Hello Readers!
Finally, after all this time, the Merge has occurred! Oh, it’s another chance for alliances to strengthen or crumble. Don’t think just because the Favs outnumber the Fans that a Fan will be the overwhelming choice to to be the next to leave the game. I wasn’t sure who was leaving this week until the Vote was revealed. Who was this lucky individual? Read below and you’ll see.
After Tribal Council, Michael was thanking everyone for keeping him in the game. Phillip took Corrine and Dawn aside to let them in on secret that he threw the last Immunity Challenge in order to get rid of Julia. Dawn and Corrine saw through Phillip’s delusion, stating that if Phillip had decided to throw the Challenge that he would have gotten them together to let them know if his plan, not right in the middle of a Challenge. Corrine was so ready to dump Phillip, but she had to grind her teeth and bear Phillip until she had her shot to get rid of him.
At Gota, a boat came to their shoreline to deliver their Tree Mail. It informed them to gather their belongings and to get on the next boat that will bring them to their new home. Yep, Readers, you’ve guessed it, it was the Merge! Once the boat dropped the Gota tribe on Bikal’s beach, they celebrated with a chest full of food, and Malcolm renamed the tribe Enile Dam. Why Enile Dam? The sweet boy that he is wanted to let his momma know he was thinking of her. The rest of the tribe was unaware of this, but accepted their new tribe name.
Phillip and Andrea separated themselves from the rest of the group, and caught each other up on what has happened. They both agreed that the Favs had to stick together to make it further in the game. Corrine and Malcolm have their own discussion, only their talk about their new alliance and how to get rid of Phillip and their Favs alliance. She wanted to do this by combining her and Malcolm’s Fan minions (Reynold, Eddie, Erik and Michael).
At the Individual Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst announced that this contest was a throwback to one Survivor ran many seasons ago. The Castaways had to eat a series of local delicacies. They had to eat quickly in order to make it through each round. The winner of the final round would gain Individual Immunity.
The players of Part 1 of Round 1 were: Malcolm, Corrine, Sherri, Erik, Eddie and Andrea. The players of Part 2 of Round 1 were: Dawn, Reynold, Brenda, Michael, Cochran and Phillip. The first dish the Castaways had to eat was beetle larvae. Malcolm, Eddie, Phillip, Michael, Cochran and Erik made it through to Round 2. The second round found the Castaways eating ship worms. The top three, being Malcolm, Cochran and Eddie, made it to Round 3. These three lucky guys got to battle it out by eating balut,or duck embryos. Cochran and Malcolm were the only two that were able to stomach this dish to make it to the Final Round, which saw these boys eating pig brains. It was a close one, but Cochran shocked everyone by beating “golden boy” Malcolm to win Individual Immunity!
Back at Enile Dam, everyone was congratulating Cochran for his first Individual Immunity win. Malcolm was also a bit sore for coming in second, and went off to lick his wounds to make himself feel better. The only thing that was bringing Cochran down was the fact that the feeling of triumph would fade away with the craziness of this game. Boy was he right!
Malcolm and Corrine went into action, rallying their troops to set their plan into action. They augmented their plan by setting their target at Sherri, since they thought she was expendable. Then they would go after Phillip and control the rest of the tribe for the remainder of the game.
Corrine had to keep up appearances, so she went to the Favs to discuss getting rid of Sherri. Phillip didn’t like this plan, thinking that they should get rid of either Reynold or Eddie because of their strength. After Phillip stomped his feet to have his way, Corrine was more motivated than ever to get rid of Phillip.
Corrine corralled the Lady Favs together and told them of her new plan. At first, they were in board. Then a light bulb of recognition went off in Dawn’s head. This scenario was what got her voted out the game. She didn’t want to go down this path again.
Dawn then shared this information with her confidant, Cochran. Cochran pieced together Corrine’s end-game of taking control of the tribe, leaving Cochran and Dawn in the cold, and he wasn’t a fan of that at all! They knew that they had to get rid of Corrine to stay in this game longer. Cochran went to Andrea with this information. As much as she disliked Phillip, she couldn’t let Corrine get away with her plan, either. They needed Erik and Sherri to flip the shift of power to make their plan work. Andrea then Phillip in on what was happening, and he became angry at Corrine’s betrayal. The big question was whether Sherri and Erik were going to believe them and work with them or against them.
At Tribal Council, Jeff Probst spoke with the Castaways about whether it was ideal for a Fan to be the next to leave the game. Corrine confessed that she was open to suggestions if the right plan came along. Reynold pretty much said the Favs shouldn’t count their chickens before they’re hatched. Andrea was paranoid because she has been burned by trusting people in Survivor.
The Castaways were nervous as the votes were cast and read out by Jeff. It was 7-5 vote for Corrine to leave the game! It was a huge blindside for her. She was so sure her plan was going well, that she was too cocky that others wouldn’t catch on to what would happen if her plan was successful.
Good work, Cochran! He totally read that plan and cut it off before it got too bad. I know the way I described what happened in this episode made it seem as though Corrine was the one to go, but the way the show was edited, if was really touch-and-go up until the Vote. It really could have gone the other way if a few people had voted another way. The next episode should be interesting, as it will show the fallout of this Tribal Council, as well as seeing how some of the Castaways will react to this blindside. Come on back, Readers, to see how all of this plays out, or check out my other posts or my Facebook page for other fun Reese Speaks tidbits!
Until my next post, Readers!
Reese.
Reese Speaks 