A Price For Immunity

Previously on Gary It On: Lydia challenged Princess Stephenie's claim to food, causing a dust-up in which pizza was revealed to be the equivalent of steak and lobster, which came as a welcome surprise to a lot of people who are allergic to seafood or are cheap. Gary tried to plot with the increasingly unhappy Lydia, but he only succeeded in solidifying a final four made up of Steph, Rafe, Judd, and Cindy. Rafe edged Gary for immunity in that silly challenge they always have where Jeff turns into Mother Goose and then you have to run around from booth to booth like you're tampering with voting machines. Thus, the die was cast, and the quarterback took his final bow. Or sack, or whatever. I'm thinking the Sequesterville discussion between Bobby Jon, Jamie, and Gary wasn't very cheerful, and without giving away any of what's to come, it probably didn't get any friendlier after this week, if you get my drift. I envision heavy use of the word "bitches," followed by Gary telling people to watch their mouths. Six people left. One final four alliance and a couple of stragglers. What will happen ?

Credits. I know there was a Brooke, I just don't remember anything about her.

For once, we do not open our episode in night vision, but instead in the light of Day 31, the morning after the booting of Hogey. This presumably means that the immediate aftermath of tribal council did not include vengeful staring or shocked indignation of the sort normally associated with fallen survivors such as Jamie and...well, mostly Jamie. The increasingly isolated Danni pounds some corn on a rock alongside Lydia, and voices over that, with Gary gone, she's clearly to go. Rafe looks down at one of his hands as if he's hunting for stigmata. In other exciting news of this particular morning, Lydia swears that she smelled sausage and eggs this morning, and that she was not dreaming and was not crazy. Judd explains that this is probably just Steph farting. A general discussion of eggy-smelling farts follows, and I'm reminded again of how quaint it is that you can show this on television, but boys kissing makes people boycott your show.

Danni sees the entire fart discussion as some sort of cover for people's true feelings, just as it so often is when it occurs at fraternities. In this case, it's being undertaken, in her opinion, so that people don't have to talk about how tense the "heated tribal council" was, like when Judd was called out for all his endless lying. Which was indeed pretty awesome. Danni goes on to say that she was able to sort of sit back and watch what went on last night, and she's right. She has stayed remarkably clear of personality conflicts thus far. For whatever reason, the bored tribe entertains itself with a gymnastics competition of sorts, in which we see a lot of Danni's ass in her really tiny shorts -- or possibly swimsuit bottoms -- that actually seem to be getting smaller. During this competition, we also learn that Judd is quite a bit more...lithe than one might expect. Who decided it would be a good idea for Judd to learn to do a round-off? Maybe he went to juvenile boot camp and all the spaces were full in karate, so he took acrobatics. Or I could go for the image of him twirling about with a long, curly ribbon on a stick.

The item to appear is an individual mosquito net, and if you want to know just how bad the bugs are, just look at the excitement this item brings about. It's too bad there isn't a net that would keep away, like, Judd. That's what would really bring the dough at an auction -- a jerk-repelling net. Not to mention what you'd get when you sold it after the fact on behalf of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. I know I'd bid. Anyway, quite a number of people take interest in the mosquito net, and Rafe and Danni team up and bid together with a plan to share it, apparently thinking that they can each wear it for five minutes and then be bitten for five minutes and then wear it for another five minutes. But ultimately, it is a badly bitten Lydia who takes the thing home for $140. As Lydia comes up to collect her net and turns back to sit down, the camera zooms in helpfully for a close-up of her back, and from looking at her, you can sort of see why she went for the mosquito net. Gross. Lydia makes sure Jeff knows that her ass is worse. Jeff refers to Lydia also having the same problem "on the booty," which is a little bit of lingo I think he learned from Julie. Or possibly J.Lo, in her groundbreaking album, Bites On The Booty.

up: a mystery plate. The bidding comes down to Judd and Steph versus Danni and Rafe, and Danni and Rafe wind up taking it for $180. They get a giant steak sandwich and fries, and they treat it as a great value. That's where you know the beef jerky was underbid. This is not nine times as good as that bowl of beef jerky, you know? Judd allows that the sandwich looks pretty good. I like the shot of Danni hungrily grabbing...the lettuce. She certainly is a happy little bunny.

The item is neither a food nor a bug deterrent. Instead, Jeff holds up an envelope and says that it contains an advantage for the upcoming immunity challenge. Now, you have to remember that we've seen Danni spend at least $110, and based on what's going to happen later, there are other people here who still have plenty of money, despite the fact that there are always items that are auctioned off that aren't shown and use up some of everybody's stash, making all the math harder to figure. But here, the obvious person to want the advantage is Danni, so you'd think the Big Four would know that what they need to do is take it for themselves. Because you really don't want Danni to get an advantage for immunity. If you let Danni win immunity this week, now you're stuck trying to boot her at F5, and you have only one chance to preserve your original F4, while you can always get rid of Lydia week if you need to. The bottom line is that there is no reason why Steph's group wouldn't at least put up a fight. You can only eat so many giant ice-cream sundaes or what the hell ever. Nevertheless, Danni nabs the immunity assistance for the remarkably low price of $200. I'm not even sure why Lydia didn't want it, even if only because Danni's getting it so clearly makes her the obvious target. In short, that should not have gone for $200 at all. It's immunity with six people left. They just spent almost that much on a sandwich. There are some people without their eyes on the ball here. Jeff brings Danni up and gives her the envelope, telling her to bring it with her to the challenge later.

And then Jeff announces that the item up for bids is...coming around the corner. Happiness and excitement soon explode from the group, because, predictably (I think Judd in particular was anticipating this very thing), the family and friends come around the corner at this point. The range of reactions is always so interesting -- Steph is just instantly in tears with excitement, while Rafe is wearing this wonderful grin of baffled delight. Visiting for the moment are Cindy's twin sister Mindy (gross, but not as bad as Jamie's reported twin brother Ramie, which my friend JWB pointed out is kind of like naming your kids Jamie and Schmamie, like, "You get a real name, but you...not so much"), Rafe's completely adorable mom (looking exactly like she would be Rafe's mom), Danni's earring-and-goatee-wearing brother, Judd's surprisingly hot blonde wife, Lydia's brother, and Steph's boyfriend (looking more than exactly like he would be Jersey Steph's Jersey boyfriend). Asked whether it's cool to see his mom out here, Rafe laughs through his sniffles quite marvelously and says exactly what I think I would be thinking: "This is so random." Judd actually ruffles Lydia's hair affectionately (!) as Jeff tells the group that Lydia hasn't seen her brother in two years. Yikes. "How's he look?" Jeff asks. "Good!" Lydia says breathlessly. I am always such a goddamn sucker for this part. I get all gooey inside, and then I hate myself.

Anyway. The contestants are bidding on an overnight stay where the winner will be able to bring his or her loved one back to camp. Pooling money is allowed between up to two people, but only one person will get to bring the loved one back, so presumably the person with less money to contribute would only be giving money as a favor. The bidding goes up gradually until Rafe jumps it to $300, which I suspect is how much he has left at that point. Steph asks Lydia how much she has, and Lydia answers, and Steph asks if Lydia would "loan it" to her. Lydia, knowing she can't win for herself and probably seeing an opportunity to undo some of what happened last week with the Eating-Related Wrath of Steph, agrees. Judd, meanwhile, cleans out Cindy, who says that she, too, already was out of the running and didn't have enough dough. I have to assume that this all meant that everyone knew Judd and Steph had the most money left, so it was basically just a matter of choosing which one of them you wanted to give it to. And, considering that you can only take from one person, it also was strategically critical for Judd and Steph to know how much everybody had so that they'd know whom to borrow from. Steph's total haul comes to $750 (meaning that Lydia gave her more than $200), and then Judd starts to count his out. Steph bursts into tears as Judd counts past $800, and he winds up with $880, giving Judd the win. This also means that between Judd and Cindy, aside from her cookies, they only spent $80 in the entire rest of the auction. The difference, incidentally, is almost exactly the amount Lydia spent on the mosquito net. Steph mouths "I'm sorry" to her boyfriend, which is kind of endearing. So Judd has bought Mrs. Judd for the night for $880. Nothing like the warm experience of buying your own wife. Mrs. Judd runs over to Judd and they embrace and whatnot.

Now, Jeff announces that Judd gets to invite two other people's loved ones along as well. He also says that not only do the other three people's loved ones not get to come, but those people -- not their loved ones, but the players themselves -- will be banished to the old Yaxha camp for the night so that they can't even enjoy the company of fresh faces. That is...truly harsh. Judd is smart enough to first take Cindy, who gave him money. And then he takes Steph. Normally, I'd be the first to take aim at Judd's decision-making, but this is as fair as anything, since Steph was the one bidding against him who had the most money. He probably did that right, and you know I don't say that lightly, considering how stupid and irritating he is. This means that Rafe, Danni, and Lydia will be spent off for a long, boring night alone. Judd, of course, does not consider the strategic implications of that, or the degree to which that might be something that he does not want. When you get to the end of this episode, consider how differently things might have gone if he'd invited Rafe and sent Steph off with Lydia and Danni. Of course, that would have had a downside as well, obviously.

I remember a little bit why I liked Steph as she somewhat shyly introduces Michael to Judd just after they get to have their big hug. I have to admit, I like it better when they at least let everybody have a hug. This is sad. Poor Rafe and poor Rafe's mom! I love the part where Rafe's mom says "Be tough" as she's leaving, and this is what makes Rafe burst into tears. That's exactly what would happen to me, I think. Rafe is so cute. Danni, on the other hand, waves good-naturedly to her brother, knowing that it's not like she's going to have to go years before she sees him again. I mean...I sympathize with people, but they honestly do always act like they've been gone for five years. It's a month. If I see my sister twice in a month, we're like, "I just saw you!" In short: wimps. Danni appears to be the only person whose mental functioning is entirely sound.

Lydia, Rafe, and Danni go off for their night of lonesome, family-less misery, and Steph, Judd, and Cindy take their loved ones back to camp. ("Welcome to Guatemala! Can I get you some...corn?")

Later, it is still Day 31, and the happy people are returning to Camp Xhakum. Judd gives the orientation, and Mrs. Judd can hardly believe that Judd has actually learned to make fire. "No way!" she says, figuring that Judd's fire-building skills probably ended somewhere around leaving poop on people's doorsteps. Judd tells us in an interview that Mrs. Judd thought his camping skills were "pretty hot." He shows off for her how he drinks boiled water out of the big scoop. He doesn't offer her any. I doubt she thinks that part is hot. Mrs. Judd interviews that she never would have thought Judd would have any idea what to do in this situation. Thus, she's "very proud of him." Of course, she hasn't seen the way he treated Margaret, or how he was a bad sportsmanship, or some of his other highlights. Cindy shows Mindy (barf) how they spread out palm fronds to sleep, and as soon as Mindy starts her interview, we learn that whatever else you can say about them, Cindy and Mindy certainly have exactly the same voice. Wow. That would have been a pain in the ass around the house, I would think. Steph, meanwhile, is concentrating on her hardships, as usual, telling Michael about the incredibly difficult hike from the first two days. She explains to us that having Mike with her is "a dream come true." Steph certainly does use a lot of dream imagery in explaining how things are going. Nightmares, dreams come true...maybe she's just sleepy. Steph adds that she really owes Judd a lot, because this is the second major reward he's chosen to share with her. (Giant Bird Of Foreshadowing: "Awk, awk.")

Judd talks strategy with Mrs. Judd, telling her how they have this close alliance between him, Steph, Rafe, and Cindy. He calls it "tight as can be." Mrs. Judd is all excited about how clear the path to the end seems to be for her man. She feels richer already! Now she can get that...different husband! Howlie looks down on the action like, "Don't count on it, blondie. He's louder than me."

Rafe, Lydia, and Danni arrive at the old, abandoned Yaxha camp. Rafe talks about how it was almost a "homecoming," getting to see their old shelter and so forth. With an uninterrupted chance to talk to the two outliers, Rafe's unhappiness about being associated with Judd really begins to blossom. Danni mentions to Rafe that, among other things, he had the Hogeboom Boom of Approval as someone Danni could trust in the game. Rafe says Gary told him the same thing about Danni. Aw, Gary. Matchmaking from beyond the figurative grave. Danni interviews that she thinks Rafe is beginning to figure out that his F4 alliance is going to start turning on itself pretty soon, and that he might want to keep an ally around if that's going to happen. Moreover, the alliance will undoubtedly see Rafe as a threat in a couple of different ways at this point, so, as she puts it, "he needs another buddy." They talk a little about Judd, and about the fact that Judd's position is not very secure, what with the weak links Judd has with other people in the group. Rafe also says that they need to "catch Judd in some kind of lie." Presumably, he means in another lie besides the one that he was just caught in last week. Somewhere, I envision Gary putting his head in his hands in despair and muttering, "Idiots, idiots, I handed him to you. YOU FOOLS!" Rafe's idea here is to turn Steph against Judd, which strikes me at this point as about the least likely thing he could have tried. Far better, I'd think, to try to get people to turn on Steph. The power player? Doesn't that make more sense? You can see why I've never won a million dollars on television. Anyway, Rafe tells us that he's making "backup plans" in case Judd tries to move against him. No, Rafe! Go after somebody now! Not a backup plan! I don't want the Judd/Steph pair to get any more power than they already have! Bleh. Make a move, Rafe! Make a move! "You can't trust a person like Judd," Rafe says, "but you can trust that you can't trust him." So do something, goof! Man, he is one frustrating cat.

We finally get our dose of night vision when we return to Camp Xhakum, where the loved ones and their loved ones are sitting around having various pleasant little fireside chats. Steph and Mrs. Judd talk about how much Steph digs Judd and how great Judd's been in the jungle. "It looks like you guys will really be the final four," Mrs. Judd observes smugly, imagining what kind of car she wants. Steph says, "Hopefully it works out." She adds, "Jersey would be proud." Eh. Not so very proud.

The moon hangs in the sky.

Judd talks to the rest of the group about how Danni still probably won't win immunity, even with her "clue," because she's usually not in the immunity games too much. Cindy agrees that Danni isn't generally strong either mentally or physically. "The one thing she's good at is shooting basketballs," Cindy says dismissively. Judd goes on to say that if Danni wins, they can always just get rid of Lydia. He talks about how glad he is that this is how things are going, and Mrs. Judd leans over and kisses his meaty arm. Bleh. I mean, I guess if you didn't like kissing the meaty arm, you wouldn't have married Judd, but...still.

The morning, Day 32, we rejoin Camp Xhakum, still chock-full of family members. Mrs. Judd is not enjoying the atmosphere out in the jungle very much, what with the zillion bugs, and Mindy interviews that she didn't expect it to be so "barren." "They have nothing," she says. Mike agrees that it's "the real deal." As everybody sits around eating, the outcast group of Rafe, Lydia, and Danni returns to camp. Rafe explains that those returning didn't really think the family members would still be around, but they were, so everybody got to spend a little time together. Judd tries for romantic imagery and goes wildly off the rails when he first says that Mrs. Judd makes him "full" when he hasn't been eating, and then says, "It's like eating twenty-five White Castle cheeseburgers, man." That is so incredibly romantic. It's a good thing he didn't say that in front of her, or she would likely have fainted. ["Not to defend Judd, because that was really asinine, but I think that if Glark were in some kind of deprived survival situation and said that seeing me was like getting a chai from Starbucks, I would be very touched." -- Wing Chun]

There are hugs all around, and then the family members finally are sent away. Judd talks all about how hard it was, hopefully realizing that he's fairly lucky compared to a bunch of other people. Mrs. Judd tearfully says she's never gone without speaking to Judd for more than twenty-four hours. I would certainly believe he's never gone for more than twenty-four hours without talking to her. I would believe he's been known to talk for twenty-four hours consecutively. Cindy thinks having her sister there was "incredible," but she doesn't say anything interesting. Apparently, Mindy was not very inspiring. On the topic of inspiration, I can't help being the kind of person who always wonders...would you, you know, reunite with your significant other in this situation? I mean, I'd think you would, certainly, but you'd be so...dirty and smelly, and it's such close quarters with the other people in camp, you know? And the cameras? Would you sneak off in the woods? I don't mean you personally, of course. I'm sure you wouldn't sneak off in the woods, and that's what I'll tell your mom if she asks. I just mean...I think it's an interesting question. But I have a certain taste for scandal. Anyway. The family members leave in their boat. Steph hates goodbyes.

Back at camp, Cindy and Rafe work on chores, and Lydia starts what will be a very fateful chitchat with Judd. She feeds him a little bit by saying, "Almost there, Judd. What do you think? You got a good shot at the million?" Judd says, "Who knows, man?" Lydia simply says, "Gotta get a game plan here, Mr. Judd." Judd, rather idly, asks, "Why? What do you got? What are you thinking?" Lydia nonsensically asks, "How far do you want to get to the final two?" Judd says, "Just as far as you do." So that was...not very coherent. But you get the upshot. "Why?" Judd asks her. "You have any plans?" Just then, Danni brings over some water and sits down to Lydia to listen. Lydia tells Judd, as Danni casually eats some corn, that they "know who the key players are." Judd, eager to disabuse anyone of the notion that they know anything he doesn't, says, "I know who the threats are here. I ain't that stupid, man, are you kidding me?" Lydia: "We've come this close. We got seven freaking more days left. Now, we either get rid of the threats, or we're going to be stuck where we're sitting on the jury." "I know that," Judd says. "I mean, look at what happened to me with Jamie, man. You think I was happy about that?" Lydia assures Judd that she was the last to know about that. "And I was shocked that they didn't tell you," she wisely feeds. "I know who the mastermind behind that was," Judd says, as the editors cut to a shot of Steph. "And you know what? If I was to say something, I'm screwed."

This was a major miscalculation by Judd, of course. Either he wasn't playing with Lydia, in which case he really needed to make sure that he didn't do this in front of Danni -- because Steph would totally take Danni seriously where she wouldn't take Lydia seriously. And if Judd was playing with Lydia, he forgot that he needed to tell Steph this happened before she heard it from someone else. Stupid Judd. Not that this is a surprise. Danni interviews that as soon as Judd started making noise about going after strong players, she remembered Rafe telling her that if Judd talked about getting rid of Rafe, Rafe thought Steph could be corralled into voting Judd off. Lydia continues to work on Judd: "Judd, you know what? Maybe it's time we make a difference." "You know what?" Judd says. "I don't have a problem with that." Danni interviews that the longer you're around, the more trouble you can cause, and the more "doors will open." Oh, and we can all pray that one of those doors will hit Judd in the ass.

And now, the immunity challenge. Basically, this is a round game board with tiers, and the general idea is that you step from square to square, turning over the tile you were just standing on. You can move horizontally or vertically. Also, the top level spins, so if you get yourself to the top, you can move your position. Once you run out of places to step, you lose. And Danni's advantage turns out to be the ability to switch places with any player at any time, which is indeed a pretty good advantage if she can figure out what to do with it.

The game progresses pretty logically, and this is exactly the kind of challenge about which I always have nothing to say, so you should really sing quietly to yourself until it's over. Something from Fiddler On The Roof, maybe. Anyway, aside from Cindy's dumb idea to cut her own space in half by running up the middle of her area rather than filling it in slowly, everybody plays relatively straightforwardly. Cindy is first out as a reward for her innovative approach. Just after Jeff notes the big swath of space available to Steph, Danni chooses to switch with Steph, and Steph shakes her head and mutters, as if she has some right to complain or wouldn't do exactly the same thing. I really wish Steph wouldn't act like that, because I'd really like to like her again, and for me to like her, I have to stop wanting to poke her in the eye. Lydia is knocked out second. Rafe is knocked out third. Judd goes out fourth. This leaves Danni and Steph to fight it out, and ultimately, Danni does indeed take it. This would seem to suggest that Steph actually played really well at the beginning of this challenge, since her spot worked out so well for Danni. What she did wrong, of course, was letting Danni get the clue at the auction, because she really did not want Danni to win this immunity. Danni agrees with Jeff that the $200 was "money well spent," and she goes to collect the immunity necklace. I have a feeling there's a subtext of, you know, "I'd rather have this and see my brother...in a week." Jeff tells the rest of the crowd that one of them is going home shortly.

Back at camp, later on Day 33, Steph seems to be over being pissed off at Danni and congratulates her for a "good job" on the immunity challenge. Danni interviews that this immunity was huge for her, because she figured she'd be . She also thinks she may be able to make things even better for herself. Steph and Danni have a very quiet talk in which Danni starts with exactly the right information, which is telling Steph that Judd expressed some lingering anger over the Jamie situation, because that is the one thing that Steph probably fears the most. Indeed, this makes Steph's eyes bug out. Danni also quotes Judd as talking about how they're all "squirrels trying to get a nut," and how everybody has to scramble and so forth, and then she starts to drop the bombs about how Judd was open to the idea of booting power players. Steph wants to know if anyone else was involved in the discussion other than Judd and Lydia, and Danni isolates Judd by saying no. Danni also warns Steph that Judd "acts like he doesn't, but he knows what he's doing." Judd watches a little uncomfortably from afar as Rafe comes up to sit with Steph and Danni.

Steph explains to us in an interview that while she largely believes Judd, she also knows that he's playing the game hard, and has already been caught lying once or twice. "And Danni really hasn't lied at all," Steph says. What's great is that Danni hasn't even lied now. She really let Judd dig his own grave. This week really did showcase some excellent game play for once, and it was all Danni.

Judd sits off by himself (dummy!) and Rafe goes in for a talk with Steph, asking her what the hell is going on. Steph says she's not sure what Judd is thinking, but that he's getting nutty, kind of like Jamie did. Steph also relays to Rafe how Judd was complaining to Lydia about what happened with Jamie. "So we get rid of Judd first?" Steph asks Rafe. "We have to think about it," Rafe says gravely. "'Cause...I mean, that's a big thing to do." Hee. I love this, because Rafe is probably singing on the inside with happiness about getting rid of Judd, because it's been the association with Judd and Jamie that made him feel icky about his alliance all along, so I'm sure he's mighty glad to see this happening. Steph grinds some more corn.

Elaborate millipede shadow puppet.

Steph, Danni, and Rafe all have a chat in which some talk of honesty is thrown around, but the upshot is that nobody really feels like they can predict Judd, and Danni and Rafe don't like Judd, so between Steph's feeling of losing control over him and Rafe's eagerness to be rid of him and Danni's desire to preserve her position, that's a lot of strikes against Judd. In fact, the even better news for Danni is that Steph is now suggesting that, indeed, after Judd goes, they'd boot Lydia, so that the F4 would be Rafe, Steph, Cindy, and Danni. Steph is concerned about a tie, but Rafe is pretty confident that Lydia will go along with a Judd booting. The question arises as to whether to tell Cindy, and nobody seems to know what to do about that. It seems like they must suspect that Judd and Cindy have some sort of a bond, but honestly, there's not a great reason to tell her. If you all agree not to tell her and this works out the way you think it's going to, then she can't really hold it against anyone come F4, because you're all equally to blame, right? Steph voices over that in her heart, she wants to boot Lydia because she and Judd have been close, but she's not going to keep someone who's going to "slit [Steph's] throat" just because she likes hanging out with him. I'm kind of baffled by the fact that she enjoys hanging out with Judd (man), but...whatever. Steph explains to Rafe and Danni that although she and Judd are pals, she's not going to keep him around when he may be thinking about turning on her. Danni reports to us that it seems to be going well with her plan to "rat Judd out." I have to say, it's nice to see a woman that skinny look that radiant when smiling, because it makes her look a lot less creepy. She is all bones, but she really doesn't look unhealthy to me, because she doesn't so much have the sunken eyes and so forth.

Back at camp, Judd and Lydia have a chat, and Lydia muses that Danni sure did win immunity on the very day she needed it. She tells Judd that she's happy to give her vote if anyone needs it, and otherwise, she'll go quietly. Judd tells Lydia that nobody is safe. Lydia then goes off with Rafe and tells him just what she told Judd -- if anybody needs her vote, she's available. And then, Judd's voice drifts in from off-camera, sort of offhandedly, saying, "Oh, yeah, Lydia, I need you not to vote for me tonight." She and Rafe look up in surprise, and Judd comes over and says, more seriously, "I would appreciate if you didn't vote for me." This all gets highly uncomfortable as Judd tells Lydia that she asked him first whether he needed her vote, and now he's saying he does, and he wants her not to vote for him. Judd goes on to tell Steph that Lydia is ready to go. Judd reports how he told Lydia that it could be him, even though he knows it won't be. It's not quite clear to me whether Judd has any sense that anything is amiss -- he really did seem to be after Lydia to promise her vote, but on the other hand, when talking to Steph, he seemed to think he was safe. And...later events do not suggest he sensed peril here.

The group leaves for tribal council, and Judd says that he'll miss Lydia around camp, but adds, "One other person goes, I move up, so...no hard feelings." Nice of him to declare that other people have no hard feelings. He interviews that he's happy someone's leaving: "As long as it ain't me, man, I'll always have a smile on my face."

Tribal council. The group files in and sits. We bring in the jury -- Bobby Jon, Jamie, and Gary. Danni looks over at Gary affectionately. Jeff asks about the loved ones, and asks Steph how great it was to see Mike. Steph confirms that it was "really awesome." She says that Mike thought it was tough. Jeff asks Danni about the immunity challenge, and she grins as she explains that she was determined to get the advantage as soon as she saw it come up at the auction. She also adds that she's only cried twice -- when she got spaghetti, and when she got immunity. Hee. I notice that Steph, Lydia, and Cindy are all smiling as Danni is talking -- she certainly does seem to have earned less wrath from others than her fellow survivors. I would think that she, right now, is the person you do not want to face in an F2 situation unless you can get her to really alienate a lot of people between now and the end of the road.

Asked to reflect on how the voting becomes harder, Cindy says that you have to think in terms of who has what alliances, and about how that affects your game. Furthermore, whoever goes home is going to have a jury vote, so you have to think about that. Jeff asks Rafe about how things will be different with five people, and Rafe says that you have to follow your gut feeling about whom to trust, because only that will get you to the end. Blah blah blah, I've heard all of this before. Move along! Let's get rid of someone! Jeff asks Steph how important it is to control the way people are voted out, and Steph gives a surprisingly cogent response by saying that she thinks the most important thing is that, when you vote people off, you be able to explain yourself. I don't know if she and I would mean the same thing by this, but I've had this conversation with one of my Survivor pals many times -- that we wish someone would just get to F2 and explain their votes without apology. "You, I voted out because you weren't in my alliance. You, I heard from so-and-so, intended to vote out strong players, and I was afraid that would mean me." And so forth. Just vote strategically and then explain why you thought that vote was strategic. It might not work, but I'm surprised it's never even been tried, really. When you start apologizing for the personal implications of your vote, you implicitly accept that your vote is personal, you know? At any rate, that's Steph's thinking -- that you just need to be able to explain what you did.

Steph talks about how the group is like family, and this seems to make Judd roll his eyes. When asked about this "family" dynamic, Judd goes into the following rant: "I'll tell you what, to be honest with you, no matter what they all say, everybody wants somebody to go home. So, you know, they're sitting here making believe like, 'Oh, man, it's gonna stink,' and...that's not the case, man. Everybody wants somebody to go home. That's the bottom line. That's what we're here for. I mean, the only way you move on is somebody goes home. No hard feelings, but...deal with it. That's basically the way I look at it. If somebody goes home, that's better for me. You've just got to trust and love the ones you're with right now." At this last comment, Steph closes her eyes. I think she's shocked that he didn't say "man" more times.

Jeff verifies that Danni will not be giving up immunity, and then it is time to vote. Rafe votes. Danni votes for Judd, saying that she's sorry about this, but that she's got to do what she's got to do. Cindy votes. Judd votes for "Lidia": "Hey, Lydia. You sang and you danced your way right out of the jungle. Adios." Steph votes. Jeff goes off to tally.

First vote goes to Judd. He looks not too upset. Second vote goes to Lydia. Third to Lydia. A second one for Judd, but that doesn't seem to upset him too much, as he perhaps knows that Danni might have joined Lydia to try to upset the apple cart. Cindy doesn't look too damn pleased, either. Steph braces herself. The vote? "Juddinator." Judd's head turns at this one. Aaaand...the thirteenth person voted off is...Judd. Judd pops up from his seat and goes to get his torch, passing behind the group and sarcastically saying, "Thanks, guys. I hope you guys all get bit by a freakin' crocodile." Gary sits up attentively, enjoying the show and wearing a very interesting "Well, now!" sort of expression. "Scumbags," Judd mutters like the good sport he is. He goes over to get his torch snuffed. And as he walks off, Judd mutters "scumbags" again. He's just dealing with it. That's basically the way he looks at it. No hard feelings! I actually would have cheered for anyone who had hollered, "No hard feelings!" as he was leaving. Instead, everyone tries to look guilty. When Judd is blissfully gone, Jeff says, "You can no longer rely on what used to be," which is pretty much what he says every week. I think it's some kind of weird irony. And then he sends the contestants home. What a lovely and satisfying booting that was.

Judd's exit interview is everything you would hope for, complete with talk about how he never lied ("the idol is on the ground") and how the remaining contestants are "scumbags." He promises he'll have a lot to say when he's on the jury, which...I suspect, sadly, is quite true.

week: Cindy feels left out. Strategy changes. "The tribe is shocked with an awful dilemma." That sounds kind of good.