After Tribal-Gota
Most of the tribe feels good about the decision to get rid of Laura. Sherri is sad because Laura was like a daughter. She knew she had to vote her out because everyone else was voting that way. The Idol was flushed, so Reynold is now vulnerable again. Michael is glad Reynold doesn't have the idol because he is good at challenges, he makes fire, he does everything.
Bikal
Brandon is missing his wife and kids. He thinks he's being selfish by being there, so he volunteers for them to vote him out of the game. Malcolm realizes the repercussions and that it doesn't just affect Brandon and his family, it affects their tribe. Brandon says he almost lit the shelter on fire and peed on the rice, but decided not to. He said "I'm sorry for the thought". Andrea, Corinne and Cochran just laugh it off in front of him, but see that he is out of control. He's very unstable right now, they don't know what he's going to do. The next day, he says he doesn't want to leave, and his perspective has changed. He started out being selfish, now he's playing for his family. "I'm freaking myself out. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Reward Challenge-Bbq
This challenge is a familiar one where they throw coconuts into a net. Andrea, Dawn, Erik sit out for Bikal.
Phillip and Brandon hold the net for Bikal and Michael and Matt hold the net for Gota.
Phillip makes some sort of war cry right as Sherri goes to throw and he totally messed with her concentration. He did it again, with the same effect. She missed horribly, and Probst said she was worthless in this challenge.
Reynold was killing it again. i don't know if he missed any. It was pretty neck and neck, but Brandon's net was getting filled quite quickly and he was really struggling and his legs were starting to slide. He finally couldn't hold it any more and he was out. Matt quickly dropped out next, so it was Phillip vs. Michael.
Phillip continued his trash talking: "This is an all day thing baby."
Michael is turning all shades of red! He is shaking uncontrollably! He was sweating and shaking so bad! And IPhilip pulls it out again!!! Old man comes through! He is absolutely killing these challenges for the Favorites.
Gota
They thought this could be a turning point for the tribe, but they fell short. Sherri is ticked because she voted off Laura, who was weak, and the muscle still lost the challenge. Every single person is out looking for the Idol, because they think it's been rehidden. Michael says "As long as Reynold doesn't find it." Next scene: Reynold finds it!!! He didn't waste any time! He's thinking smartly this time and knows he can't run his mouth, and he's just going to sit back and be strategic. He then tells Eddie that he found the Idol. I'm not sure that was the smartest move, because we saw what happened the last time.
The next couple of days, the tribe is really feeling the effects of the rain. It rained for 48 hours straight. They are all wrinkly. Matt: "I wish something good could happen to our tribe." Someone from the shelter (I think it was Matt) yells: "I want my mommy!"
Bikal
Brandon is looking kind of depressed at camp. He's kind of just staring off into the distance. Everyone's talking and he's just staring. Everyone was saying how good Phillip did in the challenge and Phillip was kind of taking the credit (and rightly so...he was the last one holding the net). It was just enough to push Brandon over the edge. So he decides he's going to go off on him. He starts off slowly and calmly, and he starts raising his voice and it all goes downhill from there. There were so many good exchanges back and forth, that it was hard to keep up with, but here's some of the good ones:
Brandon: "How bout you let someone else have an opinion."
Phillip: "I'm not gonna have some punk tell me to shut up. He just doesn't know." "If he ever came at me, he's gonna see a different side of me." "You don't slap the gift horse."
Brandon: "What gives you like the leadership to say 'hey he deserves to be here', don't I make that decision?" "I've always been annoyed with Phillip, but I've listened to him, I've kissed his butt. I have to keep myself under control but that might be a really tough thing to do."
Phillip: "In my book, you're persona non grata" "First opportunity, I have to get him out of the game, he will go. I'm not gonna put up with it any more."
And with that, they part ways amicably, on the outside, but on the inside they're both ready to rip each other's head off.
The next day...
Brandon: "Who's the only dude who can start the fire with a piece of flint. Brandon! I don't need some 54 year old punk b**** telling me, 'don't bite the hand that feeds you'. He doesn't feed me! I'm a Hantz! I feed me!."
Phillip considers needing to throw the challenge because "the good outweighs the bad". He wants to go, they want him to go...it seems like this is the only way.
Brandon sees Phillip and Andrea talking and he asks her if Phillip wants to throw the challenge. She talks around the issue, but Brandon's not buying it. He confronts Phillip again because he thought they worked things out yesterday.
Brandon: "Can you drop the Stealth R Us? It's like playing with a child. It's demeaning man. I'm not "Conquerer" and nobody in there is "Exterminator" and "Exterior" (um...that person doesn't exist). Like it's really bull sh**.
Phillip: "Actually it's a lot of fun for us."
Brandon: "It's not. Nobody likes it. Nobody likes their f****** name."
Phillip: "Well, great, thanks for sharing that."
Brandon: "Everybody actually doesn't like you."
Phillip: "Guess what, then they'll vote me out. They'll vote me out before they vote you out."
He's furious...he starts dumping the rice, knocking over everything! Everyone is in shock, some are trying to stop him, some are trying to save some of the rice and some of them just stand there stunned. He wanted to give them a reason to vote them out, and I'd say he succeeded in doing that.
Brandon: I'm the author of my fate buddy. Now vote me out b****". He's obviously lost what marbles he had.
They try to decide if it's even worth having a challenge...why not just go to Tribal. While it seems like the only thing to do, one wonders...any tribe that throws a challenge ends up regretting it. This is JUST what Gota needs to gain momentum. They've been so defeated and Bikal has been so strong. But now, their weak link (Brandon) is going to break their chain and they could lose everything that they have worked so hard for and totally swing the other way. We've seen it happen time and time again. If it doesn't happen next week, it will be the week before.
Immunity Challenge/Tribal Council
First of all, when the tribes come to their mats, it's very obvious this is not going to be like any other challenge, because Jeff addresses Reynold and starts asking some questions. This NEVER happens. There is never any discussion like this before a challenge.
He asks Reynold how the rain has affected them. He talks about the Favorite tribe and how they are having so much luck and everything is going their way. Jeff then asks Brandon how he's doing. Of course, Brandon is not going to hold anything back, so he asks Jeff for permission to address the other tribe. OK, people, we're in for the performance of a lifetime. This moment will forever live in Survivor infamy...
He tells the Gota tribe that they are going to have the opportunity to come back and be contenders in the game. He is their 2nd chance. He then proceeds to trash talk Phillip and throw him under the bus: "Phillip...please don't let this guy get to the end of the game." Corinne then says that she would like to speak on behalf of the tribe, and she says they are forfeiting the challenge. She makes a nice speech about wanting to take care of the discourse of the tribe in the appropriate setting.
Jeff calls Brandon over to him, to a neutral spot. Brandon tells the other tribe about Phillip's Stealth R Us. "Stop talking about yourself. Boston Rob took you to the end of the game. You didn't do anything." Wow...everyone is absolutely stunned, especially Reynold! His looks are priceless. Jeff tells Brandon that he seems a bit hostile. That's the understatement of the year! Jeff tries to calm him down and he has to kind of be a therapist, because at this point, who knows what this guy's gonna do.
Jeff asks Phillip for his input. He tries to speak and Brandon just mocks him. Then Andrea starts bawling. They are all a mess! For a tribe that was so together, they fell apart so quickly. This is definitely a momentum changer. They will be a mess with Brandon still there, but losing him will most definitely give a hit to their morale.
Brandon: "Just because you're 100 years old, doesn't mean you never made a mistake. I came and apologized to you."
Phillip: "Over and over again, you are one pathetic individual."
Brandon: "Shut your mouth."
Phillip: "You can't shut my mouth."
Brandon makes a move like he's going to go after Phillip. Jeff tells him to stay there, Phillip says "don't come over here." Jeff tells him he doesn't want things to get physical and Brandon tells Jeff "I'm doing this for you." What? Ha!
Jeff asks Brandon about being Russell's nephew and if "it's in the blood?" Brandon said he's starting to realize that "Us Hantzes, we speak our minds, and I'm proud of that."
Phillip says he has no idea where Brandon is getting all these ideas from. He said he never had any bad feelings about anything, and he doesn't know why Brandon thinks that he (Phillip) is running things (gee, I wonder how he could ever get that idea). He said it was all a figment of his imagination. Cue over-exagerated eye roll from Brandon.
Phillip: "You need to grow up."
Brandon: "You need to shut up."
Phillip then mentions the lack of respect Brandon shows to his elders. He says he disrespected Russell in the finale of his season and that he probably disrespects the aunt that is taking care of his children right now. Oh boy, that lit another fire under him! He said "don't bring my kids into this! I'm gonna come over there and knock you're f****** head off!" Jeff had to physically hold him back, because he was ready to lunge over there in a heartbeat. I wonder if there are any big security dudes on hand on the island in case this turned ugly. There's no way Jeff was going to be able to contain him if he decided he was going to go after Phillip. My guess is that there isn't...there's never been a need for it until now. This is unprecedented and they are most definitely in uncharted territory.
Jeff confirms with the Favorites that it is their wish to forfeit and go to Tribal, and they confirm. So, Erik is then told to hand over the immunity and Probst declares: "Easiest immunity ever won."
Probst then shocks everyone when he says "We are having tribal right now." No torches, no nothing. Right then and there in front of the Gota tribe. Probst asks Brandon who he is voting for. Without hesitation he says "PHILLIP". Probst then asks each member of Bikal and they all say "Brandon".
Probst: "6th person voted out of this game: Brandon Hantz"
Jeff tells Brandon that he should exit and go behind the challenge, so he can cool off. He said that he would come get him after a little bit. As he walks off, he tells Gota to "Kick their asses."
Gota exits and some of their comments were: "I'll take it." and "A win's a win". Exactly. Big game changer for them.
Brandon's exit interview: "My exit was nice. It was glorious. I showed them, I'm not just gonna keel over and die. If I'm going I'm going down in a battle, I'm gonna throw rocks in my army, I'm gonna go out Braveheart style. I don't regret none of that because I proved my point, I was the author of my elimination."
I have some thoughts about what just went down...
I had to take some time after watching this episode to truly process what happened. In 26 seasons, we've seen nothing like this. Even with 3 seasons of Russell, there has never been a performance like what Brandon gave. Everyone questioned whether or not Brandon was mentally stable enough to handle being on this show again, and the psychologists who evaluated him prior to the game obviously felt like he was. In his pre-game interviews, he said he was a changed man and that no one was going to break him. He said he knew exactly how to play the game this time...blah blah blah. Underneath all that, it was so obvious that he was a ticking time bomb. And if you put a ticking time bomb, in a confined space with an unstable firecracker, it's only a matter of time before there was an explosion. Well, Phillip was that firecracker and he popped, just one to many times, and Brandon exploded.
In all fairness to Phillip, he might be crazy, but throughout the entire ordeal, he remained calm and fairly level-headed. He didn't seem to go out of his way to antagonize Brandon. Brandon already had issues long before Stealth R Us, and that just pushed him over the edge.
I feel bad for Brandon. I feel like he must be bi-polar. He has such high highs and such low lows. One minute he is on cloud 9 and he's enjoying life and the next minute everyone is out to get him and he wants to destroy things and give up. Then he feels terrible about himself for feeling that way, and then he swings back up again. It's just a vicious cycle. And, who knows, maybe this was his intent all along: to change the way he was viewed on his original season, which was: afraid of girls and kind of weak. Now, he will have a reputation that reflects that of his uncle Russell. He seemed pretty proud of himself and how he left the game. But I bet you anything, that the next day or 2 after that he felt quite differently. He probably realizes that he embarrassed himself and his wife and kids by behaving like a child and throwing a violent temper tantrum. He may not have been a quitter, but he's about as close to that as you can get. It might actually be worse. He didn't have the guts to quit himself, he had to force everyone to do it for him.
Unfortunately for the Favorites, they were in a lose-lose situation. Everyone knows what a jinx it is to purposely throw a challenge just so you can get rid of someone. It ALWAYS backfires...ALWAYS. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it WILL backfire. It completely changes the momentum of the game. It no longer matters that Bikal had won every challenge except for 1. Gota now has the momentum and a huge morale boost. On the flip side, if Bikal had chosen to compete in the challenge, and let's say they win again. They are then stuck with Brandon (unless he quits). He's so unpredictable, who knows what he would do next. It would be nothing but negative for the tribe and he would make everyone miserable. So, lose-lose. There is no way that they could come out of this unscathed, and that's exactly what Brandon wanted.
So, what does Bikal do now? Well, they might not have a choice. The preview suggests a tribe flip or a merge. It's way too early for a merge, so it looks like the tribes will be mixed. This could be a good thing or a bad thing...only time will tell. They might be able to regroup with members who stay on the same team, or they could find themselves being swallowed up by Gota members who are ready to pick up the pieces of the crumbling Bikal alliances. Stealth R Us's leader, Phillip, The Specialist, was ready to get rid of one of their key members: Corinne, The Dominatrix. Even if the twist for next week isn't a tribe mix, there are still going to be some major issues for this tribe.
OK, I've rambled on for way too long, so let's end it there. Can't wait to see what next week holds.
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