HOLLYWOOD─I will admit I thought last week’s Tribal Council on “Survivor: Winners at War” was fun, but it would have been even more fun if that symbol that Adam thought was an idol actually turned out to be an idol. Why? I would have been left speechless and so would have all of our players and it would have led to an epic blindside on Nick and the rest of the players including the jury. Too bad it didn’t work. So we’re really knocking down the players now with only 10 people left in the game, and we already got the family visit.

I will admit it’s a bit early, this is more common around the final 7 or 8, but we’re playing with the best of the best. The one thing that constantly bugs me are these teases of a Tribal Council being grander than what it actually is. However, this week’s episode “The Full Circle” delivered because we finally saw some advantages and idols come into play. I hate and I mean hate when idols are held until they can’t be anymore.

It slightly stifles gameplay in my opinion. Right now we have two idols in play: Kim’s idol and Sophie’s idol (Sophie knows about Kim’s idol, and Sarah knows about Sophie’s idol). We also have Sarah’s vote steal and Jeremy’s safety without power advantage, oh, and I forgot about Michele’s 50/50 coin flip (where she can have immunity if it lands on ‘safe’).

The latest episode, ‘The Full Circle’ immediately kicked off with the family visit where our players got to see their loved ones. Is it nice to see? Yes, but at the same time I wanted to see gameplay more people. Tyson had to be the most charming of the entire bunch with his wife and daughter. It’s a side of a hilarious character that the audience rarely gets to see. The love was also evident for our old schoolers on the ‘Edge of Extinction.’ Yeah, this episode was all about emotional strength at least for the 25-30 minutes.

At last we get the immunity challenge, which was all about balance and spelling. In a not so big surprise, the winner would receive TWO fire tokens. Look, I’m just going to say this, the twist involving the fire tokens have been a bust in my opinion. We’ve seen some bartering, but nothing of epic scale with the tokens. When are we going to see someone actually buy something with the tokens people? It was a two battle race between Ben and Tony, and I was rooting for Tony who has never won an immunity in the 3 times he’s played “Survivor.”

It looks like Ben is Tony’s new Woo, and with immunity Tony wanted to make moves. Jeremy wanted to split Sarah and Sophie, but Tony did not like that. He wanted Tyson out, but Sarah wanted Kim out the game. Sarah started to gain fuel with Kim, but Tony had his sights on trying to blindside Jeremy, so Kim, Jeremy and Tyson aligned.

Oh, this looks good as we have five against five, Tyson, Kim, Jeremy, Denise and Michele vs. Tony, Sarah, Ben, Nick and Sophie. Kim? Why are you telling people you have an idol that can work against you. Then, Jeremy tells Tyson that he can leave if he feels threatened, but then we have four votes. OMG, just when I thought this episode was getting boring, it looks like idols and advantages are finally going to be played people. C’mon we have 11 minutes left for the episode, can we get to this Tribal Council already? I want to see the dramatics people.

Right away, whispers started with Kim and Michele, Sarah and Ben, Sophie and Nick. I swear this constant movements during Tribal where people get up and talk is getting is getting on my last nerves. It just frustrates the viewer, because it’s not like we can hear what is going on. As a result, Jeremy started to feel the nerves and he played his advantage, but Sarah wanted to go first, meaning it’s time to play their advantage, and it was a stalemate. I always knew that when it comes to playing an advantage you always wait till another player talks first.

Yeah, Tony and company was left speechless and more scrambling took place as a result. Sophie decided to be ballsy and took her core and decided on one name. Sarah decided to play her steal a vote advantage and went after Denise’s vote, giving her the opportunity to vote twice. Ugh, Kim, Tyson, Denise and Michele are on the outs.

Kim pulled out her idol and decided it was time to play it and it was for Denise, not herself or Tyson. Man this was looking so good, but it ended up Tyson getting the boot. I seriously hoped, Kim would have played her idol on Tyson, because I would have loved to see Sophie get knocked off her pedestal people. This was the first time we were teased a chaotic Tribal Council that actually delivered and I loved it. Let’s hope the fireworks continue next week “Survivor” fanatics!