Survivor: Redemption Island eliminated contestant Kristina Kell from the game after she lost the season's third Redemption Island duel to Matt Elrod during Wednesday night's broadcast of the fifth episode of the CBS reality series' 22nd edition.

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"Kristina, you don't want to hear it. Your shot at redemption is over. Put your buff in the urn on your way out," Survivor host Jeff Probst told Kristina, who had arrived at Redemption Island after she was voted out of her Ometepe tribe at the game's fourth Tribal Council session.

"Do I have to?" asked Kristina, a 46-year-old law student from Malibu, CA.

"You got to," Jeff replied.

Later in the episode, the Zapatera tribe also voted castaway Krista Klumpp out of their tribe at the season's fifth Tribal Council session.

As the game's newest Tribal Council victim, Krista, a 25-year-old pharmaceutical representative from Columbia, SC, will now take Kristina's place on Redemption Island, where she will battle Matt, a 22-year-old pre-med student from Nashville, TN, in the game's next duel.

The winner will get to remain on Redemption Island and continue attempting to earn the right to eventually rejoin the game's other castaways and resume competing for Survivor: Redemption Island's million dollar prize, while the loser will be eliminated from the competition.

"Walking into Redemption Island, it's a really scary, lonely feeling, but I have a lot of strength within me that not anybody can take away. It's starting to rain and it's going to be cold," Krista said upon arriving at Redemption Island.

Survivor: Redemption Island's fifth episode began with the Ometepe tribe -- Andrea Boehlke, a 21-year-old student from Random Lake, WI; Grant Mattos, a 29-year-old yoga instructor and former NFL football player from West Hollywood, CA; Phillip Sheppard, a 52-year-old technology executive and former federal agent from Santa Monica, CA; Natalie Tenerelli, a 19-year-old professional dancer from Acton, CA; Ashley Underwood, a 25-year-old nurse and former Miss Maine USA from Benton, ME, and returning castaway Rob Mariano, a 35-year-old from Canton, MA who now resides in Pensacola, FL -- returning from the season's fourth Tribal Council after voting Kristina off on Night 11.

Phillip then discussed how he felt out of place within his tribe and was upset because he had yet to make any real solid connections with anyone.

"I'm kind of like the odd man out around here, even though I think I bring a lot to this tribe," Phillip said.

The following day, Boston Rob, although somewhat annoyed with Phillip like the rest of his tribemates, realized he may actually want Phillip to stick around. He knew that if Phillip was frustrating the Ometepe tribe and distracting them with his odd behavior, then it would take the focus off of himself.

"As long as Phillip is aggravating everybody so much, it takes all the heat off of me. So in a way, maybe he needs to stay," the former Survivor: Marquesas, Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains castaway said.

Meanwhile, the Zapatera tribe members -- Mike Chiesl, a 31-year-old former U.S. Marine from Del Mar, CA; Ralph Kiser, a 44-year-old farmer from Lebanon, VA; Krista; David Murphy, a defense attorney from West Hollywood, CA; Stephanie Valencia, a 25-year-old waitress from Long Beach, CA; Sarita White, a 36-year-old visual effects producer from Santa Monica, CA; Julie Wolfe, a 50-year-old firefighter from Oceanside, CA; and Steve Wright, a 51-year-old former NFL player from Huntington, CA -- were beginning to acknowledge their places within the tribe.

Steve knew Stephanie and Krista still felt like outsiders from the tribe after their alliance leader, former Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains contestant Russell Hantz, was permanently ousted from the game, which left them as a pair fending for themselves. However, Steve said he had hoped to reconcile with them and eventually bring them back into the Zapatera family. 

"If we can show them that we're a solid family and there's no backstabbing and it's a safe place to be, then I would think that they would want to hang tight with us going into a merge," Steve explained.

On Day 12, Ometepe and Zapatera opened their Tree Mail and the letters invited two people from each tribe to participate as spectators at the Redemption Island duel between Kristina and Matt. They were given the choice to randomly draw who would get to witness the duel, or they could choose to discuss who would like to go and come to a decision maturely as a group. Stephanie and Krista won the draw and would be the spectators for Zapatera, while Rob and Grant opted to watch the duel for the Ometepe tribe.

Julie had no problem with Stephanie and Krista attending the duel, as she felt the two girls were basically doomed regardless.

"They can go do whatever they want. They can talk about whatever they want. We really don't care. They can't do any damage to us," Julie said.

Stephanie then told Krista that they needed to get the message across to Rob that they disliked their tribe and were its outcasts. They intended for Rob to eventually take them under his wing and become part of his alliance or at least be accepted within Ometepe's tribe.

"I'm hoping to send the other tribe a message that they have two girls ready to flip. So we're ready to cause some havoc and chaos and craziness at the merge," Stephanie said.

Later that day, Jeff met with Matt, Kristina and the onlookers and explained the rules of the duel. Kristina and Matt were required to race to collect puzzle pieces and once they could carry over the heavy pieces and collect them all, they would them use them to complete a puzzle in the shape of a cube. The first person to solve the puzzle would remain on Redemption Island and stay alive in the game, while the person to lose the challenge would be immediately sent home.

Matt and Kristina then squared off in the duel, and as Matt was attempting to correctly solve the puzzle, he asked Rob why he instructed his alliance to vote him out of Ometepe and send him to Redemption Island. Rob simply answered that he was not the only tribe member responsible for the decision that ended up playing out.

While Matt and Kristina both struggled to put their puzzle pieces in their correct spot, Matt was the first to put them into place, winning the duel for the third time in a row.

Shortly after Matt won the duel, Stephanie decided to put her two cents in and announce the division within her Zapatera tribe so that Rob would become aware of their issue and put it in the back of his mind for the merge.

"I think yellow might look good on me," Stephanie said.

"Me too," Krista added.

Rob was receptive to the idea but first had to be convinced that the girls were telling the truth. He asked them if they were lying and Stephanie and Krista immediately repeated their position and assured Rob they wanted nothing to do with Zapatera. Rob seemingly believed them and then gave the girls the "thumbs up" sign as they walked away.

Meanwhile, at the Ometepe camp, Phillip said the girls on his tribe reminded him of the crabs he had been hunting for food, especially Natalie. He felt that Andrea was a little more approachable, but at the same time, he was concerned that she did not want her tribe to see her talking to him because of their distaste for Phillip. Phillip knew she worried that being friends with him could ultimately lead to her demise.

While Phillip was aggravated with the girls on the Ometepe tribe, especially with Natalie and Ashley, Andrea was in the beginning stages of agreeing with him. She noted how the girls barely did anything around camp and their talks were often superficial. Andrea then explained how she would handle the next Tribal Council if it was her choice.

"If I had it my way, I would want to get rid of Natalie and Ashley before Phillip, but I can't really bring that up without putting myself on the chopping block," Andrea said. 

Phillip and Andrea then had a discussion and Phillip told her she was a good worker. He brought up the idea of them creating an alliance with Matt, if he was return from Redemption Island, and made it apparent he was starting to stray from Rob's loyal band of followers.

"I'm a lord and I waiting for my opportunity to replace the king," Phillip said in reference to Rob.

Rob and Grant then walked back from the duel to their Ometepe tribe and Stephanie and Krista also returned to their Zapatera camp.

Stephanie and Krista acknowledged that they wished Zapatera would continue to win the challenges so that Rob would be able to get them later and add to his numbers, while Zapatera wouldn't have a chance to vote them out.

On Day 13, Krista started to get angry that her tribe was not playing the game and had "zero strategy." She said the game would end up making them play, which would only leave them disappointed.

Julie on the other hand, believed her Zapatera tribe was getting a little too overconfident and she didn't want their cockiness to come back to bite them since they had already won three out of four challenges.

Later that day, both the Zapatera and Ometepe tribes arrived for the Immunity Challenge and met Jeff, who explained the rules to what would be their fifth Immunity Challenge and fourth Reward Challenge.

The tribe members learned they must choose one person on each tribe to be the caller, while the other tribemates would be blindfolded. The caller would only be able to use verbal commands in order to guide their tribemates through a maze to collect bags of puzzle pieces. Once the castaways collected all four bags, the caller would then use such pieces to solve a word phrase. The first tribe to get the saying correct would win immunity and a reward of donuts and coffee. 

"This could be a turning point for our tribe. No one's going to take this one away from us," Rob said.

Steve and Julie opted to sit out of the challenge for Zapatera because they have two extra members. Stephanie was chosen as the caller for Zapatera after Sarita pushed for her selection, despite David's hesitation because he wanted to do it himself, while Rob was chosen as the caller for Ometepe.

In the end, Rob proved again his skill at puzzle solving and completed the phrase before Stephanie even appeared to get close, and as a result, Ometepe won immunity and the reward.

After the challenge, Mike, Ralph and Steve agreed that David should have been the one to solve the puzzle instead of Stephanie for Zapatera, and Julie admitted the vote at the next Tribal Council was definitely going to be between Krista and Stephanie.

Meanwhile, over at Ometepe, the tribe enjoyed their reward of coffee and donuts, and while Grant was taking in the aroma of the jar of coffee, he noticed a piece of paper. Grant handed the jar immediately over to Rob, who noticed the piece of paper as well. Rob knew it was the clue to where the hidden Immunity Idol was, although he already found it, so he tried to escape with the jar before the other tribemates saw what he possessed.

Grant handed off the jar to Rob behind is back in what Rob labeled a "well choreographed football play."

Rob then headed into the jungle to where he buried the original clue that he found and kept to himself. He decided to strategically switch the new clue with the first clue and buried the one he wanted Grant to see. Rob wanted Grant to go off of the first clue, which was extremely vague and general.

"I got very lucky and had someone hand me the clue to the hidden Immunity Idol," Rob said.

Grant then met up with Rob after he ran off and thought Rob was being helpful by sharing the clue with him. Grant then asked him if he had found the idol yet, but Rob told him he hadn't because the clue was difficult to decipher. The two men then chose to bury the clue and hide it from the others.

Later on Day 13, back at the Zapatera camp, Sarita, David, Julie, Steve, Mike and Ralph met on the beach to discuss the challenge they had just participated in. Sarita and David argued about whether he or Stephanie would have done the puzzle better, and Mike admitted he didn't feel like he could trust Stephanie or Krista. Mike found it only necessary to get rid of Stephanie because she floundered at the challenge.

However, Julie and Sarita said they could maybe reel Stephanie into their big alliance, but they agreed that they just didn't like Krista. They decided she would be the first to go as a result. Sarita said she wanted David to actually be the one to get voted off instead, but she knew Krista and Stephanie were the obvious choices, that the tribe agreeably felt they were the next to go, and Stephanie and Krista were obviously just awaiting their expected fate.

Stephanie and Krista knew it was going to be one of them who would most likely get voted off and sent to Redemption Island.

"If I had to put money on it, I would bet that none of them are going to make it to the end. I just wish I was going to be around to see it," Krista said.

That night, Survivor: Redemption Island's Zapatera castaways arrived for their second Tribal Council and the fifth Tribal Council overall. 

Krista told Jeff she was frustrated that no one was really playing any strategic game, but Sarita was quick to disagree.

"We've been playing it so fast and furiously that we unseated one of the best players in Survivor history," Sarita replied in reference to Russell. 

Mike then pointed out that Krista was the one who was not playing the game because she had not made any effort to make an alliance with anyone else other than Stephanie and Russell. Mike said being a good strategic member meant forming close ties and bonds with your tribemates, while attempting to rekindle any past relationships that had failed for whatever reason.

Krista, upset with her tribe, then chose to reveal the sub-alliances within the Zapatera tribe's alliance of six.

"I think if there's any, it's in pairs. You obviously have Mike and Steve -- who have been tight from the beginning -- then I think Julie had become comfortable with Steve, and then you have Sarita and Ralph -- they seem to be together -- I don't know where that leaves Dave, but seems to be twos. So, with me and Stephanie here, which could be a big four, if I was in that six, I would be jumping on one of us," Krista explained.

Mike fired back and said Krista had no idea what the six people in the alliance had been talking about since she was on the outside and was therefore, not included in any of their conversations where she would have seen or heard otherwise.

Stephanie then asked her tribe not to judge her on the challenge she lost, but rather, on all the other challenges she had previously done well on. It was her last chance to convince the tribe to let her stay a little longer. However, the tribemates made it clear that the vote was between Krista and Stephanie.

The voting then commenced and Jeff revealed the votes. Two people voted for Steve, while the six remaining castaways voted for Krista.

Krista's torch was then extinguished and she was exiled to Redemption Island, where she would attempt to survive with Matt while awaiting the season's fourth duel.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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