There was a lot of speculation about how last week’s vote went down. Bianca made the mistake of telling Cedrek she didn’t have a vote just before the tribe went to Tribal Council. On the surface, it appeared Cedrek had time to touch base with Chrissy and/or Mitch before going to Tribal Council. In her Exit interviews, Bianca was adamant that she kept an eye on Cedrek and was positive he didn’t have time to talk to anyone to tell them she didn’t have a vote. We saw Bianca telling Cedrek “If you run back and have a conversation with Sai, I’ll be so (fucked).” But Bianca was voted out just the same, with votes from Cedrek and Chrissy. Mitch voted for Sai, and Sai voted for Chrissy. So, was Bianca wrong? Maybe, maybe not.

In the previous episode, Chrissy, Cedrek and Mitch had this conversation:

Chrissy: “The 4 of us. Bianca is gonna know she’s on the bottom. To me it’s an easy vote. The only thing we have to worry about is that Bianca went on…”

Mitch: “The Journey.”

Chrissy: “Did Justin tell you what that Journey was?”

Cedrek: “He lost his vote.”

Chrissy: “Ok, so she either has an Extra Vote, or doesn’t have a vote. Either way, it’s not gonna hurt us.”

I don’t think it mattered if Cedrek spoke to anyone about Bianca’s lost vote or not. I think Cedrek, Chrissy and Mitch had this plan in place even before they lost Immunity. Think about it. While on the sitout bench in an earlier challenge, Kamilla found out from Star that Thomas lied about walking away from the puzzle and protecting his vote. Kamilla used that information to put a target on Thomas after the swap. It’s not a stretch to think Kamilla shared this information with Chrisy and Mitch before the swap too.

Chrissy and Mitch had the information needed to form a plan that could defeat Bianca whether or not she had a vote from the moment the tribes were swapped. They locked up Cedrek early on and had 3 votes to play with. Knowing Sai was gonna vote for Chrissy, the trio could 1) put 3 votes on Sai to remove her; 2) Put 2 votes on Bianca and 1 on Sai to remove a helpless Bianca; or 3) put 2 on Bianca and 1 on Sai to force a tie if Bianca had an Extra Vote. Depending on how Bianca used her Extra Vote, there would be a tie, and she couldn’t participate in a revote. The only risk would be if Bianca put 2 votes on Chrissy.

So, when Bianca told Cedrek she didn’t have a vote, all she really did was tell him she’d been lying to him since the swap. If Cedrek was planning on voting for Sai, Bianca’s admission changed his mind. If he was planning on voting for Bianca, she confirmed the decision that was already made. Either way, coming clean didn’t help Bianca at all. She stood a better chance of staying if she remained committed to the bit like Kamilla and Kyle were at their first Tribal Council.

When Sai went up to vote, Chrissy and Cedrek sat in the back row at Tribal Council and shared a clear head nod. That might have been when Bianca’s fate was sealed. Either way, I think Bianca sunk her own ship.

Wednesday afternoon edit: The preview for tonight’s episode confirms Cedrek was able to tell Chrissy to vote for Bianca, but didn’t have time to tell Mitch or Sai.

I have one interesting bit of info from a Secret Scene. Kamilla gave this confessional as she was about to go to the Immunity Challenge. Kamilla: “This is by far the most important Challenge. If we can get through today, the four of us have a clear path together. But if we lose today, we’re probably just gonna go to rocks and one of us is gonna get sent home. We like each other too much. Two nights ago, I was so upset with them. ‘Why are you blaming me? You guys should have split the vote.’ And I’m like, ‘Why is Joe taking it so personally?’ And now 48 hours later, I love them more than the Civa people. It’s gonna be rough.”

I’m still not sold that Joe and Shauhin will protect Kamilla and Kyle over Eva, but it’s pretty clear Kamilla isn’t as devoted to Mitch, Chrissy and David as she is to Joe and Shauhin.

This swap really opened up a lot of possibilities. Mitch got closer to Chrissy at this vote but still feels a strong connection to Charity. Charity doesn’t seem to have made any other strong allies. How hard will Mitch try to save Charity if he has to? Chrissy was close to David but now has Cedrek on her side. Who’s higher on her list? David got very close to Mary. Is she more important to him than Chrissy now? When will Cedrek cut Sai loose?

Lately, the merge vote has seen the player with the weakest connections leaving as everyone plays it safe to keep their cover (Lydia in 41, Sydney in 42, Elie in 43, J. Maya in 45, Moriah in 46). It appears that Star, Charity and Sai fit that category the best. There’d be the least damage control if one of them leaves, and nobody would expose their alliances. What happens if all 3 of them are safe by landing on the winning squad? Somebody’s gonna be showing their cards tonight. Who will it be?

And away we go ....

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Sai tries to shut Cedrek out. She’s really bad at this game. She can’t even pretend like she’s not mad at Cedrek as a means of fooling him into thinking she might still trust him.

And now she’s going off on Mitch for voting against her? What good will that do?

Bad call by Cedrek. Leaving Mitch hanging out to dry cost you some trust. If you can send a message to Chrissy, you can send one to Mitch. You were sitting right behind him. Why not tap his shoulder and clue him in when Bianca is in the booth?

Everyone’s moving to Lagi beach, and all I’m thinking is “no split squad challenge, no split squad challenge ...”

So much for that Idol hidden on Vula beach.

Sai: “Mary and I went from mortal enemies to very close allies.” Mary: “I have knots in my stomach just thinking about playing with Sai.” Sai can’t wait to see Mary, but the feeling is NOT mutual.

Star hugs Sai first, and Mary goes straight to Mitch. Sometimes these first merge hugs are revealing. I’m not thinking this season’s hug fest will mean much.

Star reads the sign “Only one will be immune.” I’m a happy man!

Charity sees the advantage first, but Sai outruns her to it? How did Charity screw that one up? Did Sai see the camera operator behind the Advantage and start running first? Props to Sai for reacting faster than Charity.

David and Joe are both addicted to chocolate milk? Wussupwitdat?

Sometimes the positions where people sit can expose their alliances. This season’s players don’t look like they’ve blown their cover. Kyle isn’t sitting next to Kamilla, Mitch isn’t sitting next to Charity, etc.

Eva seems more interested in telling her personal story on TV than in winning Survivor.

I love the loyalty between Joe and Eva, but I don’t think it has a prayer of helping them win. My wife is not a Survivor fan, but I showed her last week’s segment, and she was crying too. Then she said “You can’t beat them in the finals. But if they’re both there, I’d vote for Joe.”

I’m sure Probst is ecstatic in seeing his alpha males Joe and David connecting. All their talk about “playing with honesty, integrity and loyalty” and “no backstabbing” seems naïve. It reminds me of machete-obsessed Matt from The Amazon. Nobody believed him, and they voted for Jenna who tried to quit twice.

I wonder why Kyle isn’t including Kamilla in his plans when he’s pitching David? David and Chrissy know he and Kamilla are close. How can any of them not think those two are working together? How could Joe and Shauhin miss that?

David in confessional “Let’s have a season where we put someone on the podium who deserves to be there.” Good lord, is David turning into Andrew Savage? Will that be his downfall?

Mitch: “I have a secret Block A vote.” No, you don’t. You told Chrissy, David, Kamilla and Kyle about it. A great way to earn trust is by exposing someone else’s secret.

Charity is being too aggressive about targeting Eva. Watch Eva win Immunity, and the plan backfires on Charity.

And right on cue, Star sells out Charity to Joe and Eva. Yeah, Charity is talking herself out of this game.

There was zero subtlety in Charity’s move. Drop some hints, but don’t name a target at least until you know who has Immunity. It’s better to manipulate someone into picking a name first, then massaging them towards YOUR target. Jesse did this to perfection in Survivor 43. Queen Sandra has done it many times. And of course, Cirie is the absolute master of this technique.

We’ve seen every element of this Immunity Challenge before. The first half of this challenge is the exact same one they used last season. It looks like they’re lined up by height so maybe these teams won’t be so random.

Last season, we learned in a Secret Scene that the teams were chosen by a schoolyard pick after Teeny and Tiyana became captains. Maybe they’ll do the same this time around?

Sai screams when she finds out she gets the merge meal, then immediately apologizes. Even though it came so quickly, the apology doesn’t matter. The damage has been done. How quickly Sai forgot how mad she was when Mary celebrated about having food.

Last season, Genevieve got to sit out the first half, but it didn’t matter. She ended up finishing fourth.

If I’m David, I take a few seconds to clear out all those wood shavings to make it easier for everyone else. Ozzy did that several times in different challenges. It always paid off.

Cedrek slows down team orange. This is turning into a blowout.

David and Kamilla take the spotlight roles on the puzzle. Mitch and Shauhin do the same.

Probst keeps saying orange is making it close, but that’s not what I’m seeing at all. Don’t look now, but Mary is proving to be pretty good at these physical challenges. She’s an excellent swimmer, she destroyed the table maze last week, and she was the fastest one through that mud pit. We haven’t seen her on a puzzle yet.

Charity is on the losing side. This episode is becoming predictable. I think Charity is done.

Chrissy goes out first in phase two of the challenge. I wonder if Sai will talk herself out of the game by pushing to remove Chrissy?

Probst: “David is ready for his close-up.” Stunt men don’t get close-ups, dude.

I remember this is the challenge in which Joey Amazing passed out while playing in Cambodia.

Sai is out. Just like Genevieve last season, the advantage didn’t matter much. Sai finished fourth, too.

Kyle pulls it out. Kyle is pretty insulated. I don’t think he’ll be targeted for winning early like last season’s Kyle was. This season’s Kyle didn’t stand out in the Tribal Challenges. He only took one spotlight role this season.

I still hate that they don’t let the players clean some mud off before they start eating. I want to see their faces.

Hmm ... at the feast, Star is quick to throw out Charity’s name. Then in confessional, Sai now wants to target the Idol holder Eva. Trying to change the voting target is dangerous. Didn’t Sai read my column on those who play too aggressively?

Star at the feast: “I heard Eva has an Idol. I don’t know that she has one.” Uh, Star, Mary is sitting there with you. She watched you give your Idol to Eva. Who are you trying to fool?

Right off the bat, Cedrek apologizes for his performance at the challenge. When will these people learn? If he keeps apologizing, his jurors will be apologizing to him for not voting for the “I’m sorry” guy.

Charity tells Mitch she thinks going after Eva is too aggressive. Why wasn’t she thinking that BEFORE the Immunity Challenge? She’s being wishy-washy. Wishy-washy people get voted out sooner rather than later.

Sai commits Survivor sin #15: babbling about the Reward food to those who didn’t get to eat. Cyndi learned that lesson in Guatemala. Then she got voted out. Sai is talking herself out of this game too.

Cedrek feels bad about doing so badly in the challenge, but that probably bought him 5 votes of safety. Who is worried about Cedrek beating them now?

Sai wants to be inconspicuous. “Inconspicuous Sai” is a misnomer ... like “military intelligence,” “jumbo shrimp,” or “a good Taylor Swift song.”

Everyone sure is using the words “safe vote” a lot. I wouldn’t want Sai on my jury. She’s too hard to predict. I don’t want her to talk to my jurors either.

Probst: “This is a house party.” I did voiceovers for the Kid N’ Play “House Party” movie trailer and commercials.

Charity: “There are people who didn’t talk to me.” That’s why you need to go talk to them. Just don’t bounce around to everyone like Kaleb did.

Probst is talking about doing a two-step, the robot, break and salsa dancing and the bossa nova? He’s trying so hard to be relevant. We don’t want that, Jeff. We like you slightly out of touch. Don’t force it.

The voting begins. Now we get to see who talked themselves out of the game better between Sai and Charity. My money is on Charity.

Tonight’s vote feels like the first votes in Borneo. It doesn’t feel like a majority is on the same page.

Star sends the pen flying while she’s dancing in the booth and everyone heard it.

But Eva had the best line in the booth.

Bye, Charity. I don’t think Mitch knew she was a target. If he knew, he would have tried to save her or at least warn her to try and save herself.

Who voted for Cedrek? Who is out of the loop?

Sai voted for Cedrek? That makes absolutely no sense, even if she’s trying to send a “Don’t lie to me” message to him. All she did was establish she can’t be counted on to go along with the group decision. That’s too dangerous to keep around.

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Recap

Chrissy, Kyle and Kamilla all voted for Charity. I wonder if they did it to reduce the “Civa 6” intimidation factor? Are they playing it like the Reba 4 in Survivor 45 when they so willingly cut Sifu and J. Maya loose?

This vote was confusing for several reasons (but not the result which was fairly predictable). Joe voted for Charity, but Eva voted for Sai. You’d think they’d be on the same page, especially since Eva was targeting Charity. The foursome of Kyle, Kamilla, Joe and Shauhin didn’t stick together either, because Shauhin voted for Sai after he pushed for Charity. David, Mary, Star and Eva seemed close, but their four votes were split evenly too. Mitch and Cedrek seemed to be close, but they voted differently too.

It would have been poetic justice if Sai went rogue, voted for Cedrek then got booted by one vote.

This game is still pretty wide open. I still think Sai will leave soon because she’s just not dependable at all. Her decisions are too emotional and spontaneous.

I’m thinking Kamilla and Mary are playing pretty well, but for different reasons. Kamilla has other players working on her behalf. They’re bringing information to her and deflecting votes away from her. Kyle is totally running interference for her. Those same people could advocate for her if they’re on the jury too.

Mary doesn’t have any eyes on her either and she’s good enough at challenges to pull out wins down the stretch. Nobody thinks she’s got strong connections with anyone, but she’s actually pretty tight with Cedrek, Sai, David, Eva and Star. She’s proving to be pretty good at earning trust after a rough start. I won’t be surprised if she connects with Mitch now that his #1 is gone. She’s sneaking in a little like Kenzie did in Survivor 46.

What do you think? Are Mary and Kamilla playing strong stealth games? If not them, who do you think is playing well? Who isn’t playing well besides Sai of course. Is Kyle playing himself into Austin’s position in 45? Everyone knows Eva has an Idol, but she has several people who’ll warn her if she’s targeted. How can someone blindside her? What should Mitch do now that his #1 is gone? What is Star’s best option? Let me know in the comments.