Survivor Caramoan Finale and Reunion Show Discussion Thread
WOW, What a season. Cochran becomes just the third unanamous winner ever. At the beginning of the season, I do not think I would have saw this coming. I think Dawn took some heat from angry jury members that was not deserved, but seriously she played far better than a shut-out. More on this later, here is my recap.
So we start off and Erik is sittign down. I thought he was fine, but he says he is dizzy and it seems he passed out. Probst and team medical show up. Eddie is actually calming and good at talking Erik into being relaxed. I tip my hat to Eddie and his EMT skills. Anyway, after the doc checks on the low BP, they pull Erik. WHAT?? Day 38 and he gets pulled. Come on, pump him full of fluid and let him go for 2 more days. He will be fine. Oh well, the doc pulls him and we say good-bye to Erik. I think he was one of th eonly ones that could have beat cochran, maybe, certainly gotten a vote or two. Cochran quickly shows how good a player he is and makes deal with Erik to go to the final 3 together. It might not be worth much, but at least its a better chance to get him in there than doing nothing.
The RC is next, and it clearly was supposed to be the IC to get from 5 to 4, btu with Erik out, they turn it into a RC with an advantage reward. This is HUGE. If Eddie can win this and get an advantage in the final IC, he can win this game. Its a twist on the house of cards but instead of going up a ladder, they have to hold a plate on a pulley steady while building the card tower. After everyone loses at least one tower, it comes down to Sherri and Cochran. I start to wonder if maybe Sherri is going to win an IC. But in the end it is Cochran.
Cochran has to pick between Dawn and Eddie, but I think it was clever editing and Eddie was never in the picture. He was just thinking out loud ofr the cameras. Dawn continues to cry and get paranoid. Cochran tells her she is fine, but he is clearly annoyed with her, like most people are. Again, this is why he MUST bring her.
They bring back the "fallen survivors" torch tour. I like this part. I liek seeing all the people I forgot. The final IC was a bit of a let-down. It was an "untie the knots to get eh bags of puzzle pieces" game. Cochran's advantqage was no knots, which essentially let him get an entire bag up on the field. Eventually its all working ont he puzzle with Cochran having an extra 3 minutes to study it but not really having done anything. I think the extra time let him understand how to do it, because once he got a few pieces he started to role. He wins his fourth individual challange. Go Cochran.
The last tribal before the jury was good. Eddie and Dawn both try to show why they shoudl go to the finals. Cochran and Sherri both vote to oust Eddie and its Cochran Dawn and the woman who has no chance at a single vote. They waste time with Sherri asking the definition of a pawn and Cochran insults her right to her face. He knows this game is his. One thing I was pissed about, they did not burn the shelter. I wonder if there was some local rule against it.
THE FINAL TRIBAL. It was a good one, but not great. It was clear 10 seconds in that this was Cochrans. They all hated Dawn. Sherri's openign speech was odd about how she is a good business woman. Cochran shows in his speech why he won. He gets them all to laugh while saying that he lied and backstabbed them all, but did it to take out threats before they could get him.
Malcolm is the first to ignore Sherri. He warns Dawn to own her game and not play the sympathy card. He asks what Cochran had that he didn't have and Cochran says it was his insecurity, which seems to go over well with the jury.
Eddie wants Sherri to admit she was carried and she claims she was not, getting a laugh from the jury. Eddie is the first to go at Dawn for her meltdowns. This annoys me. Crying is not a sign of weakness. It is how she dealt with this place. He asks cochran is they will hang out at a bar together and Cochran tells Eddie they will hang out but that cochran he will have two hot women with him.
Phillip is as nutty as ever. He kicks out Sherri from his dumb group. Phillip is voting for Cochran.
Erik seems to first concentrate on Dawn for blindsiding Brenda, but it is clear it was because he was not in on it. Erik then goes after Sherri for doing little in the game. Sherri yells at Erik and tells him to sit down and shut up. It was fun to see her get mad.
Michael seems to be the best juror. He gives Dawn a chance to defend herself. He aks the best questions and gets Cochran and Dawn fighting a bit.
Reynold accuses Dawn of being fake. I don't see it, but whatever sore loser. Dawn says he is humorous, but also chauvinistic and uses disgusting language. She says she kicked his ass. It seemed like a pointless exchange.
Andrea wants to know what animal Cochran would be. Cochran chooses chameleon. Kind of dumb to me. Then Andrea says she would have played like Dawn. I thought her and Michael were going for Dawn.
Brenda comes out and is clearly hurt by what Dawn did. She first asks Cochran he blindsided her after she allowed him to be with his family. Cochran says she was his biggest threat in his game. I think he answered it well. Now Brenda is just mean to Dawn and forces her take out her retainer and show her gap in her teeth. It was just silly.
So they go to LA and Cochran wins in a sweep. No votes for Dawn. WOW. I think he played a very good game and took out all the people who would have beaten him.
The reunion show was strange. They did not have the pre-jury on the stage. Brandon Hantz was noticably absent, which I was glad about. He was crazy. My only fear is that next year's Bllod vs Water thing will not involve the Hantz family. I am so DONE with them. If they are leaving tomorrow to film, it is possible all of the Hantz famiy are already in route to shoot the next season. Please do not let this be the case.
I LOVED seeing Rudy. That guy is such a funny character. He is 85 and still looks great. I bet he could still do survivor. Rob looked good and I will totally read his book.
anyway, it was a great season. I loved the surprises and never would have thought after week 1 or 2 that this would be the finale. Thanks all for enjoying the season with me and "see" you in the fall.
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The beginning of the season was pretty rocky, but the last half turned out to be great. I'm happy that Cochran won, he played a flawless game. I wonder what kind of things he is interested in writing about. I like his self deprecating sense of humor, so I bet he'd be a good writer.
I never did see Eddie as any threat, unless they took him to FTC on purpose. He was pretty lame at challenges and I can't recall if he won any at all. People kept saying "If Eddie wins the next 2 challenges he'll make it to the end and could get enough votes." Physically it seemed like he should be able to win, but couldn't pull it off. (There was a tweet from Malcolm posted somewhere, that the 'whole cast sent up a cheer when Eddie finally got his first puzzle piece' in the last challenge. That's pretty sad!) It's like he really didn't get how to play the game and was just out there having a great time, which is ok I guess.
I was relieved that Dawn didn't get anything. I don't know why I felt she was so unlikeable. All of the waterworks and drama did not endear her to me at all, but I think it was more than that. She was definitely not to be trusted, and I think we discussed that early in the season--anyone that confided in her got back-stabbed right away when she ran back to tell Cochran. But figuring out who you can trust is a basic part of the game, and too many people trusted her too easily, so I can't blame her for that part of it. Maybe she was just too needy and used the others for support when she wanted it, and then was able to blindside them later.
I didn't like the reunion show. Like several of the last ones, too much time is wasted with 'extraneous' people in the audience. What the heck did they need to drag out Rudy and Hatch for???? That was crap imo! And the little fan girl to try to talk about Malcolm? Geez, who cares? Talk to the people that played the game. Yay for Malcolm getting the fan fave money, I'm sure he will be back.
Not sure how I feel about the next rumored cast. Why bring back people that have won already--if some of the rumors turn out to be true? They need to get back to all new people for awhile, and quit doing things like Redemption Isl. etc. Just play plain old Survivor. I guess I'll be watching in any case, unless a Hantz show up.
I enjoy reading everyone's comments on the shows, even if I don't comment much. 
