Survivor Guatemala: week 13

Considering how relieved everyone was after Jamie got voted out it's just surprising that it took them so long to get rid of Judd. The jaunty xylophone background music matched the new goofy and "slightly dorkier" (according to Rafe) ambience now that Mister Mood Swing has been relegated to the Jury. Lydia says Rafe is just one of the girls. Rafe prefers to think of them as his 'angels'. Either way they're all a bit shocked that the most challenging, physical Survivor ever has come down to four women and a gay man.

We were spared the crappy tree mail poem about the reward challenge this week. Instead the mail box just contained a set of car keys. The car reward has been a feature at this late stage of the game since the first series' ratings success left Detroit's finest tripping over themselves for a share of the product placement opportunities. This season it was a Pontiac Torrent that had everyone drooling and dreaming.

The challenge was a rehash of elements of previous challenges, including balancing while untying things, throwing war clubs to break tiles, arranging puzzle pieces to form a Maya astral calendar and rolling down the hill in a mine cart. As well as the car the winner got an overnight stay, BBQ, and in yet another reference to previous challenges the company of a real life archaeologist (who, for the record, looked absolutely nothing like Harrison Ford).

Cindy just pipped Stephanie at the winner's post, and got the car (sorry, the Pontiac Torrent). Naturally she got to choose someone to go on the reward with her, which is always tricky politically. She stuck to her past safe pattern of picking the runner up, but not before having to make an agonising choice. Jeff pointed out that in nine previous series, the winner of the car challenge has never gone on to win the million dollars. She had the option to possibly break the curse by giving up her Pontiac Torrent and letting the other four all get a Pontiac Torrent each instead. In the end she rationalised that the car isn't the curse, it's being a strong competitor, and that giving the others a car wouldn't guarantee her safety and might just leave her with nothing, so she kept the Pontiac Torrent for herself. I'm sure the fact the others hadn't told her they'd all decided to suddenly vote out Judd instead of Lydia - which pretty much proved she's on the outer edges of her alliance, and hadn't gone down well - had nothing at all to do with her decision.

There were two distinct reactions to Cindy's decision among the other four. Stephanie and Lydia both applauded, agreed with her decision and were happy for her. Rafe and Danni were stunned that she hadn't shared, and it showed on their faces and was the topic of much discussion between them back at camp. The result was a firm promise between Danni and Rafe to take each other through to the final three, but Danni sounds like she still isn't confident enough that she's completely shattered the old Yaxhá alliance yet, and Rafe might be a little too nice in trusting her so completely.

Meanwhile, after several minutes of footage showing how much fun it is to drive a Pontiac Torrent, Cindy and Stephanie arrived at the archaeologist's camp and their BBQ. Sure they cooked steak and sausages, but why on earth did they cook the corn on the cob? Have they not had enough corn to last a lifetime? Was there not more than enough other food?

Cindy's lapse of good judgement continued back at camp, where she spent what was edited to look like hours rabbiting on about her Pontiac Torrent, and how nice it is to drive, and how good the suspension is, and how much she liked the shape of the tail lights. She was convinced that nobody at camp seemed to have any qualms about her winning the car. Well, they might not have when she first arrived back, but they sure did by the time she'd finished rubbing it in.

The immunity challenge was also a rehash of previous challenge elements. Survivors were tied to a rope, then shackled at the hands and feet and given a set of ten keys which they had to use to undo locks at various stages through the course, and free up enough rope to reach the finish line. Stephanie managed to win her first ever individual immunity challenge, and I suspect it's her first ever individual challenge win at all. Either way she was so happy she burst into tears, and we got our first glimpse of the old Stephanie from Palau, not the angry, power-hungry bully we've had this season.

The afternoon's politicking reached a new level of frenzy back at camp. Cindy pushed to vote out Rafe as the biggest threat, because he's won both mental and physical challenges. Danni pushed to vote out Cindy as the biggest threat, because she's never betrayed anyone and would be too tough to beat in the final two as a result. Stephanie worried about breaking yet another alliance and once again voting out the person who had just shared their reward. Lydia kept her head down.

At Tribal Council, Bobby Jon was resplendent in a pink shirt and Judd looked clean and clean-shaven for a change but still exceedingly cross. He seemed delighted when Cindy was voted out 4-1, which is strange considering she was the only one not to vote for him the week before. Perhaps he was just admiring her style when she farewelled the others with the words, "I'll think about you guys while I’m watching the stars through the sunroof of my new car."

Remember that the final is on TV this Monday night at 8.30pm. We'll get to see who's in the final three, the jury interview (always good for a laugh), the results and the cheesy reunion. We should also get a preview of where the next series is being filmed, and perhaps even a hint as to who the new host will be now that Jeff is hanging up his cargo shorts. I just want to see Jeff and Phil Keoghan from The Amazing Race in tuxedos presenting an award at the Emmys one more time. Grrrrrrlllll!