"Survivor: Cagayan" recap: Tribe shakeups and a blindside

Things got shaken up Wednesday night on "Survivor: Cagayan," and the changes led to a major tribal council blindside.

After going to tribal council yet again last week, the Brains were in need of some good fortune. And they seemed to get it when host Jeff Probst told everyone to drop their buffs because the three tribes were being reshuffled into two.

The new tribes are Aparri, which has all of the Brains (Spencer, Tasha and Kass) plus Jeremiah, Morgan and Alexis of the Beauties and lone Brawn tribe member Sarah, and Solana with the rest of the Brawns (Cliff, Trish, Woo, Tony and Lindsay) plus Jefra and LJ from Beauty.

But first, there's a reward challenge. To win coffee, doughnuts and other treats, one member of each tribe has to hold onto a pole for dear life while two members of the opposing tribe try to drag him or her off and across a finish line further down the sand. Simple, but completely physical. The first tribe to do it twice wins, and that is Solana, since they wisely put former NBA player Cliff on the pole twice. Nobody's moving that guy.

Back at Solana camp, LJ and Jefra try to appeal themselves to their new tribe-mates. He and Trish hit it off immediately after realizing they're both from Massachusetts and she begins shamelessly fawning over and flirting with him, which bothers Lindsay and Cliff.

And over at Aparri, Sarah catches Morgan in her lie from the premiere about searching for the immunity idol (she'd looked for it instead of taking an extra bag of rice for camp, and slyly "neglected" to tell everyone else the extra supplies were an option), which tips Alexis off that Morgan can't be trusted. And all of the Beauties start turning on each other, talking behind (and in front of!) one another and all trying to get in with the Brains. Suddenly, the worst tribe on "Survivor" has a lot of power.

For immunity, teams had to use a log like a battering ram to smash through two walls, then push the log through a maze etched onto its surface. Solana took an early lead, but the Brains made use of their smarts and caught up during the maze portion and Aparri finished first.

After they lose, there's a split at Solana over who should go home. Cliff, Woo and Lindsay want to vote out LJ, while Trish, LJ and Jefra are targeting Cliff. Tony appeared hesitate to join the latter group, because they have a numbers advantage (five Brawns to two Beauties) but says he doesn't trust Cliff.

At tribal council, LJ tells Probst that the reshuffle has made things uncomfortable for him and Jefra, while Cliff and Woo stress the importance of numbers and not playing with your emotions - a not-so-thinly-veiled message to Trish.

But it didn't matter. Trish and Tony flipped and joined the Beauties, all voting to oust a shocked Cliff, who had been sure he was safe. Talk about a blindside.

Tell us: Were you surprised to see Cliff go? Did Trish and Tony make the right move?