As irritating as Phillip is, he's so damn entertaining with his bizarre analogies & pink panties. LOL!

As for the merge, I foresee both tribes working hard to woo Matt (after he wins against Sarita) to their side. Who will he choose is still the mystery. I don't think he'd go back to the tribe that voted him out but then again, I don't know if he'd like the other tribe after all that the Stephanie was saying about them.

Next week will be interesting.

Poor Matt! Short stay back with the tribe and right back to R.I.

This merge is a tough one thus far. Both sides wary of the other and will be more so now that Matt, who was the one approached to flip, was sniffed out by Rob and eliminated yet again. The other guys likely think that Ometepe is absolutely solid.

I really wonder if Matt actually said anything out there that DIDN'T add to the Jesus Freak image they've got for him, or if the producers just happened to use every word out of his mouth that talked about God/Jesus/being Christian. Either way, I'm getting a little tired of it. It would be better if the edit didn't come off so mocking.

I also wonder if Matt makes it back again (which, based on previous history, has a good chance of happening) and wins it, if people will try and downplay the win because he didn't spend much time in the ACTUAL game. Of course, he would be coming back with no alliances, unless Andrea is still around. His only chance is if he ends up coming back in a tie-breaking vote situation and both sides need him for their "cause". Even then, he'll probably have to go pray about what to do, instead of using an ounce of strategic thinking.:p

I think the dynamics will be different with Redemption Island this time. Originally, tribes were voting off weak players so they would be more likely to win challenges. After a merge, the votes tend to be for stronger players who are threats. Given that change, Matt may not keep winning those challenges.

Not only would he return (if he indeed returns) with no alliance, but he would return with few enemies since he hasn't voted many people out. I don't think he'll be the one to return though. He did vote against Steve so that alliance is probably ticked at him. In fact, they described the move by the other alliance as "genius"! I agree. That was the right move. They managed to flush out an idol and got rid of the swing vote.

True enough about getting better competitors on RI. He didn't do so well in last night's challenge against everyone...although I was surprised at who did and didn't do well in that challenge. I also found out that I still don't know everyone's name, including the girl who won the challenge and the guy for whom Ralph played the idol.

I almost think Rob's got this won. It would be foolish to get caught orchestrating his blindside - before or after the fact, since he'd be a pretty good bet to make it back from RI. Their only chance is to get him after the person comes back from RI, but before the final challenge, if there is such a time...

Speaking of which, when do we think the person would come back? It doesn't seem fair to let someone back in for the final challenge (or straight into the Final 3), but that seems like the time that would make sense.

I agree with your whole post, Dee. Particularly this:
I wish I remembered previous merge numbers, but 12 seems like a lot. Since there's still a lot of game left to play, I think they merged early to take advantage of RI, but will end it before the numbers get too low. I predict the person will return from RI once they've whittled the tribe down to 6. Total guess, of course.

I think Matt will continue to do well at RI. He had much more success on his own (with only one competitor) than at either attempt as a tribe member. Plus, the Jesus-edit seems to fit the solitude of RI. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it back in the game, but I don't know that he has any real chance of winning. I agree, AlphaFrog, that Rob just might pull off a win this time. Part of me hopes so.

I loved Rob's name for the tribe and how he came up with it, snowing everybody into believing it meant something when it is the name of one of Amber's stuffed animals. Hilarious! I find him so entertaining.

It was genius. I don't know that they'd be ticked at him, though. He didn't betray them, he just didn't accept their offer, which they knew was a possibility.

I still think the reason Matt's getting such a heavy religious edit (aside from the fact that seems to be him, and aside from the "Christian Coaltion" discussion, which was a blunder on Mike's part) is that he's getting the "Jesus edit" -- redemption and all. Whether that means he gets to the end, I'm not sure, but I see him going a ways more.

But he did himself in running his mouth. He'd still in Murlonio (and I agree, that was hysterical) if he had just told Rob about Mike's offer and the idol information but left out that he had considered it, even for a minute, or has talked about other plans with Andrea. The boy has no guile, adding to the Jesus edit.

See, I don't think there's anything Matt could've done to keep Rob from voting him out. Rob decided early on that Matt needed to go, and I don't think he has ever wavered on that decision. I think Rob considers Matt to be his biggest threat, and as long as Rob is part of the tribe (or at least, as long as he's telling others who to vote for), I don't see Matt being welcomed back into the fold. Ever. Honestly, the only way I see Matt having a chance is by beating Rob on RI.

Except that before that chat with Matt, Rob was talking about getting rid of Mike. If Matt had stopped with "Mike tried to recruit me and even offered me a final four spot and HII protection, and he's gunning for you," he could have solidified the plan to get rid of Mike in Rob's mind. Based on the fact that Ralph gave his HII to Mike and not Steve, Matt didn't tell them Steve was now the target (which is what he thought) and all of old Zapatera thought Mike was the target. There was clearly a dynamic going on that made it look like Rob wanted Mike out.

I'm not saying Rob would have brought Matt into the inner circle or truly trusted him. But I do think Matt might have hung around a little longer (and had a little more time to develop some options, though I'm frankly not sure he's capable of doing that) if he hadn't spilled his guts to Rob -- or, of course, if he had accepted Mike's offer.

Meanwhile, in my fantasy, someone from Zapatera realizes what's going on or at least what might be happening and Ralph plays his HII, offering it to a surprised Matt instead of Mike. That move saves Matt and probably gains his loyalty, while old Ometepe is now lower in numbers and without one of it's strongest competitors.

I can dream.

I could very well have missed something - I only remember Rob talking to Matt about getting rid of Mike. I was under the impression that was lip service, which is why I thought Rob had already decided Matt needed to go next. But, I didn't dvr it, and missed chunks due to various family crises, so my perception of what happened last night could be way off. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to hulu the entire episode before next week's.

*like*

Before the challenge, Rob watched while Matt, Mike and Andrea had a discussion about the Gospel of Matthew. Rob commented to the camera that he never likes to see people with a common interest bond unless he's in the group, that it's dangerous. He said he wanted the group broken up, and that if Mike didn't win individual immunity he wanted Mike out of the game. Then we got to see Mike at the immunity challenge.

I knew that comment from Grant wasn't about him plotting against Rob as the previews showed. It is kinda funny (in a sad way) though HOW under his thumb Rob has them all.

No surprises the whole episode, except one of the asides where Phillip seemed to drop the crazy for a minute and explain that he's acting the way he's acting on purpose. It makes me think that he is all an act and that he's really more like the guy we saw in that interview. He was very entertaining the whole episode - you never knew what the heck was going to come out of his mouth. AND I DON'T THINK WE SAW PINK PANTIES ONCE! YAY! I'm actually kinda starting to root for Phillip. :o

One element of this version of the show that I'm really missing are the reward challenges. I know with the RI concept there's not much time for them, but they add another layer of strategy to the game. Do I go for the win, or do I let so-and-so win? If I do win, who do I take/share with? Since this episode was so lacking in highlights that they threw two episodes together, I actually would have preferred a reward challenge to two immunity challenges.

I don't miss the reward challenges at all! I prefer this format.

I think the ones following Rob are playing a smart game in some ways. He knows what he is doing. It will get interesting when they are down to just them though. At that point, Rob better win some immunity challenges. I believe he's holding back on individual immunity challenges right now though, to not seem like as big a threat. He just gave up on the hanging upside down one too fast in this episode. Yet, he didn't look as cocky as Phillip by eating instead of doing the challenge.

I was reading one of Jeff's blogs last season about how they have had to build in extra players at the beginning of the season because of people quitting or having to leave the game for medical reasons more frequently. Since that hasn't happened this season, I think they had to squeeze in an extra tribal council. Additionally, since they brought Matt back at one point, that's like adding an extra person. At some point, if they don't make the game longer, they have to have an additional tribal council to deal with that.

It's amazing, actually. Ometepe is such a bunch of sheep. On the whole, it made for a very boring episode in my opinion, though it is fascinating to watch Rob at work. He needs to be careful of getting over-confident, though.

It may be partially an act, but it's not a complete act, I don't think. He's been doing the same thing to the cameras when no one else was around (presumably) -- he did a camera-talk about that whole Stealth-R-Us thing three weeks ago.

I don't see his endgame. Even if he makes it to the end with Rob, why should he get the votes?

Meanwhile, I think Matt's gone next week.

Crucified with one on his left and one on his right? :p

Well, he did do sort of an "Into your hands I commend my spirit" thing last night.

That was one of my favorite parts of this episode. I chuckled when he said something about God using his (Matt's) stupidity for His (God's) glory.

Another favorite line was at tribal, when Phillip said, "It takes courage, determination*, and knowing when to hold your tongue... to get a feather." I haven't yet decided how much of Phillip's quirkiness is an act. I don't think I want to know.

Regarding General Rob, I wonder when he plans to change his General/soldiers strategy - it won't be effective much longer.

I just watched last week’s episode, and it really does amaze me how much they follow Rob. But it’s also a catch 22 – You stick with him, and no one stands up and works against him, you know you’re making it a little farther, but you pretty much guarantee he’s going to the Final 3, taking one of the spots.. and possibly leaving you in the dust. But even if you want to turn against him, you can’t (unless you’re so awesome that you get everyone in your alliance to work with you).. Then he’ll kick you out once all of Zapatera is gone.

Let’s face it, the Ometepes don’t even have to do anything major to "set him off." Look at girl-with-a-name-that-I-still-can’t-remember telling Rob about blonde-girl-whose-name-I-also-can’t-remember having a conversation with Ralph. Even if blondie had no intention of doing anything against Rob/Ometepe, just the fact that she didn’t tell Rob about the conversation means that she’s now at the bottom of the barrel. If anyone on Ometepe wanted to make a big move, I think the best opportunity they had was last week when Matt came back. Now that they passed that up, they’re guaranteed to stay a few more weeks as long as they stick by Rob’s side.

The next opportunity for a blindside might be when they’re left with the Ometepe 6. But again, you run into the problem I mentioned in paragraph one.

I’m not going to say at this point that Rob’s strategy won’t work, but I also don’t think that denying his tribe food was the best idea. Zapatera is now getting a huge glimpse into how much control Rob actually has. Showing his cards like that was probably his first major mistake.

Anyway, I find it fascinating that Rob owns this game in the way that Russell always wished he could.

Here's Rob's problem: Assuming a final three, at least three, maybe four (depending on what happens on Redemption Island), members of the jury will be former Zapatera. At least two members of the jury will be Ometepe who thought they were tight with Rob (Grant, I'm talking to you in particular) who will find out the hard way they aren't. The remaining members of the jury will be a mix of former Ometepe and Zapatera and/or Matt.

I think it's an open question whether anyone from Zapatera would vote for Rob. Same with Ometepe folks voted off who thought they would go to the end with Rob. Do they respect his play or hold it against him? Then there's Matt, who got blindsided by Rob twice.

I'm just not sure how it would shake out for Rob.

Meanwhile, I wonder when the RI winner comes back in. I'm contemplating the implications of it being at the final 3 -- a final 2 plus the RI winner. Hmmm.

IMO, if Rob makes it to the Final 3 - assuming it is actually a Final 3 - (and he takes out Grant before that), he'll win the whole damn thing.

There's a difference between what Natalie (who beat Russell the first time he played) did - stuck with him and somewhat strategized, while also riding his coattails in a huge way.. and what most of Ometepe is doing now - acting like zombies, doing whatever Rob tells them to do. I mean, they have a buddy system, for God sakes! He won't let them do any thinking of their own and/or talk to members of the other tribe without him knowing about it. Hell, he won't even let them eat! And they all obey him without question. Not one of them, besides maybe Grant, deserves to win AT ALL ... and even Grant only has a few immunity challenge wins under his belt to brag about.

Nothing's a guarantee, and someone else could win if Rob made it that far, but I would lose all respect for the members of Zapatera if they voted for one of the weak girls who can't think for themselves to win the million dollars over Rob.

(Honestly, I almost think that Rob could win Matt's vote if he explained to him at the final tribal council that he saw Matt and Andrea to be just like him and Amber. Sometimes throwing some of that, "I was afraid you'd be too good" stuff in someone's face can do a lot for you. But again, ya never know..)

The coat tail rider DOES win a lot of the time. Amber, Sandra, Tina, there's a pretty long list, I just don't remember names right now. While we don't like it, it actually is a valid (and often successful) strategy. I don't respect that and would like to think that if I were on a jury, I'd vote for the one who truly outwitted, outplayed and outlasted through hard work and strategy. Sour grapes can really turn that around though. There are members of the other tribe who openly praised Rob's strategy, so I would hope they'd go that direction. I do think his own tribe might end up turning on him when the numbers get down. Those girls are GOOD at endurance challenges.

Maybe. Given how things have gone, I'm not so sure, and I think it would depend on who was there with him. Would they vote for the guy who told his alliance what they could and couldn't eat? We'd have to see. And maybe on of the hangers on still has a rat to kill before the Final 2/3.

Consider this purely speculative option: Matt continues his reign over Redemption Island and ends up in the Final 3 with Rob. Who would you vote for, the mastermind of all the strategy in the game who got you out of the game or the guy who faced every single person voted out and beat them in a one-on-one (usually) challenge, leading to two returns to the game? I can see Matt looking like an attractive choice to enough folks on the jury if it came out that way.

Plus, he really doesn't have any enemies since he hasn't ever been in the game long enough to truly piss anyone off. Imagine if the finals were Rob, Phillip, and Matt - that would be awkward and interesting. I couldn't even speculate that outcome.

Ok, so only one out of the three duelers leaves. Interesting. I'm not sure I see where they're going with that. Are they going to let two people back in the game, or at one point are two going to be eliminated from a duel?


Oh, Philip...you went there. You. Went. There. You are crazy. And by crazy, I mean mentally unsound having nothing to do with the color of your skin. That kind of crazy.

My guess is they'll get to a point where one person gets back in the game. And there were a few moments last night when I really wondered if they were foreshadowing my dream scenario, where Matt comes back in and wrecks Rob's plans.

That would be awesome. At this point, the two times it makes sense (to me) to bring someone back is when all the Zapotera are gone or the final challenge.

I forgot to mention my big question mark from last night...why Julie? She's not a challenge threat (as much as Ralph & Steve) and I doubt her stealing Phillip's shorts had anything to do with it, since she only admitted it right before the vote. Strange.

I also wonder when any of the Omatepe are going to wake up and realize that there are only 2 Zapotera left before they have to start turning on eachother and SOMEONE has to go. Does Rob really have them all THAT convinced that they're going to Final 3 with him? I know Andrea realizes that she's not in Rob's F3 plans, but will she do anything about it? They're running out of people who could help with a blindside.

That's what I don't get at all.

Snip. Spoiler.

^^^^ Might want to edit your post or at least give a spoiler alert so that people can avoid reading it if they want to.

I thought it was against the rules for them to say anything about how far they went in the game before it comes out on TV.

For me, I'd like to see the RI exodus coincide with the final challenge. Actually, I'd like to see a final challenge with the winner deciding which loser will stay at camp and which loser will go to RI. The three people at RI would compete in a final RI duel, and the winner would join the two remaining Survivors to make up the final 3.

Random thoughts regarding current RI folks - I bet Julie is relieved to be away from Phillip! Why is Matt so down on Survivor? Is it the game itself? RI? Would he be belly-aching like this if he were still at camp? It just seems so out of character for him. I can see either Mike or Julie beating him now. (I kinda hope it's Mike.)

I'm really pulling for the underdogs here, so I'm hoping Steve and Ralph find a way to make a monumental move. I'd like to see Andrea and Grant team up with them.

I think you're right. I also think he's an extrovert and all the time with just himself or just one (or two) other people is really getting to him.

I think it's probably really depressing for him to be on RI. He's all alone. He came to Survivor to play the others, and yet here he is in this really social game, by himself. He's not getting the experience he was expecting at all.

Again, Rob seems to have complete control over "his" tribe. One wrong move and you're probably on the chopping block when all of Zapatera has been eliminated.

However, if it were me and I wanted to "test the waters" and go against the tribe without anyone knowing, I would simply vote for someone on my own tribe at tribal council.. just to see what would happen, and if I could make Rob panic. And I think this week would have been the perfect week to do it. With Philip going crazy (more so than usual), it would have been a great time as an Ometepe to write his name down. At the very least, you might get the other Ometepes to realize that this isn't a dictatorship, and that they can actually do something to change their fate.

Meh....I don't think that Redemption Island is the "hook" that Mark Burnett et al thought that it would be. Maybe if peolpe could come back every 3rd voted out person or something....

Even bringing back Exile Island would be better. I don't think Redemption Island really "adds" all that much to the show.

Also: with Russell being gone (i.e. the villain that everyone loved to hate), his absence has made for not great TV viewing. Let's face it, he caused drama, which was what made the show interesting. Phillip causes drama too, but he's just kinda loppy and "way out there"..... I have to wonder if Phillip has some sort of a weird aphasia for names or words? He seems to get words and names confused, like Zapatera, Francesca (who was voted out early in the game), etc......... Or maybe when he is under stress / tension, he gets his words mangled? It's all rather odd.

I was thrilled to see Russell leave and haven't missed him for a minute. I only hope he makes good on his promise and we never see him again after the reunion show. I have found this season plenty interesting (with the exception of last week) without him.

ITA. I don't miss him at all.

I am a person who would go completely and totally nuts on Redemption Island for the time period that Matt has been there. One or two days? No problem. Weeks on end? Nothing to do but one challenge every couple days? Minimal "people" contact? I hope the production crew kind of socializes with him. He's practically in solitary confinement.

Which is exactly why if he makes it to the final 2/3 (beating everyone who has come to Redemption Island along the way), I think he has a very good shot at a majority of the jury thinking he is the "true" survivor.

I can see that problem. But I can easily see the former Zapateras choosing him over Rob (who made sure they were treated like second class citizens*), and they will outnumber former Ometepes on the jury. I really think this may be where Rob has hurt himself. Is he remembering as he treats the Zapateras like outcasts that the strategy he's chosen means the jury will have a Zapatera majority?

* This was what killed me about Phillip's rice rant. Let me get this straight -- Ometepe won't let any Zapateras sleep under the good tarp, and they won't share their food with Zapatera. Rob didn't even want any Ometepes eating Zapatera's fish last week. (Not to mention that Phillip was stealing some of their rice.) And Phillip really thought Steve, Julie and Ralph would be happy to let Ometepe put their rice in Zapatera's jar? Really?

Me, too. His absence has done nothing but improve the Survivor experience.

I was surprised they didn't go into this more. Did old Zapatera not realize that their stash was smaller?