Finally! The "Survivor" contestants are playing with their heads and not their hearts!
After last week's Tribal Council, it became clear that Brenda and Sash were in control and running the game, and it was perhaps the most obvious to Holly. The swim coach immediately worked to change that with her alliance, which included Jane. "We're going to have to make the power move before next Tribal," Holly pointed out. She made a smart gamble by going to Benry, who was still smarting from the events of the last Tribal.
"Sash backstabbed me," Benry said after being told that both Sash and Brenda switched their votes last week. "Holly gave me a wake-up call. She's got a great plan. Getting rid of Sash and Brenda is No. 1 on my list right now."
The numbers for the vote came together quickly with NaOnka and others banding together to get rid of one of the power players.
But things started to unravel when Holly told Chase about the plan. The guy's been smitten since Day 1 ("I have no idea what spell she cast over him!" Jane said of her fellow North Carolinian), so it was no surprise that he took this news straight to Brenda. "For whatever reason, I trust Brenda. I put my game plan in her. There's no reason or rhyme," he said. "I'm following my heart, my gut this entire game." Smart move, buddy.
But Brenda refused to scramble to save herself and instead, started working her alliance of Chase and Sash to vote out NaOnka, who had been running around telling everyone that she wanted the queen bee out tomorrow. The plan was then on to blindside NaOnka by having Sash give Brenda the hidden immunity idol.
At Tribal Council, Brenda expressed her dismay at losing NaOnka as part of her alliance. "I thought there was a really strong core alliance here," she said. "Now ... there's a break because of NaOnka wanting to jump ship." Then once again, she indicated her trust in fellow caller-of-shots Sash and her boy toy: "I knew if I had a chance (to win), it'd be with Chase and Sash."
Boy, was she wrong! Not only did she not get the idol, the tribe overwhelmingly voted to send her packing: Only one vote went to Benry, one to NaOnka and the rest to Brenda. Know what that means? The two most trusted members of her alliance flipped to vote out the Queen of Tribe Libertad.
Even after the tribe had spoken, Brenda was in denial: "I'm still in disbelief at how outplayed I was by the person I trusted most -- NaOnka." Wonder what she thinks now that she's seen this episode ...
Related content: