'Survivor: Caramoan' (CBS)
Quick Note: We’re going to be bringing you all kinds of “Survivor” fun this season including episode recaps, exit interviews, and Power Rankings with Michael Skupin. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute news and info.
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Last Week: There was an idol, Reynold found it. Brandon had sanity, then he lost it.
39 Days, 20 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…
The Bikal Tribe (wearing purple)
Andrea – Entertainment Host and Writer, 23
Brenda – Paddleboard Company Owner, 30
Cochran – Harvard Law Student, 25
Corinne – Pharmaceutical Sales, 33
Dawn – English Professor/Power Rankings Champ, 42
Erik – Comic Book Artist, 27
Malcolm – Bartender, 25
Phillip – Chief Executive Officer of Enter Software Sales, 54
The Gota Tribe (wearing orange)
Eddie – Firefighter/EMT, 23
Julia – Racecar Driver/Student, 21
Matt – Brand Manager of Two BMX Brands, 38
Michael – Event Planner, 44
Reynold – Sales, 30
Sherri – Fast Food Franchisee, 41
We kick off the post-meltdown era back at Bikal beach where Dawn is trying to be a glass-is-half-full kinda gal by saying at least the vote was unanimous. She’s got a point. How Malcolm resisted voting for Cochran to lighten the mood, I’ll never know.
Phillip is annoyed that they gave Gota hope. Corinne doesn’t understand why Brandon had to destroy everyone’s food if he was just mad at a few people. I asked Brandon, he said it was because they didn’t stand up for him.
In a similar vein, Corinne is annoyed that nobody stood up to defend her or Phillip in front of the fans.
Now that Brandon is gone, Phillip wants to stick with the plan of getting rid of Corinne. Maybe that’s an in for Erik or Brenda?
Over at Gota, Reynold says that he and Eddie have no chance of getting in good with the rest of his tribe. His only hope now is to win challenges and hope for a merge or a swap. And is if on cue…
Drop your buffs…
Everyone is given an egg that is full of paint. They smash the eggs and are splattered with their new tribe colors.
Let’s take a look at the tribes as they now stand…
The NEW Bikal Tribe (still wearing purple)
Cochran – Harvard Law Student, 25
Corinne – Pharmaceutical Sales, 33
Dawn – English Professor/Power Rankings Champ, 42
Julia – Racecar Driver/Student, 21
Matt – Brand Manager of Two BMX Brands, 38
Michael – Event Planner, 44
Phillip – Chief Executive Officer of Enter Software Sales, 54
The NEW Gota Tribe (still wearing orange)
Andrea – Entertainment Host and Writer, 23
Brenda – Paddleboard Company Owner, 30
Eddie – Firefighter/EMT, 23
Erik – Comic Book Artist, 27
Malcolm – Bartender, 25
Reynold – Sales, 30
Sherri – Fast Food Franchisee, 41
First instincts? Dawchran, Eddie and Reynold, and Matt and Michael are still together, Corinne and Malcolm are split up. The three strongest challenge players are all on Gota. There are four Stealth R Us Tooers on Bikal, but one of them is Corinne who’s being targeted by Phillip.
Also, they get new rice and flint. Ha! Hantz’s master plan has been foiled!
Over at Gota, they agree with my assessment that they’re going to own the next few challenges. Also, just like I predicted in the Power Rankings, Eddie and Reynold immediately tell Erik what was going on within the old Gota tribe. In particular they call out Sherri as the leader.
Erik doesn’t buy it because Reynold is so handsome. Oh man, the Micronesia women made it so Erik doesn’t trust pretty people!
Meanwhile, Sherri is spilling her guts to Brenda and Andrea. She likes Eddie, but wants Reynold gone.
Quick Note: Andrea refers to Sherri telling them about Gota as “spoiling.” That’s adorable, now Andrea won’t be surprised when she watches the episodes.
At Bikal, Corinne is thrilled to have Michael on her tribe because he’s gay. She even said if she was an idiot she’d turn on her alliance just to align with him. Somewhere former Power Rankings champ Charlie Herschel is smiling.
Later, Phillip tells someone named Julia that he’s thinking of becoming a double agent. She seems nice. They should let her into the game now that Brandon is gone.
Phillip tells Corinne that he’s working on bringing Julia in, but Corinne thinks numbers aren’t an issue. She tells Dawn that he needs a “warm glass of shut the hell up.” In the Filipino heat? No thanks, I take my “shut the hell up” on the rocks.
Back at Gota, Andrea tells Malcolm that she had a dream that he had an idol. What?! Andrea’s psychic?! Where are my PowerBall numbers, Andrea?!
Immunity Challenge Time: Two by two, players will run out onto a field to retrieve giant crates. Once all six crates are retrieved, they’ll use them to create a staircase. First tribe to complete their staircase wins immunity.
Quick Note: This challenge has been done a few times. Most recently in “Heroes vs. Villains.”
Gota jumps out to a huge lead thanks to their strength advantage. For some weird reason, Phillip has to go twice in a row. His exhaustion is definitely showing.
During the staircase building, Malcolm is calling the shots for Gota while Julia is trying to get Bikal in gear. However, it’s never close. Gota gets all six in place and wins immunity.
Jeff Probst: “That was pathetic.”
Phillip Sheppard: “It sure was.”
Back at Bikal, Phillip gives everyone a pep talk. Corinne thinks the reason people think he’s in charge is because he does crazy things and everyone else goes along with it. She says that on an annoying scale that goes from one to sitting next to a baby on a plane, he’s like sitting next to a baby on a plane that has diarrhea. What I like about Corinne is the way she paints a picture with her words.
Matt and Michael approach Phillip to talk strategy. He tells them about the mysterious ways of Stealth R Us Too. If they want to be inducted and given a sweet nickname, someone from his alliance will tell them to do something and they’ll have to do it. Buh…
Matt thinks it’s crazy, but he’s willing to play along if it’ll keep him in the game.
Voting wise, it looks like Julia’s going to be the Stealth R Us Too target. Matt and Michael are willing to go along with it, but they tell Julia they’re going to vote for Dawn.
Cochran is worried that Michael and Matt are clearly a pair and keeping them together might be trouble. OK, then which is Ozzy and which is Elyse?
A Stealth R Us Too pow-wow has Corinne and Phillip wanting to get rid of Julia because she’s a challenge liability and Dawchran wanting to get rid of Matt because he’s part of a pair and they don’t think he has an idol. Either way, Corinne is happy because Michael is safe.
That night at Tribal Council, Matt says he’s psyched because he’s a fan of all the favorites he’s now teamed with.
Julia thinks the fans are in trouble because they’re in the minority.
Corinne thinks Matt and Michael are great people and tonight’s vote might not be fair.
Phillip values loyalty and challenge strength.
Corinne admits that she’s paranoid about the hidden immunity idol.
Matt says he would’ve told Corinne who had the idol. Corinne says it’s “Survivor” 101 to lie about it.
Cochran doesn’t want to keep losing because it’ll help Gota bond. He sees them as the “Bold and the Beautiful” tribe and he doesn’t see himself penetrating that alliance. Sorry folks, this is a family site. Feel free to write your own joke on that one.
Jokes aside, that’s an interesting point from Cochran. I’d never have thought of that.
Voting Time: Julia votes for Dawn, Matt votes for Julia, Michael votes for Julia, and the rest of the votes are lost to the magic of editing.
JPro tallies and returns. We’ve got two votes for Julia, one vote for Dawn, three votes for Matt, and the seventh person to be eliminated from “Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites” is…Matt.
Verdict: Look at that…actually strategy on “Survivor!” And it was entertaining! Go figure…
Who’s Going to Win? Erik’s on the new dominant tribe and he has a ton of options. Go, Erik.
Power Rankings Results: Tough one to call this week with the tribe swap. Michael had Matt in spot six while I had him in spot eleven. So, the current score is Team Skupin 71, Team Lightning Punch 92.
Any questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff probst, survivor, survivor caramoan, survivor fans vs favorites
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