The Mormon is a moron

What a dramatic episode that was, we saw two bold moves at the villains tribal. (Bold or stupid-crazy?) The heroes sacrificed strength in the arena of intratribal numbers for the strength of the tribe as a whole, these and a host of other twists and shake-ups will be the topics in our main feature of this post: the episode six commentary, which begins now.

Commentary 6
The show opens at camp hero where a visibly defeated Colby stews over his buddy Tom's torch snuffing, James jokingly offers Colby a comforting hug. Was this in good fun or bad taste? Dunno, but either or, James was right to jest, Colby, as Coach a few epys past is in desperate need of a Boston Rob pep talk and the advice is applicable to his situation, "Pick your head up, and act like a man." Geez, I've never been a Colby fan but I have at least always respected his competitiveness this season he's been disappointing, not because he's less physical, that could actually work to his advantage, the really disappointing thing is, he's lost the "eye of the tiger."

Back at camp zero, oops, I mean Hero (no bias on this blog) Colby mopes off to, presumably cry himself to sleep, and the scene cuts to Amanda giving an interview stating, to paraphrase, "I'm sick of Candice she can't be trusted because she wanted James out, blah blah ad nauseam." So again as every week afore Candice is on the chopping block (Could she be getting the against all odds edit?)

Cut to camp Villain, where Rob is sitting alone under a tree, looks like he's longing for Amba and his newborn baby, the camera pans to Russell, seems he and Rob are the only two awake, so Russell uses this opportunity to approach the Robfather in an attempt to offset the ever present suspicion he elicits from him, saying, again in paraphrase, "Lets not be at each others throats (though he admits to production that he is going for the jugular), Rob in a good strategical yet hardly believable move puts the gun in his accomplices' hands by saying, "Allota people ah mad that you went lookin for that idol..." Russell denies having it but defiantly assures that he will not stop looking for it, to which Rob says, if he finds it he betta hold on to it tight in an attempt to make Russell even more paranoid. Again Rob deflecting blame warns Russell that, Alota people are afta you, so watch your back man." Russell's response to this covert threat was, I believe a tactical error, by responding in kind, saying, "Same thing for you man, watch your back" Russell broke a cardinal rule of survivor strategy, never give the enemy good advice. Now just so I'm not accused of running a Boston Rob fan site, I must defend my logic as to why Rob who said the exact same thing, did not err. The reason being that Rob was trying to elicit paranoia to flush out the idol whereas Russell's stated objective was to quell any suspicion. Furthermore in defense of my neutrality I will critique Rob for overplaying his hand later in this commentary, so there. (watch now I'll probably forget to do it and seem even more partial.) Anyway, back on the Rob ban wagon, I like the way he responded to Russell's threat, "Good talk Russell" while walking away. All this before the opening credits wow, this is going to be epic!

Following the opening credits we're back at zero beach, (dang it, I'll get that right sooner or later) the dwindling heroes tribe receives a vague tree mail and they head off to a mystery challenge, we see Colby musing, "Is it reward or is it immunity, we don't know, and with wonder they march forth to battle, but not before James grabs a few bananas for the trek.

Immunity/Reward Challenge
Both tribes arrive at the challenge and the villains Parv and Danielle in particular are surprised that James was not voted out. (Did Parvatti seem happy?) When Jeff asks if Danielle was shocked to see James she said, "Ya, he must have a strong alliance over there. (Does she want to be a part of it? Is she already? This weeks secret scenes indicate yes and yes.)

Then the twist is revealed. They'll be playing for individual immunity (One immunity necklace for each tribe as was done in Vanuatu, Guatemala, and Gabon) and tribal reward (the opportunity to dine on dogs while watching their opponents tribal council (this also happened in Palau, Cook Islands, and most recently in Samoa) huge stakes as both tribes will vote out one member. The challenge is as all previous this season a throwback, this one is from Tocantins, previously won by Tyson. The tribes compete against their own first for individual immunity, followed by the top finisher from each tribe competing heads up for reward. Candice won immunity for the heroes effectively saving herself from a survivor throat cutting and Rob narrowly beat Tyson for the villains immunity. The heads up battle for reward was won by Rob, who modestly brushed off any praise with the phrase, "Ya, I beat a girl." Sexist? Maybe, but funny. Other notable occurrences in this challenge were: Sandra and Colby's utter lack of effort (Hello, Colby, your head is on the chopping block) and James' herculean effort in sharp contrast. James' effort was remarked on twice by Courtney his former tribe mate and ally (Well until she and Todd blindsided him) from China. This isn't the first time she's remarked on James' play, remember after the mauling of Randy by James at the sumo challenge Courtney shouted, "Told you you were on the wrong tribe James." Seems for better or worse James is on her mind. This reaction to James was troubling to Jerri, who in a secret scene says she's not only worried about Parvatti jumping sides at the merge but Courtney too. Courtney certainly didn't soothe Jerri's worry by turning to her and saying, of James, "What a trooper" and "Amazing." I don't think the Jerri/Courtney troubles are over seeing as Courtney is firmly in the inner circle of the Robfather alliance, a spot Jerri covets most dearly, being on the fringe of that group, she and Coach, (I can't believe I'm about to say this) may be the most powerful players in the game right now, they hold all the cards as the swing votes next week.

Leaving the challenge Colby is shown in an interview saying his gut tells him he's going home, and when the heroes return to camp he seems resigned to the fact, even assuring his tribe mates a sabbath from scrambling on his part.

Back at the villain's camp the members of the Robfather alliance convene and determine that Parvatti is their target but Rob stresses that Russell has to think it's him so he'll play his idol.
Later Coach in an interview acknowledges his swing vote status, but assures the producers that he's a man of his word (you know his mantra) and that he's voting for Parvatti, come hell or high water.

At this point Boston Rob overplays his hand, he again informs Russell that he should go get the idol if he doesn't have it already. Russell sees right through it, because though he may have given good advice to the enemy earlier, he knows Rob would never do the same, therefore he runs straight to Parv and Danielle to inform them that Parvatti is the real target. So Russell hatches the plan, vote Tyson and give the idol to Parvatti.

Back to the heroes now, where Colby is lamenting the fact that a cripple out performed him and is still totally convinced the votes will fall his way. He did however make a good strategic request for tribal, "Lets go in there and give them (the villains) as little information as possible."
While Colby and James talk, the core four of Rupert, Amanda, J.T., and Candice discuss their options. If you watch the secret scenes you'll see that Rupert and Amanda were for James while J.T. and Candice wanted to keep Colby. Their argument is obvious, "James is injured and he eats us out of house and home."

Moments later we see Amanda introducing her friend James to the concept of banana etiquette while also informing him that he's going to have to show everyone he can run on his busted knee, which sets the stage for the running of the hero Olympics, Colby did not attend, he was too busy sulking in the water. James was actually able to move rather well for a man in his condition but J.T. was not convinced, stating, "Friendships aside we must look at the bigger picture."

Cut to villain's camp, and here is where the game changes. Rob has an epiphany, and comes marching into the shelter to share a newly thought strategy, "Hey guys, I just thought of something..." Tyson thinks he knows what Rob is thinking and says, "I realized it too, Parvatti could vote out Russell." (Commenter's note: Remember this later, for this concern will be the catalyst of Tyson's untimely demise) But that's not Rob's worry (for that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing) "No." Says Rob, "We've gotta split the vote, three on Russell, three on Parv, they throw three to Tyson, the idol is played and at the re-vote we all switch to whoever remains, the other way (stacking the votes of Parv) is too risky, this way we can't lose. We can't lose."

Tyson for whatever reason seems to have been dead set on voting out Parvatti, according to the secret scenes, Tyson apparently over thought the situation, he thought the selfish thing, which as he said would have been the smart thing to do if you were Parvatti would be to switch your vote to Russell, he seems not to have heeded Rob's warning (perhaps because Rob had cut him off mid-sentence and dismissed his point) that Russell could on an off chance give immunity to Parvatti.

Again the secret scenes show one clip where Parvatti and Tyson are alone talking and while it isn't definitive from the footage I have to believe that Parv and Russell had Tyson's head spinning with scenarios and the thought of them in cahoots to the death was unthinkable. We do have documentation that Russell for his part swerved Tyson convincing him he too was voting Parv.

Cut to Russell being interviewed on the beach voicing his concern for the worst case senario, which, wouldn't you know is the Robfather's can't miss plan already put into motion, and we close the scene with the comical moment where Russell unwittingly calls his adversary Rob a genius.

Villains Tribal Council
Jeff asks Rob whats changed since he played the game and Rob says hidden immunity idols (the immunity idol was introduced in season 11 Guatemala - The Mayan Empire. Rob last competed in season 8 All-Stars) Sandra then does her latina thing and calls out Russell, "If you don't have it, you best look for it. Cirie may think herself a gangster in an Oprah suit, but Sandra is Gangsta. Then we get a taste of the sweet wisdom of the moronic Mormon Tyson, that the hidden immunity idol is not going to be very beneficial with the numbers as big as they are. Oops.

The Vote
Boston Rob to Russell, "Welcome to the big leagues."
Interestingly in the secret scenes Russell doesn't show his vote to the camera at all.
Jeff returns and Russell plays the idol, but not for himself, he gives it to Parv and Tyson is visibly shocked, Rob chuckles because he knows, that was the dumbest move in the history of survivor. It's a foregone conclusion that Russell's proverbial goose is cooked. (But if it were that easy this just wouldn't be Survivor, now would it.)

I can't fail to mention Russell's play for Coach, puffing him up with the hero jargon. Again, in the secret scenes (I think it fairly obvious you should be watching these, on youtube or cbs.com) Tyson in his "one day after" interview seems to think Russell's power grab may effectively sway Coach to his side.

Jeff reads the votes and what do you know, Tyson hung himself. (illogical)
Parv and Danielle are elated and understandably a bit surprised. Danielle's comment sums it up, "What just happened?"

On a bit of a side note let us not forget to point out that Coach continues his esoteric numbering system on the ballots, Remember Randy in his exit interview on the Joann and Stacey show said it was, "huge" and that's all he would say. If you haven't heard this just click the link about titles Survivor Fans Podcast and download it from itunes.

Heroes Tribal Council/Villains Reward
The villains sit down to enjoy their reward though it seems the tummy's of the Robfather alliance are slightly spoiled, and partake of hot dogs and soft drinks, then the heroes tribal council which I'm nicknaming, The Colby bash-a-thon, begins. I find it very telling that Parv and Danielle were laughing so out loud at everything James said, make no mistake about it they were sending a clear message, "We want to be with you guys." Jerri in a secret scene says that Parvatti admitted there was a cross tribal alliance and asked Jerri to join. Though Jerri initially rejected the offer it will be interesting to see if she holds to that after the apparent shift in the tribal dynamic. In another secret scene Russell lays out his long term plan to take Parv and Danielle and three from the other tribe after the merge in an attempt to gain control. All three of these players are huge threats from within to the villains and as much as I hate the idea they may be better off throwing at least one immunity challenge, and quick, before Gallum (Russell) finds his precious.

Quote of the episode: meeting Colby in person is like, "seeing Superman up close and realizing he's wearing a fat suit." James circa 2010

Then we get the "Banana etiquette" discussion which elicits raucous laughter from Danielle and Parv, don't be fooled their uproar was strategic.

The Vote
The heroes finally get it right they vote out the injured James for the betterment of the tribe, and while it stinks that James goes out for the second time on injury, I must say, I didn't want a legend such as Colby Donaldson to go out like that, not with that as his last survivor moment. I predict a new Colby next week, a greyer shade of the old but with more of that old fire.
If the heroes were feeling any misgivings about the decision to oust James they should rest easy seeing his knee buckle as he took the walk of shame to losers lounge, where the beer awaits, it's a shame we don't get secret scenes from Ponderossa till after the merge, because I think it would be hysterical to watch an inebriated James who can't walk sober, try to get around.

Next Time on Survivor
How do you stop a suicide bomber?
Would J.T. be better off teaming with Candice and Colby to oust Rupert or Amanda?
Will Russell find another poorly hidden immunity idol?
Who will the Dragon Slayer side with?
With Tyson gone will Rob lose his grip on Courtney to the wiles of Parvatti?
Is the Micronesia alliance dead or alive?
Will Sandra's notorious Latin lip cost her?
Where does Jerri stand now?
And finally. Will the Heroes be able to halt their downward spiral and mount a comeback?
Hopefully the answers to these and a whole lot more on the next episode of Survivor.

Next Time on the Survivor Addiction Blog
I'll get those much raved about secret scenes posted asap.