Surviving Samoa, Episode 9: “Am I That Damn Good?”

Does Russell spend most of the day observing the Galu and trying to figure out where there might be a crack? He says he did, but now they’re just hoping somebody comes to them and wants to make a move. “But they seem to be pretty tight.”

Monica says she thinks the Foa Foans see how tight the Galus are. If they want to try to find a crack, she respects that, but she doesn’t think they’re trying that hard.

How do the Galus figure out who goes next? Dave says you look at who is the most dangerous, with several criteria – physical ability, mental toughness, strategic acumen. They try to come to a consensus so all of them feel heard.

With that, it’s time to vote. We are treated to ominous drum-based background music (which is loud enough to take the foreground) as the players cast their votes, but we don’t see a single one of them.

Probst tallies the votes, but before he can read them, Russell once again stands up to play the immunity idol. Dave’s mouth just drops wide open. Ha! Monica looks at Dave like, “holy crap.” Erik celebrates in the jury box. Russell turns to the Galu and says, “I ain’t finished playin’ just yet.” Dave mouths, “Wow.”

Probst reads the votes: Russell, Russell, Russell, Russell, Russell, Russell, Russell, Kelly (Laura looks pissed), Kelly (“Oh my God,” she says), and Kelly. Kelly gets up to have her torch snuffed as Russell can’t help but smile. Laura whispers, “He just stirred up a whole lot of hell, is what he did.” Shambo looks at her and just nods. And just like that, Kelly, whom we barely even got to know, is gone.

Probst notes that since the merge there have been two Tribal Councils, two blindsides, and two hidden immunity idols played. Once again, the Foa Foans have survived the vote. The question is whether this vote changed the game or just delayed the inevitable. Oh, and now the hidden immunity idol will go back into the game once again – so you know Russell will be looking for it, as probably will just about everybody else!

In her final words, Kelly says she definitely wasn’t expecting to go home tonight. Everything was working out perfectly. She hopes Galu gets rid of Russell – how many immunity idols can there be?! He’s “just a little, sneaky man” and she knows he’s next to go. But she’s totally shocked.

I agree with Dave that this was a “wow” moment, but it wasn’t as dramatic a Tribal Council as it was played up to be (of course, such moments on reality TV rarely are as big a deal as the previews and ads suggest – it’s the nature of the beast). I mean, we barely got to know Kelly! So it’s not as big a shock as if, say, Laura or Dave or somebody like that left.

Plus, I don’t really understand Laura’s comment about Russell “stirred up a whole lot of hell.” The Galus still have a majority, because she doesn't know Shambo could be on the Foa Foa side (and Shambo wisely voted with the other Galus so as not to break her cover). If the idol is not found again, this vote would appear to have just, as Probst said, delayed the inevitable. We’ll see next week if that is indeed the case.

Speaking of next week, there is a showdown between Russell and Laura, as Russell does indeed go idol-hunting and tells us he’s ten times smarter than she could ever be. Others do indeed go looking as well, and everybody is keeping an eye on each other. It’s a scavenger hunt for all the marbles!

Now you can follow RealityNewsOnline on Twitter! You can get up to the minute notifications on article postings and other reality TV news by following us there. So head on over to RealityNewsOnline’s Twitter page!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Samoa articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. You can also now follow him on Twitter!

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! Don’t forget to take a look at the rest of the site and buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store!

For more news about Survivor, be sure to check out SirLinksALot: Survivor and Survivor Fever!