Survivor 26: Caramoan

Man, I was so hoping that Malcolm was going to get voted off so that idol switch would have worked. That almost would have topped Russell's second idol tribal council.

Andrea really is running the joint with how they all changed their vote to Michael unless it was just clever editing showing that they were trying to play out Malcolm.

Stealth R Us got out stealthed.

That tribal council was legendary.

That was pretty awesome. I wasn't sure at first if the chaos of laying it out at tribal was worth it, versus just voting out whoever they wanted, but overall I think they chose correctly.

Best tribal..ever. I enjoyed Malcom's carefree tell-the-truth vibe where he said Phillip was a fun sponge that just sucked all the fun out of everything and that people should just be "out here having the time of their lives and just having a good time" and Phillip interpreted that as "maligning his character".

Will be very interesting to see who tries to grab the steering wheel of the numbers tribe that just lost their sort-of-defacto-leader and make sure they stay their course, or will enough of them be up for new alliances to create a paradigm shift.

Lol@ Dawn's reaction to losing her false teeth in the water. She was making sounds that didn't even seem human.

Yeah, and Brenda gets to be the hero of the day and they threw her a one sentence confessional! I swear, she must have done something super fucked up to piss off the producers.

Yeah, man. I know Brenda said before the season started that she didn't want to come off as a bitch this time - she reckoned that was her downfall last time, but damn, it is time for her to come alive and start playing this damn game socially.

This episode!

After several bleh seasons this show really needed something good. This season has definitely delivered.

Great episode, pretty dumb of them not to just vote off their bottom member. *though I suppose the situation was pretty crazy and obviously hard to pull off in front of her.

So all those talked up promos were just Dawn loosing her shit over some dentures for 30 seconds... at least the cameraman was there to catch Brenda dive for them, gif request please.

Wow my man crush on Malcom continues. I can't believe the way he has played through a disastrous situation, and being able to not only survive himself but at least keep his core alliance somewhat intact. I just wonder if they are able to flip a couple from the majority alliance after the chaos of voting out Phillip, or did they just buy themselves a bit more time now. Phillip leaving *shouldn't* be that detrimental to the majority alliance, since really it's Dawn and Andrea running things, albeit covertly. However, with Dawn's crazy emotions, I know she would definitely not handle things well. Who knows how Andrea will cope, or maybe Cochron will step up?

I think Brenda has no air time because I think Brenda has refused to say anything even in confessionals. Remember this is the same Brenda that allied with that drudge of humanity Naonka and was pretty much an open bitch in her first season. I honestly think she is trying to not take any limelight and remind people of that fact. She's still hot either way and as long as she has camera time I'm good.

I don't think Andrea is running shit. In fact, they were mentioning her name as soon as Malcolm dropped the bomb. It very easily could've been her voted out. I have a feeling Malcolm played it perfectly and it'll split that alliance into two. That chaos of everyone throwing names out will let people know where they stood with everyone else and cause rifts. There was already some tension within that group prior to tribal. Andrea's name has been brought up several times, and they were also gunning for Dawn due to her instability.

I'm just really surprised no one brought up Sherri's name. Seems like she would've been an easy one to just vote out in the confusion. Then again, she's absolutely no threat to win the thing, so maybe no one cares. I found it interesting that Erik is the only one who flipped on the alliance via vote (voting for Phillip).

Malcolm and crew have to work on getting Sherri on their side. She is the best person to put beside anyone really in the final two since she was the bottom of the 7 and completely and totally useless. There is no way she could get votes. Her own alliance would be silly to vote her out because of that as well.

It would be awesome if they could flip Andrea as well. If anyone had overheard her name being brought up in tribal she would have very good reason to flip and would have a good place in that alliance given Eddie's crush on her. She is clearly not #1 in her alliance anymore. It is going to be interesting to see who steps up in the power position.

Dawn is not "running" anything. True, she has been trying harder to play a sneakier social game, running to everyone and blaring her yap about everything she hears, but this has cost her emotionally which is funny as hell. Lindz is exactly right about Sherri. No way in hell you vote her off. Too much potential swing there. Phillip was the best choice for causing such a degree of climate change at camp (the fun sponge lolz) as to free people's minds to the idea of alliance shifts.

Andrea has been playing an interesting game with her flirting with Eddie, to keep an iron in that fire, but I don't see her as "running" anything either. No..everyone SAYS they were just humoring Phillip, but..he WAS running shit more or less, so there is an interesting power void open now.

All that said, it doesn't make sense for members of the numbers alliance to jump ship. It really is in their best interest to get rid of Malcom, Eddie and Reynold. I wouldn't be shocked if Cochran actually stepped up and tried to make sure stability of course ensued. Watching the "pretty people" come back from the grave to make a run for things is like that guy's worst fears come true.

Like every other season of survivor when to flip comes down to would it put you in a better position than your current alliance and whether or not you are aware enough to know if you are on the bottom of your current alliance. Say what you want about Boston Rob's boring RI win against sheep, he did exactly what he needed to do. He made sure every single member of his alliance felt like they were in the final 3 with him and that the other ones were the ones on bottom. Nobody will switch if they don't think they're on bottom and I don't think anyone feels like they're on bottom now, except Sherri and she can't flip by herself anymore it wouldn't do any good.

I honestly think every member of that 6 alliance thinks they're at the top with at least 2 others, so I won't be surprised if the next 3 out are the 3 amigos. Hell, if Cochran can get Dawn and Sherri to team up with him in a weak person alliance we might see a season with the most dominant 3 person alliance ever in terms of physical ability have the 3 weakest finalists ever.

Back-to-back monster episodes. It almost made me forget how crazy Dawn was at the beginning of the episode.
You can tell that Jeff is really enjoying this season. I just hope Cochran pulls the tribe back together and wins it all.

Edit* With that said, if Malcolm gets to the Final 3, he deserves it.