Survivor

View Date: 12/10/09

Starting off after tribal, Shambo talks to Russell, and seems to actually be OK with the vote, although she would have preferred being told. She says that Dave has to be the next to go and Russell half-heartedly agrees. The next day on the beach, Jaison lets slip that Russell already is a millionaire and doesn't actually need the money, which the former Galu members are looking at as an advantage.

No reward challenge today, but rather straight to the elimination challenge. The challenge today is a Survivor bowling tournament. The contestants are randomly paired up to go against each other, and each gets two shots. Whoever knocks down the most pins after two balls wins. The winner goes on to next round, while the loser is out.

The first round pairs are: Shambo/Natalie, Brett/Russell, Jaison/Monica, and Mick/Dave. Lots of gutter balls but Dave gets the first strike of the tournament. Round 2: Shambo/Russell, Dave/Jaison. Final: Shambo/Jaison. Jaison wins for second time in a row.

After the challenge, Shambo starts talking about the fact that Dave will be out at Tribal tonight. All of the former Foa Foa members are going for Dave, mainly to keep Shambo happy and keep the vote going their way. Monica starts working on Russell to try to keep Dave and get rid of Shambo. Russell actually starts considering Monica's discussions because he views Shambo a greater threat with the jury. Thankfully, Russell didn't follow Monica's advice and they eliminated Dave at tribal that night. With that vote, the original Foa Foa members have the number advantage for the first time in the game.

Honestly, I think Russell's best bet is to take Shambo to the finale. Other than that, I don't think he can win against anyone else. People may give him props for playing a good game, but everyone knows this is a popularity contest. Russell is not loved by the jury, and the only one they hate more is Shambo.

Second immunity challenge of the episode. The tribe members had to race into the water, retrieve 1 of three bags, and race back to shore. They then had to use a plank to toss the bag into a high basket by jumping on one end of the board to make the bag on the other end fly. The first person to get all three bags into the basket wins immunity. Brett won the immunity, which was very lucky for him because the talk around camp that morning was to send him home next.

With Brett winning immunity, the automatic vote seems to be for Monica. Of course, Monica starts talking and tries to sway Mick to vote for Russell. Monica then starts talking in Russell's ear, warning him that he's not making friends and that he's actually putting his game in jeopardy. Russell confronts Jaison for what he told Monica and Brett, and that makes Jaison nervous that Russell will go after him. Russell now wants Monica gone more than before for “running her mouth”.

At tribal, Russell breaks out the hidden immunity idol, and people perceive it as being cocky. But Monica is the one that is really coming across as cocky, and she is proud that she was able to push his buttons. Monica even went so far as to threaten to get the rest of the jury to not give Russell the million dollars if she were to get voted off. Then Russell, even though he was wearing it in plain sight, didn't play the idol. I thought he was a real dumb-ass for not playing it, but it actually worked out OK when the tribe voted off Monica. It was one of the closer votes, 4-3, but it did work out in his favor in the end.

10 words or less: Russell's scary chance actually worked out OK.