I knew Survivor was tough but could it actually be tougher then being deployed in Iraq where you're constantly being shot at? Apparently that's what two time Iraq war veteran Shamar thinks, because after 6 whole days in the game of Survivor he came really close to quitting this week. This is really hard for me to comprehend being a veteran of the Navy who's basic training is a month less and I'm sure much easier then Marine basic training. Still Navy basic training is no joke, especially when you do it in Great Lakes during the dead of winter and I have to confess that I came REALLY close to quitting during my two months. I've always thought to myself that I could never handle an extra month of that shit, and therefore would probably never be able to make it through Marine boot camp like Shamar did. On the other hand I also have no doubt in my mind that I could handle 39 days of Survivor. I don't know what's up with Shamar who's a hell of lot bigger and stronger then I am. Maybe it's just a lot easier for him to shoot someone then it is to vote someone out.
The episode starts off with the fans coming back from tribal and Shamar having a huge backlash for seeing his name written down. He goes off on just about everyone, even though 5 out of his 8 remaining tribe mates didn't vote for him.
Shamar's obviously has been through a lot of shit in his life that have seriously fucked up his head. I'm guessing it didn't start in the military either. He talks about quitting before he becomes the "angry black man". Well if Shamar yelling at the top of his lungs at everyone in sight is what he's like when he's in a good mood, I'd hate to see what he's like when he's really angry.
Before his big announcement, Sherri, who desperately wants to keep Shamar around to keep the heat off of her, had a pow wow with him to try to get him to relax. Amazingly, Shamar is completely oblivious to his negative impact on the tribe. The conversation reminded me of the one Amanda had with James in Heroes Vs Villains where she tried to explain to James it might not be a good idea to eat 10 times as much food as the rest of the tribe combined, and James was like, "I don't eat that much".
In the end, after a lot of convincing by Sherri, he didn't quit, much to Reynold's dismay, and he manages to try to make himself look like a hero for not quitting. Pretty lame if you ask me. As Reynold said, here he is, given the chance to play a game that 50,000 people, myself included, would line up for days to have the chance to play and he's ready to throw in the towel because his "happiness isn't worth not quitting". Which is pretty I wonder who it was that told him that Survivor was going to be one big picnic.
Over at the "favorites" camp an alliance is brewing between Malcolm and Corrine and another one is brewing AGAINST Corrine. Andrea becomes threatened by Corrine because she doesn't like her talking to less then 6 people at a time. So she starts planning her exit. Looks like Phillip isn't the only one be possessed by Boston Rob. She recruits Crazy Brandon Hantz in this endeavor. A good thing too because Brandon is plotting on peeing on the camp beans if he feels he's on the chopping block. So I guess Crazy Brandon Hantz only cares about redeeming the Hantz family name when isn't in danger of being voted out.
Meanwhile, Malcolm and Corrine decide to go idol hunting and once again Malcolm hits the jackpot! He finds the idol at which point, both he and Corrine do a big celebration dance and then decide to keep it to themselves for now. I like Malcolm and hope he can do a repeat of last season and make it to the end. However, the fact that we haven't seen much of Malcolm might hint against that.
We also get to see Former Special Agent Phillip displaying more delusions of grandeur. Sitting on rock by himself he starts telling stories of out basketball playing guys half his age and twice his height. It's almost as if Coach got a really dark tan and snuck back on the show. Doesn't seem to be really germain to the story but it's a nice bit of comic relief.
And what episode would be complete without an extra long confessional full of pearls of wisdom by the demented mind of John Cochran? For some reason the producer's really love this geek and try to shine the spot light as much as possible. I don't get it. Judging by this season's ratings, neither do the majority of America.
Even last weeks ouster Allie said in her post game interviews that this group of "favorites" were definitely not true favorites. I don't think that remark came from sour grapes either. It's almost as though the casting department believes it's better to have bad players on the show. I still love Survivor but not as much as I used to. It's lost a lot of magic by continuously casting such lame characters such as John, Brandon, Phillip etc, etc and then bringing them back again and again. Makes me wonder how Malcolm ever made it on the show.
I also learned that Reynold told Allie he had the idol and she told him that Sherri told her she was voting for her. So apparently he did have a good idea which way the vote was going to go down last week. His not giving the idol to Allie show a lot of cowardliness and stupidity on his part. By him not doing that he gave the other alliance the power to now split the vote against his alliance. Now he has to hope for a miracle if they lose the immunity challenge.
Speaking of which, after carrying their dysfunction from camp life over to the challenge the fans once again get defeated by the "favorites". The "favorites" are a pretty lame bunch with players. Even with the advantage of having all the reward items the contest is very close. Maybe if Erik would spend more time focusing on the challenge and less time grabbing Phillips ass they would of won by wider margin. Still, with Lauren swimming in the wrong direction, and Shamar and Reynold fighting for the goggles, the "favorites" manage to barely win. Once again the challenge is also for reward so the "favorites" increase their advantage of a better camp life. The fans have yet to win any rewards. Of course I haven't seen the "favorites" catch one fish with the gear they won last week.
Back at fans camp Shamar wastes no time causing a commotion. He even goes so far as to ban Reynold and Eddie from speaking to him. Didn't Randy do that in Gabon? Of course it's ok for Shamar to yell at them all he wants to. I do have to say I can understand Shamar's frustration at Reynold for hogging the goggles when Shamar clearly stated during the challenge that he needed them due to the fact that he was wearing contacts. Then again, I don't know what someone is doing wearing contacts while being stranded on a desert island. I didn't even know you could wear contacts for 39 days but it's been awhile since I had to wear those damn things.
Well, seeing how Shamar hates everyone accept for Sherri and everyone but Sherri hates him, and the fact that Shamar was ready to quit just 5 minutes ago, this should be an easy vote, right? Wrong!
Sherri isn't giving up her Phillip just yet and convinces everyone to split the vote against Eddie and Hope, with plans to vote out Hope at the revote, in effort to keep the tribe stronger in challenges by keeping Eddie and Reynold but still weakening their opposition. But all is not lost for Hope quite yet. Shamar advises Hope to vote for Eddie to save herself. He tries to make it look like he's doing it as a favor to Hope, but my personal feeling is he didn't want to have a three way tie that involved his name being written down. Guess he got his second wind and is ready to tough it out at the moment.
To her credit, Hope does not turn on her alliance, and instead drops the dime on Shamar. This makes the rest of the tribe very nervous, especially Julia and Lauren. There appears to be a plan for Julia and Lauren to jump over to the pretty people and vote out Shamar. But when they head to tribal with plenty of time left in the episode a revote seems much more likely, and that's exactly what happens. Another hottie bites the dust early in the season when Hope gets votes out and the fans seem to be on the verge of a complete implosion.
How did this happen? Why would they keep Shamar? My theory is that Sherri must of found out about the danger he was in and then did a lot tap dancing to save him that we weren't privy to seeing.
Regardless I'm pretty sure Shamar's days are numbered. I know Phillip pulled off a pretty amazing move to make it to the end with similar behavior but at least Phillip never talked about quitting. I just don't think Shamar has it in him to go the distance. Of course at this point Sherri seems to be the only fan who does have the ability to go all the way. Even Reynold probably won't last long.
It's hard to tell who the bigger group of idiots are between the fans and the "favorites" but at this point the "favorites" seem to have a big advantage.
NEXT WEEK ON SURVIVOR: Well the previews show the fans getting bombarded by massive storm. Since the previews always try to fool you I'm guessing that the fans manage to pull out a W at the immunity challenge. Will Malcolm use his idol? Doubtful, but should be an interesting episode. I'm sure it will be the last one before a tribal shuffle.
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