'Survivor': Bye-bye Liz

Tonight on "Survivor," a really boring episode yields absolutely no surprises. But next week is the merge!!!

Foa Foa
Our favorite (?) underdogs seem to really think the tide has turned after last time when Galu lost Russell and they were saved from sending anyone home. This turns out to be drastically false.

Galu
The guys at Galu get together and realize they need to snag Shambo into their alliance before the girls snatch her away. They very smartly approach Shambo about being the new leader and even though she acts like it's no big thang, you can tell she's like, "Duh. I should've been the leader all along."

The way in which they get her elected leader is really smart too. They just spring it on the girls and have everyone show a number at the same time (each person was assigned a number) and there were enough dudes voting for Shambo (including Shambo) that the other girls' votes didn't even matter. And they don't even seem to really realize they were played.

Reward Challenge
The reward challenge this week is the giant game of memory with items under baskets. The interesting part is you can forfeit your team's point if you want to keep the item you match. It doesn't really matter that much, though, because Galu pretty much wipes the floor with Foa Foa, winning 7 to 4.

Immunity Challenge
Immunity this week is paddling your boat out, retrieving puzzle pieces, paddling back and solving the puzzle. Foa Foa gets a nice lead but Galu eventually catches up. The puzzle is neck-and-neck... until Foa Foa seems to get the pattern to the puzzle BUT Monica from Galu sees them find the pattern and solves their puzzle first. Man, that sucks.

Tribal Council
They try to create some intrigue, making us think that Jaison is in trouble because he's despondent and seems to give up really easily. However, we all know that a tribe that can't win a damn thing is NOT going to eliminate a tall, athletic dude. Liz is sent home 4 votes to 1.

Thoughts & Tidbits

• Was it just me or was this a really boring "Survivor" episode? Foa Foa lost (just like always), Galu won (just like always) and a "weak" girl was sent home (just like always). Snore.
  
  
• HOWEVER: next week is the merge and the previews make it look pretty exciting. I hope it is, because seriously, we need some excitement up in here.
  
  
• There was a moment after Immunity but before Tribal where Russell was stoking the fire, then looked over his shoulder and flicked his eyes up. The sound editors had an accompanying sound effect with the eye flick and it was totally creepy. When that happened, my boyfriend said, "You know the creepy thing about Russell? You know that if they crashed landed on the island, he'd be the first one killing people in their sleep so he could eat."