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Russell is off on his own, contemplating. Russell says that his weakness showed up today and that diving ten feet down is not his thing. He interviews that it’s hard to see a clear path forward, and “if they want to make a bold move and get rid of a strong player, I could be gone.” Strong player? Keep telling yourself that, Russell. Do you know what Russell is not doing? He’s not looking for the idol. Or even thinking about where it might be. Like you should when you know there’s a good chance that you’re going home and you have a clue that pretty much tells you where it is. A strong player would be looking for the idol. “What is it about this game that fights me so much?” Russell asks himself.

Malcolm and Angie have a further conversation, where Angie argues that she would have gone and she would have been slow, but she would have done it. She’d have rather had someone do it that was fast, so the team could get ahead. Malcolm looks like he wants to get out of this conversation, so he says “Totally. He quit, you wouldn’t quit.” “He did quit,” Angie realizes. Malcolm interviews that it’s a toss-up for him. Russell is stronger, but they have not spoken strategy since Day 1; meanwhile, Angie would do whatever he wants her to. Angie continues, arguing that while she sucks, he is older than she is. So, he sucks more? And she feels bad about doing this because Russell wants so dearly to make the merge, but... Malcolm agrees that “Russell isn’t doing anything... I mean, he’s great around camp.” The sad thing is, Angie won’t see it coming.

Back with Russell, he talks about the people who went before him and the challenges they faced, which were much worse than any game show, and still persevered. He plans to draw strength that, because “to not continue to fight would be to spit in the face of all those people who endured so much more than he will ever endure, in his life, and definitely in this damn game.” Awesome! It’s been a full three seasons since we had a castaway commune with their ancestors.

At Tribal Council, I was all prepared for Probst to mock Matsing, but he starts by giving the inspirational message that it will be okay for the three who are not voted out tonight. He asks Denise what she sacrificed to come on Survivor, and it’s time with her daughter, her husband and her practice. Malcolm says that he has been watching Survivor since he was 12, and now he’s finally on the show he’s worried that his friends and family are going to associate him with this tribe of losers. As if Malcolm’s friends and family think Malcolm is as awesome as Malcolm thinks he is. It’s heartbreaking, he says, before calling out Angie and Russell as the ones who had problems with today’s challenge.

Malcolm reiterates that Angie and Russell had problems on the challenge today, and basically says that he and Denise should have done the challenge alone. Angie says that she is worried about going home tonight, but follows Malcolm’s lead, saying that it was better to let Denise do the swimming. She wants the rest of her tribe to know that she wouldn’t give up, like Russell did. “I’m a fighter,” she says. Russell, for his part, says that he “made a strategic decision to stop what he was doing, knowing it was just doing to end in failure.” Good call, Russell.

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