Now up on the Redemption Island Duel menu: Matt vs. Stephenie.

What makes this matchup potentially interesting is that both of them have editorial stories that might make you think that one of them will be Redeemed... Matt on his spiritual quest, after getting voted out second from Ometepe, and Stephenie on a path of revenge, both for herself and her mentor Russell, after being voted out last week by Zapatera...

Which one will continue to have that chance by winning the Duel? We'll find out pretty early tonight... then we'll find out who'll join them after the Immunity Challenge (probably with Reward and HII clue) and Tribal Council for the losers of that challenge...

• Previously...,vince3, 08:04 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Previously...,kiki_k, 08:06 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Previously...,HitmanPayne, 08:15 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:14 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Corvis, 08:51 AM, 03-31-11
• Redemption Island Day 17,vince3, 08:16 PM, 03-30-11
• Ometepe, Day 17,vince3, 08:24 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Ometepe, Day 17,jbug, 08:27 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Ometepe, Day 17,kiki_k, 08:29 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:26 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:30 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:33 PM, 03-30-11
• crispy rice,jbug, 08:31 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:37 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,jbug, 08:39 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:41 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,kiki_k, 08:42 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,michel, 10:06 PM, 03-30-11
• Ometepe, Day 18,vince3, 08:38 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:42 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:43 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:48 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:49 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,kiki_k, 08:57 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 09:11 PM, 03-30-11
• Reward happy time,vince3, 08:49 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Reward happy time,Brownroach, 09:07 PM, 03-30-11
  • Karchita happy time,Karchita, 01:33 AM, 03-31-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:51 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:52 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Karchita, 01:54 AM, 03-31-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:54 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,HitmanPayne, 08:55 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Georjanna, 02:21 AM, 03-31-11
      • Update,Georjanna, 07:07 AM, 03-31-11
• Tribal Council,vince3, 08:55 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Tribal Council,HitmanPayne, 08:58 PM, 03-30-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,Brownroach, 08:59 PM, 03-30-11
• Next time...,vince3, 09:00 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Next time...,Flowerpower, 09:04 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Next time...,HitmanPayne, 09:07 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Next time...,vince3, 09:12 PM, 03-30-11
        • RE: Next time...,Flowerpower, 09:46 PM, 03-30-11
          • RE: Next time...,CTgirl, 09:56 PM, 03-30-11
          • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 00:15 AM, 03-31-11
            • RE: Next time...,dabo, 00:38 AM, 03-31-11
            • RE: Next time...,Blind Freddy, 00:47 AM, 03-31-11
            • RE: Next time...,Flowerpower, 08:10 AM, 03-31-11
              • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 01:19 PM, 03-31-11
    • RE: Next time...,kiki_k, 09:11 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Next time...,KObrien_fan, 09:12 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Next time...,tribephyl, 09:38 PM, 03-30-11
        • RE: Next time...,PepeLePew13, 09:54 PM, 03-30-11
      • Double boot possibilities...,Flowerpower, 09:49 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 09:42 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Next time...,vince3, 10:01 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 10:13 PM, 03-30-11
  • RE: Next time...,michel, 10:21 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 11:14 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Next time...,Karchita, 01:48 AM, 03-31-11
        • RE: Next time...,SquidProQuo, 09:55 AM, 03-31-11
          • RE: Next time...,Karchita, 06:55 PM, 03-31-11
            • RE: Next time...,michel, 07:33 PM, 03-31-11
              • RE: Next time...,Loree, 00:38 AM, 04-01-11
                • RE: Next time...,dabo, 01:04 AM, 04-01-11
                • RE: Next time...,michel, 07:29 AM, 04-01-11
                  • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 11:38 AM, 04-01-11
                • RE: Next time...,CTgirl, 07:58 AM, 04-01-11
                  • RE: Next time...,Outfrontgirl, 08:35 PM, 04-01-11
  • RE: Next time...,KObrien_fan, 11:10 PM, 03-30-11
    • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 11:29 PM, 03-30-11
      • RE: Next time...,kiki_k, 00:38 AM, 03-31-11
        • RE: Next time...,dabo, 02:00 AM, 03-31-11
          • RE: Next time...,michel, 07:29 AM, 03-31-11
            • RE: Next time...,dabo, 10:21 AM, 03-31-11
              • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 11:29 AM, 03-31-11
                • RE: Next time...,jbug, 11:58 AM, 03-31-11
                  • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 12:50 PM, 03-31-11
                    • RE: Next time...,dabo, 12:57 PM, 03-31-11
                      • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 01:09 PM, 03-31-11
                        • RE: Next time...,Flowerpower, 08:09 PM, 03-31-11
                          • RE: Next time...,Brownroach, 08:17 PM, 03-31-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,dabo, 00:42 AM, 03-31-11
• RE: Survivor 22 Ep7 ECST,SquidProQuo, 12:17 PM, 03-31-11

The only night the Zaps have had since they threw a challenge was when they got rid of Russell... since then, tribe loyalty disintegrated...

Over at the Omes, Rob got the HII, and Phillip has a love/hate relationship with Rob...

Stephenie was voted out, taking loyalty over ability.

Zap camp: We see the fallout of the Tribal Council and the arguments are still flowing, especially about David joining Steph in voting for Sarita...

LAST EDITED ON 03-30-11 AT 08:06 PM (EST)

Gah! Starting with Russell again -- He was the 3rd voted out, 2nd person out of the game. With the way things are going, I'm sure they will start the recap at F4 with Russell again!!!

Steph is now permanently gone, Losing 5-3 against Matt in the Duel.

Stephanie won't shut up. Matt wants to win the duel.

Rob and Phillip are going to the duel. Rob says Phillip needs to be babysat.

David and Ralph go for Zap.

Duel is finding matching symbols.

Ooh Matt gets a match on his first move. So does Stephanie.

Matt wins!

Stephanie says Sarita needs to go.

And Matt immediately got the confessional I was complaining that he didn't get last episode... talked about how he will stay in the game as long as God wants him to. If he said that last ep, I would have picked him to win it! Ack! Good job to those who stuck with the RI golden boy.

We join Steph and Matt in a conversation about the foods that they want to eat when they get the chance... or at least Steph's side of it...

Ome's camp: Time to choose witnesses for the latest Redemption Island Duel, and it's Rob/Phillip. Phillip rants about Rob hiding the latest HII clue as Phillip approached... Then as they head to the duel we hear Rob's confessional about how Phillip needs a chaperone...

Zap's witnesses are: David/Rooster, I believe

This is a matching challenge: Many tiles in the Arena: Match 2 to get a point. First to 5 wins.

Steph wins the toss and defers. Matt goes out and finds a straight match and takes a 1-0 lead! Steph then pulls off the same trick! 1-1. Matt makes the next match to lead 2-1. He then gets a little lucky and is now up 3-1. Steph then closes the gap, makes it 3-2. Matt makes another match, 4-2. Steph makes a saving match, now 4-3. Matt misses a potential game-winning match! Steph then misses herself! Matt makes the match with what Steph unveiled instead of what she was looking for.

Steph tells David/Rooster: Get rid of Sarita, or else you're in deep trouble! David's the only Zap puzzle solver, Ralph. Do you want to do those puzzles? Ralph responds 'If I have to, yes.'

She also warns Rob that more than likely he's target #1 when they merge, since they got rid of Russell so quickly...

We see Phillip and Rob return toward camp. Phillip asks if they want to withhold information, and Rob says heck no! In confessional, though, he was hoping for that... so he can further throw him under the bus.

Over at the Zaps, we get the postmortem from the Duel from them, and they figure that Matt would rejoin the Ome alliance, and if David gets a chance, he would flip sides...

David wants to fish today, but most others are not wanting to do it... and David's rubbing everyone the wrong way... and Rooster piles on in confessional, to boot.

Rob decides he should front side Phillip.
Now don't take that the wrong way peeps.

LAST EDITED ON 03-30-11 AT 08:29 PM (EST)

As many suspected, Ralph gives title quote "It don't take a smart one" referring to David thinking he is "so smart. But it don't take a smart one to win this game. It takes one who knows how to maneover." (I don't know how to spell that, so I'm spelling it like Ralph would).

Zap thinks David is likely to flip. But is this misdirection? Ralph says the title quote -Dave is smart but it don't take a smart one to win. Awful lot of focus on David. Too much?

The crispy rice at the bottom of the pot is the simple pleasure. Phillip wants some but it is being saved for Rob. Phillip is royally pissed.

Phillip is about to bust a cap in someone's ##### tonight if Ometepe loses.

If you want crispy rice, save yours till the pot is empty, put yours back in the pot & make it crispy!
geeesh!

Challenge is for immunity and reward.

Rob is outclassing Sarita.

Ooh David made up a lot of time.

Zap is ahead.

It's close.

Ometepe wins!

Phillip just can not shut up!
Can you imagine if Phillip & Coach had been on the same season?

IT WOULD BE CLASSIC! On another note......Another week of Phillip!

When Phillip started talking about the way of the Samurai at RI to Matt I had deja vu all over again.

The question I had was were the editors having déjà vu all over again?

and the latest way that Phillip irritates the tribe is he's eating the crispiest/fried part of the rice left in the cooking pot that they were waving for Rob. (Where is he in this, anyways?)

Phillip gets angry again, and buries himself deeper... Rob returns and claims the food that they were saving for him while Phillip continues his rants in confessional... and he's still not happy about things...

Challenge time! Even tribes now, remember... No sit-outs! Tribes must clear obstacles to get two bags of balls, which then must be shot into a hoop. All of them.

Any Questions? WHAT ARE WE PLAYING FOR!??! Reward ride to a picnic spot with various snacks and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic... like for Natalie)

At the first bag station, Rob gets the bag much faster than Sarita, giving Ome a big lead heading to the next phase, where Phillip gets caught up! Rob again getting the bag, but David gets it a lot faster!!!

Zaps take the lead heading into the net maze, and we see Jeff have to tromp through the mud... To the third bag station, and Zaps have the bag! Zaps through the brick wall and are about to shoot. Ome gets the first ball in, then 2nd (both by Grant). Ome leads 3-2, then tied! Zaps now lead 5-3! Now 5-4. Tied at 5! Couple of in and outs, but then Grant buries the dagger shot! Ometepe wins!

Zaps are heading back to Tribal Council and will now be down in tribe members 6-5 from the 9-7 lead they had when they threw that challenge...

Phillip has a spiel confessional with the Tribal Immunity Idol, kissing it at the end...

David did very well in the challenge. Clearly the lines are drawn between his possible disloyalty and Sarita's poor performance. We shall see.
The early emphasis on David would suggest Sarita goes. But maybe not?

WOW! AN ACTUAL CONFESSIONAL BY GRANT!!

Sarita pleads her case. Ralph points out that David was awesome in the challenge. Tide is starting to turn toward voting Sarita.

Which is more important at merge though? Loyalty? or Strength?

Yep, Sarita was actually a stupid move. She wouldn't win 1 IC after merge.

But they did think David would have a better shot at beating Matt, and now that we've seen the preview...

Rob's happy that fir the first time in his Survivor time he's landed on an active volcano... We get both Grant and Phillip volcano crater confessionals...

Candy, cookies and other stuff... Rob sees cookies that are cylinder shaped, and sure enough... there was a clue in there! He sneaks it out, and then in confessional, since he doesn't need it right now, THROWS IT IN THE VOLCANO!

Over at unhappy Zappy, we get the argument for vote-out... Sarita's pushing for David, naturally... Problem is, though, if he heads to Redemption Island, will he then beat Matt and be Redeemed himself?

David gets a confessional that he's worried about his chances... However, Sarita's challenge performance, or lack thereof, makes them consider her instead...

LAST EDITED ON 03-30-11 AT 11:40 PM (EST)

n/m, posted in wrong spot.

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 02:01 AM (EST)

I was there. There is a road to the top of that volcano, and yes, it is very cool.

We had to wear gas masks when we were at that little platform where they had the picnic. Maybe the wind shifted? We were there at sunset and after dark we could actually see the orange glow of the lava down below.

Ralph does not know what "cohesive" means.

I wonder if he misspells David or Sarita tonight?

LOL Bless his heart.

Sarita votes David and vice versa.

2-2

Sarita is out 4-2.

Hmmmm, wonder if Davie or Sirita was Ralph's doing. Hmmmmmmm.

If you compare Rooster's handwriting on the parchment from the Episode 6 TC Voting Clip with the handwriting on the "Sirita" vote from this week's TC, I think that it's pretty clear that he voted for Sarita. But ...

There is no clip up of the TC voting for Episode 7 and there is a clip up of Rooster's declaration that he would not vote for Sarita and would cast his vote for David.

So, if a Voting Clip for this evening's festivities doesn't appear shortly, I have to assume that, for editing purposes, those of us who watch the clips are going to be left with the impression that 'good old Rooster' kept his word. And those of us who don't watch the clips are just ... not going to know.

G

There are also clips that contain confessionals from Julie and Steve to the effect that they intended to vote for Sarita. And, on my second through fifth look, the way that the writer crossed his/her "t" in "Sirita" (and the flourish on the ending "a") look much like Steve's parchment in Episode 6.

So, there is a distinct possibility that I have - once again - made much ado about nothing.

G

Jeff spells it out for them: Since you threw the challenge, you've lost 3 of the last 4! It seems to be more a matter of cohesiveness than strength... and Jeff is pushing that maybe favoring loyalty instead of strength could be a part of their tailspin? he then gives David/Sarita the chance to argue their points...

Time to vote! Sarita seen voted for David, David seen voting for Sarita...

Tally time! Da votes are: Sarita, David, David, Sarita, Sarita (Rooster's probably), SARITA! She goes: OMG! and David: Don't get too confident...

Sarita now enters Matt's lair on Redemption Island...

Jeff: Is this a cohesive group? After this vote, the answer is obviously... NO!

Via Jeff's Twitter: #Survivor For following me tonight, you are the first to hear that next week...we merge. So the winner of the duel goes back into the game.

Next week duel winner reenters and merge!

Matt cut his foot before the upcoming Duel.

Winner of the next Duel rejoins the game...

Rob hears the three words that threaten his dominance: WE ARE MERGED!

Sarita confesses her venom about getting voted out, but wait until she finds out that all she has to do to go back in is win the next Duel! Instant boomerang for revenge? Will depend on how the injury affects Matt's performance...

Also, looks like everyone's in attendance for the next Duel...

Drama that will leave us questioning if Matt will choke on his last duel.....NOT! Yes, next duel winner is back in the game. I bet they will have a double boot as well...

Or, it might mean the redemption island concept was only for the first half?

There lies the question: After the next Duel winner gets Redeemed and they merge, will the Redemption Island Twist die, or continue on in the individual phase? Also, if RI stays alive, will they do a one-two punch to quickly have Duels occur again?

will the Redemption Island Twist die, or continue on in the individual phase?

RI lives on. We know this because there will be someone else that is returned to the game. The call sheets say that the next returnee will be when there are 4 players still left in the game....the returnee + 4 left in the game will equal a new F5. Perfect time to return someone, imo...

OK peeps, put your thinking caps on. I have the SOTS next week - LOTS of things to figure out!!

Was this call sheet spoiler that certain people keep referring to ever posted on this board? I haven't seen it and I've been reading all the threads, I'm quite sure.

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 00:40 AM (EST)

link in Redemption Island Speculation thread

http://i.cdn.turner.com/dr/teg/tsg/release/sites/default/files/assets/survivorcallsheets.pdf

I wonder, are the Schmergen balls still missing?

Here ya go BR...
Originally posted at TheSmokingGun.com website obtained from unknown sources. Call Sheets found in crew trash in SJDS.

Call Sheets:
http://www.survivorfever.com/survivorcallsheets.pdf

Analysis of same by SurvivorFever:
http://www.survivorfever.net/s22_call_sheets.html
-------------------
Call Sheets from S22 Production
Left Behind by SEG Staffers

Sunday, September 19th - Day 35
Saturday, September 18th - Day 34

Summary of Info Gleaned From Call Sheets

Merged Tribe is called Murlonia
and is located at Pena Rota Cove

Timeline:

Day 34: Saturday, September 18

Challenge crew day off (no challenges scheduled or
rehearsed)
no transport or players to or from Redemption Island
transport of safety swimmers to Pena Rota and
Redemption Island

Day 35: Sunday, September 19

Final 5 members of Murlonia compete in "Bone to Pick" challenge at "The Beachfront" filming location
Rehearsal by dreamteamers (challenge testers) for challenge "A Numbers Game" at the Fenceline Field filming location
Final 5 players at Murlonia camp taken to TC set
4 Jurors taken from Ponderosa to TC set
1 Murlonia player voted out and taken to Redemption Island

Day 36: Monday, September 20

Shoot a Duel (challenge between 2 players) called
"A Leg Up" at the "Redemption Arena"
Rehearsal by dreamteamers for challenge "Meso Maze" at location "Hindley St. North"
(DaMenace points out at SS/S22 that Meso means
"listen" in Spanish and speculates that this could be a blindfolded challenge)
4 jurors taken from Ponderosa to TC set
=============================================

Analysis of Call Sheets by TDT:
http://www.truedorktimes.com/s22/spoilers/ep0.htm
--------------------
The day after filming ended, TheSmokingGun.com got their hands on some left-behind call sheets from day 34 (Saturday, 9/18) and day 35 (Sunday 9/19) of Survivor 22 filming.

The sheets themselves reveal a number of interesting spoilers. To our eyes, they are as follows (the events of day 35 are the most informative, including that there are four jurors and five contestants left):

• (Most obviously) the merged tribe's name appears to be "Murlonia" (?!)
•At 8:45 a.m. the Murlonia tribe leaves camp (Peña Rota) for "the beachfront."
•At 10:00 a.m. (at "the beachfront") there is an immunity challenge called "Bone to Pick"
•At 11:00 a.m. that day, five Dream Team members test-run a subsequent challenge called "A Numbers Game"
•At 5:30 p.m. the five Murlonia members travel to Tribal Council
•At 5:45 p.m., the four jurors leaves Ponderosa to travel to Tribal Council
•Tribal council is scheduled to shoot from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
•After tribal, the four remaining Murlonias return to camp (Pena Rota), the four previous jurors head back to Ponderosa, and the "votee" heads to a new place called "Redemption Island."
Other stuff: The advance schedule for Day 36 (Monday, 9/20), as noted by guatemala fanfic at Sucks, includes a "Duel" at "Redemption Arena" scheduled for 10:00 a.m. The "duel" is called "A Leg Up." We also note that if Tribal Council 15 ends with only four contestants left, there should have been 19 contestants to start with, unless one of those tribal councils was to vote Russell and/or Rob into the game... in which case a starting group of 18 (10 women, 8 men + Rob and Russell, or perhaps a less-obvious 9-9 split) would work. That would also suggest that only one of Rob or Russell could become a contestant.

Speculation at Sucks may explain how Redemption Island works: Katy Carney put the clues together to suggest that diRkdARyL's previous spec that the show could follow Survivor: Israel's twist of bootees being able to battle their way back into the game. This seems plausible, based on the four-day finale episode schedule, which includes a "duel."

Update (9/27): Andy Dehnart's interpretation at Reality Blurred that someone must already be waiting at Redemption Island for the Day 35 votee makes a lot of sense. The advance schedule for Day 36 gives no indication of a tribal council, just the duel, suggestion the winner returns to the game, leaving an F5 with three days left. This fits with five Dream Teamers ("DT x 5") rehearsing "A Numbers Game" on day 35 - the (reconstituted) F5 will do that challenge on Day 37, as the F5 IC. So the remaining schedule looks like:

•Day 36: Redemption duel - winner joins game (new F5); loser joins Jury (now 5 people)
•Day 37: (new) F5 IC: "A Numbers Game" - loser joins Jury (now 6 people)
•Day 38: F4 IC: "Meso Maze" - loser becomes final juror (now 7 people)
•Day 39: Final tribal council, 7-person jury votes on the final three.

That would make a Redemption Island/Arena scenario along the lines of: Post-merge bootees (presumably starting with the loser of the Rob/Russell vote-in ballot) head directly to Redemption Island. Each successive "votee" (not "bootee" yet, technically) then heads to Redemption after being voted off, and a duel is fought the next day. Winner stays on Redemption Island (alone), loser heads to Ponderosa as a juror. Then, on day 36, the final duel is fought, and that winner returns to the game as the new final five person (possibly the same one just voted out the night before), and the loser heads to the jury. No such luck for the next two people voted out (the fifth- and fourth-place boots), they go straight to Ponderosa.

That's the only fair way we could see this working, and is essentially the way the "Island of the Dead" twist in the Israeli version worked, apart from the placement in the game (h/t again to Reality Blurred). Alternatively, only the loser of the Rob/Russell vote is sent to Redemption Island, until the votee on Day 35 joins them. But that seems spectacularly unfair to every other person that made the merge, but didn't get the benefit of a second chance. So we'll go with the first scenario, above.
-----------------------

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 11:38 AM (EST)

Here you go, Brownroach...the Call Sheets are here. I have posted them multiple times, once in the Redemption Island speculation thread that was pre-season, and again in my first SOTS of the season...

Merged tribe name is Murlonia.
Next one redeemed comes after they have voted of the F5, so the RI winner joins 4 left still in the game to equal a new F5.

ETA: Whoops, I'm just about 8 hours short! Sorry, Dabo and BF, didn't see your replies before I jumped in...

Thanks, dabo, Freddy and FloPo. I don't think I followed the whole RI Spec Thread, that's probably how I missed them.

Agreed. Matt is back in the game for sure. Despite previews, Rob is safe (for now).

I think there will be a Pagonging of the Zaps (with David going last -- he flips for sure). The only interesting thing will be (1) flushing Rooster's idol and (2) when does Rob/Matt/Phillip get booted (if they get booted -- I can see any of those 3 getting to the end -- Matt on ICs, Phillip as a goat & Rob on a combo of smarts & luck).

They will have a double boot, the timing is perfect. Matt defeats Sarita and is back in the game, and then a double boot so that they don't have to skip an episode for the RI duels.

I'm not sure who came first hosting games, you or Tribe, but you are both nefarious! - CTGirl

The alternative would be to keep the loser of the duel at Redemption Island.
For instance, Matt wins and goes back in the game...Sarita stays on RI, rather than going LL.

I'm not sure if I would agree with that scenario. To me, the loser of a duel is "dead" just like in the old Wild West - you lose the duel, you're gone, period.

At the moment, I'd think that there would be a double boot after the RI winner goes back into the game, and the two double boots would face off in a duel the following episode.

Just throwing this out here....I wonder how they will do the double boot? Possibly 1 or 2 immunities? Will they have to vote someone out, and then right away, someone else? Or, will they know they have to remove 2 before the vote? If they merge, there is a possibility that 2 folks from the same tribe could go...

I didn't notice - were they still in tribal divisions at the duel or could they have merged prior to the duel?

It looked like Rob was seated with the Omes only in the bleachers in the preview...

Hmm.

My initial spec was going to be that the merge comes first, allowing Phillip to contemplate the big move of flipping to the Zaps, only to find out at the duel that the winner will return, screwing up the numbers.

The schedule could be -

Next week: 1 Duel with Matt returning (foot injury has to be misdirection)
Merge feast.
1 IC => 1 Boot. No time for more. (Mike goes to flush out Ralph's idol)

The week after that:
IC early since there are no Duels at the start.
TC => 1 Boot
Duel to start second half hour.
IC + TC => another boot.

LAST EDITED ON 03-30-11 AT 11:21 PM (EST)

Maybe. A merge, a double boot, AND a returning player seems a bit much for one episode. And why advertise only two and not all three?

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 01:49 AM (EST)

Exactly. I think they will merge first, all go to see the duel, and then have the feast. Otherwise the returnee (Matt) would miss the feast and bonding that goes with it.

Based on the vidcaps, they must get a treemail that says EVERYONE goes to RI duel this week. We see the entire Ome tribe sitting together, and looks like they even bring their chairs and all their stuff, just in case. Then at the RI duel you see Jeff announcing the merge and throwing out a bag (assuming it's the buffs).

So I'm thinking the timing is:
- RI duel where everyone is told to attend
- Jeff announces merge
- Merge feast
- Individual immunity challenge

Don't they sometimes do 2 immunities at merge -- 1 for the men and 1 for the women? That would make sense. Hope it's an endurance challenge. I also like Kathy O Brien's suggestion that Matt could be given a 1-time exemption/immunity.

That sequence of events makes sense to me.

I think it's a no brainer that the RI returnee would likely have immunity for the first vote. I've been assuming that all along. So if they do two immunities along with the returnee, that's a total of three people with it which seems like too many. And that's no even counting the two hidden idols in play.

You know, one of these days we will have as many immune players as there are voters!

I can't believe they would give Matt (or Sarita) immunity. They have already been voted out once. Why give them immunity? Russell and Rob were not given immunity when they joined the tribes. RI is already a second chance. Giving immunity to the returnee is like giving a 3rd chance to them.

Matt has gotten really good at individual challenges.

Burton and Lil were given immunity when they returned as Outcasts even if they had been voted out once. I'm not saying that Matt will have immunity, I wouldn't give it to him since he can compete like everybody else in the IC.

Burton and Lil returned in the merge episode as well (though first they went back to their original tribes), and they competed for regular immunity, which Burton won and conferred on Rupert. Three people had immunity at the merge TC.

I think they will probably give the returnee a one-shot individual immunity again.

ITA Loree. I would be really surprised if Matt is given immunity. He can win it on his own!

Agree with CT. Not only can he win it, but he could get another shot at redemption even if voted out. There's a limit.

I think that Pearl Island twists are on the "don't ever do that again -- it sucked" board in the creative office, right next to the Medallion of Power Memorial toilet wand.

Pure speculation:

They all witness the duel and after Sarita is defeated, Matt joins the others and they all merge.

This leaves 12:
Rob (i)
Natalie
Andrea
Phillip
Ashley
Grant
Ralph (i)
Mike
Steve
David
Julie
Matt

They will have an IC and 1 gets immunity and possibly immunity for Matt as the returnee.

Matt will join Rob, David most likely will join Rob, we know that Grant, Andrea, Natalie, and Ashley will all stay clinging to Rob. They will oust Phillip (who is getting dangerous at this point in the game) and one of the original Zap's in a double boot.

At the end of the episode they then have 10 players on the new merge tribe.

I think that Phillip then goes on his own immunity run at RI, his editing seems to indicate that he will go farther than just merge, he may even be the one that re-enters at F5.

I'm not sure who came first hosting games, you or Tribe, but you are both nefarious! - CTGirl

But there's no percentage in David joining Rob. I think he wants to be loyal to Zap.

I don't know why they are trying to make it look like the merge is a threat to Rob. He should have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Well, I tend to think they are making it look like the merge is a threat to Rob as a distraction. "Average viewers" (ie, not those of us who read these boards & obsess over looking for clues/themes/etc LOL) will be expecting Rob to be a target ala Russell.

I like the KO's idea about Rob getting rid of Phillip at merge -- he is a potential threat as a flipper, and I personally would like to see that happen. But I don't think it will at the first vote post-merge. Mike is the more likely bootee with the flushing of Rooster's idol.

Plus, as you point out, there isn't any guarantee that David will flip, but merging at 7-5 (assuming Matt does go back to Rob) it is something a "thinker" like David *might* consider -- he knows he is a definite 5th on Zap & may risk going over with his eye on a possible advancement up the totem pole. I definitely think he will wait to see how the first post-merge vote goes, though, before making any moves to Ometepe.

I do think KO raises a good point about Phillip going on a duel run on RI, though. We haven't seen it lately, but Phillip talked a lot in the first few episodes about "liking" the idea of redemption, etc.

A duel run after the merge is going to be tougher, pretty much all the big challenge threats will be heading to RI at some point.

Late in the game Rob has a big problem, namely that no one in their right mind should let him get to Final, so he may have to go on an immunity streak, he can't rely on anything else. Whoever comes back from RI late in the game is the biggest challenge threat to go to RI, even if he whacks Grant at some point Grant may come back and whack him.

Karma's a bitch.

Did you see how quickly the victory turned Phillip back into the Omelet's fold? Nothing like victory to promote unity. Phillip will maybe think about flipping but he will vote with Rob.

I don't think Rob is in any danger, his biggest decisions are who to target (knowing Rooster has one HII) and whether to play his HII if he doesn't win individual immunity. Just because they are coming after him that doesn't mean they'll try to get him out first.

Phillip shouldn't want to jump without Matt and Andrea, and Andrea may not want to jump at all no matter what Matt may want or Phillip may want. Even if the three of them do form a plot to take out Rob and take control of the game, they ought to take out two Zaps before they do that in order to ensure remaining Zap loyalty to a misfit alliance.

So, yeah, with Matt returning to the game, Rob's best bet may be to blindorfrontside Phillip.

Sarita and Ralph are the only two Zaps who know about Ralph's slip-up with the HII at RI, correct? (At least we never saw anyone else back at camp find out about it.)

Assuming that Sarita leaves, I wonder if Ralph will tell the other Zaps that Ometepe knows that he/they have an HII. He'll probably have to now.

But does everyone at Ometepe know Ralph has the HII?
Did the ones at that RI duel share that info with the others?
Can't remember who watched that one.

It was Phillip and Kristina. I doubt Kristina would have bothered to mention it to anyone.

Phillip wanted to hold out revealing his intel till he got promises from Rob. I seem to think he ultimately told Rob about the HII (and maybe Grant was there too), but it's not specifically stated that he did in the East Coast Thread.

He made a pitch for taking Kristina further in the game, there was no agreement to do anything but consider it, Phillip gave Rob the intel, later he felt betrayed that Rob decided to bounce Kristina because Rob wasn't a man of his word.

Whether or not Rob told anyone else in his alliance at the time, there's no point keeping it a secret now. They will need to consider the Zap's HII when strategizing their vote.

Just jumping in here to add that Matt also knows that Rooster has the HII as well. Grant was there when Phillip was bargaining with Rob for Kristina, when he ended up telling them about Ralph having the HII. I am sure that it was shared with the entire tribe, no?

I was pretty sure Grant was there. He would probably tell Natalie and Ashley if Rob didn't. I think we can assume they all know.

LAST EDITED ON 03-31-11 AT 00:44 AM (EST)

Phillip was heard a few times in early episodes saying, "When I go to Redemption."

foreshadowing?

Looking at how things will play out, with both tribes watching RI this week prior to the merge, it's interesting how Sarita will be the "last hope" for the Zaps. If she doesn't even try hard or gives up(as Jeff hints in his blogs, etc.), that will be a total let-down for the Zaps, almost like losing a team challenge.

In hindsight, the Zap's best move might have been to send someone like Mike to RI to take down Matt. That would have been their only shot to go into the merge at even numbers. It would have been very risky of course, and no one really knew when the merge would happen, but just sayin.