One of the Greatest Tribal Councils Ever on Survivor

Dude, I’m tellin’ ya……..

After being off for a week due to the start of the NCAA tournament, Survivor aired on Wednesday night this week (again due to tournament coverage on its normal Thursday). And it was another good episode in what has been a very entertaining season.

The show started with the usual coverage of the tribe getting back to camp after the last Tribal Council and some of the contestant’s thoughts on what just went down. Candace, who was very tempted to vote with Fireman Tom and Colby and surprise someone in her own alliance, explained that it just wasn’t worth doing that. She felt she’d just be throwing away her vote in an effort to get rid of the injured Gravedigger James when the Tom/Colby partnership simply didn’t have the numbers to get it done. And then she would really anger her alliance members and put a target on herself. So she had stayed with her alliance and voted off Fireman Tom.

The funny thing is that Amanda went on to say that nobody trusts Candace and that she herself is sick of her and she needs to go. So even though Candace did the “right” thing as far as voting, she has a target on her back anyway that she is somewhat unaware of.

Over on the villain side, pot-bellied Russell and Boston Rob had an entertaining nighttime chat. Everyone else was sleeping and Rob was just hanging out collecting his thoughts. Russell got up out of bed and decided to talk to him about their rivalry. Russell started out by trying to tell Rob that he wasn’t exactly gunning for him in an effort to have Rob let his guard down. But being pretty sharp, Rob wasn’t buying it. He tried to act like he was doing Russell a favor by telling him that other people had him in their crosshairs because he openly looked for the hidden immunity idol.

By the end of the chat, both guys warned the other that he better ” watch his back “. And then Rob made me laugh as he walked away and said, ” Good talk, Russell ” as if they had a productive conversation that wasn’t a bunch of chest thumping. Which it was.

The tribes went on to a challenge where they were informed both tribes would be going to Tribal Council and voting someone off that night. The winning tribe in the challenge would get to enjoy a hot dog feast as they listened in on the vote for the losing side. The lure of the prize was that they would get to be tuned in on whatever strife was happening with the other tribe. Oh….and the hot dogs, of course.

The challenge was a rope obstacle course where you had to climb up and over or slink underneath some logs that were wrapped in rope. The contestant was wrapped in rope as well and you had to maneuver so that you were basically untying the ropes and yourself to move along. It was done in three heats—-one by the hero tribe, one by the villain tribe, and a final with the winners going at it for the big prize.

Being the leader and stud man that he has been to this point, Boston Rob beat Candace in the final heat to win it for the villains. Those two also won personal immunity for themselves at the Tribal Councils. So Amanda and her group would have to wait to oust Candace. And Russell would have to wait to oust Boston Rob.

Then back at both camps, the strategy sessions started for that night’s votes.

Pot-bellied Russell showed what a smart player he is by seeing through Boston Rob’s plan to flush out the idol. Rob came up to Russell and said that if he had the hidden immunity idol, he better play it because otherwise he’s gone. Russell immediately told his ally Parvati that they must think he’s stupid. He figured Rob and his alliance would be voting Parvati out but that Russell would play the idol to protect himself because of the warnings that he was going home. He also identified how the smart plan for Rob and his people would be to do a split vote. But he wasn’t sure they were bright enough to realize that.

Over on the hero side, Gravedigger James tried to show his teammates that he was healthy enough to stick around by racing southern boy JT in a foot race. It was funny how JT turned around and ran backwards as he was beating James’ ass down the beach. It reminded me of Apollo Creed racing Rocky Balboa in Rocky III. James lost but I give him big kudos for running like he did. Gutsy.

The heroes simply had to decide who they were better off with—–a healthy, but uninspired Colby. Or a gimpy kneed James. Amanda was doing her best politicking to keep her lover around (James).

So when the Tribal Councils took place, Russell or Parvati looked to be in grave danger for the villain tribe. Did you say grave danger? Is there any other kind? {Dudeimtellinya.com would like to thank screen legend Jack Nicholson for that one there}.

But Russell proved he was the smartest player out there by turning the tables so completely that not even his ally Parvati knew what was going on. He had earlier told Tyson that he hated to do it, but he was going to break the split vote that Rob’s alliance would be doing by joining them in voting for Parvati. That way, he wouldn’t end up in a tie with her and also wouldn’t necessarily have to play the idol. This got Tyson to thinking that Russell had thwarted the tie vote plan and he could just vote for Parvati since it was all elementary. Or just to pile on.

Which he did. Tyson foiled his own alliance’s plan by voting for Parvati when he was supposed to vote for Russell. He messed up a fool-proof plan. Right before the votes were read, Russell played the idol. But not for his own protection. He actually gave it to Parvati to protect her. And in doing so, he opened himself up to being ousted if his own plan went awry. But it worked like a charm. Including Tyson’s peculiar vote, Parvati received four votes that didn’t count. Russell received two. And Tyson received three (Russell’s, Parvati’s, and Danielle’s).  

Tyson was gone ! And the alliance looked around at each other and for the life of ’em couldn’t figure out what the hell just happened. Hilarious ! I absolutely loved it. Boston Rob looked furious. It was so awesome.

And then the hero tribe opted to stick with a healthy Colby and voted James off. His girlfriend Amanda was in tears. But I was actually surprised to see that in the closing montage, even she voted for James. So the cohesive tribe did what they thought was best to win the next challenge.

A great episode with a surprise ending that had me whooping it up and clapping my hands.

See ya Tyson.

Stupid ass.