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Tadhana arrives back at camp and consoles themselves about their loss. Vytas says that Aras won “even after I gave him a little bit of a cheap shot.” Then the men go off to talk about which of the women they will be voting for. John says that he likes Katie, but she couldn’t beat her own mother. They all agree that they can’t have people giggling at a challenge. It’s a sacred ritual!

But the crucial factor for John is that Katie “has cooked every meal” while Ciera hasn’t done anything around camp. So John thinks it should be Ciera, and everyone seems to agree. Note to Candice: make sure the house is clean, and that the steak and potatoes are on the table at 7:00 sharp! Then he goes off to look for the hidden immunity idol again.

As soon as John’s gone, Brad asserts that John is a strong player who could reconnect with Candice, so he obviously needs to go. “Candice is kicking it at Redemption Island,” he says, even though Candice probably needs to get through another three or four challenges at least. And when she’s back, “Brad doesn’t control John. Candice does.” Brad is on the money here, but I think his timing is wrong. Neither Ciera or Katie have been much good in challenges, but they are both pretty smart and they’d only need to bring over one of the men to make things difficult for him.

Hayden is blown away by the thought of breaking up the five guys now. He asks Brad about the idol clue, and Brad tells everyone about the serpentine tree and the waterfall and the digging. “It’s been five guys since Day One, and if we’re voting one out now, it could be like opening Pandora ’s Box. It really could build distrust.” I think Hayden is okay with that.

Brad assures everyone that “the girls will be on board” and back at camp, he lays it down to Katie and Ciera. “Here’s the deal. We’re going unified on John... here’s the brutal truth. If it’s not John, it’s got to be one of you guys... And just so you know, I may vote for you so that if John gets back in the game, I can maybe pull him back in.” Well, that’s reassuring. Brad is treating everyone lower on the totem pole with contempt, so how exactly does he think he is going to win this game? I know I’m not the only one reminded of Russell Hantz.

Vytas is observing this as well. He notes that Brad is talking about not voting for John himself, but Vytas wants to have all hands on the same knife. He thinks that Brad now has a big target on him due to “that level of shysty-ness.”

Ciera, who was worried about the idol last week, is paranoid about it now that John has two clues and has been spending lots of time looking for it, and wants to vote for someone else. I’d be more worried if he was spending no time looking for it, but Ciera is pretty good about getting people to talk about voting off the person she wants voted off.

Exhibit A. Hayden says that the whole thing is “Brad’s call” and Ciera leaps on it. “You’re saying vote Brad.”

“I think it might be smart,” says Hayden.

“Might be,” Vytas is non-committal. Katie says that would be “magical,” while Ciera interviews so long as it is anyone but her.

Vytas and Hayden continue talking about what a huge blindside it would be to get rid of Brad, which is how you know it’s not going to happen. Yet. Vytas is leaning towards John. “Do we want to keep someone around who might actually have the idol?” he asks Hayden, even though having someone in your alliance with an idol is usually a good thing. Whatever happens, Hayden is looking forward to a big blind-side.

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