Survivor: Caramoan – Season 26, Episode 11 – Come Over to the Dark Side

Survivor: Caramoan was bound to come back down to earth. It’s been a pretty thrilling post-merge game, but tonight’s episode was just a tad too predictable during Tribal Council for my tastes. I’m not saying there has to be a big shocking twist every week, but after Phillip’s ouster (and Corinne’s blindside before that), tonight just felt like a bit of a let-down. It’s kind of strange to even think and type that out, because certain players, namely the Bro-lliance, were actively trying to keep their alliance going strong and pull off an upset. The editing tried to make it look like there would be some uncertainty as well, but I never thought for a minute that anyone other than Malcolm, Reynold, or Eddie would be going home. More on that in a bit, however  — we’ve got an episode to discuss.

The remaining contestants at the Survivor Auction.

Tonight’s episode featured the classic Survivor Auction. Each remaining contestant is given $500 in cash to spend randomly on items in the auction. Items include things like food (pizza, pretzels, peanut butter), beer, letters from home, an idol clue, and an immunity challenge advantage. Malcolm immediately bids on and wins the beer and pretzels, while Reynold gets a slice of pizza (leaving Sherri to blow her entire wad on the rest of the pizza). Cochran gets the challenge advantage, which he must keep rolled up until the next challenge begins. Malcolm then wins the idol clue, immediately causing paranoia in the group. The loser is Brenda, who bids on a blind item that ends up being pig brains. The look of absolute horror and disappointment on her face is palpable. Eddie then wins a bowl full of peanut butter for the tribe to share.

Upon returning to camp, Malcolm immediately plans to search for the idol. Unfortunately, Andrea is on his tail at every step of the way. I’m not sure why he didn’t have Reynold and Eddie run interference (or have them search for the idol themselves). Andrea’s presence causes Malcolm much frustration, and she gets points for doing what she has to do to keep Malcolm idol free. The immunity challenge, a test of strength featuring ropes and totem poles, is up next. Cochrane, using his auction-bought advantage, pretty much dominates throughout, and finally outlasts Eddie, who loses grip of his rope and causes his totem pole to come crashing down. This is Cochrane’s second individual immunity. I don’t think I’d care if he won the rest of them outright!

It is clear from the beginning that the Bro-lliance will be targeted.

Malcolm then attempts to cause drama and stress in the majority alliance by faking an idol play and attempting to get Sherri and Erik to come over to his side. As noted earlier, it’s never really in doubt that Sherri and Erik will flip despite the editors’ best efforts. In a boring tribal council that features a three-way tie (with the majority alliance splitting the votes to target Reynold and Malcolm), Malcolm is unanimously voted out in a re-vote. Malcolm played a big game for sure, though it wasn’t always a smart game. Still, it’s good to have someone on the show who is actually out there to play and win, and Malcolm’s place in Survivor history is assured now after two strong appearances in a row. I can’t help but think he’ll be back for a third go-round, and that’d be ok with me.

-Z-

Survivor: Caramoan – Season 26, Episode 3 – “There’s Gonna Be Hell to Pay”

Tonight’s episode of Survivor focused mostly on the increasingly dysfunctional Gota tribe (once again, the Gota tribe consists of the “Fans”). The number of conflicts between hot-headed Shamar and his tribemates has reached astronomical levels. Not only is Shamar continuing to feud with Reynold, he is also blasting his fellow alliance members Matt and Julia, who has thus far been incredibly quiet and doesn’t seem to be the type of person who would swat a fly, let alone create conflict with the biggest man (who has the biggest mouth) on the tribe.

Andrea made a big move tonight, conspiring against her alliance mate Corinne.

Shamar is a tough nut to crack. I’m not sure he’s playing the game to win, and his actions tonight help cement my feelings about him. He continually talks about quitting the game throughout the episode, much to my annoyance. I like Shemar – his ability to speak his mind against all logic is almost admirable – but he is getting to be too much. Reynold rightly points out in a confessional that Shamar’s whining and possible quitting the game is a slap in the face to the 50,000 people who would do anything for a shot to be on a show like Survivor. To his credit, Shamar quits the quitting talk, even going so far as to thank Laura and Sherri for their loyalty to him. Reynold laments the fact that Shamar backed out of quitting.

On the Favorites, or Bikal tribe, Andrea becomes suspicious of Corinne, rightly so since Corinne and Malcolm ended up finding an idol. This brings up two points from me: 1). It continues to annoy me how easy it is to find immunity idols on this show. Production needs to either hide them more efficiently or get rid of them all together. 2). Since the Favorites have received very little screen time since the first episode, it’s kind of hard to buy that Andrea suddenly wants Corinne out of the game. Nevertheless, Andrea conspires with Cochran, who I’ve really been enjoying this season, and Brandon, who I have not been enjoying all that much, to perhaps blindside Corinne sometime in the near future.

The combined immunity/reward challenge (I hope they stop combining them soon) is a doozy – the two tribes must climb over a type of bamboo prison cell set over the ocean, dive down and release a bamboo door, and then carry a heavy trunk back to shore. Once on shore, the teams must push the trunk on a rail, occasionally pulling pieces of rail into place via a ring tied to a rope. It sounds more complicated than it is, and appears more difficult than it looks. In short, it’s the perfect type of physical, intense challenge for this game. I’m not sure I’ve seen it on the show in the past, which is rare for Survivor at season 26.

Reynold and Eddie are on the chopping block.

The Favorites pull off a victory after a slow start, and despite some editing tricks suggesting a testy tribal council, nothing out of the ordinary really happens. For a moment it did seem as if a few of the majority alliance, namely Julia and Laura, might end up voting off Shemar, who they see as annoying but who is a valuable goat in the game. The two stick with their original plan, however, and poor Hope is caught in the crossfire, just as Allie was last week. Reynold and Eddie are left scrambling once again, and Shamar dodges a bullet for another week.

-Z-