Totally incorrectly quoting the bible...I think that was the best part.:D

Yeah, I totally didn't understand that either!!

Par for the course with him ;)

Debbie and Coach were being absolutely ridiculous. They asked Sierra to be in an alliance with them, she said no, she very nicely said to them, "I think you guys might be in trouble," and Debbie goes crazy and says she doesn't want to deal with Sierra today. Uh... did I miss something?

Like I said, JT and Stephen are running the game, and I'm incredibly surprised no one has seen this. They've determined who has gone home for the past 3 or 4 episodes at least, and no one is gunning for them (except Erin, I guess?)

Here's what I wonder with Erin though... what if she voted for Stephen, knowing he wasn't going home, but wanting it to appear to Coach and Debbie that she was still on their side.. only to turn against them later?

It was sad to see Sierra go home (as I always hate to see Coach happy), but I figure it was only a matter of time anyway.

Well, not totally. Yeah, he said he was quoting Stephen when he was stoned, but he actually quoted Jesus from the cross ("Father, forgive them, for the know not what they do"). What Stephen said was ""Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Same sentiment as "Father, forgive them."

But yeah, I laughed at him too.

The only problem with leaving Debbie and Coach still on the island is that they have additiional days to scheme and maneuver. It would have been the smart thing to vote of whichever one of them didn't get immunity, in this case, Debbie. Sierra may have been irritating as heck, but she wasn't a "player" in terms of having power to persuade, as evidenced by the vote last night. Even though she outed Coach for the liar that he is, she still got the boot!

Reality News Online has a really interesting analysis of the strategy in last night's episode.

Short version of what they think was going on: It was best to get rid of the wildcard (Sierra) last night and not alienate Debbie and Coach for jury purposes. Taj's vote for Debbie and Erinn's vote for Stephen were planned to lull Debbie and Coach into thinking that they are, or could be, aligned with Stephen and JT.

That actually makes some sense... but why was Erin crying when they showed her vote for Stephen... or did i make that up in my head

I didn't notice any crying, but maybe she was.

Could any of you make out what Erinn had written on the parchment (other than Stephen's name)?

She wrote "I promise I won't do this again" or something to that affect.

My 17 year old (with the good eyes) read it for my husband and me ;)

By the way, has anyone else seen that Brendan is Brendan Synnott, who co-founded Bare Naked brands. Bare Naked was sold to Kashi/Kelloggs a few years ago. Kelloggs reported that it bought Bare Naked and Gardenburger for a combined $122 million.

Clearly he was playing for the experience and not for the money.

http://www.bearnaked.com/images/story/2002_oct3.jpg

Good for Brenden! I really like him. The videos on cbs.com of him in Ponderosa just reinforce the idea that he is just a nice guy.

Taj seems to be playing for the experience too, because I doubt that she and Eddie George are hurting for money!

LOVE this video of Taj talking about coach, and if reaffirms the strategy laid out in that previous post

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivo...=1&playvid=6#6

"Dragonslayer! Shut up.. you live in Missouri. There are no dragons there, you idiot."

:D

SRSLY....Coach is just a jackass ...hopefully he will get voted out soon.

Will no one rid us of that churlish . . . COACH???

I'm really thinking that they don't want to vote Coach out because he's the perfect guy to take to the end. Besides that, he's consistent and straight forward about who he wants gone so they always know what he's going to do. It's safer to keep the person who is doing that than the person who is scrambling behind everybody's back to deceive people. In short, he's annoying as hell but he's predictable. He thought he was in control and now two votes in a row have showed him that he's not. I wonder if he'll melt down?

I agree AGDee. I think the reason they got rid of Debby is because of her scheming. She was a loose cannon.

How funny (or pathetic) was it that Coach's "loved one" was his assistant coach. Then he proceeds to tell him how others named him the Dragon Slayer - uhhh, Coach, you named yourself that. He also continues to rely on the "Warrior Alliance". Can't he see that the true warriors are slowly killing off all the alliance members?? What a dolt.

He is irritating as heck, but he would be the perfect person to take to the final - noone would vote for him. If anyone breaks the true alliance of 3 (Taj, Stephen, JT), I think it will be Stephen. He clearly is the brains of the operation, yet somehow is getting away with not being called out as a schemer. Brilliant play..

I get the vibe that Taj is just there for the experience, like Brendan was, and will be fine with a 3rd place finish. For her, it was about succeeding in the wild, not winning the million. I doubt very seriously that she and Eddie are hurting for $$$.

I always enjoy the family/loved one episode. It seems like there's someone every season who gets emotionally overwhelmed by it, and I always love to see that. (Like last season, when Bob lost it when he read his wife's letter.) Taj really tugged at my heartstrings when she watched her video.

I missed part of the episode last night, and when I saw Coach with his loved one I said to hubby, "Is that Coach's son?" Like srmom, he thought it was funny and sad at the same time that Coach's visitor was his assistant coach.

I'm afraid he'll make it to the final three, and the jury will be so pissed at JT and Stephen that Coach will actually win this thing.

Stephen still has Taj's Hidden Immunity Idol too, doesn't he? If I were Taj, I'd be wanting that on my person at this point. I wouldn't be trusting anybody and I truly think that alliance is really just JT and Stephen but they need Taj's vote on everything to keep going, so they're stringing her along for now. I don't see that lasting!

ETA: And YES, very weird that Coach's loved one was his ASSISTANT Coach! Has he alienated his whole family?? What in the world was up with that. I wonder if Jeff has a blog for this epi yet because he was sure snide with Coach at Tribal, wasn't he?

Yeah, that line about a chief of a small tribe telling him something (wish I could remember it exactly). Jeff is totally dissing Coach, it's pretty funny.

How about the jury coming in with jackets slung over their shoulder and feathers in their hair!! Coach didn't even realize that they were making fun of him, it looked to me like he thought it was more of a tribute to him or something.

How can someone be so totally unaware of themselves and the reactions they elicit from others? Is he for real? If so, his loved ones (or assistant coaches) need to get him some help when he gets back home. I'm starting to get a "Marlon Brando in Apocolypse Now" vibe from him.. Scary, Creepy and somewhat hilarious, in Coach's case, but definitely won't translate well in the real world...

How about when Coach and his assistant were stretching out? That was weird.

And whatever will Coach do now that he is, er, no longer an actual coach? Having lost his job - is his assistant still his "loved one"?

I believe they did get rid of Debbie for that reason, but I don't know that I would call her a "loose cannon". From what I can tell, she's been very loyal to Coach.. until this week when she realized that their alliance was truly in trouble. I think if Debbie was saved this week, she would have stuck by Stephen and JT, thinking that she'd make it to the end with the two of them.

If you ask me, I think they would have been better off getting rid of Erin. She hasn't really been close with anyone there, and I don't think it would have pissed off anyone too much if she left. Stephen and JT would still be going against Coach's plan to get rid of Taj, but they wouldn't have kicked out his main alliance member. They would have had Debbie believing they'd take her to the end, and I think Taj has been thinking the same thing since Day 1. All three of them would probably believe they were on Stephen and JT's good side. Blindsiding people would have been easy.

Happy that JT Won!
 

First unanimous jury vote. I'm impressed. Plus, unless he was playing a really good character, he was a really good, genuine, likeable guy.

I think it was the 2nd unanimous vote. Earl was the first! :-)

Yes, Jeff said it was only the second time there had been a unanimous vote.

I am waiting right now for him to come on & get his check on the CBS' Early Show (which I never watch - I am a Fox News junkie!) JT seemed like a really nice guy and I was rooting for him from day one!:)

So glad JT won. I was surprised he and Stephen took Erinn to the final three instead of Taj, though.

I felt like Stephen really botched the question/answer part... makes me wonder how many votes he had going into that final TC.

I was too....but I think they thought she might have had a better chance of winning enough jury votes in the end....I am not so sure about that. I think when the jury voted they would have not been able to forget how nice JT was and how much he really needed the money (which Taj probably did not)...I mean even Taj who was shown saying her vote would go to Stephen at the end because of her blindside ouster ended up voting for JT...

BTW, that final challenge was interesting I thought...when I saw it, I was thinking oh no, JT might not win this one!

You thought so? I was kinda disappointed by it.

I prefer the "old-school" final survivor challenges. You know, the ones that had the competitors standing on one foot, balancing on a 1-inch diameter pole, baking in the sun/getting soaked by the rain, standing there for hours and hours, etc... This challenge didn't allow for bartering ("JT, I promise I'll take you to the final two if you jump off"), and I always enjoyed those exchanges.

Yeah, you're right...I do enjoy those endurance challenges! Maybe they figured JT would have won it for sure so they wanted to do something where his victory was no so certain?

JT getting his check on Early Show was neat...he sure was happy! And it was touching last night to see him crying....awwww!:p:o

But was it the first time that it was a unanimous vote and no votes for him at any Tribal Councils? Not sure.
I'm not sure that it was a lot. I was watching the faces of the jury during the TC where Erinn left -- most everyone of the jury seemed to be responding positively to JT and negatively to Stephen.

Yay for JT! I was kind of worried, but I think that Stephen shot himself in the foot when he admitted that he would have taken Erin with him to the final 2. Good for Debby for getting him to fess up.

Glad to see that the grillilng session didn't ruin JT and Stephen's friendship- it was kind of ugly and contentious, so I wasn't sure.

I wanted Taj to win, personally. I don't like the way JT and Stephen played the game by getting someone to trust them and then blindsiding them. They did it over and over. I didn't like the way Stephen bailed on the "exile island" alliance because I thought that was a brilliant plan and I believe it would have worked if Stephen had stayed on board with it.

That said, if I had to pick between JT and Stephen, it would have been JT. He won so many individual immunity challenges and that was impressive. He was also the mastermind behind every move that he and Stephen made. Stephen just kept riding on the coat tails.

But that's how the game is played, it seems to me.

I agree it was a brilliant plan, and I would like to have seen it work. But Stephen's not the one who tanked the plan -- that was Brendan. He failed to tell Sierra about the plan before she went to exile island, which understandably threw Stephen for a loop. Then he played things so close to the vest after the merge that Taj and Stephen didn't know whether to trust him anymore.

The fact is, whether the exile alliance plan might have worked, Stephen and JT's plan did work.

Taj said her vote was going to go to Erin.

Stephen was a weasel. I am glad JT won.