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Hello, good people, and welcome back to Survivor: Finally Things Should Get Interesting. After last week's mercy killing...er...double boot episode, we seem to find ourselves without any Zapatera members in the main game. Ralph and Steve were sent packing to Elrod Island, where they will take on Matt and Mike in the next RI Duel. Previews for this week have been all over the place: The Ometepes will now have to turn on each other...duh. Phillip has been faking his craziness all along...or has he? And we'll get the "love from home/loved one visit" challenge this time around. No matter what the previews suggest, they won't pull us away from the fact that Andrea seems to be on her last leg with the Ometepes and now that all the Zaps are gone, she is the obvious first boot from the Ometepe 6 - enough so that as I type this (at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon), I think it's already time to start playing "It's Anyone But Andrea."

We begin tonight's episode as Ralph lands in Redemption Island. As he's being greeted and discussing Steve's weight loss, who shows up? Steve! And there is much rejoicing. Mike tells us they have no idea what's going on with RI and it just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Mike starts talking about how the jury will be all Zapatera. Ralph is feeling pretty good about it, actually. The way he sees it, if any of the Zaps make it into the Final 3, they're guaranteed to win. And he wants to be that guy.

And now it's time to check in with the celebrating Ometepes. Andrea is so excited to finally be rid of those awful Zapateras and she's ready to get back in game mode. Yeah? If I'm right, I expect that excitement to last about another 39 minutes (plus commercials). In the midst of the celebration, Natalie has a "moment" and begins crying. You can only assume it's a mixture of knowing you have to cut the throat of one of your friends, homesickness and happiness at being this close to the million AND being done in general. Rob tells us that she has shown amazing maturity and that he needs to make sure she's ok as she's his main alliance. As everyone comforts Natalie, Rob tells us that as long as no one starts talking to each other and figures out that he's the one who has to go, he's all set. Cue the theme...

We come back from break to an overhead shot of the Murlonio Beach. Was it me, or did that shot make the beach look like a big butt? (And THIS is the kind of expert analysis you're not going to find ANYwhere else.) Anyway, Tree Mail brings a box full of product placement. It's the Love From Home challenge!!! The note suggests a Redemption Island duel as well as a phone with videos for all of the players, with a little love from home. While the Ometepes watch their videos, the Redemption Island guys also get a phone with videos from home. Okay...this is weird. Will there be two challenges? We have a duel coming, but what does that mean for the people still in the game? Not surprisingly, Matt has the biggest reaction to the video from home. He's now bound and determined to not only stay in the game, but to win this challenge to spend some time with his brother.

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