TRIBAL COUNCIL
Jeff asks Ralph what it's like to have 12 people in one camp. Ralph says it's rough, like two teams. No talking. One way and the other.
Rob says it's crazy, nobody says anything to each other.
Jeff asks David if this is what he expected. He says it's odd. They got the bad side of the shelter, Ometepe was under the tarp, they got the palm fronds, and were soaking wet within 5 minutes.
Ashley cuts in saying they won the tarp. David says that they won a challenge where her opponent didn't try.
Jeff asks him if he means they threw the challenge, David says yes.
Phillip says that's the distinction between the tribes. David gets annoyed. Phillip gets annoyed with David interrupting. Phillip says Ometepe would never "not try". He then alludes to some Zapatera as being vile. Everyone laughs at the comment. Phillip looks proud.
Ashley says it is two different tribes, but she doesn't dislike any of them as people. Everyone is just being loyal.
Jeff says to Matt that he's fresh back into the game and he comes into this. Matt says it was easier on RI, not having people around. Says he's had some wild tribal councils, having a funny feeling about the place.
Jeff asks Mike about the numbers, with Matt in the middle. Mike says Matt is in the middle, the big vote. He says they're gonna see where everyone stands after this vote.
Jeff asks Ralph what he does to convince Matt. Ralph says be good to him, tell him they'll take him farther, his old tribe voted him out once, they'll do it again.
Jeff says to Matt that it's a fair argument. Matt says it's fair, that he's on the bottom at Ometepe, and that he's starting to see the whole picture.
No votes are revealed, but a lot of time is spent on Matt's contemplation of who to vote for. (We also get to see Matt/Andrea being paired with the twin tree frogs again, having Andrea go up and vote, then the tree frogs shown, and then Matt goes up... yay frogs)
Ralph plays his HII on Mike.
Matt gets voted out 6-5-1, with his lone vote on Steve.
We hear Steve say "let the fireworks begin", David say "genius is what that was", and Julie say "that poor kid."
Jeff leaves them saying that that was a first, but now Matt is heading to RI and one of the 11 of them will be facing him next, and forgiveness... not gonna be on his mind.
Matt arrives on RI saying he doesn't know what happened. He put his trust in God, but God's Will was contradictory to what he wanted. He likes everyone but they don't want to be his friend, and apparently he's just not very good at this game.
- The Characters -
It really doesn't take a lot to figure who's in contention and who's dead in the water. But, for the sake of analysis, let's recap:
Julie - She told us about the merge feast. There's no substance here.
Mike - Stepped up to be the leader of Zapatera - but this is probably the worst time to do that. Down in numbers at the merge. He's ready to fight Boston Rob but all signs point to him losing that battle. In one confessional, he tells us he has to make a move to avoid BRob taking him out. He then later talks about how he may be going to RI. He absorbed a bit of Matt's Christianity story which may bode well if he were to face Matt. Mike vs. Matt on RI, possible? Either way, Mike is going there.
David - Had no confessionals, very little screen time, a terrible merge episode. Bad timing to drop into the background. He's with Zapatera.
Steve - He highlights the food, which, if that's all he has, isn't very telling. However, he also indicated that Zapatera is a dead tribe when talking about the rain hitting only the Zap members at night. He said that if Andrea and Matt don't flip, they're dead. Andrea and Matt didn't flip, so they're dead.