Only this time it was not Fishbachian levels of #SevereGastrointestinalDistress to blame for any problems down below.
That really is the only word for it.
playing double agent to get Sandra out but then it backfired when Mana voted for Malcolm instead?
Credit: Jeffrey Neira/CBS Entertainment
Wethinkwe know, but the truth is, we dont really know.
At least not for sure.
Which is what made this joint Tribal Council such a stroke of brilliance.
Heres a rough timeline of how things went down.
I will also point out the big mistake that Nuku made and its not what you think.
That was maybe the height of addictive stupidity.)
Anyway, back to Tribal.
About who has guns.
About whose guns are pointed at whom.
About whether some guns are pointed at people on their own tribe.
Sandra, however, was confident where the Nuku artillery was aimed.
Sure, but why the hell is she selling out J.T?
AT this point J.T.
This led Probst to ask Sandra if she was a threat because she had never lost.
Oh, Im not worried, she responded.
I know Im not going home tonight.
Shes essentially bluffing and leading the Mana folks to deduce that she has an idol.
Did Sandra just buy herself three more days on the island with that comment?
And did that comment set the stage for what was to come?
Its certainly possible it helped shift the target from her to Malcolm.
There were also some very interesting things happening over on the Mana side of Tribal Council.
1 on her own tribe and a shoo-in to be voted out at the next Tribal.
However, Haliseeminglydid not appreciate the threat.
Thats not a good speech to, like, groom me in.
I italicized the word seemingly because everything from this point out in terms of Hali and J.T.
is somewhat open for debate.
Again, we maythinkwe know, but there is still an element of guesswork involved.
Lets take the Hali side first.
NEXT:Whose side is Hali on?
At this point, Haliappearsto be firmly in play for both tribes.
Is it an act to fool the Nuku folks into thinking she is with them?
You have to go with us.
Thats where I am.
Thats where I sit in this group.
Its better for us.
C.She hasnotnor is she is trying to confuse them.
(Nobody has no idol = somebody has an idol.)
The reason Hali did not tell them about the idol is that Hali most likely didnt know about it.
And who is the one person the Mana folks would never give an idol to?
Now I get why Nuku didnotvote for Hali.
Thats all they had to do.
And the person who should have suggested it was J.T.
Think about it: If J.T.
is the biggest winner of the evening.
Now lets take a look at what actually went down with him.
NEXT:J.T.s fatal flaw
J.T.
Should I talk to Brad?
he asked Malcolm, and then went over and did exactly that.
I love you, brother, but theyre voting Sierra out, J.T.
went back and sat down, Brad asked for confirmation.
I swear, came the response.
Its on you, buddy, Brad said.
Then, later, J.T.
told Brad to vote for Sandra, which clearly did not happen.
I cant say Im in love with that plan.
And that has been J.T.s biggest problem inSurvivor.
On one hand, I love that J.T.
But the problem with both those moves is they involved implicitly trusting the person on the other side.
And both times that misplaced trust did him in.
Imagine walking back to his beach right now and having to deal with the aftermath of this.
We saw Michaela tell Varner that J.T.
set them up, and poor Malcolm has even taken J.T.
off his Christmas card list!
(As if Malcolm has ever sent a Christmas card in his life.)
Except it turned into a loss.
For the second week in a row, we have to give major props to Brad Culpepper.
That brings the official Dalton Curse up to 19 seasons straight and counting!
Shows you what a genius I am.
Wow, are you as exhausted as I am trying to figure that all out?
Of course, the irony is, none of it is figured out!
This is all educated guesswork, and not that educated at that.
You have found this weeks super secretSurvivorquiz question.
Email your answer to survivor@ew.com.
Winners will be contacted directly.
Okay, lets get back to it.
It felt like the first pre-merge Tribal Council, which is almost always a great one.
However there was also a far less celebrated twist in this episode, the two-on-two-on-two reward challenge.
Now I generally like to see everyone compete.
Thats why theyre out there, and we as viewers want to see them in action.
In this case it was basically: Everyone pick your two strongest players and let them battle it out.
There was absolutely nowhere to hide.
On the downside, though, all six of the competitors were male.
About that reward, though.
Maybe this is just because I dont drink coffee.
I honestly wouldnt know, but I would at least think that would make some sense.
Coffee drinkers of the world, like illuminate me!
Are coffee withdrawal symptoms an actual thing?
Ozzy caught a sting ray.
Becauseof courseOzzy caught a sting ray.
His strategic and social skills remain a question mark at this point, however.
Is it just me or was there a glaring lack of groin hits in this blindfold challenge?
Speaking of disappointing, how about Jeff Varner on that table maze?
Okay, thats enough out of me.
But theres still plenty more foryou!
Did you like the joint Tribal Council twist?
What do you think about J.T.
and Hali at Tribal Council?
And what would you have done in that situation?
Have at it on the message boards and double-check to follow me on Twitter@DaltonRossfor more scoopage.
Thanks for enduring and Ill be back next week with another scoop of the crispy!
