by Gina Scarpa

 

Tonight, on Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains, it's finally time for the merge! With five heroes and five villains, someone is going to have make a bold move in order to keep the numbers on their side.

 

The villains arrive to set up shop at the heroes' camp and Parvati is immediately shunned like a leper in the Middle Ages. Of course she's shunned! She's supposed to be gone! ... Right, JT? So JT realizes now that Russell duped him and is really the mastermind of his alliance, right? Wrong.

 

Russell concocts a quick story to keep the trust and faith that JT, Colby, and Rupert have in him. The story goes like this: Russell tried to play the idol from JT but Parvati had one as well and played it, meaning both idols have been flushed out and in a revote, Courtney was sent home. Sounds a little farfetched. Those heroes are too smart for that, right? Wrong.

 

Sandra grabs a hold of Rupert on the beach and fills him in. Russell is the kingpin and Parvati is his right hand woman. Anything Russell has been telling the heroes is a lie. Rupert mulls it over and realizes that there's a good chance Sandra is telling the truth so he runs back to his band of merry heroes and fills them in. Something doesn't seem right, Rupert tries to explain. Oh well, the heroes will listen to their alliance member Rupert, who has inside information from the other side, right? Wrong.

 

Amanda finally catches up with Parvati in the woods, a day or two after the merge. Amanda is confused and doesn't know what to do. She played with Parvati in Micronesia and wants to play on her side again (why I don't know) but there's no way anybody else on the heroes tribe will go for that. To me, it smells a little bit like B.S. but Parv bites and lets her know that she has an idol still.

 

There's no reward challenge, of course, because the reward is the feast that comes along with the merge. In tonight's immunity challenge, players climb a pole and hang there as long as possible. The last one standing (or hanging) wins. Simple as that. Parvati, Candice, and JT have all played this before in their respective seasons, Cook Islands and Tocantins.

 

The challenge gets underway and Colby is out in a matter of seconds. He says that challenges like that aren't his thing. No offense dude, but I have yet to see something that IS your thing this season. Sandra drops right after. All of the other guys and Amanda bow out, leaving Candice as the lone hero to go up against Jerri, Danielle, and Parvati. After more than 90 minutes, Jerri drops then for no reason, Candice decides to step down.

 

The only good reason I can come up with for why Candice quit was because she wanted to see what Parvati and Danielle would do if they were the last two in the game. Danielle tells Parv she wants the win so, being a good friend and alliance member, she steps down. Danielle wins by default and gets no credit from me at all.

 

Back at camp, JT wants Russell to write down Parvati's name at tribal council as a sign that he's with them (which we all know there is no way in hell Russell is going to do) while the heroes take out either Sandra or Courtney. Amanda pulls Parvati aside and tells her she has to play the idol. Now, Amanda may be good at many things... figuring out puzzles, making out with Ozzy in Micronesia, playing good cop... but acting is not one of them.

 

I'm going to credit Amanda almost completely for the end result of tonight's episode.

 

At tribal council, an argument ensues over camp life and how many ripe bananas are being eaten. Seriously, are we talking about banana etiquette again? Thank you Russell, for basically telling everyone to shut up and play the game. Who gives a crap about bananas? Were there not a ton of them at the camp or was it just me?

 

When it's time to vote, the villains are clearly gunning for JT, while the heroes set their sights on Jerri. Probst asks if anyone wants to play an idol and Parvati steps up to the plate. The heroes are pumped! They're going to flush out her idol and take out Jerri, right? WRONG.

 

Parvati pulls off hands down the greatest move by any Survivor player ever. She pulls out her idol and hands it to Sandra, then pulls out her other idol and hands it to Jerri! Neither seemed to know she was going to do that and it was clear as day that Russell has no idea she was going to do that. The heroes looked like their lives were over, because it is and JT was blindsided and sent packing.

 

Damn, Parvati.

 

Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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