Survivor Heroes Vs. Villains - the Dragon Slayer is Slain

What did your Mama teach you about assumptions? Tonight's installment of Survivor Heroes vs. Villains went retro to reinforce that old "ass" out of "u" and "me" chestnut. Oh, and what's an episode of Survivor without some good old fashioned karma, served up Sandra-style, cold and bold. The water level is up to their necks at the Villains camp. Boston Rob's ouster last week sent everyone into a tailspin and the only one benefiting from all the chaos, was of course, Russell. Coach is not only beginning to find out what Russell is all about, but Courtney and Sandra feel, and justifiably so, on the outs. And everyone is just so frustrated with each other that they think they can will a merge merely by breaking down camp and bringing it with them to the reward challenge. It was a devilish coup to see no such merge happening, and it was doubly entertaining to watch the Villains lose yet another food reward challenge, only to lug all their heavy possessions back to camp.

While the Heroes chow down on their pizza and celebrate another victory, all's not well there either. The tribe is assuming (again that word) that Boston Rob's departure can only mean an all girl's alliance is dominating at the Villains camp. Nothing could be further from the truth but Russell and Parvati are shrewdly exploiting that angle. At the Heroes, JT sneaks away to find the hidden immunity idol and before he could even decide to keep it a secret or let it be known, Amanda catches him with the goods. At this, Candice finally awakens Amanda to JT's alpha male ways - and don't even let me get started on that tease for next week that blew my mind and made me howl with laughter at the same time. I know Survivor likes to throw in red herrings for their advertisements, but I think this one is the real thing, otherwise they wouldn't have played it up in such a dramatic and comical fashion. From that segment alone, I will make the call that JT will be voted out next week. And if not JT, another alpha male like Rupert or Colby will be on their way to Ponderosa.

The Puppet Master Gets Played
At the Immunity Challenge, the Villains get smoked again and position jockeying immediately ensues. Sandra may have not shown much physical game play in the muddy challenge, but that's not where she excels. Watching the lie she told Russell about Coach, confirms that Sandra is every bit Russell's match when it comes to subterfuge and manipulation. Courtney's poor performance in the challenge left her extremely vulnerable, but I give her major kudos for speaking up and stating her case, not to mention addressing the host as "Jeffrey" and herself as "the skinny bitch", which, let's just admit, is icing on this proverbial cake of an episode.

Just as Russell played to Jerri's insecurity last week, Sandra turned the tables and knew exactly what to do to throw Russell off Courtney's scent and right onto Coach. "Coach is gunning for you". That's all she needed to state and Russell went right into bulldozing mode. Sandra confirms for Russell that Coach has got him in his cross hairs and voting out Coach will further (falsely) confirm the Heroes' assumption that a female alliance voted out another male. It's a win-win as far as Russell is concerned, but it also affords Sandra the chance to exact her revenge on Coach for not having the sack to vote out Russell last week. Now I'm not sure what to make of that extra scene where Russell goes back to Danielle and Parvati to change his mind and vote for Courtney, but I honestly think it was just added to raise the suspense.

Danielle made a fatal mistake arguing with Russell over his reason to vote for Coach over Courtney. Though she had her reasons, I don't think she was bearing the long view in mind. With Courtney coming into the imminent merge, you want someone who doesn't win challenges because it increases your own chances to win individual immunity. Russell doesn't debate his decisions; he expects his alliance to fall in line with them, and Danielle doesn't realize that Russell likes his women compliant. Or maybe she just doesn't care. I like that she stood up to him and made her case to vote off Courtney, but I think, and not to put too fine a point on it, the tussle between Russell and Danielle was a key scene in foretelling her future downfall.

Farewell Dragonslayer
In any case, Sandra's ruse worked brilliantly and Coach was sent packing. When you can't gun for the big man, you pick off the people around him. That's exactly what Sandra set out to do and Coach was just the collateral damage. As for Coach, he was more concerned with portraying himself as an honorable player rather than a good one, so there's no love lost watching him go. It was such a shame because I thought his addition as a villain was always off. Could you have imagined someone like Shane, Rocky (from Fiji) or Brian Heidik on this tribe? I sure did.

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Episode 1 - Recap - Sugar Boobs

Episode 2 - Recap - Another Hero Bites the Dust

Episode 3 - Recap - Randy gets Rooted Out

Episode 4 - Recap - I'll Have One BlindSide to Go

Episode 5 - Recap - Are You Seriously Keeping the Gimp?

Episode 7 - Recap - Robbed!