Because of the impromptu tribal council from last week this weeks episode has a very unusual beginning in that it doesn't begin at night. It focuses on the immediate aftermath of Brandon's meltdown with the "favorites" returning from the daytime tribal. It is enhanced with some dramatic music that's WAAAAAY over the top. Makes me long for the old days when Survivor was so much simpler and BETTER.
Phillip then explains how Brandon needs professional help. Can't argue with the Specialist on that but I do have say that's like the Pot calling the Kettle black! In any event, for reasons that aren't really clear, Phillip has set his sights on Corrine to be voted out next. Most of the fans on the other hand are thinking one psycho down, one to go.
At the reward challenge Probst checks in with the tribes and Matt starts kissing Phillip's ass, saying how sorry he feels for him. No need to feel bad for Phillip, because he couldn't be happier with Brandon gone. On to the challenge! The object is to squash a paint filled egg against your body then place yourself on the mat with that same color. Winner gets a bag of rice! What do you know? It's a tie!
Actually it's a tribal shuffle. Malcolm, Erik, Brenda, and Andrea move to Gota while bosom buddies Matt and Michael go to Bikal along with Julia. The fans were in a pretty bad spot before this, after losing all but one challenge so far, and being outnumbered by two players, but this configuration would seem to make things even worse for them. They are now outnumbered four to three on both tribes, so no matter who wins immunity the fans have the short end of the stick. Matt sees this and wastes no time in sucking up to the favorites he's been placed with.
It would seem the Bikal fans have the most to worry about. The Bikal tribe is now severely outmatched. They have four of the the five oldest cast members AND John Cochran! I said recently that Sherri was in hot water and I think she's probably benefited the most from the shakeup. Yes, she's separated from her alliance but she's also on a very strong tribe that's not likely to being going to tribal, unless of course the challenge involves having a team member who can score highest on the bar exam. She could also portray Eddie and Reynold as big physical threats to the "favorites". Of course, unbeknownst to Sherri, Reynold still has his idol which could be good news for him.
One thing I find interesting about this configuration is that both tribes are now evenly numbered where as prior to the switch Bikal had a two person advantage. I don't really like when Survivor does this. I say if they're going to do a tribal swap the numbers of each tribe should remain the same.
I actually wondered if it was calculated to have four "favorites" on each tribe and that maybe each bowl of eggs was evenly divided but after re-watching the episode it appears as though the fans were give the opportunity to choose from different bowls. I still wouldn't be surprised if it was somehow rigged.
Over at Gota, Erik continues to demonstrate just how deeply scarred he was by his self imposed blindsiding in Micronesia after expressing strong paranoia from Reynold and Eddie spilling the beans about Sherri's alliance, who is working on the girls to get rid of Reynold. Meanwhile Andrea demonstrates her psychic ability by revealing to Malcolm that she dreamed he had the idol. Malcolm denies this and proudly boasts about his proficiency at deceiving the opposite sex.
At Bikal, Phillip immediately goes to work on Julia so the "favorites" will have the numbers to vote out the fans. He tells this to Corrine who is perplexed because she apparently knows what Phillip doesn't and that being that four is a larger number than three and they already have the numbers! She tells Dawn who in her usual overly dramatic self almost spins her head off upon hearing the news. Actually though, I think Dawn probably misunderstood Corrine and thought she was saying that Phillip was talking to Julia about himself flipping over to the fans. Corrine tells Dawn Phillip needs to drink a warm glass of shut the hell up! At least she didn't bash his dead grandfather that he loves so much. She does however suggest in a confessional that if he's a special agent then that might explain why America is in the shape that's it's in, which might not be too far off.
Phillip passes on the glass of shut the hell up and goes to work on bosom buddies. Actually it's more like they go groveling to him and he is more then happy to play the part of strategic mastermind. He tells them that they can try out for stealth r us and the test is whether they follow orders from his second in command, but he won't divulge who that is. This is confusing since his second in command is over on the other tribe.
Julia actually does something and goes to work on Michael. He assures her that he loves being on his new tribe. Maybe that's why the fans kept losing if he likes being outnumbered so much.
The happiest person on Bikal is Corrine due to the fact she now has a queen to hang around with. She can't stop talking about how much she loves gays, even though she had no problem voting out Francesca. However, she isn't going to flip to them because she's not an idiot. Now all she has to do is make sure expert flipper John doesn't jump over to the fans.
Last week when Brandon had his meltdown it left a burning question to Survivor fans everywhere. Would they reuse the "boxing" challenge that they didn't get to use last week? Well the answer is YES!
It a redo of a challenge from Heroe's Vs Villains where they must retrieve huge boxes and combine them in a stairway shape to spell out "Fans Vs Favorites"! Of course now that the tribes have been mixed up perhaps the producers should of repainted the boxes to read "Gota Vs Bikal".
Although it's mostly a challenge of strength, Bikal still has a chance at winning, provided that Reynold, Eddie, and Malcolm are all struck by a bolt of lightning during the challenge. Predictably this does not happen and at one point Probst accuses Bikal of moving like they're on medication. Zing! In the end, Gota completely massacres Bikal and Phillip continues to mumble out being forced to go out of order.
After the challenge we see Phillip talking about how he's not ready to take out Corrine and is sticking with the plan to take out the fans. This makes me think that maybe Phillip is going home tonight. But back at camp Corrine is also prepared to play the waiting game. Then faster then you can say "John Cochran" Matt and Michael turn on Julia. Apparently in unseen footage Julia has earned the stealth r us code name "the girl" by Phillip. But she must of upset Phillip somehow because he is telling bosom buddies that he wants to vote out "the girl". All kidding aside I do wonder what happened to the deal she made with Phillip because she's going to bosom buddies and suggesting they vote out Dawn. They pretend to go along, secure in the knowledge that she's on the hot seat and they are safe, the "favorites" however have other plans.
John decides Matt and Michael are too dangerous to keep together. He also smells the desperation in Matt and realizes he doesn't have the idol so he gets the rest of the tribe to target him. Wow! Maybe John's not as dumb as he looks... or sounds... or acts! This is actually pretty good thinking in my opinion.
If the fans were smart they would of stuck together to target John. They could of made a case that he can't be trusted due to his history of flipping. I'm not saying it would of worked but it would of given them better odds than turning on each other.
However, we know Matt's fate is sealed when we see Corrine right before tribal talking about how she loves Matt and Michael and wants to vote out Julia because she hasn't said two words to her the whole time. Don't feel bad Corrine, we audience members watching at home feel the exact same way.
To avoid being blindsided by an idol the "favorites" don't tell the fans who they're voting for. So Julia votes for Dawn, bosom buddies vote for Julia and the "favorites" actually play it smart and all vote for Matt. Good riddance I say. Not since Coach has there been a player more full of shit than Matt and this is what he gets for constantly waffling. He did it with the cool kids, then with his own alliance, and again over at Bikal.
Pretty good episode all in all but again I would of liked to of heard more from Brenda. If you go to the Survivor website at cbs.com you can see some pretty good confessionals by her, but you can't complain too much when you're able to get through and entire episode without being subjected to Dawn's famous crocodile tears!
Click HERE for a good confessional by Brenda.
NEXT WEEK ON SURVIVOR! Sherri will finally get to sit out a challenge and I'm guessing Julia is going to have to face the wraith of Phillip for going against the "favorites". Malcolm's looking mighty cocky in the previews so could he be in danger?
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