Blindsiding is the art of causing some poor unfortunate to think all is well at tribal council until the votes are revealed and the tribe speaks that he is sent home. In Ometepe, this had happened to Matt, who thought Phillip would clearly be voted out, and no more were likely for a while. But in Zapatera, it just had to happen with Russell in the minority and fighting to survive.
In Ometepe, according to Rob, the alliance of four comprised himself, Ashley, Natalie, and Grant. Of the others, Phillip was fifth (and found this acceptable, still pledging his loyalty), and Kristina and Andrea were the worst off. Rob's strategy will depend a lot on managing Phillip, and he actually managed to trick him into moving off his deck chair to help reveal the hidden immunity idol clue. Nothing exciting should happen the next time they go to tribal council. Rob has the paper clue, but still no clue about where to find the idol, but it is still a decent advantage to know that there is no information to help anyone else find it.
The real drama unfolded in Zapatera. It started off with a harmless lie about Francesca winning the duel - which hardly mattered. Even more nastily, but hardly subtly, they threw the challenge. Now Russell and his two "concubines" Stephanie and Krista had to find a way to protect themselves. And they did quite well, in fact. They succeeded in making it look like they had found the idol, to the extent that the others decided to split their votes just to make sure. Now with the projected votes of three each for two of them and Ralph, all they had to do was get one person to defect. They chose the most likely person, in fact. Julie had actually not been fully supportive of the idea of throwing the challenge, and with her there was potential for "the biggest blindside ever".
Russell and concubines were now confident that they could "keep hope alive". It was not too difficult to pull off their stunt, and Julie's facial expressions at tribal council suggested all was going according to plan. Ralph looked rather uncomfortable, in fact, as he saw his name with three votes and might have feared the worst, with an unused idol leaving with him compounding the humiliation. The blindside looked on course until the last vote was revealed, but unfortunately it depended on Julie voting as required - which did not happen. Russell had been double-crossed for the first time ever, and the new vote after the resulting three-way tie meant that was the end of him. He had a nice surprise when he discovered it was Matt not Francesca meeting him at Redemption Island.
What mistakes had Russell made, that led to his tribe even wanting to deliberately lose the challenge to get rid of him? Being a big threat, and even the biggest villain in Survivor history, was not the only issue. After all, Rob was also an obvious threat, but still got people on his side. The problem with Russell was that he was basically seen as a "cancer" - in simple terms, a damaging presence within the tribe. With rashes around his armpits, he was in too much discomfort to do anything around the settlement, and was thus clearly useless as a tribe member. Also, he was too sneaky for anyone's liking, causing severe tension. It was apparently too early to plan to have a majority at the merge, so they thought they were better off without him.
Russell's notoriety actually attracted two young ladies who could not resist the temptation of joining a very strong even though unpopular player with an impressive history, and doing well in the game. He did not see being in the minority as a problem. However, his unpopularity meant he had to depend on acquring the idol, but for the first time in his Survivor experience it was never going to be found, and he was left with the next best option of pretending he had it. This approached worked as it split the votes. Even so, idol or no idol they still needed a fourth vote against Ralph - and he was always optimistic of finding that foolish person to join him.
A lot of conflicting thoughts must have been reverberating through Julie's mind. Her tribe had done something she was in principle opposed to. Throwing a challenge seemed a despicable deed, and even getting rid of Russell was no excuse for it. She played both sides well by both contributing to the lost challenge and apparently agreeing to the blindside. Now Russell's alliance had a false sense of security and did not try to prey on someone else - which they would have done had she declined. Presumably no one knew she had been approached, so she had this little secret to keep to herself. Maybe the thrill of bluffing and voting out someone famous who had never been voted out in two previous games was irresistable, so that was her choice. Surely she gained some viewers' votes for the Survivor of the season in the process.
Ralph was also playing a game, and not a totally secure one, actually. He had the idol and thus the crucial knowledge that Russell's alliance did not have it. As long as there was no traitor among the six, it was fine to unnecessarily split the votes. Maybe they all got along well and no one would have betrayed the others. But with Russell, it was always possible for one vote to crucially not go to plan. However, he decided not to declare the idol, meaning they could not concentrate their votes on one person, and had to endure a nervous process before his safety was assured.
Now with Russell gone, how do the dynamics of Zapatera develop? It looks like Stephanie and Krista should be punished for siding with him, and the imagined unused hidden immunity idol will be harmful, not helpful, to them. Another good reason to vote one of them out next is that this prevents Russell from restoring his alliance if he returns. Aside from them, it is not clear how the six are ranked, but given that Ralph has not shown anyone the idol, he might be weak among them, and it might not go to the merge with him. In the meantime, he can let the tribe continue to think Stephanie and Krista have the idol so that they can attract the votes. What is certain is that the tension has now been lifted, the tribe's unity has improved, and they will not throw another challenge.
Comments
Russell should just vote Step and send her home
I think it was the best for him
I think it was the best for him