'Survivor' 26.10 "Zipping Over the Cuckoo's Nest" — The Best Tribal Ever!!
Last week on Survivor, Malcolm tried to make a big play against Stealth R Us to vote out Andrea while Stealth wanted to go for Malcolm. As Andrea heard her name get passed around she convinced Stealth to vote for Michael, from Malcolm’s counter alliance, instead.
Enil Edam
Immediately when getting back from last week’s tribal council, Stealth goes off to frantically discuss possible second hidden idols and how to split it. There’s no need to frantically strategize just yet, the next vote isn’t for a few days. Malcolm is excited because he does have another hidden immunity idol, but he’s kept it very secret. Dawn starts having a bit of a fit because she lost a retainer, vowing to quit if Brenda can’t find it for her. Brenda handled her crazy very well, at least.
Reward Challenge:
They’ll be divided into two teams of five. One person from each team races through a series of obstacles into a muddy pit where they search for a bag of balls. Upon finding that they go through the rice pit and the next person goes. After everyone has their bag, teams will untie all the bags then shoot the balls into a basket until all 12 balls are in, winning the reward. But what is the reward you ask? A resort with a beautiful pool and nice lunch of beef, pork, chicken, cocktails, and margaritas.
Purple is Reynold, Erik, Dawn, Cochran, and Phillip. Orange is Malcolm, Brenda, Andrea, Eddie, and Sherri. GO Purple GO! Erik and Malcolm are off first for their teams. Erik gets a big lead as he finds his bag and makes a large passageway through the rice pit for his team. Malcolm tries to find all the bags for his teammates but it takes him too long. Reynold is second for purple and finds the rest of the bags for his team before passing Malcolm. Andrea finally starts the course for orange as Dawn is almost through. Sherri puts orange even farther behind as Cochran takes a big dive into the mud pit allowing for Jeff Probst to give a big supportive cheer for him. Is it obvious to anyone else that Jeff loves Cochran? Purple gets all their balls and starts to throw them before Eddie even makes it onto the course and they get all the balls into their basket before orange can untie all the bags. This loss was definitely on Malcolm for the bags and Sherri on the beams.
The reward is so beautiful and that food was so incredible. Reynold, Erik, and Cochran have been on the winning reward team for two weeks now so they’re building up strength for intense immunity challenges. This is the perfect time for Cochran’s journal, and he calls himself the Challenge Monster this week which was definitely a funny moment. Erik gets frustrated when Phillip dives into the pool in all his muddy and rice-y glory without using the shower to clean off first. It’s probably the most we’ve ever heard Erik talk, and I love it. He’s such a sweet guy. We hear much more of him as the episode progresses.
Plans, plans, plans
After the reward everyone is back at camp sleeping. Everyone except Dawn. She’s barely slept in the past few days, paranoid about getting blindsided. The next morning Dawn starts discussing the need to vote out Andrea as she’s cozied up to Eddie and Malcolm, but Philip is thinking about chucking Dawn because she’s a lunatic. When Philip is calling you a lunatic you know something is off. Cochran seems to be an influential member of the Stealth alliance which is exciting. Last week Andrea talked to him first when concerned about being voted off, and this week Dawn and Philip discuss Dawn’s possible elimination with him. Next day, Dawn slept soundly and feels like herself again as Philip calls a group briefing. They generally agree Reynold should go before Malcolm because of strength in immunity challenges but plan to split the vote: 4 to Reynold and 3 to Malcolm incase anything ‘goofy’ happens, according to Cochran.
Immunity Challenge:
This challenge is on two heats. People will race across a platform, jump into the ocean, and swim back under the platform by pulling themselves along a rope. Then they’ll climb back onto the platform, grab a ring and move it to the second post. First two people from each heat to get both rings onto the second post move to the final round where the winner gets immunity.
The first heat consists of Reynold, Cochran, Dawn, Andrea, and Sherri. Reynold flies through the beginning of the course with Dawn and Andrea close behind. Cochran and Sherri quickly fall back with Reynold gaining more time. Reynold and Andrea easily make it into the final round.
The second heat consists of Malcolm, Eddie, Brenda and Erik as Philip sits out. That is such an incredible risk. Malcolm is out of the water first, with Eddie, Brenda, and Erik very close behind. It’s so much more intense this time! Malcolm comes out of the water first again, with Eddie closer behind. Big twist! Eddie is too confident and misses getting the ring on the pole as he jumps into the water opening the door for Brenda to go into the final.
The final round is Reynold, Andrea, Malcolm, and Brenda. This time they have to move five rings to win. Malcolm and Reynold are first with ring 1 with Malcolm a little bit ahead. Once again Malcolm and Reynold are up together for ring 2, Reynold is SUPER fast on the underwater portion! Andrea and Brenda have fallen behind as Reynold now comes up just before Malcolm in the lead, for ring 3. Reynold is out of the water easily ahead of Malcolm for ring 4. Jeff is getting super intense with the commentary as Reynold pops out of the water first, with Malcolm struggling behind him. Reynold wins immunity and he doesn’t even look too fazed by the effort.
Tribal Council:
Philip feels confident in his leadership position this season. Phillip sits around as Malcolm finds the idol surrounded by Eddie, Dawn, and Andrea. What a twist! They decide to keep the same numbers: 3 on Eddie and 4 on Malcolm incase he doesn’t play it because even if he does the re-vote will lead them to all vote Eddie. Poor Eddie.
At Tribal, it’s brought up that Malcolm has the hidden immunity idol and even puts on the necklace to show he’s basically going to play it. Talk quickly turns to Philip sitting out of the challenge and then back to Malcolm, Eddie, and Reynold being on the outs with everyone. Malcolm starts talking about strategy when he pulls out his second hidden idol and hands it to Eddie, so neither of them go home. WHAT A TWIST. Now one of Stealth will be voted out, no matter how they vote. Even Jeff Probst is shocked by this and all the reactions from this spectacular twist are incredible to watch. Cochran is shocked, Dawn’s jaw has dropped, Andrea can’t look up, and I’ve never seen Eddie look so pleased! Jeff comments on what’s going on: Cochran and Erik are whispering, while Philip whispered to Brenda who told Dawn they’re voting Andrea. During all the reaction shots (that Jeff is incredibly happy about) Malcolm throws it out there that they’re voting for Philip incase anyone else decides to do the same. Michael on the Jury starts counting possible vote numbers. Erik comments that they might not actually play their idols and are just playing Stealth instead, and Cochran is having a bipolar reaction because the Survivor fan in him is thinking this is the most exciting thing ever, but the player in him is freaking out he’s going home.
Before Jeff reads out the votes, both Malcolm and Eddie do play their hidden immunity idols which is a good, safe play. 4 – Eddie which didn’t count, 2 – Malcolm which didn’t count, 4 – Phillip sending him home. In the credits we learn that Erik was the only member of Stealth to flip and vote out Philip, but he’s always seemed like the least Stealth-y member.
Next episode, Reynold, Malcolm, and Eddie are recruiting new members for the counter alliance. Also, it’s the classic Survivor Auction episode! Check back later this week for my recap/review of the next Survivor episode plus a special Favourite Survivor Auction Episode’s post!