NIGHT 12: IBREHEM, JAMES AND (BOBBY) JON (AND STEPH, TOO).

I tell ya what; if we don't make it to merge with more than two people, I'll be MORE than a little surprised! And Ibrehem is still more than surprised that he's still around... and he has Koror to thank for it. Steph suggests that we listen to each other at the next Challenge so that we don't have any EXCUSES when we lose. That sets James off on Ibrehem, blaming him and him alone for the loss today. Bobby Jon thinks James need to get over it!

DAY 13: WE GOT TO PRAY JUST TO MAKE IT TODAY

Didn't know Ibrehem was Muslim, did ya? Either that or he does a great impersonation of Azeem from "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves". Either way, he's thankful for the grace of God (or Allah or whoever) for Koror's benevolence.

REWARD CHALLENGE: I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING...DID I FIRE A .50-CALIBER OR JUST A .38? PRODUCT PLACEMENT ALERT! PRODUCT PLACEMENT ALERT!

We receive Stump-Mail... complete with a SINGLE Pringles(TM) potato chip. The message:

To Challenge Cove we go to give the dominant Koror a look at us sans Angie the Braless Wonder. There is a .50-caliber small class cannon (or a replica anyway) and 16 tiles hanging, half for each tribe. Mean Uncle Jeff tells us that, one by one, we're to aim at our tribe's tiles and fire one shot. The first tribe to shatter all eight of their tribe's tiles wins Reward.

And, as you guessed, the potato chips in the tennis ball holders are part of it. The winning tribe leaves on a unique Japanese boat loaded with Pringles(TM) and Mai-Tais. They'll be taken to sa place called Jellyfish Lake and take part in a snorkeling expedition with the non-stinging jellies. After Koror sits half their tribe out, we get ready.

Ulong covers Koro as paper covers rock, so Bobby Jon gets first shot (literally). He locks and loads...BANG! Low and inside, ball one. Greg fires high. James, who had EXPERIENCE in shooting guns (or so Uncle Jeff thinks), fires too high and Coby goes low. Ibrehem... JUST misses. And MVP Tom... well, you KNOW he's going to hit it! He's practically perfect in every way (the big b@#$%rd)! It's one-nil, Koror. Steph's first shot... hits the mark and ties the game, and Caryn just misses... an ULONG tile.

OK, I won't go shot-for-shot. The same order repeats and Ulong and Koror stays neck and neck. But Steph and Ibrehem's excellent marksmanship make up for James' inability to hit a bullet with the side of a barn... and we get up to 6-5, our lead. Bobby Jon connects with our seventh... and Greg keeps it close.

It's up the No-Hit James to bring it home for us. Ready...aim...BANG! And James STAYS "O-fer", giving Coby a chance to tie. And we know Coby's good under pressure... so it's not a surprise that he nails the tile.

OK, next tile broken wins. It's Ibrehem's shot. Ready...aim...(from way downtown...) BANG! Oooooooo... just missed! So it's up to MVP Tom to win it for Koror. And... he MISSES! It's up to OUR markswoman, Steph! Ready...aim...(bada-bing, bada-boom, bada-) BANG! (shatter [sha-doo-be]) We got our last tile!!

But, like The Joker's Wild, Koror gets a final shot. If they shatter their last tile, there'll be a tie-breaker. Otherwise, Ulong goes on to face the Dev... I mean, face the jellyfish. Caryn steps up...

Ready.... aim..... BANG!!

[Jack Barry]Nope, it's all over! Ulong wins the Reward![/Jack Barry] (cue TJW win music)

AFTERNOON 13: SWIMMIN' WIT DA (JELLY)FISHES

We paddled to the boat and started chomping on curved salty goodness. Oh, Uncle Jeff forgot to mention that these are "Pringles(TM) Prints" chips... with Survivor trivia on them! So we spend the ride to the lake asking questions about our favorite reality show.

We reach the shore and kike to a BEAUTIFULLY clear lake... with jellies up to yin-yang! We put on our masks and fins and swim among the denizens of the lake, not worrying about anyone needing to suck the poison out of an unmentionable place. It is a morale boost of epic proportions... and we HOPE it carries over to the next Immunity Challenge. (Especially with the monsoon coming in tonight.)

DAY 14 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: CAPTURE THE FLAG

More mail?!? We seriously need to put Uncle Jeff on our "So Not Write" list! Ah, well. We open the box... and we find a Koror flag. And a telegram?

James, STOP! At least he knows something about knots and we work on wrapping the rope around the box and tying it into this one "unbreakable" knot. The tribe puts all our trust in James... and time will tell if it is a good decision.

So to Challenge Cove we heft our box and meet Koror with theirs. The Koror Idol... I mean the IMMUNITY Idol (really the same thing) is back up for grabs. Uncle Jeff says that we will have 20 minutes to swim out, grab a bundle of lumber and create a mini-fortress around the box to keep the opposing tribe out. After 20 minutes, we'll switch sides and try to undo what the other tribe has done: break down the fortress, untie the knot and open the box. The first tribe to open the box, grab the flag, hoist it up the flagpole and sees who salutes wins another couple days to chill.

At the count of "GO!", Steph, Ibrehem and Bobby Jon swim out to the lumber, flanked by Ian and . Katie and Janu add more knots to the rope while James continues to work on ours. Steph and Bobby Jon swim the first load half-way and hand it off to Ibrehem before heading back for the other bundles. We return with three bundles... while James rips his 'skirt' up to make harder knots. We start on our fortress while Ian comes back with Koror's final bundle. For the next 15 minutes, we tie and we stack and we make the place look like a game of Pick-Up Sticks gone horribly wrong.

Then we switch and, at "GO!", start to undo everything Koror has done to our box. At first, the knots are easy... but, eventually, we have ends all over the place and no clear way to get them unlooped. We pull... we yank... we use our TEETH. Meanwhile, Koror doesn't seem to have too much trouble with THEIR box. They get it out of the "fortress" and start on James' so-called "impenetrable" knot. We FINALLY get our box out and start on KOROR's knot.

It turns out that the knot isn't as good as James thought it would be. Koror's knots are easy... but there are a LOT of them. As such, Koror pulls the rope completely off, open the box, grab the flag, run it up the flagpole... and we SO want to give them a "one-fingered salute" as they win Immunity... YET AGAIN!!!!!!

(C-Note: HA ha!)

DAY 15: THE BLAME GAME

Five straight Immunity Challenges... five straight loses! The over 24 hours we have to think about who to ditch does NOT help our sour mood. I'm sure at least ONE of us is thinking of bringing the machete to Tribal Council and slitting Mean Uncle Jeff's throat... or something MORE vital about three feet lower!

But who's the scapegoat THIS time? Ibrehem thinks James has done the worst overall in this losing challenges. Steph and James discuss booting Ibrehem... and Steph wants to be SURE that Bobby Jon doesn't vote for James to tie things up again. Steph then talks to Bobby Jon... about voting JAMES out. (That little two-timing... yet excellent player!) Bobby Jon tries to make an alliance with Steph and Ibrehem.

Steph is torn as to who should leave tonight. Should James leave first and then Ibrehem? Or the other way around?

TRIBAL COUNCIL: THE FINAL FOUR

As we sit down, Mean Uncle Jeff asks James what in the hell we have to do to stay AWAY from Tribal Council for one night! James believes they sabatoged themselves in the last Challenge... and Jeff turns the knife by saying that James screwed around with his 'skirt' the whole time his tribemates were swimming... and while Koror was strengthening their knots. Ibrehem says he's not feeling too negative about how he'll do tonight... and James says that this would not be a vote based on one challenge.

Steph agrees that the tribe's on its last legs but she STILL wants to win! Bobby Jon says that a tribe MUST be trustworthy with each other... to a point, anyway. Steph has paranoia that three guys, all from the same part of the country, are against her... but she's confident that her hard work will pull her through.

It is time to vote yet again. Bobby Jon, James (Ibrehem), Ibrehem (James) and Steph walk to the alcove and scrawl names... Steph takes a bit of time, though..

Mean Uncle Jeff tallies the votes and reads them: James,... Ibrehem,... James... and Ibrehem!

Another tie! Damn!

Again, no begging. Steph and Bobby Jon must vote again and, if they vote differently, a tie-breaker must be instituted. Bobby Jon and Steph re-vote.

And they are:

James...

...and JAMES!

The "leader" has his torch snuffed. He's going back to pounding steel instead of pounding the sand. And Mean Uncle Jeff says that maybe this Council made the difference for this tribe-o-trey... and, if not, he'll be seeing us again REAL soon!