Blog Babes are rockin’ the vote this week. Joey going home on Wednesday night shuffled a few of you into the pool for the free book drawing, but last night’s Survivor results had a whole bunch o’ blog babes moving to the winning team side. (Who knew so many of you had it in for Raro?) Now we wait for Sunday’s Raaaaaaace results to see if any more of you can join the fun…and come Monday I’ll pick a winner from the pack.

If you haven’t voted, you can still get in the running for a free book by sending me your vote for Sunday’s Philimination - see Tuesday’s blog for details! You have until 8 pm tomorrow to enter your last vote.

Speaking of Survivor, THAT? Was reallllllllly satisfying. Well, right up until the very, very last part. Possibly one of the most satisfying episodes of the season. I love it when Karman has a field day. She fell an eensy bit short there at the end, but I’m confident she’ll finish the job at some point.

So..this is what went down.

Whilst Ozzy sleeps, Jonathan pulls the rest of Aitu together and plots and schemes that the six of them are totally going all the way, even after the merge. They (meaning he) agrees Oz is the next to go, and they enter the merge strong and united. Candice, however, interviews that she’s not as keen on keeping them together at the merge, as she wants to flip sides and rejoin Adam and Parvati once they merge.

Jonathan, always trying to think ten steps ahead, pulls Candice aside and makes sure she’s aware that its really the two of them, all the way. She talks about flipping sides once they merge and Jonathan goes along, making sure she understands he is completely loyal to her. Candice interviews again that while it’s nice and all, that Jonathan wants to be final two buddies, she really doesn’t want him tagging along and would vote his ass off the first chance she gets. Ruthless Candice. Girl is playing her own game. I hope everyone figures out she’s in it for herself (which is funny, considering that’s her fear of Jonathan, that he’s in it for himself and isn’t trustworthy. Hello, pot?)

As it happens, everyone on both teams finds out exactly how mercenary Candice really is at the reward challenge. Before it begins, Jeff gives everyone on both teams a chance to switch sides.

Now, I didn’t expect Candice to be stupid enough to expose herself so soon. I did, however, expect Brad to leap at the chance to jump sides, since not only has his tribe at Raro made it clear he’s next on the chopping block, but he hasn’t done anything to help that situation, making it clear to them that he doesn’t trust them and will jump into Yul’s welcoming embrace the minute the merge happens. (But then, who wouldn’t? Yumm.)

So, color me surprised when Brad remains true to Raro, and in the last second, Candice jumps ship…and then Jonathan has a freak out and jumps off the mat right behind her. (Which didn’t thrill anyone, least of all Candice.)

The remaining four Aitu members stand there looking stunned and not a little hurt, at being abandoned by the guy who had just exhorted to them about sticking together to the end. Not to mention shifting the odds so that it’s now an 8 person team vs a 4 person team. They looked so vulnerable standing there on their mat. My heart went out to them. (Well, mostly to Yul, but, you know, he needed a hug and I would have volunteered. I’m all selfless like that.)

So, still reeling….Jeff announces the reward challenge will begin. And it’s a pretty tough one, physically, with putting teammates in a barrel which gets both rolled, banged around, and floated. But it’s a pretty good reward they’re playing for this time. Not no stinkin’ tarp and a few hooks, no. They’re playing for breakfast pastries, coffee….and letters and photos from home. Big motivation.

Raro picks 4 of their 8 to play. Aitu has to play the 4 they got. And? Aitu kicks Raro’s very sorry ass and totally takes reward in what had to be one of the most satisfying challenge finishes ever. I LOVED it. Yul, Ozzy, Becky, and Sundra deserved every last sticky bun and childhood photo for sticking it to Raro. (Not that Raro encouraged the defection of two of their teammates, but they always want to beat Raro, so it was particularly satisfying to beat Raro + 2. Especially when the +2 are your lousy, faithless former teammates.)

Even more satisfying, they get to send Candice to Exile, so she can’t play with her new teammates until the Immunity Challenge. Which leaves Jonathan in the lovely position of trying to defend to his new tribe why he abandoned his old tribe. (One thing I wasn’t really clear on - it seemed like Raro was really jumping all over Jonathan for his ruthless switch of teams, but none of them seemed willing to paint Candice with the same brush. Have no idea why, unless it was just edited for us to hear those comments and not the same ones about Candice, as it suited last night’s story arc. which it did. Still…color me confused.)

So…over on Raro, big talk of who would get voted off next. The plan was for it to be Brad. But now the strong argument is pretty much Jonathan. Which certainly made the most sense to me. The deciding factor there seemed to be that, in a merge, Jonathan pretty much has to stick with his new tribe, whereas Brad would probably jump ship. However, given the chance, Brad did stay with Raro, so they’re torn on his loyalty potential. Good gaming there and interesting to watch. (And yet, not a word about voting Candice off. Who did the same thing Jonathan did. Hunh.)

Over on Aitu, we have much rejoicing and sticky bun eating. Also a lot of crying. I admit I got all teary eyed, too. They were so grateful and so happy to have pulled off the major upset with just the four of them, they were perma-bonded as a family and a team in that one challenge. I totally felt every word Sundra had to say about how vulnerable she felt after the mutiny, and how gratifying it was to pull out the win. You got that right, Sundra. (And did I see it right? Is her son deaf? I’m pretty sure I saw her signing back to a picture of her young son signing something to her.) Anyway…most gratifying reward challenge ever. And Yul? Please, never put on a shirt again. Dang.

So I’m officially totally 100% f0r Aitu now. I want those four to do anything and everything they have to, to make it to the end. Yul, Oz, Becky and Sundra…any one of you takes this, and I will be thrilled.

On to the Immunity Challenge, now I’m sweating bullets just like the rest of them. With the newly tightly bonded Aitu family unit, I can’t even stand thinking they’d have to end up at tribal and vote one of themselves off, after what they just went through. So I’m on the edge of my seat through this challenge, which was actually pretty cool - I’m loving the whole pirate theme this year - wishing, hoping, praying, Aitu can pull it out again.

For a bit, it looks like Raro is going to drop their cannon balls on the underwater targets and pull ahead. Then wonderful Yul figures out he can peek through the cannon ball chute and figure out exactly when to release the ball. And they swiwftly take a lead that Raro can’t possibly regain….and? Most rewarding immunity challenge ever, as Aitu takes the win, and Raro heads to tribal council. (Blog Babes around the world celebrate, as almost every single one of you voted for Raro to lose a member.)

Candice must now spend every waking second campaigning her new tribe to vote off anyone other her newly arrived, lethal playing self. She quickly re-bonds with Parvati and Adam…and totally sells Jonathan down the river to both of them. Ruthless. And, to me, shortsighted. She knows Jonathan will stick with them, at least for awhile. I’d have gone after Brad. But she’s been on exile and doesn’t know the vibe of the tribe and has very little time to play catchup.

At tribal council, Brad stupidly puts his foot the rest of the way in his mouth, although he was only speaking the truth, and really, it was too late by then anyway. Jonathan is pleasantly stunned when everyone on Raro, new and old, votes Brad off. (Dude, you should have totally jumped when you had the chance. Aitu would have welcomed you with open arms.) And while I would have loved to see Jonathan go and finish the karmic loop…we say goodbye to Brad instead.

But!! Final Twist of the Night! As Brad makes his exit, Jeff announces they’ve just voted off the first member of the jury! Oooooooooh!! Love. It. Brad still has power in the game. Very satisfying. Jeff tells them just because they’ve done things a certain way in past seasons, like not starting the jury pool until later in the game, doesn’t mean they won’t change things up this season. This was a change up I could totally get behind. Brad was kind of happy about it, too.

Satisfying episode, all the way around. Jonathan? I want you gone next. And Candice? You’re a tough player…and ruthless. If they’re smart, they’ll get rid of you as soon as possible. Aitu? You guys rock. I hope you make a run and knock off Raro one by one. And after your former teammates are gone, I hope Nate is the next one after that. Boy needs spanked. I hated what he did to Brad. Don’t you homey, me, Nate!

Next week? More delicious twists. Can’t wait. The season has finally gotten interesting. I finally care.

What did you think?

And for all you Grey’s fans…..was last night a sobfest or what? Most depressing show ever. I should have just stuck with the far more gratifying Survivor and called it a night.

Monday…I’ll announce the winner of this week’s SHaQ Attack contest, launch a new one…and hopefully be able to share my sneak peek!!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Tags: Writing //