Survivor: Ba Bye, Judd!!

This had to be one of the best vote-offs ever!!! Loved it!!

EW:
Sniff, sniff. Do you smell something? No, it's not Stephenie passing gas, but rather the stench of betrayal. And it smells good. Damn good.

Look, Judd was pretty much asking for the boot. He acted like a big buffoon for the majority of the season. He traumatized poor Margaret, vomited all over the shelter, and said the word man approximately three times per sentence. But still, that was COLD! And who did him in? None other than his Garden State girl, Stephenie. One minute they're hanging out with their loved ones together; the next she's slitting his throat. That was some Sopranos-type action. I guess that's the way they do things in Jersey. (Of course, I live in Jersey and the only thing I've killed recently is a few cans of Milwaukee's Best.)

Actually, I really have to give Danni the credit for this one. She saw an opening when she heard Judd talking turkey with Lydia, and immediately went to Stephenie with it. Was Judd gonna flip on Steph? No. But it doesn't matter. The seed of doubt was planted.

Now don't get me wrong — it's not like I actually feel sorry for the guy (although he did provide a pretty classic line when he equated the joy he got from having his wife visit to ''eating 25 White Castle cheeseburgers...man.'' Wow, and I thought Steph had some problems with gas). But I do have to give Judd props for giving us one of the all-time best Tribal Council send-offs EVER. Instead of ''Good luck!'' or ''Nice one'' or ''Bye, ya'll,'' he busted out a little ''I hope you guys all get bit by a freakin' crocodile.'' (???) Oh, and then he called them scumbags approximately 367 times.

Of course, this was made even sweeter (and more inexplicable) by the fact that just moments earlier he was talking about how all this friendship stuff was a bunch of hooey and that ''Everybody wants somebody to go home. That's the bottom line. That's what we're here for.'' (Also inexplicable was his assertion after getting voted out that ''The one thing I didn't do is lie to anybody...man.'' Reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally? (Selective memory is awesome. I need to get me some of that.)

Speaking of selective memory, I was worried that I would be trying my hardest to forget the family visit portion of this episode, but it ended up not being quite as painful as usual. (Still painful, mind you, but a tad more tolerable.) The tears were relatively contained, and the segment was just tacked on to the end of the food auction challenge. I actually didn't even notice the family members come out at first because I was still so shaken up by hearing Jeff Probst inquire about Lydia's booty. (Watch out, Julie!) I still have no clue why no one else put up a fight against Danni in bidding for the immunity challenge envelope, though. A visit from a loved one is worth 880 bucks, yet help getting immunity is only good for 200? What the hell is that? How can you ever feel safe with only six players left? As evidenced by Judd, you can't.

And speaking of challenges, while I like the giant puzzle board challenge in theory, in practice it was pretty much impossible to follow and therefore completely drama-free. Much like a good portion of this season. Not last night, however, thanks to Jersey Judd. With Judd and Jamie now both on the jury, we should have some serious fireworks at the final T.C. This could be bad news for Stephenie, should she make it that far. They're more likely to feel betrayed by her than by anyone else out there. And they don't particularly seem like the type of chaps to put personal feelings aside and vote simply for who they feel played the best game.

As for who I'm rooting for, it would have to be Danni, who really showed me something this episode (something besides merely being hot, that is), and Rafe, who still looks like he's about to emotionally collapse at every turn, even when he's setting strategy and winning challenges. I would say he's climbed the top of my ladder, but well, you know how that goes with Rafe and ladders.

What do you think? Where does Judd's exit rank in the history of great Tribal Council send-offs? And should Danni try to form an alliance with Lydia and Cindy to take down Steph and Rafe?