Hit Television Series, Hosted by Emmy Award-Winner Jeff Probst, Premieres on a New Night, Wednesday, Sept. 15

Twenty castaways will compete in a tribal battle of the ages on SURVIVOR: NICARAGUA, when the Emmy Award-winning series premieres on a new night, Wednesday, Sept. 15 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

For the last ten years, SURVIVOR has traveled to the farthest corners of the planet and subjected over 300 contestants to the harshest environments. As the next decade of SURVIVOR begins, this new group of strangers will compete on SURVIVOR: NICARAGUA. The castaways will be marooned in a land of smoldering volcanoes, wildlife and impenetrable terrain. They will be forced to work together to adapt to their new surroundings, yet compete against each other to the stay in the game or be voted out by their peers. In the end, only one will remain to claim the million-dollar prize and title of Sole Survivor.

These 20 castaways will be divided into two Tribes of 10 comprised of older competitors and younger competitors. The Espada Tribe, made up of individuals over the age of 40, must prove they have the life experience and knowledge that will ultimately help them Outwit and Outlast their younger competitors. The La Flor Tribe, consisting of individuals ages 30 and younger, will have to use their youth and vitality to Outplay and ultimately Outlast their elders.

La Flor Tribe

• Alina Wilson, 23; student/model
• Ben “Benry” Henry, 24; bar owner
• Brenda Lowe, 27; business owner, former Miami Dolphins cheerleader
• Chase Rice, 24; NASCAR jackman/singer
• Judson Birza, 21; student/model/musician
• Kelly Bruno, 25; medical student, amputee triathlete
• Kelly Shinn, 20; student
• Matthew “Sash” Lenahan, 30; luxury broker
• NaOnka Mixon, 27; P.E. teacher
• Shannon Elkins, 30; business owner

Espada Tribe

• Dan Lembo, 63; property management
• Holly Hoffman, 44; swim coach
• Jane Bright, 56; dog trainer
• Jillian Behm, 43; ER physician
• Jimmy Johnson, 67; retired NFL coach/TV sports broadcaster
• Jimmy Tarantino, 48; fisherman/government seafood inspector
• Marty Piombo, 48; wine industry executive
• Tyrone Davis, 42; fire captain
• Wendy Jo DeSmidt-Kohlhoff, 48; retired army officer
• Yve Rojas, 41; stay-at-home mom

The 67-year-old Johnson, who was unavailable for comment, joins the show’s 21st season this summer. The series has been taped in various exotic locations, including Panama, the Fiji Islands, Kenya and Brazil since it started in 2000. This year’s show will tape in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

Johnson, who won two Super Bowl titles with the Cowboys in the 1990s, will be grouped with strangers in an isolated area where contestants must complete challenges to win awards or immunity from getting kicked out of the game show.

Since retiring from the NFL as a head coach, Johnson has worked for Fox Sports as a pregame show analyst. The taping of Survivor is not expected to conflict with Johnson’s job on Fox.

via Source: Former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson to be a contestant on ‘Survivor: Nicaragua’ – ESPN Dallas.

CBS has announced its fall schedule and, in a surprising move, will air the 21st edition of Survivor – Survivor: Nicaragua – on Wednesday nights.

According to Probst, the Central American nation offers shifts “impenetrable terrain, smoking volcanoes and savage wildlife.” Thre sason begins in the fall.

CBS in January gave the green light to 21st and 22nd seasons of the show. Reports say both will take place in Nicaragua.

“Survivor” is one of the oldest and most popular of the reality TV shows. The 20th season pitted fan favorites from previous games against one another in what became one of the livliest “Survivor”s ever.

via “Survivor: Nicaragua” is Next – CBS News.

After Colby’s exit, the next challenge had the castaways navigating a maze blindfolded, and in an amazing nail-biter Russell won and secured himself a spot in the final four.

Even as Russell crowed that Sandra “cannot beat me,” he helped oust Jerri, who became the 17th person voted out.

And Survivor’s best player ever? As the votes were read in front of a studio audience, the evil genius lost out to Sandra, the coat-tail rider.

A two-time Survivor winning coat-tail rider, that is.

via Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Finale: Who Won? – E! Online

34-year-old Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first ever repeat Survivor winner, beating fellow Villains Parvati and Russell in the final three. The episode began with Parvati the endurance queen winning the night’s first immunity competition (which was a redo of China‘s final challenge in which contestants had to stack up dishes on a wobbly arm), leading to Colby becoming the final Hero to be voted off, ending his long yet ultimately disappointing campaign.

Then, after honoring their fallen comrades by torching their names in a giant fire, the final four took part in one of the most riveting final challenges ever, as they went blindfolded through a maze while collecting necklaces. Russell narrowly secured the immunity necklace a split second before Jerri and Parvati could grab it. That split second would cost Jerri, who was the last contestant voted off, setting up a final three of Russell, Parvati, and Sandra. (And don’t get me started on how much I hate final threes as opposed to final twos.)

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs Villains’: And the winner is… | EW.com.

Russell and Parvati take a walk. Parvati thinks Sandra has Courtney, Candice and Amanda’s votes, minimum. Russell tells her he wants Jerri on the jury because she would vote for him. Russell says he’s on the fence because he doesn’t think Parvati would vote for him in the end, “but she might.”

At tribal council, they talk about what their strategies were when they got back to camp after the challenge. Sandra says she went to the person with immunity, and that he keeps telling her she wouldn’t win. Parvati says she feels very vulnerable and that “if people are trying to vote out threats,” she will probably be leaving. Jerri says Parvati’s a threat because she has been kicking butt and has lots of friends. Parvati says Russell should take her to the end if he wants to redeem himself since they’ve been allied. She says she’s been protecting him, and he's annoyed. He says he’s been protecting her. She says they’ve been protecting each other. He’s not buying that, either.

via Reality Check: ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’: And the winner is … – A reality TV blog by The Baltimore Sun’s Sarah Kelber – baltimoresun.com

Sandra was determined to get rid of Russell during the season, but she was never successful.

“He wants the title of “Sole Survivor” If that’s what Russell wants, that’s what I’ve got to make sure Russell doesn’t get,” she said.

Sandra was on the Villains team and has played Survivor once before. She was also the winner of that season, despite the fact she has never won a challenge on the show.

via Sandra wins Survivor: Heroes versus Villains

The final physical challenge, in which the players were forced to make their way through a maze blindfolded, was based on luck rather than will and determination. Russell beat Parvati and Jerri by a hair to claim a spot on his second final tribal council.

Sandra convinced Russell to take her to the final three with the argument that the jury would never vote for her since she already won the million dollars. The past winners argument is a strong one — who really wants to give someone else another million bucks? — and made Parvati a logical choice for the final three as well. But at camp, Russell sounded intent on taking Jerri with him to the end.

At the penultimate tribal council, Parvati seemed truly nervous she would fall short of the final council, despite her close (but complicated) alliance with Russell. But Russell surprised viewers and took Parvati to the end, pitting two previous winners against one of Survivor’s most notorious villains.

via Survivor Winner – Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Finale – Today’s News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Survivor’: Who won? – The TV Guy – Orlando Sentinel.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

“Loose Lips Sink Ships” In the aftermath of his move against Danielle, Russell loses confidence in his alliance, compounded by what he perceives as a move against him by Jerri after a Reward Challenge.

This season’s hackneyed nautical references have long surpassed their expiration date—including (especially?) the pirate. Rupert himself knows he is “not destined to win Survivor”—he’s too busy playing a caricature to focus on playing the game itself. He sabotaged himself by not only betraying Russell but impersonating Paul Bunyan at the firepit. His “loud, obnoxious, selfish and totally inconsiderate” woodchopping rivaled only his infamous sand shelter in the annals of Survivor stupidity.

via Survivor Insider: Who Is the Mayor of Crazytown? – E! Online

Russell and his pseudo-alliance (Colby and Rupert) decide they need to target Sandra. The girls all decide to target Rupert. What I so don’t get is how Russell never gets seriously targeted. Dumb moves! What no one knows is that Sandra has the hidden immunity idol. When the vote went down, Russell switched back to his female alliance. Sandra brought out the idol. It was the last time it could be played anyway. But it didn’t save her butt. The vote was 4-2 for Rupert to go home instead of Sandra. The villains rule once again.

They seriously have to get Colby out next. It would be a travesty if he were to win this thing after not playing all season. As for the others, each one has played the game well. Jerri has had the weakest game, but her best showing in the three seasons she’s played. I actually like her this year. Huh. Who would have thought that?

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’ – ‘Loose Lips Sink Ships’ Recap

Calling the women’s rejection of him “a million-dollar decision” — never mind the fact that he broke his alliance with her last week to vote off their mutual ally Danielle — Russell returned to camp with Rupert and Colby and swore he’d go with them to the final three. Since the remaining Heroes had no other real option, they were up for this, especially Rupert, who thought he could easily win against Russell.

But Rupert didn’t get that chance. After the immunity challenge — Parvati won, defeating Rupert — Sandra approached Rupert about voting for Russell. Rupert went immediately to his new friend, apparently forgetting that he’d called Russell “garbage” just a few days ago.

via ‘Survivor’s’ final five eye $1 million prize – Survivor

We’re going into this one with new air. I believe Russell has really screwed up his chances of winning. Is he good at strategy? Yes. Is he a social player? Yes. Is he socially responsible? No. When it comes to betraying and backstabbing, Russell needs to realize that doing such unethical things might get you far but it won’t earn you respect. Unless he gets paired with someone as devious as himself, he won’t win if he makes it to the finals. With that aside, this season has shown me, though, that Parvati is a much stronger player than I thought she was in her previous seasons.

via Russell Continues to Pitch Immature Hissy Fits on ‘Survivor’ – Associated Content – associatedcontent.com.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

TVGuide.com: How did you feel going into your final Tribal Council?

Candice Woodcock: I thought I was in good shape. I thought we were going to split the votes between Rupert and Colby because they were worried that Rupert had found the idol. I thought for sure that they were going for Rupert because Rupert had attacked Russell and was being a jerk. I think I was kind of blinded by my dislike for Rupert. I wanted to believe he was going home. I was so tired of him and ready for him to go. … There was one red flag for me before we went. Russell came up to me and said, “Wait a minute, I forgot. Who is going to vote for whom? Let's go over it one more time.” And I kind of thought, Russell is always on top of things and he's always strategizing. I thought it was very odd that he was saying that he forgot who was supposed to be voting for who, but I just kind of blew it off. Probably at that point, there wasn't much that I could have done; maybe I could have changed something around. I think I just lost focus for a minute.

via Survivor’s Candice on Flipping to the Villains’ Side: “I Totally Messed Up” – Today’s News: Our Take | TVGuide.com

SEE ALSO:

• Challenge win saves schemer Russell on ‘Survivor’ | Tubular | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

While the three reward winners — Amanda, Colby and Danielle — watched “Treasure Island” and lounged on a small bed, Danielle discovered the clue in their bowl of popcorn and dropped it quietly to the floor to hide it.

When Amanda spotted the clue, the fight was on: Amanda grabbed for it and ran, and Danielle jumped up and confronted her. The two fought for the clue, looking like two kids on the playground fighting over a toy.

Perhaps because they were in front of the TV, Colby noticed what was going on, and Danielle demanded Amanda return the clue to her because she found it first. Colby agreed, and Amanda reluctantly handed it back, either because she didn’t want to cause more drama and make herself more of a target, or because Colby has a very effective middle-school vice-principal voice.

Amazingly, after all that work, Danielle didn’t even find the idol. And guess who did? Russell! Again! Yes, Danielle shared the clue with him and they went searching, and Russell found it in less time than it takes for Courtney to start making sarcastic comments when she arrived at Tribal Council.

Another day, another idol for Russell, and once again, he played it. He thought Sandra would flip and vote for him at Tribal Council along with the Heroes, telling Jeff Probst, “Hope I’m doing the right thing and playing it for myself this time.”

via Smackdown! It’s a slap fight on ‘Survivor’ – Survivor

This time, we knew the moment the Yin Yang tribe got back to camp that Russell was going to be on the warpath following Parvati finding an idol at the Outback challenge. Parv, of course, didn’t see “any harm done” in keeping an idol a secret — of course, the harm here is that Russ actually starts shaking in his boots and realizing he’s not the King.

Rupert, meanwhile, realized he made a mistake in not allowing Sandra to get back into the fold. He made a promise to all of us (in the sincere fashion that only Rupert could) that he was going to try again.

The next day at camp, Russell immediately tried to do his whole “run up in to random women and offer alliances” game. Candice was his target, and she seemed to buy for the most part. However, I don’t count of this as a given yet. Even if she is a bit panicky, Candice is a smart player.

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’ recap: the many follies of Colby

Previously on Survivor, it was Parvati’s Island and everyone else was just living on it. Seriously, she didn’t just eviscerate the competition. She did so in a way that as BOP webmaster Tony Kollath pointed out managed to leave four different players with their mouths hanging open in stunned silence. J.T. knew he had gotten beaten (although he failed to correctly guess who had done it, aptly summarizing his play this season), Amanda knew that Parvati had seen through her lies, Evil Loser Russell knew he’d given the idol to someone who played him for a patsy and Jerri realized that younger chick she hates just saved her ass. Words cannot describe how perfect a play it was.

To our amusement, some have derided her strategy as needlessly reckless. As a reminder, here is what happened. She found a hidden immunity idol the prior episode. During the most recent one, Evil Loser Russell tried to show that he was a big, strong provider of a man by giving her another hidden immunity idol, the second time he has done so this season. So smitten is he that he never thought to ask if she already had one. After all, finding idols is men’s work and she’s just a girl.

via Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains Recap.

SEE ALSO:

• Survivor Insider Presents: Catfight! Sponsored by the Hidden Immunity Idol – E! Online
• A Catfight on ‘Survivor’ and Another Hero is Picked Off – Associated Content – associatedcontent.com

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

“Going Down In Flames” The long-awaited merge finally happens and Russell’s staunchest supporter, J.T., ignores warnings by Rupert and Sandra that could save him and the Heroes. And after ridiculing J.T. for handing his Idol to a villain, Russell turns around and surrenders the Idol to one of the biggest villains to ever play the game, and Parvati takes control of the game.

Despite the fact that it was his sexist assumption that the women were in control of the Villains that led him to try to help Russell, he added, “Don’t ever trust women, ever, ever.” How about just never trust your sexist assumptions again, JT? He guessed wrong and trusted the wrong guy, and he got played.

Earlier, JT spent the entire episode setting himself up for a big fall, saying cocky things about how there’s a chance he could go home, but “do I believe it? Not a chance in the world.”

Other people were surprised by Parvati’s move, too. Russell was caught off guard because he’d given her one of those idols to save herself at Tribal Council, assuming she’d be the Heroes’ target. He didn’t know that she had another one, and she didn’t tell him. As the preview for next week shows, Russell is not happy about this because he likes feeling in control. Either he’s going to self-destruct, get revenge or he’s going to become a new kind of Russell.

via Immunity idols rain down on ‘Survivors’ – Survivor- msnbc.com

Thanks to Rupert’s paranoia/smarts, the Heroes are planning to tell Russell they’re voting for Parvati and then actually vote for Sandra or Jerri. Russell decides to protect Parvati by giving him his idol, not knowing that she already has an idol.

Of course, in the meantime, the Heroes are thinking that Parvati might have one since she stepped out of the immunity challenge so cavalierly.

Amanda and Parvati have another conference, and Amanda tries to persuade her to play the idol, but Parvati interviews that she knows Amanda is lying to her. She says she wants to play with Parvati, but she can’t see how. Then Amanda whines some more.

via Reality Check: ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’: Post-merge madness – A reality TV blog by The Baltimore Sun’s Sarah Kelber – baltimoresun.com.

First we had J.T. calling Russell a “good-old country boy.” (No, he isn’t.) Then we had Russell telling Jeff the merged tribe had decided to call itself “Yin-Yang,” because it means “good and evil.” (No, it doesn’t.) And then, to top it all off, the episode ended with the blindsided J.T. telling cameras (complete with my spliced-in reactions): “People are villains for a reason. [True, J.T. Russell is a villain for lying, Hannibal Lecter is a villain for finding people tasty, and Celine Dion is a villain for covering "You Shook Me All Night Long."] Don’t ever trust them. [Because why would you ever trust someone tapped with the "villain" label? That's like sniffing dry-erase markers when they're labeled "toxic." It might be tempting, but you still shouldn't do it.] Worse than that, don’t ever trust women. [Well — wait, what?! Russell was the ultimate reason behind your downfall, not the ladies! Unless one of them gave you one of those prank kaleidoscopes that leaves a black circle around your eye in some footage cut from the episode?]. Ever, ever, ever. [Or was it that $1 million bill attached to a string trick?]“

via ‘Survivor’ recap: Bring On the Boneheaded Moves! | ‘Survivor’ Central Recap | EW.com.

So, the Villains entered tribal, with only a few knowing that they had three idols to work with. All of the Heroes changed their plan at the last moment and voted for Jerri while the Villains all voted for J.T.

This is the point in which Parvarti proved that she’s the one running the show making one of the most brilliant moves any contestant has ever made on “Survivor”. Jeff asked if anyone would like to play a hidden immunity idol and Parvarti said she would like to allow the Villains to hang around longer worrying about ripe banannas (something that tied in to what Rubert said earlier on) thus she handed Sandra an idol. The Heroes are almost sure they’ll walk out of tribal victorious with Jerri going home, but there’s just one problem. Parvarti then says, and just to increase our odds of sticking around, she pullls out her other idol and hands it to Jerri. The Heroes are absolutely blind-sided and at that point, it’s obvious Parvarti is the one pulling the strings and J.T. is headed home. As Jeff reads the votes toward Jerri, none of them count and the Villain tribe is left grinning, everyone but Russell that is. He’s obviously pissed and tells Parvarti that she has some explaining to do.

via ‘Survivor’ Recap: Parvarti the Best Player of All Time?

SEE ALSO:

• Randy says Parvati will win Survivor | Stuff.co.nz
• Parvati makes a move, and trusting J.T. goes home on ‘Survivor” | Tubular | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle
• TV Watch: Survivor: The Q: GQ

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

“Survivor History” The Villains break their challenge loss streak and win a huge dinner, and Russell encourages the Heroes’ erroneous assumption that he is on the outs from a powerful all-girls alliance, prompting J.T. to plan and execute an incredible plan to arm Russell with his Hidden Immunity Idol and vote out Parvati, much to the amusement of Russell’s alliance.

There is so much to dig into with this episode of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. I could kick-start a meaty discussion on the merits of Outback Steakhouse, but I feel such a column could only be written by number one Outback Steakhouse fan Sandra Diaz-Twine, who not only ate there twice a week with her husband but also birthed her first born in the kitchen and later christened the child over potato skins and pints of Foster’s Lager. I could poke fun at Rupert for taking the Heroes thing a little too seriously by walking around with a dorky green cape. I could wax poetic about the hidden immunity idol clue not being the first thing to get into both Parvati’s underwear and Danielle’s cleavage. Or I could announce the launch of my new business venture: a fashion line of affordable robes created from the mind of Benjamin “Coach” Wade and titled ConfucNietzscheZu. (Perhaps you saw him at Tribal Council modeling our logo while in a pseudo Buddhist Monk pose with his legs crossed and praying. Retail price: $19.99, or wherever dignity is sold.)

But I’m not going to write about any of that. Instead we’re gonna do something a bit different this week. We’re going to examine where J.T. giving Russell the Heroes’ hidden immunity ranks on the list of dumbest Survivor moves ever. To do so, we have to start by looking at the generally accepted five stupidest moves ever before this happened. Let’s count it down.

via ‘Survivor Heroes vs Villains’ recap: Take My Immunity Idol, Please! (EW.com)

High Steaks: Did cattle man J.T. leave his brain back at the ranch? He might as well be Parvati batting his eyelashes at Russell. How could the Survivor champion make such a monumental mistake? In addition to handing their opponents a dinner at the Product Placement Steakhouse, the Heroes tribe invented a nonexistent Villains all-girl alliance—J.T. even bet his life on it (I don’t think he values his life enough, especially when it comes to gambling)—and played the fool to King Russell. Instead of offering His Highness a little frankincense or maybe some myrrh, J.T. sacrificed his Immunity Idol—worth more than gold in this game.

The Queen P: Now we know for certain who’s really in charge. If Russell had found the second hidden immunity idol at camp, he would have run straight to Parvati with it—and probably brag about it to the rest of his tribemates. With her quiet power, Queen Parvati is virtually “running a crazy women’s alliance” while “the king does what the queen says.”

via Survivor Insider: Some Gifts Just Keep on Givin’ (E! Online)

When the teams line up for the reward challenge, the Heroes note that Coach is gone and comment on the apparent all-girl alliance that is picking off the men of the Villains tribe.

In the challenge Courtney’s “skinny chick” physique finally pays off in a balancing challenge that favors the lightest players. The Villains outlast the Heroes to win the reward.

At their feast Parvati finds a clue to the immunity idol in her napkin. She shows Danielle, but they don't tell Russell. They sneak away to quickly find the idol. Parvati likes the idea of keeping Russell out of the loop and making him squirm.

via Idiot J.T. gives Russell an immunity idol on ‘Survivor’ (Houston Chronicle)

Only Amanda had some sense, telling us that “it’s really crazy to give Russell the idol” because “we don’t know” what’s going on, and Russell “could be in with the girls.” I’m not sure why Amanda never gets any credit, because she’s smart and usually on top of the game play.

JT also wrote what seemed like a note a fifth-grader would pass to someone he has a crush on, a note that demanded Russell “destroy this right when you finish reading!” It included the Heroes’ hidden immunity idol and a request that Russell vote out Parvati.

via ‘Survivors’ perform amazingly stupid deed (MSNBC)

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!

To save herself and Courtney, Sandra decided to play Russell, and it worked — sort of. As she told Courtney, Russell likes to think he’s in control, and so Sandra’s plan was to “put a bug in his ear that Coach is gunning for him.” She did just that and Russell bought the lie. “Russell’s so stupid he ate that crap up,” Sandra said, adding that “he doesn’t know how to play this game.”

But as it turned out, Russell actually voted for Courtney. Still, Coach went home, so it’s clear Russell is not in control, though he ranted earlier like only he can rant: “I have the power in this game. I send home who I want to send home.”

via Self-declared ruler gets faked out on ‘Survivor’ – Survivor- msnbc.com

Let’s take it from the top. Episode 8 started the same way episode 7 started. And episode 6. And every episode this season. With Russell giving himself props for being awesome. Every time I listen to Russell promoting Russell I think back to my teenage years and listening to the Beastie Boys’ License to Ill in the car with my mother. My mom made a pretty astute comment back then, saying, “If they have to keep repeating their names all the time to remind people who they are, they must not be very popular.”  She was wrong, of course. The Beastie Boys were extremely popular (even if “Girls” does hold up as perhaps the worst rap song of all time — seriously, go back and listen to it). But the point about their constant need to reaffirm who they were and their dominance in the fields of rhymin’ and/or stealin’ was pretty interesting.

One person considerably less than impressed with Russell, however, was Coach. Right after the vote, Coach decided Russell was a bully. Coach decided the tribe wouldn’t win another challenge and was” toast.” Lost in all of this, of course, was the fact that Russell is not the one who flipped on Rob. Coach did. And don’t blame the bully, but rather the person who allows himself to be bullied. Try that one alongside your Sun Tzu and Nietzsche quotes sometime, Mr. Wade.

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs Villains’ recap: Sassy Courtney is Back in Business! | TV Recap | EW.com

The hour has officially struck when Survivor becomes singularly obsessed with the merge. The Villains took all their belongings, tools and tarp to the challenge, they were so sure the mergey lovefest was on like Donkey Kong. And whaddaya know, not only did they not merge, but after Coach and Jerri fretted about starvation (seriously, guys?), the Villains lost a chance to mow down on a feast and get schwasted on some brewskies.

via TV Watch: Survivor (Another Great Player Bites the Dust and Our Sadness Deepens Edition): The Q: GQ.

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!!

“I am that good where I can bring people together in this game for my good,” he said, specifically citing Jerri and Parvati. At Tribal Council, he challenged Rob, saying, “I don’t think you have the guts to do what I did last Tribal.”

Russell successfully lobbied Jerri, who insisted she’s not a good villain, but she did a great job of making viewers and Russell-haters dislike her by switching sides.

Jerri was at first skeptical of aligning with Russell and his group — including Parvati, who promised to take her to the final four. Jerri asked, “How can you guarantee that?” But later, as she told a wounded Coach, who was upset that she didn’t consult him first, Jerri thought “it took huge balls” for Russell to make the move he did last week, and on top of that, she said, “I don’t trust Rob.”

Coach saw right through Russell’s act, and pointed out that “Russell is just sitting there spinning a pure line of gold.” But Coach promised Russell he'd vote for Rob after promising Rob he’d vote for Russell. So much for loyalty!

via Devious troll outplays tribe mate on ‘Survivor’ – Survivor- msnbc.com

The Boston Rob vs. Russell feud finally reached its endgame when Russell got Jerri and Coach to flip their allegiance. Jerri joined Russell, Parvati, and Danielle in voting for Rob, while Coach voted for Courtney (a vote that may not have been directly for Rob, but one which he knew ensured Rob’s departure in that it prevented a tie). It was a feisty Tribal Council as Rob questioned Russell’s idea of loyalty, causing the latter to respond, “Loyalty? I put my butt on the line for my people. I was willing to go home. If that isn’t loyalty, I don’t know what is. I don’t think you have the guts to do what I did last Tribal.” Ouch! Meanwhile, Coach was tormented about switching sides, and he was no doubt shaken to his core when his former man-crush refused a hug on the way to get his torch snuffed, telling Coach, “You’re a little man.” (Perhaps, but with a big feather attached to his hair.)

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs Villains’ instant react: Battle lines are drawn | EW.com

Now, I have no idea why Courtney was even competing in this challenge — why not use her in the less-important reward challenge so she could sit this one out? — but questioning that decision is like questioning how a case of Milwaukee’s Best somehow magically appears in your refrigerator. You don’t question it — you just grab some Funyuns and enjoy your good fortune. I had expected a lot of hilarity from Courtney this season, but instead she’s been getting the Brett edit. (At least, I think his name was Brett. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure of his name during his season.) Part of that is because Courtney has sat out pretty much every challenge, where she is usually at her most side-splitting, but it’s also because so much of the focus around camp has been on the Rob vs. Russell feud.

via ‘Survivor: Heroes vs Villains’ recap: The Rob and Russell Feud Heats Up | TV Recap | EW.com

Rob was so tight with his girls, he somehow managed to alienate the other people in his alliance, Coach and Jerri. Coach. He who tells stories about being a warrior yet recently wept in Tyson’s arms after someone wrote his name down at Tribal Council. Jerri. She who got rebuffed by Colby in 2001′s Australian Outback and cried when she got booed during the live finale for Survivor: All Stars three years later. For all his smarts, Rob should have known that these two models of insecurity would fall prey to Russell’s tall tales of trust and honor and go with him.

A smart move in the short run, but come on. If either Coach or Jerri manage to outlast Russell, I’ll do … well, I won't do anything. But it won't happen. Making nice with the Heroes is their only hope.

via News – Survivor Recap: A Titan Falls – Movies, TV & Music – UsMagazine.com

Russell continues to flabbergast me in the most enjoyable and entertaining of ways. Calling out Courtney or Sandra as the “next to go home” right in front of their faces was one of the boldest moves I’ve ever seen anybody make in any game at any time. Wow. Give this man a wide berth cause if you don’t, he will take it.

Let me tell you what I’m really learning from Russell — when you have nothing to fear, nothing at stake, you have all the power. Russell is truly only playing to win and it shows. He is so brazen. Russell is one helluva salesman. No, I am not going to stop talking about him because he’s absolutely fascinating.

via Jeff Probst blogs ‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’ episode 7 | EW.com

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Survivor: Heroes vs Villains’: Ousted Villain admits ‘Russell got the better of me’ | EW.com
• Survivor Superman Has Fallen and We Can’t Get Up – E! Online

What are your thoughts on this episode? Share them in the comments below!