It was the type of moment that has defined Survivor: two castaways, two plates of “traditional” island food, and the first to clean the plate wins a point for the tribe. For the castaways on Survivor: China, traditional fare included chicken fetuses, baby turtles, chicken hearts, thousand-year-old eggs, and eel.

When it was her turn, Jaime Dugan found herself eyeball to eyeball with three eels, their heads still attached. She gulped down the eels, barely batting an eye, to beat her opponent and position her Zhan Hu tribe for victory. Dugan’s quasi-boyfriend, Erik Huffman, sealed the deal for the tribe when he swallowed a squishy, age-old egg faster than his Fei Long opponent could get it down.

This challenge victory allowed Dugan, Huffman, and Peih-Gee Law to breathe easy for the rest of the week, knowing that they were safe from having to vote off another from their small tribe.

But the win wasn’t what James Clement, the original Fei Long who now resides with Zhan Hu tribe, or his original Fei Long tribe mates had intended. Earlier in the week, Clement and his original tribe mates had hatched a plan for him to purposefully lose the challenge and force Zhan Hu to a Tribal Council.

Their plan? To beat Zhan Hu at its own game.

Armed with immunity idol, Fei Long hatchs plan.

The Fei Long tribe knew that if Zhan Hu was forced to vote someone else off, they would vote off Clement — Jaime Dugan and Peih-Gee Law had basically admitted this at last week’s Tribal Council. So, the tribe hatched a plan to save Clement and force Zhan Hu to vote off of its own instead.

A fact central to Fei Long’s plan was that the tribe had discovered an immunity idol earlier in the week. The tribe mates aware of the idol agreed to give it to Clement, so that when the Zhan Hu tried to vote him off during Tribal Council, he could pull out the idol and be saved. Their thinking was that, once Clement revealed his immunity idol, the Zhan Hu would be forced to vote off one of its original three members instead. Todd Herzog, the young Fei Long member who hatched the plan, anticipated that Dugan would be ousted, and that the strategic bond between her and Huffman would thus be severed. Moreover, Zhan Hus would shrink in number, guaranteeing that Fei Long would hold the advantage when the tribes eventually merge.

For Fei Long’s plan to work, though, the tribe HAD to win the immunity challenge and force Zhan Hu to a Tribal Council. This didn’t happen — at a critical moment, Denise Martin couldn’t keep her food down and the tribe lost the eating contest. Chicken fetus, it appeared, was too much to stomach even for a school lunch lady. (In her defense, the chicken fetuses looked like brains wrapped in feathers).

Fei Long forced to convene Tribal Council after plan backfires; ousts Sherea Lloyd

Having lost the challenge, Fei Long was forced to convene a Tribal Council. After a hostile exchange between Jean-Robert Bellande, Courtney Yates, and Sherea Lloyd, the tribe voted off Lloyd. The ousting of Lloyd, a 26 year-old elementary school teacher in Atlanta, was not surprising, as she was recently transplanted from the Zhan Hu tribe and had not yet gained the trust of her new tribe mates.

by Anna Groos

Scenes for next week show Dugan and Huffman examining an immunity idol, presumably one discovered at their own camp. They may need to use the idol, as it became clear this week that some of the castaways view Dugan and Huffman’s alliance as a threat.

Previews also show the castaways removing the “buffs” that indicate their tribal affiliation. Will the tribes merge, now that the total number of castaways has shrunk to 10? Dugan’s tribe will be in the minority if the merge happens now — will she last another week? Stay tuned.

See recap of earlier episodes >