Well, for the first time in my life, rather than be on the spending end of Black Friday, I will be on the other side of the counter working today. If I’m not blogging on Monday, you’ll know I didn’t survive it. In years past, I have been one of those five a.m. risers who go out and tackle the sales. It’s been fun, complete with middle of the night, fortifying breakfasts at IHOP to get in gear. But not this year. This year, however, not one, but both of my sons are out there as I type this morning, being the good friends and boyfriends that they are, doing the same thing I used to do. They have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into. It both warms my heart and amuses me to no end.

As promised, I have a little Survivor MAC for ya this morning….and just how incredibly satisfying was last night’s episode, huh? Mighty dang satisfying if I do say so myself, and indeedy I do. My little Aitu Tribe That Could just kept on rollin’ along. I love it. Love. It.

So, at the reward challenge, they merge. (See, you stupid Candice and Jonathan, all you had to do was wait three stinkin’ days, but noooo…..instead you mutinied and created one of the strongest bonded tribes in Survivor history.) BUT, Raro is feeling all smug and powerful because, even with losing two last week, they are still one up in numbers coming into the merge at 5 to 4. So my little Pocket Sized Aitu is still the underdog. The difference is, they know it and immediately work to change things up. (Unlike Raro, who, even after losing how many challenges in a row, does nothing back at camp to try and change things up, despite being given a role model in Jonathan - of all people. I know.)

Yul, whose children I would gladly bear, and I’m so past that point in life, that is really saying something right there, realizes that his tribe’s only chance is if he wields the one piece of power he owns, the hidden immunity idol. (Terry from last season? THIS is how you use the idol as a strategic tool. No, I’m still not over your stupidity, Terry. I hope you are watching.) I was a little concerned when Ozzy renewed his friendship with the incredibly self important Nate, and Yul is still all believing that nothing can come between his bonded little tribe, but my fears were soon put to rest.

Yul tells his Mighty Mighty Aitu’s that he has the idol and plans to switch up the game by using it to bribe one of the Raro’s back over. Ozzy initially considers Nate, but Yul and Becky strategize and realize their best bet is Jonathan. (Scary when he is your best bet, but there it is.) Given his outsider status on Raro, even though he betrayed them once before, Yul believes he can force Jonathan to switch back to their side. Of course, this will alienate Jonathan from everyone on the island, but he’s already on borrowed time as it is, and he knows it. When Yul rightfully points out that he’ll be final two material as the most hated player, Jonathan realizes this might be his only chance at making any sizable bank. (Runner up gets 100K - not chump change and better than say, fifth place, which is where he’s headed now with his Raro tribe.) Of course, do I really think Yul would overthrow his tribemates and take Jonathan to the end? Prolly not. He’s very Cho Brothers like that, but the difference is, unlike the Chos, he actually, you know, raaaaaaaces in the meantime. Love Yul.

So…now we get to the Immunity Challenge and as soon as I see it’s a “cling to the pole the longest” challenge, I know Ozzy has it in the bag. Which proves to be true, although Candice does give him a run (and who knew she had madd pole clinging skillz?) Anyway - so now the Raro tribe, who were all about voting out Ozzy, switch their target to Yul.

In the meantime, Yul commits to swinging Jonathan as his only hope of keeping all four Aitu’s in the game another week, and just has to pray that J does the right thing. Or at least the more right thing, because someone gets betrayed no matter how he swings. Poor J, except, you know, you dug your own grave when you hopped after Candice, dude. Still, all kinds of credit to Jonathan for still even being in the game. The man is playing this game very hard. He should just do it a lot more silently than he does.

We are shown throughout the show how his Raro tribe continues to not so much as try to help themselves and his disgust with his own teammates, who are not looking like the brightest allies on the planet, or, in fact, the entire solar system, galaxies even, grows by leaps and bounds. Suddenly re-aligning with Aitu is looking better and better. Yul shows him the Immunity Idol and Jonathan bargains that, instead of voting for him as a backup plan (in case he doesn’t swing, then when Yul uses his idol, he’d go home as the person with the next highest number of votes) they vote out Nate instead. Instead of J or Adam, who J feels he owes at least a little to as he feels it was Adam (or Adumb as I like to call him) and Candice that he’s still there. Oh, J, I bet you are at home now feeling soooo silly for your allegiance to those two, who you now know were gunning for you from the moment you mutineed. Still, they were part of why he is still there, as opposed to say, Nate, who was gunning for Jonathan and is his biggest threat. So his request does make sense.

The scary thing for Aitu is they have to vote for Nate…and if J doesn’t swing, then they’ve inadvertantly saved him yet again. The deal is, 4 votes from Aitu for Nate, 5 votes for Yul from Raro. Yul plays his immunity idol, Nate goes home as the second highest vote getter, and Jonathan is on their side. Done this way, no one on Raro will think anyone has flipped, as all five voted in a pack for Yul. Only Aitu will know they have J on their side.

But, of course, this isn’t how it goes down, because Raro, not exactly rocket scientists, despite the fact that both Candice and Parvati apparently have brains given the degrees hanging on their walls, can’t even fathom that something else could happen. Aaaaaanyway (oh, and how cute was Yul’s discussion of mass while clinging to that pole? Sexiest geek ever, our Yul. Somehow I doubt he’ll be hurting for dates.) so before tribal, Jonathan is still struggling with his decision, so he decides to run a “scenario” by his tribe, who are all wanting to gun for Yul, now that Oz has the immunity necklace. Jonathan mentions that, hey, you know, what if he has the idol, maybe we should at least consider that, as a possible scenario, what would happen if he had the idol and consider voting Sundra or Becky instead.

Alas, not only will they not change their minds, they collectively refuse to even consider that Yul could possibly have the idol as he was only on Exile Island for one stinkin day. Whereas they’ve been there numerous times (because you keep LOSING…and maybe here’s the reason WHY) and never found it. Now, did they possibly consider that the reason they didn’t find it is because Yul, one of the first out there, found it right off? Sigh. No, of course not. Remember, this is the same brilliant guy talking about mass and elephants while pole clinging, and who you want to vote out because he is so freaking brilliant AND physically strong. But no, he couldn’t possibly have the idol, not Yul. Sigh. So, without being able to sway his tribe and realizing, perhaps, just how incredibly dim they truly are, Jonathan makes his decision.

But we don’t know this until tribal council. And neither does Aitu. It’s a nail biter! So, everyone votes…and Aitu keeps up its end of the deal, all 4 votes going to Nate. Raro does as narrow-mindedly planned, and all votes go to Yul. All but the final vote…which? Goes to Nate. 5-4 Nate goes home…and the immunity idol is still in Yul’s hand!

HA! Not ONLY did Aitu save themselves, AND recruit a switchvote, but they still have the idol? How can you not love this team? Oh my!

However, by casting his vote for Nate, Jonathan seals his doom with Raro, who know now that he betrayed them. Well, once a mutineer and all that. Of course, Jonathan is banking on aligning himself with the guy with the idol as his number 2, but that’s pretty much the only hope he has in this game at this point anyway. And don’t forget, Richard Hatch was evil and they all ended up voting for him, so I think J hopes he still has an outside chance at winning the whole thing based on superior game play. And…who knows. His team is dumb as a collective box of rocks, who knows who they’ll vote for.

Nate? Predictably Not Happy with his ouster, calling J all kinds of names in his very satisfying as-the-credits-roll rant. Satisfying for me anyway, as I laughed and laughed. Dumb Nate. (Who, mind you, just betrayed not one, but two of his very own alliance members in the last tribal council, whereas J only booted a guy who has been openly gunning for him since he joined his group. Yeah, pot? Meet a big ol kettle.) And it looks like there are a number of pot-kettle meetings on the schedule next week when Candice needs to buy a clue. And maybe Parvati needs to realize that she might want to consider, oh, I don’t know, playing the game for herself now that it’s 3 to freaking 5 against her. The looks on Adumb, Candice, and Parvati’s faces when Nate’s torch was snuffed? Best. Moment. Evah. HA!

I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a season more.

So…with that most satisfyin MAC, it’s time to award my own prize this week. Our SHaQ Attack this week was simple - everyone who replied to any blog had a shot this week, with the winner getting an advance copy of The Great Scot. And the winning blog babe is? Melissa! (MelJ) Woo hoo!!!!

Tune in Monday for a new SHaQ Attack…and if you’re out there braving the hoards, be safe and score the big deals! Me, I think I’m going to have some pumpkin pie for breakfast….

Tags: Writing //