Still scratching your head about why Team Brenda decided not to take the chance to vote Marty out when they had the chance last week? Still wondering how Dan remains able to stand? 

 

Click through to see how things played out on Wednesday (Oct. 27) night's "Survivor: Nicaragua"...

 

Pre-credit sequence. Since both tribes voted somebody out last week, who are we going to visit first? It's Espada! Dan is grateful to have survived. He compares himself to John Gotti, the Teflon Don. Chase still isn't sure if they made the right decision and he calls Holly and NaOnka together and they all agree that Alina is out next. The Don remains Teflon! And he remains largely unable to walk!

 

Oooh, a second pre-credit sequence. Back at La Flor camp, Marty and Jill are still perplexed by what happened at Tribal Council. They're perplexed, but also giddy. Marty celebrates his "big, big cajones." He's partially relieved, but another part of him is irate at Jane, who he feels he never mistreated. He's determined to send Jane home, though I wonder what math he's doing to think he has any power in this matter at all..

 

Crazy-eyes. Marty pulls Jane aside the next morning and tells her three things: He's never lied to her, he's written her name down and he's never suggested that her name be writing down. Marty's eyes are getting crazy and everything is coming in lists. He tells Jane that he thinks she voted for him and she laughs. Now Jane has crazy-eyes. Marty isn't buying it. Jill knows they're scurrying around regardless. She doesn't comment on whether or not Marty's hair has begun to scare her as well.

 

Fabio goes No. 1, comes in No. 2. It's time for a challenge of some sort. It's for Reward. Want to know what they're playing for? The winning tribe will go on a Nicaraguan Farm Experience, including horseback riding and a home-cooked breakfast. Each team has to choose a defender, who stands on a platform in front of a goal and tries to keep the other team from throwing balls into the net. Fabio defends for La Flor. Chase defends for Espada. It appears that like any good soccer shootout, the first keeper to stop a shot will have an advantage. But then, Chase stops a Marty shot with his groin and Fabio makes a save of his own, sans groin. Dan misses a shot for Espada -- because he's too weak to even jump -- but then La Flor also misses a shot. Fabio takes a pee break midway through the challenge. He says he needed to pee to concentrate, but it doesn't help him stop NaOnka's shot. Fabio also can't stop Benry's shot and Espada wins reward. Kelly Two-Legs is disappointed that her tribe didn't win and that they didn't get to milk their own milk. Wait. Kelly Two-Legs? When was the last time she did anything even vaguely TV-worthy? Who cares how disappointed she is?

 

The Fable of the Ancient Ants and the Sashopper. The next morning, Jane is out early fishing and gathering work. She's a farmer girl, she tells us, a job description that brings with it a love for hard work. Jane's totally OK with her young allies resting up, as long as they think she's valuable and worth keeping around. And, indeed, the young La Flor members are plenty lazy, especially Sash, who revels in eating the fruits of the Ancients' labors. He's smug.

 

The fable of NaOnka and the Nipples. But enough with the losers. What's happening with the winners? The Espada castaways are riding into the wilderness on horse. Chase's late father loved and owned horses, so this is particularly emotional for him. At the farm, their host introduces them to cow-milking, prompting at least one lewd teat joke from Dan. "I don't play with animals' nipples trying to get milk out of them," says NaOnka who, at the very lest, puts in the effort, gets a squirt or two and then quits.

 

Brenda flesh and fish flesh. It's a celebration of Brenda's rear end over at the La Flor camp. The camera luxuriates in Brenda's rump, but it turns out to be a red herring. Brenda isn't doing anything. Somebody just wanted to use their butt-shots. We cut over to Jane, who has caught a fish and decides to hide off in the woods, start her own fire and make a solo meal of it. Jane reckons that she's caught enough fish that she's entitled to take a food reward of her own. "Bon appetite," she giggles, tearing into her bits of burnt fish flesh.

 

The breakfast was salted with tears. They're eating a bit better over at the Espada celebration. They have tortillas and farm-fresh cheese and fruit. Sitting at the full table, several of them break into tears, including Alina, Holly and NaOnka. But NaOnka tells us that she's putting on a show and that she suspects Alina of doing the same. It's all part of the game she's been playing to pretend to get close to Alina, NaOnka declares.

 

Big balls and little balls. Immunity is now up for grabs. Jeff Probst takes back both of the Individual Immunity necklaces and brings Tribal Immunity back. It's a repurposing of the season's first Immunity, where the tribes had to align chutes to direct water. In this case, they're rolling bowling balls down the shoots, trying to break surfboard-shaped plates. For some reason, Sash decides to sit out for La Flor. There are looks of confusion. Suddenly, this episode is all about Kelly Two-Legs, who breaks the game's first plate, before Espada breaks the next four tiles to take a lead. After another Kelly Two-Legs strike, Espada breaks their last tile. "I should be a pirate," Benry declares, perhaps unclear on what a "pirate" is. The momentum in this game appears to have temporarily shifted in Espada's favor. Jill thinks she's doomed. But will Sash's decision to sit out backfire?

 

Idol shenanigans. The La Florians are back to sitting around lazily. Somehow, things are so topsy-turvy that Fabio appears to be making the decision. The plan is to split votes between Jill and Marty, get Marty to use the Idol and then send Jill home. Jane's happy to see either of her adversaries go. She cackles maniacally. Sash has a proposal: They can go to Marty and tell him the way the split is going, offering him the chance to just send Jill home in exchange for the Idol. Brenda, though, has an even more evil plan: Ask Marty for the Idol, promise to vote Jill out and then vote Marty out anyway. Sash approaches Marty and makes that vow, offering a man-to-man vow that he won't go home this time and if they lose next time, he'll give the Idol back. "Right now, I feel absolutely powerless in every way, shape or form," Marty says, eyes now more sad than crazy. He figures his choice is between giving the Idol to Sash now or Jeff at Tribal Council. "Maybe, if he lives up to his word, I would maybe live one more cycle," Marty rationalizes, as he hands the Idol to Sash. "Marty made a big mistake," Sash smirks.

 

Tribal Council. Fabio begins by agreeing that Espada has momentum, but that the playing field will still be even next challenge. Jane tells Jeff that there are clearly insiders and outsiders with the Tribe. Marty agrees that he's on the outside, calling Jane "a flipper." Jane responds, "When we became Yellow, I became Yellow." Brenda agrees that a natural friendship has bloomed. Marty admits that he may have made a mistake earlier in the evening and now he's at a disadvantage. Sash tells Jeff that the Idol is now in his pocket, which stuns Jeff. Marty explains the circumstance, which could either go down as a stupid move or not. Jeff offers Sash the opportunity to give the Idol to Brenda to prove that it's everybody's Idol. "If there comes time when I lose trust in them," Sash says, prompting Jeff to try to explain Freud to Fabio, but Fabio knows Freud. I assume he's seen "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." He also knows Napoleon and Beethoven, I'm assuming.

 

The vote. Jane writes Marty's name down. Marty writes Jane's name. Fabio writes Marty's name. Jill writes Jane's name. Nobody plays the Idol and Jeff reads the votes: Jane. Jane. Jill. Marty. Jill. Marty. JILL. Jill's going home. Jill says this made her appreciate her husband and children and hopes everybody can root for Marty from here on.

 

Bottom Line: You thought this was gonna be Erik Reichenbach all over again, that Marty was going to give up his Idol and everybody was going to turn around, laugh at him and vote him out. Apparently not. So that's now two straight episodes La Flor has had Marty as a sitting duck and chosen not to boot him, in favor of two physically and mentally weaker players. With Kelly B last week, at least I *understood* the "sympathy" logic, even if I disagreed. Jill was never going to win. By my count, it's now 8-4 in favor of the Kids, so there was no chance of Jill getting an Ancients-friendly Jury and coasting on that alone and she was always just going to be positioned as Marty's puppet. So they got rid of somebody with no real claim of gameplay and kept Marty around. I didn't quite get the terms of Sash's deal. Will he give the Idol back next episode or does the Merge make things moot? Regardless, I fail to understand a reason for not just booting Marty, unless you've been watching him and you realize that he's fairly weak physically, so he *thinks* he's a big-time player, but he can be picked off at any time. Dunno. Why was there no follow-up to Jane's one-woman fish feast or to Sash sitting out the challenge? Just curious...