The game is thrown on its head from the very start of the episode when Jeff informs the castaways that there will only be one challenge this week and both tribes will head to tribal council.  The challenge, “Rope a Dope” will be contested individually among each tribe with the winner getting individual immunity for tribal council.  Then, the two winners will face off in the finals to determine which tribe will win reward: the right to watch the opposing tribe’s tribal council while enjoying hot dogs and soda.

Although injuries are hampering the efforts of Rupert and James, Candice was still and unlikely winner for the Heroes tribe.  For the Villains, more of the same as Boston Rob dominates the challenge.  Despite looking exhausted, Rob defeats Candice in the finals and wins reward for his tribe.  While being congratulated by his tribe, Rob deadpans “Ooo, I beat a girl.”

Back at camp, Boston Rob is formulating a plan to flush out Russell’s idol.  After initially suspecting that Russell will simply play his idol and Parvati is the vote, Boston Rob realizes that in order to ensure that the idol does not come back to bite them, they need to split their vote three to three between Russell and Parvati. 

Although this will likely lead to a tie at three votes a piece between Russell, Parvati and Tyson, the idol will be flushed out leaving either Russell or Parvati to go up against Tyson in a revote.  From there, the play is obvious: Boston Rob’s six vote for whoever remains while Tyson only gets three votes and remains.

Russell sniffs out Boston Rob’s initial plan to vote for Parvati, but starts to wonder if they’re smart enough to split the vote.  In a contingency plan to prevent against such a problem, Russell takes Tyson aside and informs him that he’s planning on voting for Parvati because it is the best move Russell can make.  Falsely confident that Parvati is going home, Tyson decides to put the nail in the coffin and switch his vote to her.

At tribal council, Russell fakes like he’s going to play the idol, but gives it to Parvati instead.  Rob shakes his head that his biggest enemy, Russell, has just removed himself from the game, but is shocked when the vote comes down Parvati 4, Russell 2, Tyson 3.  With votes against Parvati not counting, Tyson is sent packing. A shocked Boston Rob can only stare on with disbelief.

The Heroes vote seems straight forward as Colby clearly thinks he’s going home and acts as such, but the Heroes also bring a shocker to tribal council and send James packing.  The move is telling: James is simply not going to be effective enough in challenges to keep around despite Colby’s apathy.