On Colton's hypothetical chances when merged:

Even if Colton is not medivaced and makes the merge, I don't see him this deep in the game. With the merge at 12, no way a majority of the remaining players allow Colton to keep his (Sabrina's) HII. At the very first TC after the merge he is either forced to play the HII to save himself, or gets blindsided and leaves the game with the idol in his pocket. With 11 players and NO idol, he's dead meat IMO.

In defense of Troy:

It was a major oversight of the Frat Pack 4 to not consider Troy right from Day One. Despite whatever issue may have existed between Troy and Michael, I truly believe this was more a case of the YOUNG four buff guys not being receptive to a 50-year old man. We know now Troy did not act or perform like a 50-year old, but fact of the matter, he IS 50 and at the very early stages of this game it was a factor. So I'm not blaming Troy for that.

It was more than the women wanting to boot Jonas. Tarzan, fresh off his blowup with him, also wanted Jonas gone. He wouldn't even accept the olive branch Jonas offered him before he brought his torch to Jeff. There's your simple majority right there. Troy could not have tried any harder to get five out of nine to turn the game around...so not being able to get five out of twelve to save Jonas is hardly a case of "allowing" the Jonas boot to happen.

You don't have to be a major reader of body language to know that Jay and Troy did NOT want to be at that TC when they voted out Bill. So why were they...because they do not have a crystal ball as a luxury item. If Troy and Jay knew there'd be a tribal switch immediately after that TC AND they knew they would not be on the same tribe as Colton after the switch, there's absolutely, positively NO WAY either or both agree to go to that TC.

Let's say Troy does speak up and be the voice that says, "we're not going." The coattail riders, zombies, and social idiots that define the likes of Jonas, Leif, and Tarzan would have scattered behind Colton and his HII, shrugged their shoulders and said, "Oh well...if Troy doesn't want to go, then I guess we're not going." Now Troy goes from a player who was never considered getting any votes in any Manono TC to a player who's most at risk should they go to another TC.

I agree, Production's decision to have a lame IC at this stage of the game was a major disappointment for Troy. But Production's intital decisions, i.e., casting, men vs. women with Colton in the cast, and early HII twist, didn't do Troy any favors either.