Last week, an innocuous discussion over rice storage between Steve and Phillip turned into a diatribe about racism. A plethora of words – many of which are not suitable to be repeated – were bandied about, and it took all of Jeff’s diplomatic skills to defuse an incredibly tense situation. However, before that happened, Julie decided to humiliate Phillip by burying his swim trunks in the sand, thus subjecting everyone at Murlonio and at home to the visage of Phillip in his Tidy Pinkies for the duration. The rest of Ometepe sent Julie a thank-you card in the form of a free trip to Redemption Island, where she will face off against Matt and Mike (both of whom defeated David, making him the first juror) in another duel.
Murlonio, Night 27. The first thing Steve does when the group returns to camp is offer his hand to Phillip as an olive branch. He apologizes for his comments, reiterating that when he called Phillip “crazy”, it wasn’t a racial slur. Phillip smiles and returns the handshake, which is such a relief. However, in interview, Phillip says he believes that the apology was little more than the self-serving act of a desperate man, and that Steve will probably be going next. Which is just fine with Rob, who confesses that he wants Phillip and his “stupid antics” going all the way to the end with him.
The next morning, Phillip decides to look for his buried swim trunks, based on the only clue that Julie left him with, that it was buried under a rock. Stating that his great-great-grandfather, “a full-blooded Cherokee Indian”, came to him in a vision telling him he was going to find his shorts (yeah, I know), Phillip proceeds to look, and it really doesn’t take him that long to find the right rock. Which is either lucky or impressive, whether you buy into his mumbo jumbo or not. This, of course, leads to another self-aggrandizing interview where he even goes so far as to horribly misquote Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men. “You can’t stand the truth!” he says. Then he parades his find in front of everybody, doing his “who’s the man” strut. Jeez, I can understand why Rob keeps him around, but why would everybody else?
Over at RedIsle, the three residents are just waking up. Julie says that she got the best night’s sleep she’s had since the game started, and Mike notices that whatever fire Matt had to keep going has been dwindling rapidly since being blindsided for the second time. Choking back tears, Matt interviews that he misses his family terribly, and has had to rely on nothing but his faith to keep him going for the three-week period on RedIsle. He believes God has a plan for him to be there, but not knowing what that plan is has just about broken poor Matt. His final word is that he is “so over this game”. Don’t half blame him.
Duel #8. Matt vs. Mike vs. Julie. Phillip takes great pride in showing off his swim trunks to Julie as they enter the arena, of course. Jeff asks Matt how he’s holding up, having spent three times more time on Redemption Island than with the rest of the players. Matt replies that it’s been a struggle to find peace, but he’s fine with whatever path God shows him, even if it means going home. Jeff is almost taken aback by the change that has come over the young man, and asks if Matt is planning on quitting. Matt says that he still plans to try his hardest, but that he believes he’s accomplished whatever God had in store for him regarding the game.
Today’s duel is “Survivor shuffleboard”. Each player has their own board and three pucks, which they must slide just hard enough to have them stop in the shaded area marking the last few inches of the table. First two players to get all three in the shaded area stay in the game, the loser goes to the jury. Mike gets his first two into the shade but then misses three straight. Five shots in, Matt gets all three into the shade, and lo, his record is now 8-0. Guess God’s not done with you yet, kiddo. Two shots later, Mike gets his final puck into the shaded zone, and he too moves on again. Julie is bummed, of course, relating about how her house is in foreclosure and now the million is beyond her reach, but she feels like a better person from having met everybody, particularly Matt. I still like her.
Back at camp, Andrea – who was the recipient of a fairly withering glare from Matt – says she feels bad for how she treated Matt over the course of the game. Rob points out that blindsiding him was a group effort, but Andrea feels like her part was bigger because of the friendship she had built with Matt in their brief time together. Of course, any completely understandable guilt expressed by Andrea shown in front of Rob can only mean one thing… she’s weak, and has to go. What, you’re surprised? Rob has a hair-trigger, and with Grant willing to bow to his every whim… Poor Andrea. Whether she goes before Steve and Ralph or after them remains to be seen. I’m hoping something will come along and upset Rob’s apple cart before then.
Immunity Challenge. It’s Day 30, and time for another IC. In this challenge, players will go head-to-head in a good old-fashioned log-rolling contest, where the person who can keep their balance the longest wins the match. Eight players, seven matches, one winner, who will get Immunity and a scrumptious reward in the form of ice-cold milk and the biggest damn chocolate cake I’ve seen this side of Top Chef: Just Desserts. Jeff also mentions that there will be an additional twist, which he will reveal later.
In Round One: Grant beats Boston Rob, Ashley beats Andrea, Ralph beats Steve, and Phillip beats Natalie. In Round Two: Grant beats Ashley and Ralph beats Phillip. So it comes down to Grant and Ralph for immunity, and, after a lengthy duel, Grant proves the better man once again. Jeff tells Grant to pick two people to share the cake with, so he chooses Rob (duh) and Andrea (huh?). And as for the twist, it will remain a mystery for a while longer; Jeff hands the package to Steve and tells them to bring it to TC, unopened. Then the trio tuck into the cake at top speed (they’re only given two minutes to eat… nice). Grant reasons that he picked Andrea because he doesn’t want her to see a blindside coming, should the dice roll that way.
After returning to camp, the #1 topic of discussion is what the twist is. Andrea thinks it could be that there will be two votes, one after the other. Which… has been done in the past, but that would mean that the next duel would involve four people, which seems kind of extravagant, but hey, this is the first season with Redemption Island, so what do I know? Ralph and Steve know that it will be one of them leaving that night, and all they can hope for is that whatever the mystery package is will turn out to be something they can use to their benefit.
At the moment, Rob favors voting off Ralph before Steve, because Steve is all but done physically and poses no further threat. Still, this unknown factor causes Rob to cover as many bases as he can, and he approaches Ashley and Natalie about possibly voting off Andrea if need be, stating that if it is a dual elimination, it will be Ralph and Andrea, not Ralph and Steve. Ashley, at least, agrees, citing that Andrea’s “soft spot” for Matt could be a problem if Matt ends up back in the game.
But though his body may be quitting on him, Steve’s mind is still going. He approaches a lounging Ashley and Natalie and tells them that he and Ralph will be voting for Rob. He sweetens the pot by assuring them that Rob will definitely be taking Phillip (who he hysterically calls “nimrod”) to Final Three, and that they can turn the game to their advantage if they flip on Rob right now. Which would also require Andrea, and that is enough for Ashley and Natalie to poo-poo that idea. And then, they run right to Rob and nark on Steve’s whole plan. This, of course, moves Steve right back up to the top of Rob’s hit-list, just ahead of Ralph.
Tribal Council. This should be interesting, because TC is starting a full five minutes earlier than usual. Jeff opens the Q&A by asking Rob if tonight’s TC will be business as usual by voting off yet another ex-Zapaterian, and Rob confirms it, barring an earthquake-sized twist. Steve admits that try as they might, he and Ralph have been unable to find a crack in Rob’s alliance, and the last shot out of their gun was to try to flip the girls on Rob. Jeff then asks Andrea whether making a move now would be preferable then waiting for Top Six, but she says that her alliance deserves to be the final six and that’s that.
Ralph thinks that it will most likely be himself voted out tonight, given his superior challenge prowess to Steve’s, and Steve agrees. Rob adds that for Steve to agree is definitely the best move on his part, and both Grant and Phillip cite Steve’s NFL career as evidence that he’s not a quitter, and that he’s just pretending to be lackadaisical to get the target off his back. In his defense, Steve brings up a past season (All-Stars, I believe) where Rob begged an opponent – tattooed musician Lex - to keep his (eventual) wife Amber around, and Amber was spared and went on to win, but not before Rob turned on Amber’s savior and sent him home. For that is Rob’s game, and if everyone waits too long to turn on Rob, they’re basically handing him a check for a million dollars. Rob defends himself by stating that his alliance was always with Amber, not Lex, and his alliance with Amber is still going strong today.
It’s now voting time. Ralph votes for Rob, and that’s all we see. Jeff collects the urn, and Rob chooses to keep his HII in his pocket. Out come the slips. Rob. Rob. Ralph. Ralph. Ralph. Ralph. And… Ralph. No surprises. He shakes Steve’s hand, has his torch snuffed, and off he goes to RedIsle. But we’re not done, are we? Steve opens the mystery package, and it seems to be a stack of ceramic cards. He reads the top card, which states that there will be another Immunity Challenge right now, followed by another vote. Hmm. So there WILL be a four-way duel next week!
Immunity Challenge #2. Jeff passes out a stack of ceramic cards to everyone, and collects the Immunity necklace from Grant. The ceramic cards all have symbols on them, which they must show to Jeff in correct order once Jeff has shown what that order is. So it starts: canteen, fishhook, cooking pot, campfire, canteen, cooking pot, campfire. It takes less than one trip through this series to determine a winner, and it’s Rob, which makes Julie and David very disappointed, as they were clearly rooting for Steve.
No more words are spoken, and it’s voting time again. Andrea votes for Steve. Steve votes for Grant, and that’s all we see. Jeff gets the urn, and Rob still sits on his HII. Out come the slips. Grant. Steve. Steve. Steve. And… Steve. And thus, the Zapatera tribe is now all but extinct. And NOW, with only Ometepe players left, the game enters its most crucial phase. Jeff puts it succinctly: “there’s nowhere left to hide.”
Next week: after a month of competition, Rob’s alliance has held fast. But one particularly brutal challenge will take its toll on everybody.
