Survivor Nicaragua--Old v. Young

Ah, good point! Hadn't thought of that!

Or, would they do a check of the person when they drop them off at the island?

A little humor (a lot, actually) at the expense of our favorite former secret agent man...

The Soup - Survivor Tribal Council Fail: How About You Just Call Her Fran, Buddy?

I think voting off the Fundamentalist Blond was a big paranoid mistake on Rob's part. That guy would have been loyal for a long time if Rob had played him right. Now he's got to listen to crazy Philip for another few days. Serves him right.

I have never seen a primate outside of a zoo with as much hair as that crowing Hillybilly has, but I think he's smarter than he looks. I hope Russell gets bashed again. He has no creativity when it comes to playing this game. Same old technique of find the idols and befriend a few girls in bikinis. Please!- come up with something new and improved.

I'm waiting to see what this "duel" thingy is all about.

Yeah - I agree on the Rob thing. My guess is he got so screwed over by dummies last time, that he isn't leaving anything to chance. The one thing not sure if he thought about was Matt potentially coming back via Redemption Island. Something physical he has a good chance and now he has a potential person to flip on his team. My thought would be to pull little Mattie aside and say hey buddy - this good sportmanship thing doesn't make you look good among your tribemates and then educate him on proper survivor conduct.

Love the hillbillie though - especially as Russell isn't giving him any credit on smarts. Great playing the dumb card. He obviously isn't dumb - just in the way he plays - it appears he did not tell a sole about finding the idol and who would suspect a dumb a$$ to find it? Russell on the other hand, really doesn't know how to play the game. He thinks he does, but the only advantage he had last two games was no one knew his game play. Now everyone knows how he plays so a smart person would change strategy.

Dumb play in tribal - but it does make for interesting watching - especially as the initial tribals are usually predictable and boring. I do like leaving Phillip on as he is entertaining to watch.

I wasn't sure I'd like this season with all the gimmicks, but last night's episode was so good I couldn't delete it yet. Classic blindside!! Matt truly, I think, had no idea it was coming during tribal, but then did you see the look on his face after he got that second vote? He knew. Poor Andrea...she still hasn't figured it out lol.

Jeff live-tweeted during the hour (answering a few questions, etc.) and said that it's not that unusual for members of one tribe to congratulate the other after a challenge. He said they don't show it unless it becomes a story and last night Rob made it a story.

The wildlife shots are beautiful. Loved those white egrets and the red frogs! And Phillip's crab! That was funny. I'm having a hard time trying to not like him but those pink underwears have to go!

I'm rooting for Ralph to prevail over Russell. That whole "You're either with me or against me" schtick is getting old. Sandra told him, "I'm against you!" and I was hoping Ralph would do the same last night. Jeff calls Ralph the 'human sweater' lol. It looks like Russell's whole tribe turns on him next week -- hope that's not just false editing.

The only disappointment for me was the hour ending without us seeing the 'duel'. Hopefully they'll open with that next week.

Funny last night I mentioned Sandra as well - seeing Russell in his hat - I reminded my family about Sandra burning Russell's hat.

Yeah, I tend to agree there. I think he over-reacted to what Matt did by shaking the opposing tribe's hands when they won the challenge.

I would have voted out Andrea - who, by the way, had a priceless look on her face after Matt got voted out!

It looks like the various details about Redemption Is. are being deliberately kept under wraps, per Jeff's comments at Tribal council.

Finally caught up with last night's episode. I'm liking this season so far. I don't think Rob made a bad move with getting rid of Matt. Part of it was Matt's congratulating the other team and part of it was the alliance between Matt and the blonde person (sorry, can't remember her name).

Philip is annoying, but it looks like he's willing to play along with Rob's plans. I like Ralph. But he reburied the idol. He'd better go get it before Russell finds it.

True that Russell got to final tribal twice, but he received not one jury vote either time. For someone who thinks he's smart, he's playing the same game--no improvements or changes to better his chances this time.

Hasta next week.

Yeah, I was thinking that. Others are already onto his game plan.

The smarter thing to do would be to alter your strategy somewhat, unless that's still to come.

I thought the duel thing was okay. I like that it adds another layer for the players to have to think about. Ha! Ha! they got Russell. I never like him. I hope the Matt (?) whips his butt on whatever their duel is.

I was surprised the hairy guy didn't say he knew Russell and his "concubines" didn't have the idol. He didn't have to reveal that he had, just say he heard them talking about not having it or something to make their Russell vote more secure. I think any time a team as thrown a challenge it ends up backfiring on them, we'll have to see if that becomes the case here too.

Funniest TC ever when Jeff had to translate for Ralph!!!

And yay! Russell's gone...or is he??? That rash was.....gross!

The duel was good. I'm glad they made it fair, and not just a physical thing.

I'm still wondering on the outcome of those who win these duels on Redemption Is. I presume that next week, we see Russell and Matt square off, but will that winner still stay on the Is?

This would mean that only one player ultimately would be put back in the game. I was rather hoping for more than this, to keep it interesting and stir the pot.

I'm hoping that Matt will win the challenge. Russell is far too cocky, but I wouldn't rule him out.

When Matt and Francesca were doing their challenge, it was fairly close as to who could win. I thought for sure Matt's stick was going to collapse on him and he was reaching for the 3rd key.

Agreed on all sides. Russell thinks he is such a great player - why I find him so annoying as well as he is just down right mean. The next to go will be the loud mouth girl. At least it will be interesting in camp when they just tell her to shut the h*ll up.

So do you think Ralph is talking that way on purpose? Making himself sound dumb - seems a bit like Fabio take last time.

I would guess they bring the one surviving RI person back after the merge - that way it could switch the game up.

I don't think he's faking it. Did you see his vote at tribal? 'Ressell'.

He's so country, I can't hate, but some waxing sure wouldn't hurt!

I think you're right about the RI victor returning after the merge.

I was thinking he intentionally spelled Russell that way to irk him. I found the spelling funny - he spelled it how he would say it.

Could be...that would be so funny!

Right now I'm most impressed with Brandt from Rob's tribe. Did you see that dive from last week's challenge??? He made it more than half way across the pool!

He's the guy with the dread-like hair? Yeah he's been a bit understated yet. It will be interesting to see.