'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: The tribes were swapped, Bikal’s momentum was stopped, and “The Beard” was chopped.
39 Days, 20 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…
The Bikal Tribe (wearing purple)
Cochran – Harvard Law Student, 25
Corinne – Pharmaceutical Sales, 33
Dawn – English Professor/Power Rankings Champ, 42
Julia – Racecar Driver/Student, 21
Michael – Event Planner, 44
Phillip – Chief Executive Officer of Enter Software Sales, 54
The Gota Tribe (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
Quick News Note: Congrats to the “Survivor” crew on being renewed for the 2013-14 season.
We start off after Tribal Council with the Stealth R Us Tooers apologizing to the newbs for sending Matt on his merry way.
Corinne lets Michael know that she’s going to do everything in her power to keep him around. We’ve found Corinne’s kryptonite, and apparently it’s homosexuality.
Phillip doesn’t like that Corinne is talking to Michael and tells Cochran that he wants her gone before the merge. Cochran smartly talks him down, explaining that it’ll send a bad signal to the Gota branch of Stealth R Us Too if they boot one of their own so soon. Cochran’s quietly having a hell of a season.
Tree Mail arrives the next morning and it hints at strong and weak players. Phillip is confident that his strength will lead them to victory. Famous last words…
Reward Challenge Time: The tribes will be tethered together and walk around an oval track while carrying 20-pound weights. If a player gets tired and has to duck out, he or she has to pass off his or her weights to the rest of the team. First team to catch the opposing team wins a trip to an island for coffee, cookies, croissants, and other words that start with the letter “C.”
Brenda will sit out for Gota.
Fun Fact: I believe this challenge was done in Palau.
Not much to describe at first, except for Phillip telling everyone they should walk because the “Girls will tire.” Sexism aside, it’s also because he assumes at some point he’ll be carrying all the weight.
Dawn and Cochran are the first one out of the challenge, and then…oh wait…it’s over. That was quick. Gota catches Bikal and wins the reward.
Dawn’s cool with the loss because the coffee will give Gota diarrhea. Glass is always half full.
At the Caramoan coffee bar, Andrea is psyched to get a chance to share a reward with the fans. She hopes to get to know them so they’ll vote for her in the end.
Malcolm one ups Andrea by kissing everyone and expressing his love for them. Oh man, Twitter just exploded with jealousy.
Back at Bikal, Corinne is blaming Phillip for the loss. She approaches Cochran with the idea of getting rid of him. Man, Cochran in the middle. His goal now is to keep the faves together at all costs.
Meanwhile, Phillip wants to turn Julia into a double agent. He tells her to meet up with the other fans at the merge and relay info to Stealth R Us Too.
Later, Julia tells Dawn that Phillip wants her for a new alliance and that maybe they should try to get rid of him. So, your head is on the chopping block and you make moves against the person trying to work with you? These “fans,” I tell ya…
Anywho, Dawn immediately lets Phillip know what’s up.
Over at Gota, Malcolm spearheads an alpha-male alliance with himself, Eddie, Reynold, and Erik. Do four guys and two idols make a numbers advantage?
Reynold tells Malcolm about his idol, but Malcolm doesn’t return the favor. Dun dun dun…
Immunity Challenge Time: Three members of each tribe will paddle into the ocean, dive down, and retrieve a phoenix statue. They’ll return to shore and place the statue at the base of a tower. One tribe member will use a grappling hook to retrieve keys. First tribe to use the keys to unlock the tower and pull their statue to the top wins immunity.
Sherri will sit for Gota.
Brenda, Erik, and Eddie, and Dawn, Corinne, and Michael are the water teams. Gota gets off to a hot start, but Bikal manages to catch up. Gota regains the lead and gets their statue back to shore first, but Bikal isn’t far behind.
Phillip and Reynold pull carnival game duty once again with the grappling hook toss. Reynold absolutely kills it, getting all five keys in short order. Gota pulls up their statue and wins immunity.
After the challenge, Phillip confesses to Cochran that he threw the challenge because he wanted to get rid of a fan. Nice of him to go easy on those poor Gota losers. He probably feels bad that they’re being decimated by diarrhea.
Anywho, the faves are going to split the vote in case there’s an idol. Corinne goes to bat for Michael, but Phillip doesn’t think they need him. Phillip explains that he’s qualified to make such calls because he played with the smartest, best looking, best smelling, most charismatic player of all time, “Boston” Rob Mariano. OK, maybe he didn’t say all of that, but it was close.
Corinne interrupts Phillip as he’s talking to Dawn and Cochran and things get ugly. He tells her to take a hike in slightly nicer terms. She takes that hike, but lets us know that she’s dying to vote him out. Who would’ve thought those two kids wouldn’t get along?
That night at Tribal Council, Julia thinks the favorites are tense because they’re thinking past this vote.
Corinne wants to vote off the right fan because it’ll be important later.
Phillip thinks he and Corinne have the same goal, but different processes of getting there.
Dawn thinks conflict is OK as long as they want the same thing.
Michael thinks he should stick around because he works hard and is trustworthy.
Cochran thinks it’s dangerous for Michael if everyone thinks he’s BFFs with Corinne.
Corinne admits that it’s super cool that Michael is gay, but she’s only known him for a few days.
Voting Time: No votes are shown.
We’ve got one vote for Michael, one for Julia, one for Michael, one for Julia, one for Michael, and…one for Julia. A tie.
Voting Time Again: No votes are shown.
Alrighty, we’ve got two votes for Julia and the eighth person to be eliminated from “Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites” is…Julia.
Verdict: Bikal loses? Check. One of the fans goes home? Check. Thank goodness the merge is around the corner.
Who’s Going to Win? Erik is a favorite and potentially in the challenge-threat alliance. WINNER!
Power Rankings Results: Michael Skupin had Julia in spot twelve, while my pinch hitter Benjamin “Coach” Wade had her in eleven. So, the current score is Team Skupin 83, Team Lightning Punch 103.
Any questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff probst, survivor, survivor caramoan, survivor fans vs favorites
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