One of the best parts of Survivor is watching normal people just go crazy.

But first, reader Low writes in and says, "Can u send me the picture of survivor amazon in episode 7..i really interested of the picture of Heidi and Jenna when they are naked...thank for all." Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right? Sorry, Low, I don't have any of the uncensored pictures from this season. But you've got to figure they'll pop up somewhere eventually. Isn't that what the Internet's for? Happy hunting.

On to Day 22. Roger is gone so Deena and Rob decide to celebrate with his underwear. In a loving tribute she flings his tightie greenies into a tree while Rob plays "Taps" on his air bugle. Speaking of delicates, Deena says, "My panties are on fire; I'm going 120 miles an hour, but I feel pretty in control."

"They're coming to take Matt away, ha ha."

Dave on the other hand knows he's in trouble. To try and make friends with the rest of the tribe, he and Butch decide to build a dock for the canoe. He chops, he climbs, he sweats, all topless. Rob takes notice and wants him gone. This guy is definitely jealous of Rocket Dave.

And then, Matthew goes insane. He just sits there, sharpening his machete for an hour at a time. "Matt is creepy," Christy shudders. "Just creepy. He's creepy." Lots of creepy looks from Matt. "I think he going to kill us," Rob says. Creepy.

The first individual Reward Challenge is a new one. The nine are randomly divided into groups of three. Each team is tied to a single bungee cord and they have to wade through a mud pit to retrieve five flags, one at a time, with the flags increasingly further away. The first team done will then have to compete against each other for the prize. The winner gets a bath and lots of desserts.

The teams are Rob, Butch and Christy (yikes), Dave, Alex and Deena (nice), and Matt, Heidi and Jenna (they should just climb on his back). Team DAD is way ahead, but they should be. Matt tries to keep his team in the game but it's not enough. Dave, Alex and Deena go head to head and Deena has no chance.

Apparently Alex had no chance either. Dave smokes him and takes the cake (literally, in this case). As usual, the winner gets to bring someone with him (players should always be ready to pick a co-winner in Reward Challenges). Dave tells his teammates to pick the number behind his back (good political move by Dave). Deena gets it right and joins Captain Blast Off.

The two of them just go to town on brownie sundaes and a banana split. Ziggy Piggy! Ziggy Piggy! Then it's time to get naked and clean. "How absolutely bitching is this?" Dave asks. One can only guess.

They laugh it up and then Dave tries to talk strategy. He flat-out begs to stay. Deena tells him she'll talk to the others about voting out Matt.

Will nude bonding save Dave?

Back at camp, Heidi and Jenna take a bath of their own. The shameless camera zooms in on their every move. Rob does too. He calls the pair "Twigs and Sticks" and says, "I know that I certainly would catch on fire if I ever saw Twigs and Sticks rubbing together."

Deena and Dave come back and say they're hungry for dinner. Not wise. "Screw you, you fat pig!" Jenna says (not to their faces, of course).

That night Rob catches Dave cuddling with Heidi. His jealousy just oozes through. He should just says, "I want to vote off Dave because I want to be him."

The next day Mattchete again says how much he likes Rob. "He knows the game inside and out. Man, I'm clueless and he's taught me a lot about how to play it." I'll agree with the clueless part.

Rob says the line he's feeding Matt is the two of them and Alex will be the final three. "I'm taking my life into my hands with the amount of lies that I'm telling him," he admits.

The Immunity Challenge mail arrives and each Survivor has to paint a tribal mask in their likeness. After a lot of work and effort, they go to the Challenge and learn they have to break them.

It's the arrogance bait game. They have to answer trivia questions about the Amazon and each time you get one right you get to take a chop at another person's rope. After three chops a swinging log is released and it just destroys the player's mask (really nice work by the staff. Much more dramatic than the dumb coconuts in a tree).

After the first question, Dave and Deena go after Matthew. Did bathing together get Deena on Dave's side? Matt and Alex both take a chop at Dave. He's the obvious target after winning the Reward.

It's a good thing they spent so much time on those masks.

But Heidi eliminates Matthew first. Has his snuggling won her over too? But Matt gets the question right too and knocks Dave out. Neither of the two main targets is safe.

The rest of the game is pretty irrelevant. Christy eliminates Alex. She later also eliminates Rob (as shown via Log Cam, another nice touch). Jenna crushes Butch. Heidi hits Christy, and Jenna smashes Deena. That leaves Twigs and Sticks with Jenna ahead. They both get the next question right and Jenna wins Immunity. I think more people would have predicted Syracuse in the college basketball championship game.

So what did we learn from this game? Deena played very well by attacking four different people, including her allies Alex and Rob. Rob didn't get a chance to do anything stupid because he is stupid and didn't get one question right. Heidi and Jenna appear very strong because the guys all left them alone, and they protected each other. Something for the others to keep in mind.

This game--and the other challenges, plus Tribal Council--also show one of the many reasons Survivor remains the best reality show out there. They ran that entire game without one commercial break. Unlike American Idol where all the drama and momentum is killed by countless filler and advertising, Survivor lets the key moments play out in their entirety without interruption. More kudos to Mark Burnett.

We go to the next set of drama and Jeff asks about how people are fitting in with the new tribe. Matthew says he is much more accepted at Jacaré. Rob kind of snickers and Jeff calls him on it. But the Robster recovers nicely and says, "I'm just so happy with Matthew's progress… He really has become an invaluable part of this tribe." Shovel it, my man!

Dave knows he'll get votes and makes a final plea to stay. I predict he'll be voted out 5 to 3, with Butch and Christy joining him in voting for Matt.

We see Matthew and Dave voting for each other. Duh. Why are they whispering? Does the merged tribe have a shorter walk to the voting booth?

We don't see Heidi's vote but she says, "You've played well; you've played hard. Those are reasons that we have to get you out." Sounds like Dave to me.

The voting goes Dave, Matt, then four straight votes for Dave. That was more lopsided than I thought. We later find out it was unanimous. Christy's trying to get herself into the alliance and Butch is now kissing butt as well.

No more Rocket Man for the ladies.

In his final words, the first jury member says something in Pig Latin I believe. "Obray, on'tday rytay otay ouchtay Eidihay"?

Next time on Survivor: Butch gets bit by a dead fish and egos collide. Rob says, "Deena thinks that she's pulling the strings. Alex thinks that he's calling the shots. Who's really calling the shots? Me."

It's getting down to crunch time for those who have legitimate aspirations of winning the game. Butch and Matthew are the obvious outsiders and the safe thing would be to vote them off next. But now is the time when you need to make long-term preparations. Who do I want to face the jury against? Who do I need to get into the final three or four with to make that happen?

Heidi and Jenna seem to be the only close pairing, but even there Jenna has done some dealing with her old Jabaru teammates. And everyone else is pretty free. A tight (and secret) three-person alliance could be enough to win the game at this point. Who will make the first move?

This is why we watch.

Your cyber-strategizer,
Scott

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