A miraculous event happened. Phillip actually found his shorts buried under a rock! I doubt that Phillip was really told by his great-grandfather where the shorts were. More likely the producers felt that it was a basic human right to be clothed, and they did not really want him walking around in pink underwear. And it would fetch quite a princely sum if it were auctioned off.
It was no surprise to see Ralph voted out at tribal council, but after that it was a little surprising that Steve went next. After all, Stealth R Us were considering eliminating Andrea prematurely.
The mistake Andrea made was to express her deepest sympathies for Matt who was still surviving at Redemption Island. She seemed to be rather remorseful about blindsiding him, and would have been pleased if he were to return. Also, she was alleged to be mixing with the ex-Zapatera people. Rob saw all this as an excuse to earmark her to go soon, and, thinking correctly that the surprise package given out at the immunity challenge was an instruction to vote another person out immediately, gave the instruction that she should be voted out next.
Ralph and Steve not surprisingly grasped at straws to try to keep themselves in the game. They spoke to Ashley and Natalie, suggesting they get Andrea to join them in voting out Rob. And that was Steve's mistake. Rob saw Ralph as a bit of a threat and it was no problem to eliminate him. But as for Steve, he seemed to be a rather spent force and appeared already defeated. And for that reason, Rob was willing to keep him around a little longer.
The problem with plotting against a strong player is that should he get even a micro-hint that he is being targetted, his first reaction is to get his allies to vote out the trouble-maker who dared to even mention his name. Now, Ashley and Natalie did not keep quiet, but actually told Rob the full truth about the plot. This raised the alarm in Rob's mind that Steve was not quite down and out yet. That could have been why he was the second person voted out, and not Andrea.
Maybe if Steve had humbly gone to Rob and said something like "As a loyal and faithful NFL player, I would like to pledge my allegiance to you. Would you be willing to accept me and help vote out those less worthy people in your Stealth R Us alliance?" Such an approach worked for Phillip, and a person like Rob would certainly appreciate having him there to complicate matters for other people by creating some tension. So Rob would probably have been better off with Steve around instead of Andrea.
And now we are back to the pre-merge Ometepe. Will the dynamics of this stage be a carbon copy of the dynamics then? Finally they have to make a decision. They will have to allow for the possibility that Matt returns to the game yet again. According to the previous agreement, it will be Andrea next, but people like Ashley and Natalie will surely apply pressure to vote Phillip out. But Phillip is in the original Stealth R Us trio with Rob and Grant, which are likely to stick together. A tied 3-3 vote is a possibility that they might want to avoid.
Comments
Amazing as usual girl!!! This should get really interesting now..... with only only the one tribe left...If Grant's smart he'll make his move against Rob... but i actually don't see that happening...and Rob still has the Idol... so it should get very interesting as they start cannibalizing one another!!! Love you, girl!!! Great read!!! <3333
