So this past episode of Survivor was a very different one. We had a double vote-off night. We saw two Immunity Challenges and two Tribal Councils. When I found out that it was going to be a double-boot week, I instantly assumed that we could be seeing both of the remaining bros, Reynold and Eddie being voted off. It made perfect sense too. If we were going to see two boring back-to-back episodes of the amigos getting picked off, why not just put it into one episode and get it done with so we can move on to the bigger strategy? The previous week's preview hinted that the alliance was going to turn on itself, but when can you really trust the previews? They were calling it the beginning of the end for their alliance, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to vote each other out in the episode. It could mean that they alliance is starting to break apart, but it isn't going to end until the following week. Well, I was wrong. Reynold Toepfer and Andrea Boehlke were voted out and became the latest members of the jury.
Reynold's vote off was a little more predictable. You didn't want to leave him in the game because he was a great challenge competitor and might get some votes if he gets to the final three. Andrea wanted Brenda blindsided at that time, but instead they decided to get Reynold out. So there's not a lot to talk about from the first half of the show. Except for the fact that Andrea got the Hidden Immunity Idol.
So Andrea wins the Immunity Challenge, and also gets a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. She made a good call by telling her entire alliance where it was. So they all go looking for it together. This is where Reynold and Eddie made a mistake. If they were paying any attention to what happened last week, which was only about a day or two for them, they should have followed what Andrea did to Malcolm when he got the clue to the idol. Andrea staked out Malcolm and prevented him from getting the idol. Now would Reynold and Eddie have kept them from looking for the idol? No. However they could have followed them out there and looked for it where they were looking and maybe they could have found it. Poor thinking and planning on their part. Must have been tough not to have Malcolm out there to coach them.
Anyway, so Andrea and her alliance go out to look for the idol. Something interesting happens. They know the idol is buried in the ground, and Erik says something funny, saying "I come from a family of diggers." He is also a former ice cream scooper. Is ice cream scooping a form of digging? Does he have grave diggers in his family or are they all just good at digging up buried treasure? I found this funny. Erik's always got good little lines like that one for the camera, and I'm glad we're finally hearing from him more. So Erik ends up getting the idol, and he sort of hands the idol to Andrea. Maybe he meant to hand it to her just to show her and then she kept it, or maybe they told Andrea if they found it they would let her hold on to it because she had the clue and share it with them all, I don't know. However Erik didn't want to have the idol with everyone knowing he had it as he knew that would put a huge target on his back. So I think he did a good job of just letting it go. Did Andrea just rob it from him? No, she did not. And the second Erik handed it to her, I knew we were going to be hearing plenty of jokes about Erik giving up Immunity again, which is what led to his downfall the first time he played. But this wasn't a bad move.
So anyway, we said goodbye to Reynold, who has been by far the most interesting and entertaining Fan. He was recruited, so he didn't know a ton about the game however he did display a lot of enthusiasm and passion and I could see him going home now and wanting to buy a bunch of seasons and load up on knowledge of the show. Based on the amount of airtime we saw of him, I have reason to think that we will see Reynold on the show again, which is really the best thing that can come out of going on a Fans vs. Favorites season. Realistically, what I have been saying all season is that the Fans stand no shot. And they don't. Sherri and Eddie are the only fans left and neither of them are going to win this game. Which actually leads me to another little topic. But yes, we will miss Reynold.
Eddie might just be the dumbest player we've ever seen on the show. His head has never been in this game. Minutes in to the endurance Immunity Challenge, when he was down in numbers, he jumped off for donuts and gave up Immunity. Who does that? Eddie's had a lot of moments like this over the course of the season. Being a part of the cool kids alliance, his comments on the food challenge, revealing his alliance's plans to vote out Andrea to Andrea, not spending any money or bidding on an advantage in Immunity Challenge at the Survivor Auction, the list goes on. Eddie could be the dumbest player ever.
After the Reynold vote, Andrea keeps pushing the Brenda blindside. Cochran seems to be okay with that, but then he hears her say "or we could blindside Dawn first?" and that sent Cochran in to a panic. He was starting to realize that Andrea in a great player and if he wants to win he needs to get her out. If he lost Dawn then he would be in trouble himself, and if he was in the final three with Andrea, he might not win. So really, it started looking like Andrea was going home if she didn't play her idol. Erik won Immunity and Andrea kept hanging out with Eddie and insisting that she could also get his vote. This was another thing that worried the Favorites, knowing that she could control Eddie and get him to do whatever she wanted him to do. Eddie might have been the ultimate undoing of her game, as she didn't play her idol and was sent to Ponderosa. But really this all ended up coming down to a decision from Erik. Yes, Erik has had to decide many critical votes, and he says he's loving it because he feels that he is in control. Cochran had his alliance splitting the votes, three for Andrea, two for Eddie, and Erik was supposed to vote for Andrea. Erik could however swing over to the vote with Eddie and Andrea and perhaps create a new final three alliance. This would be a big move that could help him get more respect, but at the same time it could tick off three of his allies if they were voting for him on the jury. I think it would have been a better move to go with Eddie and Andrea for him. They would have three of six moving forward, and Sherri wouldn't want there to be a tie so she could easily flip over and they could take out Cochran and Dawn. Instead, the person I picked to win in the preseason is now out.
As for Cochran, getting Andrea out was huge. On paper it was a great move. However one thing I do worry about for him is now that she is gone, and she was the clear biggest threat, could Cochran now be in trouble? He got everyone to go and eliminate the biggest threat, so now will the other players see him as the biggest threat and take him out next? Before he had Andrea to take all the heat off of him but now could he be in trouble and fall victim to a blindside? It's very possible. It would make a lot of sense for Brenda, Erik, Sherri, and Eddie to make their game-changing moves and form a new final four and take out Cochran and Dawn. It could happen, but I wouldn't put my money on it. Cochran's in a great position right now moving forward.
So now we are really getting down to the end of the season. Only one more Wednesday night episode left and then Sunday is the finale! I can't believe this season is almost over. The last five episodes have been great, and while it looks like Cochran is going to win, I have no idea who is getting voted out next week. And that should mean we are in for another good episode. This has been a great season and I am looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. I'm a little sad to see it come to an end, just as I am to say goodbye to these good characters every week. Sad that we are going to have to "survive" four months of no Survivor in the summer. It's been fun writing about it each week and I'll miss it just as I'll miss the show. So I think I pretty much covered every major plot point in this episode, so that should just about wrap up this recap blog. Thank you to everyone for reading, and let me hear your thoughts on Twitter @vellvita7, Facebook, or in the comments below. Thanks!
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