Welcome to week two of Survivor Caramoan. We are coming off a great premiere with Faves losing the first Immunity challenge. An earlier alliance seemed to be formed on the faves but I am fairly confident that this alliance will not last the long haul.

On the Fans tribe a line was drawn in the sand between the pretty and cool people and the other people. The problem with the Pretty and Cool people is that it was made up of four people in a tribe of ten. For those good at math that is a minority alliance. Of course there is Matt and Michael who are playing the wait and see approach before they commit to a tribe. This is a smart play but they do want to be careful not to be numbers 5 and 6 in a six person alliance.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes from here. Come back later for the recap and discuss the episode or anything else Survivor related below.

===============================================

After a quick recap we open up on the Favorites beach. Dawn tries to approach Brandon about the vote and Brandon is pissed that Francesca was voted out. He calls the move stupid and says that neither Dawn nor Cochran win the game.

This of course brings on the water works from Dawn. This was one of the reasons I disliked her as a player on Redemption Island and as a favorite who has played before she should be over this drama and not need to cry when someone gets mad at her.

Brandon says he is so mad that he needs to go all “Russell” on the tribe. He wants revenge for the injustice that has been done to him and wants to go out with a bang. Please let this be the last time a Hantz is cast on a CBS reality show.

We now go to Fan camp where it seems everyone but Shamar is working. It’s one thing about being lazy but it’s obvious when you are the only person lying around.  I’m not sure but he may have said that he doesn’t care about the game. I’m hoping I am wrong since he was cast as a “FAN.”  He may have been trying to say that he’s not a threat since he lays around all the time so people will keep him.

Allie and Laura talk about him laying around causing him to be voted out but Sherri wants Shamar around and invites him to join their alliance. She calls Shamar or Phillip and says she needs to keep him around to annoy people.

Over with the Favorites Brandon admits to Cochran that he was going to run wild on the tribe but overnight he decided he didn’t want to be seen as a quitter and worried on how his kids will see him. Cochran compares him to a murderer or sociopath which makes total sense.

Brandon calls Phillip and asks if he can be involved in the flow of information. Phillip tells the crazy man that he is mid-management and the CEO only approaches mid-management when needed. This again sends Brandon over the edge and he approaches everyone else about how Phillip is a bully and playing like Boston Rob. Just a thought but Phillip is now Boston Rob and will never play like Boston Rob.

This leads to the next challenge were the fans are shunned to see that Francesca is the first one gone again. Michael comments on how there is no mercy on the Favorites tribe.

Immunity is back up for grabs. Three tribe members will swim out to a raft and be pulled back by three other castaways. They will then dive down for nine rings and be pulled the rest of the way in. The remaining three members will toss the rings to land on poles. The first team to have a ring on each pole wins immunity and reward.  The reward is the old favorite reward of a fishing kit complete with nets and slings.

The fans must sit out one team member and choose to sit Laura. We must be short for content because we are actually shown the strategy sessions with the teams. For the favorites we have Erik, Andrea, and Brenda on the raft with Brandon, Corrine, and Cochran pulling. For the fans we have Sherri, Hope and Julia on the raft with Shamar, Matt, and Eddie pulling. Sherri and Erik jump in and pull out bamboo sticks to get the first rings. Sherri is taking control of the fan tribe and is staying in the water while the favorites are doing a good job of rotating. Favorites are up to six rings as the fans get their second. Fans are still diving as the favorites are on their way back with all nine rings.  The favorites are back on the shore and ready to toss rings as the fans get the last of the rings. Malcolm has two landed as the fans are on the way back.  Favorites are having trouble landing the last one as the fans start tossing and land one but the mini comeback is all for naught as Phillip hits the last ring for immunity and reward.

Right out of the challenge Reynold is already saying that Shamar is the obvious choice which means his most likely not going home. But I guess we will see how the fans can do with the pressure on them.

We must really be lacking some solid footage because we are sent back to the favorite camp even when usually we spent the majority of the end of the episode with the losing tribe deciding who to send home. Instead we get some craziness from Phillip talking about his alliance that started on Redemption Island and he has evolved it into season 26. He’s given everyone a code name for their spy mission. He is the Specialist, Cochran is the Intelligence, Malcolm is the Enforcer, Andrea is the Eliminator, Corinne is the Dominator, and Dawn is the True Grit. Malcolm says it is ok for the short term but if it lasts the entire game he may need to hang himself. I might have to agree with him if I was there with them but it’s entertaining to watch on TV.

Over at the Fan tribe Reynold instantly calls out Shamar which instantly opens a shouting match. Reynold says Shamar’s behavior is unacceptable and he will be voting for Shamar to go home.  Shamar continues to shout out random words that make little sense essential making him a huge target.

On one hand getting rid of him is a smart choice since he does nothing at camp and other then strength he doesn’t bring much to the table in challenges.  But on the flip side he is the type of player you want to bring to the end. I mean can you imagine him on the final tribal council. It would be both horrifying and awesome. I doubt he would make it all the way but I can imagine.

Eddie and Reynold approach Matt and Matt says he is all for getting rid of Shamar. Matt and Michael are positioning themselves as swing votes. Matt is pleading his case to Sherri for Shamar to go home. He says that Shamar can go home and they would still be up 5-4 on votes but Sherri is not happy with this as she wants Shamar to stay for her own cause. Laura for her part suggests Allie since she assumes Allie is the only one in the Pretty Alliance with a brain. Sherri and Michael are both in agreement with this choice.

Reynold shows his knowledge of the game by not only searching but finding the hidden immunity. He says he wants to make sure no one knows he has it but we will see if he can stay smart and keep it to himself.  He says he wants to go back to camp without a huge smile on his face or a bulge in his pocket. And of course he goes back to camp with a bulge in his picket which Laura picks up on. Unfortunately she doesn’t have time to talk to her alliance. Of course if it was me I would make time. I mean it would only take a few minutes to spread the word and make a new decision. Instead she goes into tribal nervous that Reynold may give Allie the idol.

Michael quickly points out that there is a Pretty people alliance and that worries people. Matt says that he is not worried about people who have things in common sticking together. He is either not trying to step on toes or he’s an idiot.

The talk now approaches the lack of leadership and decision making in the tribe and that they lost the challenge before it started since they had poor strategizing. Reynold and Eddie call out Shamar on being lazy and Shamar says he is the outcast and being used as a scapegoat.

Before voting Laura takes the time to throw out the idea that someone may have an idol since she saw a bulge in their pants before leaving for tribal. He says she will not say who but Jeff calls her out for looking directly at Reynold. He then throws out anything he said he would do and proclaims that he does indeed of the hidden immunity idol.  He says he was going to vote as a family and beat the favorites. Laura questions him on why he brought the idol and he says it is Survivor 101 to bring it even though he now has a target on his back. He says he will be playing the idol tonight and now they won`t have a tool for when they make the merge.  Shamar calls Reynold a great actor pretending it is a family and throwing Shamar under the bus.

Eddie votes for Shamar and Sherri votes for Allie. Reynold chooses to not play the idol which is not a shocker as he was obviously not a target right now.  After the votes are counted Allie is voted out in a 6-4 vote leaving the Pretty People stunned. This is why you don`t stop an alliance at four people when there are six other people who can vote against you. Jeff tells the fans that they need to get their act together if they want to beat the favorites and make it to the end.

Next time on Survivor Shamar continues to make camp life unbearable and over witht eh favorites Brandon is still crazy and threating to pee in the rice and beans as well as burn the camp down.

After two episodes I`m still not sure about the fans. I think Matt and Michael are compelling characters and Sherri is clearly a smart player but the rest of the tribe could easily he replaced with other people and wouldn`t be missed. Of course it is still early so hopefully some other people step up as solid players.  At least we still have Shamar to cause some drama but he`ll quickly get annoying since he argues but offers nothing to the game of Survivor.

See you next Wednesday to see what happens.