“Nice blind side” is all my Dad texts me after “Survivor” is over, just as I’m sitting down to write.

Nice blind side indeed. Brad’s reign as the leader of Tadhana comes to an end as Caleb decides that he no longer trusts Brad after witnessing Brad’s so-called “campaign” against him around camp. In addition to that, Brad admitted to Jeff Probst at tribal council that yes, indeed, it would take some of the heat off his own back at Redemption Island duels if he voted off someone such as Caleb, whose loved one is out of the game.

Bad move, Brad. And telling Caleb that he wouldn’t vote for him, and sticking to it, provided the tie vote, and the subsequent re-vote, needed to send him off to John and Candice’s not-so-welcoming faces at Redemption Island.

But even if he makes it off Redemption Island, I doubt his five-now-three guys alliance will be any more welcoming than power couple John and Candice were when he arrived on Redemption Island. Of course, because the Redemption Island winner should be re-entering the game in time for the merge, his wife Monica is bound to welcome him into her own alliance — assuming the Galang tribe continues its winning streak at challenges and she remains in the game.

Brad’s downfall came mostly from playing the loved one card too hard too soon. He was trying to take control of the game by being manipulative, through the loved ones, but the entire venture backfired on him because the people he was trying to manipulate were on the other tribe.

But at least he got the “Survivor” blindside treatment. And it even came down to a re-vote. Cue Hayden during the re-vote, staring down at that scrap of paper, still staring at it, beginning to write Caleb’s name before crossing it out. If not for that, Brad and Ciera would have been down to “making fire,” and probably Ciera would have had her torch snuffed instead.

With Brad off the tribe, who will rise up as the new leader? If the previews are anything to go by, Caleb sounds like he’s ready to take charge — though I doubt his plans will include the two remaining girls on Tadhana.

At this point, the most important thing for Tadhana players to do is simply to win a challenge. Winning just once will earn them fishing gear they need to begin eating some much-needed protein. But until they can beat Galang  and its experienced returning members, they will continue to grow weaker physically from lack of protein, as well as mentally from being defeated time and again by a “one-armed dude and three moms.”

— Claire Cinquegrani