Last Week: The Houston Astros upset the Boston Red Sox by a final score of 5 to 3. Russell Hantz picked up the win over starter Rob Mariano with Jerri Manthey getting credit for the save.
39 Days, 20 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Here are the tribes as they currently stand…
The Hero Tribe (wearing noble blue)
Rupert Boneham – 45
Colby Donaldson – 35
Amanda Kimmel – 24
James “JT” Thomas Jr. – 25
Candice Woodcock – 27
The Villain Tribe (wearing devilish red)
Sandra Diaz-Twine – 34
Danielle DiLorenzo – 28
Russell Hantz – 37
Jerri Manthey – 38
Parvati Shallow – 27
Benjamin “Coach” Wade – 38
Courtney Yates – 28
We meet up with the Villains after tribal council and the Dragon Slayer is peeved. He thinks that voting out Boston Rob will destroy the entire tribe. He doesn’t comment on how his lame-duck vote had a hand in sending Rob home.
Coach also worries that the Villains may not win another challenge. I think he’s right.
The following morning we meet up with JT as he’s searching for the hidden immunity idol. JT, doing his best Russell Hantz impression, digs in the mud and eventually manages to uncover the idol. As JT is cleaning off the idol, he is discovered by Amanda.
JT smartly fesses up immediately. He returns to camp and shares the idol with the rest of the camp.
We later find out that it wasn’t a coincidence that Amanda discovered him. Candice and Amanda knew if he found it by himself he’d try to hide it. They don’t trust him a bit.
Back at the Villains camp, Jerri worries that they’re going to die if they don’t eat soon. Fortunately for her, tree mail offers “The Best Meal Yet.” Everyone reads this to mean that it’s merge time.
With twelve players left? Do they watch this show?
In an interesting bit before the challenge, the Heroes assume there’s an all-girl alliance due to the fact that Boston Rob was voted out. JT even says “Hang in there” to one of the males (probably Coach) on the Villains team. Russell loves the fact that they think he’s an innocent party.
Before announcing the challenge, Probst has a bit of fun with the tribes saying, “Everybody drop your…expectations.” Everyone fell for it, reaching for their buffs before he could finish the sentence.
Oh J-Pro, you scamp.
Reward Challenge: Single members from each tribe will square off. They’ll roll a ball down a lane in an attempt to knock over ten pins. Each player will have two attempts. The person to hit the most pins wins a point. It’s kind of like bowling.
No, it’s exactly like bowling. Seriously.
First team to three points wins a delicious dinner of pizza and beer.
The Villains discuss who they should sit out, eventually deciding on Sandra and Courtney. This doesn’t seem like a super smart move; now Sandra and Courtney will have to participate in the immunity challenge.
Round 1: Parvati throws a gutter ball while Rupert hits three pins. On the second throw Parvati tosses a second gutter ball. One point for the good guys.
Round 2: JT takes out six pins with his first throw while Danielle tosses her team’s third straight gutter ball. JT misses with his second shot while Danielle completes her Parvati impersonation with yet another gutter ball. Another point for the good guys.
Round 3: Russell throws the Villains’ fifth straight gutter ball while Colby misses with the ugliest shot of the day. No lie, this thing bounced more than it rolled. Russell’s next throw hits five pins while Colby’s only hits one. One point for the bad guys.
Round 4: Coach and Amanda both knock over five pins with their first throws. Coach’s second throw takes out one pin, while Amanda’s takes out two. Heroes win reward.
Quick Question: Was I the only one rolling (no pun intended) with the dramatic choral music playing over the last round of “Survivor” bowling?
During the reward meal Amanda offers a toast to, “The best team on ‘Survivor.’” She immediately contradicts this statement by saying she doesn’t want to get overconfident.
Meanwhile, Rupert is doing his best to hammer his “Fantastic Five” catchphrase into my head.
If I’m ever on “Survivor” (and believe me, I’ve been angling for that) I’m naming my alliance the “Thunder Fire All-Star Demon Destroyers.” If you’re interesting in joining this alliance, leave a comment below explaining how you’d be an asset to the team.
We meet up with the Villains back at their camp and Jerri is livid. She’s doesn’t think Boston Rob would have let them sit Courtney and Sandra out before an immunity challenge.
For her next trick, Jerri does her best Russell Hantz impersonation by calling Sandra and Courtney weak players to their faces. And just like last week, for some reason Sandra has a problem with being told she sucks.
An annoyed Sandra later tells us her ideal boot order which is: Jerri, Coach, Danielle, and Russell. OK, maybe that wasn’t a boot order, she just hates all of those people.
Later we meet up with Sandra and Courtney as they discuss their next strategy. Sandra decides to do her best Russell Hantz impersonation by planting a Russell Seed in Russell’s ear. The Russell Seed she has in mind? That Coach is gunning for him.
Quick Aside: When one tribe dominates the air time, it’s obvious which side is losing immunity. So, I’m betting five “Survivor” points that the Villains are headed for another loss. Who’s in?
Immunity Challenge: Teams will be belted together in pairs. They’ll have to go over and under a series of obstacles to retrieve a flag. First pair back gets a point for their team. First team to two points win. Because there’s an odd number of players, one race will be one on one.
The Villains will sit Jerri and Danielle.
Round 1: Russell and Sandra vs. Amanda and Candice – Wow…this challenge is muddy. Amanda and Candice win this round easily as Sandra really struggled.
Round 2: Coach vs. Rupert – Coach jumps out to an early lead, but Rupert is able to catch up with him about midway through. Coach is just barely able to get to the finish line first.
Round 3: Courtney and Parvati vs. JT and Colby – Well…this hardly seems fair. Although, teeny Courtney could easily glide under the obstacles. But yeah, my first instinct was correct. The cowboys finish first. Kind of like “The Amazing Race.” CBS synergy at its finest.
And…you owe me five “Survivor” points.
Morale is down at the Villains camp, but Coach feels like the Dragon Slayer is coming into his own. He’d like to get rid of Russell, but thinks he needs to keep the tribe strong for challenges.
He also refers to his alliance as “The Force Five.” Man, those Survivors really love their alliteration.
Russell lets us know that he doesn’t trust Coach and it’s time for him to go home.
Not-so-quick Aside: OK, there’s a lot of talk about Russell being the best ever, and I’ll admit he’s entertaining, but his tribe is being decimated in challenges. Voting out Coach seems like a really shortsighted move. Of course, this decision may be easy to make from the comfort of my couch.
Danielle argues my not-so-quick aside point in the very next scene. She wants Courtney gone. Great, now I have to deal with the fact that Danielle and I agree on something.
Russell doesn’t like getting an opposing view point from a member of his dumb a– girl alliance, so he storms off.
Seriously.
Eventually, Russell comes around and decides that they will need Coach for the next challenge, and they can eventually vote him off whenever they want.
OK, good. We’re all in agreement.
That night at tribal council, J-Pro makes the point that the Villains are in some trouble when it comes to challenges. Jeff also points out that fire is hot and water is wet.
Courtney knows she isn’t good at challenges. J-Pro counters by asking why they’d vote out strong players like Tyson and Rob. Courtney states that she didn’t vote for Tyson or Boston Rob. For some reason Probsty isn’t getting Courtney’s very reasonable argument and continues to press his point.
Courtney also thinks that Coach wanted the stronger players in the reward challenge so they’d lose immunity.
Throw a challenge?! That’s not the warrior spirit.
Coach wants Courtney to be more confident in challenges and to say, “I want to do that cause I can beat that challenge!”
Courtney responds with an adorable, “Thanks, Dad.”
I take it back, keep Courtney on forever.
After all of that, Russell says he wants to keep the tribe strong and keep trust in place.
Voting Time: Coach votes for Courtney, Courtney votes for Coach (and calls him a lunatic), and the rest will have to wait until the next paragraph.
Probst reads the votes: two votes for Coach, three votes for Courtney, one vote for Coach, and the ninth person voted out of “Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains” and the first member of the jury is…whoa…Coach.
I’m going to assume that Russell voted for Courtney as a way to keep Coach’s jury vote. He didn’t seem surprised at all by the result and Danielle (who had been pulling to vote out Courtney) voted for Coach.
Verdict: I’ve never been a big fan of Sandra’s game play, but she knew exactly how to play Russell. Well done. That being said, if the Heroes come back people are going to use this episode as a counterpoint in the great “Russell Hantz is the Greatest Player of All Time” debate.
Who’s Going to Win? Yow…I thought the Heroes were dead in the water. Now they’re only one immunity win from erasing the Villains numbers advantage. Blah…and my pick Jerri is getting into it with members of the Villains tribe. I don’t know what to think. So…let’s go with…uh…Parvati?
Power Rankings Update: Both Rob Cesternino and I had Coach in spot nine so it’s a draw. The current score is now “Survivor” All Stars 65, Team Gordon 91.
What Do You Think? Will the Villains ever win another immunity challenge? Did Russell make a huge mistake? Can the Heroes complete their comeback?
Tags: boston rob mariano, jeff probst, rupert boneham, Russell Hantz, survivor, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
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