Night 9 at Timibira and Coach is upset that Errin thinks Brendan would be
a better leader than him.  He wants to get rid of her as soon as possible.
The next morning, the tribe pow-wows.  Coach suggests that they choose
a leader and offers to go along with Brendan as the chief.  Coach admits
that everyone trusts him more, though Coach still thinks he is the more
experienced and logical choice as a leader.  He has such a nice way of
complimenting people.  LOL!

Day 10 at Jalapao and the tribe is worried about Taj's health.  She is not
sleeping well.  Taj sneaks off with Stephen and clues him in on her secret
alliance with Brendan.   Stephen is excited to be included in the plot.  Over
at Timibira, they read today's tree-mail.  The Reward Challenge has some-
thing to do with sandbags and shouldering burdens.  The old weight-endur-
ance match!  Brendan is worried that he has not yet had a chance to fill in
Sierra about the secret alliance and the need for her to pick Stephen should
she be selected to go to Exile Sand Dune.

The RC is just as suspected.  Three members from each tribe will stand on
a perch with a long pole balanced on their shoulders.  Two tribe mates will
each place a ten-pound sandbag on the pole of the player the other tribe
singles out.  Two men and one lady from each must shoulder the burden.
It's Joe, Taj and JT versus Tyson, Brendan and Debra.  Last one standing
wins a tribal raiding party against the losing tribe and selects one for exile.
The exiled player will then choose someone from the winning tribe.

Bags are doled out amongst everyone.  Both women have 80 pounds and
most of the men are at 120.  Brendan has 200 lbs and JT 180 as they get
tapped for more weight.  The last time this event was held was in Panama
where the amazing Rupert shouldered 220 pounds.  Brendan gets to 220
and crashes out.  JT is next to crash at 220.  Tyson folds at 140, followed
by Joe at 140.  It's down to the women.  Each gets 20 more pounds.  Debra
strains at 100 pounds and finally gives in.  Taj wins for Jalapao!  They pick
Sierra to be exiled.  But since Brendan hasn't explained the situation to her,
she picks Taj to be exiled with her.

Timbira returns to camp and wonders if they'll lose both bags of beans.
Joe and JT show up to raid them.  They behave kindly and only take one
bag of beans and one large can of fresh water.  They take the loot back to
Jalapao, where the gang is eager to munch on some beans.  At least until
Sandy points out that the type of bean they stole are good farting variety.
LOL!  Sydney is getting more annoyed with Sandy.  Sandy is concerned
about Sydney, a model in real life, being too flirty.

Over at Exile Sand Dune, Taj chooses the urn with the next clue.  It clearly
indicates that the idol is at the tree-mail site.  She explains to Sierra about
the secret alliance between Brendan,  Stephen and them.    Sierra is very
happy to be part of it.

Day 11 and Timbira decides to take the day off.  No hard work for them.
They relax and play.  Tyson struts his stuff wearing a loin cloth he fashioned.
Errin is coming unglued.  She feels alone and friendless.  It seems that she
had broken up with her boyfriend just before coming to Brazil.  Tyson looks
forward to booting her.  He hopes she freaks out.  What a guy!  I sure hope
that any gal who is or will be dating Tyson takes note of his callousness.

Day 12 and today's Immunity Challenge is another puzzle race.  One from
each tribe will race to fetch large three-sided puzzle planks with letters on
them.  Once all eight planks are gathered, the first tribe to arrange them
and spell out the right phrase wins.  Jalapao begins with an early lead, but
Sydney has trouble with the knots on her plank.  Timbira steals the lead
away and never look back.  Timbira wins it's second challenge after losing
four in a row.

Back at camp, Joe and Spencer chat with Sydney about booting Sandy.
The rest are taking a swim and they discuss the merits of booting Sydney.
Later, Stephen and JT discuss the situation.  They like Sandy and know that
Sydney is not good at challenges.  But she is a hot babe!  LOL!  Later,
Sydney mentions that she can be very sneaky.  This makes JT rethink things.

At Tribal Council, Jeff begins by asking Sandy if she has been able to bond
with her tribe after they originally voted her off, or thought they were voting
her off, I should say.  She merrily replies that she's the tribe's mom and
everyone likes her.  Uh-huh.  JT agrees that Sandy is their camp mom. 
Sandy then throws Sydney under the bus for being a flirt.  Stephen agrees
that she flirts a lot with Joe.  Taj has no problem with Sydney being the
tribe's eye-candy.  Sandy thinks a couple people may be upset with tonight's
voting results.

It's time to vote.  We see Sandy and Sydney vote against each other.  Jeff
grabs the ballot urn and tallies the vote.  Sydney has one against her, Taj
voted against Joe (who knows why?), and the rest send Sandy packing.
She survived the Curse of Mrs. Howell for 12 days instead of only one, so
she did alright.  So Jalapao Tribe is even with Timbira now at six players
each.  They are down to four, young, single men, one runway model and Taj.
Hmmmmm!  Can we guess who's gonna feel out of place?

SPOILERS:  Tyson suspects that Brendan has a secret alliance with Taj. 
Meanwhile, Taj acts up with her tribe mates.  Oh-Oh!!!  It sure didn't take
her long to see the handwriting.  Hope she finds the idol soon.

NOTE:  For those interested, I have been writing a regular 'Realty Monday'
at my blog, linked at the blue box on the left.  Tuesdays I will also be review-
ing "Celebrity Apprentice" there.  Enjoy!