'Survivor: Samoa': Russell is my hero

Seriously... have we ever seen such a game on "Survivor?"

Aiga
Natalie kills a rat with a big stick. You go with your bad self, Southern Belle. By the way, her debate on what to hit it with? Hilarious.

Reward Challenge
Tonight the reward challenge is 5-on-5. The teams race for poles holding black and white coconuts. The poles, when arranged correctly, will spell out a 4-digit number in white coconuts. Then a blindfolded tribe member must use braille to get the combo on their lock and unlock the flag. The teams are drawn randomly and are Jaison, Laura, Brett, Mick & Russell and Shambo, Kelly, Dave, John & Monica.

That leaves Natalie as the odd woman out. She doesn't particpate, but she gets to choose one team to support. If she chooses the winning team, she goes with them. If she chooses the losing team, she goes back to camp. Natalie picks the Men plus Laura team, which is what I would've done too.

The teams are neck-and-neck retrieving the poles, but the purple team (NOT the one Natalie is rooting for) gets theirs first (4673) with yellow hot on their tail (7346). Monica and Laura are the number-finders, and Monica pulls it out.

The reward is a giant waterslide, essentially. It's utterly beautiful. I just hope there aren't two dead bodies strapped to airplane seats at the bottom, like Kate and Sawyer found. Also part of the reward is a clue to the next immunity idol at camp. They decide to only share with Galus because no Foa Foans are on this team that won the reward. Interesting. I hope Russell finds it anyway. That'd be hilarious.

Lo and behold, back at camp Russell is hard at work looking for another Idol. And then he friggin' finds it. Are you kidding me?!?! That is SO GREAT. I mean, I don't love Russell but he is playing an amazing game. Of course, if it's a blindside he may get voted out without playing it. This oughta be interesting.

After the reward winners are back, Russell tells Shambo about the Idol. He figures with only four Foa Foans left, he has to make a play for somebody and she's the best bet. I think that's smart. You have to take that chance and Shambo is ripe for the flipping. He says he's going to need help getting his name on the chopping block and Shambo says that's already in play (from the reward winners). The plan is that all of Galu votes Russell, he plays the Idol and Laura goes home.

Immunity Challenge
Each person uses a grappling hook to retrieve two bags of puzzle pegs. The first three to do it move on to the puzzle, which looks really complicated, I'm not entirely sure how it works. Anyway, Laura, Mick and Shambo move on to the final round and Laura absolutely SMOKES on the puzzle. It involves putting in pegs and each placed peg drops another peg down. Shambo starts off strong, but Laura gets the hang of it and wins easily.

Well, there goes the Get Laura Out plan. They decide to target Kelly, which I don't get. Why not go after John or Brett? They're way stronger than she is. Hmm. Jaison is nervous that Galu will get wind of the plan and end up getting out another Foa Foa AND waste the Idol. Man, I hope this works because if Shambo is with FF, the numbers are even.

Interestingly, Monica posits that they should plan for if one of FF has another Idol, like split their votes between two. That still wouldn't make a difference, though, because even if Shambo is with them (which she's not) but even if she was, that'd be 4 votes for, say, Russell, 3 votes for, say, Jaison and then 4 votes for Kelly and since Russell's are negated, Kelly is gone. Do the math, Galu.

Hilariously, Danger Dave totally shoots her down, saying they don't have to worry about that now. Russell overhears them talking about Natalie a little and gets worried. Jaison advises Russell to ensure it's him. But Russell is conflicted on what to do with the Idol.

Oh man, once AGAIN I am so pumped/nervous for tribal.

Tribal Council
Jeff asks them if tribal lines are gone since everyone voted out Erik. Dave says that their tribe was weakened from within by Erik's presence and Erik balls a fist, like he wants to punch Dave. Yeah, me too, Erik.

The Foa Foa people really talk up how tight Galu is and the Galuans talk about how strong they are and how there's no hope for Foa Foa. Oh man, these guys are SO COCKY! GET 'EM, FOA FOA! I really hope that Natalie talk was misdirection.

The vote happens all we see is Jaison muttering, "C'mon baby" as he votes. (Also, sorry that last week I said we didn't see any votes. We saw Russell's, which must have happened while I was looking down at my keyboard.) This week Jeff asks for the Hidden Immunity Idol (why didn't he last week?) and Russell plays it again. BAM SUCKAZ!

Galu looks crushed and shocked and whatnot. HAHAHA! Interestingly, Erik is cheering about this development. He must be pretty bitter about his team flipping on him. The first 6 votes go to Russell, then the next 3 go to Kelly. See ya later, blondie!

As Kelly is getting up, Laura whispers, "He just stirred up a lot of hell, that's what he did." Um, hello snotty beeyotch! That's how the game goes, dummy. Hilariously, Shambo turns to her and is all, "Amen sister." Heh.

Thoughts & Tidbits

• Interestingly, Shambo voted for Russell. She's such a sheep. I mean, I get that she could protect herself by sticking with Galu but her wishy-washy nature is really irksome.
  
• This season has gotten very awesome these last two weeks.
• I still can't believe the Foa Foans wasted that awesome sneak attack on a contestant like  Kelly. Why wouldn't you target one of the men?
  
• Natalie: I'm so scared. A rock or a stick, a rock or a stick? ... Oh my word, this is pitiful. Oh I'm sorry. Lord have mercy.

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Related:
 
Interview with Erik
Interview with Liz
Interview with Russell
Interview with Ashley