'Survivor' 26×13; "Don't Say Anything About My Mom"

Previously on Survivor, the majority alliance had begun to target its own members even with Eddie still the last Amigo left.

Cochran has realized no one really wants to be in the finale with him leading him to go into strategy overdrive throughout the episode. Clearly he will backstab almost anyone in his alliance to get to the finals and talk with any who might be willing to go with him, including Eddie. It was definitely weird seeing those two chatting together at the beginning of the episode.

Tree mail provides a phone for everyone to see a loved one in a short video message before going off to the reward challenge. I always get so emotional at the family time introductions, but Brenda and her father was the first time I ever cried. It was powerful enough to make Jeff cry, which was the first time in series history.

Castaways will compete in the reward challenge with their loved ones. Cochran’s mother, Brenda and Eddie’s fathers, Erik’s brother, and Dawn and Sherri’s husbands are the loved ones. Groups of two will spin in circles to unscrew posts so they can toss bolos that must loop around them. After successfully tossing three bolos a pairing will win. At first Erik’s pair does really well but falls behind when Brenda and her father are first to finish unscrewing the poles. As Cochran’s mum goes slowly through the challenge Cochran gets overly defensive about his mum when Jeff Probst comments which was a sweet moment, seeing him defend her. All but Eddie and Cochran are in the race to loop the bolos around the poles, but Brenda and her father win with a serious team effort. After winning and choosing Dawn to join her for the barbecue with their loved ones Brenda receives information that a second loved one for each person is on the island waiting for them. Unfortunately she has a serious decision first. Either Brenda and Dawn get time with their loved ones or the other four do, it cannot be both and she quickly gives up her time for the other four. She’s such a wonderful person to so quickly give up the time with her family.

At the barbecue there is laughter and happiness as Cochran notes his dad’s sunglasses: is he trying to act cool? Camp shows Dawn to be displeased with Brenda’s choice and working through ideas to send her home. As everyone else returns home from the barbecue Cochran starts thinking along the same lines. It definitely seems strategically sound but it will devastate Brenda and audiences everywhere.

I love endurance challenges, and as they get down to less and less people this type of challenge gets picked more frequently. This time they all must stand on a log with their hands behind them holding onto a handle as Jeff lowers them occasionally. My first thought when I saw this challenge was that women would be more capable at it, due to shoulder rotation, and in this instance my thoughts seemed accurate. Cochran falls after fifteen minutes, Eddie knows he needs to win to stay in the game but falls shortly after with Erik close behind. It’s down to only the women with Sherri falling off leading Dawn and Brenda to battle it out. Dawn tries to strike up a deal which fails as Brenda wants to challenge herself, but she wobbles and falls allowing Dawn to win her first immunity ever. I love that Brenda wants to compete with herself on this type of challenge, to test herself, but I absolutely hated when she admitted she jumped in the water so Dawn would win.

Eddie without immunity leads to a straightforward vote right? Not quite. Despite Brenda’s easy-to-follow plan of Eddie then Cochran some of her alliance sees differently. Cochran gets the ball rolling by talking with Sherri before moving on to Dawn. At tribal Eddie acknowledges that he sounds like a broken record as he talks about how he’ll obviously be going home again. He choose to vote for Erik, leaving the final vote 1-Erik, 2-Eddie, and 3-Brenda, sending Brenda home in tears as Malcolm and Reynold were incredibly excited in the Jury.

This Sunday is the season finale of Survivor: Caramoan! It starts at 8pm for a two hour finale before moving on to the 10pm winner reveal and one hour reunion, all on CBS!