Survivor Caramoan (season 26) - Fans vs. "Favorites" (2 Viewers)

[David Weicker]

The sad thing about this season and Philip is that if people are 'taking him along' so they can sit next to him at Final, he could actually win.

Unlike last time, when he was riding on the coat-tails, this time he is actually doing things. We may not like him or what's he's doing, but he would have a viable argument for why he made it (providing he doesn't get taken out by 'friendly fire').

I hope it doesn't happen, but his tribemates could be underestimating him this time around.

David

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm sort of sad so much eye candy left this season far too quickly and soon.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

See...this is why I can't ever play Survivor. You put a plate
of live beetle larva in front of me to eat and I'll just walk away
from it. I mean, I won't even eat sushi.

Very surprised by this week's vote. Thought Philip would be
gone before his arch enemy.

 

[ChristopherG]

I thought this episode was a complete snooze fest save for the eating challenge and the final vote. Cochran! Dude you can put away some Survivor chow fast! How cool for him. The final vote was exceedingly sweet - my contempt for Corrine was growing with each minute of screen time she received.

Phillip is still a raving lunatic. He seems destined to end up in the final three just for the reasons cited above by David.

 

[mattCR]

Well, I admit, I love sushi

The trick that Cochran seemed to get was: don't chew, just straight swallow as fast as possible. The thing that no one wants to think about but is true is that this gave people some extra protein others didn't get, which should help them... even just a little bit.

As to the rest.. REALLY hate me some Phillip.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Personally, I thought the machinations which resulted in this week's elimination were pretty impressive.

I could have been knocked over with a feather when I realized the group really had figured it all out, had the fortitude to believe what was before them and eliminated Corinne.

I thought this was one of the best eliminations (in terms of strategy and guts) in a long time. Very interesting. It was fun to watch the elaborate game of "telephone" which resulted after Corinne originally spelled out her plan to Dawn.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The women are becoming an endangered gender on this show.

 

[Hanson]

I haven't seen someone shoot themselves in the foot like that since Tyson cocked up the vote split in Heroes and Villains.

1) There was no reason to bring Dawn into the alliance. They already had the numbers, unless Eric specifically blew them off (which he didn't judging by the reactions at TC).

2) There was no reason to vote off Sherri first. They could have agreed to Phillip's vote splitting plan and then blindsided the Specialist instead.

3) If they really felt like they needed a 7th, why go after Dawn? She's very close to Cochrane. Brenda would have made more sense.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Brenda has been nearly invisible this season...

 

[David Weicker]

I agree with Hanson's point #2.
I was sad to see Corinne go, but I felt it was her own doing. She's talked a lot about 'Survivor 101', but I have always felt that one of those rules is 'Listen, Don't Tell'. Too many people get into trouble by telling people things. Keeping secrets is usually a better idea - whether its about plans in motion, or ownership of Hidden Immunity Idols.

It was an interesting episode

 

[DaveHof2]

I'm sort of sad so much eye candy left this season far too quickly and soon.

Andrea and Brenda are still there - though Brenda has certainly not been very prominent. I still believe a player with her moxie will make a move at some point, but I guess as long as no one is targeting you it's fine to sit back and let the game take care of itself. Corinne was a savvy player but she got overconfident one Tribal Council too early, and she should have realized that this season she is not playing with dummies (Phllip excluded).

 

[Stan]

See...this is why I can't ever play Survivor. You put a plate
of live beetle larva in front of me to eat and I'll just walk away
from it. I mean, I won't even eat sushi.

Very surprised by this week's vote. Thought Philip would be
gone before his arch enemy.

I ate a live salamander as part of a college hazing type thing. After that I could probably handle a few beetle larva. Didn't even get to swallow until I proved I had chewed it up, then had to finish it off.

Unbelievable Phillip once again didn't even get a single vote. Maybe people are playing smart and want to take him to the end, knowing he'd never win, or else somehow he's hypnotized all of them into believing his "Specialist" BS.

Sad to see Corinne go, one of the better players that I thought would get to the final three. Dawn has always been one of my favorites, but I don't think she's to be trusted any longer.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Dawn has always been one of my favorites, but I don't think she's to be trusted any longer.

Depends upon who you are in the game. To some (Cochran, et al), she proved great trustworthiness by running to them about Corinne's scheme.

 

[mattCR]

Malcolm, watching this back on TV, has to realize how brilliant his strategy was, if it wasn't for the puppy love of one of his allies it would have worked to perfection.

 

[Patrick Sun]

But now Malcom basically swapped places with Michael in a 3-man alliance against a 7-person alliance. At least he still has an ace up his sleeve.

 

[Mike Frezon]

That was one of the most tensely dramatic tribals in years. And so many things happening in such a short amount of time.

We see Malcolm vote for Reynolds. Reynolds playing the idol. Malcolm stopping him. Reynolds transferring it freely to Malcom (at that point i was wondering what if Malcolm was right about everyone voting for him. Then Malcolm plays the idol given him by Reynolds and he has voted for Reynolds!).

Inspired editing by the Survivor crew.

 

[ChristopherG]

Did Cochran really say "macho tomfoolery"?

 

[Hanson]

Malcolm, watching this back on TV, has to realize how brilliant his strategy was, if it wasn't for the puppy love of one of his allies it would have worked to perfection.

My take was this:

Malcolm conspires with Andrea, Sherri and Dawn to perpetrate a blind side of Phillip. This is a ruse to put the target on his own back. He wanted them to hatch a blind side of Malcolm instead. He made sure they know Reynold was the one with the idol to deflect the possibility that Malcolm had his own idol.

Reynold agrees to give his idol to Malcolm at TC. For drama's sake, they have a pre-planned bit where Malcolm asks for the idol and Reynold hands it over. The brilliant part? Malcolm doesn't have to use his, and it's still secret. Once the idol is played, all of Malcolm's votes are tossed and Andrea is voted out instead.

The plan works -- at first. The majority alliance can't wait to go after Malcolm. But Eddie makes the mistake of telling Andrea they're voting for her. Sensing a trap, she had everyone change their vote to Michael at the last minute.

Am I wrong? It seems most people think Malcolm made a mistake talking to Dawn when in my view, it was a deliberate trap laid by Malcolm. The reason none of this is shown is because it would remove all suspense from TC.

BTW, the Brenda not talking has to be a conscious effort by the editors. Aside from a couple of squeals, Brenda said absolutely nothing when she won immunity and didn't speak a word when everyone was congratulating her back at camp.

 

[mattCR]

Yeah, it appears talking to Dawn = doom in this.

Meanwhile, I think playing the borrowed idol works for Malcolm because now there is no one who thinks he has the other idol. So, if he can game the vote one week to know that everyone WILL vote for him outside of one or two, he can get rid of them by surprise playing his.

The problem with that is it only buys him one week or two. He needs to win immunity pretty badly at least once in the next couple weeks as far as I can see it or he's done.

 

[Hanson]

I agree that this obfuscates Malcolm's Idol ownership in the short term. However, the second Idol is now in play, so it puts the target right back on Malcolm.

On hearing some of Michael's comments after being voted out, it appears the attempt to pull in Dawn was not done with any grand scheme in mind other than to pump up their numbers.