Caramoan Episode 2: Revenge Of The Nerds

This is not a sane man

Dawn tries to reassure Brandon about being out of the loop, but he's really not happy as he really liked Francesca and thought voting her out first again was extremely harsh. The two get into it a bit and Dawn is left crying. Brandon tells Erik he's thinking of going out Russell Hantz style...."With a bang!"


Shamar is laying in the shelter to conserve his energy. Which is a diplomatic way of saying lazy. Allie wants him gone first for sure. Sherri has other ideas though and is pulling him into the counteralliance of six, which he appears to be up for. Sherri's keeping Shamar close and intends to drag him through the game because he's her Phillip.

Brandon confesses to Cochran that he was thinking of sabotaging the camp last night, but decided against it. The mood swings and unpredictability to Brandon unnerves Cochran. Then the real Phillip approaches and Brandon asks him if he can be trusted enough to be let in on the vote from now on. Phillip refuses his request and condescendingly refers to him as "mid-management". He then calls Brandon "crazy" in a confessional, knowing the irony full well. This has caused Brandon to talk with the other Favorites about getting rid of Phillip before he becomes too powerful. Phillip may think he's Boston Rob, but he's not. He can't even stop his tribe's banner from falling down.

It's time to get to the immunity challenge and the Fans, especially Michael, have a big reaction to seeing Francesca has gone first again. The challenge involves ferrying contestants across on a small raft, where they will dive down and remove poles from a cage to release rings.

Bikal sail into the lead

The Fans send Sherri, Julia and Hope out on their raft, whereas Andrea, Brenda and Erik do it for the Favorites. Sherri is left to pull out all the poles on her own, which does not prove as effective as the Favorites' rotation strategy. With the Favorites having a huge lead going into the ring toss, it comes down to Malcolm vs Reynold, once again. Michael takes over for the Fans, as does Phillip for the Favorites, who lands the winning ring.

The Favorites are very happy with their victory and Phillip in particular is in a jolly mood, introducing his new branch of Stealth R Us to the camera. Malcolm appears to be going along with it on the surface, but says it's going to get annoying if he has to deal with Phillip for the whole game.

The Specialist has found his loyal soldier

So the Fans are voting someone out tonight, and there's no doubt in Reynold's mind who that should be. As the group debrief about their lack of strategy in the challenge, Reynold decides to call out Shamar and confirm that he's voting for him tonight.

Matt can't stand Shamar and tells the cool kids he wants him out. Still holding a grudge from the shelter building incident, perhaps? He points out they can vote Shamar out to placate the rest of the group and still have the numbers advantage over them, but Sherri is very insistent they stick with him. Laura has picked her target...Allie. And she did so because she's apparently the biggest strategic threat.

Beginner's luck

Reynold goes looking off in the jungle for an idol and by chance, manages to find it pretty quickly. He's excited about it, but is trying to suppress his glee because he wants to keep it to himself. However, Laura thinks she sees a bulge in Reynold's pocket and guesses that he has an idol. I'm guessing it won't stay secret for long.

At tribal council, Jeff singles out the cool kids alliance and asks Matt if it concerns him, but he says he doesn't. Cool kids breathe a sigh of relief. Laura takes this opportunity to out Reynold as having the idol. She plays it sly at first, but Jeff gets it out of her. So Reynold shows it to the whole group. He claims he's playing it tonight, but find me even one person who believes that.

Weren't we supposed to be running the show?

The votes come in. Will it be unanimous for Shamar like Reynold wants? Nope, with six votes, Allie is voted out and the douchebag is spared. She's been a huge Survivor fan half her life so she's mortified to go out so early, but this is one season where people are playing hard right from the start. So now that the cool kids have been successfully neutralised, will the fans be able to get it together? With this amount of friction, don't count on it.

STAR OF THE WEEK: LAURA ALEXANDER

She sucks at challenges, but the strategic game is definitely Laura's forte. She masterminds the boot of a fellow blonde and her sharp eyes and sharp mind managed to uncover a tribemate's secret. Definitely emerging as one of the Fans to watch.