Ahh! My DVR decided not to record the show last night (even though it was set to record the series, it decided to be stupid).

Can I have a brief synopsis, please??

Reward challenge was dominated by Kota, who easily won the reward. They got on a helicopter and rode to a gorgeous location, had a picnic with all kinds of food (meats, cheeses, alcohol, the whole nine yards). While there, Kota members got letters from home. Bob lost it.

Kota sent Sugar to Exile Island (of course). She met back up with them at the immunity challenge. Back at Fang camp, Crystal dropped some rice and offered not to eat any since she was at fault.

The immunity challenge was for indivual immunity, because both tribes had to go to tribal council. Marcus (from Kota) and Sugar (from Fang) both won immunity. Fang was a mess - Ace asked Sugar for the hidden idol; she refused to give it to him. Crystal was pouting because she wanted people to tell her it was ok for her to eat rice. Kenny talked with Sugar and convinced her to vote off Ace. Matty and Ace voted Crystal, and Ace went home after Kenny, Sugar and Crystal voted for him.

Kota camp was crazy, too. Dan wanted everyone's approval so badly that he essentially cut off his own foot. Susie told Corine that she was going to write down Corine's name. That pissed Corine off. But, in the end, it was still Dan who got the boot.

Sorry - that wasn't brief at all!

Haha, no that was good.

And the Fang tribe needs a merge soon. Otherwise, they're all going to be gone. I understand they wanted Ace to leave, but they're kicking off the strongest members. There won't be any of them left, and they won't get to eat!

At least there was a little variety in the voting.

The double Tribal Council last night put them at 10 people left so I think the merge will be next week.

I'm proud of Sugar. I felt like Ace was manipulating the crap out of her. I'm glad she's thinking for herself. It surprised me that Marcus gave Sugar immunity. Is there some reason that tribe likes Sugar that I've missed? They send her to Exile Island every time (giving her opportunity to get the idol) and then he chose her for immunity when he got to pick someone from Fang. I feel like I missed something there.

Whoa. I missed that. Marcus gave immunity to Sugar? I thought they each won immunity. :confused:

My guess is, keep sending Sugar to Exile, as she probably has the idol already, so why bother sending someone else. If she keeps getting the comfort, no one else will, and no one else will eat.

Also, they probably figure that if she has the idol, she can always use it. So why not just give her immunity anyway. Plus, look at the team. They have more original Fang members on the Fang tribe, and more original Kotas on Kota. The original Kota wants to keep as many of them around as possible. Their only two options were Sugar and Ace, and no one seems to like Ace. Therefore, give immunity to Sugar and get rid of everyone else.

Nope. Sugar, Marcus and Ace were all still on the log. Sugar fell off leaving Ace and Marcus. Marcus beat Ace and won immunity. Then Jeff pulled out the second immunity necklace and asked Marcus to choose someone to give it to from the Fang tribe. Seemed like the "politically correct" thing to do would be to give it to Ace, who had lasted longest on the log roll from his tribe, but he gave it to Sugar.

They definitely need to merge soon. (Looks like it might be this week.) But they were right to vote Ace off. The whole keep-the-strong-so-that-we-can-win-challenges strategy clearly wasn't getting them anywhere. I was with Jeff P -- finally someone at Fang was thinking strategically.

And the look on Matty's face when Ace was voted off was absolutely priceless. An interesting discussion will be had back at camp.

Haha. True. I think Ace screwed himself over by trying to tell Sugar what to do with the idol. She eventually saw through his game.

I agree on both parts. I'd love to see the discussion between Matty and Crystal/Kenny. Hopefully the producers will show that on Thursday.

Based on her strategery (thanks, Will Ferrell!), Sugar is now my #2 pick for the million (Bob's still #1).

After last night, Bob might be screwed.

I knew that there had to be a catch when I saw that box sitting on the table during their “merge” dinner. I saw that coming. But I think a merge is still probably coming very soon. If not in the next episode, then the one after.

I LOVED that they turned it around and voted out Marcus. He was one of their stronger players, but who cares?

First, he thought he was hot s^$% for getting everyone to throw the immunity idol into the ocean. Then he was attempting to get Crystal and Suzie to turn on Ken and then turn against each other. Him “liking Crystal” was ridiculous.

The funny thing about this season (and I kind of like it) is the fact that it’s not all of the physically strong people making it to the end. It’s Survivor, but it doesn’t specify how you have to survive. These people are obviously thinking strategically. And last night, the game definitely changed.

Oh, and I CAN’T WAIT to see Randy’s face when he sees the new Kota tribe without Marcus. He’s becoming such an a-hole.

I assume the face of horror we saw from Corinne in the preview for next week was Corinne's realization that Marcus is gone.

Good for Susie -- I really didn't think she'd do it, but she did. Sure, he was a strong player, but the merge is indeed coming soon, and after the merge, him being a strong player is an advantage only to those allied with him. Good for Crystal for seeing through him and seeing a bigger picture and good for Susie not believing him.

And yeah, unless the merge happens before Bob finds himself at a tribal council again, I'd say he's toast. Then, after the merge, Susie, Crystal and Kenny could align with Sugar and Matty and, low and behold, they have a majority.

ETA: Here is an interesting interview with Marcus at Reality News Online.

^^ Wow. He's really trying to make himself sound good. He's mad because he was outplayed. And we didn't see him a whole lot on the show, but from what I saw, he looked cocky as hell. "I just made everyone throw the idol into the ocean"... no you didn't. Anyone could have grabbed that thing off the table, but they didn't want to look selfish. It only made sense to get rid of it.

And now he's bitching and whining, saying that Crystal voting him out "hurts my relationships outside the game." Damn. It's a game! Crystal knew you were playing everyone, she caught you, you got kicked off. Are you not going to be friends with your buddy from home because his cousin beat you in a race for $1 million? He was attempting to do the same thing.

And Ken takes advantage of people through their compassion?? wow.

And mad props to Susie for sticking around as long as she has.

I agree with all of that, BUT, I have to say that Crystal is a HUGE disappointment to me as not only a physical player, but as a person. Maybe it's just the edit, but her whineyness, crying, talking crud about others, etc, when she has done nothing to further herself other than ride coattails - when she was portrayed at the outset as an "olympic champion" is driving me crazy. UGGH!! She hasn't even come close to winning ONE challenge. To keep portraying her as some kind of physical threat is a joke!! At least Marcus had it right last night when he told Susie that keeping Crystal was no threat because she was so weak at challenges.

Susie is delusional if she thinks there is some way to fenagle herself into top 3, she isn't high enough in any concievable alliance to do so.

If the other tribe goes to tribal, either Matty or Sugar will go and if there is a merge, the #s will be equal, then the true gamesmanship will start.

BTW, I hate Randy - he is a jerk!

^^^ Co-sign on everything. I have to say, though, she was the deal-maker last night.