J.T. on ‘Survivor’: Small soldiers

‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains,’ episode 7 recap

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What fools these Survivors be.

The April Fools’ Day edition of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains” has little in the way of pranks, misdirection or jokes. Instead, we see our Hero underdogs fight to stay alive, and our Villains sharpen their knives.

James “J.T.” Thomas Jr. of Mobile looks to bond these last five Heroes together, or face oblivion. Meanwhile, the Villains continue their infighting between alpha males Russell Hantz and “Boston Rob” Mariano.

Who got his groove back? Which power couple struggled with each other? And which fool fooled another fool? Find out, after the jump …

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - Russell Hantz, Rob Mariano

R&R: Russell and Boston Rob are ready to rumble.

Won’t be fooled again: Boston Rob is stunned, blindsided without going home. Russell outfoxed him at Tribal Council, sending home Boston Rob’s ally.

Nor can he believe that Russell’s alliance of three can be so cocky as Boston Rob has his own alliance of five. They’re tight, right? Right??

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - James J.T. Thomas Jr., Rob Mariano

Running the rapids: J.T. outdistances Boston Rob.

Reward challenge: Colby Donaldson of the Heroes has been on the bubble, given his mediocre performance at challenges and dwindling allies. Can he finally step up?

Tribes compete three-on-three at full-contact ocean basketball. (We first saw this challenge during the second episode of J.T.’s season.) First tribe to 3 points wins a lunch feast at a picturesque waterfall.

It’s no contest, as Colby sums up: “We dropped the hammer on the Villains.” The Heroes blank the Villains 3-0, with Colby netting two points.

Included among the dishes is a clue to a new hidden immunity idol. J.T. suggests they find it together when they return to camp, and use it as a group weapon against the Villains.

Wow. Real strategy 16 days in. The five Heroes may yet become the united fist of doom.

Video: The Heroes look anyway.
And J.T.’s true colors are revealed.

Immunity challenge: Teams race across an obstacle course to retrieve bags. Once they have all six bags, they solve a puzzle with the pieces inside.

Video: The immunity challenge.

The Villains jump to an early lead, until Candice Woodcock of the Heroes surges past Courtney Yates of the Villains. J.T. and Amanda Kimmel have a slight head start over Boston Rob and Sandra Diaz-Twine in starting the puzzles.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - James J.T. Thomas Jr., Amanda Kimmel

It’s in the bag: J.T. and Amanda solve the Heroes’ puzzle.

But despite their numerous failures at past puzzles, the Heroes pull it together to win immunity. For the first time in four episodes, they skip Tribal Council.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - Courtney Yates, Sandra Diaz-Twine

Yeah, that happened: Courtney styles Sandra’s hair.

These foolish games: Russell tells Boston Rob he wants to take out the weakest member, either Courtney or Sandra, and he does so to their face. But it turns out to be a ploy, as once again he guns for Boston Rob.

And vice versa.

On one side, it’s Russell, Parvati Shallow and Danielle DiLorenzo. On the other side, it’s Boston Rob, Courtney and Sandra.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - Ben Wade, Jerri Manthey

Whichever way the wind blows:
Coach and Jerri struggle over the vote.

And apparently in the middle, “Coach” Ben Wade and Jerri Manthey, who till now had been Team Boston Rob.

Jerri decides to help Russell, but Coach can’t decide between his loyalties to Russell or Boston Rob. Jerri confides that Coach is naive and can’t win by trying to be the good guy.

Uh oh, the dragonslayer is becoming the dragonslayee. Or well, you get the drift.

Voted out: At Tribal Council, Coach pleads with Boston Rob and Russell to unite to save the tribe. Nothing doing.

Coach cops out, casting the lone vote for Courtney. And it ends up costing one of his allies dearly.

In the end, Boston Rob, the former construction foreman and serial reality star, got the boot, four votes to three for Russell. Boston Rob and Jerri share a quick hug, but when Coach comes over to snuggle, Rob dismisses him with “You’re a little man.”

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains - Rob Mariano