Blindsided by Courtney and Sherea at Tribal Council, Jean-Robert was feeling a bit vulnerable back at Fei Long.  He supposedly had ‘no clue’ that there was so much tension at camp.  Hoping to smooth things over, Todd and Amanda assured him that Courtney’s feelings were hers and hers alone.  Todd said he really liked the hard-working man Jean-Robert had become.  Of course, hearing anyone make nice with Jean-Robert made Courtney feel sick.  It was especially hard to hear Todd and Amanda—the two people who claimed to be her friends—sound so supportive of her enemy.

Meanwhile at Zhan Hu, another level of butt-kissing was going on.  Despite originally planning to eliminate him, Peih-gee tried convincing James he was now part of the team.  She really wanted him to trust them.  After all, they did basically sacrifice one of their own people for him.  Believing their conversation ended well, Peih-gee left James to join Jaime and Erik by the water.  While they were busy conferring, James immediately started working on securing his second hidden immunity idol.  Unfortunately, it took him two tries because the first symbol he knocked down was actually blank on back.  Although he managed to quickly remove the correct idol without being detected, he didn’t have time to retrieve the blank one that had fallen to the ground.

Back at Fei Long, Todd noticed that Courtney was obviously upset. (I think it was the loud sighs that gave herself away.)  She was still bothered that they didn’t get rid of Jean-Robert the night before when they could have.  Didn’t they know how much he disliked her?  Didn’t they understand how important it was for her to be liked in this….uh, competition?  Todd was now concerned that Courtney’s hatred for Jean-Robert might adversely affect them after the merge.  It would be easy for the Zhan Hu members to exploit this fissure in Fei Long’s solidarity.

Later at Zhan Hu, Jaime noticed there was something obviously missing from the archway.  When she and Erik moved in closer to investigate, they found the blank symbol still on the ground.  Unsure what they had discovered, Jaime put it in a safe place.  Could this be the hidden immunity idol she had received clues about?  Wondering if James had found something earlier, Jaime decided to search his belongings while he was away with Peih-gee.  In his bag, she discovered two other similar tiles wrapped tightly in his pants.  She was now convinced she must have found an idol as well.  The next day, James discovered that someone had picked up the dropped tile.  It tickled him to think that someone might stupidly try and use it at the next Tribal Council.  (That’s assuming Jaime didn’t secretly exchange the blank one with a real idol found in his stuff.)

The two tribes later reunited for what they believed to be their next reward challenge; they were instead told that the merge had officially begun.  After all the insincere hugs and kisses were exchanged, new black buffs were passed out to the competitors.  (BTW—you know Survivors really stink when they excitedly sniff an new article of clothing.)  Jeff then informed the remaining ten members that they were being sent away to celebrate their merge.  But before they left, he instilled them with a word of advice:  “The game never stops.”  The tribe was then directed to a long dining table where they were presented with an amazing feast and plenty of alcohol.  During and after the meal, they were also treated to cultural entertainment consisting of fireworks, dancers and acrobats. 

After the dinner, the tribe returned to camp and got to work on their new team name (‘Black Fighting Wind’) and flag.  They also got an unexpected visit from Jeff Probst.  Jeff had warned them to continue playing the game; now he was there there to see if they had heeded his advice.  For their first Individual Immunity Challenge, they had to test their own drunken memories.  Could they remember what the dancers were wearing on their feet?  Did they notice the color of the pole the acrobats climbed?  Although he believed he would lose, Frosti was awarded the first immunity necklace.  Despite his alcoholic haze, Frosti answered the most pop quiz question correctly.

Once the challenge was over, the tribe members scrambled to secure their overlapping alliances.  Peih-gee worked on getting a commitment from James; James told Todd and Amanda about the fake immunity idol; and Jean-Robert made Todd swear he wouldn’t screw him over.  Unfortunately for former Fei Long (and fortunately for former Zhan Hu), Courtney was still the wild card that could change the game.  Peih-gee was fully aware of her hatred toward Jean-Robert and was hoping they could take advantage of it.  She was also hoping that Frosti - Courtney’s new love interest - would vote their way as well.  In an attempt to win their former Zhan Hu teammate back, Jaime and Erik pulled Frosti aside and told him about the idol they supposedly discovered.  Since he had already seen a real one at that point,  he wasn’t sure whether to believe them or not.  What they had described to him sounded real.

Although Fei Long was prepared to send Jaime home, Jean-Robert almost managed to screw things up.  While at Tribal Council, Jean-Robert told Jeff he believed Courtney would go far in the game.  It was likely that more physical contenders like James or Jean-Robert would be knocked off first.  Unfortunately the comment seriously irked Courtney because she felt like he was setting her up for elimination.  And now that Courtney was mad, James was frustrated too.  Why would Jean-Robert encourage people to send his loud-mouth home?  Realizing there might be hope, Jaime then openly courted anyone from Fei Long to vote for someone they wanted to get rid of.

Before Jeff could read the final votes, he was interrupted (as expected) by Jaime.  CUE AWKWARD MOMENT NOW.  Believing she needed to save herself from elimination, Jaime handed him her version of the hidden immunity idol.  Unfortunately, the tile she had proudly hidden was promptly thrown into the fire.  (Apparently the real ones don’t burn.)  Needless to say, the members of Fei Long couldn’t hold back their laughter as she was then promptly kicked off.  LOSER: Jaime.

(You can review last week’s episode here.)
(You can read next week’s episode here.)