Anyone else laugh at the absurdity of Dawn complaining how arrogant the 3 amigos were? or at Brenda having a nervous breakdown because they weren't in control anymore? I'm wondering what Phillip and Malcolm are talking about around the pool at the resort.
Maybe I'm biased beause she's so cute, but I feel sorry for Brenda; I think she's clearly not handling the game as well as her first time in general for some reason. I think the lack of food is getting to her at this point, or maybe it's the isolation or something.
I thought the Brenda breakdown was pretty weak. I laughed at her auction failures. Malcolm getting voted out was the least interesting outcome for tribal, and puts the game on a boring track... though they are teasing some dissent in the alliance for next week so who knows. Cochrane is veering off into reallyannoyingsville with all the cockiness. On the one had players are getting a little better with the auctions, willing to plunk down the full 500 on what they want, or in one case bidding on the full pizza which wasn't even really up for auction. That was good... but I was a bit shocked that still in this day and age nobody takes one for the alliance to take the immunity clue at a full 500. In the end it didn't mean anything since Malcolm got owned by Andrea but still. I don't like the "here's an awesome pasta plate that you can't have because you're dead if you don't take the food for the whole tribe" thing though.
It's a shame that after engineering some bold moves at tribal council that Malcolm went out like a punk in this episode. Man, he played badly. First, have none of these people seen how the friggin' auction works every damn time? Most of the them are returning players so they should have a clue, but you put the promise of a little temporary relief in the form of food and drink in front of them and they seem to totally forget that they're playing for a million dollars. If you're a serious player or in danger of being voted off (and many people could have been last night), you hold on to your entire $500 until Jeff starts giving out the clues to the immunity idol location and the advantages in the immunity challenge, and then you immediately bid the full $500. Or even wait for the letters from home to give you a little morale booster. I have no sympathy for the crybabies who wasted their money and then were devastated that they couldn't get a letter. They were stupid. Malcolm was stupid for wasting even a small amount of money on the beer since he knew from last season that he could get a clue or advantage that could save him in the game (which he did in the last auction, IIRC). But fortunately for him, everyone else was even dumber than he was and he was still able to get it for $480. But then he totally squandered the opportunity to get the idol just because Andrea was shadowing him. So the hell what? They're all going to assume you found the idol anyway if you ever get some time to wander off by yourself, so just openly look for it right in front of her. It's not like she was even trying to find it first (which would have been smart), she was just sitting there watching him. Then Malcolm once again got fooled by everyone he thought he had convinced. It's one thing to get fooled once or twice, but he's been fooled by everyone he's been 100% convinced he turned to the dark side since day one, and this time it was by Sherri and Eric, the latter of whom isn't exactly a brain trust, and the former is shaky as all hell. The only person who played strategically in the auction was Cochrane (who won the challenge advantage for only $340 because again, everyone was STUPID), and as a result he won the challenge easily. I love Cochrane's gameplay this season, but his bragging is starting to come off as less self-deprecating and endearing and more like he seriously thinks he's some kind of physical challenge badass (which he's not, by any means), so I hope he doesn't get too full of himself and blow it. I want him to win it all. Reynold (or Reynold's as the idiots of the tribe call him) and Eddie were as stupid as Malcolm in the auction, but not as lucky. That's no surprise from Eddie, who has the intellect of an amoeba coupled with completely undeserved arrogance. Reynold is equally full of himself, but he usually is at least a little more calculating than Eddie. It's not a MENSA convention though, regardless. If they had saved all their money and gotten the clue to the hidden immunity idol for Malcolm and the advantage in the challenge for Eddie or Reynold, than that would have put them in a stronger position to convince others to come over to their side. But instead, they got a slice of pizza and some peanut butter for everyone. I like peanut butter as much as the next person, and I get that they're hungry, but WTF was that all about? That was disgusting. It was like peanut butter porno money shots with the way it was all over their faces and hands. Gross. The tribal council was at least still somewhat interesting because of the suspense about whether blond Jesus or shaky Sherri would betray their alliance, but I have a feeling that without Malcolm around to inject some bold moves (whether they work or not), things might get boring from now on. I am so over Dawn and her drama queenery. Brenda just broke this one time, so it's not as bad. Her breakdown was at least about general fatigue and hunger and loneliness (understandable), and not about betraying people as she keeps right on betraying them or whether she lost her bottom teeth in six feet of clear water and is willing to give up a million dollars if she can't find them because of her vanity (all while screaming at the top of her lungs like a wounded goat instead of just trying to look for them herself). Brenda seems to have a trance she goes into during challenges to deal with the pain and fatigue. It worked well in the hold your head up beneath the cage in the water challenge, but not so much when you're leaning back and trying to hold on to a weight at the end of a rope. Now that Malcolm is gone, Cochrane and Brenda are the two that I hope win first and second, with Andrea as a runner up to replace Brenda if Andrea starts playing better. Their third in the final three will probably be Sherri, Shaggy (Eric), or Eddie, because the latter two are dumb as rocks and haven't contributed anything of note. However, Eddie is more actively disliked and possibly a better choice to go all the way with, whereas Eric has just sort of slid under the radar by being completely uninteresting. Sherri was a stronger player earlier on but just went to crap later, so she might be a good choice if you don't want to bring a guy like Eddie from the opposing alliance along. Reynold is strongly disliked, but he's too much of a physical threat to keep around, and even if he miraculously did last, you wouldn't want him in the finals because people might respect his physical prowess enough to vote for him. Anyway, I just hope things can remain interesting now that Malcolm is no longer around to shake things up.
For his credit he fully admitted to that though, and said the beer was just a momentary snap decision.
My favorites are the people who bid a few bucks here and there but by and large just want to keep the money... as if getting out of there with $450 is some huge financial win.
Sherri is starting to get downright hilarious. "I'm the one really controlling this game!" I'm full out rooting for Cochran now because he's the only one who showed up and has any idea how to play Survivor. Maybe Andrea, Matt & Mike, but everyone else this season is hilariously bad at the game. I loved Malcolm's sales pitch to Sherri: "Wouldn't it be SO COOL if we let you come in fifth place?!" I guess Matt & Mike probably would have done really well if they weren't on the pathetic tribe.
That was hilarious. "You'd get AT LEAST 5th," as if that's something to get excited about. I've loved Cochran since his last season. There were a lot of viewers that didn't like him that time around for some reason, but he has been one of my favorite Survivors since then and I think he's gotten better this time around. I really hope he wins!
I was right Malcolm says the worse thing about being eliminated was having to see Phillip http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2...h-phillip-was-worse-than-being-voted-out?lite
Yeah, I'm pretty sure even moving up one place in the final standings will earn you more than that. Did Eric even bid on anything? I'm kinda bummed the Three Amigo alliance is toast- I think it would have been more interesting if they were able to shake things up. But when you constantlly rely on Eric to flip and offer little incentive to anyone else to flip, it's no surprise their plan didn't work. I thought Malcolm should have shared his clue with Reynold and Eddie after Andrea kept shadowing him. Better odds of finding it with three looking. Or they could have run some interference and pretended to look elsewhere.
He even manages to be entertaining in a post-elimination interview, while also answering one of my main questions: Why didn't he just keep looking for the idol anyway despite Andrea being there? Apparently he had been looking, for hours, and was exhausted and bleeding and had decided to give up by the time Andrea got there. His comment about Dawn's constant crying was hilarious.
That was a very amusing second part of the episode. My top three quotes: Andrea: "I wanted Brenda out, now I talked to everybody and now she going" Eddie: "I've been tricked and fooled and pretty much every other adjective before tribal councils but I feel a little different tonight. Andrea told me they are going to blindside Brenda and there's really no reason to lie to me. So for the first time I think I'm going to tribal council with an idea of who we're actually voting for" Erik: "I'm actually in control of the game it feels like" Also interesting that Andrea was voted out with only a relative majority, doesn't happen too often. I'm not sure splitting the vote made a whole lot of sense though; if Erik the Squinx had done someone weird, it could have completely messed up their plan. I'm not sure why they tell him anything.
I've really enjoyed Cochran this season. Unfortunately, he's probably made himself too much of a target to win. His admitting to lying about his final three plans was probably the last straw. I also liked when Andrea talked about feeling bad for Brenda because she (Andrea) had experienced a blindside last time. Also, Andrea's bit at the very end about how the blindside was going to make her even more paranoid back home...She completely missed the point. She became a target because of her paranoia. Oh well...
I still think this is Cochran's season to lose. Andrea was the only real gamer left besides him, except for maybe Brenda (who hasn't done much up until now). I had a feeling, based on the hyper-aggressive game Andrea was playing this time around (overcompensating a bit for her passive game in her first season), that she'd try to make a move too soon and get burned for it, and it looks like I was right. Though she didn't win, I think Andrea did enough here to warrant a third appearance down the road. Maybe if they do another Heroes vs. Villains season; I can see her on the Villains tribe and Malcolm on the Heroes tribe.
Doesn't Andrea know that people who act paranoid get voted out? Remember Jamie from Guatemala? (Best cast non-all-star season IMO. I don't know why they never invited back Rafe, Amy, Danni, Brian. Any one of those would have been ten times better than Francesca. And I have no memory of Corinne from her first season either.) I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Andrea appear again if there's another Heroes vs Villians season, but Malcolm and Cochrane are the only ones who'd make good choices for the 'Only bring back two or three vets' seasons. I don't know who's going to win now. I know it's not going to be Sherri. Anyone else I think has a very good shot. Eddie could win out the challenges then win the final vote because he's the only one left holding the loyalty and 'Physical competitor' cards, not to mention having at least two free votes. The other four cancel each other out in terms of jury hate. Sherri said Shamar was her Philip. Then she said Philip was her new Shamar. What she doesn't realize is that she is everyone's Philip. She's a lock for third place. In fact I'm going to go ahead and predict Dawn/Brenda/Sherri for final three.
I really don't know who's going to win, let alone who's going to make it through the next tribal council. This season has definitely not been predictable. It has already several times broken the usual pattern of a large alliance dominating after the merge and the coat tail riders ending up at the end. Really, anyone could win at this point. I really don't know what will happen. Though I often lament them bringing back so many returning players so often, it does provide for a different dynamic sometimes. In this case it has fostered a group that is not afraid to take big risks, that can play a much less emotional game, and aren't quite so loyal to "the alliance." With new players, they seem to have so many fears, anxieties, and emotions tied up with the thought of leaving the security blanket of their power alliance that they don't understand that sometimes you need to take opportunities when they present themselves. I think this has been a very good season so far, and I look forward to the last couple of episodes. I can't believe the finale is almost upon us!
I think Erik, Eddie and Sherri have no shot at winning anymore. The jury so far seems to be very reasonable and forgiving, judging from the clips online. I really doubt they'll put in a negative vote at the end, just by being pissed off at Cochran or Dawn. Brenda could certainly make a good argument at the end too, just by being so likable this time around (as pretty much all the voted-out Survivors have said in their exit-interviews), and having been involved in the strategy to a certain extent.
I don't know why anybody tries to win that reward challenge. It always puts the winner in the position of a) telegraphing their alliances and b) interacting with less than half of the remaining survivors at a crucial moment (allowing the rest of the group to make important strategic decisions without you). This time was even worse, though. Jeff forced the winner to give up the food and put a target on her back.