Caramoan: "Honey Badger" Recap

19 are left. Who will be voted out tonight?. . . Upon returning from the first tribal council, Dawn tries to explain to Brandon the reason why Francesca was the first person voted from the game, again. Brandon wasn't having any part of it. In his mind, it was just down right dirty to do this to one of the "nicest women" to ever play the game. This heated discussion left Dawn weeping and Brandon feeling like a Russell incarnate. Brandon plots to avenge Francesca's departure. Honestly, I don't think this is the smartest move for Brandon's game. Due to this outburst, it would not surprise me to see him leave tonight if the favorites make the dreaded trek back to tribal council. Something tells me that tonight's episode isn't going to end like that, though... Apparently Brandon had an epiphany while he was laying on Bikal beach all night long. He decided to do some damage control as soon as everyone woke up. He understands the importance of not giving your tribemates a reason to vote you out. So, he decides to talk to Phillip and Cochran about his regrets. This leads to a discussion where Brandon comes to the conclusion that Phillip is trying to play a Boston Rob-esque game (which is true) by being the self-proclaimed "CEO" of the tribe. Brandon decides to relay this information back to some of the other members of his tribe. The best way to try to get people not to vote for you is to give them someone else to vote for. I like this new game that Brandon is playing. I would love to see it work out for him. The first thing that Probst asks the tribe of fans is their thoughts on Francesca's departure. Michael makes a comment that the favorites have absolutely no mercy. I truly hope the fans remember this once there is a tribe swap. The favorites tribe have absolutely no remorse and cannot be trusted, but something tells me that at least one fan will end up trusting a favorite at some point, which will be a grave mistake. The week's challenge was a combination of immunity and reward. The reward consisted of fishing gear. The challenge required three members of each tribe to climb aboard a raft where members of their team would have to pull them to a spot in the ocean where they would have to remove bamboo poles from a mesh box in order to release rings (which basically looked like miniature life preservers). The fans, Julia, Hope, and Sherri, apparently had no idea what they were doing because they were still working on releasing their rings while the favorites team (Erik, Brenda, and Andrea) were already halfway back to the beach. At this point, Malcolm and Phillip had to throw and wrap the rings around four poles. Michael and Reynold tried to make a comeback for the fans tribe, but to no avail. The Bikal tribe won the fishing gear, but more importantly, they won immunity. Favorites, don't forget to look for a clue to the hidden immunity in your fishing gear!! There is instant drama on the Gota beach once they return from the challenge. Reynold calls Shamar out for his piss poor attitude, lack of communication skills, and disregard for teamwork. Teamwork makes the dream work, Shamar. Get your shit together, son! The fight results in Reynold announcing that he will be voting for Shamar at the night's tribal council. Shamar goes on a rant about how Reynold's dramatic performance was Reynold's attempt to make Shamar look bad. Shamar, you make yourself look bad, you didn't need Reynold's help. I really hope Shamar gets his torch snuffed tonight. He is self-absorbed, lazy, disrespectful, and gives the United States military a bad name. I'm not completely clueless when it comes to why Sherri wants to keep Shamar around, even though, as Matt mentioned, even if you kick Shamar off tonight, you will still have a 5-4 advantage over the "Pretty People." Shamar is completely worthless in challenges and around camp. Despite the fact that Shamar is a virus, there are reasons why they should keep him around a little bit longer. First of all, there is no way in hell he has a chance at winning this game. If he is pissing people off this early in the game, there is no way he can make it to the end. Secondly, keep him around long enough to get rid of Allie and Hope (the two weaker people of the alliance), then give him the boot when his sixth vote is no longer needed. Reynold is the first person of the season to do exactly what I would have done prior to my first tribal council - - look for the hidden immunity idol. There is a reason why I had good feelings about Reynold in my pre-season cast assessment. Reynold was successful in his search. Laura noticed that there was a strange bulge in Reynold's pocket. Why are you looking at Reynold's bulge, Laura? That is Allie's man! Anyway, a bulge such as this normally only forms right before a tribal if someone has the hidden immunity idol. She fears that this will thwart her alliance's plan to get rid of Allie tonight. Reynold, the idol should have went into your sock or shoe, not in plain sight. Rookie. Tonight's tribal council was very heated. Shamar got thrown under the bus, as expected. Laura, on the other hand, ended up outing Reynold and his new secret. Reynold admits that he found the hidden immunity idol and said that he plans on using it tonight since he can't trust the other people on his tribe, despite the fact that he wanted to save it for the merge. Honestly, I thought this was a brilliant move on Laura's part. She made Reynold look like a liar because he failed to tell his alliance about the hidden immunity idol. In addition, it solidified that the other members of her tribe would not flip on her and get rid of Shamar. It would be a stupid move if they decide not to break up the "Pretty People" alliance considering that they now have the weapon of mass destruction, also known as the hidden immunity idol. The tribal council resulted in Allie getting the boot in a 6-4 vote. I understand the importance of breaking up the other alliance within the tribe, as well as dismantling the budding love interest of Reynold and Allie. However, it saddens me that she was the one who got the boot tonight. I feel like a broken record when it comes to talking about all of the things I dislike about Shamar, so I will spare you the details. Allie had so much potential (check out my pre-season cast assessment about how she basically stole my spot on the show - - she really didn't, but we are ridiculously similar), she just made a bad decision when she cuddled up to Reynold at night and when she inadvertently excluded the other members of her tribe. Shamar probably won't last much longer, so at least I have that to look forward to. Eliminated: Allie Pohevitz, the 25-year-old Bartender from Oceanside, New York Until next time. . . Feel free to follow me on Twitter. I often follow back!

Caramoan: Season Premiere

The night is finally upon us.  I have been waiting for this since December.  The Survivor: Caramoan premiere starts now!  The season opens up with a complete introduction of all of the season's castaways.  There is something about the show's theme song that gives me goose pimples every time I hear it.  It's indescribable.  I hope that the rumors are true that this season is even better than the last.  Let's sit back and find out together, shall we?

Probst introduces the two tribes as being divided into fans versus favorites.  More importantly, we get to see a reward challenge as soon as the castaways hit the beach.  Probst tells us that the challenge will be for fire and twenty pounds of beans.  I love the idea that they started with a physical challenge.  The show's executives wanted animosity to start early, huh?  You could tell that the favorites were out for blood.  I was really impressed with Andrea's performance in the challenge.  She was a beast!  There were a couple fans I had to root for, my Twitter buddies, Allie and Reynold, who both put on stellar performances, as well.  

The fans are definitely worker bees around camp.  They immediately decide to start working on the shelter.  Shamar decides to pick a fight with some of his other tribe mates about whether it is wise to conserve energy for the upcoming immunity challenge as opposed to working on the shelter.  Shamar, you have seen the show before, right?  Why on earth would you start fights immediately after arriving at camp?  I'd be surprised if you even knew Matt's name yet!  If I was fortunate to be on that tribe with them, I would have just sat back and let the two of them duke it out.  Hell, I probably would have talked about the situation to my other castaways just so I could get them thinking about getting rid of Shamar and/or Matt at the first tribal council.

Meanwhile, at the Bikal camp, Brenda immediately asks Phillip what he wanted to do about the shelter.  Phillip is automatically put into the leadership role.  I'm not sure if this was Brenda's intention at all, but I thought it was brilliant.  Speaking of Phillip, I love him more this time than I did the first time.  He still has animosity towards Francesca.  She was trying to talk to him about their past, and he just completely ignored her.  It was hysterical!

The favorites understand the importance of alliances.  Andrea, Dawn, and Francesca talk about bringing in Cochran, Phillip, and Brandon.  Say what?  Dawn, why would you want to work with Cochran again after he flipped on you last time?  It really doesn't make sense to me.  Phillip has his own strategy.  He wants to take the Boston Rob approach.  He wants to have a bunch of different alliances and control those who he is aligned with without it being completely obvious that he is the mastermind behind what is going on.  I mean, it has worked for people in the past.  Maybe Phillip has learned a few things since Redemption Island. 

Back at the Gota camp, Reynold immediately hits it off with Allie and Eddie.  Hope also makes an alliance with Eddie, so the two of them talk about working with Allie and Reynold.  Didn't I mention how Allie and Hope would probably be working together?  Anyway, Laura noticed that Reynold and Allie are doing a little more under the beautiful Caramoan skies than trying to stay warm.  Come on guys, you as fans of the show should know that you cannot get that close to each other at night!  I mean, you already talked about how you weren't going to talk to one another around other people.  I don't want to see you guys go, but I have a bad feeling.   

Poor Cochran reminds me of that little boy from the movie "The Little Giants."  You know, the nerdy kid who was always sick?  The one who had a huge snot bubble hanging from his nose?  Anyway, once again Cochran is basically allergic to all of his surroundings, more specifically, the sun.  The unlucky ginger ends up getting one of the worst sunburns anyone has ever seen on the show.  It's not life-threatening or anything, so the show must go on!

We arrive at the first immunity challenge of the season.  The competitors have to climb up three stories to retrieve large crates. They must throw and break each crate to release a sand bag.  After all sand bags are retrieved, one competitor gets to use them to play a game of cornhole.  Malcolm made it to the cornhole game (such a weird name, by the way) first, but Reynold ended up beating him, thus securing immunity and flint for the tribe of fans.

The favorites tribe is a hot damn mess; every possible alliance that could have been made has been made.  One minute, the vote is going to be split just in case someone has a hidden immunity idol, then the next thing we know everyone is talking about getting rid of Andrea (wise decision, by the way), and in between all of this confusing, mind-blowing, precarious decision-making, we keep seeing that damn marsupial jumping from tree to tree and eating grasshoppers.  Is this a camp pet?  Why do we keep seeing this cute little animal that looks like it has Graves' disease?  Anyway, I guess that really doesn't matter much.

The first tribal council of the season was great.  Everyone was scared shitless, and rightfully so.  No one should ever feel safe in this game unless individual/hidden immunity is being used.  In a 6-4 vote, Andrea just barely lived to see another three days on the island.  Francesca (or Francesqua as Phillip would call her) became the first person in Survivor history to be the first boot twice!

The season opener was a great start to the season.  The favorites are going to be nothing but paranoid the entire time.  This means that we will constantly watch them scramble, which makes for good television.  Furthermore, as Probst pointed out, the fans now know that they could potentially win this thing.  Frankly, I am looking forward to the fans losing immunity.  I can't wait for the "uncool" members of the fans tribe to banish Eddie from the island.  He is a huge tool, and I hate that he is aligned with three people who I predicted could potentially make it far in the game.

Eliminated:  Francesca Hogi, the 38-year-old Attorney from Brooklyn, New York.

Until next time. . . 

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