Episode Report Card Kim: B | 1 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT The Specialist
By Kim | Season 26 | Episode 2 | Aired on 02.20.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.After Tribal, Dawn tries to explain to Brandon why she voted Francesca out, but Brandon is too angry to talk about it and goes off on Dawn verbally, causing her to cry (surprise!). Brandon claims he's going to go Full Hantz. Ugh.
Laura recruits Shamar to her alliance, which is basically everyone on the Fans tribe except the two cool kids couples. Shamar has done little but lie around in the shade, on purpose.
The challenge is a combined Reward/Immunity and it involves taking a raft out into the water, diving under to pull out bamboo sticks that will release rings, then taking the rings back to shore where teammates will try to toss them onto posts to win immunity and a fishing kit. The Fans really suck at pulling out sticks; they don't do a good job getting in and out of the water and can't seem to stay underwater long enough to pull the sticks. The Favorites have two out of three posts ringed before the Fans even start tossing. The Fans make a good run at the end, but Phillip and Malcolm combine to be the best ring tossers ever for the Favorites and Brandon celebrates a little too hard.
Phillip continues his reign of weirdness. I can't even, but it's kind of hilarious.
The scrambling begins at the Fans' camp when Reynold confronts Shamar about his laziness around camp. Shamar's method of arguing is maybe my least favorite ever: he just repeats the same phrase over and over again -- loudly -- and then yells to shut up. He's probably winning a lot of fans with that attitude.
Reynold finds an Immunity Idol with, like, two seconds of searching. Great job with that hiding job, producers. Laura totally sees Reynold putting it in his pocket. Michael and Matt continue to be the swing votes and don't give much indication how they will be voting.
At Tribal Council, Shamar complains about the lack of leadership and Michael agrees. Laura outs Reynold as the holder of the Idol and he admits it. In the end, Matt and Michael go with the non-couples alliance and they vote out Allie. Reynold doesn't play the Idol, but the couples alliance (which is now the couple plus one alliance) is totally gobsmacked that not everyone was on their side.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!It's Night 3 and the Favorites just voted Francesca out. They return to camp, and Dawn tries to explain her vote to Brandon, since Brandon thought they were voting Andrea out. Dawn barely gets a word out before Brandon starts berating her. Here's what I don't get: Brandon was trying to vote out Andrea. How does he have the moral high ground here? It's not like Dawn tried to vote Francesca and Brandon stood up and refused to vote for anyone. He's just mad that he wasn't part of the alliance, but he's masking it as anger that they voted out a "good person." I'm already tired of Brandon and his immaturity and it's been two episodes. Dawn tries to have a reasoned conversation with an idiot, which is impossible. Brandon promises Dawn that she'll still lose, and Dawn doesn't mention that Brandon is on the losing side by numbers. I don't know if Brandon is ignoring that fact or if he hasn't figured it out yet. Dawn walks away, which is smart, but she also lets it get to her, which is dumb, and she starts crying AS USUAL. Because Brandon was MEAN. She needs to toughen up.
Brandon tells Erik that he's feeling "revengeful," which isn't a word. He says that he's thinking of "going Russell Hantz style" on his tribe. You guys, he is crazy. He has serious crazy eyes. Also, I'm sorry that he's only five feet tall, but he needs to stop overcompensating for that. Anyway, he promises the camera that he's going to play "dirty to the core" and "go out with a bang." He does his interviews like he's a professional wrestler doing a promo. It's annoying. If I wanted to watch wrestling, I would. I like to watch smart people outmaneuver one another with smarts and savvy, and Brandon is incapable of that. I guess every season needs a few dupes, but he's not even interesting.
The next morning, in the Fans camp, people are doing whatever people do when they're not at challenges: chopping wood, getting water, gathering kindling. Except for Shamar, who is just lying in the shade, looking around at all the worker bees. He interviews that he's "conserving energy." Look, I'm all for not working during the hottest part of the day. But how much energy does it take to wander around and pick up a few sticks? Or at least pretend to tend the fire? In these early days, people are just looking for an excuse to vote you out. Why give it to them? He interviews that he's been to Iraq twice, so he knows all about sitting in the shade and wasting time, and he thinks that once people see he doesn't care about the game, they won't consider him a threat. I...guess? It depends on whether people want to get rid of threats now or get rid of dead weight first. Laura and Allie talk about how Shamar is super lazy and they need to vote him off first. So it's at least on the table.