Survivor began tribe switches when it started to seem as if the alternative was several weeks of predictable eliminations, as alliances solidified. The switch came a bit earlier this season than usual, after the third elimination, and was accompanied by an innovation that served to give information to those picking the new tribes: a ranking system that worked to identify outcasts in the existing tribes. This knowledge ended up factoring into one relatively friendless player getting a new lease on life, and the departure of someone who seemed to be sitting very pretty at the start of the hour.

The hour began with an examination of life at the Fang tribe, where two straight victories had apparently not done much to lighten the mood. Randy continued to insist that Fang was squandering its rice by eating three meals a day, and making little headway with a group led by non-leader GC. Randy, Matty, Dan, and Susie decided to ally, mostly out of a shared desire to rid the tribe of GC's uselessness. Over at Kota, unity was still the order of the day despite a first trip to tribal council; all seemed to agree that Kelly would be leaving next, a status she was well aware of.

But all this planning was rendered obsolete, ten days into the game. The tribes came together for what looked like a challenge, and found a series of pedestals of varying heights. The tribe members were then told to rank their mates from most valuable to least, marking secret ballots. The results weren't too surprising, with the physically strong men tending to wind up near the top, the women in strong alliances near the middle, and unaligned women at the bottom. GC got the message of how the rest of Fang saw him: he was ranked sixth in a seven-person tribe.

Jeff Probst then lowered the boom: new tribes would be picked, with the MVP's (Marcus from Kota and Matty from Fang) getting to choose someone from the opposite tribe for their new tribe, with the selections then alternating so that everyone had to choose someone who had originally been on the other tribe. The end result was that most of the major alliances and pairings we had seen to this point stayed together. But Randy, Dan, and Susie were now part of Kota, going from a four-person (with Matty) majority in Fang to a three-person minority in Kota. The "onion alliance" at Kota lost Jacquie to Fang, but kept fifth wheel Bob and thus still had a majority.

The more interesting political situation developed over at the new Fang, where Crystal, GC, and Ken suddenly had improved prospects, with most of their old antagonists gone. Matty would now almost be forced to work with this trio who he had previously been willing to marginalize. The old Fang members quickly realized that their new mates from Kota weren't totally on the same page, and that Kelly was looking for allies against her nemesis Ace.

Over at Kota, the new members of Fang appreciated the mellower vibe and the somewhat better living conditions, but were mindful of their minority status. Prior to the immunity challenge, Randy, with the sense of humor that has endeared him to America, announced to the rest of Kota, "I will do my best despite hating each and every one of you." Marcus expressed skepticism that Randy would be of much use in the challenge, but he turned out to be one of the few people who knew what he was doing. The game called for the tribes to maneuver around in clumsy rafts, try to scoop up a ball with what looked like a lacrosse stick, and advance the ball by passing until a goal was scored. The competition amounted to Ace, Matty, and Jacquie as the only members of Fang who could so much as move, while Marcus whipped the ball to Randy three straight times for goals. Probst, always at his most entertaining when he's unloading on a tribe for total ineptitude, let Fang have it with both battles.

Fang returned to camp with its original four members having a decision to make: since Ace was deemed too physically strong to dispense with at this stage, they had to choose between voting out Kelly, a weak player both physically and politically; or Jacquie, a better performer in challenges but apparently better connected to Ace. Another factor came into play here as well: the status of Sugar.

After discovering the individual immunity idol last time around, Sugar was sent back into exile this week by virtue of being the sole person not chosen in the tribal pick 'em. She was told that she would be rejoining the tribe that lost the next immunity challenge, and spent her time alone using the "comfort" option, chowing down on fruit and lazing in the hammock. But back at Fang, the possibility that Sugar would be coming back to them with the immunity idol was on the minds of the others. Sugar might be likely to help out Jacquie with the idol, it was reasoned, but probably not Kelly, since it had been established no one liked her.

Once Jacquie realized she was in trouble, she tried to turn attention back to Kelly's challenge lameness and insisted (truthfully, as it happened) that she had no alliance with Ace and Sugar. Kelly didn't help matters at tribal council when she called out several others -- the same people who held her fate in their hands -- for being every bit as bad in the immunity challenge as she had been. But in the end, the original Fang four judged that Jacquie was too closely tied to Ace and Sugar to keep around, and they joined Kelly in voting her out. So the woman who seemed so sure of her tribe's invincibility in the first week wound up on a different tribe and out of the game two weeks later.

Kota has had a little bad luck in that they have dominated challenges so far, but still have the same seven players at Fang. Still, Kota appears to have come out ahead talent-wise in the tribal swap, and ought to be able to extend its winning streak. But you never know. Right, Jacquie?

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