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Essentially, what it comes down to is the fact that it is much easier to spin the women around rapidly, so they're consistently dizzier than the men they're racing against. The only time a female wins is when the ladies are going up against each other. In the end, it's Jalapao that wins reward. They choose to send Brendan from the opposing team to Exile Island (again), while he chooses secret ally Stephen to go with him. Taj hides behind other people as if to show she doesn't want to go back to Exile this time, and her Jalapao teammates seem to respect Brendan for choosing someone different.

There may be a downside to Brendan's actions, though. The editing makes it appear as though players like Tyson and Coach may have suspicions about the connections he has made on Exile Island, which means they're necessarily going to see him as an increased threat. We're not sure Coach is truly that savvy, however.

When Jalapao goes to Charmin Cafe to receive their reward, there are sweets everywhere. The nicest and most exciting surprise, though, is that there are letters from home for each of them. They all share some tears, but in the midst of their celebrating, Joe mentions that Taj is in a dangerous position on their team. She's been gone at Exile Island so much that she hasn't had a chance to strategize with them and create a tighter bond. He sees her as a bit of an outsider on their team. Once again, we have concerns about the secret alliance thinking too long-term. You have to get to the merge in order to have your group make it further.

When we return to Timbira, we learn that it wasn't just the editing trying to make us believe that Tyson and Coach are a touch suspicious of Brendan. As Debra wonders aloud why Brendan chose Stephan to go to Exile Island with him, Tyson tells the tribe that he thinks that Brendan is trying to forge some relationships and that perhaps he should be next to go. Coach seems to be onboard with the plan, but Erinn reminds us that she hates Coach. Just like everyone else hates Coach. The difference is that she's in a position to do something about it.

We visit Brendan and Stephen at Exile Island for a few minutes, and Stephen informs Brendan that he and Taj did in fact find the Immunity Idol. He also notes in a brief confessional to the camera that while he does like the idea of the two-tribe alliance as a blindside for the future, he doesn't have a lot of reason to trust Brendan at this point. He's known the guy for all of five minutes, after all. Stephen isn't going to disregard the possibility of teaming up with Taj, Brendan and Sierra, but he also is going to continue to work the alliances he already has (read: JT).

We learned in a news story earlier this week that cutie-pie (that's from Kim) Spencer is dating Survivor China winner Todd. This surprised us, because we hadn't recalled Spencer ever saying he was gay. And as he has a conversation with Sydney about cute girls on the island, we become a little more confused because if he's gay, why would he be talking about the hot chicks? Spencer answers this question for us as he reveals that he has chosen not to tell any of his fellow cast members that he is gay, as he doesn't see that he has anything to gain by doing so. In fact, he even seems to believe he might have something to lose, which is a little surprising, given that Survivor has historically shown that most people on the show have pretty open minds. Hell, even ol' Rudy had an alliance with Richard Hatch, and Rudy was probably about as severe as it gets when it comes to homophobia.

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