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?