- The fifteen remaining castaways find out that both tribes have to vote someone off at the next Tribal Council. In the Villains' camp, Rob and Russell continue to set their sights on each other as the next to go.
- "Survivor" on a Wednesday? This is madness.
Previously on...: Things got testy between the Heroes and Villains by Day 12, and James suffered a knee injury. Meanwhile, Parvati was fighting for her life and Rob and Russell began to form a rivalry. Russell believed he was in an alliance with Danielle and Parvati, while Rob thought he was aligned with everyone else. The Villains won immunity, holding off the Rob-Russell showdown.
James was spared at Tribal Council as J.T. helped vote out Tom, leaving Colby as the odd man out.
"Fifteen are left," host Jeff Probst told us. "Who will be voted out tonight?"
'Playing with the big boys': Colby was reeling from Tom's departure and Candice admitted she took the safe route and voted for Tom so as to not upset the rest of the tribe. Amanda decided that "Candice has to go."
Over at the Villains camp, Russell and Rob were both up in the middle of the night and Rob came over to talk. Russell told Rob he didn't want them to be at each other's throats. Russell told us he was just trying to make Rob think he wasn't after him, but he still was just as after him as ever. Rob told Russell people were mad he went looking for the idol, then warned him to "hang on to it tight" if he did have it. Rob told us Russell was "going to find out he's out of his league." He added, "he's not playing with the amateurs anymore. He's playing with the big boys."
The tribes got some vague tree mail and it wasn't clear whether their challenge was for reward or immunity. Colby was worried about how James' injury would impact him.
Immunity and reward challenge: Danielle was surprised to see James still on the Heroes tribe despite his injury. "He must have a strong alliance on his side," she told Jeff.
Both tribes were going to run the challenge separately, because individual immunity was on the line as tribemates would be competing against each other.
Attached by hooks to ropes that were wound around many obstacles, the players had to race to the finish line and the first one there would win immunity. In addition, the winner from each tribe would then show down, and the winner's tribe would eat hot dogs while listening in on the other tribe's Tribal Council.
James pushed hard, but Candice pulled it out in the end, winning individual immunity on the Heroes tribes.
Rob and Tyson took the early lead among the Villains, but Rob was the first to finish and won individual immunity among the Villains.
Candice and Rob raced each other in the final for the reward of hot dogs and insight into the other tribes' dynamics by listening in on Tribal Council. Rob made his way through the fastest and won the reward for his tribe.
That didn't spare the Villains from Tribal, though. They would go to Tribal Council and make their vote first, then be served the hot dog feast while they listened in to the Heroes' Tribal Council.
Back at camp: the Villains were happy about Rob's win and his alliance gathered quickly on the beach to talk about the vote. They decided on Parvati, but Rob wanted to make sure Russell thought he'd be getting voted out so that he'd play the immunity idol.
Rob went to work immediately and told Russell he was in trouble unless he had the idol. He told Russell, "It's better to play with me than against me." Russell vowed to make him eat those words.
Russell went and told Parvati he wasn't going to fall for the trick, and said he'd give her the idol and write down Tyson's name.
Over at the Heroes camp, Colby was disappointed in his performance. When they got back to camp, he told the rest of the tribe he knew he was going home and thought they'd be best off by giving up as little information as possible in Tribal Council while the Villains were listening in.
James and Colby had a little chat and James figured Colby didn't really want to be around anymore and wasn't more effective. Meanwhile, J.T. and the rest of the group started to wonder whether James was draining the team's resources because of his injury and his penchant for eating more bananas than everyone else. James set out to prove his knee was OK by having the "Heroes Olympics." He raced J.T. and lost, but Rupert admired James' toughness and willingness to fight. Then James offered J.T. a banana.
Over at the Heroes camp, Rob realized they needed to split the vote to guard against Russell giving Parvati the idol. Rob knew that Russell would be targeting Tyson, and figured this was a "can't lose" situation. The plan was done and Russell pulled Tyson aside and said he was going to vote out Parvati. Tyson said he thought it was a chance to flop his vote to Parvati. Russell also knew that the other group splitting their vote would be "a genius move," but he didn't know if they were that smart.
Villains' Tribal Council: Rob started talking about the hidden immunity idol and Sandra called out Russell, saying, "If you don't have it, and you didn't find it, you best look for it -- point blank." Russell still acted as if he didn't have it. Tyson pointed out that Tyson was a big threat, and Sandra said Parvati was a threat, as well, because of her connections on the other tribe.
The Villains' vote: We saw Danielle write down Tyson's name, Jerri write down Parvati's name and Rob write down Russell's name, saying, "Welcome to the big leagues."
Coach wrote down Parvati's name, saying, "You're so damn charming, and that's what makes you dangerous. That and your friends on the other side. Night, night." Courtney also wrote down Parvati's name.
Sandra wrote down Russell's name, saying, "I can't stand you and I can't wait for you to go home. Adios."
Jeff asked if anyone had the hidden immunity idol and wanted to play it and ... commercial break!
Russell stood up and said, "I think I'm going to take the target off of my back." He told Coach about his vow of loyalty, honesty and trust, and said he was going to stick to that no matter how the vote came out. He handed it to Parvati, who played it. Any votes cast for Parvati would not count.
The vote: Russell twice, then Parvati four times -- none of which counted. Then came a vote for Tyson, and another, and another. Tyson was voted out, as Rob looked puzzled and Danielle and Parvati wondered what they'd just seen. Russell was relieved.
Tyson later admitted he had no one to blame but himself ("I was the victim of my own stupidity," he said), because he placed the fourth vote for Parvati. He said Russell probably earned some respect for the bold move. "I wish I would've stuck to the split vote," he said.
Heroes' Tribal Council: The Villains tribe dug into its hot dog feast, but as it began to rain James was at least happy that it rained on the Villains' "parade." James shared the story of his race against J.T. Amanda was started to get her crying Amanda face after she talked about how the tribe had to consider James' injury.
James then went on a speech about how Colby has been a disappointment and that seeing Colby's performance has been like discovering that "Superman was wearing a girdle." He said it was as if Colby -- whom he called "one of the baddest 'Survivors' ever -- looked good from afar, but when you got up close, you saw it was just Superman in a fat suit. Colby said that "hearing it isn't as bad as living it," and went on to explain that he definitely hadn't performed to the level he'd hoped he would.
The Heroes' vote: We saw James write Colby's name down, without saying a word. Colby wrote James' name down.
The vote: Colby's name came out, then four votes James were enough to send him on his way. He stood up and hugged Amanda, and they shared "I love yous." Jeff said it appeared an alliance was broken "and hopefully a tribe was unified."
James lamented his bad luck with injuries, but said he hoped it would spur Colby to be a bigger contributor and team member than he had been.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content