Jenn asks, “Is Rodney smart?”

And we’re all like

And Joe basically makes that face and says “What do you think?”

Priceless.

—

Dan gets stung by a jellyfish.

He tells Jenn, who instructs him to put hot water on it. “I peed on it.” Jenn tells him that doesn’t work, that he needs hot water on it right away. Dan basically says “Whatever”. (I’m paraphrasing.)

Dan tells Shirin he got stung by a jellyfish. She says “Do you want me to pee on it?” He says “I already did and besides, hot water is better.”

THIS SUMS UP EVERYTHING I HATE ABOUT DAN.

Priceless.

—

OK! This week on Survivor, the tribes merged. It seemed a little early, but it was down to twelve players. A merge now made the earlier tribe swap seem a bit silly – I wish the producers had let the “Collar” tribes run its course right up until the merge.

The new tribe is called “Merica”. Not “America”. Not an ironic ‘Murica. Merica. Mike is not in on the ‘Murica joke. He’s so far from it that Sarah Palin can probably see it from her house. Sigh. I felt for Shirin when she said she was embarrassed to belong to a tribe with the WORST name in Survivor history. It really is a new low.

The tribes merged, which meant everyone was scrambling to figure out their alliances. There were five Blue Collars, four No Collars, and three White Collars. Obviously, the White Collars were all swing votes. But people like Sierra, Rodney and, surprisingly, Will, were also up in the air. But there was one thing that the Blue Collars and White Collars could agree on: Joe needed to be voted out.

Joe’s a big threat, and he’ll have a major target on his back for the rest of the game. He’s not just strong in challenges, he’s smart and likable as well. A triple threat.

The Immunity Challenge this week was an endurance test, which was perfect for Joe. He knew he was in danger, and that knowledge always gives players the motivation to dig deep and keep going. The players had to hug a pole, with only a few narrow slits for their hands and feet.

Dan lasted mere seconds, and Will was right behind him. Rodney asked Carolyn “You got this?” before dropping out, which seemed like a moronic move because it revealed their alliance to everyone.

The final four in the challenge were Joe, Jenn, Hali and Carolyn. They all fought hard, but I was particularly impressed by Jenn and Carolyn. Carolyn, because she’s significantly older than her competitors. Jenn, because she got stung by a bee on her inner thigh during the challenge and KEPT GOING. That’s tough.

Eventually, Joe won. He’s a strong dude and he needed this win, so I wasn’t surprised. His safety meant the Blue Collars had to target one of his alliance-mates, and they settled on Jenn. The No Collars decided to vote for Kelly – a good move, since she’s probably the smartest Blue Collar.

Shirin couldn’t really be considered a swing vote, because she was in pretty deep with the No Collars. And Carolyn, she seemed pretty tight with the Blue Collars. So, things were really in the hands of Tyler. He would either vote Jenn with Carolyn and the Blues, or he’d convince her to join him and the No Collars in voting out Kelly.

I’ll cut to the chase – they all voted Jenn, but she suspected she was in trouble and played her Hidden Immunity Idol. It was a great move, and they were all blindsided. I just wish she and Hali had kept their emotions a little more in check. You can’t gloat too much, or these people won’t want to hand you a million bucks later.

Here’s the thing, though. I think Tyler and Carolyn made the wrong choice. And I don’t think Will should have betrayed his tribe (he voted Hali, as he’d been instructed to by Mike).

In going with the Blue Collars, Tyler, Carolyn and Will now find themselves at the bottom of a very large totem pole. They’re the worst three in a group of eight. If they’d gone with the No Collars, they would have been in an alliance of seven, and there would be a lot more wiggle room. Joe is a threat, and the girls may want to turn on him eventually. In fact, there probably would have been an opportunity for Shirin, Carolyn, Tyler and Will to work together to take out the power trio when the time was right. There are cracks in the Blue Collar alliance too, but I think it will be harder for them to make inroads there.

What do you guys think? Did they make the right choice?