After Tribal Council, Malcolm explains that he's hoping there will be fractures in the Favorites alliance. And he's not wrong; Erik is already talking about how he's not sure which group he will vote with, and he plans to make his choice at the last minute.
Everyone is hungry and cranky, and then it's time for the Survivor auction. Sherri, Dawn, and Reynold go for food. Malcolm gets a snack and then blows the rest of his money on the chance to look at a clue to a hidden immunity idol. Andrea gives up pasta and wine to get beans and rice for the tribe. Cochran wins the advantage in the Immunity Challenge. Poor Brenda hems and haws about taking a chance on various covered items and finally jumps at one that turns out to be pig brains. Aw. Anyone with twenty bucks gets a chance to get a letter from home, so Dawn, Sherri, and Malcolm don't get one. Eddie wins a giant jar of peanut butter to share with everyone in the tribe in sixty seconds, and they all dig in like animals.
The bro-lliance tries to recruit Sherri and Erik to their side. Malcolm tries to hunt for the hidden immunity idol, but Andrea busts him and refuses to leave his side so that he can't search.
Immunity Challenge: hold a heavy pole up using a rope, and move your hand down the rope as time goes on, making it more difficult to hold. Cochran's advantage is that he can move his hand two knots up the rope at any time. Dawn is the last female to drop out, and it ends up being Reynold, Eddie, and Cochran. Reynold quickly drops, then Eddie loses it and Cochran wins immunity, almost solely due to the advantage he got in the auction.
Malcolm thinks he has Sherri and possibly Erik, and they're voting for Andrea, which they hope will be four votes, possibly five. The Favorites decide to split their vote with three votes each to Malcolm and Reynold in case Malcolm has an idol. So if Sherri or Erik flips, another Favorite goes home.
It ends up being a three-way tie, with three votes each to Reynold, Malcolm, and Andrea. So Erik and Sherri didn't flip. Now they revote, and Reynold, Malcolm, and Andrea can't vote. The Favorites alliance all vote for Malcolm, and Eddie probably throws one vote to Andrea, so Malcolm goes home. That's a huge move for the Favorites; he was definitely the brains in the bro-lliance. I'm sad to see him go, because he was definitely keeping things interesting. Now it's just going to be boring until the Favorites have to start picking one another off.
The tribe returns from Tribal Council, still quite stunned at what just happened. Dawn immediately tells the bro-lliance that she's impressed by what they did. Reynold claims that they weren't trying to enact any huge strategy; they just really wanted Phillip gone. Nice try, dude. I'm not buying it. Cochran says he's just glad he never has to say the phrase "Stealth R Us" again, and everyone laughs. Malcolm interviews that he's hoping that the alliance of six will fracture with Phillip gone because otherwise he's screwed. Erik interviews that he's now able to talk to people that Phillip didn't want him talking to, and his goal now is to decide which group to vote with based on what's best for him.
The morning, day 29, everyone is just sitting around camp, staring off into space. They all agree that they had a miserable night and they're exhausted. Cochran interviews that last night's Tribal Council was astounding, but today, everyone is just hungry and tired. Brenda breaks down crying and Dawn of all people tries to comfort her. Not that Dawn can't comfort people, but it's rare that she's not the one crying. Brenda interviews that losing control of the game has got her scared, and the lack of food is weighing on her heavily (no pun intended). Looks like the majority alliance just got handed a dose of reality, and have figured out that they will eventually have to turn on one another. Then again, I don't know why they're so scared; a crazy scenario like what just played out won't happen again in a billion years.
Later that day, Cochran retrieves tree mail, which consists of nine envelopes. They all know that means it's auction time, and they celebrate. They each get $500, and Malcolm interviews that he's looking forward to winning an advantage in the game, since he needs that more than food right now. But he would really like some food.
Probst welcomes them to the auction, and they all walk in grinning. Probst reminds them that bidding is in $20 increments, and they can't share money or food. The first item up for bid is a cold beer and peanuts and Malcolm quickly wins it for $20, and gets two additional beers and some pretzels. Malcolm walks up and downs the first beer in one go. That seems like a terrible idea, given his lack of food and tolerance. Then again, do you really want to sip it and let it get warm? I guess it depends on how much you like beer. Malcolm interviews that he prepped himself to skip all the food items and save his money for a game advantage and then he bid on the first thing that came up. Oops.
The item is covered. Many people bid on it, but Reynold wins it for $180. Before he can claim his item, Probst pulls out two more covered items and says that Reynold can choose one of them to take instead, not knowing if any or all of them are duds. Cochran claims it's the Monty Hall problem and you're always supposed to switch, which is not at all correct; for it to be the Monty Hall problem, we'd have to see that the first item was good and the third item was bad, and then the odds would be in Reynold's favor to switch to the second item. Then again, Cochran could just be fucking with Reynold. Since Reynold has no information about how many of these items are good or duds, he can't figure out the probability. Then again, it's Reynold; I doubt he could figure it out anyway. Anyway, Reynold sticks with the first item. The third was a rotten coconut. He got one slice of pizza, but the second item was the rest of the pizza. Sherri immediately offers all of her money for the rest of the pizza and Probst sells it to her. Probst reminds her that she's out of the auction.
The item that Probst shows them is an entire roast chicken and Dawn immediately bids $500 and gets it. That's actually not a bad choice, in terms of health. It may not satisfy a craving in the way that a dessert or chocolate would, but it also probably won't make you as sick.
Probst tells them that the item is information. Malcolm immediately bids $480 and no one else wants to use all of their money to beat him. He has sixty seconds to look at it alone. It's a clue to another idol, and it reads: "On the way to water, on your left hand side, is a large opening in the rocks. to which grows a tree out of the rock face. Its roots extend down to the ground. There is a hidden immunity idol buried under these roots six inches underground." That's entirely sic by the way, sentence fragments, missing apostrophes and all. There's also a little diagram. And Malcolm's out of the auction.
The item is covered and Brenda bids $100, and then Andrea and Erik jack up the price more. Brenda looks SO SAD as she explains that she doesn't want to waste her money on something terrible. Oh, girl. Anyway, Andrea wins for $280, and gets a giant plate of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. But Probst offers her the chance to trade it for beans and rice for the whole tribe. Andrea's no dummy; she takes the beans and rice. Now she gets to be the hero.
The item is an advantage in the immunity challenge, which has historically been pretty successful. Brenda and Cochran bid and Cochran wins. Poor Brenda. Also, you'd think Eddie would go for it, but I guess not.
item is covered, and Brenda immediately offers up $300 and no one else goes for it. And it's pig brain. Everyone is really sad for her, including me. Poor Brenda. She tries the pig brain and tries to make the best of it. Oh, I feel so bad for her.
The item is letters from home for $20 each. Dawn, Sherri and Malcolm can't get them because they used all of their money. There are tears.
The final item is also covered. Brenda tries for it but Eddie gets it. But the good news is that the whole tribe can share it; it's a giant bowl of peanut butter. They get sixty seconds to eat as much as they can and whatever is on their person goes back to camp. So everyone digs in, and I realize that they are so hungry that they don't care about dirt and germs but I'm really grossed out by their filthy fingers digging into the bowl over and over. Can't they get a nice cracker? Some apple slices? Anyway, Sherri feeds Cochran using her fingers and Probst notices and says, "How often does that happen?" Cochran deadpans, "More often than you'd think." Cochran has kind of won me over this season. He bugged me before, but he's less neurotic now. Or at least he hides it better.
When they return to camp, they all scrape the peanut butter from their hands and faces into a communal bowl, which makes sense from a survival perspective but still seems pretty gross. And probably buggy. Everyone is very renewed, and then they read their letters from home and cry and cry. Even Cochran cries!
Malcolm and Reynold talk to Sherri and tell her to hang tough and stick with them. Sherri says that they had better pull something out then. Reynold says that they think they can get Erik too, and then they can guarantee Sherri final five. Sherri interviews that after the stunt the bro-lliance pulled, and their strength in challenges, it's tough not to think of them as unstoppable, and she does wonder if she should get on that train. Reynold says that they can guarantee her fifth place. Whoa, what an offer! Jeez, Reynold is bad at this game. He should approach Sherri alone, make a secret final three alliance with her, and then proceed to beat her by harping on how disloyal she was, flipping twice. Come on, dude.
A bit later, Reynold asks Malcolm if he thinks they can get Sherri and Malcolm says he does, but he should talk to her, not Reynold. Obviously. Reynold interviews that they want to get the numbers and knock out Cochran, and the majority will be in shambles.
That night, Malcolm sneaks out of camp. Little does he know that Andrea is awake and watching him. Malcolm follows the clue as best he can and starts digging. He's not out there long before Andrea and Cochran find him. And then Cochran leaves to go the bathroom so Andrea decides to just sit there and force Malcolm to do something. Malcolm asks if this is a standoff, and says that he'll come back later, and she'll have to follow him around all day. So then the two of them sit there for God knows how long until finally Malcolm and Andrea agree to go back to camp together. He compares her to the "little sister you can't get rid of," which is pretty apt. In an interview, Malcolm is visibly frustrated because he knows without an idol, he's screwed.
Time for the Immunity Challenge! One of the bro-lliance needs to win this or they are in big trouble. I don't think they can even come close to convincing Sherri/Erik to flip without at least one of them winning because then they can say, "See, we are going to dominate the challenges! Get with us now!" The challenge is to hold a knotted rope that is holding up a heavy log. At regular intervals, they will have to move their hands down the rope to a new knot, making the task of holding up the log more difficult, and the last person still holding up the log wins immunity.
Cochran opens the advantage that he bought in the auction. It says that at any point in the challenge, he can move his hand up two knots. Eddie interviews that he needs to win immunity, and he's worried about Cochran's advantage, but he also knows that Cochran is no kind of physical threat. That sounds really mean, but Eddie says it so matter-of-factly, and I think that Cochran would agree.
Everyone makes it through the first knot and the second knot with no issues. As they go to move to the third knot, after ten minutes have elapsed, Cochran says he's going to take his advantage. That means that instead of going down to the third knot, he gets to go back to the first. They move on to the fourth and fifth (I'm going to let you do the math and figure out that Cochran is two knots behind) and no one drops out.
Then they move to the sixth knot, and everyone has to lean back pretty far to hold up the log. Brenda seems to almost fall asleep, and she steps off and goes out first. Erik maybe throws it? He doesn't seem to be struggling, but maybe he just didn't want to be the first one out, and he knows that he doesn't need immunity?
It's time to move to the last position, and there is no knot at the end of the rope so they are just holding onto the tail, so to speak. Sherri goes out quickly. Malcolm loses his balance and drops out. Andrea's hand slips and she lets go. Dawn starts yelling about how hard it is and she finally has to let go. It comes down to Reynold, Eddie and Cochran. Reynold feels his hand start to slip and says, "Uh oh." Moments later, he's out. So now it's Cochran (who has a knot) and Eddie (who doesn't). I find it interesting that Cochran wasn't required to keep moving down at five-minute intervals. I could make an argument for either side, I guess. Moments later, Eddie is out and Cochran wins immunity. See? I told you the advantage almost always helps. Cochran would have been out like first. Eddie should have saved his money. Or Reynold. Malcolm used his for the clue, which could be just as important. Anyway, Malcolm interviews that he hopes the majority alliance sees that if they want to shake things up, they need to do it now because once the bro-lliance is gone, they might not have the numbers.
Cochran interviews (probably mostly tongue-in-cheek) that he's the biggest challenge threat in the game because he's won half of the individual immunity challenges. Well, he did have an advantage for one, so let's not get crazy. I'm glad he's feeling good about himself, but he'd better hope for more puzzle/trivia type challenges coming up.
Malcolm tells Eddie and Reynold that he's nervous, and then interviews that he can't look for the idol because the others will start digging right to him. And that's a problem why? I would be digging a six-inch trench around the whole camp if I were him. He might not find it. Someone else might find it first. But he MIGHT find it. And you know how he's not going to find it? Sitting on his ass. And you know what sitting on his ass is going to get him? A ticket home.
Malcolm tells Eddie and Reynold that they need to make the others think that they have an idol. Dumb Eddie asks, "Did you get it?" Yes, he got it and that's why they need to pretend he has one. Dummy. Malcolm explains that they can't let the others use all six votes against someone; they need them to split the vote. Malcolm thinks Sherri will vote with them, giving them four, and a split vote will be three and three.
Malcolm goes to Sherri and says that he's willing to make a finals deal with her right now because it's his only option. Well, way to make it sound like you care about Sherri, dude. Malcolm lamely adds that he likes her and trusts her. And he adds that he has an idol. So at least some of that is a lie, but which part? That's what Sherri needs to figure out. Malcolm and Sherri shake hands on their deal. Sherri interviews that she kind of wants to join the bro-lliance because she thinks they're going to win all the challenges, but then again Cochran won one today, but then again he had an advantage, so she doesn't know what to do. Malcolm tells her to vote for Andrea and they pinky swear on it. Well, that's etched in stone.
Reynold and Eddie whisper on a blanket. Do I smell romance in the air? They lay out the voting numbers, and Erik says that he'll vote with the bro-lliance. Then Erik interviews that he's going to play both sides and gather information before deciding which way to vote. Erik goes and assures the Favorites, especially Dawn, that he's solidly with them.
Once Erik walks away, Cochran and Andrea reiterate their voting strategy. The guys and Andrea are going to vote for Malcolm and the girls are going to vote for Reynold, and if an idol is played, they all go for Malcolm on the revote. Unless, of course, Malcolm plays the idol. Then they debate whether or not to split their vote. Andrea thinks they should split it, but Cochran points out that if one person flips, they're screwed. And he reminds them that Erik voted for Phillip and no one knows why. I'm surprised that hasn't come up more; I guess Erik could just say that everything was confusing and he didn't know what to do. Sherri thinks the entire game hinges on her but she's trying to downplay it. I guess she is a swing vote but she's also kind of screwed. Who would take her to the finals? She's not really a goat, except that she's already flipped once and might do so again. I think she believes her role has been much more important than it actually has.
Tribal Council. Probst asks Reynold if Phillip's departure and the crazy Tribal Council last time shook anything up. Reynold says he thinks it started a new chapter in the game, and it might not be six versus three anymore because people have realized that they have to make moves if they want to make the finals. Andrea says hearing that does make her nervous, but she hopes that anyone contemplating a flip realizes that the bro-lliance will just be using them.
Sherri pipes up and says that, for all she knows, she's on the bottom of the Favorites alliance. Dawn says that scares her, and she hopes that Sherri doesn't think she's on the bottom. Perfect time for Probst to say, "Who is in the bottom then?" Because obviously, it's Sherri. It's either Sherri, Erik or Brenda, right? And Dawn loves Brenda because she found her teeth that one time. Sherri just smiles tightly.
Probst asks Malcolm about the clue he won at the auction, and Malcolm doesn't say much other than that everyone else is curious about it. Andrea says everyone is pretty sure that it was a clue to a hidden immunity idol, and she's 80 percent sure that Malcolm has one. Reynold looks delighted at that news. Probst wonders why everyone cares so much about the idols this season, and Dawn says it's because they've been played so frequently. She has a point; it seems like usually it's all about the threat of the idol, but they rarely get played. And they usually aren't hidden again this late in the game.
Probst asks Erik about someone flipping, which I feel like we've covered, but clearly Probst wants to target the people he thinks are most likely to flip. That's my guess, anyway. Erik says that, in past seasons, you've definitely seen people flip to "trade up" so to speak. Cochran lays out Malcolm's plan: the majority alliance splits their votes between two people, and if one person from the majority flips, the bro-lliance has four votes and whoever they vote for goes home. Andrea knows she's the target, but she has to trust her alliance.
The voting starts. Cochran votes for Malcolm and whispers to the camera that he really hopes Malcolm doesn't have an idol because voting him off would be "delicious, it would just be delicious, it would be indescribably [smooches his fingers]". Ugh. All the good will I had for Cochran just dissipated because that was gross.
Time to hear the votes. And it's a three-way tie between Reynold, Malcolm and Andrea. So no one flipped. Now they have to revote for one of those three, and Reynold, Malcolm, and Andrea can't vote. Malcolm knows he's screwed, since no one flipped. And sure enough, all of the votes are for Malcolm. Malcolm starts shaking hands before Probst is even done reading the votes and heads out. I still like Malcolm. I think he will be an even better player with a few years' maturity, and you know the show will bring him back at some future point.
So now it will probably be Eddie and Reynold going , unless one of them finds an idol or wins immunity. And then we get to see the Favorites demonstrate their pecking order, which I'm actually looking forward to watching. Here's the weird thing: Eddie voted for Malcolm too. Was he trying to curry favor with the Favorites, or is he just dumb and didn't realize he could still vote for Andrea? Who knows?