Francesca’s doom. At Jeff’s instruction, she tosses her buff on the fire and departs the game for good. Tough break, sis. Jeff then sends the spectators back to their respective camps, stating that they may feel free to divulge as much or as little as they want, and Steve considers telling Russell that Matt was eliminated. Which is sound, strategically, I guess. Only the person who accompanied you can debunk your story… at least, until the next two spectators are chosen.
At Ometepe, after learning of Matt’s victory, he attempts to do damage control on Andrea. He downplays his role in Matt’s ousting, saying it was a “group decision”, and promises that she’s still higher up the food chain than Phillip and Kristina. I wouldn’t buy that, and she doesn’t either, but she’s unsure what plans she can make on her own at the moment. She does let on that she’s very upset about what happened behind her back, however.
The next day, we learn that David and Matt did indeed decide to use some subterfuge, telling Russell that Matt was eliminated. Now that I think about it, I can’t help but wonder what strategic advantage that gives them, but Steve explains that it is will throw Russell off guard “when he gets voted out” and finds that his opponent is not who he thought it would be. And as soon as Russell walks away, Steve tells the rest of his alliance (Mike, Ralph, Julie and Sarita) the actual truth.
Russell knows that he’s out-allied six-to-three, but is supremely confident in his ability to find HII’s. (Can you guys wait to see the look on his face? I sure can’t. I’ve been waiting three seasons for that moment.) He searches for awhile – in vain, of course – and then Stephanie proposes making a fake one. Which is actually a brilliant idea, an idea that has worked in the past. Of course, it’s also backfired, and as of this moment, Ralph has not disclosed to the rest of his alliance that he even has the HII. However, in lieu of constructing a clever mockup, Stephanie just decides to make a great show of carrying her satchel around, like there’s something, you know, important in it, like a bank robber using his hand to make a gun-shaped item in his pocket. Steve’s not buying what Stephanie and Russell are selling, however. Good man.
The next morning, Russell’s not looking too good. And I mean that literally; it looks like, for hygiene’s sake, he decided to shave his armpits before coming to Nicaragua, and now both of his ‘pits are showing signs of a very ugly-looking rash. While he’s sitting around with Stephanie and Krista (referred to from a distance by Steve, Matt and Mike as his “harem” as well as his “concubines”), the three aforementioned men decide that keeping Russell around for any reason is detrimental, so it’s best to vote him out first. Steve even suggests tanking the challenge just to make it happen, and Julie, the voice of reason, replies that it may seem like a good idea on paper, but once you give momentum away, it can be hard to get back. Very, very true. David also doesn’t seem very jazzed about the idea.
Immunity Challenge. Hoo boy, this is elaborate. Three tribe members are lashed to a wheel, which, when turned, will put their heads underwater for a few moments. They must retain mouthfuls of water and then spit them into a tube which, when filled to a certain point, will release a ball down a ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, another tribe member will assemble a puzzle resembling one of those tilt-ball maze games, and the first team to navigate the ball through the maze wins. Winning tribe gets immunity and some comfort items, like a tarp, a lantern, some pillows and a couple of lawn chairs. Wow, that took a long time to describe. Shall I just say who wins? Okay. Well, Zapatera agrees to throw the challenge, and, under Russell’s pained scrutiny, David makes a dog’s dinner out of assembling the puzzle and Ometepe wins immunity for the first time. Russell, in interview, proves that he is as observant as he is petulant, espousing that he suspects his tribe phoned it in, calling them “a bunch of bitches.”
How does Ometepe celebrate their victory? By individually combing through their spoils for the clue to the HII, which presumably has been re-hidden. Big Dumb Phillip reclines on one of the lawn chairs, not even knowing he’s sitting right on it. Rob talks him into the other chair on the pretext of replacing a missing screw, and pockets the clue without anyone seeing. And that, folks, is why “Boston” Rob Mariano is so effing good at this game. He reads the clue to himself, but the clue is so vague that he’s unable to look for it at this point. To be continued.
At Zapatera, Ralph has apparently kept mum about his HII, because the rest of the group is preparing to split votes between Russell and Stephanie, just in case Russell DOES have it. And Russell knows this, of course, as well as the fact that he needs one more ally to turn the tide. Russell sends Stephanie to talk to Julie, and Stephanie even flat-out tells Julie that they have the HII. Uh-oh. Julie really seems to consider flipping, and I really hope that’s not the case. Her apparent change of attitude does seem to satisfy Stephanie and Russell, however. Russell even tells Julie that the target for the vote is Ralph. Oh, snap, this could be very dramatic indeed.
Tribal Council. Jeff opens the Q&A by asking Steve about tribal alliances, and Steve responds that there are two solid cliques, with six on one side and three on the other, including Russell. Sarita elaborates that the reason Russell’s on the wrong end of the numbers is simply because of who he is; though he vowed to play the game differently, he’s done nothing that hasn’t been straight out of his dog-eared playbook. Russell defends himself, saying he’s not that guy who burns his teammates’ socks or dumps out their water anymore. He’s there to win challenges, and blames his tribe for throwing in the towel that day.
Jeff asks Mike if they did throw it, and Mike doesn’t cop to it, but doesn’t deny it either. Julie points out that in her opinion, going to the merge with superior numbers is always the best strategy. Stephanie bows and scrapes to Russell, saying what a great player he is (and didn’t she say in Week One that she wasn’t going to throw her lot in with him? I clearly remember that…) and that throwing the challenge was just stupid. Jeff goes back to Steve, asking him again if they threw the challenge, and Steve says they did not, which David corroborates. Sarita attacks Russell’s lack of energy around camp, and Stephanie rises to his defense again. Ralph then adds that Stephanie does even less than Russell does.
Jeff then points out Russell’s new tattoo, which he apparently just got recently, and it reads “Keep Hope Alive.” Good luck with that, dude. So, voting time. Ralph votes for “Ressell.” Seriously? Sarita votes for Stephanie. Russell votes for Ralph. Jeff collects the urn, and out come the slips. Russell. Ralph. Stephanie. Russell. Russell. Stephanie. Ralph. Ralph. And… Stephanie. So Julie didn’t flip after all. Good for you, lady. It’s a three-way tie, which means the other six players will vote again.
One by one they vote again, and we don’t see any of them. Jeff re-collects the urn, and out come the slips again. Ralph. Russell. Russell. Russell. And… Russell. Ding, dong, the witch is (mostly) dead. And I am so proud of Zapatera for sticking to their guns. Evil Russell is a great player and a great villain, but watching him is like watching America’s Funniest Home Videos… how many times can you watch a guy get whacked in the nuts before it’s just not funny any more? (Answer: seventeen.) Russell collects his torch, and promises he will be back. Stephanie looks visibly hurt. Well, that’s what you get, girlie.
At RedIsle, Matt greets Russell with more than a little shock and awe, and is amused when Russell tells him that he was told that Francesca won. Stay tuned.
Next week: Phillip keeps acting crazy and annoying. Rob starts to get paranoid-er. And it’s “put up or shut up” time for Russell as he takes on Matt.
