photo: cbs
Banana Etiquette
Original Air Date: Mar 24, 2010
Ryan O. – TwoCents Reviewer
Ryan@thetwocents.com
Wow. This episode featured a smart move by one tribe and a dumb move by the other and you didn’t see either one coming. As an added surprise, the dumb move came from a Villain and the smart move came from the Heroes.
Pre-Credits: We see the Heroes returning from voting out Tom. James offers ally-less Colby a hug. Candice tells us in a solo-view that she voted for Tom because she didn’t want to make the rest of the tribe mad at her (which makes one think she knew which way JT was voting). Amanda tells us she’s sick of Candice and she’d like to see her go.
Meanwhile at the Villains camp, Rob is up as the tribe sleeps. Russell is awake and goes to talk with him. He tries to offer an olive branch to Rob. He solo-views that it was all an act, which was pretty clear in the first place. Rob warns Russell that people are mad because no one was supposed to go look for the idol. Rob solo-views that he was just trying to make Russell more paranoid.
Pre-Challenge: Day 15 on Heroes beach. Tree-mail was vague (but still with the crappy poetry). Colby wants to know what the challenge will mean with James still around. And we’re off to the challenge.
Challenge: The Villains are surprised James is still around.They’re not alone — all of the viewers are just as surprised. Danielle (who?) speculates that he must have a strong alliance.
Surprise! It’s an immunity challenge! And it’s for individual immunity since both tribes are going to tribal council. The challenge is the one where the survivors are hooked to a rope that’s looped over and around a jungle gym-type structure. The tribes do it one at a time and then the winners from each tribe face off with the winner earning hot dogs and soda for his or her tribe as that tribe watches the other tribe’s tribal council.
The Heroes go first. Colby is just blowing it. He falls behind and is only ahead of Amanda who had a surprising James is doing better than one might expect someone with a blown ACL to do. However, in a bit of a surprise, Candice wins.
For the Villains, it’s kind of close for a while but, to no one’s real surprise, Rob wins.
Candice and Rob face off to see which tribe gets hot dogs. Candice keeps it close, and it’s amusing to hear Amanda cheering for her so enthusiastically, but Rob holds a lead wire-to-wire and wins.
JT solo-views that the only person that was keeping everyone from voting out Colby next was Candice and since she won immunity, that’s not an option any more, so it looks as if Colby is next.
Post-Challenge: At the Villains camp, Rob gathers Coach, Tyson, Sandra, Courtney, and Jerri together. He tells them they’re voting out Parvati but to let it leak that they’re voting for Russell so that he plays the idol.
Coach solo-views about how Russell has shown him loyalty but Rob has been loyal all along and Coach really wants Parvati out. Plus, he gave Rob his word and Coach is a man of his word.
Rob talks to Russell, telling him that if he doesn’t have the hidden immunity idol, he’d better go find it in a hurry. “It’s better to play with me than against me,” Rob tells him.
Russell talks with Parvati and Danielle about how they’re trying to flush the idol out. He says he’ll give Parvati the idol and they’ll write Tyson’s name down.
Meanwhile on Heroes beach, Colby talks about how James, even with his blown-knee, beat him at the challenge. He tells the rest of the tribe that he knows he’s next and just to enjoy the afternoon.
James and Colby talk in the hut. James tells him, essentially, how disappointed he is in Colby, especially after a fat man and cripple just beat him. Yes, James just called himself a cripple. Trying to have it both ways, James?
James solo-views that it’s like his Superman sucks. He really is taken with Superman, isn’t he? Remember how he called Stephenie Kryptonite?
Rupert, Amanda, JT, and Candice talk (Candice gets to be there by virtue of having immunity). They talk about whether they should vote out James or Colby. They mention how James is hurt and how he eats a lot and is always sneaking bananas. Amanda talks to James about how well he can compete and about the etiquette of bananas.
James, Rupert, and JT gather on the beach. James wants to race JT to prove that he can still run. Of course JT wins by a lot, even with JT spinning halfway around and running most of the race backwards. James’s knee kind of buckles at the finish. He is getting no stability from that knee.
Back with the Villains, Rob has a new plan: three votes for Parvati and three votes for Russell. It’s fool-proof. If Russell uses the immunity idol, then it’s a tie between Parvati and Tyson and there’s another round of voting. If he doesn’t use the idol, there’s a tie and another round of voting. It’s an elegant solution. He explains how they can’t lose with the plan. He solo-views that he came up with the plan to protect Tyson since he realized they would probably be voting for Tyson.
Tyson solo-views that the vote should be straightforward with this plan but he still feels uneasy since he doesn’t have immunity.
Russell pulls Tyson aside and tells him that he’s voting for Parvati. Tyson solo-views that he saw that as an excellent opportunity to get Parvati out of the game and that he might flop his vote to Parvati.
In a solo-view, Russell has come to the same conclusion that Rob did: three-way tie. He hopes that giving Parvati the idol is the right decision.
Tribal Challenge: Villains up first. There’s talk about the hidden immunity idol and Sandra just comes out and says Russell has it. Tyson says the idol could be useful but not with so many people. They vote. Sandra votes for Russell and tells him that he needs to get into the ocean and wash his butt crack since he stinks. I love Sandra.
Probst retrieves the votes and says now is the time to play the hidden immunity idol. Russell gets up, gets the idol out, but pauses. He says, “No, not this way.” He says that Coach always says stick to your word and that’s how he’s playing it. He gives it to Parvati. She hands it to Probst and nullifies votes for her. The votes go:
Russell, Russell, Parvati, Parvati, Parvati, Parvati (uh oh! someone flipped their vote!), Tyson, Tyson, Tyson. Tyson is voted out.
Tyson flipped his vote and essentially voted himself out. Dumb, dumb, dumb. He knows it, too.
Heroes turn. As the Villains eat their victory hot dogs, Rupert says that the Villains are “literally and physically” full. Rupert, you are dumb. Colby talks about how he and James discussed that they both still want to be in the game. James, because he can only ever keep one thought in his head per episode, mentions how watching this season’s Colby is like finding out Superman sucks and is really a guy in a fat suit.
The Heroes finally do the smart thing: they vote out James. I don’t really like James but he really did have bad luck with injuries. Tearing your ACL just because you landed funny and twisted your knee? That’s some crappy luck.
That’s my take on the episode. Give your opinion in the comments section below.
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TheTwoCents 
Ok, I’ll just be straight up. I can’t stand Russell, but dang if he ain’t a hardcore Survivor player. That was a ballsy move and it worked for him. Love the smug look on Rob’s face that turned to shock. I do like when you can shock Boston Rob.
Yeah, that was definitely a big move. But, it’s still, at best, 5 to 4 against Russell if you count Coach as switching to Russell, which seems like a near-certainty.
But, if they keep focusing on ousting Parvati, Russell will most likely make it to the merge.