Another episode of Survivor tonight. We get the merge tonight so there should be some excitement. Look for my recap later and as always feel free to discuss the episode below.
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Welcome to the merge and just in time because the last few episodes have been stall. We need some solid action and conflict and the merge was the answer.
We open up at the Bikal camp and Phillip feels the need to tell Daw and Corinne that he threw the challenge. They know that he didn’t throw the challenge but go along with the story so that an argument wouldn’t break out. I seriously think Phillip is convinced he actually did throw the challenge. His delusion is kind of sad really.
Dawn is worrying because last time she played this is when Cochran ruined her game. She says she needs to be the decision maker this time rather than how she played last time when she let Cochran flip and didn’t tell anyone.
Over at Gota they are all chilling when a boat pulls up telling them to gather everything and head over to their new home. And after a quick transition we are at the Bikal camp for the merge tribe. Andrea has a key that fits the chest at the new camp and we have the traditional merge feast.
We also get the traditional naming of the new tribe which Malcolm takes the time to throw out a shout out to his Mom by convincing the tribe to call the tribe Enil Edam which is Madeline, his mom’s name, backwards.
Phillip pulls Andrea aside and solidifies a final four between himself, Cochran, Andrea, and Dawn. He tells her to start considering herself as Boston Rob because that is what he does. Andrea says that she likes being in a solid alliance but worries because the merge is when some people start panicking.
Elsewhere Corinne and Malcolm are talking about working together to go further and working with Eddie, Reynold, Michael and solidifying Erik in their alliance to make six. Corinne wants to target Sherri first and then focus on Phillip. Malcolm is ok with this as Sherri makes him feel uncomfortable and awkward. Corinne is celebrating being on the good side of a blind side which sounds like something that will never happen. Someday people will learn to make sure everything is solid before being too confident.
The tribe gets some tree mail and it is obvious that we will be seeing a gross food challenge which is always entertaining to see how the castaways react. Reynold is worried as this was the one type of challenge he was worried about and it is at a time when he needs to win immunity. Eddie for his part is worried eating something gross will hurt his chances with the ladies. Cochran goes the other way on thinking as he says that eating gross food could make him look like a bad ass and help with the ladies.
And it is time for the first individual immunity challenge and the immunity necklace actually looks cool this season. They were correct that it is a Survivor classic as the castaways will be eating local delicacies.
The first six to go are Andrea, Sherri, Corinne, Eddie, Erik, and Malcolm. The first three to finish will move on. They are eating Beetle Larva, going back to Season one when the castaways then had to it the same.
Everyone jumps in quickly and Andrea and Malcolm finish quickly. Eddie was having a little trouble but finishes third.
The second group consists of Reynold, Dawn, Cochran, Phillip, Michael, and Brenda. Dawn is ready to go and eat but Jeff tells her to put down the food and wait until he says go. She is zoned in. Cochran eats it like nothing and is followed by Phillip and Michael.
The final round of Andrea, Malcolm, Michael, Phillip, Cochran, and Eddie. Three will move on to the final round. They will be eating Ship Worms which look disgusting with flies crawling over them. Apparently they are part of the clam family and are not actually worms. We also learn that slimy things whet Phillip’s appetite. Malcolm and Eddie finish the slimy goodness quickly and in a close finish Cochran edges out Andrea and Phillip for the third spot.
We are down to Eddie, Malcolm and Cochran who will be eating Balut or Duck Embryo. Two will move on to the final round. I’m pretty sure Cochran swallowed it whole as he finishes first and moves on. Eddie chokes a little and that allows Malcolm to swallow first and go to the finals.
It’s Malcolm vs. Cochran. They will be eating Pig Brain and Cochran calls it bacon. First one done wins immunity. Its close by Cochran pulls it off for an immunity victory. Cochran is enjoying the moment as he should.
Amazingly we still have 30 minutes so it should be some interesting strategy going on. Cochran is getting patted on the back and he apologies for his excessive winning and everyone is ok with it since he doesn’t get many chances to shine at challenges.
Malcolm starts working on nailing down an alliance before going to tribal. Phillip goes to Corinne and says he wants to split the vote and flush the idol. She suggests going after Sherri and Phillip will have nothing to do with that.
Corinne is pushing too hard for Eddie or Reynold and I think it is hurting her. Corinne takes the time to nail done working with Eddie and Reynold and they are all for it since it gives them a chance to finally have some power in the game. They keep saying that the alliance will include Erik but no one seems to actually approach him or even talk to him. Also I kind of think that the editors are reusing the same footage of him walking out of the water over and over again.
Corinne approaches Dawn to tell her that she should come with them to vote out Sherri this week and then go after Phillip. Of course Dawn is the wrong person to approach because this season she is horrible at actually keeping quiet.
She tells Cochran about the situation and they try to come up with a plan to vote out Corinne. Cochran is shocked since he didn’t expect Corinne to be able to play strategy. Cochran informs Andrea and they are planning to try to pull in Sherri and Erik.
Andrea tells Phillip about Corinne’s plan and he is pissed. How dare anyone try to take out the Specialist. He walks over to Sherri and tells her to vote for Corinne and what she does will determine how far she goes in the game. Sherri is conflicted as she wants to go further in the game but hates Phillip’s arrogance.
As for Erik, this season as totally changed my opinion of him. I considered him a strong player last time he played other than his bone headed decision to hand over immunity at final five only to be voted off. He basically tells Andrea to point to a name and he will vote for that person. Malcom then tells him to vote for Sherri. When he actually speaks he says he is basically a swing vote and wishes he knew what he was going to do.
Michael says that he is a fair assumption to think that the faves will stick together. Corinne basically says that she will flip if giving the right opportunity. Cochran says he would be more worried if Corinne said she wouldn’t flip.
Reynold says that not everyone can be in the top three so if you are at the bottom you need to consider flipping to say alive. Corinne and Brenda agree that everyone is lying in some way.
Sherri doesn’t think a fan has any chance to win but Reynold thinks that a shocker is coming. With that it is time to vote.
Phillip and Andrea vote for Corinne and Corinne and Michael vote for Sherri. We are shown five straight votes for Sherri and then follow with seven votes for Corinne to send her home in a blind side and shocking Malcolm, Eddie, Michael, and Reynold.
It sucks that Corinne had to talk with Dawn now. The biggest downside to Survivor for good players is that you need to depend on other players to get further in the game. With Corinne talking it basically ruined the games of Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold. Especially when you consider that she didn’t need Dawn since Cochran had said that they were in agreement to vote out Sherri this week. It’s a case of playing too hard when keeping quiet is what is needed.
Next week Malcolm approaches Dawn to try to make a move and Eddie tries to flirt with Andrea to get back into the game. I would like to say I think it will work for Malcolm and Eddie but I think their games are done thanks to Corinne’s actions. It won’t be the first time a good player is done in by a lesser player. I’ll pull a Phillip and drop Boston Rob’s name from when he was ruined by Tyson’s boneheaded move during Heroes vs. Villains. You just can’t control other people.