Survivor Caramoan Episode 8: It's Blindside Time!

THIS is what fans came to watch Survivor for! I can't believe it took us 8 episodes to finally get down to the nitty-gritty of strategy, plotting, scheming, and blindsides. With 8 favorites and 4 fans heading into the merge, it's not all one happy bunch - and with a majority alliance consisting of two strong personalities in Corinne and Phillip, you know something's gotta give. And soon.

Tonight's episode of Survivor more than makes up for the boring, uneventful, and predictable episode last week that sent Julia packing. No matter how hard the producers tried, they couldn't have done any more tweaking to make that episode more interesting than it turned out to be. But little do I know that it was the proverbial calm before the storm. And boy do we have a mighty storm on our hands this week!

As many fans predicted, I also sensed that a favorite was going home tonight. But who? It was unclear until Corinne's confessional mentioning this week's title episode that I cringed a little. More on that later...

Within the first few minutes of the episode, we see a clearly relieved Michael thanking the favorites at Bikal for deciding to keep him. Then, Phillip quickly pulled the two girls aside to confess about his decision to throw the immunity challenge. Like most of us, they didn't buy it. When they probed, he told them that he decided to do it during the challenge itself. Corinne laughed it off and dubbed it "the biggest joke of the year" because it was clearly not lost on purpose and Phillip's ego just could not handle the fact that he failed at the challenge.

Moving on, another breakdown - featuring none other than Dawn. She walks to the well by herself and reflects on her time in the game now and that of her previous season. She reaffirmed the importance of making decisions for herself because those are people that end up winning the game. According to Dawn, you cannot let the game come to you. She should know better - her fate in South Pacific game turned on its head when Cochran betrayed their alliance. Dawn is clearly feeling a tinge of that.

Merge Time



Over at Gota, excitement filled up the camp when they saw this large boat heading to their island. Of course, with such an unlikely visit, everyone is anticipating a merge. When they read the note and it clearly indicated a merge, everyone went rejoicing but at the same time started thinking about strategy and numbers game in the back of their minds. Bikal welcomed the former Gota members to their camp and everyone was in temporary elation as they shared the feast! And as quickly as they consumed the food on the crate, they also went into game mode in a snap!

Malcolm had this ridiculous idea for the tribe name - Enil Edam - which according to him was his mother's name in reverse. Malcolm burst out laughing telling this story while Corinne is beyond herself as to how ridiculous the tribe name is. My only qualm is... why did everyone go with it? I kinda feel like Dangrayne sounds way cooler now. Sorry Malcolm, I'm with Corinne on this one. That officially takes the crown for the WORST tribe name in Survivor history! I'm sure your mom is a sweet lady but allow me to repeat - the WORST merged tribe name EVER! Okay, that feels better.

Phillip quickly pulled Andrea aside to re-confirm their alliance. Andrea was up for it and they even talked as far as Final 4 with Cochran and Dawn into the mix. Meanwhile, in another part of the island, Corinne is thrilled to be with Malcolm and vented about her frustrations with Phillip. They quickly concocted the plan to shift things up by working with Eddie and Reynold to vote off Phillip. But they agree to target Sherri first because she appears to be an easy vote until they can take down the Special Agent next. Malcolm has been itching to take over as he is clearly not happy with just playing along.

Immunity Challenge

It's immunity challenge time! And we have a gross food challenge again... quite excited for this as we haven't had one in a long while. As Cochran read the treemail to the entire tribe, there was a mixed reaction of excitement, fear, and agitation as most are surely not excited to be eating anything gross. What's more interesting, though, are the reactions that came after. Reynold admits to eating gross stuff as his weak link, while Eddie can only worry about what girls would think after eating something funky. Meanwhile, Cochran took on a comical approach at it saying this might be what he needed for his love life. That guy. Lovably hilarious.

The immunity challenge went through four different stages of elimination until there were two - Malcolm and Cochran. Even Jeff couldn't hide his surprise that Cochran was up at the finals with a shot for individual immunity, calling this match up as David vs Goliath. He ended up beating Malcolm at swallowing pig brain and got his first ever immunity challenge win. Cochran had his momentary high and relished the moment of victory. In his confessional, he admitted there was no regard for sportsmanship at that point, but no one really bothered. Everyone seemed to be in congratulatory mood but then he was quick to revert back to his self-deprecating comments claiming that he enjoyed the moment as it may never happen again.

Chaos at Camp

Corinne and Malcolm tried to play their efforts to flip things in the down low - they worked on bringing together their respective sub-alliances to form a majority. However, when Corinne proposed the idea to get rid of Sherri before Phillip, he was not on board as he feels like they should split the vote between Eddie and Reynold to flush an idol. And that is when things became really shaky. Corinne went back to Eddie and Reynold about them having enough numbers to flip and turn things in their favor.

However, Corinne makes the mistake of talking to Dawn about her plan to blindside Phillip because she goes on to tell everybody else in their alliance about the supposed plan. And now, they are suspicious of Corinne! Andrea is in on the plan to vote off Corinne because even before the tribal shuffle, she already felt threatened. Also, if they wanted to get rid of Phillip, then she is next on the line. They brought in Brenda, Sherri, and Erik into the plan.. but we also see Malcolm talking to Erik. Which side will he go with? Cochran quips, right before heading to tribal council, that leaving the fate of their plan to Erik is a scary thought given how (in Cochran's words) he has proven before that he is incapable of playing this game and playing it well. Ouch.

Tribal council was straightforward and at times indicatory as to how the vote will go and that of the succeeding votes. I suspected that at some point, Corinne's mouth is going to come back to haunt her. She exposed herself by claiming that she was willing to listen to those who would approach her. And Erik gets to speak for the first time tonight, although we got nothing more insightful from him except for a safe answer. Reynold, on the other hand, sounds psyched and enthusiastic about where things are going for him. He, too, hinted that there are going to be a few shocks in the coming votes - not tonight, but in the coming votes. Apparently, he was referring to the Sherri vote for tonight and then Phillip next. But the question there is, if the people with whom they thought was with them are going to stick to their votes tonight.

But Sherri, Brenda, and Erik ended up voting with Phillip and co. Corinne could not believe what she's hearing as Jeff read her name out loud as one parchment paper was revealed after another. Soon enough, she outnumbered Sherri's four votes that Jeff had read first. Predictable. Somehow, I knew that Sherri wouldn't be voted off tonight because she was practically invisible this episode.

Malcolm's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. Reynold was in total disbelief and felt like deja vu of the first few days at the old Fans tribe - just when he thinks he had the numbers on his side, he got a big punch to the face instead. The only thing more surprising than Corinne getting blindsided is the fact that she's not on the jury.

The moral of this episode (and note to future players): be careful who you spill your plans to. If you should talk, know how much to say and how to say it. Complicated, I know. But Corinne mismanaged the whole thing. Probably out of her excitement at how she would be in a good spot should the plan work out. But getting there is still a lot of work. 

What did you think of this episode? Do you think Corinne deserved to go? Sound off below in the comments section.

Survivor Caramoan Episode 7: A Sinking Ship

The recap title totally encapsulates Bikal tribe as of the moment. With Matt gone from last episode, what do you think the tribe's chances are going into the next competition? Slim, indeed. It was pure irony how the tribal re-shuffle ended up especially as with the way the tribe was split it was designed to supposedly produce an even playing field for all folks concerned. But that discussion is over and done with because a new episode comes in albeit a predictable one and at times a bore.

The Bikal tribe return to camp with Corinne stepping out to apologize to the remaining Fans (because there is still clearly a division within this tribe) about the Matt vote. However, Mike brushed it off saying there was no reason to explain the vote and with Julia confessing that she nearly wet herself. That's probably the only thing she has said this whole season that made me took notice. Moving on... Mike and Corinne had this talk at the shelter about possibly working together come merge time and that Corinne insisted that Mike won't be going home under her watch. Of course, the special agent in Phillip kicks in and he started to became wary of Corinne and her non-disclosure of their conversation. He even pulled Cochran aside to tell him that he's considering getting rid of Corinne, to which Cochran argued against, especially not on the next potential vote. He raised a valid argument to Phillip about looking like traitors to their own alliance, should they end up getting rid of Corinne, and what its repercussion would be as far as their trust to their old alliance mates are concerned. Look here, Cochran talking about loyalty to his alliance. This conversation right here sets up the stage for an episode filled with confessionals that cement Cochran's status as one of the smarter players this season, or in recent memory.

Before we even get to see what went on over at Gota camp (obviously none too exciting because that tribe is currently having Spring break at the Caramoan Islands with all the young and hot castaways), the Bikal tribe receives tree mail indicating a reward challenge. The tribe contemplates what the reward challenge would be like but with the note emphasizing on strength, the tribe becomes leery about their chances going on. And in Phillip's usual bravado, Corinne looked flabbergasted when Phillip claimed he was the strongest man on the island. God, that look in Corinne's face as her jaw almost fell to the ground - priceless! If that's not enough, Phillip went on an arm wrestling match against (who else?) Cochran. He was cocky enough to challenge Cochran to put his entire weight on his forearm and when the poor guy couldn't even beat him, Phillip showed off a cocky yet contained smile. Oh Cochran was happy to oblige, even at his expense, just so Phillip could stroke his own ego.


Hot Pursuit

The reward challenge is another re-do of a Survivor classic. This is one of my favorite challenges of all time and I loved it the moment it was first run on Survivor Palau. This particular challenge tests strength, endurance, and teamwork.

I could not contain my laughter when Phillip was strategizing with his tribemates. He volunteered himself to be at the front because, according to him, he will be dragging the girls along when he's coming from behind whereas him on the front will enable him to pull the rest of the tribe along. Unfortunately, that is not what happened! He ended up slowing the entire team down because he was on the front and he was the slowest. He probably walked the entire length of the course. And the moment he stops to take a deep breath or is incapable to run, he somehow manages to blame it on the girls. If I remember correctly, none of the girls complained! Even Corinne held the freaking 40 pounds when Dawn opted out of the challenge! And Dawn, please don't be afraid to call him arrogant - it was totally called for. Apparently, he likes to declare his strengths but none of his weaknesses.

On the flip side, Malcolm is really stepping up his game this season. He was clearly the leader in that challenge, barking strategy to his tribemates along the way, just like he helped out with the puzzle in last week's challenge. Truly impressive showing! The Gota tribe indulge on all the sweet fix and caffeine as they had a good laugh and were even kissing and hugging each other. Awwww!

But his prowess extends far beyond the physical performance in challenges, though. If Malcolm learned anything from his last stint on Survivor, it's 1) hiding your immunity idol so no one accidentally stumbles into them, and 2) bringing in other equally threatening players so you won't be the first target. In his current tribe of Gota, there are three other guys who might be perceived as physical threats going into the merge. Hence, Malcolm proposes to Reynold about teaming up together, to which the latter willingly obliged like a teenage girl talking to her crush. If shaking on it wasn't enough, Reynold confesses to Malcolm that he has Gota's immunity idol.

I had to cringe when I heard Reynold's confessional that if he's wrong about this alliance, this could be the nail in his coffin. Oops! Well played, there, Malcolm. This makes him the only player in this game to know where the two idols are, and one is in his pocket - safe and sound - and with no intention of telling anyone! I just hope he doesn't get too cocky about how the chips are falling his way right now.

To Throw or Not?



That subheading is a poor attempt at pun, I'm sorry. This was another potentially exciting challenge that any tribe could've ended up winning. To be honest, I think that was one challenge that Bikal could've one, especially with how they performed during the first half. But as the anticlimactic finish featured another ring toss competition, the excitement quickly fizzled out.

Reynold had a decent lead going into the ring toss round. But Phillip caught up to him to a point that he was about one ring behind. But when Reynold got the final ring, it was clear by then that Bikal will make a return to tribal council.

True to Phillip's character, he pulled Cochran aside after the challenge to make a 'confession'. To be honest, I would not have anticipated what he did there! Cochran echoed my opinion in that I do not believe that Phillip threw that immunity challenge. He fought to get all of those rings even when Reynold was about a couple of rings ahead of him. When he could not complete the task, to which he probably stepped on to do, he made a grand stand about throwing the challenge. And then Cochran quipped about the speech that Phillip would've made had he successfully hooked all of those rings and won the challenge for them. Geez. This man never fails at anything, does he?

To cut to the chase... it was either Julia or Mike. Corinne was trying too damn hard to play it down low but you can tell that she was campaigning to keep Mike. This caused a slight rift between the four Favorites at Bikal because they could not seem to reach consensus as to how the votes will be played. Phillip even had to disown Corinne saying that the core alliance at that tribe was him, Dawn, and Cochran. Oooh, sneaky play. What got me confused here is why they are still concerned about an idol to the point that they had to split the votes.

At tribal council, the writing's on the wall and both Julia and Mike knew that their heads were on the chopping block - not even a question. Mike said he just wanted to get to the vote and get it over with. Meanwhile, Julia's answer to Jeff's question regarding how she feels about the upcoming vote pretty much summed up why they ended up voting for her over Mike. And with that, Julia has her torch snuffed and leaving only four Fans left in the game. Before the game started, I had high expectations of Julia and thought she would be a strong female player, physically and strategically. But, whether or not it was editing, I did not see game in her and I can pretty much say that I am slightly disappointed. Still, could not be any happier that Mike survived! I think he will be a potent player during the merge!

Next week, the gross food challenge is back! If the look on the castaways' faces and the looming merge isn't enough tease, what is? Share your thoughts below so we can discuss!

Disclaimer: Photos credit to CBS and Survivor Seasons

Survivor Caramoan Episode 6: Operation Thunder Dome

After all of the fireworks involved with Brandon's meltdown last week, I feared it will cast a dark shadow over Bikal (the Favorites tribe) and rattle the remaining castaways until the Fans would sneak up behind them to stage a huge comeback. But that is thinking too far ahead, though. The Favorites return to camp and discuss the aftermath of Brandon's tirade. Surprisingly, they appear to have a positive outlook. Even Dawn said it out loud that at least it was a "unified vote". It seemed to only further cement the strong tribe that they already are and not let the remaining six over at the Fans' tribe use this as an opportunity to shift the momentum.

Only a few minutes into the episode, Corinne was ranting about how Brandon singled her out, and Phillip, throughout his tirade. While attempting to wrap her head around the hate that Brandon has towards her, she complained that Dawn did not even said a word to defend her and Phillip in front of all the Fans. I'm still trying to guess, too, how it became Dawn's responsibility to defend her. For now, though, they swore to keep the tribal unity and kick the other tribe until they are down and out.

Meanwhile, the mood at the Fans' camp was sullen. Matt read the treemail indicating that they are heading over to the next reward challenge with a promise of a feast. But as it turns out, the feast did not happen as the tribes were switched instead. Everyone had to dig into a bag of egg at random and they will be assigned to the tribe as per represented by the color of egg they had. The result of the tribal mix-up seemed very odd, though. It was lopsided, to say the least, with Eddie, Reynold, Malcolm, Erik, Andrea, Brenda, and Sherri over at the new Gota tribe. Meanwhile, Matt, Mike, and Julia joined the remainder of the former Favorites tribe. Even Brenda agreed that they do have the advantage.

Before sending them off, Jeff also told the tribes that their bag of rice will be replenished and their flints are going to be replaced. A few years ago, this wasn't even going to happen. If you can recall way back in the season of Australian Outback when the Baramundi tribe had already exhausted their supply of rice. In exchange for a few bags of rice, Jeff had to ask for a trade and they ended up giving away their shelter. Thus, I find it hard to believe that they would just hand out rice that way - maybe they could've put it up as reward for the challenge? Or was it maybe because of the rice-dumping incident last week that tucked into the hearts of the producers and made them decide to hand out rice that easily? Somewhere, Brandon's smile must've been wiped off his face.

Typical Eddie goes on his rant, once again, about how they have the young, good looking people on their tribe. When will he stop? Nonetheless, the "bold and beautiful" tribe (according to Cochran) claimed they can't lose a challenge because they have the strong and athletic tribemates at Gota. Reynold could not have been more excited about the tribal shuffle. He was earlier seen giving a confessional asking for the game to shift because nothing is shifting in his old Gota camp. Wish granted right there. This feels like Day 1 for him and Eddie and they could not have waited longer to throw Sherri under the bus. Malcolm and Erik are in heaven about the idea that the former Fans' tribe members were spilling the beans to them without them even trying. Same goes for Sherri at the beach. She basically sold Reynold to the Favorites and even told them about playing his idol.

Malcolm, on the other hand, does a magnificent job of keeping his idol on the down low. Andrea told him about her dream that he had the idol, to which he vehemently denied. But he does it so casually that no one would've even suspected him of lying because he proudly claimed he is an "accomplished liar when it comes to women". What a charmer! They went on to map out their plan to split the votes in order to flush an idol, if either of the former Gota tribe members had it.

The immunity challenge was another classic - we've had several re-hash of the previous challenges this season. Thankfully, the puzzle element is finally back! Judging by the dynamics of this challenge, it was clear to see that Gota had a huge advantage as the crates were huge and heavy so it required brawns to tackle the first leg of the challenge. Gota did not mess around with Eddie and Erik setting a huge lead for the team, whereas Julia and Phillip struggled right off the bat. With each leg, Gota increased their lead and Malcolm's leadership at the puzzle portion proved to be the nail in the coffin. A clear breakdown in communication further ruined Bikal's slight chance of catching up.

Always the one quick to jump into the center of the conversation, Phillip gave some pep talk to the tribe upon return from the immunity challenge. But it wasn't long until they break up into groups trying to decide how they are going to approach this coming vote at the tribal council. Phillip approached both Matt and Mike wherein he told them about his Stealth 'R Us crew. He just wouldn't let up, would he? Matt basically voiced out my thoughts after Phillip briefed him of his mission, which (according to Phillip) also serves as his "test" if he is worthy enough to be inducted into the Stealth 'R Us alliance. He had a hard time keeping a straight face as I did containing my laughter listening to Phillip's antics. This guy is pure gold. Crazy, but pure gold.

For the first time in a long time, I am completely clueless about who is going home tonight. The editing needs a pat in the back for setting us up for a surprise. But Cochran earns a nod tonight for a smart strategic move in pointing out that the power duo of Mike and Matt need to be broken up. On the flip side, I thought that it would be Julia because this is the most amount of confessional and speaking lines she's had to date. The Favorites were also conflicted about which way to send the votes as they fear an idol might come into play. Again, Cochran was spot-on with his observation as he noted that Matt can't have the idol because he "reeks of desperation". Thus, I believe that Cochran had a huge hand in how the voting went down tonight. When I saw that Matt and Mike's vote for Julia were the only ones shown (along with Julia's vote for Dawn), I knew that something is definitely up. As Jeff read the first vote on Matt, it was clear right there and then that his torch was so close to getting snuffed.

This was a total blindside, not just for Matt, but for me as well. Kudos to the editors for playing us along!

Did you think this was a smart move for the new Bikal, especially since they are already at a disadvantage when it comes to challenge strength? Be sure to share your comments so we can discuss.

Disclaimer: Photos credit to CBS