We’re down to ten on Survivor: Exile Island, and you know what that means – it’s time for a merge.

Now, if you’ve watched any season of Survivor, you know what happens when the tribes merge with uneven numbers. The tribe that has the number advantage always thinks that they are going to sail through. And they are almost never right. Even if one or two of them gets picked off, it’s unlikely that they really will all get picked off one by one. Don’t you remember last season in Guatemala? Dani ended up winning it all, even though she came into the merge seriously outnumbered. So it’s no surprise that the six members of Casaya are overly cocky (and they are really cocky – having a meeting to decide who to vote for might come back to haunt them…remember, there is a jury…); but I won’t be shocked when the numbers flip on them either.

The thing I am surprised about is how the tribes merged. To just have one tribe pack up and move to the other beach doesn’t help the situation with one tribe feeling like they are in power. And why did they pick Casaya beach? It seemed like camp at La Mina was a lot nicer.

So as soon as the “merger feast” (which, by the way, the contestants from Guatemala have got to be upset about, since they didn’t get one), the scrambling by La Mina began. Trying to get Bruce to flip was an easy move. But I’m surprised that they went for Shane and Cirie as well. It would have seemed like an easier move to try and get the girls to hook back up with Sally to vote out Shane.

Speaking of Bruce, nice hit with the machete. I don't know why his face was down there while Nick was cutting the rope, but he's really lucky that it just hit his tooth. And I guess that the scene that they showed us with someone being evacuated isn't until later. Drat.

The other thing I was really surprised about was the immunity challenge. It would have made much more sense for Terry to not win it. If Nick or Austin would have won, then the votes would have gone for Terry. (and a side note – did you see Nick’s abs as they were getting ready to leave for Casaya? Oh my goodness…) There’s a chance that Bruce wouldn’t have voted for Terry. But if he had, and the La Mina members had voted for Shane, then Terry could have pulled out the Immunity Idol, and Shane would have been gone. I think that it would get him further in the long run. I did think for about 4 seconds that maybe Terry would give the Idol to Nick, but in the end Nick is the last survivor voted out without getting on the jury.