coach really is dumber than I originally thought. He has/had a hero worship thing with Rob. Then he goes and decided that Jerry is his showmance. I can see him being taken in by Russell, but he has seen the other 2 play.

No way. He looks her straight in the eye and is deadly serious. You can see the earnest longing in his eyes. He is not f'n around, he's begging.

Another episode down and my boy Russell is still kicking.

If the teaser for next episode actually happens (which I'd bet heavy against) it will definitely make top 10 moments in all of survivor history.


I am somewhat concerned about the future however. The editing is showing Russell as the master manipulator, totally in control of everything... Are they building him up so his fall makes for better TV? I hope not.

It was interesting that Russell voted for Candice despite Sandra's ear-worm regarding Coach and that Coach went home despite Russell not voting for him.

And I was surprised that after Danielle threw a stink about the thought of voting out Coach that she voted for coach rather than voting for Courtney.

Now, for someone who is such a great manipulator, he sure is getting played by Sandra. Now it ended up that he didn't vote for Coach, but he still bought into what she was saying without any confirmation.

I hadn't noticed that until someone at work mentioned it. After some searching, the going theory is that he probably threw a vote Candice's way in service of the "girl alliance" ruse. That way if the Heroes learn what vote counts were, it supports their misconception. Makes sense to me.

I did like that Sandra exposed a major weakness in Russel's game. Even though she was aided by the facts that she was only sort of lying and that voting coach out fit into a larger strategy Russel had, it still makes it clear that his "don't try to get sneaky on me or you're gone" ultimatum can be used to manipulate him.

Coach, you remain dumb. Jerri, you remain dumb. Amanda, you remain smoking hot, but also remain horrible at appearing sincere while humoring someone (referring to the scene where Candice was trying to get her to turn against JT).

There's been a lot of cold pizza served on this show over the years.

The "girl alliance" ruse reminds me of Russell's "dumb girls" strategy during last season. Even though he didn't specifically do it this time, he's always gunned for men. He's so damn smart.

I wouldn't say he fell for Sandra's misdirection because it was actually true about Coach. Sandra was just smart enough to bring it to his attention.

Wow. JT is so.f'n.stupid. The junior high school note! I mean, "destroy this immediately after reading it"?? Wow.

Is it just me, or did they rig the challenge so that Russell would get his moments to be informed and then receive the idol? Do they usually all hug it out after a challenge like that?

I'm in shock at how cartoonishly stupid everyone but Russel and Parvati are. I mean, I suppose it could be "the edit", but holy hell. Really? Really?

Blink. What. An. Idiot.

Well, idiot being primarilty JT, but a collective idiot for the team, too.

Next season - Idiots vs. Strategic masters.