Survivor Heroes and Villains April 15/10

We join our little band of Villains on Night 21. They are returning from Tribal Council having sent Coach to Nirvana or Valhalla or wherever the hell people like Coach go (actually he just went to the jury but where's the fun in that?). Jerri is stunned, having had no idea her ally and main squeeze (eww)was on his way out. Now, she tells us, she will stay true to her alliance with Russell and Parvati and hope they take care of her. Meanwhile the EGG man is telling us that Courtney and Sandra can't be trusted and that one of them must be the next villainous branches to be pruned.

Day 22 brings tree mail promising a reward challenge requiring endurance and a tolerance for pain. A brief description of the challenge reveal that is one played on Survivor Trocantins. Survivors perch barefooted on narrow footholds embedded in opposite walls of a small enclosure. They are each paired with someone from the other tribe. To determine the pairings,the tribes are asked to rank their members from weakest to strongest. Taking weight and foot size into account the villains rank their small women as the strongest and have Russell sit out. The Heroes (at Rupert's request) rank Rupert as the strongest (just to refresh your memory...huge feet and an injured toe). The competitors move down to a smaller foothold every 10 minutes. Each time a competitor quits, the other tribe gets a point. The Villains win this one in three straight. So cocky is Sandra that she stays up for an extra minute, after Colby, her opposition, gives up.

So off the Villains go to enjoy a steak dinner courtesy of Outback Steakhouse. As Parvati sits down to enjoy her dinner she shakes out her napkin and out falls a rolled-up piece of paper. She quickly stuffs it in her underwear and later shares it with Danielle (ewww)reasoning that this will cement Danielle's loyalty to her. It is, of course, a clue to another hidden immunity idol. The next morning the two tippy-toe out of bed and go looking for the idol. Personally I think the shovel was a dead give-away but they took it with them anyway. What they don't know is that Russell is sitting on the beach when they go hunting. He follows them, but when they find the idol he is nowhere to be seen. Good thing too, because Parvati has decided she isn't going to tell the EGG Man about the idol She wants him to squirm for a while.

It seems that Russell doesn't need to worry about idols, however, because the people over on the neighbouring island want to give him one. Certain that Russell is the victim of an all girl Villain conspiracy, JT has hatched a plot to save him. He will find a way to give Russell his immunity idol when the tribes come together at the next challenge. He will include a note, telling Russell to use the idol to save himself and get rid of Pavarti. The Heroes all agree that this is a great plan that will break up the imaginary all-girl alliance and secure Russell as an ally when the tribes merge(noooooo JT, nooooooo)**. JT sweats over getting just the right wording in his letter, which he then uses to gift wrap the idol. Of all the Heroes, the only ones who seem to have misgivings about giving an immunity idol to someone on the other tribe are Candace and Amanda. But Candace never wanted JT to have the idol so sees it as a conveniently stupid way of getting the idol away from JT.

Dimples calls the tribes together for the immunity challenge. In this one, members of each tribe must maneuver a bag of puzzle pieces along a rope, over and under obstacles. At one point Colby finds himself alone with Russell and whispers that he should go to JT and get the idol. The Heroes go on to win immunity and all are sure that without their help Russell will be gone by morning. As the two tribes gather to congratulate each other (how come I don't remember this kind of fraternization in other challenges?) Russell gives JT and hug and JT slips him the idol.

As if Russell needed more to gloat about, now he tells us that he doesn't even have to look for idols any more...now people are just giving them to him. Meanwhile, JT tells us that they are making Survivor history (Yes, JT, you are. But for all the wrong reasons) and Rupert tells us how Russell is probably beaming (Yes, Rupert he is. But for all the wrong reasons).

Over at the Villain's camp Parvati and Russell are laughing at the meticulously composed letter that JT has sent with the idol. Courtney and Sandra know that one of them is going home, but which is it? Russell thinks it should be Courtney but Courtney goes to Parvati and promises an alliance with Amanda after the merge. Parvati knows a deal when she hears it and tries to convince Russell et al to vote out Sandra instead. But when Dimples tallies the votes at Tribal Council *** that night, it is indeed Courtney who is tottering away on her skeletal legs. With Courtney, traveling on much more substantial legs, is me.

Kathy voted for Courtney to win the million. Sorry about that Kathy!

There are 10 left. Is a merge imminent? Is Russell running the Villain show or is it really Pavarti? When will JT realize he is Survivor's biggest goof of all time? Stay tuned next week for the answers to these questions, and more.

Return, Revenge, Redemption
Pat (aka Courtney Yates

** remember how I used to say that JT was MY GUY? Well now he's Mitzi's.
***puleeez, Coach is sitting at Tribal council in the lotus position wearing some kind of dashiki thing.