Surprise! This episode of Survivor was so much more enjoyable because it focused almost entirely on the Villains and their awesomeness.

The episode begins with Tom telling James to be gentler…so nice. After James’ rude remarks to Stephenie, it was nice to hear someone stick up for her. Shortly after, Colby and Tom discuss playing the game fairly and how they both ideally would love to do that. Ladies and gentleman this is why Colby and Tom are designated as Heroes. Fair game play never wins anyone a million dollars but when you have a tribe named “Heroes” it’s nice to actually have at least two genuine men. Go Colby and Tom: the only two actual heroes in the tribe.

The rest of the episode basically focused on Parvati. My initial thoughts were that she needs to calm it down. Can someone please tell these people that laughing loudly at night is never a good sign especially when you are spending the nights with the same people? Like Rob says, watch how they sleep at night! You can tell who is aligned with who. Rob is smart not to trust Russell and Parvati since she is clearly his new Natalie (just not as nice)! But as the episode progressed I became less and less frustrated with Parvati. She has developed into this strong player who knows she’s a threat, acknowledges that, and thus has fun on the island. More importantly, the fun keeps her around! Now, I’m sure the producers did a good deal of editing, but I would bet that many people actually love Parvati’s company. Sure she’s hot. Sure she is a good physical competitor but she also seems like a blast to be around! And that really will keep you around in this game.

So the strategy continues before we even have an immunity challenge (and since 80% of the strategy was on the Villains tribe it was a dead giveaway that they would be losing). Coach makes it obvious that Parvati is his target so he basically corners Russel and tells him to stay away from her. And for the first time in Survivor history, Russel actually looks considered. Regardless of what he says in the solo interviews, it was so apparent that Russel was worried about the possibility of Parvati leaving. Even Rob tried to convince him to give her up. Flash forward to Russel getting back into his old tricks and hiding the machete from his tribe. Then he goes ahead and threatens to destroy Rob’s hat. He further upsets me and all Bostonians everywhere when he claims to hate the Red Sox. FLAW!

Back to the game. The show gives us yet another immunity/reward challenge combination, much to my disdain, and the Heroes finally kicked some serious ass….complete with James’ enormous ego ruining their much deserved celebration. James is my new least favorite castaway ever. Someone please take the stick out of his ass.

So after much strategy it comes down to Parvati versus Randy as the two potential losers. This seems like a similar decision that the Heroes tribe made last week when they got rid of Stephenie. Oddly enough, in the beginning, the most strategic move is to put strategy aside and keep a strong team. Randy is the least in shape of his tribe and he was one of the quickest out in his challenge (granted all the Villains sucked this time around). I was worried for a moment that the Villains would make the same stupid mistake but luckily they all banded together and got rid of Randy. So that leaves the Heroes voting out two of my favorites and the Villains voting out my least favorite…clearly I’m 100% Team Villains (minus Colby and Tom…and Cirie cause I still love that girl). All in all, this was yet another amazing episode and it’s so nice to finally have a smart team who gets rid of a weak and undeserving player.

Side notes:

1/ While I entirely love the decision to get rid of Randy, the players are totally right in their fear of Parvati. And that’s right, it’s fear. Parvati has played this game twice already and she has won once. This girl knows how to manipulate. I believe she’s aware of her sexuality but it pisses me off when everyone claims her flirtation is all she has going for her. The girl won a million dollars after aligning with two females…SHE DID NOT FLIRT WITH THOSE TWO FEMALES! While I think Parvati is a huge threat, and thus probably won’t last too long in this game, she remains the most entertaining female in the game and I’m just glad we get at least one work week with her.

2/ Why are there so many chickens? It makes the whole survival aspect of this game far too easy. I’ve never seen so many edible animals in one of these locations. Watching the men bond over catching the chicken was kind of sickening and a grotesque display of machismo…or maybe it’s just me.

3/ Coach’s speech about MLK made no sense. Was that just me ignoring him or was it really ridiculous?