If you didn't see my Survivor live journal for the past episode, go check it out! This past episode of Survivor marked the end of the Malcolm marathon. Yes, 25 year-old bartender and castaway Malcolm Freberg was voted out, after a total of 68 days in the Phillipines, with only a two week break in between seasons. America fell in love with him his first season, when he played a near-flawless game. He only had a few blunders, most notably dropping the ball in the final Immunity Challenge and not telling Denise he'd go with her to the final three when they were at the Final Four. Honestly, I thought he might have gotten a little robbed with the challenge. Previous to the ball challenge, the contestants competed in an exhausting Reward Challenge, which Jeff Probst said would give the winner a significant advantage in the final Immunity Challenge. Malcolm won that challenge. And the way I looked at that was, why should he have to win the terribly exhausting Reward Challenge AND the endurance challenge? It didn't make a lot of sense. Maybe they thought it would make better television and they needed a way to fill up the two hour time slot, but I would have rather seen them have a final two in the Final Tribal Council than do this. I felt like Malcolm might have been robbed.
Anyway, fast forward two to three weeks later and Malcolm's out playing Survivor again. Before the season started, I looked at the cast and thought he could very well be voted out first. Keep in mind, his season didn't air until months after they filmed his second season. No one knew who he was or saw him play. They started using the same location and shooting the seasons back-to-back for seasons Survivor Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains (19 and 20). Before that, there was a bigger gap in between filming the seasons and if someone was coming back from the season before, the other contestants would get to see at least 3-6 episodes of that person's original season. While it may not be ideal, and you may not know a lot about that person, you at least had seen their face before. Maybe that person goes on to do something big at the merge, but for the most part, you know what you're getting. The Survivors to play this way were Rupert Boneham (Pearl Islands), Amanda Kimmel and James Clement (China). Those three were all eventual members of the Heroes tribe in Heroes vs. Villains, so really there was nothing that wasn't too untrustworthy about them.
But then we got our first player to play back-to-back seasons with the luxury of having no one see anything they did. And that was the despicable villain Russell Hantz. Russell did terrible things on his first season, lying and telling everyone on his tribe that his house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and that his dog was killed as a result. He made up a whole disgusting story about that, and that was a disgusting thing to do. And then he went to the camera in his confessional and laughed it off and said it was all a story to gain sympathy. Right there, if anyone had seen that, Russell would be voted off first in Heroes vs. Villains. But it didn't stop there. Russell poured out his tribe mates water and even burned his tribe mate Jaison's sock. Russell was cancer to his tribe and they had no idea. I don't want to talk too much more about Russell, because this summer I would like to write more about all of this, and maybe even rank my top 20 players of all-time. But let's stay on topic. Russell did all that, and then he did it all again. He had such a huge advantage that no one saw him sabotage his tribe and in all-star seasons, the biggest threats end up being the biggest targets and he was able to fly under the radar while he did whatever he wanted.
I figured that any Survivor player that watched Russell, would be extremely cautious of playing with Malcolm. If I was out there and I was Cochran or someone, I would immediately look at Malcolm and think or ask, "What did you do?" Basically, why are you here? He clearly doesn't look like one of the crazier personalities on the tribe like some of the others that were brought back, so he was either an Ozzy or Colby-type player, or a Russell. So I feared for Malcolm. I didn't know how far he could go. Whether he was at an advantage or a disadvantage really is unclear. We don't know what conversations took place on the beach. He didn't know anyone out there, when I assume all the others had met one another at different Survivor charity and viewing events.
At the beginning of the season I even had an idea. I thought what if the producers had put Malcolm on the Fans tribe? Because technically he is a die hard fan of the show, and he isn't a Favorite yet because they haven't watched him, so the fans couldn't call him a favorite. Maybe that would have given him a better shot, and it would eliminate the Russell Hantz target. He could be an undercover returning player. He could keep it a secret or maybe use it in anyway he could. One of the big problems I had with the beginning of the season was how boring the Fans were and how the Favorites were on a different beach. I would have loved to see Malcolm over on the Fans beach, he would have kept things very entertaining. Wouldn't it be interesting to have an undercover returning player on a season? I some what got this idea from Rob Cesternino, who suggested on his ten year Survivor: The Amazon reunion that he had this idea for a season called "Survivor: Undercover Butch" where his former tribe mate Butch Lockley would return as just that- an undercover returning player. Maybe Malcolm would have kept the Fans tribe more competitive in the early stages, we don't know. And the other thing to gain would be the fact that it would open up another spot for another returning player that was snubbed from the list like Stephen Fischbach (Survivor: Tocantins) or John Fincher (Survivor: Samoa).
Nevertheless, Malcolm brought a lot of entertainment and a lot of drama to this season. In the later stages of the pre-merge game, he started planning his big move he would make at the merge. The move was pretty close to happening (according to what we saw on our TV's), if it weren't for a silly move by Corinne, we could be calling Malcolm Freberg the winner of Survivor: Caramoan. We don't know. But Malcolm played a very aggressive game. Which I respect. I have so much more respect for those that make big moves and shake things up than those that just go with the flow and coast to the end like Sophie Clarke. And I have even less respect for those that allow themselves to get picked off one-by-one instead of trying to shake things up. So if Malcolm was really on the bottom, I'm glad he tried to make big moves.
However, I do think Malcolm played the game too aggressively. After Corinne got blindsided, I think he could have made things up and stayed with Stealth R us and waited. He had an idol with him and I think he could have tried to flip later. Playing with the strong guys just makes people want to get rid of them more. Their only hope to all play together is if they can get a majority, which is hard to do when there aren't a majority of strong, fit guys out there. However a couple of big moves he made were close to paying off. If it weren't for the fact that he was in an alliance with one of the dumbest people to ever play the game (*cough* *cough* Eddie), he might have been able to blindside Andrea a couple weeks ago. Last week I talked all about his move with the two idols, and I still think it would have been better for him to keep his second one or do something differently. Malcolm attributes some of his gameplay to his exhaustion from playing the game for a close to 70 days with only a short break. I don't doubt that.
So now let's talk a little more about the episode and what stuck out to me. It's always fun to watch the Survivor auction unfold. Malcolm got lucky and almost lost a chance at getting a clue to the idol. However the more foolish gameplay came from Eddie, who had money and didn't try to purchase a significant advantage in the Immunity Challenge, which Cochran wisely purchased to keep the bros from getting Immunity, and he did just that. Reynold was also foolish to waste his money on pizza, but they might not have known that there was another help coming since they had already given the help to the idol. But Eddie had money, and he could have bought it and he made a huge blunder by not. Maybe it's because of his narcissism he thinks he can win it without any help, but historically, whoever gets the help wins the challenge because it is such a huge advantage. So in essence, Cochran was buying Immunity. The sad moment of the auction was when Brenda was breaking down throughout and then she finally bought something and it turned out to be pig brains. Poor Brenda. Andrea found herself in a no-win situation when she won pasta and was given the choice to trade it for rice and beans for everyone. This is obviously a no-brainer. You lose your food and if you choose to keep it, everyone will be outrageously mad at you. If you do trade it, people will say thanks but no one will remember it in a day, or more importantly, on Day 39 when you need jury votes. So really no choice for Andrea, and she made the obvious hard but right decision.
By far the best gameplay in the episode came from Andrea. When she knew Malcolm was looking for the idol, she followed him and sat there and watched him, which kept him from looking for it. Cochran came with at first but left to go to the bathroom and never came back. Andrea did a great job of waiting him out and keeping him from finding the idol. Malcolm said they were there for about 45 minutes before calling it quits. If he went to go look for the idol again, the same thing would happen. I don't think we've ever seen this really. Last week they were looking for the idol and Malcolm was there, but that was different. This was a stakeout, and it worked perfectly for Andrea.
The big decision in this episode came from Erik and Sherri, who could have flipped and voted out Andrea, which would ultimately determine the outcome of the season. Both of them stuck to the plan, which I think was the right call. For an alliance that calls themselves "The Three Amigos", you have no chance of cracking the final three or winning Immunity against them. Better to wait things out with Stealth and then make a move. Smart decision here.
Another big thing that has been debated over recent weeks is if Erik is playing a good game, or if he's playing a game at all. I'm not sure if he has been, but he's put himself in a good spot now because he's under the radar and letting the other people take themselves out. It's kinda like the way I used to play Super Smash Brothers, where we would use Nintendo characters to try to outlast each other in a battle game. I tried to stand off to the side and let everyone put a ton of damage on each other, instead of myself being the one that was the killer that would get me more damaged and make me a bigger target. Instead I just waited until I was at the end and then I made my move. And maybe that's what Erik is doing. If he gets to the end with these Favorites, he could very well go on a big Immunity run. Erik's got a shot to win. I hope he continues to get more airtime because he is a funny and good character.
As of right now, I think Cochran's still in the best position. Andrea's been playing it great, but unlike Cochran, she's been getting targeted a lot and she could eventually get blindsided. Something else I want to talk about is how there has been some hate from people about Dawn lately. Dawn is supposedly one of the nicest people to ever go on the show, but people are mad about her crying. But like when you're out on an island for 39 days, deprived of sleep and food, you aren't acting like yourself. I can't imagine what it must be like to also be a mother of seven and be away from all your kids for that long. Brenda started to breakdown in this episode, but it was a result of what happened to Phillip the night before and it displayed her will and determination to win the game.
Right now I am really liking this season. Four crazy episodes in a row that left you unsure of what would happen at the last second. Malcolm is now gone though, so we will see how much more drama there will be, but I think it will still be a really good final six or final five, because I think this alliance is doing all the decision-making together and there isn't one clear head that is in charge of it all.
One last thought on Malcolm. I don't think this is the last we will see of him on the show. As long as the show stays on the air, we will see him again. And if he has a few more years of life experience, he could really help himself out and become the next Boston Rob. While he plays the game very differently from Rob, both played the game very aggressively their first times and had some bad luck, and with time and age, I think Malcolm could win the game just like Rob did. One other tough thing for Malcolm was that he didn't get to see his season air, so he didn't know how he was being perceived or he didn't get to watch any of his game tape to see what he could improve on, but again, I don't think this is the last we will see of him on the show. Malcolm is proof that is much better for the show to take people that apply that are passionate fans of the show than for them to recruit boring, bland, and poor strategic players like Julia from random bars in California. Anyway, this is getting long so this is where I should wrap things up.
Thank you to everyone for reading and listening to me air out all my thoughts on this episode. There might be some little things I didn't get to but I tried to cover all the important stuff as precise as I could, and it still ended up being this long. Looking forward to the next episode. Let me hear your thoughts though. What did you think of Malcolm's game? Will we see him on again? What did you think of Erik and Sherri's decisions not to flip? Who do you think is in the best position to win? Let me hear your thoughts on the Facebook fan page, on Twitter @vellvita7, or in the comments below. Hope you're having a good Monday!
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