Caryn teaches us a lesson this week: Don't throw poo at the people about to vote. Ian shows his softer side as Katie makes him cry. And, Ian finally gets his hands on the steering wheel of his first car.

It's the last regular show before the 'Survivor' marathon Sunday night and with just five players left, the game only gets more intense. Last week, remember, Gregg got voted off, much to the surprise of Jenn and Katie.

It's night 33 on the island as Tom, Ian, Katie, Caryn and Jenn return to their rat-infested beach area. Jenn's in tears in her private interview, but keeps a brave face with the tribe. Ian calls her a "smooth operator."

"The only thing I'm worried about right now is the three girls turning on Tom and me," Ian says. If they can make it the next few days, Ian believes he and Tom "are money."

Tom and Caryn get some strategy time alone on the beach (where apparently scorpions frolic, by the way) while Ian, Jenn and Katie get some conversation in the hut. Ian says he doesn't want to go back on his word with Tom, and instead of voting him off, Ian says he'd vote off Caryn. Now, though, each player also has to think about whom they want to be in the final two with -- the jury will pick one of them to win the money, remember.

Tom tells Caryn he wants Katie and Jenn out next and Caryn kind of believes him. She's still a bit worried about her chances.

Later that day, tree mail comes with yet another riddle -- and we get to see a crocodile!

Tom and Ian have a quick talk about having to take out one of the women so the girls can't form an estrogen alliance. Tom doesn't trust Katie, 'cause she flipped last week. Ian likes Katie, and I mean likes; he wants to vote off Caryn.

At the reward challenge, Host Jeff shows off the reward -- an all new Chevrolet convertible. Yeah, try to eat that. To win, they must race across the water in a traditional pontoon and retrieve five bags containing five mile markers that they will have to match to five city names on a directional pole (think of the pole in M*A*S*H*). The winner will immediately get to drive away to a remote mansion for a barbecue feast. They have to return the next day and then the car will be taken to the states to greet them after their time on the island.

Tom, Ian and Katie get out quick. Caryn and Jenn get in a bit of a jam, but get out quickly. Caryn has a difficult time with her pontoon as the men get their second bags fairly quickly. Thankfully, there was some editing in this challenge -- the scenes of them paddling back and forth get boring quickly. Tom has a bit of a problem on his fourth bag, not quite making his toss and having to get in the water to retrieve. As Ian starts hanging his mileage markers, the girls are way behind. Ian gets all of his signs posted first and correctly before anyone else even gets all their bags back to shore. He's quite pleased with the reward.

Host Jeff tells Ian he gets to take someone with him. Now remember, Ian told Katie last week he'd share a reward for her and just a few moments ago he and Tom said they would take a girl if either won the challenge so the girls couldn't talk. Now, however, Ian says he promised Tom he'd take him if the reward involved a car. He looks to Katie and Tom; Katie looks like this is a sure thing.

Then Ian picks Tom. Katie's not so happy.

So as Tom and Ian head off for a quick drive and some hot food, Caryn, Katie and Jenn head back to camp empty-handed. And we head into commercial to try to figure out just what is going through Ian's head.

Ian says he's never had a car before 'cause he's never had the money. And now he's got a Corvette.

The mansion is stocked with food and a great view. Ian says he at first felt a bit bad for not picking Katie, but she did diss him in the last challenge. Tom says in a private interview he hopes Ian can bring Katie into their plan -- he knows she's not much competition in the final votes.

Back at the shelter, Katie's angry. While she talks with Caryn and chops coconuts, Jenn slyly puts something in someone's pocket. In a private interview, Katie's "really bummed out" that Ian turned his back on her. Talk among the girls hinges on who's got alliances with Tom or other things. Jenn's apparently just getting information (she has been in bed with Gregg).

"Katie just cleans house, she told everything," Jenn says. And she now knows Katie is a strong strategic player. The girls do come up with a plan on how to get rid of the men. Katie does not want to let Ian forget the mistake of leaving her behind.

As Tom and Ian get back to the beach, Caryn is there to meet them. Caryn starts off with questioning Ian, "Is it you, me and Tom or you, me and Katie?" She shuts up Tom when he tries to interrupt. Ian says Caryn is part of the plan. Ian defends what he'd said to Katie about taking her. He says he wasn't going to make a final decision until that evening's council.

Tom tries to pump Caryn for information, but for once she keeps her mouth shut. And that annoys Tom.

Ian gets back and begs Katie to talk. She says it's the last thing she wanted to do right then. Ian is scared now. He's annoyed Caryn and Katie don't trust him.

"This is like classic girl ... this is like girl trouble back home," he tells Tom.

Ian then tells Katie he still wants to talk -- not even about the game. She does agree to a short walk. Ian explains the reward challenge and that Katie had just gone on one. He also points out he swore Katie would never have a vote go against her.

Katie then gets into a rampage about how she "lost her best friend" when Ian picked Tom. She starts to cry and says she can never trust him. She actually gets Ian in tears -- that's just mean. Ian's a nice guy. Katie says she was embarrassed and upset.

OK, Ian is so in love. Really. With Katie. Please, someone nice fall in love with Ian -- the boy is nice and deserves someone his equal.

Ian says he was stupid and "off his rocker" and promises not to mess up again. They end up hugging as they head back to the beach.

After commercial we see Koror on day 36 and Tom and Caryn having yet another private strategy talk. Tom is really, really pushing Caryn for information and she's non-committal about everything she says. They retrieve the tree mail and head back to camp. Caryn, in a private interview, refers to the girl alliance again. She'd better hope it happens.

Tree mail talks about needing concentration as well as swift moves. Everyone knows they each need immunity. Tom says in a private talk that Katie is the weakest member of his three-person tribe. He gets some time today to explain if she gets immunity -- and she might since it's a brain game -- that the man who wins the next physical challenge will save her.

"Tom sucks today; he's being mean," Katie says. Tom is being very pushy these days.

Tom warns Ian that Katie is playing him (thanks, Tom!). He tries to convince Ian that Katie must be threatened to stay in line. Ian's getting confused with Tom's aggressive tactics these days.

"The game's changed from domination to self-preservation," Ian says. "It's 'Survivor,' not Parcheesi."

At the challenge, there's a wobbly bridge, a series of pontoons, a rope bridge and then a memory puzzle. They have to go back over the obstacle course and then duplicate the memory grid. First to finish their grid wins. Each puzzle is unique so there's no cheating.

Caryn and Katie fall at the start as the others make it all the way across the course and head back. Tom gets to his grid first with Ian closely behind. Katie and Caryn finally get to their grid to memorize. Jenn took more time, but starts to place many more tiles than the men did -- her whole board. She does head back to the master grid before calling Host Jeff over to check it. Caryn takes the rope bridge too carefully since her first fall. Tom falls off the bridge on one of his trips. Ian calls for a check, but his puzzle's not correct. Everyone's making several trips before completing their grid. Tom calls for Jeff to check, but isn't right. Ian calls for Jeff again, but is still wrong. The grid they're trying to duplicate is only three rows by five columns.

Tom finally gets his right -- and wins immunity yet again.

Katie's got to make a choice, stick with the girls and kick out Ian or stick with Tom and kick out Caryn.

Back at the beach, there's a few hours before tribal council. Tom knows he's lucky to win and that the girls may just have a strong alliance.

Katie and Ian get some time to talk on the beach. Katie says she always wanted to get rid of Caryn but they never did. They talk about loyalty and the fact that it's hard to trust anyone at this point in the game.

Caryn knows she's in a world of hurt with Katie and Ian getting so much alone time. She knows Katie's the swing vote for the evening.

"I hope that she's being geniune," Caryn says about Katie. Um, that's probably a mistake, Caryn.

At council, Host Jeff welcomes the jury members -- Gregg looks thrilled.

Talk starts right off with Katie getting dropped from the reward challenge.

"It was about a promise he made to me and he just broke it," Katie whimpers.

"It was the biggest mistake I made in the game," Ian says. "I felt really bad."

Caryn says she sees the tiff as a revelation and starts dropping a bunch of strategy talk from the very beginning of the game. Caryn's killing herself here, she's running her mouth and it's going to cost her.

"I'm just telling it the way it happened," Caryn says.

Ian and Caryn exchange some words about promises Ian did or did not make. Then Tom gets in on the conversation and starts saying all the promises that Caryn's made. Oh yeah, Caryn's gone. The jury is having a great time -- they love a good cat fight.

Discussion of how and when Ian told Katie they were going to vote off Gregg last week. Katie's still annoyed with that.

Tom does not give immunity away because he is not a stupid man.

Voting order:
Ian: Caryn "Best three seconds of my day. I cannot wait for you to go home."
Tom
Jenn
Caryn: Ian
Katie

Voting tally:
Ian
Caryn
Caryn
Caryn

There are three days and three tribal councils left.

Host Jeff leaves the remaining tribe members with, "I can't wait to see how this plays out."

Next show (catch 3 hours of 'Survivor' on Sunday night):
A final two-hour show will have the final four being voted down to two. An hour reunion show will then bring back the tribes for the final vote between the remaining two and someone will win a million dollars.

Credit comments:
Sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, but too bad. All that stuff happened. You know, you want to shoot the messenger, go ahead and shoot the messenger. See where it gets you in the end. Everybody's been very deceptive and I'm the one who starts speaking about it and you ultimately have to face the music anyway.