Nothing But Air

S26E03

After Tribal Council, Shamar is really angry and I'm not exactly clear why? But he yells at Matt a lot. Reynold and Eddie realize they're screwed, but hope Shamar continues to piss people off so they get rid of him first. Shamar might beat them to it because he's thinking about quitting. He opens up to his tribe about his vulnerabilities and they convince him to stay -- was all this legit or gameplay?

Malcolm and Corinne have become buddies because they're the only people in their alliance who don't have a season mate (Phillip/Andrea and Cochran/Dawn). Together, they find the Hidden Immunity Idol. Later, Andrea decides that they need to ditch Corinne and pick up Brandon instead, because Corinne seems to be playing the game too hard.

Also, Phillip is still crazy and claims that he plays pick-up basketball against guys who are twice as tall as him (so, actual giants?) and he shoots the ball and gets "nothing but air" (so, an air ball?)

The Immunity Challenge involves the entire tribe climbing over a bamboo cage in the water and retrieving a heavy chest, then dragging it back to shore where they have to use a grappling hook to assemble a track and move the chest to a platform. The winning tribe gets immunity and comfort -- some chairs, pillows, blankets and a tarp.

The Fans lag behind at first, but get their cage door open first and seem to have a good system for dragging the chest through the water. The Favorites catch up near the beach and get their chest up on the track first. It comes down to the third piece of track and Eddie tries and tries to hook the track with the ring for the Fans, but can't do it. I don't know why he didn't let someone else try; he ended up being the goat. The Favorites win Immunity.

The Fans majority alliance decides to split the vote between Eddie and Hope in case one of them plays Reynold's Idol. They want Hope to leave because they need Reynold and Eddie's strength for challenges. Shamar takes matters into his own hands and tries to convince Hope to vote for Eddie so that he'll go home and she'll be saved. Julia finds out about Shamar's blabbing and Laura freaks out and decides they need to get rid of Shamar.

Everyone rags on Shamar during Tribal Council, but Laura and Julia actually stick to the original plan and vote for Eddie, resulting in a three-way tie between Hope, Shamar and Eddie. On the revote, the people who got votes can't vote again, so there go two of the votes against Shamar. Everyone but Reynold votes for Hope and she goes home.

Think you've got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games -- all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts.

The Fans return from voting out Allie and nervously talk about whether they should discuss what just happened. Matt interviews that he was especially concerned, since he and Michael had played both sides before the vote. Reynold confronts Matt and Michael and says that they need him to win challenges and he did intend to us his Idol to help the tribe as a whole, but now he doesn't trust any of them. That's such horseshit. I'm so sure he was going to selflessly give up his Idol to someone else. If that's true, he's an idiot. Reynold declares that now it's "Game on."

Unfortunately for him, Shamar walks up behind them as he says that and wonders aloud how they can claim that they weren't playing the game before, since the couples ganged together and tried to vote him out. Eddie tries to claim that the "vote Shamar out" plan didn't originate with his alliance. Look, Shamar is right. They can't claim that the tribe was one big happy family and then also hatch a plan to vote out one of the family. I never understand that on this game. Just say that Reynold said he was voting for Shamar (because he said that TO SHAMAR) and they decided to join him because they didn't know who else to vote for. Or admit that they have a couples' alliance. Everyone knows it. Laura interviews that they just saved Shamar's ass, so you'd think he'd shut up for a while. He is really angry for someone who just didn't get voted out. And it's not like he didn't know that the couples were trying to get rid of him.

Then Shamar is yelling at Matt and Julia for some reason? And not just a little -- he is screaming at them. I think they should treat him like I do my preschoolers when they have a tantrum: tell him they can't talk to him until he uses his big boy words, let him have some time to blow off steam and then come back and hug him. I mean, would that be worse than trying to engage him and letting him scream at you? Mike interviews that all the anger of the past few days is coming out now. Laura interviews that she gets that Shamar is a vet and has lived through some tough times, but he used to balance his anger by being fun sometimes and they're not seeing that anymore.

The morning, Reynold and Eddie talk about how they got blindsided at Tribal. Eddie calls it "Revenge of the Nerds." If he wants to have any hope of sticking around more than three more rounds, he should probably stop thinking of his tribemates as nerds. Eddie thinks he'll go before Reynold, since Reynold has the Idol. Shamar walks by and Eddie offers him some coconut, but Shamar refuses. Hey look! Shamar is out of the shelter! Eddie interviews that Shamar keeps pissing people off, and he hopes that people will get mad enough to vote Shamar off and keep him.

Shamar and Sherri head into the jungle for a talk. Sherri asks him to try to keep a lid on his anger today, because she knows that Eddie and Reynold will be trying to antagonize him. Sherri is REALLY good at this -- she tells Shamar that he's more "vocal" so they will target him. That's a nice way of putting it. Shamar says he doesn't like these "immature games" and instead of saying, "Then why did you sign up for Survivor, asshole?", Sherri tells him that it's part of Eddie and Reynold's game and Shamar just needs to hold on until they're gone. Sherri interviews that she employs a lot of "snotty teenage brats" so she's used to dealing with people like Shamar. Shamar tells her that he's over it and this isn't his kind of thing. He interviews that he came into the game wanting the million dollars, but he's feeling like it's not worth it and is questioning whether he would stay. Has he EVER watched an episode of this show? This is why their practice of recruiting contestants can backfire.

Phillip interviews that he's 54, but he doesn't act like it because he takes care of himself. We see him lifting rocks and stumps. He claims that he plays pick-up basketball with men half his age and then he puts on a move and gets "nothing but air" (which would be an airball) and this is playing with guys twice his height (so ten to twelve feet tall people?). Phillip is crazy. I think the editors just really love dropping sound effects and music behind his interviews and that's why we get so many of them.

As the Favorites eat, Corinne wonders if they will give the Fans beans when there's the inevitable tribal switch. She might be getting a little ahead of herself. Anyway, Corinne interviews that in their alliance, Phillip and Andrea are season buddies and Dawn and Cochran are season buddies, so she and Malcolm have naturally gravitated towards one another. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that Malcolm is fairly easy on the eyes. Anyway, they go hunting for a Hidden Immunity Idol. And quickly find one, because no one seems to understand the meaning of the word "hidden" on this show. They bury it in the dirt and Malcolm interviews that he's psyched to have an Idol, but he's not thrilled that Corinne knows about it. But what're you gonna do? They pinky swear not to tell anyone else about it. We'll see how long that lasts.

Hey, Phillip's being weird again! He's sitting with a basket on his head, as he claims that it captures the breezes. Cochran agrees to try it out as he does an interview where he pimps the network and the timeslot, as well as explaining that he's surrounded by beautiful women in their underwear. Sold! I will watch the show! Corinne is talking strategy with Malcolm, and Andrea notices. She asks Cochran if he's noticed that Corinne is shady and suggests that they ditch her from their alliance and sub in Brandon. She brings the suggestion to Phillip, who agrees that they should do it. Andrea and Cochran approach Brandon who claims that he'll do anything to stick around and then interviews that if he gets wind that he's going home, he's going to pee in the rice and beans. So that's a nice stable personality that you want around.

Over at the Fans camp, Shamar is still talking about his sadness and his thoughts of quitting. He interviews that he saw a lot of terrible things when he was in Iraq. He tells his tribemates that he went through some dark times when he got home from Iraq, but he thought he was over it. Now the way he's being treated is putting him back in that mindset. Sherri tells him that he will regret it if he quits. She tries to lay a guilt trip on him that if he quits, then they have to vote out another person, they'll be down two if he quits. Shamar suddenly decides that his alliance has been loyal to him so he'll stick around and fight for them. Maybe it was just poor editing, but that seemed like a quick turnaround. Reynold interviews that Shamar just made himself a hero for "unquitting." Shamar did seem a little like that skinny girl in high school who goes, "Ugh, I'm so fat" and then waits for her friends to tell her how skinny she is.

Time for the Immunity Challenge! This is a pretty cool one. The tribes have to race into the water and climb into a bamboo cage with walls that extend probably ten feet above the water. They have to climb over the walls and into the cage, where there is a chest sitting on the ocean floor. Then they have to untie ropes to open a door underwater, and drag the chest through the door and to the shore, where there is a track. Then they have to use a grappling hook to drag three missing pieces of track into place, move the chest along the track and end up on a platform. The first team to get their chest on the platform wins immunity plus a comfort package including pillows, chairs, blankets and a tarp.

They get a moment to strategize. Before they begin, it's notable that Shamar is wearing a scuba mask. Also, Michael slaps hands with a bunch of his tribemates, but Shamar refuses to do so. Dude! He didn't vote for you! What is your major malfunction? Anyway, they all start swimming. Shamar is still wearing the mask when he gets to the cage. Laura struggles with the swimming so Reynold heads back and drags her to the cage. Shamar is the last person for his team up and over; I'm guessing he stayed behind to boost people up if they needed it? Anyway, when he goes up and over, he's no longer wearing the mask.

I only tracked the mask because now that they are inside the cage, Reynold (who is wearing the other mask) tells Shamar to help him untie the knots and Shamar says that he can't do it without a mask because he wears contacts. Shamar keeps asking for the goggles, but it doesn't matter because his team gets the knots untied fairly quickly. Brandon is doing the lion's share of knot untying for the Favorites; he finally gets the door open. Both teams start dragging the chest towards the shore.

The Fans work together well to move the chest. They've got their strongest people on the chest and they are holding the chest off the floor and moving it. Once they get to shore and have to roll the chest, they slow down and the Favorites catch up. Both teams start trying to catch the track pieces with the grappling hook. Phillip and Malcolm hook the first two sections for the Favorites; Reynold and Shamar hook the first two sections for the Fans. Both teams are trying for the third section at the same time with Eddie and Brandon competing. Is there a rule that the same person can't hook a section twice? Because Eddie just fails and fails with his tosses and there's never a suggestion that someone else try it. Brandon hooks his section and the Favorites quickly get their trunk onto the platform. I don't get why, after two or three tries, Eddie didn't offer to let someone else try. At least he wouldn't have been such a goat.

We come in mid-conversation with the Fans, after the Challenge. Michael is talking about how much it sucks that they lost and Reynold appears to be continuing a conversation from earlier, but Shamar tells him, "Don't talk to me. You disgust me." Like who talks to other people like that, ever? On an island, in a game, at war, whatever? Maybe I'm just sheltered. Shamar revisits the goggle issue again and Reynold tries to defend himself, but Michael points out it's not why they lost. Reynold interviews that Shamar is less mature than his three-year-old nephew and he wonders what Shamar has to do to convince his tribemates to vote him out.

Laura pulls Sherry aside and confesses that she's scared that they will vote her out because of how much she sucked at the swimming part of the challenge. Laura interviews that of the three on the outs (Reynold, Eddie and Hope), they need to keep Reynold and Eddie if they want any hope of winning a challenge. Matt walks up and agrees that they need to keep Reynold and Eddie, and they're worried that they know that and will give the Idol to Hope. Laura quickly says that they should split the vote to prevent that, and the easiest way is to have the girls vote for Hope and the boys vote for Eddie. Sherri quickly tells Shamar the plan and he points out that it will be three votes for Hope, three votes for Eddie and three votes for him. We don't see how that question gets resolved; instead, Shamar just agrees to vote for Eddie. I thought this was a dangling issue, but as we will see shortly at Tribal Council, it was a moot point. I guess the editors wanted us to worry about Shamar, but instead I was just confused as to why he agreed to the plan so readily since it would put him in danger.

Shamar and Hope hang out in the water and discuss how they both know what it's like to be the target. Hope interviews that she really doesn't think Reynold will give her the Idol. Shamar says that he would much rather send Reynold home than her, but he has the Idol. Hope thanks him and says she wishes there were something she could do. Shamar tries to drop some heavy hints about how she could save herself; all he says is that she needs to vote for one of the guys. He doesn't tell her who, but since Reynold has the Idol, it should be obvious.

Hope immediately confides in Julia (I had to look her up because I had no clue who she was) that Shamar told her it's either her or Eddie going home. Julia quickly tells Matt that Shamar spilled their whole plan, which isn't exactly true. Julia goes on to tell Sherri and Laura that Shamar told Hope the plan, and Laura panics and thinks that Shamar won't vote with them now. She immediately assumes that thing are going awry and she needs to make a deal. She needs to calm the fuck down. Anyway, she goes and tells Reynold that she will vote with them to get rid of Shamar. I just now realized that she never had any intention of voting with them; she just wanted to make sure that those three voted for Shamar and not her, in case there was some sort of plot afoot. Smart, but also not necessary. Reynold is psyched, because he actually thinks they might be getting rid of Shamar.

Tribal Council. Probst asks Reynold if there was fallout after the last vote. Reynold says that Shamar was screaming at everyone. Probst asks Shamar about his attitude, and Shamar laughs and says that he's the scapegoat and these are people who make up lies. Shamar claims that Reynold is a liar and Reynold says he's not sure how much he could lie since Shamar has issued the edict that Reynold can't even talk to him now. Probst basically asks, "Seriously?" and Shamar says that he can't stand Reynold's attempts to be friendly. Look, Reynold is an arrogant prick, but Shamar has more serious problems. I can't even begin to understand where he is coming from and I'm usually able to get inside people's heads and at least understand their motivations, even if I don't agree with them. Shamar is a mystery to me.

Probst asks Hope what she thinks of Shamar, and Hope says that Shamar told her it was 99% sure she was going home and she should turn on her friends because Reynold wouldn't give her the Idol. That's not what Shamar said and he (aggressively) points that out. Shamar claims to Probst that he's really a happy guy and everyone just wants to throw him under the bus.

By Kim

Probst asks why Shamar feels so picked on, and Matt says that Shamar has an attitude problem and it rubs people the wrong way. Julia says that after the last Tribal, Shamar wanted to revisit everything everyone said about him and he ended up screaming at her that she's a weak person. Shamar puts his head in his hands and says that's not true, and people embellish what happened. We didn't see his conversation with Julia, so we can't tell if she's embellishing or not, but he was definitely screaming at people after Tribal, as we saw in the opening scene of this episode.

By Kim

Sherri puts it all out there. She says that she's met a lot of people like Shamar and she knows that -- in his mind -- once you've crossed him, you can't go back. So he's not what you would call forgiving. Or tolerant. Or easy-going. Gotcha. Shamar agrees with Sherri's assessment.

Probst wants to talk about the couples' alliance and asks if Hope is concerned about tonight's vote. Hope says that she's on the chopping block and she thinks everyone should vote for Shamar because he brings so much negative energy to the tribe. Probst wonders if Eddie thinks he's too awesome to stay. I mean, that's basically what he says. Eddie says that he's trying to vote out Shamar too and he's also on the "no talking list." Shamar says it's only because Eddie is a follower of Reynold. Oh, well that totally makes sense. Normal healthy people usually have "no talking" lists. Reynold says that everyone knows he has the Idol so now it's a poker game.

And the voting begins. Probst tallies the votes. It all goes down as they planned: Reynold doesn't play the Idol, and there are three votes each for Eddie, Hope and Shamar. That means that they have a revote, except here's the part I forgot about: Eddie, Hope and Shamar don't get to vote. That means that two of Shamar's votes were taken out of the running. Also, they can only vote for Hope, Eddie or Shamar and presumably no one can play the Idol, I guess?

So on the revote, Shamar gets one vote from Reynold and everyone else votes for Hope. She's going home. Well, she was kind of a nothing anyway. Eddie is screwed unless more people feel attacked by Shamar or Shamar quits. Or there's some sort of tribal shakeup. Or they win a lot more challenges.