Dawn Meehan
Hello again, Survivor fans! Before getting to the regular recap, there’s some business to take care of. Longtime readers might know that every year I take part in my mom’s office Survivor pool. The results are in, and I got my first choice! Dawn.
My top six ranked were Dawn, Brenda, Matt, Malcolm, Cochran and Sherri. I would have been happy ending up with any of them, but I’m thrilled that I ended up with Dawn – she was my dark horse pick to win it all. My mom, who has still yet to win the pool she founded, got her first choice, Corinne. This is the first year my fiance Rob and I were able to have separate picks, and he ended up with Reynold. His top six (Malcolm, Reynold, Brenda, Andrea, Eddie and Erik) looked pretty different than mine so we shall see who comes out on top.
So at the top of the episode, we had Dawn crying and Brandon acting a crazy fool. I guess some things never change. I was a little nervous that Dawn was once again sobbing on Survivor, but she walked away from the situation and took some time alone. It looked like she pulled it together, and as long as she can keep her emotions under control she should be OK. I still think Dawn and Cochran are in a very good position on the Favorites tribe.
Put a Ring On It
Fans vs. Faves
The Immunity Challenge required tribes to assign roles, which is a big part of why I think the Faves came out on top. This isn’t their first rodeo and they know how to organize and delegate before a challenge. The Fans were disorderly, and Shamar’s sour attitude was noticeable. It’s official: dude’s the worst. I had him ranked in very last place for the office pool, and I pity my grandfather who ended up with him.
The challenge required three team members to go out on a raft and dive to retrieve some rings underwater. Then three other team members would pull them back in. Then, three final team members would throw the rings and to get them onto three posts. The Favorites were way ahead – Erik was great in the water, and they smartly took turns diving. Weirdly, Sherri spent way too much time diving without giving her teammates a chance. Malcolm had landed two rings before the Fans even hit shore.
Reynold and Michael made a bit of a comeback for the Fans tribe, but Phillip landed the winning ring for the Favorites, so they won both Immunity and some fishing gear.
Special Ops
Back at camp, Phillip was already rubbing people the wrong way with his typical antics. He’s given everyone nicknames and has declared himself CEO of the tribe. He was safe this week, but it won’t surprise me if he goes soon – not before Brandon, though. As we saw from the scenes for next week, he’s about to threaten to pee in the rice. That’s some pyshcopathic ‘ish right there.
Phillip is reminding me of Coach from Heroes vs. Villains. His persona seems more forced than last time. Like Coach, he became famous for his craziness and I think there’s some pressure to up the ante when returning as an all-star.
Shame-ar On You
Reynold
Over at the Fans’ camp, everyone discussed how disorganization was to blame for their loss. Reynold was quite vocal in calling out Shamar for “unacceptable behavior”, which of course set Shamar off. The argument didn’t sit too well with Rob, who has Reynold in the pool. Reynold is fantastic in challenges and has a great shot at making the merge, but his personality isn’t the best. Even if he makes it to the end, he doesn’t strike me as someone who could win.
Luckily for Reynold (and for Rob), he went looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol and found it after “not that long”. Ugh. Producers! You have to hide this stuff better! Everyone knows to look in the hollowed out parts of trees! I think it’s time to take Dalton Ross up on his idea of hiding them at the challenges.
The tribe was pretty split between voting out Shamar or Allie, and the swing votes were Michael and Matt. That dynamic duo is the Dawn & Cochran of their tribe. Everyone’s looking at the foursome as an example of the danger of couples, but Matt and Michael’s pairing could prove to be just as effective. I had a feeling they’d end up voting out Allie, since they both strike me as more misfits than people who sit at the “cool kids table”.
Right before leaving for Tribal Council, Laura noticed a bulge in Reynold’s pocket and immediately knew what it was. Ha! Outed by his tight pants. She couldn’t alert anyone before leaving for Tribal Council, but managed to slip it in while they were there. Reynold revealed the idol to everyone, and I thought he said he’d play it. Do I have that wrong, guys? Did he not promise to play it? He didn’t, and it went back into his pocket before Probst read the votes.
Sherri disappointed me this week. She’s someone who I thought might be a good player, like a Dawn or a Denise. But she’s more of a dud. She kind of blew the challenge, and then at Tribal Council she announced she’d be keeping her vote the same and then abruptly added “Maybe.” Huh? Pull it together, lady. This is the big leagues.
Allie
Shamar received four votes, but Allie got six and was sent packing. I appreciate fans of the show, but I can’t pity someone who got sent home first from her tribe when her strategy was so poor. Creating a solid alliance of four alienates you in a tribe of ten, it doesn’t put you in control. Now that that foursome has been broken up, I won’t be surprised if we see Shamar voted out next time the Fans make it to Tribal Council.
I’m loving this season so far! What did you guys think of the episode?
Well, we had a vote this time between a selfish, lazy person and a sweet, young woman who would have been a pleasure to live and work with on the island. Unfortunately, the bad guy won. Reynold presumably had no way of knowing that it was Allie who was targeted, else it might have been an interesting test of loyalty, though the Cool Kids apparently lacked the numbers going forward, anyway. As Jill said, M&M evidently felt they were “misfits”. Congratulations to Sherri who made my Unlike list, on account of being the #1 friend and protector of Shamar.
Jill, yes – Reynold said at Tribal that he would play his idol, and didn’t. However, this is kind of a standard feint by people exposing an idol at Tribal: make people fear you will play it so they won’t vote for you, and then keep it as long as possible. Malcolm said and did the same thing at the Philippines, episode 8. I doubt any of the players were surprised by the ruse, and I don’t consider it much of a sin.
Hmm… I don’t know, I didn’t find this episode to be as enjoyable as the premiere. It’s basically just the same old stuff. I don’t get why the producers even bother to ~*~hide~*~ the Idol; Probst could easily bring it at the challenge and throw it over his shoulder like a bride does a bouquet.
After that, there’s Phillip. I don’t find his craziness to be anywhere near the vicinity of anything that could be considered enjoyable. He just drains the life out of me.
Lastly… I’m kinda disappointed by the Fans. Really, you’re going to get cocky when you have 4 people out of 10? You’re going to annoy your tribe just cause you’re in the majority alliance and you can? You’re going to flat out reveal that you have an Idol just because ONE person saw a bulge?
Also, Dawn was your very first pick? How come?
Hi Jill! This was a good episode, not as strong as last time, but rather enjoyable nonetheless. The Tribal Council was just as crazy as someone last seasons, with Reynold being kind of outed by Probst and revealing his idol (I’ll later return on that).
Before everything, congratulations for your office pool pick! I had Dawn at the first place of my pre-season Power Rankings too, because she’s loyal, reliable, good enough in challenges to reach the merge and not risk being voted out after it because she’s a threat. Yes, she is very likable and we all know how lethal that can be for someone’s game, but there are so many physical threats this season (Brandon, Erik, Malcolm, Reynold, Shamar, Eddie) that if she manages to catch the right train, she probably won’t have problems to go deep in the game.
Well, we apparently discovered that Brandon can resist only three days without going insane! There is something in him that makes me really uncomfortable, I really want to like him but he comes to me as a very volatile personality, a bomb on the verge of exploding – as he appropriately described himself. I’ve come to like Phillip though, his whole alliance-spy organization thing is delusional but, I have to say, kind of hilarious.
Over at Gota, I really don’t know what to make of the Fans tribe. I think we’ve seen them doing all the basic Survivor mistakes that even I, a relatively new Survivor-fan, would know I would be better not make. In no particular order: being lazy around camp (Shamar), criticizing who’s being lazy around camp (Reynold), being an ass and generally doing nothing but annoying the other tribe members (Shamar), lose a challenge not asking people to tell what they’re capable to do (practically everyone), not caring about being in the minority alliance (Eddie, who seemed to be honestly thunderstruck as Allie was voted off), revealing the Hidden Immunity Idol at Tribal Council (Reynold), calling someone about having the Hidden Immunity Idol only judging according to a bulge in his pocket (Laura, who I thought was the best strategist of the bunch, but now I have to re-think about that).
They’re generally such a car crash that I can’t wait for the tribal switch that must come soon. I don’t know if they went in a little naive or if someone is dumb to the point he doesn’t think he’s in a dangerous position when his alliance is down with numbers. The only one I still support over there is Michael, but we haven’t seen a lot of him. Before the season started I liked Shamar’s military background, his rugged look and everything, but now he seems to be more irritating every minute. I don’t know if I want him to go far.
The whole Idol-thing, even if it led to nothing, made me a little nervous. Did Probst need to say explicitly the name of Reynold, even if Laura had said that she wouldn’t say who she’d seen with the bulge in his pocket? I’m really looking forward to next week episode, hoping that we get a clearer situation about what is happening at the Favourites’ camp.
Oh your poor Grandfather! He always seems to end up with the worst people
You and your mom both have really good picks, so hopefully one of you manages the win! I’m surprised Rob chose to include Eddie and Reynold, I don’t think there’s any chance of either of them winning.
My top six would’ve been: Brenda, Dawn, Corinne, Cochran, Sherri, and Michael.
I was so frustrated when Reynold found the idol. Seriously, have they not learnt over the last few years that they’re not hiding them well? I get that idols make for interesting votes, but they should at least be difficult to find. Are they even going to bother hiding clues in rewards or something any more? I like the challenge idea, but I’d also be happy if they brought back exile island or buried them, far away from obvious landmarks. Ugh.
I found it amusing that Reynold and co were surprised when Allie got voted off, like they still hadn’t realised that 4/10 wasn’t a good thing. Looking forward to crazy Brandon purely because it likely means that he and/or Phillip will be leaving soon.