An “Insider” Look at Survivor: Redemption Island, Episode 3, Part 2 – “Who Knows What Lurks in the Mind of Boston Rob”

Francesca the Day After

Francesca says leaving the game early was really hard for her. When she saw what was going down at Tribal Council – at that point she saw the writing on the wall. But it had never occurred to Francesca that she might be the first person voted out.

As for Redemption Island, Francesca says, “I surprised myself. I never got discouraged. I never felt like giving up at all.” Francesca’s proud the game didn’t break her down – although she acknowledges it was a short game for her.

“It was really stupid to get rid of me,” Francesca says. Although she acknowledges it was smart in that she planned to go after Boston Rob and most of the tribe had allied with him. Francesca knows Boston Rob is a nice guy, but he’s tough competition and they needed to get him out.

Francesca says she worked hard at camp and got along with everyone except Phillip. “But I did get a second chance and I got to go to Redemption Island – which was kind of awesome. I mean, it sucked, but it was kind of awesome.” Heh. Francesca says the Tribal Council was so awful for her, she didn’t really feel like living with her tribe at that point anyway.

At first, Francesca was worried about being on Redemption Island by herself, but she built a shelter and found it relaxing. She worked hard in the challenge, and even though she lost, Francesca feels she gave it her all. Redemption Island also gave her a chance to think. Most of the time, Francesca thought about her family and the people who have supported her in her life. That was a real source of strength for her.

“It’s all well and good to have degrees, but it doesn’t help you in the game of Survivor,” Francesca says. “I think it’s all about being socially smart and having good luck and being in the right place at the right time with the right people… It’s not about what kind of job you have.” Francesca thinks having a lot of people in her life loving and supporting her helped her attitude here.

Francesca seems like a nice, smart lady. But she made a crucial error dissing Rob and Russell out loud when they first showed up, and then a second mistake by joining a minority alliance. Combined, those mistakes didn’t give Francesca much of a chance in this game.

Ometepe Return from Tribal Council

It's night five on Ometepe. We see a sea turtle making her way up the beach and the tribe coming back from the Tribal Council where they voted Matt out. Phillip interviews, “I went to Tribal Council fully expecting to be sent to Redemption Island. So I was ecstatic to remain in the tribe.” Phillip says he plans on doing what Rob wants for now.

In the shelter, where most of the tribe is, Rob asks where Kristina is. Phillip says she’s at the fire. Rob asks Kristina if she wants to sleep in the main shelter with the others. He says it’s not too wet in there. Kristina says she’ll just hang in the fire area for a little while.

Then Kristina interviews, “At Tribal Council, Matt got blindsided. It was a big blindside.” Kristina doesn’t see the logic in voting Matt out. He’s a strong guy – and they didn’t tell Andrea, so she was blindsided too. Kristina had to play her idol because she thought she was the target but, “Rob’s really smart. It was a great way to flush it out and get rid of somebody at the same time, but again I could not have foreseen it because I never would have anticipated that they would have gotten rid of Matt. But who knows what lurks in the mind of Boston Rob.”

Next we see a storm moving in and, as morning comes, it is still raining at Ometepe. Andrea looks glum. She interviews, “I’m a little shocked and upset about what happened at Tribal Council because I had grown really close to Matt. It was like they were blindsiding me as well.” Andrea says it came out of nowhere and was a really stupid move. She also acknowledges that she could be the next one gone.

Andrea and Kristina are right to feel unsettled. Andrea should recognize that her pairing with Matt made Rob nervous and that’s why Matt was sent packing. Still, it seems odd to target Matt over Andrea when the Ometepe have struggled at winning challenges.

Difficult to Lose

David interviews that it was difficult to choose whether to throw the challenge or not when Jeff revealed the reward items. David swats at bugs as he says, “I could have gone either way at that time.” David recognizes another win over Ometepe would have really demoralized that tribe.

Looking around the tribe, the only folks who gave an immediate response were Steve and Mike, who both wanted to go forward with the plan. From David’s perspective he finds a “definite emptiness” coming back to tribe without the reward.

David does think minimizing food consumption and getting rid of people they don’t need at camp is a good idea. If everything goes according to plan, Russell will be out at Tribal Council and Zapetera will be able to regain their momentum at the next challenge.

At least that’s what David hopes. The danger with throwing a challenge at this point is that the other tribe will gain momentum and actually win the next challenge themselves.

Phillip’s Victory Speech

It's day eight at Ometepe and the tribe is just returning with their loot from their first challenge “win.” Phillip immediately calls a tribe meeting. Phillip clutches the statue they just won and begins – along with some stirring music from the editors, “You know, the response of a tribe during difficult and challenging times varies greatly. Strong tribes grow bold. Weak tribes grow agitated.” Hoo, boy. For some reason, Phillip’s tribe looks less than emotionally stirred by this speech.

Continuing on, Phillip says, “But a superior tribe, like ours, will endure resolutely until we find a way to win!” With that, Phillip thrusts the immunity statue high in the air. Rob has an I-can’t-believe-this-dude-is-saying-this expression on his face. He looks like he wants to roll around howling on the ground. But, of course, he doesn’t.

Phillip then interviews that, a lot of times in life, you hit bottom and don’t know if you can get up. But, “By golly, we did!” Now they find themselves winners – and Phillip is thrilled. I wonder what he thinks now that he knows the other tribe threw the challenge.