Day 31 begins for the Balboa tribe with the usual portentous, fast-moving clouds. The slick grin hasn't left Jonny Fairplay's face since he engineered the previous night's Tribal Council. The repercussions of Jon's "Big Lie" will continue to reverberate throughout the Thursday night (Dec. 4) episode of "Survivor: Pearl Islands."

Christa and Sandra perform their daily ablutions with a little morning-after remorse. They're wondering if they made the right choice in turning on Tijuana and saving Burton at Jon's urging. Here's a little hint, ladies: You didn't.

Sandra goes to Mississippi Mortician Darrah looking for a little support. Darrah stares blankly and nods. Either she's being intentionally enigmatic or she's contemplating just how much she would do for a Klondike bar. Darrah is right on the edge of becoming one of the most emaciated contestants in the game's history.

Even though Burton makes a point of displaying his fishing prowess (set, hyperbolically, to the "Jaws" theme), it's clear that as much as viewers at home are missing Rupert right about now, the castaways are missing their provider even more.

The uninspired Reward Challenge involves a selection of knots and paddles and a lot of swimming. Based on the amount of pixelation that's going on, it also involves the rapid and inadvertent removal of Christa's top.

Lill, Darrah and Jon win and capture a night of pampering at a luxury spa.

The unlikely trio takes a small plane to a nice hotel. Sure, there are cabanas and a pool and big beds, but the most important perk is the large mirror. Lill is terrified by her appearance and Darrah turns around repeatedly, wondering where her front and back have gone. The Drawling Embalmer may be rail-thin, but when it comes time for the three winners to shower, whose sudsy silhouette does the editor cut to? Yeah. That'd be Naked Darrah.

Back in the Balboa camp, Burton is being cocky. Christa and Sandra seem confused at his refusal to kowtow to them for their role in helping him stay in the game the night before. Sandra vows to vote him out next chance she gets. Um, Sandra, you had that chance and blew it.

The three spa guests are eating dinner at sunset in silk pajamas. Jon orders for the ladies, which they find perplexingly endearing. He also launches a spirited dinner discussion of how his grandmother's dying wish was that he should win the game, which they find perplexingly believable.

The ravenous guests tear into their meals with gusto.

"I'm a great date," Jon says, licking cappuccino foam from his scruffy moustache. "I have a pretty extensive fine food knowledge and I was able to show that off."

He displays that he does, indeed, have an extensive knowledge of steak, cheeseburgers and chicken fingers. Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower don't need to watch their backs.

As they hunt for crabs, Christa tries to make an alliance with Burton, even expressing a willingness to vote out her closest ally, Sandra. Christa's greater concern, though, is Darrah. The perpetually silent belle is, apparently, a greater threat than anybody realizes.

"Darrah was a cheerleader," Christa rationalizes. "And she can hang in for long periods of time, you know?"

No. I don't know at all.

Back at the spa, Jon is putting the moves on the Cremating Cheerleader, promising her a spot in the final two. She believes in him. Back at the camp, though, Jon's first move is to tell Burton about his false deal making. Burton may have other strategies, explaining to the camera that he hopes to play good cop to Jon's grandma-killin' bad cop.

The Immunity Challenge requires the castaways to fire muskets (loaded with flares) at targets. Darrah proves surprisingly adept with her firearm, which actually isn't shocking if you remember that, as Christa pointed out, she was a cheerleader. She wins her second consecutive Immunity, offering a toothy smile that raises only one question: Where is Deadeye Darrah finding Crest Whitening Strips in the middle of the Pearl Islands?

The Tribal Council strategy for the night remains uncertain. Darrah tells Christa and Sandra that Lill is on her way out. Jon steers Lill into being convinced that Christa needs to be booted. Lill doesn't know what to think, especially if Jon doesn't spell it out for her.

The producers cut to stock footage of a moth caught in a web with a hungry spider looming. Clearly Jon is the spider, but who is his next moth?

Sitting around the fire, host Jeff Probst leads a time-wasting discussion about lying, likeability and friendship in the game. Everybody, it seems, loves Lill, which makes her a threat.

It's all just a red herring, though. Loveable Lill picks up two votes, but she's trumped by Cheerleader-Fearing Christa, who becomes the latest member of the jury.