Remember when Fans Vs. Favorites meant players such as Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie? In Survivor: Caramoan, it means whatever group of nutjobs is desperate enough to do the show again. I don’t know whose favorites these people are, but they’re not mine.
The 10 returning players on the Bikal (purple) tribe are: Andrea Boehlke, Brandon Hantz, Brenda Lowe, Corinne Kaplan, Dawn Meehan, Erik Reichenbach, Francesca Hogi, John Cochran, Malcolm Freberg, and Phillip Sheppard.
They will face off against the Gota (orange) tribe, a group of 10 new players: Alexandra “Allie” Pohevitz, Edward “Eddie” Fox, Hope Driskill, Julia Landauer, Laura Alexander, Matt Bischoff, Michael Snow, Reynold Toepfer, Shamar Thomas, and Sherri Biethman.
The Survivors hit the beach and face the first challenge. Reward is fire plus 20 pounds of beans. After stripping down (Phillip brought even pinker underpants), they head into the water, where two people on one tribe must get a ring past two defenders on the other tribe. Fans take the 1-0 lead. Brandon and Andrea drag their way to a 1-1 tie. Phillip drags everybody to his goal and takes the 2-1 lead. Cochran does not get beat by a girl as the Favorites take a 3-1 lead. Malcolm and Reynold want to prove they are the most physical and naked on the beach, and Malcolm comes out ahead, giving the Favorites the win.
Shamar has decided he does not care about the shelter and lets his tribe know that they should be building a fire instead, as if the odds of that make it a more worthwhile task. It’s clear he’s got a mouth on him that is going to rub people the wrong way. In the end, for all his talk, he does help to deliver results, as the tribe ends up making fire.
Francesca points out one reason why I barely remember half of them. She was the first person out during her last season. Phillip screwing up her name and putting a q in it is more memorable than anything she did. She promises to eat a rock if she’s voted out first again.
Phillip says he’s learned a list of rules about how to play the game from Boston Rob. Unless one of those rules is don’t be crazy, he’s going to come up short again. Corinne and Andrea happily ally with him. His total alliance is 6 people, the last of which is Erik, who he bullies into joining them. Erik agrees despite thinking he’s a combative idiot loser who makes everybody crazy.
Reynold forms a final two alliance with Allie, saying he wanted to join someone who would not be obvious. Yeah, because nobody would ever suspect you going after the pretty blonde girl. Especially after seeing you cuddling on the first night.
Meanwhile, Eddie, telling us he’s the best looking person on the island, teams up with the other best looking person, Hope. He won’t be at all obnoxious. These two make a four person alliance with the other cool kids, Reynold and Allie. Like the other cute couple, their relationship has very quickly been exposed.
Knowing that there is a division in the tribe, Michael and Matt must decide which four to align with. I don’t see them as having any chance to break into the cool kids’ alliance, though either side would be happy to have the numbers for the time being.
I don’t know how the heck Cochran survived the first time, yet he’s back again. Even his toes are sunburned.
At the immunity challenge, they will toss crates off a tower, then use the sandbags inside to complete tosses. The first part of the challenge is pretty well moot, though Allie and Eddie put their team way behind on the final leg, far enough that Malcolm’s half way done with the bag tosses by the time they finish. But he never gets past that point. Despite the lead, Reynold jumps ahead of Malcolm to win immunity and flint for the Fans.
Francesca suggests getting rid of Phillip or Corinne, but mostly she wants revenge on Phillip. She tells this to Andrea, one of Phil’s closest allies. Francesca and Brandon are pretty comfortable that there’s no way Phillip could actually have the numbers on his side. So confident is she of this that she wants to split the votes. Phil is behaving too calmly, so he must have immunity.
He may not be worried about Phillip, but Brandon is terrified of Andrea. He’s on to the fact that she’s relaying information to the other side. Now a third name is into their equation. Since you’re about ready to leave and vote, you might consider making a decision. I thought you people were supposed to be experienced at this game.
Dawn and Cochran have agreed to work together, which went really well for her last time he voted her out.
Votes
Andrea
Andrea
Andrea
Francesca
Francesca
Francesca
Andrea
Francesca
Francesca
Francesca
For the second time, Francesca has been voted off the island first, burned by both Phillip and her overly aggressive gameplay. I again question how she is a favorite. Along with Erik and Brandon, Brenda joined the minority in the vote against Andrea, but as he promised, Phillip has the numbers, with or without Erik.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Caramoan Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.