So I just finished watching tonight’s episode of Survivor and well, it was just so sad. I hated to see Russell (Hantz) go like that.
Believe me, I know about being on a tribe with Russell. He’s known as one of the biggest villains in Survivor history for a reason…he’s psychologically terrifying! He’ll put ideas in people and make up lies for no reason. He tries to cause chaos around camp so that he can be the one to solve all the problems.
Having harmony in camp is important, and having Russell in camp is anti-harmonious. So I get removing him from the equation. I just don’t like the way that Zapatera (tribe) went about it. I’m completely against throwing challenges and that’s what they did. The whole thing just seemed mean-spirited, kind of like a bunch of bullies picking on the one fat kid in dodge ball.
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But in the end this is Survivor, and Russell just didn’t have the numbers. The only people he had on his side were two not so strong girls, Stephanie and Krista, and no one on the tribe really liked them either. So I’m not that surprised that Russell went home…but it was so sad to see him cry after losing to Matt at the Redemption Island challenge.
And Matt, he’s doing really good! If he keeps winning at Redemption Island he’s got the potential to make it to the end without having to make any tough tribal council decisions. He won’t have to be voting anyone out and make bad relationships with anybody, so that could be a benefit for him. We’ll have to see if Matt can beat Kristina next week and keep his streak going so that he can stay in the game.
So now with Russell gone Stephanie and Krista are in trouble. It seems like they want to be outcasts and not a part of the tribe. They’re just moping around now and acting like they don’t need anyone but that’s not going to work. I think they were planning on riding Russell’s coattails to the end, and now since that hasn’t worked out, I think that they’re both up a creek.
And over on Ometepe, or as I like to call it “Team Rob”…seriously, Rob has everyone wrapped around his finger! It’s like A-Rod coming to play against your brothers little league team, and all the little league kids are so fascinated and enamored by him that they drop the ball and throw it to him. He’s hitting grand-slams and the kids are cheering for him. It’s absurd to me. So now that he’s got the hidden immunity idol and he’s running the show at their tribe, he’s almost unbeatable. All of those women on Ometepe are like little giggling school girls around him and the guys are just following him around. These people are all drinking the Rob Kool-Aid, even the other alpha male Phillip.
Phillip…that guy is completely out of control. He’s hilarious! I love how adamant he gets about whether or not someone’s lying and you know what? Now he’s starting to lie too! Survivor gets to you. I know tonight’s tribal council was split between Phillip and Kristina, but I don’t think he’s going to be getting kicked out any time soon. I think we’ll definitely be seeing more of him because Rob is obviously in control and whoever he wants to stay, stays. Whoever he wants to go, goes. I think he sees merit in keeping the crazy guy around because it takes some of the heat off of him. It’s like having an annoying bee flying around your head; you’re going to be looking at the bee, not the bee keeper who unleashed it.
So as of now I think that the strongest player on Zapatera would probably be Ralph and on Ometepe it’s obviously Rob. They both have immunity idols too!
As for my predictions about who will be voted off next…if Zapatera loses and goes to tribal council it will one of Russell’s former cronies, either Stephanie or Krista. If Ometepe goes to council…this is tough, but I’m going to say that Andrea might get voted out, but definitely not Phillip, which means we get to be entertained by the “former federal agent” for a little bit longer.
As told to Jeff Sandstoe
