Survivor Heroes Vs. Villains - Robbed!

Normally, I'd be gung-ho writing the weekly recap of Survivor Heroes vs. Villains (ok, I missed last week, sue me). But this episode left me a bit sullen. It's not that it was boring or lousy in any way; quite in fact, it was a solid episode. And it had every reason to be dull, especially since it was a follow-up to last week's crazy double tribal council. No, Episode 7 left me sad because there was no one to really rail against. It's as if everybody lost. Well, maybe I can rail against Coach a little, but you can't fault the man's character anymore. Boston Rob summed it up as he made his way to Jeff Probst to get his torch snuffed, "You're a little man". Ouch! I know I made it clear that I dislike Coach intensely, but strip away all that spiritual Tai-chi grandstanding and his eye-rolling tall tales of communing with albino pygmy warriors, and you probably have in real life a decent guy who is simply and clearly not meant to play the game of Survivor. Because as Jerri coined it, he's too nice and wants to play the game with a level of integrity that the game doesn't call for. So what does he do? He waffles between Russell and Rob, giving them both his word, only to find himself in the catch-22 bind he never wanted to be in the first place.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go to the Heroes camp and finally cheer their good fortune. Not only do they win the reward challenge, but they finally manage to swipe immunity from the Villains, with a puzzle challenge, no less. The wins have clearly invigorated a sluggish Colby and whatever past rifts, their numbers are such that they can no longer afford to be divided. This is especially crucial with a merge coming either next week or the week after. The only way the Heroes can press an advantage is to not fracture at the merge. They could take a lesson from last season's Samoa, when Russell, Jaison, Natalie and Mitch were the minority, yet managed to sell their vote as a united front and exploit the bad blood within the dominating tribe. I hope they can pull it off. At this point, I'd love to see Colby or JT win this game.

Back at the Villains camp, it looked like a brawl between two heavy weights were about to come to blows. See, I also made it clear in past recaps that I despise Russell. I still don't like his arrogant, downright bullying demeanor. And before I even say something positive about him, let me just say the man gives me the distinct impression that he molts every 6 weeks. That being said, last week's gambit had absolutely no reason to work and yet it did. And because it did, I'll give Russell his credit. He sends Tyson home and he puts himself in the position to directly challenge Rob and his alliance. The man is here to play the game, play it hard, at whatever cost. Just watch how he managed to get Jerri to flip from her alliance. And who can blame Jerri for flipping? She's trying to win this game and she sees herself going further with Russell. How far? Well, that remains to be seen.

The war of words between Russell and Rob reached a fever pitch at Tribal Council. Parvati, Russell and Danielle all cast their vote for Rob. Courtney, Sandra and Rob all voted for Russell and Rob made his peace with Jerri and understood that she needed to do what was best for her, so I know he was expecting at least a tie. Except Coach had to throw his vote away to Courtney, confirming Rob's ouster 4 - 3. Going back to this episode leaving me disillusioned, I think I wasn't ready for the Russell/Rob showdown to come to such an abrupt end. It was great to see two willful guys play the game fiercely, but in the end, it was Rob who got played. And now I can safely predict with Russell in control, he will easily make it to the top 2 or 3. Mind you, I'm still not saying I'm a converted fan, but Russell is that dangerous, shrewd, fearless and unpredictable, that I don't see anyone trying to mount a counterattack - not even the Heroes.