A giant spider attacks Koror on the night of day 27 as the tribe is back -- without Janu -- and talking about what's going to happen.

Stephenie is worried and doesn't know who to trust or talk to. Tom lies to her and says they would have voted off Janu instead of her. Then he kisses up a little bit more and gives the immunity necklace to Steph.

Steph's not a dumb girl, though, and she knows she's got to watch out for herself.

Gregg tells Ian he hopes that tribal council doesn't come back to haunt him -- he knows Steph staying is going to cause him problems. He says, though, that it will cause the whole tribe problems.

The next day, Steph and Katie are chatting and eating coconut. Steph tries to find out if the original alliance is together, but Katie plays dumb. So Steph heads off to talk to Tom. Tom talks and talks, but doesn't really say anything. In a private interview, he says Steph is a great competitor, but that having her still on the island is going to be a problem.

Later, the tribe is all together and Tom makes a plea for his life. He points out that he's one of the reasons Koror is where it is, and he doesn't want that held against him. Of course, this is just the argument he gave about why he wants Steph to go.

Jenn, Katie, Ian and Gregg talk about Tom's plea and rightly point out that Tom is a threat -- and, in fact, just pointed out why the man should be voted off if anyone else wants to win. Katie's definitely out for herself.

Katie, Steph and Jenn talk around the fire and the idea of a girls alliance comes up. First they want to talk to Caryn -- she could be a problem. The first guy they talk about voting off is -- wait for it -- Tom. Steph thinks that this girls alliance could be the thing that will save her. She may be viewed as a threat, but the boys are a bigger threat. That could be the way to turn this whole game around for her.

Back from commercial, the tribe gets tree-mail and a warning about eating and drinking and strategic thinking. Everyone thinks it's going to be a purchasing game. Tom talks about buying something from home if possible -- and maybe giving up immunity.

At the challenge, everyone gets $500 to take home or spend in an auction. Items will be sold off in increments of $20 and can be taken off the block at any time. The twist: the items are covered; no one can see what they're bidding on.

Jenn bids $120 on the first small item. She gets an ice cream sundae in return, she actually weeps with ice cream joy.

The next item starts at $40 from Ian and quickly ramps up. Again, the hidden item has got to be smaller than a loaf of bread. Soon, Caryn and Steph split $260 to win something. Host Jeff taunts them, and brings out something larger covered, and gives them 5 seconds to choose the new one if they want. After sniffing the containers, they make the trade -- they lose crackers and cheese and win a cheeseburger, fries and soft drink (what? No product placement?) Katie looks on longingly as they eat.

Ian again starts the bidding, this time at $100. Jenn and Katie jump in with a split bid. Ian does not want to lose. Gregg then says he'll chip in $20 to Ian's $300 bid to win. They guys also get an offer -- what they bought for something else in a box. They pass on a jar of raw crabs. Good going, Ian! He does win a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread and cheese. Host Jeff is glad he won, but quickly points out that Ian "reeks." Um, what happened to the cleaning products?

Next up is a cold beer. Ian immediately buys it for $40.

Tom is sitting back and waiting. The next item is what he was waiting for -- next up is a box containing letters from home for everyone. Gregg and Tom get in a bidding war. Everyone wishes they had the cash, but Tom wins it for $220. He gets a peek and gets a drawing of his child's hand. Pretty much everyone else gets their letter also for $220. Ian, however, doesn't have enough money left.

The auction ends and everyone goes back to read -- and cry.

Steph got letters from about a dozen people, pretty much everyone in her family.

"Having these letters is all the food and all the energy that I need," Steph says.

While everyone else is reading, Ian goes out for an apparently much needed bath. Gregg joins him soon and Ian asks him to help out with a quick back wash. Jenn gets a quick laugh watching the boys loofah each other. Katie also finds some humor in it. Ian also asks Tom out for a peek at his neck. Tom, not as comfortable as Gregg, says he'll look, but he won't clean.

Later that day, Tom and Caryn are taking a walk on the beach and talking about alliances. Tom's really campaigning to stay on the island, and part of that is to get Caryn on his side -- someone he's never sided with before.

Caryn gets a good listen and lets Tom know she's going to be nice.

At the immunity challenge, the tribe is faced with a platform facing a wooden grid containing breakable tiles. The first person to break their five tiles by tossing a coconut on it will win immunity.

Ian's up first and has to hit the red tiles. His first shot is good.

Katie, brown, misses. Gregg, blue, takes out his first tile. Jenn, orange, gets one of Caryn's white tiles instead. Caryn, up net, misses the grid. Tom, green, breaks one of Katie's brown tiles. Steph, yellow, also breaks one of Caryn's tiles. This does not make Steph happy.

Round two: Ian gets his tile; Katie gets Jenn's tile; Gregg gets Ian's tile; Jenn takes out Tom's tile; Caryn takes out a tile for Katie; Tom nails one of his own tiles; Steph bounces her coconut across the grid.

Ian's in the lead with 3 going into round 3: Ian gets another tile (4); Katie takes out Jenn's tile; Gregg gets his tile (2); Jenn gets her own tile (3); Caryn takes out Steph's first tile; Tom gets his third tile; Steph misses -- again.

Round 4 and Ian's in the lead with 4: Ian takes out Steph's second tile; Katie takes out her own tile (3); Gregg gets another tile (3); Jenn bounces again; Caryn misses the grid (throw higher!); Tom takes out Ian's last tile. Ian's got immunity and Tom may just be on the chopping block.

Back from the challenge, the tribe gets an afternoon's rain storm. Everyone's cooped up in the shelter, so there's not a whole lot of private conversations going on. As soon as the sun comes out, everyone sprints off, just like Tom predicted. Caryn and Katie go collect snails (mmmmm, them's good eating) and spend most of the time talking politics. Katie lets Caryn know that the girls have got an alliance in the planning stages and that she's ready to vote off Tom. Caryn knows she's got to think about it.

Later she gets Tom alone on the beach and lets Tom know the girls are building an alliance (traitor!). Tom wonders why she's telling him. She lets him know it's because she said she would. Remember that little thing called trust, Tom? Tom doubts Caryn's word, but that probably has something to do with the fact that you can't trust his word anymore.

Tom and Ian then get some time to talk strategy. Then Ian and Katie. Ian says Caryn is spreading a lie that the girls are forming an alliance. Katie right away agrees. She swears that's not what's happening. But then she whips out the idea that they should take out Tom. Katie is trying to butter up Ian and doesn't let anything loose about the girl team.

"We can't get a female alliance together, because Caryn sucks," Katie says in a private interview.

Ian just wants to make sure that Katie is in the original alliance. And then Caryn comes up through the forest and all the conversation is over. Caryn knows she's in a world of hurt because she thinks Ian told Katie that she'd talked to everyone. Ian is trying to decide who he's going to side with.

Life for Gregg is easer: vote Stephenie off. This man wants her gone.

Steph thinks if everyone's smart they'll vote off Tom. But she doesn't sound confident.

At council, Coby and Janu come back as the jury. Both are looking very relaxed.

Ian talks a bit about paranoia now that they're 30 days into the competition. Steph talks about the reaction from the previous council and says everyone was pretty great and it wasn't too uncomfortable. She also says the game is beginning to get tense and that the backstabbing will happen soon. Caryn says she noticed the intensity picking up the day after the last tribal council and that she wouldn't be too surprised to be voted off this evening.

Tom says he knows he's been a leader since early in the game, but it wasn't a conscious decision to let everyone know he was that way. In fact, he says, he thought he'd be a little bit behind since he's an older member of the group. He hopes, though, that his strength isn't held against him.

Ian, being the smart man he is, hangs on to the immunity necklace.

Voting order:
Caryn
Tom
Ian (we don't see his vote, but he talks about a fierce competitor)
Jenn
Steph
Katie (again, no vote shown, but she's "voting with the rest of the tribe")
Gregg

Vote tally:
Caryn
Steph
Steph
Steph
Steph

The tribe's voted off Steph, missing the chance to get Tom off the island. So know there's a strong chance Tom will be taking home a million dollars.

Next on Survivor:
A brave Tom fears the horizon
An alliance falls apart

Vote reveal:
Caryn: Steph (Caryn's going to regret that)
Katie: Steph (Katie's also making a mistake)
Ian: Steph (no surprise there)
Steph: Caryn (I thought she was going to vote Tom, so much for a female alliance)
Tom: Steph (smart move)
Jenn: Steph (that's just 'cause she's in luv with Gregg)
Gregg: Steph (yeah, didn't see that coming)

Credit Comments:
I'm really psyched and I'm like really proud of myself because it was a hard run. Our whole tribe got blown away, person by person. And here I am, the only one left standing. I got to this new tribe, thinking I'm a dead man walking and I made it 1 in 7. I was outnumbered by an entire tribe and I'm actually really proud.