This trend continues up until the merge, at which point Russell's tribe is outnumbered 8-4. Seems like an impossible situation. Well, luckily for him, Erik from the other tribe is pissing everybody off, so they all figure that even if they vote him out they'll still be up 7-4, so they go ahead and do it. Then at the next tribal council, when Russell is the boot target, he pulls out a hidden immunity idol and votes out Kelly. Now they're down 6-4, but they're in luck, because Shambo has finally decided that she no longer wants to be associated with her old tribe, so she joins Russell and crew and it's now tied, 5-5. All they need is one person to flop and Russell convinces John that if he doesn't break the tie, he could go home because of the Purple Rock tiebreaker. This convinces John to flip his vote and the 6 of them get rid of Laura. Russell now has a 6-3 advantage over Brett, Dave and Monica. Surely one of them should go next, right? Nope. Russell decides that even after John helped him out the night before, it's time for him to go. Jaison is skeptical about this because Shambo wants to get rid of Dave, and if they don't do that then she'll be pissed off at them, rejoin her old tribe and they'll be tied again. Russell insists though and they get rid of John. Shambo feels hurt but hates Dave and Monica enough to never side with them.
Next episode is a double boot and since Brett has immunity, Dave and Monica go down. Brett also wins immunity in the next episode, so Russell has to let his pal Shambo go. Now only Brett stands in the way of Russell, Mick, Natalie and Jaison coming back from an 8-4 disadvantage and making a clean getaway to the final four. At this point I'm really mixed on Russell. Part of me is rooting for him to win because he's played a good strategic game, and part of me is rooting for him to lose because he's such an ass hat.
In the finale, Brett wins immunity at the final five, forcing the Foa Foa Four to finally eat one of their own. They choose Jaison because he isn't going to help them beat Brett in the final immunity challenge. Very fittingly, the final challenge comes down to Russell and Brett. Brett's stack falls after a long time and Russell wins final immunity. They go to tribal council and obviously vote out Brett because all of his friends are on the jury and there's no way he won't win. So we have the final three of Russell, Natalie and Mick. Mick was feckless and didn't even know what it meant, and Russell was an ass hat, so Natalie, who didn't do much all game, wins by default. Now, I'm glad Russell lost, but I don't totally hate him because he played a decent game, even if it did primarily involve him just threatening others to do what he wanted and, if the rumors are true, some producer interference. But his post-show actions are what really get me.
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