'Survivor' 26.09 'Cut Off the Head of the Snake' — Sherri is Tenacity

Last week on Survivor, the tribes Gota and Bikal merged into Enil Edam causing everybody to fiddle with alliances and work on big blindsides. Malcolm and Corinne created a counter-alliance to Phillip’s Stealth-R-Us with fans and favourites, planning to vote out Sherri then Phillip. After Cochran won the first individual immunity challenge by eating disgusting things and Dawn learned of the blindside Malcolm and Corinne were planning, the biggest blindside of the season occurred that sent Corinne home.

Enil Edam

Reynold isn’t too upset that Corinne from his counter-alliance was kicked off. Surprising? Perhaps, but he feels secure in his alliance with Malcolm and Eddie, so hopefully that will help Malcolm stay longer even though he is on the outs. I’m so proud that Malcolm has kept his hidden immunity idol hidden for so long. That’s so rare and now with Corinne gone he is the only person that knows about it. It’s a bit concerning that they’re all so confident after one of their own is chucked though. At the Stealth alliance, Phillip tells Sherri she’s hot, which is so weird to hear from him, and then he gives her a Stealth-R-Us name: tenacity.

Reward Challenge:

They must divide into two teams of five. One member on each team must be a defender while one at a time members of the other team leap off a platform attempting to throw a ball past the defender into the net. After four points (four balls in the net) a team wins the reward of a picnic lunch at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall. Malcolm is defending for orange with Dawn, Phillip, Andrea, and Brenda throwing as Michael defends for purple with Eddie, Reynold, Cochran, and Erik. Sherri wasn’t picked to compete so she cannot go on the reward.

Malcolm catches the first ball launched at him by Eddie, as on Brenda’s first try for orange she gets the ball past Michael into the net. Erik scores for purple but Andrea comes back and gets the second point for orange. Reynold misses for purple and Dawn just misses for orange. Cochran is up next and gets it past Malcolm into the net. I’m so proud of my favourite, Cochran! Winning challenges and succeeding, good for him! Phillip does a stutter thing with his run making it look like he’ll fail but ends up getting it past Michael easily for orange. Orange leads 3-2 by now. Eddie scores for purple easily on his second try. After getting her first one, Brenda is up again with the opportunity to win the challenge for orange. She gets it past Michael but right on the edge of the net, bouncing off. After a few shots that we don’t get to see Erik is up next for purple and gets it past Malcolm allotting the win for purple.

Plans, plans, plans

I’ve missed Cochran’s witty chats with the camera. Him, Eddie, Reynold, Michael, and Erik repel down a waterfall to their picnic as their reward and Cochran is so proud of himself for making it down without dying. There’s masculine bonding and discussions of an all male alliance but Cochran scoffs at the idea of turning away from Stealth just for men, clearly they don’t know him well.

Back at camp, Malcolm starts up some strategy to get Sherri and Dawn over to his counter-alliance which is almost as bad as the guys convincing Cochran to join them. Dawn and Andrea immediately start plotting how to use this to Stealth’s advantage by making Malcolm think they’re splitting votes between Reynold and Eddie as Dawn pretends be align with his real plan. Stealth actually plans to vote out Malcolm because they expect he’s idol-less and then a simple vote. My Strategy would be for Malcolm to play his idol anyway, because it’s a risky move pulling Sherri and Dawn away from Stealth. That way, no matter what Stealth plans to do (the split vote or Malcolm) he’s staying in the game. If he gets his counter alliance (Michael, Eddie, Reynold, and himself) to vote Andrea while Stealth (Andrea, Erik, Cochran, Sherri, Phillip, Brenda, and Dawn) votes for Malcolm but he’s played his idol nullifying his votes, then Andrea goes home like he wants. Ultimate blindside!

We get a bit of Andrea + Eddie “island dating” drama at the lagoon (why do people not go there all the time? It’s BEAUTIFUL!). I used to think Eddie was a little daft, but this chat showed him to sound less silly and kind of sweet. Andrea is talking about falling for him as they’re playing each other, he’s talking about indirectly hitting on her… Basically, they’d make a cute couple.

Immunity Challenge:

Today’s challenge will force them to remain calm if they want to win. Everyone will take a spot in the water, underneath a graded steal barrier. As the tide rises the water will rise on them more and more. The person who lasts the longest will win immunity.

I thought it would be a boring challenge but turned out to be really intense. After an hour the water has risen enough for people to start dropping out. Phillip leaves first, followed by Sherri, Erik, and Dawn. Malcolm leaves next which is unfortunate as everyone is plotting against him. It’s gotten to be a challenge that’s making me really antsy. Michael leaves next as the water is above the grate. Eddie is out next, very quickly followed by Cochran and Reynold almost simultaneously. It’s down to Brenda and Andrea, both still looking secure. Their legs are linked through the grate so we’ll easily see them struggle by movement in their legs. Andrea starts to struggle a little but holds on well. Her legs come down but she isn’t out yet. She’s back in it, but after a few more struggles up and down she’s out. Brenda has won and looks completely unfazed by the challenge once two guys jump in to let her know she’s won.

Tribal Council:

Before Tribal everyone is discussing votes again and Malcolm doesn’t see what’s about to happen. Reynold shows Dawn the idol then threatens her if she crosses him. Eddie and Andrea talk which makes Andrea concerned she’s about to be voted out as she never gives a straight answer to Eddie. It’s difficult to fall in love when no one gives a straight answer. Suddenly she doesn’t want to vote for Malcolm because she’s concerned about idol play. Michael is a safe write-off because they know he doesn’t have an idol. That was so silly. My Strategy would be for Andrea to tell Eddie Stealth plans to vote for Malcolm instead of splitting votes then she switches to the counter alliance to be with Eddie and go farther as Malcolm plays an idol and they vote off one of Stealth. It would completely change the game and allow her to be on beloved Eddie’s side.

During Tribal, Phillip starts creating drama and Malcolm starts getting very concerned. Even though they no longer want to vote for him, he looks utterly terrified like he’s considering pulling out his idol. The only vote we see is Malcolm’s for Reynold. Why are you choosing to go for Reynold? You can’t still think they’re splitting the vote just because you have no clue what’s going on? As Jeff asks for hidden immunity idols, Reynold steps up to use his but Malcolm convinces him to save Malcolm with it, because the Tribal talk all seemed directed at Malcolm rather than Reynold. Surprisingly, he does hand it over and the votes go 3-1-7, Andrea, Reynold, Michael ending in Michael being the first person sent to the Jury.

Next episode, Dawn seems to be going crazy.