Then Russell starts his aggressive strategy. He tells Laura that he has the idol and that he will give her the idol if she can get him to the final seven. But he starts making rules, including that one of the guys from her tribe has to go first. In an interview, Laura's like, "Um, hi, I have the upper hand; howsabout you try to stay alive?" I'm thinking he took that whole thing last week about her believing that men are superior very seriously.

She tells him, "You're coming in her with 10 percent, and I've got about 90."

Ruh-roh, Laura, you questioned the king, and lots of women on this show have already learned how well that works out.

Russell pulls the exact same spiel on Monica. She says she's in, but he doesn't believe her.

Then he shows the idol to John, too, and starts talking about how he doesn't trust Laura. Them's the golden words, or so it appears. John seems to full be on Russell's side.

Next, Russell starts talking with Shambo about Laura, and hey, that was easy since they hate each other in a high-school kinda way. 

The immunity challenge is actually not hard to describe for once -- it's T-ball! No puzzles, no mazes, no locks, no ropes, no balance beam. But there's a twist, and it's a good one. The men are competing against the men and the women against the women, meaning two people will get immunity.

Dave comes forward, and Jeff asks him if baseball is his sport. "No, making love's my sport." It's like half creepy and half hilarious, and I'm not sure how he manages that, but he does. It's like how his line about his tribemate "getting clotheslined by the clothesline" a few weeks back shouldn't have been that funny, and yet it was. John pulls off a crazy shot, landing his ball in the 5, which he had to do to beat Russell, and he wins the men's immunity. Everybody gets one shot only, and it seems a little unfair because each person seems to learn from the mistakes of the person ahead of them. Laura (the last to go, as was John) wins women's immunity.

Back at camp, Erik points out that man, those Foa Foa people just can't win anything, and this is going to be easy. Erik develops a plan that they are going to say they're going to vote for Russell so he plays the idol but they really vote for Jaison. John, though, thinks they need to get rid of Monica and get rid of the alliance between her and Laura since they can't get to Laura because of that darned immunity necklace. Erik decides hey, this sounds like a great idea, especially because when Laura is upset after her BFF is gone, she will turn to him. I'm not sure about that part of it, but whatever. The next part of the plan is: Tell Shambo nothing. Erik says, "I don't care who she votes for. I don't give a [gosh-durn] if she votes for Probst tonight." Ha! But Dave? Dave doesn't like this plan at all. Dun-dun-dun!

Erik goes to Foa Foa (minus Russell) and tells them they can stay if they vote for Monica but don't tell Russell and let him play the idol so it's flushed out. He leaves, and Jaison's like, Hmmm, anybody else get hit with that condescension bomb? Let's tell him, sure, sure, we're totally with you on that Monica plan and then go after him. 

Oh, how I love the merge. LOVE!

Natalie talks with Laura about voting Erik. Laura talks to Kelly. Kelly talks to Monica. They both talk to Dave. Natalie talks to Mick. Natalie talks to Russell. It's like tribal-council telephone, complete with confusion, courtesy of, duh, Shambo. Dave says, we vote for Erik tonight, and Shambo says: "Who's Erik? Our Erik?" This scheming is just amazing.

Russell starts to wonder whether the Erik talk is just a ruse to get him to play the idol. 

Erik plays the "it's almost too easy" quote that seems like it should guarantee that he's out, but let us not forget. He has the other idol!

In tribal council, Erik says, in front of everyone, that he doesn't see what Foa Foa brings to the table at all. Russell says he thinks they have a lot to offer and that Erik is going to be surprised. Hey, don't get him to play the idol. If you both play the idols, whatever random person Shambo votes for could actually go home.

Erik is such a jerk and basically says that Jaison in particular has nothing to bring to the table, that his resume is impressive, but his gameplay isn't. Jaison is hurt and upset. Erik says that's what he wants to see and that if he were his coach, he'd be glad to find that attitude. Jaison says what Erik doesn't get that is that he doesn't care what Erik thinks. Erik looks surprised to come across someone who holds this opinion, like it's never happened before.

Before the votes are read, Russell stands up and plays the idol: "Everyone knows I have it; I might as well play it." Erik, though, stays seated.

When the first vote is for Jaison, I'm actually surprised because I forgot that was the original plan. But then the Erik votes start pouring in. Shambo looks like she's still thinking, "Our Erik?" Yes, your Erik with the idol in his pocket. How'd that flush go for you, dude?

That was some Survivor magic right there. How boring would it have been if Laura hadn't won immunity and they had voted her out?