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Previously on Survivor, Colton discovered that Karma gravitates straight toward a bitchy temptress. After displaying some of the vilest behavior on the show this side of Russell Hantz, Colton came down with a case of appendicitis and had to be evacuated for surgery, thus removing him from the game. In interviews and on Twitter, Colton has said people just don’t get his sense of humor, and we have to say that if the unaired footage of him pulling down on his eyes to make fun of Christina’s Asian ethnicity is a sampling of this sort of “humor,” we’re guessing few people “get it.”

With Colton gone, the show can finally move forward with fewer obnoxious characters (yes, Alicia and Tarzan are still on the island, unfortunately). We did get a bit of a surprise at Tribal Council as both tribes attended, no one was voted off due to the Colton evacuation, and Jeff Probst informed the Survivors that they are now merged. This creates a very interesting dynamic, as the split is equal both in terms of men vs. women as well as New Manono vs. New Salani. Smart players have some options here, and it’s just a question of which direction they go.

The new merged tribe returns to camp to find the traditional feast, which is of course designed to get them happy and drunk. Alicia ponders how she’ll move forward in the game, and basically proves to us that she has no plan at all. Basically, she looks poised to follow in Colton’s footsteps of just targeting whomever she hates (and she and Colton both hated Christina). The difference between Alicia and Colton, however, is that she has no inexplicable ability to make people do things that are specifically counterintuitive to their best interest. Thus, we’re guessing that Alicia’s opinion matters very little to anyone still playing the game at this point.

When the tribe discusses its new name, Troyzan makes a unilateral decision that it will be Tikiano. He tells his tribemates that “tiki” means God (we suspect he is a God of Running Backs) and that “ano” means year. Everyone seems to be down with this choice, mainly because they all prefer to do as little thinking as possible.

Jonas makes breakfast for the group, and they’re all pretty excited that he seems to be able to infuse the food with unexpected flavor. Hey, if he doesn’t make it on Survivor, maybe he can go on Top Chef.

Some of the former Salani are having the remaining coffee that came from winning a previous Reward Challenge, and Tarzan approaches them and says he’ll just take one scoop. Jay patiently tells him that the coffee is for the people who won it in the Reward Challenge, to which Tarzan replies, “I won it.” Or maybe he says, “I want it.” Anyway, he eventually figures out what Jay is talking about (maybe) and backs off.

Jay is one of the more likable people on the show this season, and he is certainly not thrilled to be living with Tarzan again. He had just gotten away from some of the idiots he had to throw in with on the men’s tribe, and here they are back in his life. He is in a bit of a tough spot, as his position with his “new” group is precarious since the majority of them are women. We know already that Kim and Chelsea are keeping their options open as to whether they stick with the New Salani alliance or go back to the women. Jay should play this very carefully.

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