['Survivor: Nicaragua' - 'Stuck in the Middle']

"Something has to change" forewarned Holly (in her South Dakotan twang) at the outset of last night's 'Survivor: Nicaragua,' "and, it has to change soon." And, change it did. Big time. Huge, even.

Here's how it went down...

Following Marty's ouster at last week's Tribal, Brenda and Sash grew even cockier (if that was possible).

"Benry, Fabio and Dan now see that Sash and I aren't on their side," purred Brenda in the dark. "I think Sash and I being in control does look like a king and queen situation, but Sash is more of a queen and I'm more of a king." Wait, didn't Shannon nail that way back in the third episode? Eerie.

Brenda's incredibly over-inflated sense of self finally seemed to be rubbing most folks the wrong way and a plan was set in motion to dethrone Queen -- sorry, I mean King Big Sh*t -- ASAP. But of course, this is 'Survivor,' where typically the best laid plans implode.

So, we got to the Reward Challenge (a "get yourself from point A to point B using just these barrels and some totally unnecessary rope" thing that's been used in corporate team building seminars for going on two decades now) and the prize was a doozy. The winning team would go -- via helicopter -- to the Cerro Negro ("one of the most active volcanoes in the world") to do a little "volcano boarding" and pizza gorging. (The jury's still out on which of the two elicited a more orgasmic reaction from Fab.)

A schoolyard pick resulted in the Yellow Team being saddled with Dan and, wah-wah, whaddaya know? they promptly lost to the Blue Team of Fabio, Jane, Chase, Na'Onka and Purple Kelly, who whooped it up and had a big old blast careening down the black ash-laden side of the volcano. Oh, and the pizza and fixins' were pretty awesome too.

Speaking of black ash...

As the losing team made their way back to camp we got to see what the tease of last week's coming attractions was: FIRE! Yeah, the dummies, in an attempt to keep their campfire burning during inclement weather, had reinforced their pit with -- get this -- their wooden chests of foodstuffs. Rookie mistake to be sure, and one that nearly cost them the entire camp. But it really couldn't have been too big of a deal because we never even got to see the "volcano surfers'" reaction to the devastation.

At this point pretty much everyone except Chase, Sash and her highness were down with voting King Brenda out. Of course, just to make it interesting, spazzy Chase, who's spent much of the season crippled and blinded by Brenda's sex appeal, just had to leak the plan. Because "for whatever reason, I trust Brenda. There is no reason or rhyme, I put my game plan in her." Too. Many. Jokes. None of them PG. Let's move on.

For her part, Brenda says she's "not even that impressed" by the majority swing in alliances. But she should've been, what with Na'Onka campaigning hard with everybody and anybody to get her former BFF's head on the chopping block. (Never can trust that crazy Na.)

Ah, but could the "hang-from-a-rope-as-long-as-you-can-over-a-pool" Immunity Challenge be her saving grace? Could her physical prowess help her snag the necklace again? Nope. She was out in a cool coupl'a minutes, following Sash (who's really bad at challenges), Kelly and Holly. Hell, even Dan held on longer.

Incredibly, Jane once again dug deeper than any of her younger, fitter opponents and pulled out the win -- and the necklace. (Thanks in no small part to Probst, who urged her on through the final moments Tony Robbins style.)

With hours to go before Tribal there was a lot of yakking by Chase about how he couldn't fathom voting off Brenda, about how she was the only one he'd ever trusted, about how he couldn't possibly continue on in a game where he didn't trust anyone. (Did anybody ever tell this kid he was playing 'Survivor'?)

Not so fast: With Brenda in the loop about the plan, she'd be able to save herself because Sash would give her Marty's idol as promised, right? So why worry? Too much hoopla over nothing, folks.

Predictably, at Tribal, Probst tried to engage Na -- no doubt for another rousing of those "random ramblings with Na" segments that have been so popular in weeks past. For the record, Na'Onka, we get the fact that you're from South Central. No need to reiterate. Thanks. And, yes, Brenda, we get that you're too cool to "scramble" for position, you've made that abundantly clear. Just not so sure that's the best plan of attack at this juncture.

In fact, as it played out, Brenda should've been scrambling like no other. Everyone. EVERYone (except self-professed clueless Purple Kelly) voted her out. Even Sash and love/lust-sick Chase succumbed to the pressure. And -- shocker! -- Sash kept the idol for himself. Didn't see that one coming in the slightest.

I can't wait to see the Ponderosa footage of Brenda trying to settle in with Marty and Alina. Or, to talk to the ex-"King" later on today. Let's see what she has to say for herself in the exit interview ...

'Survivor: Nicaragua' airs Wednesdays at 8PM ET on CBS.