Anyway, with the day's scheming over, everyone got back to their chores. Everyone but JP who announced, "I'll be in the tent if you need me." He then added, "Oh, and could one of you be a lamb and bring me some mixed berries? THANKS!"

Well, Stephannie may have all but thrown in the towel, but the girls didn't care. They couldn't stand JP's attitude around camp, and furthermore, they liked Stephannie a hell of a lot more. Besides, just for strategical purposes, Rebecca realized that the women had to bond together now, or it would never happen.

Conveniently, after a few hours had passed, Steph came to regret her comments, saying that she had merely spoken from a place of frustration. She wanted to stay now (of course). Luckily, at that point Jenny and Rebecca had decided to change the game around and vote off JP. The two floated the idea by Stephannie and Christina, who both hopped on board immediately. FYI, Stephannie was kind enough to ask Jenny, "How's the thumb?" to which Jenny answered, "It's alright." She then added, "It's only gashed wide open, THANKS TO YOU AND YOUR UNWIELDY AX SKILLS!"

Anyway, the pieces of the puzzle were all coming together. With four people behind this plan, all the ladies needed to do was ask Poverty to join on board. For some reason they were apprehensive about this, thinking that she'd just go and leak the plan to the guys, but did it really matter? They had the numbers anyway, and besides, Parvati had just spent the whole first half of the episode complaining about JP. I couldn't see a problem.

However, when Jenny broke the news to Parvati, instead of immediately jumping on board, the boxer hemmed and hawed, asking for time to think about the plan. This was total misdirection. Anyone could see that. There's no way she would join the boys on this, but just in case, the girls then tried their luck on Brad. "I think Brad might fall for it," they said, adding, "You know, because he's gay." (Btw, next season? Gay vs. straight. Am I right?). I didn't really understand why they'd tell Brad their plans. After all, he was part of the male alliance, but then again, they probably were just banking on the whole gay thing. Nevertheless, he refused to commit to anything, instead opting to smile and laugh. Jenny told him that he should do what's best for himself and the tribe; although, last time I checked, what would be best for Brad and the tribe would be to vote off Stephannie. Needless to say, these girls were not necessarily top of the line when it came to persuasion.

At Tribal Council, Jeff asked Nate how everything was going, and he replied that everyone was still "feeling the water." Or testing it, as it were, but that's neither here nor there. Nate continued, "I'm not breaking out of my shell yet because it could bite me in the butt." Yes, just like those crazy island nuts with their pincers and feet!

The good news about this Tribal Council was that our Persnickety Probst finally returned (in an albeit mild fashion) when he asked Jenny if there was a leader on the team. "Noooo... not really..." she said without conviction. Detective Probst pounced!

"What does that mean? 'Nooo... not really...'" he asked mockingly.

"You're putting me on the spot, aren't you?" Jenny laughed back. But there was not laughing coming from Jeff.

"It's Tribal Council! It's a game for a million dollars! I'm trying to figure out what's going on!" he barked back. Listen here, Jenny! YOU ANSWER MR. PROBST WHEN HE ASKS YOU A QUESTION!

Well, under the extreme pressure, Jenny offered up JP as a leader of the pack, but the beefy volleyball player denied the label, saying he doesn't tell people how or when to do things (you know, except for when he's tell people how or when to do things -- which is ALWAYS).

Later, JP said that he was dreading the vote, noting, "I've already told myself this will probably be my hardest vote in this game." Yeah, especially since it will probably be your last. Nevertheless, the survivors all rose and cast their votes one at a time. Unlike last week, we only got to see a few names scribbled down. Steph voted for JP, obviously, and he in turn voted for her, saying, "You are a wonderful, beautiful person, and you'll be with me the rest of this game." Okay, relax. It's not like you'll be executing her after this. We also saw Cristina and Nate's votes, which were for JP and Steph respectively. And now the tally.

Vote 1: Steph.

Vote 2: JP. (We're tied! 1-1! If you couldn't figure that out, you're an idiot.)

Vote 3: Steph.

Vote 4: JP. (Still tied.)

Vote 5: JP. Same with vote 6. That meant it was 4-2 in favor of JP leaving. One more, and he'd be a goner. And sure enough, the seventh vote went to JP. That's right, the lumbering giant was voted off the island! And let's just say, he didn't get the red carpet. He was completely blindsided and couldn't do anything but smile broadly and say, "Holy crap! Damn! You guys outwitted me big time!" It's not so much that they outwitted you as they out-not-napped you.

Jeff then extinguished his torch, and JP, still in a state of shock, smiled at his tribe again and admitted, "That was pretty good." It was good. And bravo to JP for taking it well. He was the rare reality star that was cocky without being arrogant, if that makes any sense. Probably wasn't the smartest move to get rid of him so early, but for the female alliance, it was necessary. All I got to say is look out for that Rebecca. She's now engineered to alpha male exits...

Posted by B-side on October 6, 2006 4:15 PM