Night 11: There's a storm a-brewing... Uh, make that two storms!

While the Ulong is voting off yet another person (I'm guessing it's Kim, but I may be wrong), it's another one of those nights where the rain is pouring and two people have nothing to do but cuddle. In this case, it would be the finally!-a-story-line-that-involves-these-two tribesmen, Gregg and Jenn. Giggling and cuddling ensues, while the rest of us can't sleep because of it.

Coby analyzes: "They're getting pretty serious. She had her hand on his stomach. Everyone isn't stupid. They can all see what's going on."

In the middle of this heat, we turn our attention to another type of heat. And still, another. Tom to Willard: "Willard! You're in charge of the fire!" Willard to Tom, mentally: "Whatever."

Day 12: It's dark and Hell is cold.

Tom still waxes about a waning fire that HE ended up tending to. End result: he didn't get some much needed sleep, and after nudging Willard to tend to the fire, he ended up doing it himself. "His strategy must be to wear me down. Why else wouldn't he watch the fire?"

Tom goes to Gregg about his grievances, saying that if Willard wanted to show how valuable he was to the tribe, that the least he could've done was put another log on the fire. That, and maybe pull his weight in mental challenges. Or was that just me. Anyway... Tom goes on to further suggest that if this was the real world and not just a glorified game show that he would've "unloaded" Willard. Whatever that means.

Gregg's view: "Koror is sitting pretty right now, so there really hasn't been too much talk of alliances. Willard's been getting a free ride, though. He's played the game longer than he should've been allowed to."

R-CHALLENGE: Sake To Me (for dinner; Katie, Willard, Caryn & Janu sit out)

The challenge is simple. Down in the water is a shipwreck. In and around it, various bottles of sake (Japanese rice wine). Sweet sweet sake. One at a time, players must make their way, via a pulley and raft, to the dive site, retrieve a bottle of sake, and return it to the platform. The first tribe to come back with six wins reward.

As for the reward, there's good news, and then there's bad news. The bad news: no matter what the outcome of the challenge, both Ulong and Koror will go to Tribal Council tonight to vote out one person. The good news, not involving car insurance: the winning tribe will eat tonight. But again, they'll do so at Tribal. As an additional bonus, the winning tribe will listen in on the opposing tribe's Tribal to maybe get some information that'll become useful later on down the road.

The race is a dead heat, and Ulong pulled out in front by half a bottle's length, when Ibrehem stepped up to the plate. After searching the wreck and coming back up for air three times, he returns to the platform empty-handed, giving Koror a lead by that much. We built up the lead and there was no looking back. Okay, there was one instance of looking back, but it was at the very end. It looked like Ulong was going to close the gap, until Ian, who dove a few times of his own, comes back with the winning bottle in hand, giving Koror dinner.

The only downside? There's a table for eight, and nine people on the booking list. Someone has to go tonight.

Back at camp: a bittersweet symphony, this life...

Ian puts it oh, so correctly. "Ulong is a disaster." Tom echoes that, saying that even if Ibrehem did score a bottle, his tribe still would've lost. Ian is excited to see what will surface at Ulong's tribal, while Coby asks everyone not to rub the feast in Ulong's faces. Hard not to do, I know.

Ian starts garbling a song about Ulong being in "Survivor hell". Tom laughs and calls Ian "crazy". Tom: Who brought this guy?

Pretribal: Remember what Ian said about not talking alliances?

Remember what Coby said last week? Well, it's all relevant as Katie, Gregg, Jenn, Ian & Tom all meet while Willard stuffs his face. Tom thinks, mentally citing the fire incident and verbally citing the possibility that he may win the mental challenges, that Willard needs to go.

Meanwhile, Willard knows that he's toast. He calls on Coby to butter said toast. "It will make me mad if he's voted out before Katie. If Katie stays longer than him in the game, I'll just puke."

Willard thinks 'Survivor' is a game of personalities and he can't win. Something must be messed up if what you have to look forward to is someone's pants. Coby: Willard is done like dinner and there is nothing he can do to stop it. He just doesn't have the numbers to support him.

Oh, and did we mention that the Numbers Game column finally launches this week? Just thought I'd throw that in *ahem*shamelessplug*ahem*.

Gregg meets with Coby to put an offer on the table. He and Jennifer want to make a secret alliance with Coby & Janu. Offer is accepted, and Gregg cites Tom as the primary threat. Coby will act as Gregg's mole within the tribe in return. "I'm glad the game is going to a whole new level. I can't wait." But is this all together noble? I mean, as far as he's concerned, he and Jenn are seemingly free to navigate through this tribe. They can flip their alliance and pick off the others. According to him, he and Jenn think more than the others.

As for Tom, he just thinks of Willard that everyone gets voted out eventually. And speaking of which...

Night 12: The first Tribal. Finally.

For the first time, the Koror visit Uncle Jeff's House of Pain.  Then Jeff reiterates the purpose of Tribal Council: fire = life. Got it? Good. Don't got it, bad. Twelve nights of not interfacing with the tribe has taken its toll on the producer/host, so he gets right on down to the nitty-gritty.

Katie says there are different kinds of leaders on the tribe. Tom leads the challenges. Ian is the hunter/gatherer. Tom says it wasn't his plan to be the leader. His strategy was to be the laidback dad who would fade into the background. Since Koror was the physically weaker tribe, he had to step up to the plate. Coby claims he is very social. He gets along with everyone. He is a social butterfly. That decision might end up costing him the game. Gregg says that some wonderful bonds have been formed. Ian and Tom have a father/son relationship. Tom pipes in that he is the father. Coby and Janu are close and so are Willard and Caryn. Katie is friends with everyone. There is nothing super intense going on with the couple which we'll call Greggifer for now. Willard is close to being the first of the eliminated ones.

And through this all, Gregg puts Tribal Council in its proper perspective: "Trust is about to be tested." It's time to vote.

Willard: KATIE.
Katie: WILLARD. "You are crabby and bitter. Bye."

The rest of the votes:

Ian: WILLARD
Coby: WILLARD
Tom: WILLARD
Gregg: WILLARD
Janu: WILLARD
Jennifer: WILLARD
Caryn: WILLARD

Not even close. In an 8-1 sweep, Willard, THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN. Final words to the Koror: "Stay strong. Stick to the plan, and finish 'em off." Not too hard, but was he talking to the tribe or just a select few?

With that, Jeff brings in the Ulong to hold their Tribal. Koror is relegated to the jury side and asked to pull off the cover... to reveal stew, bread, and root beer. The queen mum of Koror, Janu dishes out dinner as the Koror are listening to tales of shovels and thoughts of merging.

"Yeah, we're not merging."

Angie can't stand to watch Koror eat, and the rest of the tribe shares that sentiment in several long-winded statements. I hope that the Koror was paying attention, because they will use the information gathered... to grant immunity to one Ulong. This will be an individual decision.

In the end... it's granted to Ibrehem... who really needed it to stay in the game, as it turns out.

And after OT voting, Angie joins Willard on the next raft out.