Expectations

Expectations is the eighth episode of.

Night 18
The Villains return to their camp after having voted Boston Rob out of the game. Russell, Parvati and Danielle have a laugh about the fun of blindsiding people and celebrate their new found majority status on the Villains tribe. Russell celebrates the exit of his nemesis, Rob, while Parvati and Danielle agree and say that he deserved to get eliminated. "villains"

- Boston Rob was after me, and you know what? I just won. Big time Boston Rob the super all star, he ain't nothing on me. I'm in control of this game and I'll take care of all of 'em one at a time. This is Russell Hantz and if you ain't with me, you against me.

Meanwhile, a disappointed Coach fumes at the fact that Rob was sent home and talks to Jerri who defends herself from Coach but still harbors some doubts and hopes that she made the right choice in voting out Boston Rob. "villains"

- I feel like Jerri made a big mistake by aligning with Russell. Now I'm forced to go that direction and I feel at this point that it's an alliance based on lies. The Villains are in the crapper. I don't think we'll win another challenge. We're done. We're toast. Pray for the merge.

Day 19
At the Heroes camp, J.T. goes out to look for the hidden immunity idol that the tribe agreed to find as a group at the previous reward. Despite that promise, J.T. plans on keeping the idol for himself. "heroes"

- The Hero tribe had plans to look for the hidden immunity idol as a group but the best thing for me is to know where it's at. This is Survivor and you don't know what the other people are thinking around here.

J.T. successfully finds the idol near a stream and initially plans on keeping it to himself, but he is quickly discovered by Amanda and Candice, forcing him to go with a cover story that he really was looking for it so the whole tribe could use it. J.T. then heads back to camp to reveal it to the others before getting ratted out. "heroes"

- Immediately after I found it I was like I better get out of here because I wasn't sure if I was going to tell anybody and before I could even move Amanda walked up and I'm like well I'll show her. Then immediately Candice walks up so I decided if I come clean our tribe will come together.

Amanda and Candice talk about their luck in discovering J.T. just as he found the idol since they both have reservations about him. Both women question whether or not they can trust J.T. and agree to stick together and watch the other's back. "heroes"

- J.T. found the hidden immunity idol which is not great in my book. J.T.'s the slimiest guy out here. He's running the tribe, he's got a best friend interest with everybody and every vote he's been the one going back and forth and everyone goes to him wondering 'which way is J.T. going to go?' It would be in Amanda's best interest to work with me to get rid of him and the idol, or get rid of the idol. Either way, J.T. is dangerous.

At the Villains camp that same morning, the villains are literally starving and become convinced by the tree mail clue to the next challenge that there will be a merge and a feast, so the Villains pack up all of their things and take them to the challenge with them. However, once the Villains show up and explain why they brought all their things, Jeff tells the Villains they are wrong and no merge takes place. The tribes will only play in a reward challenge for a food reward. Upon seeing that Boston Rob was voted out at the last Villains tribal council, the Heroes tribe is left in shock. Rupert comments that a women's alliance might be in charge of the Villains tribe, a sentiment shared by several of the other Heroes. J.T. whispers across to Russell to hang in there, which Russell plays into. "villains"

- When I found out that the Hero tribe thinks this is an all girl alliance, they're making a huge mistake because there is no girl alliance. Rob got voted out because of ME, but now if we merge the Hero tribe will let me know whoever they're voting for if they think I'm the one who flopped. Why wouldn't I flop if I were in trouble? I'm like 'help!'

As the Villains decide who to sit out for the challenge, Coach persuades the tribe to sit out Sandra and Courtney, the tribe's two perceived weakest players, so that they can win the reward challenge and eat. Parvati tries to get Coach to consider that this will then mean that Courtney and Sandra will have to play in the immunity challenge, but Coach goes ahead and announces to Jeff that Sandra and Courtney are the sit outs from the Villains tribe. Despite trying to put their strongest competitors forward, the Villains still lose the bowling competition and the Heroes get to enjoy the feast. Over the meal, the Heroes discuss the future of their tribe and also the ramifications of Boston Rob being voted out, the person the Heroes felt was the strongest competitor on the Villains. They theorize that there must be an all girls alliance on the Villains taking out the strong guys. "heroes"

- I mean I don't want to jinx us here but we're on a little bit of a roll, but the Villains still have the numbers so in our minds we're still catching up and we don't want to get overconfident, we want to keep it going.

"heroes"

- The moment Boston Rob left the game I knew the guys were not in control because he was their best competitor. So it's obvious, there's an all women alliance over there. Now Coach and Russell are on the outs over there, they're sitting ducks. If we merge right now we got them on our side in a heartbeat, so right now we just stick to our plan and keep dominating, if they keep losing we got them on their heels.

The Villains return to camp despondent at not only their loss at the reward but with now having to reassemble their camp since they took everything down thinking there would be a merge. Jerri is frustrated with her tribe for assuming the merge would take place meaning they now have to work to rebuild everything. "villains"

- Every single person on this team is an idiot. I'm furious, this whole stupid thing about packing up the whole camp just assuming there's going to be a merge -- are you kidding me!? Voting off Rob was a big mistake, he would have made sure that Sandra and Courtney did not sit out today and that we would have strong people in the immunity challenge.

Tensions also start to flare around camp about the bad decision made to sit out Sandra and Courtney at the reward challenge, and for Sandra and Courtney's apathy towards the challenges. This leads to a shouting match between Sandra and Jerri, Danielle, and Russell. "villains"

- The worst tribe ever put together is the Villains tribe. I should not even be here, I should be with the Heroes 'cause I can't stand Jerri, I hate Coach, I hate Danielle, I hate Russell even more. So any of those four, I'm not going to pick one above the other because I equally hate them all.

Meeting together later in the jungle, Courtney and Sandra talk about being on the bottom of the tribe after the ousting of Tyson and Boston Rob. Sandra suggests a plan for getting revenge on Coach for not standing with them to keep Boston Rob. Her plan is to convince Russell that Coach is plotting to vote him out of the game. Courtney agrees with the plan in hopes to keep both Sandra and herself in the game. "villains"

- I'll be like 'Hey Russell, Coach wants you gone' and I bet you Russell will believe me and get rid of Coach and me and Courtney will be saved again.

Day 20
Coach briefly talks with Courtney on the beach about being disappointed that both his friends Tyson and Rob are gone and that he's now been forced to play his game along with Russell. Courtney tells him that it's all just a game and she knows she's on the bottom of the tribe, and Coach walks off. Russell and Sandra watch the conversation from a different point down the beach and Sandra begins to work on her plan to fool Russell. Sandra tells Russell that Coach said to her that voting out Rob was a mistake and that now he was going to try to get Russell out in revenge. Russell completely believes Sandra's story that Coach is planning to flip and work against him and tells Sandra that he can't trust Coach at all anymore. "villains"

- I told Russell that Coach was thinking about voting for him and Russell is so stupid he ate that crap up like 'Oh my god I can't trust him and the sooner he goes the better.' So Russell, he don't know how to play this game, yeah he's done good so far but with me he don't know what he got himself into.

Russell goes to talk with Parvati about Coach's supposed betrayal of him. Parvati is surprised at the news but they both agree that if they do send Coach home that the Heroes will then have no doubt that there is an all girl alliance and that the Villains will be able to use that to their advantage at the merge.

Day 21
The immunity challenge goes poorly for the Villains, during the first heat, Sandra slows down Russell considerably and the Heroes easily claim victory. Coach runs against Rupert in the second heat and is able to win a point for the Villains with a decent margin, but on the final heat, once again Courtney slows down her team by twisting her ankle and performing poorly. The Heroes easily claim the final point in a blowout and win immunity. After losing the immunity challenge, the Villains prepare for their next tribal council. Despite Coach's numerous personal grievances with his alliance, he decides that he must keep the tribe strong and vote out Courtney, which he confirms with Russell. "villains"

- We're going to tribal, and part of me says I ought to just get rid of Russell tonight. He's knocked out both of my best friends in this game but the way we're losing challenges, to keep one of the weaker girls and get rid of Russell, it might be a mistake. So I guess I'm going to stay with the forced five alliance and vote out Courtney, who is the weakest link.

Unbeknownst to Coach, Russell has wholeheartedly believed Sandra's earlier lies and plans to vote him out instead. "villains"

- Coach -- Sandra said he wants me gone NOW. But I have the power in this game, I send home who I want to send home. I've already talked to Parvati and she's really on board with voting for Coach. And Sandra and Courtney, I think they'll put Coach's name down for sure. So Coach - the big Coach man, the Dragonslayer, he's going home tonight.

As Russell gathers up votes to get rid of Coach, Danielle disagrees, believing that Coach's physical strength will be needed to help the Villains win another challenge, or at least give them a chance at winning one. Danielle thinks keeping Courtney or Sandra around will only keep the tribe weak and cause them to go back to tribal council again. Russell counters her by saying the Villains are already losing even with Coach still around. Russell and Danielle's argument devolves into shouting and name calling before Russell finally walks off in anger. "villains"

- I think it's really stupid to get rid of another strong player. I mean Courtney and Sandra can't do anything in the challenges, they've proved that to us a million times over. Courtney was just... pathetic and I think we have a shot at least with Coach. So I threw that out there and Russell freaked out and screamed at me because he's just so in control of this game and everything has to go the way he wants it to go. So as of right now I'm up in the air and I really have to think about what I want to do.

Danielle's argument with Russell is heard by Sandra who hopes her bug in Russell's ear about Coach wanting him out is working, otherwise her ally Courtney will go home. Later on though, Russell approaches Danielle and Parvati and says that he has reconsidered and agrees that he now might be willing to vote off Courtney since they can send Coach home anytime they want. "villains"

- It's absurd. First Russell wants to vote out Coach, and then all of a sudden he wants to vote Courtney. Jeez! This tribe cannot get it's act together, that's a problem. We can't make a decision as a cohesive unit to save our lives.

The majority Villains alliance eventually makes a decision and gets ready to go to tribal council. "villains"

- Hopefully we all come together and vote out the Dragonslayer but who knows? They might still get together and say let's get out the weakest and target me and vote me off. You never know what's going to happen between now and when the sun goes down.

At tribal council, the back to back blindsides of Tyson and Boston Rob are brought up in regards to the Villains subsequent failure in the challenges. Jeff Probst talks about the tribe's remaining strength and that Coach was the only one to score a point at the immunity challenge. Courtney's weakness in challenges compared to the two men who had been blindsided is also discussed, but Courtney defends herself by saying she was not a part of the decision to eliminate either man and she would have wanted them both still in the game. Courtney goes on to blame the tribe's failure at the immunity challenge as a result of Coach's poor decision making when choosing who to compete at the reward challenge. She also blames Coach for demoralizing the tribe, Coach disagrees with her and says that he isn't making unilateral decisions for the tribe. Coach says that he is absolutely not responsible for demoralizing the tribe. The possibility of the merge is also discussed. When the time comes to vote, Russell's alliance decides to vote to eliminate Coach from the game, while Jerri is left out of the loop due to her relationship with Coach. Ultimately, Sandra's plan to save Courtney comes to fruition and Coach is blindsided in a 4–3 vote.

Reward
Challenge: Fauxconut Bowling

The castaways would be compete in a bowling tournament. Each castaway would be matched against another castaway and given two rolls. The castaway who knocked down the most pins won the round for their tribe and scored one point. The first tribe to score three points won.

Reward: A feast of pizza, garlic bread, brownies, and drinks

Winner: Heroes

Immunity
Challenge: Mud Slide

Competing in rounds, two castaways from each tribe would be belted together and would have to race across a mud pit and over obstacles to retrieve a flag to score a point for their tribe. The second round would be a one-on-one competition, while the third round would be back to two-on-two. The first tribe to score two points would win.

Winner: Heroes

Voting Confessionals
"villains"

- Courtney, you are the sorceress, your time on this game has ended. It's time to join The Wizard.

"villains"

- I did not want to do this, but you told Russell that you were going to pull Russell with J.T. and Rupert. You've said it the last three days, I have no reason to trust you. Sorry.

"villains"

- Coach, you sat there this afternoon talking about trust and alliance. Where were you at last Tribal Council when we trusted you and you were in our alliance and you were supposed to help us get rid of Russell, so for that you have to pay? Adios. Sorry.

"villains"

- Courtney, I'm going to miss you terribly around camp, your stories that make me laugh and your morale boosting, but I do look forward to hanging out with you in New York like we promised we would do, so take it easy.

"villains"

- You're a frigging lunatic, I don't even care which one of us goes, I'm just glad I don't have to live with you anymore. Nice feather in your f****** hair.

"villains"

- This is supposed to be a vote that I just throw off, I hope it works.

"villains"

- What do they call the girl who slayed the Dragonslayer? I don't know, why don't you go home, do some Tai Chi, think about it, and get back to me on that one? Bye.

Final Words
"villains"

- I never thought that I would be going out so soon. I had so much that I wanted to accomplish and so much that I wanted to prove and redeem. I'm exhausted and still in a state of shock. I am probably more pissed off than I have been in a number of years. And you know I really am not a very vindictive person, but I hope they get wiped off the face of the map.

Trivia

 * In his voting confessional, Coach stated: "Courtney, you are the sorceress, your time on this game has ended. It's time to join The Wizard." This could been a reference to his former castmate Stephen Fishbach, whom he nicknamed "The Wizard." Stephen was also Courtney's boyfriend at that time.
 * After this episode, Russell is the only remaining male member of the Villains tribe.
 * The reward challenge is the same challenge used during the first Immunity Challenge in Damage Control.
 * The immunity challenge is the same challenge used during the Reward Challenge in Eating and Sleeping with the Enemy.
 * This episode marks the first time in Russell Hantz' Survivor career that the person he voted for at Tribal Council was not voted out of the game.
 * This is a rare occurrence in a quote from Jeff Probst this episode becomes the title of the episode. Usually a quote from one of the remaining contestants is chosen as the episode title.

Behind the Scenes

 * On day 19, Coach has a secret scene where he goes and tries to bond with Russell. Russell wants to have a ceremony and receive a cross from Coach to solidify their bond as Christian men. Coach gives Russell the cross and says that with the cross, they can never lie to one another and now have an unbreakable bond together. In a confessional, Russell mocks Coach and his eccentric behaviors but says that since he is a king, having a dragonslayer on his side is a perfect match. The ceremony means a lot to Coach and he expects good things to come from the alliance. The cross that Coach gives Russell is used later in the game by Russell when he swears on it while making a final three deal with Rupert and Colby.

Life at Ponderosa
As Coach walks to the car to take him to Ponderosa, he complains about the Villains tribe being lazy and dysfunctional. Checking in with his weight, it's revealed that Coach lost 22 pounds in 21 days. Coach checks in at Ponderosa and looks in the mirror for the first time to view his appearance before enjoying a high quality meal prepared by the resort chef, Russell, who Coach dubs "the good Russell".

The next day Coach explores around Ponderosa to try to find understanding and meaning from the disappointment of being voted off. Coach continues to reflect and meditate on life for the rest of the day. Returning to the resort, Coach eats more before going to a punching bag which he imagines is Russell, and later he cools down and relaxes.

Coach sets up the Ponderosa flag and prepares to go to the next tribal council, styling himself to look like a samurai.

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