Surviving the Amazon, Episode 9: Completely In Control

Anyway, she tells Jenna that Alex has to go next. Remember, Jenna isn't supposed to know this part of the plan yet. So she plays along, telling Deena that's understandable. Deena says it's time for Alex to go bye-bye, and they (herself, Jenna, and who knows who else) are completely in control.

Jenna runs back to Alex and talks about how shocked and disappointed she is that Deena would stab them in the back. She won't forgive her and tells Alex this is the first time she's been pissed off. She adds that Deena told her they were in control of the game, but she probably says that to everybody. They need Rob to support them - if he turns on them, they're screwed.

Rob realizes the dangerous position he's in. He says he's in both circles, and it could backfire. But Deena thinks that Rob is working with Matthew to get rid of Alex, and Matthew is passing that along to Butch. Everybody is playing their part.

Rob summarizes: Deena and Alex both think the same people are voting the other one off. It's like he's in the mob and knows there is a hit on one friend. He has to look the other way like everything is hunky dory, but the person who gets hit in Tribal Council is least expecting it.

Um, I think Rob just gave it all away. I mean, Alex is expecting it. So… Well, never mind. We'll get to that in a minute anyway.

And here we are - at Tribal Council. Probst asks Heidi about her knee again. She says it's getting better. Does it concern her? Yes. Her strongest asset is her athleticism and her intelligence - one is gone. OK, I'll wait for you to stop guffawing at her remark about her intelligence.

…

…

Alright, that's enough. Time to move on. Deena says the game is on and people are jockeying for position. It's a struggle to see who has the power and people are on edge. Alex is asked if he notices people whispering more. To some extent, yes. You do get a bit paranoid. And you have to wonder if you'd stab somebody in the back.

Probst asks Matt if he needed to win the immunity. Matt says it's nice to have, but based on what he knows, it was not absolutely necessary. So would he give it up? No.

Deena is asked if she feels good. She says yes, if her name comes up, it came to a bug from the pit of Hell.

Time for the vote. We see Christy vote for Alex, saying he's too much of a threat and so she's trying to get rid of him. Jenna votes for Deena, saying Deena lied to her, betrayed her, and screwed her - so now she's screwing Deena. Ouch. Deena votes for Alex, again with the threat line, but also saying he stands between her and the big prize. And Alex votes for Deena, saying she couldn't stand by her word for three days. He'd love to face her in court because she's the worst liar he's met in his life.

The votes are counted. Deena. Deena. Alex. Alex. Deena. Deena. Deena. Uh oh! Deena is gone! It turns out Christy and Deena were the only two who voted against Alex. I bet Christy feels out of the loop.

Deena's final words talk about how they should vote off the strongest, but things happen and people form attachments. She got nixed, but the others will have to live with that decision. I'm guessing that's a threat for the finals, but since everybody but Christy sided against her, I don't know how much of a threat it really is.

OK, let's talk about what happened here. Once again, Rob has done something that I simply don't understand. Early on, I didn't understand why he didn't side with Ryan and Daniel and Matt to take out Roger. Remember, in the first vote if he had joined them, it would have been four votes Roger, three Ryan, and one Daniel (because Dave said he wouldn't vote against Ryan). But Rob didn't do it, even though he hated Roger and already didn't like Dave. Now, he's in a similar situation where he could have gotten rid of a threat, and he chose against it. Why? Why? Why?!

Sting7 explained it pretty well in an e-mail, and I'm going to quote him talking about how the votes could have gone: He had Deena, Deena had him. (2) He also had Matt (3), who had Butch (4). Alex can be assumed to have Heidi and Jenna in his pocket. That's three. Christy had plenty more reason to be loyal to Deena (5) than to Alex, who doesn't seem to know Christy is on the island. Physically, Alex is muuuch more of a physical threat to Rob than Deena. Once Alex was gone, they could have gone after Matt next then pick off Heidi and Jenna eventually (they are so weakened, chances are they won't win immunity). That leaves Rob with Deena, Butch, and Christy in the final four. If I'm Rob, I like my chances... Why didn't the game master think of this?

All of these are good questions, and ones I wish I knew the answer to. Rob kept going on about how he and Deena had this super-secret alliance to the end. So why not keep it? And he still has Matt under his control just in case. I don't get it.

Then again, Jenna and Alex seem to think that they are tight with Rob, too. So he may figure he has as good a chance with them. He's wrong - because Jenna and Heidi will certainly keep each other around before keeping him, and they'd probably rather keep Alex as well. So even if he gets into the final four this way, he's gone before the final three unless he wins immunity.

So, as I said, I just don't get it. Maybe it was peer pressure from others his own age. Maybe he is just not half as bright as he thinks he is. We simply don't seem to have enough information. (After some e-mails and more in-depth pondering, we now have a working theory - click here to find out why Rob voted Deena off.)

Next week, the alliance of four flaunts their power as Jenna and Heidi do less work. Oh, that's so unlike them! Also, there is an emotional event that leads to tears as Heidi says she's so happy for Jenna. Looks like we have letters from home. Ah, but they didn't tell us on the show that next Thursday, the 17th, is actually the "recap" episode, with stuff we've seen before plus some new footage thrown in as well.

Now that you've read the recap, be sure to check out Why Deena Lost!

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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