This week's episode of Survivor: Samoa was, from what I've heard others say, quite surprising. It began with the twelve remaining castaways, fresh off Liz's vote-off, continuing on with the game. Foa Foa knew they were in dire straits, being down to only four members to Galu's eight. But they weren't giving up. According to Russell H., they had a plan in place in case the merge hit.

Which it did. The merge came at the earliest time ever in Survivor history -- with twelve castaways left! Galu and Foa Foa merged into one tribe, and they named themselves . . . um . . . I'll get the name later, unless someone would be kind enough to offer it up for me. The Galus thought they could easily take out the Foa Foas since they were up eight to four, but the Galu men seemed to have other ideas -- taking out the 90210 women. Of course, not without some douche-y behavior emerging from Erik throughout the episode.

There was an Immunity Challenge that ended with two people winning individual immunity now that tribal immunity was no more. I think Mick was one, and probably Laura was the other. Good thing, too, if I'm right, because she said something to piss Russell H. off and got him wanting her out next.

Before Tribal Council, somehow, the target landed on Monica for the next vote-off. But the tide turned to Erik after some people figured out he had the hidden Immunity Idol from Galu's camp. I believe it was thanks to the emergence of a surprising mastermind: Natalie. Yes, Natalie, who'd been silent for most of the season, and was finally coming out of the woodwork now that we were entering the post-merge portion of the game. Of course, Russell H. got a bit panicked and thought the Galus would be targeting him -- especially after his confrontation with Laura. (Here's the scoop. He offered Laura his idol if she, Monica, and Kelly flipped to their side, but Laura didn't buy it, and told him so. She knew she and the other women would be in the minority if they did flip. At least if they, Mick, Natalie, Jaison, and Russell H. wound up being the final seven.)

At Tribal Council, after Jaison apparently owned Erik, who'd revealed his condescending, jerkish side, the votes were cast and revealed. Of course, fearing he was the target, Russell H. went and played his idol, wasting it. Unfortunately, Erik didn't think to do the same, so when the vote came up for him, he was probably voted out of Samoa, the seventh person voted out of the Samoa, the ninth person to leave overall, and . . . the first member of the jury.

I'm neutral on Erik's vote-off. I never fully got a sense of who he was, so a big, fat "meh" on his ouster.

In other news, I'm surprised, but happy, to hear that they've gone back to the nine-person jury with three people facing them. It's something that hasn't been done since Dreamz, Cassandra, and Earl all faced the jury of Rocky, Lisi, Michelle, Edgardo, Mookie, Alex, Stacy, Boo, and Yau-Man in Survivor: Fiji. This'll make for an interesting endgame now.

Eleven castaways remain. Who'll be voted out next week? We'll see then!