But what if the idol expires before anyone votes for him? Does he not get points?

Our terms of engagement are basically he'll gladly tell us game mechanic clarifications (he offered up the info unprompted last week), but nothing spoilery. I wasn't sure which this fell under, so I asked. He apologized twice for not being able to tell us.

We may have a new clubhouse leader.

I don't think we need to read too much into Jefra's edit tonight. She was highlighted because her potential flip was the only way to stir up drama. Sometimes the show is forced by circumstances into featuring an otherwise meaningless player, even if it isn't their boot episode.

I can argue that this is actually less power than the previous two holders: Yul and Terry both found their idols in the first half of their seasons, and were able to coast until the final tribals the idol was active (F4 and 5 respectively). Tony will have had the idol's protection for a lot less time.

Theory I'm currently working on that could immediately be disproved by this season: are we now in an era that has completely devalued the flying under the radar strategy? Maybe it's just not necessary anymore, but we're being too slow to recognize it.

LJ has an almost zero chance. He'd be competing with a bunch of other studly alpha males, many of whom have actual resumes and personalities to lean on.

My thoughts are similar. I wouldn't mind seeing Cliff back, but I can't really justify it. On the list of former athletes this show has featured, I think Jeff Kent, Brad Culpepper, and Gary Hawkins/Hogeboom all did more to justify a return engagement. But if they did bring Cliffy back, it wouldn't bother me. I'd just…

I considered Malone for "worst possible choice". See if he could hunt for idols like he hunts for little Mexican girls.
@JudgeReinhold:disqus