Former 'Galu' member Erik, who is now sitting on the jury, said it best after Laura was voted off last night: "There goes the lead."
And just like that 'Foa Foa' has usurped control of a game they had no business being in three weeks after the merge. But it didn't come easy. It was a nailbiter of an episode with a tie vote from both sides, until John flipped to ensure that he wouldn't go home based on a random drawing of rocks.
"John played it brilliantly," says Jeff Probst. "He stayed true to Galu through the first vote, forcing a tie. This gave him the chance to see what was really going to happen."
"Then he had a choice to let it go to a tie and draw rocks, putting him in jeopardy of being sent home or flip thus ensuring he would stay in he game at least one more day. That was a big move."
"I know that Laura had people rooting for her and against her. Say what you want, but one thing you have to give Laura credit for is playing the game. She gave us everything we could have hoped for and then some."
"Galu actually had a very solid idea. It took some doing, but Galu came up with a good plan. Convince Foa Foa they are taking out another one of their own. In fact, Monica did a very good job of working Foa Foa trying to convince them the vote was for John. In terms of pure performance, she did a great job of justifying why she would not vote for Laura but would vote for John."
"But John's no dummy. Getting even one vote at tribal council is never a good thing. Getting four votes is way too risky. It suddenly becomes too easy for someone to change their mind and just vote you out. Also working against the plan is the fact that Russell is as usual, one step ahead. He's not buying it and he's not backing off his plan to vote off Laura."
Speaking of Russell he was able to pull another rabbit out of his hat after receiving the first clue to the immunity idol at the reward. A clue that everyone else heard about before the hunt was on.
"It was one of the funniest scenes of the season, the entire group scurrying about looking for the idol," says Jeff. "And even with everybody following Russell he still found it."
"You wonder why nobody else finds the idol? Just take a look at how the rest of the group was looking for it: Jaison could barely be bothered to pick up a rock. Dave was merely following Russell and in doing so nearly stumbled upon the idol but because he is so concerned with Russell he walks away from it and chases back after Russell. Hilarious."
"Laura is following Dave so she's no help. And what does Russell do? He easily loses everybody and doubles right back to where Dave was half-assed looking and finds the third idol."
"We've had hidden immunity idols for a long time now and up until this season nobody has ever thought to just start looking for them, with or without a clue. Russell was so on top of his game that he gave us producers a run for our money."
"We were as shocked as you are that he continued to find them before anybody else."
Former 'Galu' member Erik, who is now sitting on the jury, said it best after Laura was voted off last night: "There goes the lead."
