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Hello good people and welcome to Part 2 of the 2 hour extravaganza known as Survivor: HHH, Episode 10. Since we just finished up our recap of Part 1, I'm not going to do a full on resetting of where we are. I'll just say that the Roundtable alliance was just shattered and a new alliance formed. Some really good strategy was employed until it came time to actually vote someone out and they chose JP who has had slightly less camera time than the dolphins who were leading the way for the yacht a couple episodes back. At any rate, the alliance was just blown up and Ryan and Chrissy have NO idea what just hit them.

We pick the story up as everyone gets back to camp after Tribal. They get back and Chrissy wants an explanation about what happened. Joe tells her she can't have one and that she should just be thankful it wasn't her. He tells her she should just enjoy Fiji, which is apparently what she's been saying to other people. He tells her to be bitter if she wants to, but he and Mike were never bitter and they've been on the bottom the whole time. Ben suggests that all this is funny from the guy who claimed he'd never be a puppet. Now, let's all remember that Ben is in on the plan and is currently playing secret agent. And he's doing it masterfully. Chrissy is upset about the blindside, but not as much as she is about how she was treated when they got back to camp. She asks how long this had been in the works. Actually, she asks if she's allowed to ask this question. Devon responds, you can ask, but I'm not giving you an answer.

Despite being shocked and infuriated, Ryan takes a different approach and compliments the group on the move and thanks them for keeping him in the game. He has no idea what he's going to do now, but being on the bottom, he knows he has his work cut out for him. Meanwhile, Joe and Ben are still sniping at each other - as you would expect them to do, if the blindside also included Ben. Since it doesn't, how he is playing this is REALLY good. Like, so good that when it's revealed that he was in on this the whole time - he might just win the game as a reward for his performance here. What's great about this is that Joe isn't in on it, and he has no idea that Ben's faking. Ben asks them "Why JP" and Devon refuses to answer again. Why should he give any info about this new faction that would only serve to be used against him later in the game? He's trying to keep it all a mystery from the people on the outside and I think that's commendable. Also, Ryan and Chrissy have been SO smug and SO arrogant these last few episodes, I'm just enjoying watching them get a little comeuppance here.

Lauren tells us that the plan could not have gone any better. We see Ben finally get to talk to Lauren and Ashley alone and he tells them that he is totally in with Ryan and Chrissy and that he will get Ryan to play his idol next time. Now, the conversation I've been waiting for. Devon and Ryan are alone finally. Devon tells Ryan that he had to do it. And the reason he was kept out of the loop was because he lied to Devon about who knew about his idol. In his backpedaling, Ryan claims not to have said those exact words in that order and - frankly, it's insulting. Dude, you cut your boy out of the deal making and alliance making process by telling Ben you had an idol after you told Devon that no one else would know. You set up a side deal and your main squeeze found out about it and now, you have nothing. Devon tells us that he simply doesn't trust Ryan anymore. He trusts Lauren and Ashley more and Ryan no longer fits into his plan for the end of this game.

We come back from the first break to breakfast on Day 28. They're all eating about 2 seashells full of rice. Almost nothing. Devon seems to be taking over as the narrator of the season as he tells us that his cloudy game has all of a sudden gotten quite clear. He and Ben get some alone time and he compliments Ben on his performance. They talk about how, with Lauren's extra vote, they now have numbers that are unstoppable as long as all 4 of them remain loyal. Devon tells us that he has been waiting for his chance to run the game and now he has it. He tells Ben it needs to be either Chrissy or Joe. He loves having all the knowledge in the game right now. He knows where the advantages are. Where the idols are. And no one realizes he's as good at this game as he is. And with that, it's time for a...

...Probst Sighting! Today's challenge will divide them into random teams. They'll paddle a boat across the water picking up huge, heavy packs of wooden puzzle pieces. They'll then have to maneuver them through some obstacles and get them back to the beach. Once there, they'll have to solve the puzzle. The booty at the end of this thing? It's the Survivor spa day. Massage, fried chicken all kinds of good stuff. The teams are: Lauren, Ryan, Mike and Chrissy against Ben, Joe, Ashley and Devon. Um, this might be the most lopsided tribes I've ever seen in a post-merge challenge. As they get started, Devon hauls in the big pack of pieces. Ryan has a hard time with his as it likely weighs more than he does. Amazingly enough, the teams are dead even as they get to the shore with all their pieces. The Devon group is much faster getting their puzzle bundles up to the puzzle board and they start untying right away. They still have to get these logs through a tunnel, which will spit their puzzle pieces out at the end. The Ben/Devon team is starting to pull away in the challenge, despite Jeff's attempt to make it sound like it's close. And after a couple minutes of puzzle setting up, Ben, Joe, Ashley and Devon win reward. As we head to break, Joe is pretty thrilled about the win as well as not being on the bottom anymore. Now, let's see if he can stay in his new place for a little while.

We come back from break to the spa reward. Devin loves the food and the spa, but they're all very keen that the game is still on. Ben is playing the dethroned king role and Joe is loving life on the top now. Joe tells us that Ben is completely lost in the game right now living on the bottom. Ashley and Devon are pretty hyped by Ben's performance here. Ashely is not so sure this is such a good thing though. Ben is someone to start to be worried about now. She is, however, feeling like her game is really coming into focus now and this could be her game to lose. Now, I don't know how it looks from the island right now, but from my couch Devon, Lauren, Ben and maybe some others have a stronger claim to win this game. Girl, you need to come up with a move that's all your own. Right now, it just looks like you picked the right alliance. And you're running out of time.

Back at camp, Ryan is as low as he has been in the game. He can't win anything and he's on the bottom now. He decides he needs to talk to Mike and try to swing him over to his side and get back in charge. Mike is having none of it, though. He accurately makes the point that Ryan has never wanted to work with him, but now that he's on the bottom, NOW he wants to work with Mike. We join Chrissy trying to make an in-road with Lauren. She tells Lauren how she and Ryan have been talking about going to Final 3 with her. And she wants to keep the conversations open. Lauren asks her who else she's been having these conversations with. Lauren tells us that if Chrissy wanted to work with her, she'd have talked to her a couple weeks ago...not now that her back is against the wall. So, in the span of 3 show minutes, Mike and Lauren - without any coaching or prompting - both shot down the advances of Ryan and Chrissy. And frankly, that's what you get. When you treat the people at the bottom like absolute shit - you don't get to buddy up to them when the tides turn. And for the record, Mike and Lauren gave you WAY more respect and consideration than you EVER gave them. And I kinda dig it. You reap what you sow...and right now, Ryan and Chrissy don't like the taste of it one bit. Maybe you'll think about how you treat people next time.

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