THE PLAYERS
Brian, Clay, Helen, Jake, Jan, Ken, Penny, Ted
THE JURY
Erin
THE LOSERS
John, Tanya, Jed, Ghandia, Stephanie, Robb, Shii Ann
Well, well, well. For all their Boo-Hoo-Hooing, for all their “Oh Woe is us-ing”, for all their “We lost 4 immunities in a row.” All, it seems, was not so hunky-dory for the last four Sucky Jivers after all.
There was back-stabbing going on to the very bitter end. At least as far as Erin was concerned.
During her early show interview, Erin stated that, as far as she had been told, the deal was that the three Texans (Jake, Penny, and Erin) would vote out the New Yorker – Ken. She went on to say, “I will have a few words with Jake and Penny after everything is said and done.” And, “They have to live with the fact that they lied to me.”
Well, I guess we know who WONT be getting Erin’s vote. Assuming of course, Jake or Penny makes it to the final two.
Anyway, I know that ya’ll are just chomping at the bit to discuss the new buffs so….Here are:
Yep! I said NEW BUFFS!
It appears as if we will get our MERGE after all.
From the promos, it appears the two tribes are called together to “view videos from home.”
My guess is that they each are given just “a sneak peak” of their loved one’s video.
If you notice Ted, Jan, Helen, and Clay are wearing their “old” red buffs. Also, take note that Ted is wearing a “sleeveless” blue shirt.
And then Jeff P. drops the bomb shell, telling them they are now merged and proceeds to hand out new buffs. He then informs them that this is an “Individual” Reward Challenge and the winner will get to view his/her entire video from home. This reward challenge will be in the form of an obstacle course.
These vidcaps show the Reward Challenge and Ted, with his new gold buff and the same sleeveless blue shirt.
While these vidcaps show others sporting their new snazzy gold buffs.
I think that Brian wins the Reward Challenge and gets to view the video from his wife.
He makes the comment “She's a little crazy,” as all the castaways see his wife’s antics on screen.
Helen sees “new cars” in his driveway and makes the snide comment “This guy doesn't need the money, that would be enough to vote him off.”
You know Helen, it’s asinine comments like this that gives the rest of us federal employees a bad name.
Besides, Brian has already told them that he is a Used Car Salesman. (snicker, snicker) Anyway, I would expect new (or at least new looking) cars to appear in his driveway quite frequently. That’s one of the perks of working at a car dealership. You get to take the inventory home from time to time. (Or so I’m told.)
Anyway, the next vidcap shows Ted in a different shirt. (A black long sleeve shirt this time.) 
This leads me to believe that the castaways are now assembled later that same day for the immunity challenge, which I tend to think will be a survivor – family back home question and answer match-up. (Like they did in Africa.)
From the big smile on Jan’s face, I tend to think that she has won the immunity challenge.
Finally, I predict that at the end of Tribal council, Ken will be joining Erin on the Jury.
The final proof that the merge happens this week. Next week’s episode description in TVGuide online states: “One contestant wins a trip to the mainland and offends a friend by choosing someone else as a traveling companion. A 10th person is voted off the island.”
I think this proof speaks for itself.
Now for some additional information.
Since Thanksgiving is November 28th, CBS has decided to move Survivor to Wednesday, November 27th. This however, will not be a normal episode. Instead, this episode will be a “re-cap” of what has happened in Thailand up to now. With new footage! (Yeah, that’s what they said last season, and the season before that, and the season before that.)
Also, it has been confirmed that the final Survivor; Thailand episode will air December 19th.
So, short and sweet: The merge occurs, Brian wins reward challenge, Jan wins immunity, and Ken gets booted.
Well, enjoy the show and I’ll be back tomorrow with my re-cap.
Bye for now, 
