It’s a good thing there weren’t any horses on the Nicaraguan beach where the cast of “Survivor” lived while filming the popular reality show.

Otherwise, Mainer Ashley Underwood might have found herself cuddling up to a bloody horse head one cold and rainy night.

Additional Photos

Boston Rob Mariano, left, Grant Mattos, and Maine’s Ashley Underwood are shown Wednesday during the ninth episode of “Survivor: Redemption Island.” Mariano expressed displeasure during the show about Underwood keeping a secret from him. Photo courtesy CBS-TV

Why? Underwood committed the great crime of not informing her ally, Boston Rob Mariano, that a member of the former Zapatera tribe had tried to flip her.

Natalie Tenerelli, supposedly a friend of Underwood’s, ran like a mobster moll to snitch to Boston Rob, who now has such complete control of the game that he is being called “the island godfather.”

Tenerelli told Boston Rob that she asked Underwood whether she was going to tell him what happened, “and she said no, he doesn’t need to know.”

It matters not one whit that Underwood stayed loyal to Boston Rob. He put a hit on her so quickly and quietly Wednesday night that even Underwood had no idea she had just been whacked from the game.

“Ashley, you could have made it to the end, but you decided not to tell me everything,” Boston Rob intoned to the camera.

The Ometepe and Zapatera tribes are supposed to be merged now, but the players stuck to their old tribal alliances again this week.

Wednesday’s episode began at Redemption Island, where the lovable but gullible Matt Elrod, Boston Rob’s last victim, struggled to understand how he ended up being voted off a second time.

“I feel like a moron,” he said.

The other Survivors were a little in awe of Boston Rob’s bold move getting Elrod out of the game again. “This was like a hit straight out of a mob movie,” concluded uber-smart lawyer David Murphy.

Boston Rob, a little freaked by the fact that Underwood was approached by the enemy, instituted a “buddy system.” No one in his alliance, the former Ometepe tribe, was allowed to talk to anyone from the former Zapatera tribe on their own.

The Ometepe tribe members — or, as Mike Chiesl called them, “the Mariano crime syndicate” — slept separately from the dwindling Zapatera folk, and ate their meals separately as well.

When Zapatera members caught a bunch of fish, Boston Rob wouldn’t allow his tribe to eat any of them because he didn’t want them accepting anything from their enemy.

With Underwood on the outs, Boston Rob began cozying up to Phillip Sheppard, who Boston Rob said was becoming “a loyal soldier.”

“I’m very happy that Phillip is obeying and doing what he’s told, and he’ll be rewarded for it,” Boston Rob said, “but he’s a little crazy.”

Crazy like a fox, maybe. Wednesday night, Sheppard did indeed act crazy again, saying a dead relative had come to him in a meditation to tell him that his tribe “shall live long in Survivor lore.” The rant was truly whack-a-doo, but Sheppard also began showing little signs that his behavior might all be an act to get him farther in the game.

There were two immunity challenges and two eliminations Wednesday. Grant Mattos won the first challenge, and at tribal council Mike Chiesl was voted off with the calm demeanor of a made man trying on a pair of cement shoes.

Underwood finally showed some of her athletic ability in the second immunity challenge, hanging upside down from some Survivor monkey bars until there were only herself and two other women left. She voluntarily dropped out in favor of one of her allies.

At tribal council, faster than Tony Soprano can dodge a bullet, Boston Rob and family sent David Murphy packing. 

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:
mgoad@pressherald.com

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