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Tarzan stands up straight and sends the women away. They will not be allowed to return without acknowledging the men’s request. The women settle upon a decision to decline. We cannot stand Matt yet he is right. The women are ungrateful, choosing to take without giving. They are every bit as hypocritical as Colton. This is not going to be a good season of Survivor.

Using their shiny new fishing equipment for the first time, Chelsea, Kim and Monica each catch a fish, which gives them a lot of confidence as we head into…

Probst Sighting!!!

The elimination challenge is one of those “lead the blind” competitions wherein one contestant shouts instructions to lead their players to water towers. At these designated locations, they are arbitrarily dunked with water (how very You Can’t Do That on Television) then given pieces for a puzzle they are to assemble. The first team to complete it wins the challenge and immunity. The second team to complete it will have nasty water dunked on them for no reason. Survivor is a cruel show.

There are two halves to this challenge. The physical portion requires a lot of teamwork as Bill and Sabrina steer their teammates toward the proper areas. Bill is fantastic at this phase while Sabrina vacillates between imprecise instructions and inexplicable stretches of silence. The women grow very frustrated with her as the men easily beat them to the puzzle phase.

Then, Bill spits the bit. I don’t mean that he struggles as mightily as Kat did the previous episode. Still, he is slow enough in solving the puzzle that the women catch up to him. And while Sabrina may not be employable as an auctioneer, she solves a puzzle in record time. After falling far behind, the women upset the men for the second time in this episode. And this is all Bill’s fault. He stole defeat from the jaws of victory with his failed puzzle attempt.

Before the show cuts to a commercial break, Matt is shown uttering the words we always hate. He has convinced himself that it is fantastic that his tribe has to vote someone out. “My mind was just blown. I couldn’t believe we lost but now that we’ve lost this challenge, I’m looking forward to doing this. I mean, I’ve spent eight days out here kind of creating some power and I want to use it. And I want to execute some of it tonight. That’s what’s gonna happen.”

First of all, Matt doesn’t have the allies that he thinks he does. Even if he did, this is exactly the wrong philosophy. Survivor is a numbers game. Avoiding needless votes is integral to long term success. No one should ever be excited to go to Tribal Council because there is simply too much beyond any one player’s control.

Back at camp, the women gloat over the fact that the men were overly confident prior to the loss. Well, ladies, they had won four out of the previous five challenges. Also, they built a massive lead over your team in the teamwork portion of this challenge. Their overconfidence was based in fact. The problem was Bill. This means…

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