‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’: Nice girl finishes last

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

I guess nice guys -- or gals, in this case -- really do finish last. At least that’s the lesson Amanda learned the hard way tonight on ‘Survivor’ during her reward challenge.

Paired up with Colby and Danielle, Amanda headed to the Robert Louis Stevenson house, where the three shared a bed and watched ‘Treasure Island.’ Before the screening, Amanda was neurotically searching for the hidden immunity idol clue, which she assumed was tucked into a Stevenson artifact. It turned out the clue was in a bowl of popcorn, which Danielle stumbled across as she was munching away. Caught off guard by the find, she quickly threw the clue under the bed. But Amanda was so obsessed with finding the thing that she immediately noticed Danielle’s sneaky move and grabbed the clue away from her.

Cue one of the best catfights in ‘Survivor’ history. I couldn’t believe the way the ladies were clawing at each other over the clue, basically wrestling each other to the floor and shouting over who deserved it more. Colby, meanwhile, sat dumbfounded on the bed, suddenly forced to moderate the tiff.

‘I didn’t see what happened, I was watching ‘Treasure Island,’ ‘ he shrugged like a dope.

I was surprised that he ultimately ruled that Amanda should give the clue back to Danielle because she found it. I get that he was going for the ‘fair and square’ angle, but Amanda was on his team. What do they care if Danielle is mad at them? Amanda really should have stuck to her guns and kept her stolen property, because her lack of an idol was one of the factors that led to her getting the boot this week.

Not that I was really sure throughout the episode who was going to be sent home. There was more last-minute scrambling on tonight’s episode than I can remember in recent ‘Survivor’ history. It’s episodes like these -- not the ones with the torrential downpours or minuscule food rations -- that make me feel like ‘Survivor’ truly is an incredibly challenging game to play. I don’t know how these people know whom to trust. I mean, how many people didn’t tell a lie this week?

Speaking of lies, Russell was still carrying a whole lot of residual anger toward Parvati for her bold move last week, when she kept the fact that she had an idol from him.

‘You didn’t tell me anything about it and I saved your ass,’ he bristled.

‘Russell likes to be in control because he likes to be the godfather of the game,’ Parvati said later in a confessional, rolling her eyes. She totally has him pinned, but I’m curious how long she’ll be able to keep up the act. As we saw last season, Russell doesn’t tolerate people lying to him. I think he went easy on Parvati because he has a bit of a crush on her. But I can’t see him keeping her around for that much longer if she doesn’t follow his every move. Then again, he incorrectly sacrificed his hidden immunity idol this week when he should have given it to Parvati, which could give her another leg up on him. Or maybe now they’re just even. Who can keep count at this point?

His scare tactics are certainly working on other players, like Candice, who I’ve never seen as rattled as she was this week. It was a pretty poor strategic move to divulge everything to Russell, who turned around and tattle-taled on her to Sandra, putting Candice in a tough spot. I can’t imagine the heroes are going to be too pleased with her upon returning to camp now that she’s flipped.

In any case, I’m glad it was Amanda who got the ax this week instead of Parvati. She, Russell and Sandra are pretty much the only ones keeping the game interesting for me at this point. I’m sorry that so many of the more colorful personalities have already left. I wasn’t even excited when Jerri finally pulled off a win at the immunity challenge because she’s been so bland this season. Same goes for Colby, who scored the winning shot on the reward challenge after poor performances in nearly every challenge this season.

Who are you rooting for as the tribe gets whittled down? Weigh in in the comments.

-- Amy Kaufman (follow me on Twitter @AmyKinLA)

RELATED

‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’: JT tries to defend his boneheaded move

‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains’: Evil trumps good, strategist trumps bonehead

Complete ‘Survivor’ coverage on Show Tracker