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3. The Black Widow Brigade blindsides Erik...after he wins immunity.
Quote: "My mother ALWAYS told me...You may not be able to beat them with these all the time (points to muscles), but you can ALWAYS beat 'em with this (points to brain). Sorry."
-Cirie Fields

Perhaps a more appropriate quote would have been "OMFG!!" or "CIRIEOWNAGE!!" from (pretty much) all of Sucks. I seriously considered making this number one, but then I realized I liked the next two too much. Also, although pretty much everyone will agree that this was mostly a result of Cirie's/Natalie's persuasions that Erik was in a bullshit alliance with them, the entire Black Widow Brigade (except Sea Hag) played some part in this. Going back a couple of days before said blindside, it became blatantly obvious that there was internal division in the alliance (see entry number 12, or whichever one involved the Sea Hag's blindside). In the beginning of the episode, Natalie attempted to lure Erik into an attempt to overthrow the favorites using the HII, but Erik ended up pissing off Natalie when he accepted Amanda's bogus offer of a challenge whore alliance. He took her on the reward and sent her closest ally to leave the "cursed HII" at Exile Island. This was Parvati's role. In order for this epic blindside to occur, someone other than Erik (preferably a favorite) had to be at Exile Island.

While on reward with him, Amanda began to ever so slightly mindfuck him by talking about how he needs to do shit and take action. This was her role. She carefully worked him into digging a deeper hole for himself. Meanwhile, Cirie and Natalie were back at camp where Natalie was pissed and Cirie was listening to Natalie about how he lied to her. After Erik and Amanda come back to camp, Natalie overhears a conversation between Erik and Cirie about how he wants the two of them plus Parvati to go to the end. The two girls report back to Amanda where she actually does something else significant by bringing up how Erik is telling everyone the same thing, thus leading to the whole "Redemption" bullshit. It's at this point where it really becomes clear that Erik is going home unless he wins immunity (although Parvati alludes to the fact that she, Amanda, and Cirie have the numbers regardless). So then Erik wins immunity.

Parvati comes back from Exile Island, and the other girls fill her in on Erik's inability to committ to a side and his lies. The four girls sit around and mope, knowing that one of them will for sure be going home since their common enemy was immune...and then Cirie pondered if there was any way to get him to give up his immunity. Naturally, no one actually thought it was possible. Natalie even told Cirie that she felt stupid listening to her. However, with the rest of the Black Widow Brigade's encouragement (and the knowledge that she was probalby going home if this failed) Natalie decided to give this a try. The alliance then made a plan. Natalie would go up to Erik and say that Cirie was considering splitting up the obvious twosome (Parvati and Amanda) at this last possible moment, but that she didn't trust him. The only way to gain Erik's trust back, in Cirie's mind, would be to have him give Natalie immunity.

And so Operation: Erik's Deimmunification went into effect. Natalie and Cirie began to act. While at first Erik said he would never give up immunity, Natalie began to convince him that he needed some sort of redemption and that he would never win in a jury vote with the Black Widow Brigade dominating the jury. Cirie then started telling him that she wanted to go with him, but that she knew he lied to all the girls (and that he knew that too), so Cirie would need some sort of action, or proof, that Erik would be with her. Eventually, Erik began to consider this plan more. Cirie/Natalie began to use the logic that he'd have to keep relying on immunity or he could accept their deal tonight, and with that kind of thinking, I see why Erik ended up giving up immunity.

However, all he has to do is really think about it and realize that there's no way this could be any good for him. If he doesn't give up immunity, then Natalie goes home. She was acting in desperation--to save her own ass. Cirie was going to the end barring any immunity wins, but the fact was that Erik was a huge immunity threat. There's a very good chance that he would win the F4IC, meaning that Cirie would be in fourth place. At this point, Erik may have been thinking why not just separate the top of the totem pole, Parvmanda? But the fact is, Cirie didn't want to do that. Maybe Natalie did, but at that point in the game she did not have the numbers to do that. She was acting purely to save herself. What Erik failed to realize is that she was just doing some last minute scrambling (and some of the best in Survivor history). Now with Cirie, Erik should have realized that the best move for her would be to get rid of the biggest challenge threat so she doens't have to worry about losing her F3 spot (at the F4, Parvmanda won't vote each other out, and if the fourth person won immunity, then Cirie would be fucked). Cirie didn't care about getting to the F2 because they all still thought it was F3 vs. jury. As long as Cirie could get to the finals with Parvati and Amanda (all of their intentions) then she stands a very good shot at winning (which was changed with the switch to a F2).

So if Erik really thought about it, he should have been able to see that there was no way he should have given up immunity. His best shot at that point was probably to keep winning (which wouldn't be impossible, seeing as he was a huge threat) or to possibly do some damage with the F4, which may have been easier with the switch to a final two. You all know what happened at TC. Amanda trashed him (again) and the other girls didn't help him much. Cirie talked about how redemption was definitely a possibility but that actions speak louder than words. To the "WTF" reaction of everyone watching, Erik proceeded to hand the immunity necklace to Natalie and was promptly voted out, unanimously. He certainly should have known better, but no one can deny what skill it took to pull this off.

CatLurvesDorothy wrote:

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Quote SHOULD be

"I don't even know what to say... but... thank you."
-- Catalie

Funny you should say that because I changed the quote from that to Cirie's confessional. However, I don't think either of those quotes could capture what an OMFG moment this was.