Night 30, and James is in the medical boat. They tell him if his finger’s not better in the morning he’ll need surgery.

The next day we learn Alexis fell in the dark and hurt her knee. I hope Mark Burnett is current on the show’s health insurance.

The Reward Challenge features statues of mini-Survivors. That’s right, it’s the Rude Challenge. The winner gets to go with a loved one to Jellyfish Lake. Those who are loved are: Poverty’s mom, Erik’s brother (who tells him, “Sweet beard”), Natalie’s mom, Alexis’ brother, Amanda’s sister (the same one as last time), James Sr., and Cirie’s husband (still the only H.B. on the planet).

Here are the questions and answers:

Who does the most for the tribe? James (Everyone got it right but him.)
Who never shuts up? Poverty
Who mistakenly thinks they are in control of this game? Poverty (And she gets knocked out.)
Who is the most honest? Alexis
Who are you least likely to invite to family dinner? James

As far as the chopping, no one takes the bait this time. The women didn’t all gang up on Erik. The Favorites went after each other. After the second person was eliminated (Erik) everyone else had two hits. It came down to Cirie essentially getting to pick the winner and choosing Alexis over Amanda.

Alexis gets to choose two Survivors to join her and bring their loved ones. She picks Cirie and Natalie. Amanda volunteers for Exile Island (to look for Idol #3) and Alexis accepts her offer.

James gets his check-up, and the doctor says it’s too big a risk for him to stay in the game! He has to leave immediately even though half the tribe is gone on their trip.

Meanwhile, Amanda hunts for HII III. She finds all the clues, including one submerged in the water (nice), digs a huge trench in the sand, and finds it. Man, they’re making these too easy. But wait…it’s not the Idol! It’s another clue that says the HII is buried under the flag back at their camp. That’s more like it.

Day 33, and Poverty asks Alexis if she wants them to vote her out because of her injury. Alexis says that’s not an option.

Natalie tells Poverty and Alexis she wants Amanda out if Erik wins Immunity. Poverty says she can’t have a part in voting out Amanda.

At the Immunity Challenge Amanda comes back and they share an all-girl hug leaving out Erik. That ain’t right.

The contest is firing a “high powered rifle” to try and break three sake bottles. In round 1, Natalie, Poverty and Erik hit the mark.

In round 2 only Erik hits.

That means in round 3, even though Natalie and Amanda break their bottles, Erik steps up to the gun shooting for the win. He eyes his target, looking like a blonde Rambo with his bandana. He squeezes the trigger and…victory! One of the ladies will be the next to fall.

Back at camp Amanda empties her bag in front of everyone to prove she doesn’t have the Idol. Pretty smooth.

Amanda tells Poverty where the Idol is. Not so smooth. Isn’t this the same girl who stabbed Ozzy right under your nose?

Poverty says she wants Alexis out and Amanda wants Natalie. Poverty tells Amanda the others want Amanda out next.

Alexis and Erik talk about that very thing. Erik then tells Amanda he’s voting for either her or Poverty. Why???

Erik and Alexis talk to Cirie about voting out Amanda. She agrees. Cirie tells Amanda the others want her (Amanda) and she (Cirie) can’t risk a tie. Lots of (dumb) honesty going on.

Amanda gets a free moment and digs for the Idol. At least we know she’ll play it if she finds it.

At Tribal Council James comes in with an IV still in his arm. I guess it really was that bad. Amanda says she didn’t find the Idol on Exile. Cirie says Erik and Amanda are the popularity threats. Amanda says everyone is voting for her but Poverty and Pov confirms she won’t vote for Amanda. Amanda scolds Erik for not helping her because she helped him earlier. Natalie says Amanda is the biggest threat to win. What happened to the blindsiding?

Natalie and Alexis vote for Amanda. Jeff asks if anyone has the Idol. Amanda does! And she actually plays it!

The tally starts with four votes for Amanda that don’t count. The next vote is for…Alexis! And the last vote is…Alexis! As Alexis limps off so do the Fans’ chances.

Next time on…Survivor: Erik says he’s getting a lot of offers, Natalie overhears him tell Cirie he wants to go to the end with Cirie and Poverty, and Natalie wants to slap and cuss.

Finally we get an example of how the Idol should be played. I didn’t like Amanda telling Poverty, but at least the two of them kept it to themselves. The others made the mistake of trusting someone’s “honesty.” They didn’t have enough votes to split them up, but in hindsight the smart move would’ve been to talk up their Amanda vote (just like they did) but then secretly vote for the Pov. Now THAT would’ve been a blindside.

Well, that about guarantees a Favorite will be winning this thing. Erik and Natalie aren’t going to work together and Cirie, Poverty and Amanda all have better strategy resumes.

Unless of course, we have three more injuries. What is up with all the severe wounds? I guess The Game of Survivor doesn’t like it when you bring back old contestants either.

Ow-ooooo!

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