His nomination of her was fair enough - he hasn't really spoken to her that much and that's fine. She is an easy target, which is unfortunate, but at this point we are going to have flimsy reasons for nominations and she isn't one of Joel's favourites. That doesn't make him "part of the clique".
His reasons for eating her letter made sense. Harry was having a tough time, Cristian had been in there longer than her. She deserved it least.