In Zapatera, the latest update is that Russell found another ally in Krista, and now had both Krista and Stephanie in his alliance. He found the clue to the hidden immunity idol (no surprise there) and got caught in the act, but in fact Ralph had already found it (apparently by chance) without a clue and beaten him at his own game. They quite naturally became mutual enemies. This is really exactly what the show needs. With quite a number of people against Russell, his alliance is hardly likely to survive - unless they somehow con two more people into joining them. It would be classic Survivor if these five voted for Ralph and he played the idol. We certainly have the potential for a double double-cross.
In Ometepe, Phillip had apparently revealed himself to be a noob by giving away Kristina's devious plot to get rid of Rob at the first tribal council. For some reason he now pledged his loyalty to Rob (and this seems very believable). His philosophy was that due to his former job as a federal agent loyal to his country he was obliged to play scrupulously and honestly. We might think that perhaps he was playing the wrong game, and declaring himself a staunch supporter of Rob had more to do with self-fulfilment than game strategy. Rob not surprisingly dismissed him as a pathetic old hag, but at the same time he also saw the chance that he and Phillip could benefit mutually from each other.
In the meantime, Rob linked with Natalie as his closest ally, and noticed that Andrea and Matt had done the same (which he was not too pleased about). They lost the immunity challenge, and Matt's unwitting display of sportsmanship by shaking hands with the opponents was noticed with indignance. Thus there were two reasons to vote him out, though one seemed rather petty, really.
And now Rob acted quite brilliantly. Realising that Phillip was better to retain than Matt from his point of view, he organised a blindside. First he gave the plausible argument to Andrea and Matt that the group of six needed to give three votes each to both Phillip and Kristina (to overcome the idol) but of course did not tell him that in secret four of them were voting for Matt. Meanwhile, Kristina was certain that she needed to play the idol, even though in fact she did not. Finally, Rob needed Phillip on his side but could absolutely not risk telling him the truth, for fear of another alarm being raised at tribal council. He reassured Phillip of his safety and left it late to signal to him only at tribal council that he was to vote for Kristina. Not surprisingly, Kristina wasted the idol to ensure her safety (unnecessarily nullifying Andrea's and Phillip's votes), while Phillip received two votes (one from her and one from Matt). The other four voted for Matt to evict him. And the stupefied expressions on Matt's and Andrea's faces were priceless. Perhaps Phillip was quite surprised too to find out that Rob actually kept his word and helped him by blindsiding him.
At this point in time, Rob has Natalie as a very strong ally, then Grant and Ashley as helpful tribe-mates, and finally Phillip as a conditionally strong though awkward ally who would vote as required provided he is not told of any hidden plot. The cost of gaining Phillip is to lose Andrea, who might as well ally with Kristina against their common enemy and assure Rob of two votes next time. Theoretically, they could get Grant and Ashley to join them and vote out Rob 4-3, but it hardly makes sense to switch over and weaken the tribe without them really gaining anything.
