Day 72

Things on Rosetta Island have really been heating up for the four remaning Stevivors: Rachel, Laura, Maxine, and especially Carl, who was the last member of the original Murtagh tribe. It was going to take a luck to keep him into the game.

But, Lady Luck did shoot Carl's way when the immunity challenge, a pie-eating contest, proved to be right up Carl's alley. With Rachel only able to eat so much, and Laura and Maxine concerned about their figure for the post-Stevivor modeling deals, Carl easily won the match and gained immunity.

The immunity proved painful for the original members of the Shimata tribe, who were all already planned to vote off Carl in the upcoming tribal council.

"Everything was going according to plan," says Laura. "I won the last immunity challenge and we worked together to get Carl to help us vote off Waldo. The plan was for one of us to win the next immunity challenge and get rid of Carl. But, his winning throws everything off."

"We knew with three of us original Shimata tribe member still remaining, we would have to go against each other sooner or later," says Maxine, speaking of the on-again, off-again alliance between herself, Laura, and Rachel, "but we just didn't think it would happen so soon."

Maxine was at most worried about the upcoming vote, because she has been in the spot before of her tribe members wanting to vote her off. Luckily, she had tied with Eddie and figured out a way for him to get voted off instead in the tie-breaker. But could she perform that miracle again?

Luckily, she had Carl on her side. "I told her at the tie-breaker that I had her back when she would need it," says Carl, "so I assured her that I would not vote for her and would vote for whoever she wanted me to."

Laura, unaware of Max's alliance with Carl, had another Stevivor on her sights to get rid of. "I want to be rid of Rachel," she says. "Carl and Rachel are the two main threats of me not winning Stevivor. And since I can't vote off Carl, I think I'll have to vote Rachel."

She continues, "Maxine will do anything she can at this point to stay on the island, because she knows that we could easily vote her off for no reason than to just be rid of something that should have happened earlier. So, I know she'll easily be on my side."

Laura was absolutely correct in that hypothesis. As soon as she mentioned the idea to Maxine, she totally agreed. Maxine, in turn, talked to Carl who agreed to the same thing.

"I've tried to bond with Rachel when we first merged, because I was afraid the young ones [Waldo, Laura, and Maxine] would team up after the alliance and be rid of us," says Carl, "but she blew off the opportunity at every chance. I really wanted Rachel with me because I do see her as a threat for not winning. With her against me, it can only come down to this."

At the tribal council, it was pretty much confirmed. While Rachel went back to her original vote on Maxine from several tribal councils ago, the other picked Rachel as their choice. The tribe has spoken. Rachel would have to leave the island.

With only three finalists remaining, let's again look at the facts:

• Carl is really in a dangerous predicament. He will definitely have to win the next immunity challenge, or it could be curtains for him with two Shimata tribe members left.
• Laura could be in a fairly good posiiton. She can easily manipulate Maxine in her voting, but she will have to try hard to tear the alliance between Maxine and Carl.
• Maxine has everyone on her side, which could be a good or bad thing. Either way, she will probably vote with whoever does not win the immunity challenge, provided whoever does win doesn't decide to vote off her.

Next time, another vote-off will be made, leaving the two finalists, one of which will become the ultimate Stevivor.

Rachel's Final Comments
"I made it this far and I'm proud of that. I have had no reason I felt to make the others want to vote me off. I guess I understand because it seems like I had a high possibility of being an ultimate Stevivor. I'm just glad I can reunite with my son again."