Tom Westman became the fifth returning castaway voted out of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains during Thursday night's episode of the CBS reality competition's all-stars twentieth edition.

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"[I'm] bitterly disappointed to be [out] here and not still in the game, I wish I was fighting it out to the bitter end with these people.  But I was on the wrong side of the numbers early and just in spite of my best intentions just couldn't get that turned around," the former Survivor: Palau champion said after being voted out of the Heroes tribe.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' fifth episode began with the Heroes tribe returning from their Night 11 Tribal Council session in which Ton had managed to prevent Colby Donaldson from being voted off by convincing James "JT" Thomas to turn against his six-person alliance. 

Instead of joining with the rest of his allies who were splitting their votes 3-3 between Colby and Tom so that Colby would still be voted off if Tom played the hidden Immunity Idol he had found, James joined with two outsiders and cast his vote for Cirie Fields -- resulting in her ouster from the game.

"Tonight, JT is a hero!  I really believed my days were done," Colby told the cameras once the tribe returned to camp.  "But JT did it"

But despite Colby's glee, JT quickly began attempting to make sure his allies didn't believe he was now allied with Tom and Colby.

"I want ya'll to know, I didn't do anything for personal reasons tonight.  Everything I've done was for the team and everybody would've known had I made up my mind before Tribal Council," he told his tribemates. 

"Cirie's game has always been she stays loyal until things get rough after the merge, and the way things are going, it's going to get rough for us.  I hope everyone realizes I did it for the team and not for me."

However Rupert Boneham didn't seem to buy JT's explanation.

"I'm a little pissed off right now.  I'm a lot pissed off right now.  Don't know about JT as much as I did a few hours ago," he vented.

The next day, JT tried to explain his move to Amanda Kimmel.

"They think I saved them but I didn't, I got rid of Cirie while I had the chance.  I swear I would never, never turn on you guys.  Never," he told her.  "I swear.  I swear."

But Amanda was unconvinced.

"JT can tell me whatever he wants to tell me but I see right through him," she said afterwards.  "In the back of my mind I know that he will lie and he makes alliances like they're yesterday's news.  I think he's made 20 alliances already.  If he wants to play this game then 'Game on.'  Bring it on."

Meanwhile, over at the Villains camp, Russell Hantz finally managed to complete his three-day search for the Villains' hidden Immunity Idol as Benjamin "Coach" Wade led everyone else through a "Dragon Slayer chi" meditation session.

"Today, everything changes.  Everything!  [Rob "Boston Bob" Mariano"] is not in control of this game right now.  This is my key!" he boasted.  "Here it goes again."

Later that day, the tribes met Survivor host Jeff Probst for their next Reward Challenge.  A re-creation of Survivor: Samoa's Day 5 combined Immunity/Reward Challenge, the basketball-game like required three members of each tribe to battle to retrieve three balls from a pit.  

They would then pass those balls to three other tribemates up on a platform, who would attempt to shoot those balls into a basket mounted near the opposing tribe's platform.  After every point, each tribe's pit and platform teams would switch positions.  The first tribe to score two points would win a trip to a beautiful watering hole where they would get to enjoy a chocolate feast.

After deciding that Colby would sit out for the Heroes and Sandra Diaz-Twine, Courtney Yates and Parvati Shallow would sit out for the Villains, the challenge began, however James got hurt before the first point was even scored.

"Hold up.  Medical, come on in," Jeff said after James struggled to stand after jumping for a ball and landing on his left leg awkwardly.

"We're worried that he might have pulled the lateral collateral ligament or medial collateral ligament," a Survivor medic said after examining James and determining he couldn't walk properly  "He's out, it keeps popping out.  For this challenge he's out."

The tribes then continued the challenge without James, forcing Tom and Candice Woodcock to play a man short whatever they faced off against Russell, Danielle DiLorenzo and Tyson Apostol.

Despite being a man down, the Heroes still managed to score the first point when Amanda made a basket.  After switching positions, Tyson then tied the score by making a basket for the Villains, leading to a final round in which Jerri Manthey -- who had been grabbed and "accidentally" swung, head-first, into a wooden post by Rupert earlier -- scored the winning basket for the Villains.

"Once again, in Heroes vs. Villains, the Villains come out victorious," Jeff noted. 

Both tribes then left the challenge site, with the Heroes returning to camp and the Villains heading directly to their watering hole reward.  However James remained behind so Survivor's medical team could take a better look at his leg.

While most of the Villains followed Jeff's suggestion that they "enjoy the afternoon" at the watering hole, Russell used the trip to let his ally Parvati know that he'd managed to find the hidden Immunity Idol and planned to use it to recruit Coach into their alliance.

"Look, things are changing... because I have the idol," he told Parvati as the rest of the Villains swam in the watering hole.

"Cheers!" Parvati replied as they toasted Russell's find with glasses of milk.

"Just grab onto my coattails, girl," he said.

"I don't ride coattails, baby," she replied.

But adding Coach to their alliance was one thing they could agree on.

"He's scared, Coach will do whatever you want.  He's a scared little puppy," Parvati said.

"And then we can blindside and get rid of Rob," Russell replied.

"Yay!" Parvati laughed.

However the rest of the Villains seemed to be at least somewhat onto Russell.

"He digged for the idol all day yesterday, so he got it," Sandra told the rest of the Villains as they swam in the watering hole. 

"I guarantee it!" Jerri added.

"We're going to look real dumb if he's out here playing us all," Rob said, explaining that the only way to flush the idol out would be for the Villains to vote for Russell at the tribe's next Tribal Council session.

Later, Russell approached Coach and told him about the idol before asking him to ally with him.

Coach immediately agreed to an alliance and -- in a scene that only the self-professed Dragon Slayer could believe would make him look good -- knelt down before Russell and asked him to "knight" him like a "Knight of the Round Table."

"Coach bows down to me.  He was the one kneeling to me! As the king that I am, I knight the Dragon Slayer to be part of my kingdom!" Russell boasted later. 

"We'll weed out little Rob's group [now].  It's personal with me and Rob, I don't think he knows who he's dealing with."

Afterwards, Coach admitted he was feeling torn about his new alliance with Russell.

"I do want to play the game with Boston Rob but for Russell to trust me with that his huge on his part.  Because I'm the kind of person who if you give me your loyalty, it's almost impossible for me to betray that trust," he said.

Meanwhile, over at the Heroes camp, they spent the afternoon wondering about James -- who still hadn't returned from the challenge.

"I don't think James is coming back," JT told Rupert as they watched the camp's fire.

"Yes, James has been gone too long.  If he was coming back they would have braced his knee and they would have sent him home," Rupert replied.

"I'm so frustrated... I can't believe that happened," Amanda told Candice as the women cleaned shells on the beach.

"If he gets taken out, this will be the second time he's been taken out with an injury,"  Amanda told Candice about James, whom she had previously played both Survivor: China and Survivor: Micronesia with and was medically evacuated from Micronesia on Day 31 due to a finger infection.

"James wants to be here so bad, and he looks out for me, I'm like his little sister," Amanda tearfully confessed later.  "It's like, I don't know, it's just hard... I was trying to like make myself think 'Okay, if James doesn't come back what am I going to do,' and I can't even think about it right now."

But Tom recognized James' possible exit as a potential opportunity.

"I'm not rooting against a teammate, but in the game of Survivor, somebody else being hobbled in some ways is your advantage," Tom admitted.

However Tom's opportunity suffered a temporary setback when James limped down the tribe's beach and declared himself fit to continue in the game despite having his leg heavily bandaged and needing to wear a bulky leg brace.

"It don't hurt," he said.  "I'm just annoyed now.... there's nothing wrong with it, I just can't walk."

"And in order to get an MRI, what would you have to do?" Amanda asked foolishly.

"Leave," Candice noted.

"Yeah," James agreed.

"Oh wow," Amanda said.

Despite congratulating him on his return, Candice felt the injury had still left James living on borrowed time.

"If we lose the next Immunity Challenge, there's no question James in my mind that James has got to go.  There shouldn't be a question in anybody's mind!"  Candice confessed afterwards.  "I mean you can't lug around dead weight.  And James is a lot of dead weight!"

On Day 14, the tribes met Jeff for their next Immunity Challenge, which required one member of each tribe to guide three pairs of blindfolded tribemates through a field that contained ten very large puzzle pieces.  Once they reached a piece the blindfolded pair would have to carry it back to their tribes mat, and once all ten pieces were retrieved the pairs would be able to remove their blindfolds and assemble the giant puzzle cube with their entire tribe.

The first team to retrieve all their pieces and correctly assemble their cube would win immunity and the other would join Jeff at Tribal Council that evening.

Due to his injury, James served as the Heroes caller.  Jerri filled the role for the Villains.

James managed to guide the Heroes through the collection of all their cube pieces ahead of the Villains, but despite beginning their assembly first, the Heroes once again struggled to get their puzzle built -- allowing the Villains to come from behind and win yet another challenge.

Once the Heroes returned to camp, they immediately began scrambling to determine who would be going home.

"We're not changing, are we?" JT asked Rupert.

"Tom," Rupert replied.

"Good.  No matter what's wrong with James' leg," JT said.

"James' leg... he's still stronger than Tom," Rupert replied.

"Why?  I feel like that's the dumbest move.  He can't run!  Are we being stupid?" Candice said as she wandered up and joined the pair's conversation.

"I can't run.  If that's the criteria then you should have put me out," Rupert answered.

"I feel like that's a really risky move," Candice insisted.

"Maybe.  Let's just think about it hard and decide together.  We've got the afternoon to think about it if we need to think about it," JT said.

Afterward, JT privately admitted that he knew voting James off was the "logical" move but felt another "snaky" move would put him in a "bad spot."

Meanwhile, Rupert let Amanda know that Candice was pushing to vote off James and suggested they might just want to vote Candice off instead.

"If we're going totally on strength, Candice's butt is the weakest.  Vote Candice's butt out," he told her.  "I still say Tom, but I would vote for Candice now too."

"I think Tom first, then Candice," Amanda replied.  "We're not getting rid of James -- JT is okay, right?"

"No.  I don't know," Rupert admitted.

In addition, Candice did her best to keep JT focused on voting off James.

"James is the one that's injured," she said.  "That's the way the cookie crumbles."

"I know," JT replied.  "We're in control right now, you and I, because we can go either way."

Afterward, JT told Tom that it made "perfect sense" to keep him over James.

"To me there's no logic in voting to keep James and get rid of you.  You don't even have to plead your story," JT told Tom as Candice nodded in agreement.

"What's the word?" Colby asked JT in private later.

"I guess we're getting rid of James," JT replied.  "Makes all the logical sense to get rid of James."

However JT then turned around and told Rupert he was going to stick with Rupert's plan to target Tom.

"I'm voting the same as you," JT told Rupert.

"Which do you want, Tom or Candice?  I say we stay with Tom," Rupert said.

"Okay... I'm with you... we're together," JT replied.

By the time the Heroes began preparing for Tribal Council, neither side seemed completely certain what JT was going to do.

"We're going to another Tribal Council and most everybody is looking to JT for a vote.  And the reason for that is because JT is so wishy-washy.  JT flip-flops at every opportunity that he has, because, you know, he's clearly just playing the hand that suits him today," Colby vented.

"I don't know what he's telling everybody else, but if he's making deals with everyone in this posse I can guarantee you that will come back to bit him."

Once the tribe arrived at Tribal Council, James, Rupert and Amanda all made comments that suggested they felt an injured James was still a bigger tribal asset than Tom.

"It's all nonsense, he's not being kept for any physical ability.  He's being kept because he's a loyal vote," Tom told Jeff.

"It's me tonight unless a couple of good people vote for the team and for our strength and for our unity and not for the numbers," he continued.  "If someone here thinks James with a busted knee is going to do more in the competitions than I am, I don't think they're being sincere.  I think they're just voting to keep their numbers together."

"If ya'll really think that guy can outperform me [then] vote for me, put me out... we're still going to be cool," James shot back.

When the tribe voted, JT ended up joining James, Amanda and Rupert in voting for Tom.  And so did Candice, suggesting she knew her attempt to convince JT to vote for James had failed.

"I don't think that James is up to snuff and hope they're going to be thinking, 'Gee, we could have used Tom,'" Tom said after his exit.  "But good luck to everybody in it and glad to have been here."
About The Author: Steven Rogers

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