Betrayed by blindside from James "JT" Thomas, Cirie Fields became the fourth returning castaway voted out of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains during last night's episode of the CBS reality competition's all-stars twentieth edition.

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"Maybe I said too much, or stepped on JT's toes, but I couldn't just sit back and play JT's game, I'm playing this game for myself as well, so I couldn't do it," Cirie said after Survivor host Jeff Probst revealed the former Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Micronesia castaway had been voted out of the Heroes tribe.

"I don't blame him at all, I felt like I was got with one of my moves.  You know, my hat's off to 'em, they got me."

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' fourth episode began with the Villains tribe returning from their Night 8 Tribal Council session in which Sandra Diaz-Twine had criticized Benjamin "Coach" Wade's work ethic before the tribe had eventually voted Randy Bailey out of the game.

Once the tribe was back at camp, Coach began venting about the criticism.

"What did I do to deserve Sandra saying that to me?  There's never been somebody like me out here and there's never going to be anybody like me again.  I did noble things out here and I look ignoble," he told former Survivor: Tocantins ally Tyson Apostol as the two men spoke in private away from the rest of their tribemates.

"F--k all of this man!  I don't need it, I'm a f--king man and I don't need anybody to tell me and validate that.  I'm the only person out here who will not f--king compromise [my morals]."

However Coach's bravado eventually turned into tears.

"It's unbelievable man, why doesn't anybody ever say anything good about me, am I that bad of a person?  Nobody ever does man, I'm sensitive... it's not even true man, I'm working harder than anybody," he told Tyson as he began to cry. 

Tyson attempted to comfort Coach and even offered to "coach" him through his problems and "tell you things you might not like" -- a suggestion that seemed to take Coach aback.

"Like what?!" Coach asked.

"Don't wear feathers in your hair at Tribal [Council].  Don't tell your stories -- people don't believe your stories, they mock you, there's no reason to tell them.  Do your Tai Chi in private where nobody can see it," Tyson responded, rattling off a quick list of Coach's mockable behavior.

But Coach appeared unswayed by Tyson's comments and said he was considering quitting the competition instead.

"I can't do it, man.  My heart's not in it.  I might just leave tonight," he said. 

"I'm done with it.  I don't care what anybody says, I'm done," he added as he began to cry again.

The next day, Tyson told the rest of the Villains tribe about his late-night conversation with Coach.

Afterward, Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano attempted to give Coach a pep talk of sorts.

"I'm going to tell you something right now, you're not on the outside," he replied after Coach said he felt like an outsider.  "We're good.  It's going to be okay... I know you're hurting... [but] you're going to have to trust me.  Literally trust me and you're going to be fine."

"I'm not going to say anymore... pick your f--king head up and act like a man for real!"

Coach's ridiculous ego returned quickly after the talk.

"I'm different than most people, one of a kind.  Last of the Mohicans, King Arthur.  A legend.  Nobody out here has what I have," he boasted before proceeding to cite Confucius.

Later that day, the tribes received Treemail which asked each tribe to review a 14-item list and pick two items they would like to get if they won the season's next Reward Challenge.

The Heroes picked a cooking set and fishing equipment that would improve their food situation while the Villains selected a large toolkit and shelter supplies that would help them improve their still-poor shelter.

After meeting for the challenge, Jeff explained that the challenge would require the oiled-up castaways to slide, one Hero versus one Villain at a time, down a slippery course to retrieve a numbered ball Jeff would announce. 

Once the castaway had retrieved their tribe's ball, they would have to continue to the end of the course and then toss it into a skeeball-like basket.   Whichever castaway won each face-off would score one point for their tribe, and the first tribe to score four points would win the challenge.

The Villains quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the challenge before the tribes traded additional points that left the Villains up 3-1, however James Clement and Rupert Boneham  managed to win the next two round for the Heroes, tying the score at 3-3.   Tyson and Colby Donaldson then faced off in the final deciding round, with Tyson winning it for the Villains.

Once they got back to camp with their reward items, the Villains discovered that their prize also included a note that told them the location of a hidden Immunity Idol buried on their beach. 

However after discussing the note -- which fell out of a knife sleeve Russell Hantz had picked up in full view of his fellow tribe members, much to his chagrin -- the Villains decided they were going to destroy the idol and agreed to vote off anyone that tried to find it for themselves.

Or at least most of them did.

"This is a bunch of idiots out here... there's no way that I can get a clue to the hidden Immunity Idol and not find it, that's not going to happen," Russell confessed afterwards.

Russell eventually attempted to tell everyone he was "going for a walk" as the rest of the tribe was working on building a new shelter, however they saw through the transparent excuse immediately.

"Sandra... go find out what Russell's doing," Rob shouted.

After following him, Sandra quickly had her answer.

"He's a stupid ass... Russell sealed his own fate," she said after spotting him searching for the idol.

"I mean it sucks, but that's what we said, right?" Rob told the rest of the tribe after Sandra returned to camp and reported her findings.  "That's what we said, we said if you go for it then you seal you're own fate."

"Russell's a bonehead.  He's like The Hobbit on crack," Rob vented later.  "I don't trust Russell's ass at all and the safest thing to do with someone like that is just to get rid of them right away."

The Heroes tribe found their own hidden Immunity Idol note in some coffee beans they had won back on Day 8 the next day, and although they also discovered theirs while most of the tribe was around, they dealt with the situation far differently than the Villains.

"There went JT... James is going... I think I'll go this way," Cirie said as the Heroes all quickly began scrambling to find the idol.

But although Amanda Kimmel saw him pocket it, Tom Westman was the one who eventually found the idol.

"Okay, I found it [but] she saw me stash it too," Tom told Colby about Amanda, who quickly told the rest of the tribe that she had seen Tom find the idol.

However given they were currently on the short end of the Heroes tribe's 6-2 alliance alignment, Tom and Colby still viewed the idol as the chance they had been looking for.

"The hidden Immunity Idol changes the whole playing field, and that's all we needed, we needed an opening," Colby gushed afterwards.  "Tom and I needed an opening to get back into this game.... we're not comfortable, but we're in a little bit better of a position than we were a couple of days ago."

On Day 11, the tribes met Jeff for their next Immunity Challenge.  A re-creation of the Survivor: Samoa's Day 15 Reward Challenge that was never completed due to Russell Swan's medical evacuation, the challenge required one castaway from each tribe to be strapped inside a large sphere. 

That castaway would then guide two blindfolded tribemates as they rolled the sphere through a long course to a table maze and then guide four more blindfolded tribemates as they navigated a ball through the table maze to a finish hole.  The first tribe to get their ball through the maze and sink their ball would win immunity and the other would join Jeff at Tribal Council that evening.

The challenge then began, with Rob serving as the Villains' guide and Tom serving as the Heroes' guide.  The Villains reached the table maze a little ahead of the Heroes, however Tom managed to close most of the gap during the table maze, resulting in a tight finish that was still won by the Villains.

"We're going back to Tribal Council and getting rid of Colby or Tom tonight, it would be the smart thing to do.  They have been on the outs with our tribe some maybe Day 3.  And for my game I need some of these strong people gone," Cirie confessed.

Once the tribe returned to camp, Candice suggested that splitting the six other Heroes tribe members votes 3-3 between Colby and Tom was the best way to ensure one of them would go home even if Tom played his idol.

"So either way we're good," Cirie agreed.

However JT wasn't as sure.

"I'd rather see Candice go myself," he told Amanda.

"What about the idol though?  He has a lot of power," Amanda asked.

"Yeah, but he's not going to hurt us," JT replied.  "I trust him a whole lot more than I trust Candice."

"I would love to have Tom and his idol in an alliance with me, no doubt.  Tom and Colby both shoot-you-straight kind of guys," he confessed later.  "So I'd rather have someone like that that I can count on than Candice, with the scrambling, the running around she's done the past couple of days.  I don't trust her as far as I can throw her."

Tom then approached JT and Amanda and proposed a new alliance.

"I'm trying to figure out what makes sense to you, and you, and James.  And Colby and I as partners definitely makes more sense.  I think you have two guys who are going to be honest and two guys who are going to compete better than Cirie and Candice," Tom told JT and Amanda.

"Give me your word that the Immunity Idol isn't going to be used against us," JT asked.

"Oh no, I swear to god, we'll play that thing as a committee," Tom replied.  "I can give it to you if one of you want it and then it's your idol."

After adding James to the conversation, the four castaways seemed to agree to form a new alliance that would also include Colby and vote Candice off next, however Amanda then proceeded to tell Cirie about the plan to vote Candice off even though Tom had made it pretty clear that Candice and Cirie would not be part of the new alliance.

And once she learned about it, Cirie was -- obviously, at least to everyone but Amanda apparently -- immediately against the idea.

"Oh man.  These are the same people that wanted you gone desperately [a few days ago].  Desperately.  And now you're going to save them?" she told Amanda.  "This is so stupid.  It's Tom and Colby, and they're a much bigger threat than she is!  Can you beat them?  Oh my god!"

"Unbelievable!  Why all of the sudden now do we want to get [rid of] Candice?" Cirie lectured after James and Rupert also joined the conversation.  "If she was so untrustworthy, your girl [Amanda] right here wouldn't be standing here now.  With [Candice] at least we can keep her under control."

"Well no, we ain't made the final decision yet," James said before Cirie appeared to turn back the idea of voting off Candice.

"Amanda, I love her to death, but she is not the sharpest tool in the shed," Cirie vented afterwards.  "My alliance, they're so wishy-washy.  These people might panic and do crazy stuff."

Later, JT let Tom and Colby know that Cirie had seemed to manage to thwart their plan.

"I'm telling you, things ain't looking good right now.  Amanda wants to do it but Cirie is talking her out of it.  At this point if you can get your idol I'd get it because I ain't got any control any more," JT told Tom. 

"Cirie is the mastermind behind this whole deal... Cirie should be the one going home tonight," he added.

"Well... we got three votes," Tom told JT as Colby listened silently.  "They're going to vote three for me and three for [Colby].  If you flip your vote and the three of us vote Cirie and then I play the idol, Cirie goes home, not [Colby]."

"There you go," Colby said.

"Tomorrow we make our apologies, tonight we make our move," Tom added.

However JT -- who had already previously decided against remaining loyal to an earlier alliance with Tom before the Heroes' Day 6 ouster of Tom's ally Stephenie LaGrossa -- privately admitted he was still unsure what to do.

"I've got to make a big decision...  I've seen Cirie operate, I know how she plays, and it won't be long before she gets rid of someone like me," he said before the tribe left for Tribal Council. 

"My guts telling me to just go with the flow and write Colby's name down and don't piss everybody off, but my heart is telling me keep the good guys in the game and keep Cirie."

During Tribal Council, Jeff questioned the Heroes about "the wisdom" of voting off strong castaways who could help them win tribal challenges just because they were on the wrong side of an alliance.

Rupert admitted the strategy didn't make the best sense but he was still going to remain loyal to his allies, however James said otherwise.

"We need to win.  I want gifts, I want that food, I want to hold the idol, I want to do all that good stuff," James replied when Jeff asked how he going to be voting.

"Are you going to base your vote on that tonight?"  Tom interrupted.

"Yes.  Yes sir," James insisted.  "I want everyone to stop all this crazy stuff... James don't do this stuff."

Meanwhile, Colby acknowledged that it was "going to take a bold move to save me tonight."

But luckily for Colby, JT was willing to make such a move. 

Tom played his idol before the votes were counted, resulting in Amanda, Cirie and Candice's votes against him not counting and Cirie being voted out via the three votes Tom, Colby and JT cast for her.

Despite his Tribal Council Comments, James still joined Rupert in voting for Colby.

"Wow," Cirie said after Jeff revealed she had been eliminated from the game.

"I would say that qualifies as your first blindside.  Should make for a very interesting next few days," Jeff said as he dismissed the castaways.
About The Author: Steven Rogers

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