Survivorfest week 7!

Rob heads back to Beantown as the blindsides keep on coming!

Fresh from tribal council the Villains were still reeling over the departure of Tyson.

Rob weighed in with a Survivor Hall of Fame quote: "Russell is like the hobbit on crack!"  Yup, Dildo Buggins.

Rob on Tyson getting blindsided in the previous council:  "Somethin' doesn't feel right..."  ya think?  Rob, I'd like to buy a clue for $200.

Rob and his posse listened while Russell, Parvarti and Danielle giggled about the blindside on the other side of their tent.  Rob was starting to get paranoid that one of his pals might not be playing straight with him.

Courtney bashed on Russell and Parvarti a bit.  Evidently Russell is a "bandy-legged dwarf" and Parvarti will "flirt with anyone".  I'm really sensing a blockbuster movie here.  The Dwarf and the Princess.  We could have Angelina Jolie play Parvarti and Russell would insist on playing himself.  Liam Neeson would have to play Coach and someone would foolishly insist on portraying Jude Law in the role of Jeff Probst.  Halfway through the film there would need to be a pot-induced modern dance sequence.  I'm just spit-balling here...

Parvarti played psychologist for Gerri:  "she can't get over all the people who disappointed her and she's taking it out on everyone else...Okay, crazy pants!"

At Hero camp Rupert called on Colby to step it up, now that they dropped James in favor of him.  Colby can't believe he's still in the game.

The reward challenge was a basketball game in waist-deep water.  First team to three points win.  Reward was a nice meal at an outdoor waterfall.  I'm sure they were really digging having an outdoor picnic after freezing their tails off the night before and then doing a water challenge.

First teams were all guys.  I had forgotten Coach sucked so much at physical/skill challenges.  And at basketball.  Colby missed a couple of early chances before finally draining one.

The second group was mixed women and men.  I think Coach liked having all of the women grabbing at him.  It looked to me like he was holding onto the ball hoping they would cuddle with him a bit...maybe call him the Dragonslayer and smooth out his rumpled smurf hat.  Eventually he got distracted and the Hero tribe got the ball back.  A quick pass to Candace and the Heroes took a 2-0 lead.

Back to the men.  Rupert and Russell were going at it while JT picked up the ball, fed Colby and ended the game.  Rupert and Russell were still wrasslin' around.  I'm surprised Probst didn't break them up.

At the reward meal, Candace found another hidden idol clue.  The group agreed to try to find it together and use it at the merge. We'll see...

At Villain camp Russell called Coach and Gerri over to try to bring them into his alliance.  He offered to take them to the final 3.

Coach didn't seem to be buying what Russell was selling.  Gerri seemed to be though.  Coach found this troubling.  He told Gerri he was hurt that she seemed to hold him in the same regard as Russell as far as trust and didn't consult with him about agreeing to anything before speaking to Russell.  I think the problem is that everyone knows that Coach will promise something on the spot and then feel obliged to follow through.

Coach:  "Gerri and I are honor bound to play this game together!"  But he can't believe that Gerri would "put all of her eggs in Russell's basket."

Gerri:  "I like Coach, but he's so naive."

I'm convinced that Coach is terribly frustrated that he's on the Villain team.  We've barely seen a whiff of the Coach of old who sucked at every challenge but talked like a world-beater.

The Immunity challenge was a relay race over a net to retrieve bags of puzzle pieces to be used to complete a puzzle.

The Villains took a quick lead that they kept all the way to near the end, when Courtney appeared to run out of gas.  The Heroes took back the lead, and got a head start on the puzzle.

This time JT and Amanda were able to seal the deal, breaking the curse of the puzzle challenges.

Back at camp, Coach wanted to get rid of Courtney, the weakest link in the tribe.  The rest of the tribe seemed to posture around keeping the tribe strong, but clearly were acting to strengthen the position of their own alliance.

Rob and Russell discussed next steps.  Russell suggested they vote off one of the two weakest people:  Sandra or Courtney.  Of course they were sitting right there listening to the conversation.  Bold strategy, Russell!

Rob is a master manipulator.  When he approached Coach he asked him what he wanted to do, knowing that Coach wanted to feel in charge for a change.

Coach gushed all over him:  "Rob, you're my right hand man!"  But the two seemed at odds over next steps.  Coach wanted Courtney or Parvarti out.  Rob wanted Russell gone.

Russell and his group started thinking about blindsiding Rob.  Coach didn't feel right about that.  Although he was "with you guys 100%".

Coach was freaking out.  He promised his loyalty to Rob but also to Gerri and it seemed like he had to make a choice.

Rob told Gerri she needed to do what was best for her in the game.  Another nice touch.  Don't try to look like you're telling her what to do, tell her she knows the right thing to do.

At council, Coach spoke to the divided tribe, indicating that he and Gerri were "floaters".  I couldn't agree more.  In fact, I suggest we accept this as a term for Survivors who drift between alliances, useful only until one alliance has enough strength so that they don't need them any more.  Done?  Done.

Russell, perhaps sensing impending victory, really started running his mouth.  Plus he had that gleeful look in his eyes.  He started saying things he usually reserved for private camera time like "if you cross me you gotta go" and such.

A quick word about Russell.  The role playing game Dungeons and Dragons has a useful character-alignment system that tries to define a character or creature's general attitude and outlook on life.  The way Russell plays Survivor would classify as chaotic evil.  He does most things out of self-interest, but when faced with a neutral opportunity he goes well out of his way to do the "wrong" thing.  An example:  Walking across the street, Russell sees a small child in a stroller drop her cookie out of reach.  A character of good would pick the cookie up and hand it to the child.  A neutral character would keep on walking, possibly not even noticing the situation.  A chaotic evil character will likely stop, take the cookie and slowly eat it in front of the child just to watch her cry.  Sorry for the detour.  Just wanted to throw that out there.  Anyone for a quick game of D&D?

Coach tried to make peace, begging for Russell and Rob to work together.  It sounded a lot like a child trying to keep mommy and daddy from breaking up.  Too little, too late.

The votes were cast:

The alliances split their votes between Rob and Russell which left the decision up to the floaters.  Gerri voted Rob and Coach threw his vote away on Courtney.

As Rob stood to leave he hugged Gerri.  Coach got up to get him some and Rob dissed him:  "you're a little man."  Ouch!

In the next two weeks I predict:

Coach will weep like a small child!
The Villain tribe will lose challenges and further disintegrate!
The tribes will merge!
Russell will claim to be the puppet master at least four times!

See you next week on....Survivorfest!