"Survivor" Villains Stuck in the Mud

"Survivor" contestants got down and dirty in Thursday night's episode, which involved a reward/immunity challenge combining summo and mud wrestling.

It was a total rout by the Heroes tribe, sending the Villains to their first tribal council of the game. Randy, an outsider from the start, was the first villain - and third contestant - to be ousted from the game. In a characteristic move, he flung his tribal buff into the fire before stepping before host Jeff Probst to have his torch doused.

Photos: "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains"
"Survivor:" Through the Seasons

With the excception of their challenge, triumph, the Heroes got very little air time this week, but the Villains made up for it in sheer entertainment. Married Russell was cuddling with "Suvivor" flirt Parvarti, Coach was pursing his romance with Jerri and Boston Rob was warning about what the sleeping arrangements told him about alliances and tribal council votes. You're not likely to be sleeping next to someone you're voting off, he explained.

The Villains, who were looking a little endearing in the two previous episodes, have finally shown their true colors. Russell buried his tribe's machete (It turned out to be a minor annoyance and not the total disaster he envisioned). Coach flipped Probt off when he was forced to redo his challenge bout because of an illegal karate chop.

And everyone was complaiinng about the charming but scheming Parvati and how she had to go, but they all voted Randy off.

It will be interesting to see how Parvati fares in future episodes, particularly amid speculation by Internet bloggers that Parvati knows how Russell plays the game.

Because the "Heroes vs. Villains" game was filmed before "Survivor: Samoa" was aired, Russell was supposed to be a wildcard for the other players. It was one of the twists in this season's game. But reading into some post-game comments by Sugar Kiper, the first voted off "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains," bloggers are speculating that Parvati somehow knows how clever, scheming and devilish Russell can be.