Survivor: Samoa's former Galu castaways were certain they had enough votes to oust Russell Hantz, and they were right -- except he played a second Hidden Immunity Idol and caused Kelly Sharbaugh to be blindsided instead.

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The 25-year-old hairstylist from Wilmington, DE who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA became the tenth castaway eliminated from Survivor: Samoa during last night's broadcast of the CBS reality series.

"I definitely, definitely wasn't expecting to be going home tonight," said Kelly after she was booted.

"Everything was working out perfectly and I hope Galu gets rid of Russell -- that's two Immunity Idols, how many can there be? He's just a little, sneaky man and I definitely know that he's next on the line. Foa Foa stepped in and totally took us all by surprise. I don't know if anyone from my tribe was involved, but I'm totally shocked."

Survivor: Samoa's ninth episode began on Night 21 following the elimination of Erik Cardona -- who was blindsided and booted despite the fact that he had one of the Hidden Immunity Idols, which he didn't play.

Russell, a 36-year-old oil company owner from Dayton, TX, did play his Hidden Immunity Idol, however he didn't need to as not a single vote was cast for him at Tribal Council.

"I didn't even think twice about playing the idol," said Russell in a confessional. "But I'm really worried because I'm pretty sure I'm out next, I'm gone. So I'm hoping for a miracle because I'm in deep trouble right now."

Kelly and her fellow former Galu members Laura Morett, a 39-year-old office manager from Salem, OR, and Monica Padilla, a 25-year-old law student from San Diego, CA, discussed how it was perfect that Erik was blindsided and they were able to flush out Russell's idol.

"I think it was the dumbest move that Russell could have made, playing that idol," said Laura. "When he stood up and he used it I about came off my stool. It could not have happened any better for us... Russell should absolutely be nervous. Russell is going to be gone next."

The next morning Natalie White, a 26-year-old pharmaceutical sales representative from Van Buren, AR, found a rat near the merged tribe's camp and decided to kill it with the hopes of eating it since she was so hungry.  When she brought it back to camp, the other castaways were surprised that Natalie killed the rat but were happy she did.

"We're all just shocked," said Jaison Robinson, a 28-year-old law student from Chicago, IL.

"She came into this game as the Southern belle -- very sweet, nice girl -- but definitely not the rough and tumble Survivor type. So when she came back in her little bikini with a rat in a coconut, we were all shocked to death. On so many levels I'm proud of Natalie out here."

Russell and Mick Trimming, a 33-year-old doctor from Boise, ID who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, went and got Tree Mail and Russell looked around the area hoping to find the Hidden Immunity Idol after he previously found his first one without the help of a clue.

"If there's another Immunity Idol that gets put into play I'm going to find it," he said. "I'm probably going next time, so I have to believe there's one here. The second Immunity Idol, I think it's in the camp right now and I think I'm going to find it today."

The 11 remaining castaways then arrived for a Reward Challenge and they were met by host Jeff Probst, who explained the rules.

The castaways would divide into two teams of five and would race two-at-a-time onto a field to collect a series of poles threaded with white and black coconuts. Once a team retrieved all their poles, they had to arrange them so that the white coconuts formed a four-digit number. Each team's number was different so they wouldn't be able to cheat.

Once they had the number, a blindfolded tribe member -- using only their sense of touch -- would have to then find the same number on a combination lock. The first team to solve their combination and raise their flag would win reward -- a picnic at a natural rock slide with fresh water.

A random draw determined the teams and because there were 11 castaways, one person wouldn't be competing.

The yellow team was Russell, Jaison, Mick, Laura, and Brett Clouser, a 23-year-old T-shirt designer from Salem, OR who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. The purple team was Kelly, Monica, David Ball, a 38-year-old fitness instructor from Los Angeles, CA, John Fincher, a 25-year-old rocket scientist from Los Angeles, CA, and Shannon "Shambo" Waters, a 45-year-old sales representative from Renton, WA.

Natalie was the odd one out -- but the twist was that she chose one team to support during the challenge. If that team won, she got to go on reward with them. Natalie chose the yellow team -- which contained three former Foa Foa members.

The challenge commenced and was close as both teams retrieved their poles and began working on the digital number. The purple team was able to solve it first and relay their number to Monica. The yellow team eventually figured out their number and relayed it to Laura -- however purple had too big of a lead and won reward.

They enjoyed themselves at the rock slide and received a note with their picnic that told them there was a Hidden Immunity Idol at the camp.

"I say we share the info with all the Galus and we've got a free trigger to pull," said Dave.

"Because there's no members of the old Foa Foa here, we're going to keep that information strictly Galu right now," added John.  "Right now I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable with the plan of starting knocking off Foa Foa after Foa Foa."

When Kelly suggested Russell as their next target, Shambo balked since they had become good friends.

"Shambo, she's protecting Russell.  Russell's one of the most conniving players I feel like we have going in the game right now. He needs to go," said Kelly in a confessional.

"If I had to pick one person that I think would go over to Foa Foa, it would definitely be Shambo. But whether Shambo's with us or not, we're still 6 to 5 if she goes with them. We don't really need them."

Monica then brought up that Russell especially couldn't catch wind of their being another Hidden Immunity Idol since he did find the first one without a clue.

Back at the Aiga camp, Russell began to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol sans clue.

"I'm going to find the next Immunity Idol and I ain't gonna tell a damn soul," he said as he searched.

"I thought maybe it might be around Tree Mail, it might be around the water, or it might be around the bridge. It has to be near something -- a landmark -- something! It cannot be any other place. That's where it has to be."

Russell was right, as he found it hidden under the bridge.

"I think I just found the second Hidden Immunity Idol without a clue," said a giddy Russell. "This is crazy. This might be worth $1 million... I'm I that damn good? This is just unprecedented."

The next day, Russell immediately shared his discovery with Shambo.

"I was going to keep it to myself, but we only have four people left from Foa Foa," explained Russell. "So you have to have help with it."

Shambo was shocked that he found it but was happy since it meant they could blindside Laura -- which was the original plan prior to the previous Tribal Council until she won Immunity.

"Dude, her head is getting lopped off," said Shambo.

"You're right," answered Russell. "We vote Laura."

In a confessional, Shambo confirmed that she's "been aligned with Foa Foa for the last few weeks."

"Russ is probably the one guy in this game that I impeccably trust," she added.

Russell said he would need Shambo's help to make sure Galu was gunning for him so he could spring the blindside.

"That's already been put into motion," assured Shambo.

"Our plan is let them vote Russell so when the six of them vote Russell, we'll come back and vote Laura. He'll play the Hidden Immunity Idol and she'll go home. So I am so excited. The only thing that can derail this is her winning Immunity."

"If Medusa wins Immunity, then we get rid of one of her posse," said Russell. "Then she's going to be scrambling."

Shambo explained that the Galu men have a "disdain" for Monica, so they should instead focus on Kelly.

"Nobody's got anything on Kelly, nobody's got anything against Kelly," she said. "So Kelly's a bigger threat than Monica."

The castaways then arrived for an Immunity Challenge, and Jeff explained the rules.

Each castaway would use a grappling hook to retrieve two bags -- each of which contained a puzzle peg. The first three to get their bags would move onto the final round, where they would have to place one of those pegs in its appropriate spot on a board. Each time they placed a peg, another would drop down. The first person to get all their pegs in the right spot would win Immunity.

Mick, Shambo and Laura -- just ahead of Russell -- were the first to collect their three bags and move on. While both Shambo and Mick were able to fit their first pegs before Laura, she could not be stopped once she finally figured it out and claimed Immunity.

"Right now we're just getting rid of Foa Foa," said Laura in a confessional. "Clearly Russell is the first one to go because he has lied to us all. I see the Galu tribe voting for Russell -- including Natalie, I think she wants to make good that she's in. So tonight Russell's going home."

Back at camp, Shambo lamented Laura's victory.

"The challenge sucked because Laura won and now we can't vote her off," she opined.

"I think you always have to have a Plan B, and I said on the off chance she did get Immunity today that we'd vote Kelly because Kelly's stronger than Monica -- Monica is no threat whatsoever. So eliminate somebody that's close to Laura, cause a little dissension amongst the ranks, that's the plan of attack."

Russell told Jaison about finding the other Hidden Immunity Idol and told him to vote Kelly. 

"If Galu gets wind they'll change their vote and take somebody else of Foa Foa out that's not Russell and it's all a waste," said Jaison. "So it's got to be Russell tonight or we're all through."

Jaison and Russell then told Mick and Natalie about the idol and the plan to blindside Kelly, and the former Foa Foa members all seemed to be onboard.

"I'm beginning to love that guy. I'm really beginning to love him," said Jaison about Russell.

Dave, John, Monica and Laura talked on the beach about their plan to vote Russell, Natalie, Mick and Jaison in that order. Monica brought up the idea of planning to vote for somebody else in case the idol comes into play.

"If we all vote for Russell and say Russell has the idol again, at that point the other person goes home and it's one of us," she explained.

"Alright listen," responded Dave. "We can't worry about that right now -- now's not the time for that. They don't know anything about it."

"I can tell you if it was me and I was on Foa Foa, I would assume that it was here," said John.

They continued to worry that somebody from Foa Foa might have found the Hidden Immunity Idol sans clue -- but Dave was sure that Russell didn't have it.

"I don't think he has it. If he suspects there's one here, I would be surprised," he said.

Russell walked by the four former Galu members and overheard them mention Natalie's name, which made him nervous.

"I heard them say her name, and that's how this game goes," said Russell. "It messes with your mind."

Russell told Jaison he thought it would be Natalie.

"I don't know if I should play it or not," said Russell about the idol. "I'm confused what to do. 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 then nobody votes my name. So now I don't know what to do with it."

Laura was confident the Galu tribe was tight despite the fact they didn't trust Shambo.

"As long as we can get the Foa Foa out and then we have seven of the Galu left, that's what we want," she said in a confessional.

Tribal Council then commenced that night, and Erik came in as the first member of the jury. Jeff asked Dave about the decision to vote out one of their own.

"To be honest, our tribe was weakened from within by Erik's presence," responded Dave, which brought quite a physical reaction from Erik.  "It was actually a strengthening of our tribal unity."

Kelly agreed that there was an "uneasiness" in the tribe that she attributed to Erik.  Jeff asked Natalie about Galu being in charge with the numbers and the merged tribe actually using Galu's old camp.

"I think they're trying to make us still feel welcomed, like we're all one," said replied.

"How could they possibly make you feel like you're all still one?" asked a confused Jeff.

"I've been welcomed into the shelter, I sleep with them..." she replied before being cut off by Jeff.

"But Natalie, you're not all still one," he said.

"You're right," she relented. "But they're not being mean or ugly to anybody... The fact of the matter is it is 7 to 4 and they are tight."

Jaison said it's hard to know if there's a crack in the remaining Galu members and Shambo said it feels like "the original Galu is pretty comfortable and Foa Foa is kind of holding on."

"The numbers are obvious," said Mick. "But we still hope somebody will see passed former Galu and former Foa Foa and see four solid votes."

Russell said Galu "seems to be pretty tight" and Monica added Foa Foa sees "how strong" the seven Galu members are. Dave then explained the plan going forward from Galu's standpoint.

"I think you just have to assess who's the most dangerous, and there are several different criteria -- not the least of which is physical ability, mental toughness, strategic acumen," he said. "It's a communal decision. We try to come to a consensus  so that everybody feels heard and everybody feels that there needs are being met."

The vote then took place and before Jeff revealed the results he asked about a Hidden Immunity Idol -- causing Russell to stand up and play it.

"I ain't finished playing just yet," said Russell as he handed Jeff the idol.  "Keep hope alive."

Dave looked absolutely stunned, and Galu was extremely uneasy as the first seven votes were cast for Russell but didn't count and they were unsure which one of them the former Foa Foa had voted for.

The first non-Russell vote was for Kelly, and she was ousted and became the second member of the jury.

"He just stirred up a whole lot of hell is what he did," said Laura under her breath.

After Kelly left, Jeff confirmed the Hidden Immunity Idol will be re-hidden again.

Survivor: Samoa's next episode will air Thursday, November 19 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS. 
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio

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