Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, week four

Fun episode! Some interesting shifting took place on each of the two tribes, causing me to rethink the players left in the game and what they’re likely to do. Then Probst yelled at Rupert for saying something stupid, which I enjoyed merrily.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s how the episode started:

Coach collapsed into Tyson’s arms because Sandra said something that hurt his feelings. See, not only is Coach a macho tough guy superman, but he’s also a sensitive and delicate, beautiful snowflake. So he decided to quit (because that’s what coaches do when things get tough) until Tyson and Rob talked him out of it.

What a weiner. That’s all the more I really feel like saying about it.

“There’s strength in weakness.” What the hell does that even mean? Okay — that’s all I really feel like saying about it.

There was a reward challenge which was pretty much good for nothing other than taking my breath away with the sight of James’s gorgeous oiled-up Adonis body. Villains took home the prize: tools and materials to improve their suckass shelter.

Now the episode begins for real: both tribes find the clue leading to their hidden immunity idols. The clues came out right in the open, so it was up to each tribe to decide how to tackle the issue. Here’s what’s interesting: the Villains took the “heroic” stance on the idol, while the Heroes took the “villainous” stance.

Boston Rob steered his tribe into a friendly agreement to find the idol together and then dispose of it. They all decided that one individual having an idol would be unfair, and if anyone was caught looking for it, that person would be marked and voted off next. Of course Russell, who developed a sexual attraction to hidden idols in Samoa, was unable to contain himself. Rob and Sandra caught him looking, and now he’s “marked”. I’ll revisit this at the end of the post.

The Heroes decided to abandon all pretenses of unity and play the idol game individually. Everyone was searching for it, which led to humorous images such as five or six Heroes all digging at the same tree roots. Tom walks out of the situation with the idol in his sock, but he was caught with it. This gives him and Colby a minor bargaining chip…

…which turned out to be important, since they lost immunity.

Candice knew exactly how to get rid of the idol: split the votes evenly between Tom and Colby, then whichever of them doesn’t play it goes home. Cirie endorsed this plan because her game relies on eliminating as many strong contenders as possible. A smart ploy, if  you’re Cirie — and I remind you, this is a woman who came withing grasping distance of the endgame prize both times she played. She would easily be the most devious player on the Heroes tribe, if not for J.T.

See, Cirie’s playing the same game she played previously, while J.T. is playing it totally different. When Cirie snakes someone, well, that’s just what Cirie does, isn’t it? Bears in the woods, etc. When J.T. snakes someone, nobody sees it coming, because it’s J.T. and gosh durn it he’s a nice guy. J.T. switched his vote, Tom burned up his idol, and Cirie melted away from the game before she could get her machinations going.

Also of note: Probst got Rupert to admit that he’s following a proven losing strategy because it’s the honorable thing to do. I mused that Rupert would come back to the game having learned absolutely nothing from his first two outings, and that seems to be precisely the case. He’ll make fourth or fifth place, again, being manipulated by better players who require his physique and his loyalty. He will then be totally flabbergasted when they cut him loose. I may have to make another BAWWWWW image.

Who’s gonna win? If it’s a Hero, I’m sticking with J.T. I feel as though the dynamics in this season really are a lot different than they were in All-Stars, where prior winners could not come within eyeshot of the endgame.

If it’s a Villain… well, it depends largely on how this individual idol business plays out. I don’t know that I buy the whole “black mark” idea. Russell seems to be banking on an idol in his pocket being unequivocally better than an idol elsewhere, even if his entire tribe believes him to be scum. I gotta say, I’m not sure he’s wrong. Rob and Sandra and the rest of them may talk big now, but when it actually comes time to put his name down I’m not sure their conviction will stick. See, Russell might be marked… but he knows he’s marked. So he knows he’ll have to play his idol. And everyone knows he knows that — so the discussion is no longer “we have to vote out Russell because he broke Holy Tribal Law”; now it’s “who should we sacrifice to eliminate Russell’s idol because he broke Holy Tribal Law?” Will Rob take that gamble? Will Sandra? I don’t know.

If Russell has the idol he is in a decent position. He can spend a few days engineering someone else’s exit from the game (since they’re so dead-set on sacrificing someone), play his idol, then spend the next few days engineering himself a safety net. Or just looking for the next idol. That worked well enough for him the first time around. Sticking with Russell, myself.

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