Survivor Caramoan Episode 3: The No-Talking List

As predicted, there was a major blowup at camp after Allie got voted off during the Fans' first trip to tribal council. I knew that Shamar is going to be more obnoxious than he already is, only this time it's a lot more loud and annoying than usual. Initially, I thought he made good TV but I am now re-considering that statement I made because he gets more obnoxious by the day to a point wherein I wanted to mute my TV because it's painful to listen to. And yet, they decided to keep him and vote off Hope to bring the Cool Kids alliance down to the two - Eddie and Reynold - due to their strong performance at challenges. Let's breakdown what happened in between that point to the first re-vote of this season...

Back at camp, Reynold was pissed about being blindsided at the vote thinking that it was Shamar who will be going home. He blatantly told everybody else that he no longer trusts any of them and that it's game on. This statement apparently ticked off Shamar (as every little thing that Reynold and/or Eddie says or does), so he goes on a yelling match with Reynold saying how the latter was pissed because his plan did not work out. When he's not done yet, he ended up yelling at Matt and Julia, people who voted WITH him! In a perfect world, Shamar leaving is the perfect plan. But since the rest of the tribe were smart enough to break up the tight foursome, they had to live with the idea of keeping Shamar and his loud mouth at camp. 

Sherri, who I thought played smart last week by deciding to recruit Shamar into their alliance of six, quickly pulled him aside to confront him about his behavior. She sort of lectured him about his behavior saying that he needs to keep his mouth shut because both Reynold and Eddie are going to use whatever excuse they can to dump the target on him (as if he hasn't a big enough target already). But since Sherri is keen on keeping Shamar in her back pocket, she came in to pacify the situation before it becomes overblown. This bit right here shows another side to Sherri's game that I applaud - she does a very good job of keeping Shamar in check because even though he plans on using him as a pawn, he has to be on leash too because there is a huge possibility that he would screw up the plan for the rest of them. 

Over at the Favorites camp, Phillip does his usual antics that are a cross between being completely ridiculous to downright delusional. Two seasons in, I am still not entirely sure if he's doing that for airtime or it's just that his mind can get a bit looney. But while Phillip is busy hugging the airtime, Corinne and Malcolm established an unlikely alliance by going off into the forest to hunt for the hidden immunity idol. I am slightly feeling on edge about this duo but if Malcolm can establish loyalty from one other tribe mate, then that would be big especially knowing that they had found the hidden immunity idol. The pinky swore moment was funny, but I still prefer the celebratory handshake with Denise on Survivor: Philippines.  

Andrea is playing a little too aggressive at this point, if I may say. The operative word: TOO AGGRESSIVE. She noticed Malcolm and Corinne's closeness and instantly became suspicious of Corinne. She secretly formed allegiance with Brandon, with the help of Cochran, in order to get enough numbers to topple Corinne. Looks like the Stealth 'R Us alliance are not as formidable as it seems, though. Like Andrea said, she has to be careful doing this to make sure that Corinne does not catch word about being targeted by Andrea or else the tide could be flipped.

The drama continues at the Fans' tribe with Shamar being at the center of the action (again!). Apparently, he's contemplating the idea of quitting and then goes on to share stories about how his time serving in Iraq has changed him. But then the girls talked him out of it, with Sherri pointing out that if he quit and they lose another challenge they would be down two in numbers against the Favorites. He quickly snapped out of it, and as Reynold pointed out, made it sound like a heroic move for him to revoke his decision to quit. Reynold concluded that Shamar is just one factor to his game that he is going to have to deal with. Ugh. Drama!

At this point in the episode, the immunity challenge is on and we see the Favorites tribe cheerily walk up to their mat. This is a very telling scene from last night - the Favorites tribe are feeling confident about the game at this point. They know they can beat the fans and they are feeling good about their tribe. And that can make a huge difference in the team morale. Whereas you get a shot of the fans right before Jeff Probst signaled the start of the challenge wherein Mike was giving everybody else a high five and when it's Shamar's turn to give him a high five in return, Mike got completely ignored. Small details like that can be huge at this stage of the competition wherein it's all about the team. When there is one person who tries to put a wedge into team unity, it does not bode well.

I have to note, though, that this is my favorite challenge so far. The water challenge returns! There was a bit of water element to last week's challenge but this one is hard core - much like the seasons past. And the best part is that everyone had to swim - you're only as strong as your weakest member. The Favorites tribe showed better unity at that challenge as Malcolm and Brandon helped the weaker swimmers get over the cage instead of rushing to the front of the pack. On the flip side, the fans (er, Shamar) always find something to bicker about, which in this case would be the goggles. The challenge was neck-and-neck for the most part, and then we were down to another tossing element at the last part. Seriously? Try to put in some puzzles in there, too. I am tired of all the tossing and brings forth a rather anti-climactic finish to the challenge. Have the producers run out of puzzle ideas? Did they use all of it up on Survivor: Philippines? Nonetheless, the Favorites win reward and immunity and it's another Survivor editing guessing game as to whether or not Shamar will finally get the boot.

After their loss, Shamar blatantly stopped Reynold in his tracks as he attempts to start a conversation with Shamar. Apparently, he has created a "No-Talking" list wherein he simply does not hear a word that Eddie and Reynold says. But his mouth nearly cost him his alliance's trust when he blabbered about the plan of splitting the votes to Hope. There was a slight hope for Eddie, Reynold, and Hope to be able to vote off Shamar as both Laura and Julia contemplated voting with the other alliance. Despite all the animosity directed towards Shamar, the original plan to split the votes between Hope and Eddie succeeded. We were brought to our first re-vote of the season and at that point it became clear that Hope was going home.

Are the Fans doomed? Do you think they can get it together even with Shamar there? Or is Sherri's plan to keep Shamar causing more harm than good? Don't forget to leave your comments below.