I totally get the whole voting for Susie and Dan in case Dan has the idol -but they had to know what it would signal to the one they deemed expendable.

If they had to do this -it should have been when they first swapped -where they would vote someone off but still gain Sugar. If Dan had the idol, he probably won't play it, or use it to get another Kota out because another Kota would replace the fallen Kota and it would still be 3 Fangs to 4 Kotas.

They had Ace believing he was in their alliance, and by extension Sugar. They had many opportunities to gain Sugar and lose Randy, Susie or Dan -and then keep throwing immunity to save Ace and Jacquie for at least a few more rounds. And if they won reward, send Jacquie or Ace to exhile hoping they can use it as a bluff.

They had no reason to believe Randy, Dan or Susie weren't just telling them what they wanted to hear because they were outnumbered. Sure, it worked with Randy -but it still easily could have been once they merged both Randy and Susie said, "haha, suckers!"