Tribes Merge, Andrew Purged

It began with a tribal council to let two outcasts back into the game and ended with a tribal council to get rid of a tribe member.

Fate had it in store for Lil to come back from the dead, so to speak, along with Burton, and take revenge on the tribe member who kicked her out in the first place: Andrew.

Andrew Savage visited The Early Show on Friday to give us an insight into the Morgan tribe.

To set the record straight, he tells co-anchor Julie Chen, "One thing I wanted to clear up that's been driving me nuts. Before tribal council, day nine, I gave Lil a big kiss on the cheek and said, 'We love you. I'm so sorry about tonight. It's not personal. It's a strategy.' She says, 'Andrew, O.K. I understand.' She admitted this in her interview. She actually set aside a bunch of firewood and said, 'Andrew, I know I'm not coming back. Here is a fire to start up the fire when you get back.' She was a nice lady. That was the kind of things she would do, so they did know she was going."

Another thing he clarified was his contribution to the tribe after a caller asked: "Rupert is the leader of his tribe by supplying them with 10 to 15 pounds of fish a day, helping his tribe with team immunity, being the strongest on his team and his tribe. I was wondering you being portrayed as a leader of your tribe, what have you done to help them?"

Andrew, better known as Savage, replied, "We are spending hours of gathering oysters and there wasn't many fish in our lagoon. Rupert was with us on four days and he got four fish and two days on his island, he's getting 40 fish. There is not a lot of fish in our lagoon. We scoured the island and got all we could."

So what did he do wrong to get him kicked out of the game? Savage says, "There are so many things. Where did I go wrong? I trusted Lil.

"There's so much you don't see. I was the only one in my tribe arguing to keep Lil in the first go-round. I didn't want to vote her out. My tribe mates came to me and said, 'She's got to go,' and I'm not stupid. I decided with my tribe mates."

The reason he wanted to keep Lil in the game was because of her great work ethic, Savage says. "She was inspirational. She was the oldest person out there and, you know, I had great respect for her."

His leadership position, however, did not give him the power to keep her around. It was a numbers game.

He says, "I was a leader but critical decisions were always put up to a vote and I had one vote. They said, 'No, we needed stronger people in the challenges.'"

Unfortunately for Savage, it was Lil who had the last say and his torch was extinguished.

The Drake tribe agreed to vote for Andrew because he represented a threat, and the Morgan tribe chose to vote for John because they found his arrogance irritating. But Lillian, still holding a grudge against Morgan, jumped sides and voted with Drake against Andrew.

Savage says, "Lil was the swing vote. We had five Morgans going after Little John and five Drakes going after me. A couple of minutes before we got on the vote, Lil jumped ship. You didn't see two Morgans and two Drakes. It seemed like a solid alliance and a couple of minutes before we get on the boat to go to tribal council, it flips because Lil jumped ship and decided to go with the Drakes."

The merge, he says, totally caught him off-guard.

When Morgan and Drake arrived to compete at the immunity challenge, they learned that they were merging into a unified tribe, choosing the name Balboa in honor of the injured snake Rupert tried unsuccessfully to nurse back to health.

The survivors played for individual immunity in an aquatic immunity challenge. Even though he was already immune from expulsion, Burton fought fiercely in the contest and narrowly defeated Rupert to win immunity.

After the challenge, the newly formed Balboa tribe had a chance to mix and mingle while feasting on a buffet of ribs, bread, cheese and nuts. But the friendly atmosphere quickly disappeared as the players broke off into cliques to discuss voting strategy.

Savage says, "I wish I would of had a couple of days with the Drakes to work some magic and try to get more alliances, relationships. You don't know the Drakes that well and haven't had a lot of contact with them."

Asked who he is rooting for now to win, he says, "I'm rooting for myself. I'm waiting for the call to get back on the island!"

For now, he gets his family to be proud of the way he played the game. His cousing Katie was one of the callers who let him know how great he did in the Pearl Islands.