Back from tribal and Laura is ticked “We should have known” and Shambo and Russell are giggling with pure joy.  But the game continues…

Reward Challenge - There are two teams of five people with one person laying on a cradle and the other 4 people work to pull on the ropes to maneuver the cradle so the person can pick up the 15 flags.  Both teams are working it but in the end it is Natalie and her trapeze-like skills that pull her team ahead to win.  Russell, Laura, Natalie, David and Brett’s reward is to fly to a private island for a picnic and to top it off they get to use the Palm Pre to “document the memories”.  The picnic was nice, the pictures sweet but the clue where the idol was.. priceless.

Once the plane lands bringing them back to camp, Russell pulls his troops together, gives them the clue and is off to search for the idol.  Dave and Laura start searching too but…. Russell finds the idol first!

Immunity challenge - Each player gets one chance to throw one rock at a wall of tiles, for each tile broken the person gets a spear.  Jason, Monica, Mick and Brett earn a spear which they use to try to hit the target - closest to the bulls eye wins.  Brett has two chances but it is Mick who walks away wearing the immunity necklace.

It is a scramble of who is voting out whom and how to avoid a tie.  At tribal council the votes are in and 5 votes for Laura, 5 votes for Natalie - so they have to vote again.  This time Natalie gets 4 votes and Laura gets 6 - Bye, bye Laura!

We won’t be having a live show next week but please call in to our voice mail line and leave a message - if we get enough messages Mike will compile them for a show.  Also, please comment on the blog and send us Facebook messages.

Thank you everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

Considering who got voted off and the discussion that followed, we felt it only appropriate to play Brother Love’s “Sick of Chicks” from “Album Of The Year”.  Go get the whole album, his other album (Turn It Up) and music from the band for which he plays, Her and Kings County.  You can find everything at his web site BrotherLoveRocks.com and HerAndKingsCounty.com.

Podcast:  AS20091119.mp3

The teams, though they are merged are still divided.

Russell gets busy looking for a new idol now that he used his other.  But the challenges still go on.  Reward challenges divides the teams into two and they arrange painted coconuts to form numbers which another team player has to use those numbers to unlock the puzzle.  Monica, Dave, Shambo, John and Kelly win the challenge!  There reward is a trip to a rock water slide and a picnic.

While they are enjoying chicken and brownies Russell is finding his second idol.  Dude you….dude….dude is Shambo’s reaction to the great news.

Reward challenge - each player uses a grapling hook to pull in two bags.  1st three to get their bags go to the next round.  Mick, Shambo and Laura make it to the second round.  Now they have to solve a puzzle where the place geometric shapes in the correct spot - first to finish the puzzle wins.  Cool headed, cold hearted Laura wins immunity.

Russell has a plan though - get all of Galu to vote for him and the Foa Foa tribe will vote off Kelly.  Will it work, will the immunity idol finally be played and used like it should be?  YES!  Russell ‘ain’t finished playing just yet’ plays the idol and they send Kelly home.  Priceless = the look on Laura’s face.

Topic:

• How to know how to play the game?  What Survivors have played the game the best?  Which ones the worst?

Picks:

Marji - Immunity - John, Voted Out - Russell

Mike - Immunity - Mick, Voted Out - Laura

Thank you all for listening to the show, joining us for the liveshow, and your calls and posts.  Keep them all coming!

Thanx to Ben Lerman for letting us use his song “Nip Tuck” — especially since it seems as if the gang in Samoa has done a little surgery to the roster.  Check out Ben’s web site (http://benlerman.net) to see where you can see him perform live.  You can also find him on iTunes.

Podcast:  AS20091112.mp3

The real show title (but we were worried people may think it was a spoiler) - Balls Out / Idols Out

Two tribes walk toward each other on a desolate beach…a treasure chest meets them in the middle…in the chest are new blue buffs and the tribes are merged!  The food and alcohol were a welcome sight but the real action was the mingling and “working the room” by Foa Foa with Galu.

The new tribe name is Aiga, the extended family.

Russell works the crowd and shares that he has the idol with Laura, Monica and then John finally buys Russell’s story.

Immunity challenge brings on a game of survivor t-ball.  Hit the ball with the goal that it lands in the section which shows the most points.  The most points wins.  The twist - there are two immunity idols - one for the girls, one for the boys.  A quick game and John and Laura leave wearing the immunity necklaces.

There is soo much talking and scheming we couldn’t fit it on the blog but in the end at tribal council Erik runs his mouth, Russell plays the immunity idol, and Erik is voted out - blindsided!

Topics:

• Arrogance in Survivor - the definition of arrogance is:  offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.  Does it work in Survivor and who does / did it best?

Picks:

Marji - Immunity - Dave, Voted Out - Monica

Mike - Immunity - Dave, Voted Out - Laura

Thank you to everyone for listening and participating in the chat, blog, facebook, and phone calls - we appreciate your support and love hearing from you.

Our break music this week is “Life Ain’t All That Bad” by Her and Kings County from their City-Country CD.  For everyone other than Erik, life ain’t all that bad — but it looked like it was going to be bad for many.

Podcast:  AS20091105.mp3