"You cut my baby, I'll cut you."

Well, let’s not bury the lead here.

Candice Woodcock-Cody did not place first in a Redemption Island duel. I know, I know… I cannot believe it either. Having Dr. John join her in the arena really seemed to soften my favorite stone cold Redemption Island assassin. Maybe she can knock him out next week and get back to being the Candice of old.

… And yes, I am just kidding about that being the lead. So let’s talk about Mr. Culpepper’s downfall episode. And let’s all pretend we didn’t see the preview where Jeff said “That was the biggest power shift ever!!!!” making the downfall more exciting as a surprise.

Brad begins by continuing to spout flawed logic about who to vote out when. “When there is a merge,” he explains to his whole tribe (including partner-less Caleb) “the couples can become a unified power.” This, coming from the same guy who voted out his closest ally because he was afraid of John’s reunion with Candice (who just so happens to be without an alliance of her own).

Now Caleb, who should really be an ideal ally as a swing vote, has to worry about his lack of a loved one since Brad can’t figure out who he really wants in the game with him.

People’s views of Brad don’t really get any better when he gets to the Redemption Island Arena—aka Everyone Talk Smack About Brad Culpepper. Candice walks in and gives him the bird. She and Marissa have gotten close, and she wanted to see someone come to Redemption Island that she and Marissa could fight to beat together. Not someone like her husband—someone “like Brad Culpepper.”

And now that his full name has been mentioned, it’s open season on Brad. Candice complains that Brad shushes women (to which he asked John, a man, if he has done that in front of him). John admits Brad never shushed him at least, but also adds “whoever has been voted out, every single time, it’s been Brad’s idea. He lied to me all the time.”

And how does Brad respond? In front of his whole tribe, the Galang tribe, and three people who have a chance to reenter the game? Does he tell John he got paranoid about the idol? Does he blame it on a group consensus? Does he explain that he wasn’t really lying at the time when he made promises to John? On no. He tells his old ally Dr. John that “you made the wrong decision trusting me.”

Not your best move to date, Brad.

The duel itself was less exciting than the Brad bashing. Candice finally missed finishing first when John proved maybe he should have been doing the puzzles over at Tadhana instead of Ciera, and Marissa was booted from the game.

John and Candice strategize together (although Jeff seems to think it’s Candice wearing the pants in the relationship and telling her hubby what to do) and decide to give the immunity idol clue to Monica Culpepper. “Spread the love a little bit,” John explains. “It seemed to be a big target on my back…”

This pisses Brad off, who tells his wife (three times, actually) to “walk it down and put it in the fire.” Which Monica does. Jeff seems really impressed by this unprecedented move, apparently forgetting when Marcus convinced everyone to throw the immunity idol itself into the ocean during Survivor Gabon. So we still have no immunity idol clues over at Galang, which I have to say—I love. Contrary to the editors beliefs, we can have an entertaining season of Survivor without idols floating around all over the place. This episode will definitely prove that during Tribal Council.

After tossing her clue into the fire, Monica comes back to camp pretty emotional. And rightfully so—every couple of days she has to attend the Brad Bashing Arena. She makes a logical argument—that they are a tribe over there. So clearly, “someone is buying what he is selling.” But Gervase counteracts with an equally valid point: “You know Brad from Tampa… you don’t know Brad from Survivor… You don’t wanna believe your loved one is the ‘bad guy.’” And in this case, that’s exactly who Monica’s husband has become: the “bad guy.”

And Brad, ever the brilliant Survivor player, is over at Tadhana singing his own praises. “I have become the leader of this group,” he says matter-of-factly, along with calling himself “the grand poobah.” He has a confessional about voting out Caleb to keep the Galang tribe from getting so mad at him again, which shows the viewers that to at least some extent, Brad really is thinking of bringing the Brolliance down to three. They’d still have a majority, and he’d have a duel where no one’s loved one could call him out.

In the meantime, Hayden is quietly showing that he knows how to play Survivor strategically. He knows Brad is not well loved over at Galang or Redemption Island. So he also knows they absolutely have to keep Brad until the merge. It will take the heat of the rest of the Brolliance because everyone will be intent on gunning Brad down. Hayden is thinking long term, and he is doing it without taking on a leadership role. Hayden would be my ultimate winner of the week (and I still think he may be, as I am not sold on Caleb, but will give him a week to prove me wrong) if it wasn’t for how Tribal Council played out.

Over at Galang, we have what I’ve heard some people call a “throwaway” scene of Gervase and Tyson stealing coconuts together. I have to disagree, as I think this scene shows us a lot of the dynamics over at Galang. We know Tyson and Gervase are in the majority alliance. We now know that the two of them are very loyal to one another, and willing to work together until the end of the game. We also know that they are suspicious of Aras, and think he may be too much of a threat if reunited with Vytas at the merge. I am not going to lie—during this scene, a small part of me thought Galang might actually lose the immunity challenge and vote Aras out. Now that would have been shocking. Aras will live to play another day—hopefully many more—but now we know his head is on the chopping block. He may not have as much power as we were initially led to believe.

The immunity challenge played out the way that they all do. Tadhana took a huge lead during the physical part, and even after losing some of their blocks in the water and having to retrieve them, they still finished their stairs first and took a lead going into the final puzzle. We also saw, yet again, that Laura Boneham is a pretty good challenge competitor. Perhaps Rupert wasn’t kidding when he said Laura was a better swimmer than him. We also got to hear Jeff say “Culpepper!” about 15 times, aggravating me more and more each time the word came out of his mouth.

And, as with every challenge prior, Tadhana loses. They actually lose on a puzzle, and Ciera actually loses to Laura M. Again. Clearly she does not take after her mom when it comes to this stuff. Her old tribe member John is on Redemption Island apparently able to do puzzles in his sleep, and she can’t even beat her mom with a lead. It is getting sickening watching Tadhana lose, and I am not sure how long we can go without a Tribe swap at this rate. I already watched Survivor: Palau, and as entertaining as it was to watch Ulong lose every single immunity challenge, once is enough. I’d like Tadhana to win. I’d like to see some returning player have to visit Jeff at Tribal Council. Without a swap, I don’t see how that can happen pre-merge.

Hayden has some words of wisdom after losing to three moms and a dude with one arm: “I mean… we suck.”

Yes. You really do. It’s embarrassing to watch.

The strategizing at Tadhana begins with Brad telling the girls Caleb, and telling the Brolliance Ciera. Paranoia is beginning to set in for Caleb after Dr. John’s blindside. “I mean, I love a blind side,” he tells Jeff when they get to Tribal, “But do I want to be the butt of it? No, I don’t.”

Brad’s tactical error during Tribal is admitting that it would be easy to vote out someone without a loved one—ie, Caleb. It’s all downhill from there. Caleb announces that he is going to vote for Brad. By his math, if a gay guy and two girls vote for Brad, this has the potential to really shake things up.

We then move onto the vote itself. And when it comes back a tie, I start to freak out a little on the inside. My thoughts go something like: oh my god a tie there is no way Katie or Caleb switch their vote now and no way Vytas and Hayden go against Brad after all their talk about trust it’s taken 23 seasons, but we are about to see the purple rock!

So, I was getting a little ahead of myself, but boy—was it an exciting prospect. Am I the only person who gets excited for the purple rock? I hope not. It would make great TV.

But, clearly Vytas has watched Survivor: Marquesas. Hayden stuck with Brad until the bitter end, voting out Ciera after hemming and hawing for who knows how long, but Vytas decided to vote out Brad. And with that, we get a very classy exit from Mr. Culpepper, insisting that he is not mad. Which I believed. I liked Brad more in the 30 seconds he was heading to have his torch snuffed than I did the whole rest of the season thus far. Brad got his epic Survivor fall in episode four. He didn’t make it quite as far as John Carroll or Silas Gaither, but that didn’t make it any less entertaining.

I had a tough time with my winners and losers this week. I am not so sure some of my winners are actually winners and vice versa, but after a really exciting episode, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Week 4 Winners

Tyson and Gervase have got a nice little set up going on over at Galang. They have the power of being part of the majority voting bloc. Everyone seems to like them. They are stealing coconuts and getting away with it. They are already figuring out what members of their own alliance they need to get rid of down the line. And what makes Tyson and Gervase’s position in the game so powerful is their lack of loved ones. Rachel and Marissa are gone. They don’t have anyone else they can turn to come merge time, or anyone else to worry about. This will make their bond with each other even stronger. I can see Tyson and Gervase going very far in the game together. By the time someone realizes that they are working together as a pair, it may be too late.

Caleb is the winner I went back and forth on. Like Malcom in Survivor: Caramoan, Caleb made a big move during Tribal Council that was a lot of fun to watch. He managed to get the leader of the Tribe voted out of the game. But also like Malcolm, I don’t think this move will really help him in the long run. The members of the Brolliance have talked a lot about trust, and how hard it is to earn it back once it has been lost. Hayden and Vytas will have a tough time trusting Caleb going forward. Yes, he can go with the girls and vote the remaining guys out, but then he is ensuring Tadhana never wins a challenge unless there is a swap.

So I will call Caleb a winner this week because without having any type of immunity, he went out on a limb and decided to vote out the “grand poobah” of his tribe. This caused last minute scrambling, tie votes, and in the end, Caleb got what he wanted. Brad will go to Redemption Island.

Caleb may not make it a day further than he would have if he had voted out Ciera, but he made a ballsy move. And people will talk about it for a long time. So kudos to Caleb. No one is talking about Colton’s quit anymore.

Week 4 Losers

Yes, Marissa is a loser because she actually lost the game during this episode. But I am really putting her in here because I was to acknowledge what I think we are losing out on as viewers. I wasn’t high on Marissa in my pre-season rankings, but I really grew to like her during her time on Redemption Island. She was smart, a good athlete, and feisty—three things I love in a Survivor character. I think, had she stayed in the game, she would have been a lot of fun to watch. I think we are missing out on a really good character, and that she was gone from the game far too soon!

Monica is a loser this week for most of the same reasons she was last week—by no fault of her own. Everyone hates Brad, and feels he is responsible for voting out their loved ones. Therefore, they feel uncomfortable with Monica. I highly doubt Brad lets her switch places with him at Redemption Island (although she clearly wants to) but that isn’t going to help her game either. With or without Brad on the Tadhana tribe, the damage has already been done. People have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to Monica, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

And the biggest loser of them all—Brad Culpepper himself. Brad was too cocky, and if you are cocky in Survivor that is a one way ticket to getting your torch snuffed. I talked a lot about Brad in this blog, because it really was his downfall episode, so there isn’t much I can say that I haven’t already.

Except this: I hope Brad wins at Redemption Island. In fact, I wish we could’ve held out on the Brad downfall for at least another few episodes. Because like him or not, this drama with Brad was great TV. You know you had fun every week waiting to see who would yell what at him during Redemption Island, or what foolish thing he would say during a confessional. Plus, imagine Candice and Brad alone at Redemption Island if Dr. John is the one to lose. You can’t tell me you don’t want to watch that. I know I do! Brad Culpepper for the Redemption Island win.

And that is all for this week. Is anyone else impressed by Brad’s classy exit, and hoping he has a long stay on Redemption Island? Does anyone think Caleb’s move was good for the long term, or was he just good TV for this week? Can this game continue on without a merge and still be entertaining, or we in for another Ulong?

Until next time.