Survivor Gets a Little Less Crazy as Jalapao Streak Ends

After another interesting Tribal Council, where Coach and Erinn fought, which saw Jerry going home, the Timberia tribe was back at home and ready to discuss how it all went down. Of course Coach had something to say and once again called Erinn the "cancer of the tribe". She isn't dude, you are for acting so uptight. The next morning Brendan decided to let everyone decide who should be the leader yet nobody really knew who in fact was the leader. Things then went backwards as Coach decided to hand the leader role over to Brendan. Of course he made it all about him though as he's the "stronger" and "the best outdoors person". Jeff Probst likes him though, hopefully that doesn't mean he goes far. It's not good to be the only hated person out of the group of most like able Survivors in awhile.

With Taj back at Jalapao it's time to get team secret started. She acts as if Exile is the hardest thing out there and basically has everyone waiting on her hand and foot, but only one person really is in the loop. Well at least she let's him in: Stephen. The plan was to get Stephen on her side and Sierra on Brendan's to rule the game. Stephen was stoked for the plan since he kind of just fell into it. Sounds like all is good but then we learn about Brendan's issue. He didn't get to talk to Sierra before going to the reward challenge so she has NO clue about the alliance. Since Taj has planned to force the tribe to send her to Exile things could go horribly wrong if they pick her but let's hope that doesn't happen!

The reward challenge was a blast from the past as the sand holding challenge was brought into play. Three from each tribe had to hold increasing numbers of sand bags on their shoulders. The last person remaining wins the reward for their tribe. The prize was being able to raid the other camp for two items, once again bringing back Pearl Islands. The holders for each tribe were obvious as Joe, JT and Taj held for Jalapao while Debbie, Brendan and Tyson held for Timberia. They all started piling the sand on the guys early on and after a fast forward Brendan was holding the most. He dropped out just before hitting Rupert's record weight of 220 lbs and Tyson dropped out right after him. That left Debbie to fight off all three Jalapao members. Luckily JT fell off after tying Rupert's weight and Joe right after. It was then down to Debbie and Taj but in the end Taj held the weight longer, giving Timberia their fourth loss in a row.

With the win Taj got to send someone to Exile and of course she chose Sierra. She also sent herself to Exile, in a way, as Sierra chose Taj to go with. There Taj learned exactly where the idol was and filled Sierra in on the alliance. She was VERY happy to hear the news and was happy to go from bottom of the pack to the top. Looks like team secret is going to dominate! Over at Timberia they were worried about what the other tribe would steal. They don't have much to begin with and worried that all of their beans would be taken. Joe and JT are the thieves who are sent over and decide to take one bag of beans and a bucket of water. They wanted to keep some beans there in case they switch tribes sometime. Guess they couldn't do it just to be nice.

Joe and JT then headed back to Jalapao with beans and water in tow. Sandy wasn't happy that they didn't take ALL of the beans and made a good point. Why take 75 out of 100 guns and leave them with ammo? It was a very smart point made by a very crazy lady. Sandy's mind then turned to Sydney who had been flirting with the guys all day. She didn't agree with the way she walked around camp and controlled the boys with her looks but hoped they would see through her and vote her out! Poor Sandy... I like Sydney but I don't want Sandy gone either! Back over at Timberia we saw a new side of the depressed tribe. They were having a "fun day" and joked around. Tyson got into it with his "tribal clothing" and danced around half naked. Erinn didn't seem to enjoy it though as she was yet another downer. She's depressed over her breakup before the show started and believed that to be the reason she couldn't hold any conversations. Making her the new Debby Downer! Although I kind of like her.

For immunity the two tribes had to race down a zig zag path to reach puzzle pieces. After untying the pieces they raced back to build the spinning word puzzle. During the entire challenge, up to a point, Jalapao was leading. When Debbie and Sydney raced out things changed as Sydney slipped out, letting Timberia surpass the lead. In the end both tribes got their clues around the same point. It seemed as if Jalapao was close to getting the phrase correct but Timberia pulled it out in the end. They were ecstatic to not have to send anyone home while Jalapao had mixed emotions.

After missing Jeff for two rounds it was back to Tribal Council and it seemed that Jalapao forgot how to stratigize. Nobody really talked about the vote other then Taj who threw Sydney's name out there. She thought that Sandy pulled her weight more during challenges and Stephen seemed to agree. It all hinged on JT though and considering he's flirt #1 to Sydney it wasn't going to be easy to sway him to keep Sandy. Although Sydney did make a bad choice of words by saying her favorite thing about Survivor was being sneaky. Not a good thing to say when people are looking for a reason to vote you out.

At Tribal Council Jeff first focused on Sandy. He wanted to see how she was fitting into the tribe after almost being voted out and she seemed to think things were all good. Jeff then turned the conversation to Sydney and they discussed her flirting. Sandy brought up the fact that she flirts with both Joe and JT and it was seeming like Sydney could go. She agreed that she was basically using her body to influence the guys, but in a more subtle way. When it came time to vote the votes went Sandy's way and she was sent home. Sadly we have no more crazy lady but will someone step in to fill her spot? Taj was the only one to not vote for her as she voted for Joe. Maybe she's the new crazy considering that was a very stupid move to make.