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This week there's a combo reward/immunity challenge, which means we've got plenty of time to fill. Fortunately, Rob does the editors a favor and gives them lots of material by doing all the work for his tribe before going off into the woods and either passing out or falling asleep. It looked to me like the latter, but he claims it was the former, but when the Survivor medics (and Probst, for some reason) swoop in and check him out, they say he's fine and don't pull him out of the game. Which is good, since the Villains need him for the challenge, where the Heroes once again take the lead in the physical section, only to lose it all to the Villains in the puzzle part. James immediately decides that Stephenie is at fault for the loss, since she was one of the many egos trying to take control of the puzzle section. He just can't shut up about it, yelling at her during the challenge, immediately afterwards, back at camp, and then, in a particularly ugly display, at Tribal Council. Tom and Colby stick up for their alliancemate against James, but they don't get the support of swing votes Cirie and Candice, who vote with the other alliance against Stephenie. Also, Li'l Russell killed a chicken.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!I can already tell that this episode is going to be chock-full of filler based on the extended "previously on" segment that recaps last week's episode, which was also packed with filler. It ends with a lie that Sugar was voted out because she didn't do well on the immunity challenge puzzle when it seemed pretty obvious to me that she was voted out for one of a thousand other reasons. Then we go to Camp Evil on Night 3, where it is pouring. Everyone is soaked and complains about the conditions. Well, everyone except Douche, who as we all know can withstand anything, and Rob, who would rather complain about his tribemates' lack of work around camp that caused their shelter to be so inadequate in the first place. "Again, I'm on the buffoon tribe," he sighs. The morning, Jerri and Douche check out the romantic sunrise before the tribe gets to work on improving their shelter. Randy interviews that this is the tribe's fourth or fifth attempt at a shelter, with each design being successively worse and less water-proof. Parvati argues with Rob over the shelter design while Li'l Russell mutters something about how she should shut up so as not to piss off Rob. But it's too late, and he walks off in a huff. Courtney interviews that Rob is the "bright shining star" of their tribe of fools, so she hopes he doesn't die or anything. Between that comment and the "break her shoulder" she yelled last week right before Stephenie's shoulder popped out of its socket, I'm starting to wonder if Courtney has psychic powers. She steps up and makes suggestions about the structural integrity of their shelter design, causing Randy to mutter to Tyson about how a "waitress from New York City" doesn't know much about construction work. Unlike, say, a videographer from Missouri or a bicyclist from Utah, both of whose hometowns and occupations indicate that they are more than qualified to build shelters.
The Heroes, meanwhile, are working well together, or so the epic score that heralds their segment would have us believe. Tom and James carry huge logs through the woods while Colby drags a leaf or two. James, who lest we forget was voted out of his first season with two immunity idols and had to be medically evacuated from his second because of a cut on his finger, interviews that they're some of the "greatest" Survivors this game has ever seen. Rupert, meanwhile, mutters to himself about how he loves watching his tribe work. Watching is about all he appears to be doing, as he certainly isn't contributing with any work of his own. Rupert then interviews that it's good for his "game" to get rid of Stephenie as soon as possible. With that, Stephenie's attempt to make coconut popcorn fails to meet Rupert's high standards. Rupert apparently is unable to make the popcorn himself, most likely due to his broken toe. Stephenie interviews that Rupert and his opinions "about everything" are starting to annoy her. She thinks he's overplaying the "hero" role the show assigned him. "It's Day Four, like ... whoa," she Myas.
Clearly, nothing interesting is happening with the Heroes, so we return to the Villains, who are still trying to figure out how to build their shelter. Rob goes off to get some water, saying he's not feeling well. He interviews that he should have just taken control of the shelter and been a dictator from the get-go, but this time he tried to be diplomatic, which has gotten him nowhere. He tells Sandra that he's done with trying to help his tribemates, three of whom are currently hanging out on the beach and complaining about how the Heroes tribe is full of buff, strong guys while they have Randy. Rob walks off into the woods as Jerri and Douche watch. Douche says Rob seems to be having a "meltdown," hastening to point out that Douche himself remains mentally strong. It's kind of amazing how Douche can turn Rob walking into the woods into a statement about Douche's own inner strength.
And then the camera didn't get a shot of Rob's actual collapse, so they had to make it up. Jerri supposedly happens upon Rob lying in the woods with a towel under his head and his shoes at his side and wanders over to him, begging him to open his eyes. Jerri is a better actress than Rob is, as he weakly asks her to "get help," like we're supposed to believe the camera crew didn't radio for help as soon as Rob collapsed, but just left him there and waited until an actual contestant found him. Jerri interviews that she "saw the whole thing," although we aren't told exactly what "the whole thing" was. Jerri walks off to get help for Rob, as if turning to the camera guy and saying "HELP" wouldn't be enough. No, they want us to think that the only way Rob could get the medical assistance he required was if Jerri could summon Probst and the medical team all on her own. Since when did Probst stop by the camp for medical emergencies? He usually makes the contestants wait until after a challenge to be medevac'd. I guess his luxury hotel isn't too far away from the Villains' camp. Also, that whole segment we just saw was made-up bullshit, which is kind of surprising to me since I worked on this show and it used to be one of the most "real" reality shows out there. If they didn't get the footage -- for instance, the time Tom caught and killed that shark, the camera crew was busy filming Ian stubbing his toe and therefore missed one of the most survival-esque moments in Survivor history, OOPS -- they didn't go back and re-enact it. They just didn't have it and the contestants had to describe what happened in interviews instead. Apparently, that's not the case anymore.
After the break, we see what I believe is the "real" footage of the event. Rob is propped up against a tree and conscious. He's given a nice, cold bottle of water to drink (up until now, have we ever seen a contestant given bottled water who wasn't then evacuated? It does happen, but this is the first time I think the show has actually acknowledged it), which he has trouble holding in his shaky hands. He interviews that he doesn't remember much of what happened due to being unconscious. Does a nap count as being unconscious? Apparently on this show it does. Because if Rob was really unconscious, I'd think that's enough of a medical emergency for him to be pulled from the game, and yet, it's the doctor's (a different doctor this time -- did that last lady finally quit or did they fire her for having no idea how to prevent contestants injuries from turning into horrible infections?) opinion that Rob "looks worse than he is." Rob says he feels better now, and starts crying. "I feel like it's getting the best of me," he sobs, making sure the camera is in nice and tight for the close-up of his tears. He then says he's going to win this game and Probst laughs, as Rob is back to his old self again. Rob interviews that he had a "moment of clarity" then, and realized that by trying so hard to be a good guy to his tribe, he made himself "physically sick." He's ready to be the villain he thinks everyone wants him to be. With that, he needs Probst to help him to his feet. He interviews that he just had "the flu" and "crybabyitis," but is okay to stay in the game. Probst leaves him to it. I have no idea what really happened there, but I sincerely doubt that Rob could have stayed in the game if he actually had the flu. I don't know of one case of the flu where it didn't knock the person who got it on his ass for days, leaving him in no condition to play a physically demanding game like this. And yet, Rob just drank some magic bottled water and all is well.
He returns to camp, where his tribemates are already aware that something happened to him and happy to see him return. They hug him, which can't be a good idea if he actually does have the flu (which he doesn't) because as bad as it is for the only capable person in your tribe to get the flu, it's even worse if you also get the flu. So stay the hell away from him and his flu germs. Rob tells his tribe that he had a migraine combined with heat and exhaustion but should be fine in 48 hours. But I thought he had the flu? Now he has a migraine? This makes no sense, so let's just throw in an interview from Li'l Russell, who says he's happy that Rob is okay because even a villain like Li'l Russell cares a little bit about his fellow man. As long as it's a man.
And then it's time for a combo reward/immunity challenge! Good thing Rob collapsed, thus giving the editors a good ten minutes of filler for an otherwise empty episode. The Villains do not seem surprised to see that Sugar was voted out last night. We do not get to see Randy's reaction to the ouster of his past nemesis, which is a wasted opportunity. What the hell, editors? Did you forget that Randy and Sugar hate each other? It was only a year ago, and it's not like you guys do anything other than edit this show year after year. Come on. Probst explains today's challenge, which is yet another recycled challenge from a past season. And since it looks like every single challenge this season is going to be recycled, I see no reason why I should have to recap the rules again. Instead, I can just link to the recap of the original challenge, like so. If the challenge people can't be bothered to do some actual work this season and think of something new, then why should I? At stake will be immunity and a very nice reward: a waterproof tarp.
Probst says that because the teammates have to run out for the cubes in pairs, they must even up the tribes by having the Villains sit out two people and the Heroes sit out one. Wait, what? Why sit out anyone at all? There are six blocks, so even the tribe that has all 10 members will have to have two members going out for a crate twice. Why not have the Heroes tribe, with 9 members, have to send 3 people out a second time? Or just make the Villains sit out one person so they have the same number of teammates for the puzzle section of the challenge. But it doesn't make sense that both tribes have to sit people out, especially since they knew this was going to be the second immunity challenge and thus, assuming that no one quit or was injured out of the game, it would be 10 against 9. It makes no sense to me. Even more confusing, despite the fact that Rob is so sick with "the flu," he is not one of the Villains chosen to sit out. Instead, it's Randy and Courtney, neither of whom lost consciousness this episode that we know of. What the hell? As for the Heroes, someone says that one of their strongest players "has to sit out." Why? Shouldn't all of their strongest players be in a challenge that requires physical strength to push those crates and lift them into the staircase? Rupert assumes that by "one of our strongest players," they mean him and volunteers to sit out, sounding disappointed. Probst points that out, and Rupert says his broken toe is keeping him from participating in the challenge. Unlike Stephenie's shoulder, which I'm sure is just fine for rolling and lifting giant wooden crates. The teams have a quick strategy session, where Amanda and Stephenie are shown suggesting that J.T. should lead them through this challenge since he's done it before. "One voice," Tom says. How soon he will regret those words.
Probst says go, and the first two teams -- Cirie and J.T. and Danielle and Rob, who totally doesn't have the flu -- are off. J.T. and Cirie get their crate back first while Rob and Danielle struggle a bit with theirs. Tom and Candice then make their way back with the second crate, followed by Tyson and Sandra, who seem to be moving even slower than Rob and Danielle were. Colby and Stephenie are back with the third crate as Douche and Jerri take off to get their tribe's third crate. Probst takes a second to admire the ease with which James appears to get his crate back to the mat. Shut up, Probst. Parvati, meanwhile, appears to get nailed in the face with a corner of her and Li'l Russell's crate. As Rob and Tyson roll their crate back, Randy suggests that they roll it over Rupert's toe. Then he and Courtney sit on their bench and laugh because they are awesome. Can we just have them sit on a bench and comment about the show as it unfolds instead of actually participating in it? And then Eliza can sit to them and be so shocked all the time. Best show ever.
The Heroes get all of their crates back first, of course, though the Villains are not too far behind. Soon, both tribes are working on their puzzles. Tom appears to take control for the Heroes, telling them what piece he thinks they're looking for to be on the very bottom, while J.T., whose voice was supposed to be the only one, is silent. The Villains, on the other hand, work together with Rob leading them as they place one block at a time. Soon, the Villains have only two blocks left to place while the Heroes are standing around looking lost, their puzzle nowhere near completion. At one point, Rob lifts a crate with just his back even though he has the flu (which he doesn't). The Heroes, meanwhile, appear to have the first part of the puzzle solved but can't figure out the rest. I'm not sure why. Stephenie seems to think one block is out of place, although it looks right to me. Colby agrees with her, and they move the block with Stephenie letting everyone know that she knew the answer to the puzzle from the beginning but no one would listen to her until now. Because that's what you want to hear when your team is losing: an I told you so. As for the Villains, they have just one block left to place, but it's the very highest one and they're pretty weak, so it could be a while before they're able to get it there. The Heroes decide that the new placement of a block (which appears to be the one Stephenie suggested) is wrong, and J.T. angrily says they had it right in the first place. Rupert, who has done absolutely nothing to help his tribe whatsoever in this challenge, puts his head in his hands. "Y'all need to listen. One voice," James starts to say. And like most things James says, he's going to say this over and over and over again for the rest of the episode and probably several more to come. While the Villains continue to lift their final piece into place, J.T. and Stephenie argue until James screams at them to shut up. The Heroes just sit around looking defeated as the Villains, their final piece now in place, climb to the top of their staircase for the win. They're so happy about it that Courtney hugs Randy while Rob, spent, dramatically collapses from the flu he doesn't have.
The Heroes, meanwhile, continue to argue with each other. James yells at his tribe for not listening to J.T. and thus causing them to lose. Stephenie immediately says that she was listening. James says everyone was talking when it should have been "one voice." I guess I agree with that in theory, but it's kind of difficult in practice when the "one voice" you're supposed to be listening to sounds like it's coming from a mouth full of marbles. That is when it's doing any talking in the first place. Stephenie interviews that she doesn't appreciate James talking to her like that, but she has to bite her lip about it or else become an even bigger target than she knows she already is, thanks to Rupert's dislike of her. I like how she guesses that one reason why Rupert wants her gone is because she "threatens his popularity," as if Stephenie or Rupert are all that popular anymore or could have ever possibly been as popular in the outside world as they clearly are in their own minds. "I'm just trying to say as little as possible," Stephenie claims, although so far, she's said quite a lot. With that, Probst gives the Villains their idol and reward and tells them to head out. As the Heroes do another slow-motion walk of shame, James tells us that no one in the history of this show besides Stephenie has managed to lose her entire tribe coming into the merge, and so she must be the reason why the Heroes are losing now. He calls her "kryptonite" and says she needs to go.
The Heroes return to camp. The text now announces that it's Day 5, so I guess Rob could have been sick and still able to perform so well in the challenge after all, since he had a day to rest up and get better. J.T. interviews that he stepped up to lead his group in the puzzle part of the challenge, only for some people (we cut to a shot of Stephenie) to try to take control as well. To his tribe, though, he takes full responsibility because he wants to hear them all say that it wasn't his fault because people weren't listening to him. Rupert puts in his two cents about how the Villains won because Rob stepped up and took control and his tribe listened to him. I wish someone would bring up how, despite not feeling well, Rob participated in the challenge because he knew his team needed him. Rupert, on the other hand, let his team down by sitting out because of his broken toe. James and Amanda say that everyone should have listened to J.T., with James repeating his stupid new "one voice!" mantra that he didn't even make up himself. He says he was angry that some people got "defensive" when he started yelling and screaming at them instead of taking responsibility for how their actions contributed to the team's loss. "I ain't never lost this much in my life!" he says. Dude, you only lost, like, twice. I'm sure you've lost more than that in your life. Shut up. Tom interviews that he really doubts that James has been "a winner [his] whole life" and says he'd love to school James on what really makes a winner, but he can't for fear of being voted out.
Meanwhile, things are just getting better at Camp Evil, thanks to the arrival of the tarp. One of the useless women comments that it matches her outfit, which we all know it doesn't since the tarp is green and the Villains all have to wear red clothes. Douche credits Rob for the tribe's victory as Rob returns to the camp with a clam he caught while fishing. "You can touch my clam," he tells Jerri, who laughs. Rob is so awesome! He's funny and strong and smart and catches food! Even Douche respects him! Who doesn't like Rob? Well, Li'l Russell isn't a fan. He doesn't like how everyone thinks Rob is in charge and decides to show the tribe that he can do good stuff, too. Fortunately, another chicken escaped from that guy's backyard and stupidly wanders near the Villain camp. Li'l Russell catches and kills it off-camera. "They tryin' to catch fish? You gotta catch real food," Li'l Russell says to us, holding his chicken aloft. Well, that's easy when you happen to be on an island full of stupid slow chickens. Meanwhile, I don't think Rob even knows who Li'l Russell is, so this rivalry is clearly in Li'l Russell's own mind and his mind only.
Back at Camp Doom and Gloom, James is going on and on about how Stephenie is a loser and her entire tribe got eliminated. Except that when she played the game a second time, she made it all the way to the end. In James's second time playing this game, he was felled by a cut on his finger. Also, Stephenie was voted out her first time without any immunity idols in her possession, while James was voted out with two. J.T. listens to James and looks troubled. He says that this vote will be different than the last one, because how he votes will determine whose side he is on for the rest of this game. Either he takes Cirie and Candice (who he apparently thinks he has control over) over to the James/Amanda/Rupert alliance or he takes them to the Colby/Tom/Stephenie alliance. Rupert mutters something to J.T. about how the loss today was partially his fault because he didn't "push harder to be in the challenge." Um, how was he pushing to be in the challenge at all when he immediately jumped up and volunteered to sit out? Why is half of the Heroes tribe delusional? I'm starting to worry that they ate some magic mushrooms or something.
Colby sees J.T. and Rupert talking and tells Tom and Stephenie. They assume that J.T. is in Rupert's alliance, leaving them as the three outsiders. Tom interviews that he no longer sees J.T. as an ally, then tells his alliance that the boot order will be Stephenie, Tom, and then Colby if they can't turn things around. He thinks their best bet is to get Cirie and Candice on their side by convincing them that they'll be the to go after Stephenie. It sounds like a great plan until Tom reveals that he's targeting Amanda. Yes, Amanda, who he has to know played this game with Cirie only a few seasons back so it might not be a good idea to ask her to vote Amanda of all people out. Why not Rupert, who sucks at everything and doesn't have a pre-existing alliance with anyone?
After the break, there are still 15 minutes to go in this episode. Holy Christ, would it have been that difficult for the challenge team to recycle two challenges from past seasons instead of just one so we wouldn't have to deal with all this filler? It's not even character-development filler, which I would like. It's the same thing over and over again. Oh, except now we're supposed to believe it's Day 6, even though I don't think we've ever seen a Tribal Council happen a day and a half AFTER the challenge. It's always the same day and it's the same day this time, too, but the editors want us to believe it isn't for some reason. Whatever. Stephenie tells Cirie and Candice that if they don't team up with her and vote Amanda out, then they'll be the to go. Stephenie interviews that she's just trying to "get rid of the weakest first," as if the weakest person on the tribe isn't Cirie or Candice or Rupert but just happens to be James's ally. She promises Cirie that she'll be if she doesn't do something tonight. Cirie just nods and appears to consider everything Stephenie is saying.
Later on, Tom heads out into the woods with Candice and tells her the same thing that Stephenie did: that she and Cirie are to go. "I think we've got a better deal for you," he says. Candice interviews that she's not so sure about that, since no matter which alliance she picks, she'll be at the bottom of it. Then shouldn't she pick Tom's alliance, since it has one fewer person in it and thus she'll be in the Top 5 rather than the Top 6? Or even the Top 4 if they like her more than Cirie, which there's no chance will happen with the other alliance since Cirie knows Amanda and James pretty well? For that matter, I can't figure out why J.T. decided to side with James over Tom when James is stronger than Tom and thus more likely to beat J.T. in an individual immunity challenge and Tom has won the game before. Candice tells Tom that she has to vote according to "what's best for [her]." Tom says he can guarantee that with his other alliance someone will be voted out before her, and she can't get that promise from them. Except that I'm sure she can. Why not? He leaves her by saying that he, Stephenie, and Colby are writing Amanda's name down tonight and he hopes she and Cirie will, too.
Cirie and Candice sit on a log together and try to figure out their move. "Once this decision is made, all the cards are out," Cirie says. Just to add some suspense to the mix, she claims that she's not as tight with Amanda and James as people seem to think she is, since Amanda "cost [her] a million dollars" when she chose to take Parvati to the end instead of Cirie. More like Cirie cost herself a million dollars by not being able to balance a marble on a piece of wood, but whatever. Candice and Cirie decide that they need each other in this game and they have some "common denominators," as Cirie says, busting out the math speak. My love for her thus decreases somewhat due to it being inversely proportional to my hatred of mathematics. Candice asks Cirie what their move will be. Cirie says she doesn't really care as long as they're safe. Which they somehow are because Cirie has made herself the crucial swing vote ONCE AGAIN in this game. And yet, they voted Sugar out last week and either Amanda or Stephenie this week. Real smart, guys.
The Heroes climb the staircase to Tribal Council and take their seats. Probst talks to J.T. first, pointing out that the "mistfit Villains" are kicking the Heroes' asses. J.T. agrees that it's embarrassing and takes the blame for losing the immunity challenge today (or yesterday, if you believe the editors) before making sure to point out that no one would listen to him while everyone listened to Rob on the Villains' side. He says maybe he should have yelled at his group to shut up the way Rob did. I didn't see Rob scream at his group to shut up, actually. I saw him kindly apologize to someone for talking over her, but that's about it. Probst then turns to James and says he's never seen him look as frustrated as he was at the end of the challenge. James has only two things to say and he's going to repeat them over and over again, so I'm not surprised when he starts blathering on about "one voice" and how when he tried "make sure" that everybody was "being quiet" (after the challenge was over, so what was the point in that?), a "certain individual" just had to speak up and say that she was being quiet. Probst, of course, asks James to specify. James says it was Stephenie, then continues to tell us what he just said, which is that he was telling everyone to be quiet and she spoke up and said she was being quiet even though he wasn't talking to her specifically. Stephenie finally speaks up to say that this was after the challenge was over, and James was looking at her when he said "hey y'all," so she thought he was talking to her. Cirie and Tom, meanwhile, look uncomfortable because they are way too old for this. "Your name is not y'all," James says. Stephenie says she just doesn't understand why James is blaming her for the team losing the challenge when this all happened after the challenge was over. "Baby, it's not about you," James says; "it's really not. No matter how much you want it to be and how much you crave it to be, darling, it's not about you." Rupert just smirks because he knows, inside, that it's all about him. Stephenie tells James to "move on" and stop talking about her if it's not about her. James says he's just answering Probst's question, then moves onto his only other talking point, which is that Stephenie lost her entire tribe during her first season. Stephenie says she thought it wasn't about her, so why is he bringing this up? James says that it's Stephenie's fault that he's talking about her now because she spoke up when he was talking to "y'all," even though his "y'all" was clearly meant to mean Stephenie.
Finally, Colby speaks up. "You just attacked her. You expect her to sit here and not defend herself?" That's a good point. "Just let it be, bro," Colby says. You know your tribe has problems when freaking Colby is the voice of reason. James says time he'll say "the two of y'all" so that Stephenie won't think he's just addressing her. Tom suddenly speaks up with "make it three of them all," because he'll be damned if Colby is going to be the only one defending Stephenie here. He already has the million dollars, so he's much better off being voted out early for turning people against him (who were already against him anyway) by heroically coming to a damsel in distress's aid than he is staying quiet. Tom says the alliances in their tribe are what they are and everyone knows it, so there's no point in James "bullying" Stephenie now. Amanda, meanwhile, is sitting between James and Tom and this is the perfect opportunity for her to make an awesome "AWKWARD!" face, but she just looks blank and clueless like always. James denies bullying Stephenie, but Tom says that when Probst asked him to name "y'all," he said Stephenie, so yeah, he is bullying her. James thinks that Stephenie brought attention onto herself by being overly defensive when he started screaming at everyone, thus indicating to him that she had something to feel guilty about. Of course, he doesn't put things as clearly as that so he just continues to sound like an asshole.
Tom gives up here, saying that James is living in his own world where people's words mean different things than they do in Tom's world. "This is unbelievable," Stephenie says, like anyone asked for her opinion. Probst certainly didn't, as Stephenie is not a man. Colby is a man, so Probst asks him if the tribe's discord on Day 6 is "alarming." Colby says it's early in the game for people to start being more concerned about saving themselves than saving the team as a whole. Not when you're playing with Cirie, it isn't! Probst finally talks to Stephenie, asking if she's worried that the fact that she played with Tom in the past will count against her. Stephenie says she is, but reminds the group that during the Palau season, Stephenie was in an opposing tribe for most of the game and Tom "cut [her] throat" after the merge. Well, not really, but whatever you have to say to convince everyone that you and Tom aren't in an alliance even though Tom pretty much just proved that you were by speaking up on your behalf. Probst then asks Cirie how she can "deflect" the fact that she played the game with James and Amanda. I think she should answer "by not being the guy walking around screaming 'one voice' at everyone or the girl who came in second place two seasons in a row like a dumbass," but she doesn't. She just says that Amanda cut her throat like Tom cut Stephenie's while Amanda makes yet another poor me pity face.
For her part, Amanda says that she's "legitimately concerned" that her new glasses won't make her look as smart as she's hoping they will. Oh, and also that people will think she's in an alliance with people she played the game with before. She says she knows her name has been bounced around as a possible boot, which makes her nervous. All she can do is hope she put her trust in the right people. Yes, people like Mr. ONEVOICE, Permanently Disabled Rupert, Unintelligible J.T., Jedi Mind Trick Cirie, and Anonymous Candice. And yet, Amanda somehow makes it to the end every single time! I don't know how, but I am impressed. In fact, while I don't want Stephenie to be voted out tonight (especially after James's behavior did nothing but put me firmly in Camp Stephenie, Colby, and Tom), I also don't want Amanda to go home yet because a big part of me is really hoping she makes it to the end again and loses again. It's like a Survivor tradition. Rupert, on the other hand, can go home ANYTIME.
Speaking of Rupert, he's somehow able to walk to the voting booth despite his toe being broken worse than any other toe has been in the history of toes. We don't see who he votes for. Stephenie votes for Amanda, saying, "it's the plan, you're the weakest." Amanda votes for Stephenie. Probst returns with the urn. He reads Stephenie and Amanda's votes for each other first, then one for "Stef," one for Amanda, a third for Stephenie and a third for Amanda (who has no reaction to this), and a fourth for Stephenie. So those are the alliance votes. Now it's time for the moment of truth! Stephenie looks down and shakes her head, looking pretty defeated. And then she's voted out. Cirie couldn't vote Amanda out after all. And just when I start feeling sorry for Stephenie and angry about how this all went down, she turns back to her tribe as Probst snuffs her torch and says "just some advice: time 'y'all' lose a challenge, a little less cursing off your tribe might help." And just when I'm starting to think that her tribe did the right thing in voting her last-word-needing egomaniac self out, James reminds me what a complete asshole he is by saying "keep your mouth shut." So unnecessary. You voted her out, isn't that enough? "Aw, come on," Tom says. "It's been a pleasure," Stephenie says, because after all that, she STILL just has to get the last word. Too bad she didn't let that be her Final Two finish in Guatemala.