Survivor Redemption Island Episode 3: "Keep Hope Alive" Review

So, previously on Survivor, Matt and Andrea become the latest Survivor showmance which threatens to unseat the great couples of Ethan/Jenna, Rich and Sue and the greatest Survivormance of all time: Rob and Amber.  Rob obviously gets jealous and, after Matt continued burying his own grave by shaking hands with Zapatera after losing a challenge, Rob has had enough and enlists Special Agent Phillip and his gang of Invisibles to blindside Matt, also getting a bonus as Kristina randomly plays her idol, sending Matt to Redemption 4-2-0.

Francesca is very surprised to see Matt at Redemption, but they hang out for a couple of days until (cue dramatic music) the DUEL.  The audience is David and Steve from Zapatera and Ashley and Andrea of Ometepe.  The challenge is pretty straightforward: the survivors have to grab keys using long sticks, open a few locks and go through the door.  Francesca takes a 2-0 lead on the key-grabbing contest, but her stick crucially breaks while grabbing #3 and Matt comes back to grab all 3 keys, unlock the door and win the challenge, sending Francesca home for good. Afterwards, Ashley and Andrea tell the truth to Ometepe but David and Steve lie to Russell and his concubines that Matt was actually sent home.

Then, comes the scandal. Rooster's 6-way alliance plans to throw the challenge to get rid of Russell. Julie has some doubts, but the others persuade her to comply. At the challenge, Rooster's alliance successfully throw the challenge thanks to some excellent stalling by David, allowing Rob to complete the puzzle and win immunity/reward for Ometepe. To complete Rob's home run, he finds the clue to the hidden immunity idol within the reward, from right under Phillip's ass too.

Russell accurately predicts that Rooster's alliance will become the 3rd this season to split the vote 3-3-3. He sends his loyal minion Stephanie to flip Julie, and it seems successful as Julie passively agrees with basically everything Stephanie says.  Then a random off-topic scene comes with Mike complaining that Russell is lazy and that he has rashes on his armpits.  Anyways, back on topic. At tribal council, Julie does not flip, ensuring a 3-3-3 tie between Russell, Stephanie and Ralph. In the re-vote, Russell is sent to Redemption 5-1-0.  

First prediction was sort of okay.  Zapatera did lose immunity and Matt does beat Francesca in Redemption, while Andrea's segment is just a red herring.  Now, to this week's predictions....

Russell will most definitely win Redemption: why would the producers get rid of him this early? Zapatera, after throwing the challenge, are now cursed with the Curse, which dooms the tribe to a challenge losing streak (it happened in Pearl Islands, China....), but with so many strong males, I doubt that it's likely. Hey, who knows,  Russell could be the first guy to return from Redemption Island (he does have the producers on his side), or maybe the audience at Redemption have to switch tribes (don't ask where I'm getting this...).  Apparently Phillip becomes even more annoying, but I think Kristina will go if Ometepe lose, and Stephanie might go if Zapatera lose.

• Einstein's Lost Twin Brother Award (or sister, in this case) goes to Julie. She managed to convince Stephanie that she actually was flipping but instead blindsides RU22EL HANTZ, the greatest strategic player eva! Good job!
• Dumber'n a Bag of Hammers Award (yes, this was inspired by Marty last season) goes to Phillip. How he could've sat on a chair with the idol clue right under his bum is fascinating to me. He might've just lost his chance of saving it from being voted off next episode.  
• Crazy Man Award goes to.....well....um....nobody really. Nobody was really acting crazy/psycho/interesting this episode. Ah well, better luck next time!