Tribal council trickery dooms ‘Survivor’

The idol actually saves someone: Kelly was blindsided at Tribal Council by the old Foa Foa tribe because of the Galu alliance's stubbornness. Russell played yet another hidden immunity idol, and although John correctly predicted he might do just that, Galu didn't split their votes, resulting in one of their own being voted out. "I ain't finished playing just yet," Russell said, and he sure ain't.

Hide and seek: The "Survivor" producers need to learn how to better hide immunity idols, because Russell found another one with zero clues. He reasoned that "it has to be near a landmark or something ... it cannot be any other place." And it was under a bridge: "No way," he said when he found it. "That easy." Try: too easy.

Hearing voices: Russell thought he heard Galu planning to vote for Natalie, and considered changing strategies. "I don't want to be the dumbass that gets voted out with the idol in his pocket. And I don't want to be the dumbass that uses the idol again and nobody votes my name," he said. This week, he was neither.

Blocked from the vote: Laura, Mick, and Shambo were the only ones to make it to the final stage of the immunity challenge, where they had to place uniquely shaped blocks in holes, which would release a new block that needed to be placed in a new hole. Although Laura was the last to start, she caught up and flew past the other two, doing so "effortlessly," as host Jeff Probst said. That took her off Russell's hit list this week.

Biblical threats: Next week, Laura and Russell face off, and Laura — who has said "you can't be around me more than 30 seconds without knowing, okay, that girl loves the Lord" — promised that Russell "just stirred up a whole lot of hell." Heaven help him — or her.

Kicked while he's down: Erik was blindsided by his tribe last week, and although he's on the jury, his tribe decided to keep beating up on him, even though he was unable to talk, instead punching the air with his fist. Dave said Galu's alliance was "weakened from within by Erik's presence," and Kelly compared him to a "snake kind of starting a lot of trouble." Way to win him over so he'll vote for you at the end.

Ratatouille: Starving, Natalie was able to kill a rat with a stick, though she felt bad about it. Before she hit it, she said, "Eat your snack, buddy," and then apologized immediately after whacking him. "It was really hard,” she said. “He was looking at me; he was cute." But he was also tasty.

Andy Dehnart is a writer, TV critic, and editor of reality blurred. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.