First, thank you to Sandra and Ivey for pointing out that last week Tom was actually saying "Jethro Bodine," in reference to the Beverly Hillbillies. So there you go. Together we will get all the jokes.

Night 27 and Kathy talks about her failure to give Lex Immunity. "I wanted to but I couldn't do it." Translation: Cha-ching.

Rob believes Lex was telling the truth when he talked about Tom switching sides after the merge. "Big Tom, you got caught," Rob tells the camera. "And your best buddy sold you out."

Walking the plank is good in this game.

The next day mail arrives saying Reward and Immunity will be combined. This must be how they're going to eliminate two extra people in the same 39 days. Jeff introduces the "doozy" of an obstacle course. Four people will win letters from home and rain ponchos. One person will win Immunity and a video from home, plus some hot chocolate for good measure.

First they get tortured with small previews of the videos. The highlights include Alicia's white mom, Tom's son "Bucky Bo," and Rupert's little girl blowing big kisses. Jenna did get a tape this time.

There will be two teams of four for the first race and Alicia and Rupert are randomly chosen as captains. Alicia ends up with Shii Ann, Amber and Rob, while Rupert gets Kathy, Tom and Jenna.

As always, Rob's team pulls ahead. Rupert and Tom fall off the balance beam and further behind. Rob and his team are all over the big wall before Rupert's team even gets there. The only mental part is moving across the tops of pillars using two planks. Rob and co. get stuck a little bit but then they figure out the trick is to lay down one plank then use the other plank to form a T shape to get across an extra wide spot.

Team Alicia (I guess she should get a bit of credit for picking Rob) still leads after the rope ladder, and after the girls dig up a buried flag, Rob zips down the "flowing fox" for victory.

The winning team will now battle each other. It's one of those puzzles where you slide the squares around, but instead of forming a picture you're trying to get one piece out of a slot on one side. The piece has a knife in it to cut a rope and raise a flag.

Somebody please beat Rob. The only person in his video is his dumb brother.

But no, Mr. Boston wins again. Rob shares his hot chocolate with the others and they sit down to watch his video. Oh boy. But then Rob asks Jeff if he can trade his video for the other four letters. The guy's just making up his own rules. But Jeff accepts the offer! He should have held out for Rob's Immunity too.

Rob feels his way to the win.

So no one sees their entire video but everyone gets letters from home. And Rob gets sentimental points. Dude's on fire.

After more group weeping, Shii Ann points out that Rob's move was also strategic. Duh. But we see the Father moistening up with his letter as well, so we know there's some sincerity there. "I don't remember the last time I was emotional about anything," Rob says. Uh, how about each of the past three episodes, Loverboy?

Day 28 continues and Rob tries to make up with Kathy. She tells him things are fine between them, but then she and Shii talk about who they can get to turn on Rob's group. Kathy approaches Tom. Shii Ann tries Alicia. Kathy converses with Rupert. Shii Ann also chats with Tom. Will any of them listen?

Alicia tells Rob and Amber that she and Jenna don't get along so she doesn't feel secure. Jenna tells Rupert that she thinks Alicia and Tom are turning on them. The paranoia runs rampant.

Off to the second consecutive night of Tribal Council and we see Lex and his new Mohawk. Loser.

Kathy says she's voting for the person who lied to her. So that means Amber. Kathy then scolds the group for not making a move. She doesn't sound very confident so it must be her or Shii Ann with Old Chapera sticking together for another round.

Kathy does in fact vote for Amber and Rob votes for Kathy. It has to be the Kat.

Kathy has no support.

Tally: Amber, Kathy, Amber, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy, Kathy, gone. Rob has kept his people in line.

Next time on…Survivor: Alicia and Jenna go at it and everyone's looking over their shoulder.

For those scoring at home, Kathy and Lex both finished third in their first season. That makes the current leaderboard look like this:

Winners: 0 of 4
2nd: 0 of 1
3rd: 0 of 4
4th: 1 of 2
5th: 0
6th: 1
7th: 0
8th: 2 of 3
9th: 1
10th: 2

So they are essentially still voting based on the previous seasons. Tom got the biggest paycheck last time (he's the remaining 4-seed) so he's probably in trouble.

The only exception to this rule? Jerri, who actually did WORSE this time than her first go-around. Outstanding.

"Suckers!"

So how is Rob doing it? Obviously winning Immunity helps, but voting off Amber would have weakened him just as much. Why hasn't it happened?

Usually having an open alliance is deadly as this point. But, interestingly, everyone this season is so greedy and untrusting that there appear to be no other alliance pairs. Shii Ann is the last of her tribe. Jenna and Alicia hate each other. I suppose Tom and Rupert could join forces, but neither has shown much strategic initiative thus far.

What we seem to have is Rob acting as a sort of soft-core Brian with everyone else thinking they're going into the final three with him and Amber. Everyone appears to be playing for third place and they're all fine with it.

Will Helen wise up this time around? We shall see.

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