I thought it was very ironic last week when David said to Joe, “I’ve had enough of being lied to, manipulated and used. I got the outer alliance with the Civa members, but then the core is gonna be you, me, Eva, Kyle and Shauhin. I want us in the top 3, baby.” David of course said this WHILE he was planning on lying to and manipulating everyone else in the game. It was also pretty funny when Kyle pledged his loyalty to David while lying to his face about his partnership with Kamilla.

David and Joe spend a lot of time talking about “playing with honor and integrity. Whether they’re naïve or just full of crap, they both should know about the long line of “integrity” players who fell on their faces with that mantra. I won’t devote an entire intro to them, but that list includes Lex van den Berghe, Matt von Ertfelda, Rupert Boneham, Lea “Sarge” Masters, and the king of phony integrity, Ben “Coach” Wade. Phillip Sheppard rambled on and on about integrity too, but he was putting on an act both times he played. What do they all have in common? They didn’t win Survivor.

This isn’t a guarantee that David and Joe won’t win, but it’s a very bad sign. Most jurors see through the façade of honesty and hold it against those who preach it if they make it to the finals. Mike Turner actually lost Survivor 42 when he refused to admit he lied. His jurors actually wanted him to explain how lying was part of his strategy.

Plain and simple, lying is part of Survivor. I don’t think it’s possible to get to the end and win without lying. Also, it’s very rare to win the game without knowing when you’re being lied to. The few who’ve done it (Michele, Natalie White, Fabio) aren’t seen as elite Survivor players. We celebrate blindsides and great player moves like when Rachel brilliantly played dead then saved herself with an Idol last season, and we mock those who are easily fooled. All the posturing David and Joe are doing is bound to bounce back on them. The most honest player we’ve seen in the New Era has been Bhanu. How’d that work out for him? Bhanu said it himself right before he was voted out: “I realize that honesty has no meaning in this game.”

Last week’s vote was confusing on several levels because so many players changed their minds.

Charity got herself into trouble when she asked Star to get her Idol back from Eva. That might have been the first domino to fall that led to Charity’s departure. Star went straight to Eva and Joe with the info. Charity was pushing hard to remove Eva. But then Charity voted for Sai. But there were additional confusing developments.

Once Eva found out Charity was targeting her, she pushed to boot Charity. But then Eva voted for Sai. Sai originally targeted Eva to get her Idol out of the game. Then she agreed to stick with the plan and vote for Charity. But then Sai voted for Cedrek. Shauhin lobbied hard to remove Charity because he didn’t want six original Civa members in the game. But then Shauhin voted for Sai. When Star asked Chrissy for an opinion, the first name Chrissy threw out was Eva’s. But then Chrissy voted for Charity. We heard David saying several times this season that he didn’t trust Charity. But then David voted for Sai.

To quote Kellie Nalbandian, “What the hell, guys?”

My best guess is that these voting blocs, trust clusters, or whatever you want to call them separately figured everybody else was voting for Charity, but decided to throw a vote on Sai just in case Charity had an Idol or Advantage. Both were considered expendable. I don’t think anyone figured there would be a 7-5-1 split. Maybe this week we’ll figure out why the votes were split the way they were, and why so many players changed their minds.

But one great mystery was solved when we finally got a look at Chrissy’s belly button. Earlier this season, Chrissy said “I have a really deep belly button. I can almost fit a whole Q-Tip in it.” It doesn’t look quite that deep to me, but she was smart to think of something quick to bond with Charity’s “haggard” toes, David’s two extra nipples and Kyle’s "callus," er, wart.

Will Chrissy put some Q-tips to the test if she wins a Spa Reward this week? Let’s find out.

And away we go ....

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Right off the bat we’re reminded of Eva’s Idol, Mitch’s Block A Vote, and the 3 players who got votes last week.

The merged tribe’s name is “Nui Nai.” Nope, I’m not interested in how they got that name.

Now Mitch has voted for Sai twice and he thinks he can do damage control with her? I think he’d be better off not saying a word since so many people voted for her.

And sure enough, Sai wants Mitch gone now. Every one of her targets has been chosen for emotional reasons.

Sai changed her penmanship when she voted for Cedrek? Ok, Sai has played a pretty bad game, but she’s had some smart moments. This was one of them. Just the same, she wasted the smart move for a petty reason. What good does it do to unnerve Cedrek when nobody wants him out in the first place? If you’re gonna waste your vote, do it on a power player in the majority like maybe Joe or David. If one of them gets paranoid, that could actually buy you some safety. They might pull a Lex van den Berghe or Rupert Boneham move and start interrogating every member of their alliance. That might take some heat off of you.

Survivor likes these shots of players watching the sunrise. So do I.

Mitch is trying to bond with Joe and Shauhin, but he should have been doing that as soon as mergeatory began like he did with Cedrek at the swap. Joe in confessional: “Who wouldn’t vote for Mitch?” Joe already knows Mitch could have a winning story if he makes it to the finals.

Sai correctly named three of the five who voted for her last week – Shauhin, Mitch and Eva. It wouldn’t be hard for her to know Charity did too. I wonder if she knows David voted for her?

Shauhin’s read on Sai (“If you go to Sai and say, ‘We have a problem, let’s figure it out,’ she’ll respect that.”), is pretty accurate. He handled her well because he left that conversation still having a shot at getting her Jury vote. Chrissy confronted Sai and made an enemy out of her. But Shauhin’s also smart enough to know he can’t trust Sai at all.

It’s nice to see the new Wardog’s log contributing to the action too. I bet it incepted some insight into Shauhin’s head.

But Shauhin just uttered a Survivor death phrase – “I think I’m in control of the tribe.”

They’ve used this challenge several times before, in Philippines, BvW, Worlds Apart, 43, and 46.

I knew it was coming but I’m still disappointed. I hate split squad challenges. I say let the players have control over who is vulnerable all the time. Suppose Sai, Cedrek and Mitch all end up on the same squad? If that happens, those who’ve done a better job of positioning themselves could get screwed over by random dumb luck. Say Joe, Shauhin, Eva, David, Kyle and Kamila end up on a team? Why should that be a possibility when they’ve all played better than everyone else so far?

Looking at how the teams shook out, I think Cedrek is gone if he doesn’t win Immunity, unless Kyle and Kamilla pull another fast one. And Sai is a sitting duck.

In Philippines, Carter and Denise won this merge challenge. Carter was able to sit on the ground while holding his crank. Carolyn and Mike won it at the Worlds Apart merge. Monica Culpepper won it in Blood vs Water, but three people sat out to eat. She competed against Hayden, Katie and Caleb. Tyson threw chicken bones at the competitors while he was eating. Gabler won this in 43 by standing upright at the start, then bending at the waist later. Charlie won it in 46 by kneeling with his hands above his head. He also did grip exercises before the game began.

Cedrek is out before Probst can finish his starting speech. He’s been pretty bad at almost every challenge. This is actually comforting. I don’t want my colon doctor to have a firm grip.

David, Kyle and Joe are all doing it one-handed. Cody and Gabler did the same thing in 43.

Shauhin’s Survivor chants on the bench are pretty good.

David: “I got this, man.” Kyle drops out. Did David just fool Kyle into doing this, or did Kyle realize winning two in a row would be very bad for his game, especially since he’s in a pretty safe position on his squad?

This is Jeff Probst heaven. Two Alpha Males competing for Immunity. He loves it even more that they broke Gabler’s record of 38 minutes.

David’s cocky side is showing. Many people don’t like cocky winners. But at least David’s win gives Joe’s group a chance to make sure Sai isn’t on the Jury. This one should be a no-brainer. I think Cedrek is in trouble too.

David wins and sets a new record of at least 52 minutes, and I think he stood upright the whole time.

Shauhin confirms the winning group won’t know who the losing group voted out.

Are they really eating open-faced PB&J? I’ve never seen that before. Did Survivor not give them enough bread for everyone to have a proper sandwich?

Eva confirms her alliance intentionally split votes between Sai and Charity.

Mary convinces Shauhin to agree to be the decoy vote? Bad move by Shauhin, but a smart move by Mary. I guess Shauhin didn’t watch Ciera flip the vote on Andrew Savage when he asked her to be the decoy in Cambodia.

Kyle is already thinking about going after Shauhin. The alpha male + Eva alliance is already crumbling.

It still blows my mind that Joe, Shauhin, David and Chrissy don’t know how close Kyle and Kamilla are. If they can keep their cover, nobody else deserves to win. The dilemma of course is that they can’t sit next to each other. One will need the other on the Jury to explain their moves before Final Tribal Council begins. I think Kamilla will turn on Kyle first.

Kyle comes up with a pretty good idea of fooling David into thinking Shauhin is coming after him and Kamilla. Kamilla makes it a better idea by fooling David into thinking Shauhin has an Idol. And immediately, “Mr. Integrity” David starts plotting against Shauhin.

Sai opens by telling Joe “I’m an easy vote.” I’d phrase it differently and ask him “I just got 5 votes. Who can I beat at the end?” Then let Joe realize for himself that Sai is an ideal finals goat.

Chrissy is pitching Mitch, but she’s more likely to get Mitch’s Jury vote than Sai’s. Chrissy should want Sai gone.

Mitch knows he can make Sai a sitting duck. That’s a smart idea, but in confessional, he’s still calling it a “secret Block A Vote” Come on, Mitch, everyone knows you have it, and you know this.

Removing Mitch isn’t a bad play for Joe at all. It removes a good challenge competitor, and his Block A vote. It also keeps an ideal finals goat (Sai) in the game. Eva has targeted Star and Sai at different times. Who will she want gone? The smart move is to vote out the person least likely to vote for her if they end up on the Jury. Eva should vote for Sai but the smart vote for someone else might be Mitch.

Star wants Mitch gone because of his challenge performances. He took the spotlight role 4 times in the pre merge challenges. Sometimes he didn’t have a choice, but that has absolutely hurt him. Civa wasn’t losing. She should have nudged David, Kyle or even Firefighter Chrissy into some of those roles.

Tribal Council #1. Sai and Mitch are in the front row. They won’t be able to read anyone’s faces.

Many fans are saying Star giving her Idol to Eva was a smart move. While I agree she’s safe tonight, she’d be just as safe if she still had that Idol too. I’m on the fence with this one for now. I’m waiting for 20/20 hindsight. Having an Idol everyone knows about would suck, but its better than not having an Idol at all.

Chrissy: “I have to figure out how I can get to the top, and it’s not by loyalty and honesty.” How did she know that was gonna be my theme this week? Did I subliminally steal her idea from when she was playing last July? Was my chair made out of one of Wardog’s logs?

Chrissy: “Guys like Joe and David are beasts. They’re gonna have a great story at the end. I want to give them a million dollars right now.” Joe and Eva didn’t like Chrissy’s honesty. Did Chrissy just talk herself out of the game – which was the theme of last week’s column? She just gave Joe and Eva a great reason to want her gone. They’re both bound to tell David Shauhin and/or Kyle about it.

Mitch blocked Sai’s vote. Smart move. She was probably gonna vote for him. That might have just sealed Sai’s fate.

Bye, Sai. You said too much and talked yourself out of the game a few votes ago. I wonder if it was unanimous. But hey, at least you got your revenge on Cedrek.

Sai makes the statement made by most players who have no idea how bad they’ve read the other players. “They voted me out because I was a threat. They were obsessed with me.” No, Eva said it perfectly earlier in the episode: “She (Sai) creates chaos and that rubs people the wrong way.” Chrissy was more direct, saying “She’s a pain in the butt at camp.” That’s what I think David Bloomberg will say in his “Why ___ lost Podcast. Most players don’t want to align with a chaotic, annoying player. They prefer rational, predictable players.

Yep, it was unanimous.

Now to the much more interesting Tribal Council #2. It feels like Shauhin has been set up as the victim.

Probst “This could be a great time to take out a smart player.” It sounds like Probst thinks Shauhin is leaving too.

We’re seeing Kamilla smirking a lot. Does that mean she thinks her plan is working?

Cedrek’s gone, and it looks unanimous too. I really thought Shauhin was a goner, but they made the safe move. I wonder why Kyle and Kamilla changed their minds? Were they worried about doing damage control with Joe and Eva? That makes the most sense to me. Then again, maybe David just wouldn’t go for it. If so, smart move by David. He exerted some control over the voting.

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Recap

In last week’s comments, I speculated that Cedrek was the safest player in the game because he’d done so badly in challenges and wasn’t outsmarting anyone. But thanks to the obnoxious rock draw, he became the safest vote. Booting Cedrek kept everyone’s cover, and didn’t expose anyone’s alliances or loyalties. David and Mary connected well at the swap, so that’s probably why David cut Cedrek loose. It also means Mary handled the swap the best by far of the 3 Vula players. But that’s not saying much, is it?

In hindsight I should have known Shauhin would stay. Last week’s promo hinted he was in trouble. The “Next week on Survivor” promos almost always lie.

Mitch played his Block A Vote almost perfectly. The only flaw was in telling Joe he was gonna do it. If he’d kept his mouth shut about it, nobody would know Mitch used it. He’d be able to bluff that he still has it. The only risk would have been if Sai blabbed about it on her way out. I wonder if Mitch knew Chrissy was throwing out his name?

Times like these are why I really miss the Ponderosa videos. It would have been fun to see how Cedrek and Sai dealt with each other after getting voted out. I know, that was unlikely since Sai didn’t make the Jury, but I can dream, can’t I?

For a few reasons, Sai would be an ideal candidate for my Worst Players list. But she pulled off enough smart moves to eliminate her from contention. She saved herself after Cedrek voted for her twice because she knew why he was making decisions. That was Cirie-level manipulation. And this week she changed her penmanship to disguise her vote for Cedrek. I can’t recall seeing that done before. Truly bad players don’t come up with ideas like that.

From where I’m sitting, Kamilla and Mary are playing the strongest games. Neither of them are standing out in any way. Kamilla has always been well informed, and now Mary is being included in all the voting decisions. Kyle’s position is strong too, but I don’t think he’ll see Kamilla coming for him. David, Joe, Shauhin, Mitch and Eva have all been publicly identified as threats. Once you’re labeled, it’s very hard to remove that label, but it’s not impossible. Rachel did it last season. Star is in a decent position. I don’t know why, but a win for her feels like it would have to be a Gabler out-of-nowhere kind of win. Chrissy put her foot in her mouth big time this week. I think that will continue.

What do you think? How will Eva’s Idol come into play? Will Kyle turn on Kamilla first? How will Cedrek influence the jurors? Let me know in the comments.