I thought the same thing when I watched the episode tonight. If I had been on this season, I would have balked at the idea of throwing a challenge for the same reasons that Jeff mentioned. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

As you said, Russell isn't really a number when he is either trying to foster dissention in his own camp, or chomping at the bit to get to the OTHER tribe and flip on his own the day after the merge. So a team with 6 solid members going into a merge is IN FACT stronger than a team with 6 solid allies and 3 potential guaranteed flippers.

I rolled my eyes when Jeff stroked Russell, too. Sure, Russell is a dangerous player. He found HIIs like NOBODY before him. And he schemed as well as anyone. But I am convinced that he stayed as long as he did largely because everyone who had a legitimate chance to get to the end WANTED to take Russell because he is the ULTIMATE player to face a jury with. Would Hitler have been able to win Survivor if he was sitting next to Russell? Maybe not, but it would be a much closer vote than Russell would want to admit. In fact, can you think of any Survivor player from ANY past season that you would rather take to the final TC with you than Russell? I can't. Nobody who has played with him can stand him or respect him enough to vote for him. And I am convinced that is the reason he survived as long as he did on those two previous seasons.

If there was ever a time to throw a challenge, this was it.

Agman resized my siggie