Accusations of racism and chauvinism hit the Foa Foa tribe on Thursday night’s episode of Survivor, mostly surrounding Ben. And his tribe, especially Jaison, were sick of him. But Russell wants him to stick around and so far whatever Russell wants to happen, happened.
Well not this time. Surprisingly, Russell made his best move of the game this episode and all he had to do was shut his mouth to do it. With Ben spewing at the mouth with his racial comments towards Yasmin last episode and basically getting on everyone’s last nerve, Jaison led a crusade to get Ben voted out. He even threatened (empty threat yes, but still a threat) to quit himself if Ben stayed in the game.
But first, we actually got to see a little bit of Galu! In my last blog I was dead wrong. Galu took home another victory after what seemed to be one of the most confusing challenges I’ve seen. Half of it I didn’t understand what was going on, and once I finally realized the rules of the game it was almost over! Still, Galu won reward AND immunity, sending Foa Foa to their third tribal council in a row to lose their fourth member. Foa Foa has a lot of catching up to do.
However, the reward was very interesting. As the tribe leader, Russell S. was given the option of either selecting comfort items (blankets, towels, a few pillows) or a practical living kit which included a tarp. In survivor, you want a tarp. If you don’t have one, all you can think about is how amazing a tarp would be and how dry you could keep everything. Russell S. should have done anything he could to get the tarp. And he picks the COMFORT!
Bad move Russell. Bad, bad move. He said that he did it to “keep his girls happy” because they wanted comfort, but I think he knew it was a huge mistake the second after he chose the comfort. As soon as it rains, all the comfort items are going to be soaked and useless anyways. And not only was it a bad decision for the tribe, it made the other guys not trust or respect Russell S. Trust is huge in this crazy game and to lose it for something like making a stupid decision is rough.
I think I finally know all of Galu’s names and they’ve all gotten a confessional by now which is good. Still, I know the Foa Foa’s much more because they can’t seem to win! Maybe if they can get a little negativity out of their tribe they’ll start winning? Well that’s what Jaison is hoping for.
The only person standing in the way of Ben going home is the big man, Russell H. Not only has Russell controlled his tribe for the first two votes, he did it in such a way that people still actually trust him. I don’t understand why these people are so naive but they are. Russell wants to keep Ben because Ben is a loyal vote, and he wants to boot Ashley. Everyone keeps saying Ashley is weak but I don’t understand why. She looks pretty athletic, and anyone is better than Ben’s performance in the challenge this week. It was just pathetic. So why they think Ben is such a physical help to their tribe is beyond me. Sure he can start fire, but that’s not worth keeping cancer in your tribe for.
But after a series of back-and-forth verbal volleys from Jaison and Ben at tribal council, Russell made the decision to stick with his tribe and oust Ben. I was shocked! He didn’t have to “control” every vote and he made the smart move in letting his tribe have what they want. If he stuck up for Ben to the death, well they’d both go down with the ship. It showed a lot about Russell’s gameplay that he would not let his ego get in the way of the game. His versatility and ability to adapt surprised me.
So the cancer of Foa Foa was ousted in a unanimous vote, so where does Foa Foa go from here? Do they finally begin to win a few challenges or are they doomed to the infamous fate of ulonging? Or maybe a tribal switch will shake things up? In Survivor, anything can happen.
