Survivor Caramoan Episode 5: Persona Non Grata

Last week was personally devastating for me because I've lost one bet off of my favorites list. Laura has been one of my favorites on the Fans tribe but the game moves on, albeit without her, and because Jeff Probst hyped this episode shamelessly on Twitter and anywhere else online, I knew I had to tune in. And boy was it as crazy and momentous as Jeff claimed it would be!

I knew when casting was revealed that Brandon is going to bring in drama with him in one form or another. But I never expected it to be this chaotic. Given what he did, I just gained a whole new level of respect for how Russell played this game. Brandon's is just characterized by delirium and bipolarity. Clearly, there is some internal conflict brewing in there.. but more on that later.

During the first part of the episode, we then get another shot of the Fans tribe as they head back to camp from Tribal Council. It was a completely different mood than last time. Eddie and Reynold were all about kissing the others' behind, saying that they are going to rampage the Favorites from here on out. Hey, I love the unity and all, but Reynold is here to play this game. I don't see him being all nice to the other fans who screwed him over one too many times. Hopefully, the decision to get rid of Laura would not turn out for naught.

Still on the Fans camp, the rest of the tribe went on a mad hunt for the idol after Reynold played it last time. And while everybody else were digging and looking into branches and trees, Reynold effortlessly found it in a tree branch. Seriously?! Are the producers getting too lazy and uncreative that idols are that easy to find without even a single clue?

Also, I am against the idea of re-playing an idol once it was used during tribal council. I would probably only agree to do that in the instance that the person with the idol got blindsided. But since he already used it, why put out another idol? I understand that it does add another layer of complexity into the game but you have to allow the game to take its natural course. With Reynold finding the idol, this will give him enough leverage coming into the next episode as there might be a tribal shuffle coming our way. That is, if he is wittier than the last time when it comes to managing the idol. But since Laura is gone, he doesn't have to worry about anybody else checking out his bulges anymore.

Reward Challenge: Nut Bucket

The reward challenge involved two members from each team hanging on to a rope that is tied to a basket. The other four team members competing in this challenge are tasked of shooting coconuts into the basket until it gets too heavy for either one of the two to hold on to. We've seen this challenge from the original Fans vs Favorites and it had an exciting finish, although this one is slightly different because whereas the original Fans vs Favorites had four people hold on to one rope, this time around each tribe member has their designated baskets to carry.

It was a close fight, once again, with Brandon letting go of the rope first. However, all of the Favorites designated to shoot the coconuts had an equally good performance amongst themselves. Thus, it wasn't long after Brandon let go that Matt followed, too. Sherri was horrible at shooting the coconuts and was easily distracted by Phillip's antics. Nonetheless, Phillip was again the hero for the Favorites as he outlasted Mike.

Sherri was fuming mad about how the reward challenge turned out. She contemplates on whether voting off Laura was indeed the right move for them because they did not pull through with the reward even when they decided to keep the muscles.

The Big Meltdown

The preview following last week's episode promised a historic moment, not just for the season but for the game in general. We all should've seen the Brandon Hantz meltdown coming. But nobody would've been able to predict its magnitude. The first half of the episode set up the instability of Brandon's character, something of which is no secret to those that had been watching this season and that of his previous season. He went on this grand stand about possibly volunteering to exit should they go to their next tribal council after feeling remorse towards the idea of leaving his family behind. Sure, I buy that he truly cares for his family, but as Malcolm points out, that is something he should've given more forethought into before agreeing to return and play this game.

The morning after, in typical Brandon Hantz style, he snapped out of it and realized that he will want to continue playing the game because he's doing it for his family. Weh. There's a lot of foreshadowing going on here. First, he confesses about planning to burn down the camp and peeing in the rice, to which Corinne responded (via confessional) that if he had these thoughts, then she wants him out of the camp immediately because there is no telling what he'd do next. Plus, it is only a matter of time when something does happen!

The feud between Brandon and Phillip has always been there since the start. It started off when Brandon fell on the wrong side of the numbers that led to Francesca's ouster and him being outdone by the Stealth 'R Us that Phillip had started at the Favorites' camp during the first week. Then, Phillip told him that he is still at mid level management and not officially part of the Stealth 'R Us alliance just yet. Just when things were cool between them (Phillip even named him "The Conqueror") and Brandon initiated the apology, he catches word about Phillip's plan to throw the immunity challenge just so they can get rid of him. And from there, it basically was a domino effect. And when you have someone who is as unstable, unpredictable, and has "demons" (as Andrea would claim here), they're bound to snap eventually. Which is exactly what happened to Brandon!

To be fair, Brandon raised some valid points during his argument with Phillip. It was true that Phillip's Stealth 'R Us alliance is not just childish, but delusional to some extent. None of his tribemates liked their name but they just played along with it. Also, it was true that he made it to the finale during the Redemption Island season because Boston Rob carried him there, not out of his own merit or doing. But still, the ends does not always justify the means.

The Favorites forfeited the immunity challenge so that the Fans can get a free pass and they can get rid of the team's poison - Brandon. The tirade was as intense as we've seen on Survivor. I think Jeff Probst did a marvelous job of keeping things in order because Brandon was so close to getting physical (even he admitted it). Dawn probably said it best that "Brandon wasn't best for the tribe".


Brandon's meltdown this episode should be a lesson for the show's producers - he never should've been invited back to play the game. EVER. He was clearly unstable, mentally speaking. He is no Russell Hantz. He did not even exhibit the makings of a good player, to begin with, for him to merit an invite for another shot, except for the fact that he is a Hantz. The odd thing about this whole tirade is how Brandon repeatedly would claim that he wants to be the author of his own fate. Well, didn't do a good job there, buddy. If dumping rice and beans in a game of Survivor isn't stupid enough, he dug his own grave by claiming that he voted himself off the first time by giving away his immunity necklace as if it were a badge of honor.

With Brandon gone, the other Favorites can heave a sigh of relief knowing that there won't be anyone to sabotage them anymore. But the real question is: will this break their momentum or can this fuel them to fight even harder?

Survivor Caramoan Episode 4: Kill or Be Killed

The latest episode of Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs Favorites 2 was everything it was made to be.. and then some. Unlike last episode, this one was unpredictable, had more exciting challenges, and the same amount of drama. Shall we get started?

Post-Tribal Council

For the second straight time, both Eddie and Reynold return from tribal council feeling shocked and betrayed. Eddie was more vocal about it and chose to confront Sherri about where the tribe plans to go from there. When the talk of strength came into the picture once again, he pointed to Laura saying, "why is she still sitting there?", as if she wasn't even there. He reverts back to his douche self saying that Hope was voted off because she was the "prettiest" out there and that they felt "threatened". I had to do a double take just to make sure he really said that. Then, the two pretty boys went on a speech about the team being crippled in challenges without them because they, obviously, are the two strongest! Mike retorted with what I believe is one of the best things he ever said in the game to date: "We are not winning even with you guys!" Gawd, I love Mike.

Stealth R' Us New Recruits

During the second episode, Phillip had solidified his alliance of Stealth R' Us by naming the members of his alliance: Malcolm the Enforcer, Andrea the Eliminator, Corinne the Dominatrix, Dawn the True Grit, and Cochran the Inteligencia Atache. And of course, he is the self-proclaimed the Specialist. But he has pulled Brandon in to that claiming that he honors how he has excelled in recent challenges. And with that, he welcomes Brandon into the Stealth R' Us alliance as The Conqueror. Then, he goes on to dub Erik as The Silent One and Brenda as Serenity. Andrea isn't too happy about how liberal Phillip is in terms of assigning the others names. But this has temporarily sealed the unity within the tribe. However, this does not flatter Brandon the least bit. In fact, he is laughing behind Phillip's back about what a sucky special agent he might be for not seeing through the fact that he is merely playing along.

Reward Challenge and Tata The Bushman

This is another reinvented Survivor challenge that played out really well. I think the reason that the producers decided to bring it back is because this one requires true teamwork. The fans and favorites were forced to work together in order to win the reward. More than anything, it highlighted what a weak player Laura is in challenges. She is marked with tentativeness, timidity, and can't even balance for her life's sake! On the opposite end, Brenda and Andrea are attacking this challenge like they're known for. They had no trouble manuevering the platform, giving the favorites a slight edge heading into the final stage of the challenge, which is to get all of the tribe members up on the final platform.

Shamar had a pretty dumb strategy going into the last leg of the reward challenge. He crouched on top of the platform asking the girls to "get on top" of him. Uhm, you have approximately 2x2m platform that all 8 tribe members need to get on top of, and then you take up the whole floor space? Wow! Smart thinking Shamar! That left the others with barely any spot to place their foothold on! And to make matters worse, he screamed like a mad man when Jeff proclaimed the winner. Apparently, he thought he was on the favorites tribe. And when he realized that the other team won, he characteristically said, "I didn't win?". Yes, you're the  only one who competed in this freaking challenge, Shamar!

Over at the Bikal camp, Tata the Bushman stole the show. He was as animated as can be - even Cochran pointed out that they not only received a great meal for a reward, but also a great show! The Filipino Gollum is how Malcolm described him, which is definitely quite fitting with how he spoke enigmatically with his Gollum-esque voice. Man, that was a great reward! As Corinne pointed out in her confessional, it was a good reward because it is something that they can use and benefit from down the road, rather than sitting down to a meal that will last for only a few hours.

The End of the Shamar Show

Shamar goes back to his old ways when they returned to camp from the reward challenge - lying around at the shelter. When we thought we've seen the toll of his annoyance factor, he declared that his tribe mates should serve him rice once a day so he wouldn't quit. This was met with glares and confused stares from the others who listened to him as he walked off the shelter. Poor fans. They couldn't believe what they just heard!

If that's not enough, he also complained of a bamboo or sand (or whatever!) getting into his eyes causing him to itch and rub it. The following day, Shamar's eyes got really sore and he claimed that he cannot even open it without feeling pain. This prompted Probst to bring in medical team to check on him. After initial examination, the doctors decided to pull him from the game so he could go and see a specialist. Even when Shamar was annoying me, I felt for him as he teared up while Jeff was asking him about the doctor's decision to get him out of the game. Reynold and Eddie might've been relieved to see him go out that way because that means one less worry for them in terms of the numbers. But these two had a lot of work to do before they can whizzle their way back in because at this point the numbers are still lopsided at 5 and 2.

Immunity Challenge

This week's immunity challenge is another Survivor classic. Love the fact that there are more water challenges nowadays than we had at the same point during Survivor: Philippines and even in recent seasons. This same challenge was also ran at the original Fans vs Favorites edition. Right off the bat, the Favorites took advantage as they had five really good swimmers perform at this leg of the challenge. Meanwhile, Sherri screwed up at the beginning when she did not release the key on her first jump. By the time the favorites got all of their keys, they are one leg ahead of the fans. Laura once again proved to be a liability in the challenge as she had trouble doing the easiest part of the challenge - undoing the locks. I love Laura but it is hard to hide her weakness in the competition with so much blunders.

Once again, the final leg involved some kind of tossing. Again, I won't stop my petition for a puzzle or a change-up at the final leg of these challenges. It is quickly getting redundant! Reynold was once again the Fans' go-to guy - he must be a throwing champion, or what? He quickly caught up to the lead that the Favorites established. But the Favorites ended up winning their third immunity challenge in a row with the fans getting beatdown as they had to vote one more person despite having already lost one due to a medical evacuation.

Loyalty vs Strength

With Laura's weakness in challenges exposed, her own alliance (mainly Matt and Mike) are now contemplating on turning against her. The Cool Kids alliance have trickled down to the last two - Eddie and Reynold. Ironically, these are the two strongest performers in the competition. Hence, it is hard for the tribe to vote them off knowing that they will be further crippled in the challenges given the way the Favorites are currently dominating them.

Mike made a very important point as he contemplate the vote. He was leaning more towards keeping Laura because he trusts her - she is part of their core alliance. Meanwhile, Reynold is way too dangerous and there is too much bad blood brewing between the two guys versus the rest of the tribe that it is hard to tell if they can be trusted to work with them in the future. Also, one must not dismiss the fact that he still has the hidden immunity idol so that is a very powerful tool that can work against them. It is a tricky dilemma that they are dealing with here. Even Sherri is not on board with the plan.

During tribal council, Laura made a strong case for herself. And this is why I love Laura - you can tell that she knows a lot about the game. She pointed out the possibility of a switch pre-merge and even though both Eddie and Reynold might help them out in the challenges, there is always a black cloud rising above these two guys in terms of their loyalty to the fans. Meanwhile, she guarantees that loyalty to her alliance and questions if the other two can make the same reassurance. Once again, Reynold and Eddie makes their only argument - keeping the strength to win challenges or else they are going to be back at tribal council anyway.

Before the votes were read, Reynold presented his hidden immunity idol to Jeff. Uh-oh. Pure paranoia there. Reynold ended up getting played because he did not need to use the idol as Laura's was the only vote for him. And there goes the alliance... as Mike had said. 

Strategically, the decision to get rid off Laura made little sense to me. She made a strong argument earlier that I think the rest should've paid more attention to. In a game that is clouded with uncertainty, a switch could happen right after the bend and these two are sure to flip sides if they had the chance (if they're smart). Laura is a sure vote for Sherri and co.'s alliance. But Matt strongly campaigned to keep the tribe strong and that meant sacrificing Laura. And that officially means I have one bet off of my list. Insert sobs here.

Next week...

Wow, I've never been so intrigued by the "Next time on Survivor" preview like I did for this episode. Brandon has officially gone mad! Completely out of control! Some fans had pointed out that we haven't seen much of the Favorites tribe in the last two episodes and this might be a case of getting what you asked for! I sure am not going to miss that as it goes down...

What are your thoughts on this episode? Feel free to discuss below.

All images credit to CBS.com

Survivor Caramoan: Fans and Favorites Bets

It's been three episodes in and I know that I should've done this earlier. But, better late than never. There is also an advantage to writing about my picks for this season after three episodes because that would've given me more ground to cover, in terms of analyzing their physical, social, and strategic games up to this point. 

If you've read about my earlier post, then you might know by now that my pre-show bets were rather disappointing. Allie went second and Eddie has not shown any strategic side to his game at all, even making himself sound like a douchebag by naming their alliance the "Cool Kids" club. 

Gota - Fans Tribe

Laura Alexander - If you've read my earlier assessment of her, you would be surprised that I've listed Laura here. Even I was surprised at myself. But she impressed me. During the first episode, we didn't get to see much of her. But the next two episodes gave us a peek into her strategic game and boy is she smarter than she initially appeared (oops!). Her ploy to try and switch the votes up last episode was a smart move to seal in the vote for Shamar (from the remainder of the Cool Kids alliance) and deviated it from her, who was clearly the weakest link at the reward/immunity challenge. If we can get more puzzles at the upcoming challenges, she might prove her worth in the challenges as she claims to be good at puzzles. Until then, she has found herself in a solid majority alliance at the Fans tribe, so she is looking good at this point.

Sherri Bentham - Sherri is another surprise for me - I initially thought that she will have a hard time fitting in because she's the oldest of all the females in the tribe. But with Allie gone, she is now their strongest female. That makes her a valuable member of the tribe. Also, she is leading the pack of their six-person alliance and even recruited annoying Shamar into their clique. If Sherri can continue to strategize to put herself on the number's side, then she can potentially do well deeper into the game (if she can make it that far!).

Michael Snow - Yes, another surprise! With every episode, I am getting to like Mike even more. I do think he's doing a great job right now. He has established a two-person alliance with Matt (who I cheer for as well, but only for likability not entirely for his gameplay) and chose to go with the alliance of Sherri, Shamar, Laura, and Julia to get the numbers advantage. The key move for Michael is the fact that he is letting Sherri do all the dirty work until it is time for him to go to work.

Reynold Toepfer - In my cast assessment of the fans, I said that I will keep an open mind about Reynold's game because I can't get a read on him. So far, he's been quite impressive at challenges and at the strategic side of the game. The only downside to his game is that he got off on the wrong foot with the Cool Kids Alliance. His closest allies are now being picked off one by one and if it weren't for his strength at challenges, he might've been gone, too. He also found the hidden immunity idol at the Fans' camp, which he pointed out as being a pocketful of kryptonite. It'll be interesting how and when he uses that.

Bikal - Favorites Tribe 

John Cochran - Coming into this season, I am surprised that I have come to like Cochran during the first few episodes. He has become such a lovable character this season. No longer as awkward as in South Pacific, but still awkward. But I guess that comes with his package. If he can get the right alliance, I think he has a very good chance. He is a non-threat at challenges and he is a joy to be around. Unless he sucks at the challenge so much as to cost them a trip to tribal council, I think he is safe going into the merge.

Andrea Boehlke - She is one of the stronger females on the Favorites tribe when it comes to challenges. And I think the biggest advantage that Andrea has coming into this game is the fact that she played with and learned from Boston Rob. The only fear I have about Andrea's game is that she is playing too hard and too aggressive at such an early point. If she puts herself out there, there will always be a danger of being an early target. If she can dodge the bullet, I think Andrea has good chances to go deep.
 
Malcolm Freberg - Do I even need to explain? Malcolm has played the best game he could during his stint on Survivor: Philippines, except for the slight hiccup at the end with Denise and failing to win the final immunity challenge. He promised to play the exact same way he did last time but with slight modifications. But it will be challenging given that it's a different set of players he's going up against with this time. But I count on Malcolm to play smart. Finding the hidden immunity idol is just another ace in his game.

What did you think of my picks?