While you enjoy the Idol Live Blog come on in and discuss some Survivor Fans Vs. Favorites. Come back later for the recap and comment below with your thoughts.
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Watching the promos it looks like someone may be medically evacuated so that should bring on some drama. We open at the Fan tribe where Eddie and Reynold are arguing with the rest of the tribe about Hope being sent home for being the most beautiful. Eddie says it should have been Laura going home but I think that’s only because Laura tricked him into thinking she was voting out Shamar. The most amazing part of this is that Shamar is not one of the people arguing. Reynold and Eddie both say that they are done with the rest of the tribe.
Over at the Favorite’s tribe Phillip is saying that Napoleon gave names to his soldiers names and ranks to motivate them and keep them in line. Phillip starts by giving Brandon and Erik Stealth-R-Us names. He calls Brandon the “Conquerer” and Erik the “Silent One.” Brandon is escatic because he thinks he infiltrated the major alliance by lying when really he only got a name because Phillip is delusional.
Phillip’s actions displeases Andrea for some strange reason since she does not feel the others should have Stealth-R-Us names. Other then Brandon because she is grooming him to take Corinne’s spot. She says that soon even Brenda will have a nickname which leads to Phillip naming Brenda “Serenity.”
With all that craziness we are off to the reward challenge. It’s crazy but we will get two challenge this week. Each team will place two members on platform. The rest of the tribe will transport each person to a third platform. Then all members will swim to another platform and climb up. The first team to have all members above the highest platform will win. The winning tribe will have access to a Bushman who can show them how to live on the land. God I hope the favorites win just to see Phillip work with the Bushman. They will also get a chicken, fruit, and veggies. Since they have an extra player the faves sit out Cochran.
It’s another close challenge with the lead going back and forth but eventually the favorites pull of the victory. We are then treated with Shamar screaming out that this is what he is talking about thinking his tribe won only to be told the fans lost and be disappointed.
For some reason Reynold says it is Laura’s fault for slowing down the tribe. I would say she was not the reason that they lost. No one was really to blame. The favorites were just quicker this time out.
Back at the favorites tribe the Bushman rides in from the ocean. He’s a small man Malcolm calls him a Philippine Gollum which I can totally see afterwards. He shows them how to cook rice in bamboo and works on their shelter. We are then treated to him flirting with the ladies while Cochran talks about not being able to do that because he would just be seen as the creepy guy. I think Cochran may be jealous of the little guy.
The fans are lamenting another lose. Michael is pissed by losing again since the favorites have so much bounty from winning all the time. We are then treated to Shamar sleeping in the shelter. Apparently his size makes him be exhausted all the time. He then proceeds to tell the rest of the tribe that they need to bring him rice at least once a day. Basically he says he will stay in the game as long as he can stay in the game and have the food brought to him.
He then piles on the selfishness by saying he stretched his eye. Not sure how he accomplished this since all he does is sleep. Sherri and Laura say they were hoping to put off the Shamar vote longer but it looks like they won’t be able to save him much longer.
And here comes the storm. We get some footage of rats running across the fans bodies and there are heavy winds and some rain. Shamar looks miserable as he starts rocking back and forth. Shamar says his eye is swollen and hurts. This brings in Jeff and the medical team. The medical team have to put in some orange dye to see if there are any abrasions or cornea damage. It turns out that there is some damage and it could affect his vision. The recommendation is to remove him from the game. Jeff asks him if he feels guilty at all about leaving and he says he doesn’t want to leave like this but he doesn’t want to lose his vision.
Reynold is sorry his eye was actually hurt but is happy that Shamar is gone. I’m not sure why he would be happy as that opens up Reynold or Eddie to be sent home if the fans lose.
It’s now time for the Immunity challenge. One at a time a member will swim out to a platform and smash a tile to get a key. Once all five keys are back on the shore the remaining two members will open a chest and throw bags to knock over tiles to raise a tribe flag and win immunity. The faves must sit out two and they sit out Dawn and Corinne.
We start off with Erik and Sherri in the water. They both wipe out but Erik gets across first and gets the faves an early lead. Sherri hits the tile but does not realise the key and must go back up pushing the fans further back. Sherri gets back with the first key but is followed by Brandon with the second key for the faves.
Brenda basically laps Matt as the fans are up 3 keys to 2. Eddie gets the third key as Andrea swims out. Julia gets out for the fourth key as Malcolm gets to the shore with the final key for the faves.
Michael swims out for the final key for the fans as the faves are unlocking the chest. Phillip and Cochran are able to get the chest open and start shooting as the fans work on the keys. Reynold and Laura get the keys open and Reynold shows how good he is at throwing as they make a mini comeback but The Specialist delivers for the faves as they win immunity. It should be an interesting tribal since there is obviously a line drawn in the sand. Honestly Laura or Julia should be the person going home but we will see if the alliance holds up.
The tribe pats Reynold on the back for making a comeback but they say that it sucks to lose two people in one day. Reynold thinks that they will try to flush the idol which would mean Eddie will be going home. Matt has other ideas as he approaches Michael with the idea idea of voting out Laura. This is because they need to start winning challenges which means they need Eddie and Reynold. Michael says he thought they would stick with the alliance but now Matt is throwing it out the window. Michael trusts Laura more than he trusts Reynold plus Reynold is a wildcard with his idol.
Matt approaches Reynold about his plan to vote out Laura. Reynold his unsure of Matt as he has lied before and thinks he may be trying to fool him to into not playing the idol and being voted out. Matt tells Sherri he wants Laura out but Sherri is not on board because if they keep voting out the weak she will be third in line to go home and the way it is right now she is leading the”alliance.” It seems like Julia is in agreement with keeping Laura even though I don’t think she spoke a word even when asked a question. For his part Michael says he is no longer sure what to do.
It is now time to go to tribal council. Matt says that it is more peaceful with Shamar gone but it sucks because he was a stronger person for challenges. Sherri says she misses Shamar as part of the alliance. Reynold says that he wanted to get rid of Shamar to bring the tribe together. He says that the tribe needs to start thinking about how to make the tribe smarter. Laura says that they have a strong alliance and you need loyalty to go further into the game which Reynold counters with the fact that if they don’t start winning loyalty won’t matter. As a fan of the show if I was in the 5 person alliance I would bring up the fact that at some point there will likely be a tribe shake up which would make the argument to keep strength over loyalty a moot point since you will need loyal people if the tribe is switched up and you end up on the bottom of a new tribe.
Sherri argues that even with Reynold and Eddie they are still losing so why shake up the alliance. Eddie calls out Sherri and Laura as the weaker players and that they need to go to keep the tribe together, Laura shows why she is one of my favorites of the fans tribe because she is smart enough to bring up the fact that the game can be shaken up at any time and will Eddie and Reynold be loyal if the tribes are mixed. Eddie says it is hard to be loyal when people lied to him about voting out Shamar. He says tonight will make a break how he feels about the tribe.
With that it is time to vote. Eddie votes for Laura while Laura votes for Reynold since the plan seemed to be to flush the idol. Reynold plays the idol to save himself right before the votes are shown. After the vote Laura is voted out as it appears Matt and Michael jumped on the alliance. But on the bright side the idol was flushed out of the game. Of course it is only a matter of time before the tribes are switched and I still don’t think the fans are strong enough to beat the favorites in challenges. At some point we will have a puzzle rather than them having to throw bags or rings. When the votes were shown after the episode it showed that everyone flipped on Laura.
I liked Laura as a strategic player but really the loss of Shamar did her in because you need to get to the merge with as many people as possible and cannot bank on a tribe swap. It was an exciting tribal council with the fans staying stronger while being able to rid the game of an idol (as long as it is not placed back into the game).
Next week it appears that Brandon fully snaps at something Phillip does and it appears like its bad since it forces people to have nervous looks and some of the tribe is even crying in the scenes. Drama Drama Drama.
Can’t wait to see what sets him off.
