In fact, he was counting on Kelly to win! I believe that he'd decided to "throw" it, because if he'd won it, he would've had to vote off Rudy. For indeed, he would've had to vote off Rudy, because if it had been between the two of them, Rudy would've won! He needed Kelly to do his dirty work for him! If he had voted off Rudy, the slow-to-catch on Rudy would NOT have given Rich his vote! [ or so Rich figured. I think Rudy is a big enough sap to have loyally voted for Rich, anyway. Because, as Rudy said, "My word is good, and I hope others' word is good, too." It would've been a matter of honor for him to stick to his word, even if he'd realized that Rich had royally screwed him! ]
Rich would've also burned Rudy, if Sue had made it to the final three ( and gotten immunity ). He would've known that Sue had made fewer friends than he; thus been assured of a victory had the vote been between he and Sue. He would've seen Rudy as greater competition; for, having earned no real enemies, he would thus have had a better chance in the final vote against evil Rich. Realizing that if he had won immunity, he would've had to vote Rudy off --thus losing his vote in the final tally-- he would've thrown it as he had with Kelly, urging Sue to hold strong an alliance with him. Sucker Sue would've voted off Rudy, and sucker Rudy would've voted for Rich in the final.
And how about the way Rich had manipulated Sue! Did you notice how very flirtatious he was around her? Everytime he'd bring in some fish, he'd say, "There you go Susie Q; some protein to put a sparkle back in your eyes." And there WAS a sparkle! I saw her eyes! She had flirtatious eyes whenever he said that! A plate of fish might seem a strange romantic gift; but on that island of the starving, it was the equivalent of chocolates and roses! And this was HIM coming on to HER! Let me explain: often gay men are very charming, and women find them attractive ( witness Rupert Everett--and Liberace! ); they flatter, compliment, give attention to a woman's thoughts/needs/feelings; and it's so attractive, that women swoon, despairing of their straight men EVER being so sweet! And happily married women, like Sue, feel safe in indulging a flirt with a gay man. However, in this case, Sue was a sucker, because Rich was maneuvering her; I daresay, that if investigated, it would transpire that Rich had engineered the break-up between Sue and Kelly. Rich already admitted that he had become aware of the sub-alliance of Sue and Kelly. I think he'd deliberately fueled Sue's insecurities, informing her of every "waver" in Kelly's loyalty; insinuating that she was backstabbing Sue. In fact, Kelly was not really wavering; she'd felt genuinely guilty about burning people off that she'd genuinely liked. As she said, she'd taken the time and trouble to get to know each person ( which rewarded her in the semi-final immunity challenge, where they had to give arcane, personal, and detailed answers to questions about their "fallen comrads"; yet, she hadn't done so, with any prescience of such a challenge; she'd really wanted to get to know each person! ). The calculating coldness of the alliance would bother anybody with a conscience; and it had bothered Kelly. Was she weak? Or strong where it counted--in spirit!
In episode ***, Sue had told the camera how she'd lost her very best friend years ago in a car accident; and how she'd never *bleep* Kelly; that they were tight friends. We see the two lying side by side on beach towels, Sue's foot affectionately touching Kelly's. Even after their big tiff on the penultimate episode, and Kelly had won the luxury challenge, Sue had been in good grace, chatting with Kelly, and washing each other's backs. Mind; this was NOT the immunity challenge; it was only the luxury; thus Kelly's cynical remark later that Sue had been nice to her solely to win her support in the vote was untrue. Sue had been QUITE nice, considering that she'd really wanted to win a luxury challenge, and had REALLY wanted the cold beer-prize. We saw how astounded Sean had been, as he commented on their resumed friendship; and we also see Rich seemingly scared
In Sue's final rip at Kelly, she calls her "the rafting persona queen." Presumedly, she meant that Kelly's personality shifted, depending upon the person she'd talked to at the moment. Sue also said: " ". If you analyze this more carefully, it is evident that Sue is accusing Kelly of playing to the crowd, i.e., pretending to have guilt about burning off innocent members, but meanwhile backstabbing her "best friend"--Sue. She's calling Kelly a liar, hypocrite, manipulative; while not exactly praising Rich, she acknowledges his "realness." This would of course sit better with Sue, for what you see is what you get with her. She is what she is; and has a hard time lying. She mentions how difficult it had been to lie about the alliance even to the host ( Jeff Probst ); likely she'd kept an emotional distance from the Pagong tribe members, to avoid directly lying--as they'd see right through her. Sue is honest; and fact is, she'd been angry at Rich quite frequently. After Jenna, Colleen, and Gervase had banded together to vote against Rich, he'd petulently decided to punish them by catching less fish--until more members of the Pagong tribe were gone!!
That was a bastardly thing to do, starving everybody, just out of personal spite! And the fact is, a stupid thing, as well; for this was what had really angered Sue. You don't flirt with a woman for weeks, "romancing" her with fish meals, and then let her starve, just so he can get revenge on his enemies! She took matters into her own hands; all the women went off on their own fishing trip, and triumphantly returned with a fish! Just one fish; yet an important triumph, all the same. Sue proved that they could feed themselves, without Rich, and said so. " " Later on, Sue was seen donning mask, fins, and spearing a stingray. She'd proven herself an able fisherwoman; though she was badly injured by the stingray. Her hand was incapacitated, and swollen with the poison. If only they'd been better able to catch fish, they could've "burned" off Rich long ago. But they were incapacitated by their dependance. If the contest had not ruled out land animals for food, Sue would've reigned supreme, as she was a skilled hunter.