Now that Andrea's gone, all bets are off with the alliance. Everyone knows that Eddie is probably , but they all try to set up their final three and figure out what they will do if Eddie wins immunity. Meanwhile, Erik is kind of losing it over lack of food among other things.
Then they get video messages letting them know that their family members are on the island for a visit, and everyone is recharged. There are the usual tears and hugs, but no Lisa Whelchel-style breakdowns, thank God. The challenge with family members involves spinning around in circles to unscrew rails on a ladder, and then throwing bolos at them in a giant game of ladder ball, the popular tailgating/picnic game. It comes down to Brenda, Dawn and Sherri with their loved ones, and Brenda and her dad win it.
Brenda chooses Dawn to enjoy the reward with her. And then Probst screws her over; he reveals that everyone's second loved one is also on the island. Sherri seemingly has a nervous breakdown when she learns that her son is there as well as her husband. Probst tells Brenda that she and Dawn can be joined by their second loved one OR they can both give up all loved ones, but the other four will get to spend time with both of their loved ones. Brenda gives it up. Wow. She just earned a ton of jury votes if she makes it to the finals. Except probably from Dawn.
So Cochran, Erik, Eddie and Sherri get to have a picnic with their loved ones on a floating dock offshore, and the worst part is that Brenda and Dawn can see and hear them. That is just mean. Brenda tries to comfort Dawn as best she can, but Dawn is sad and angry and hungry. When the others return, Cochran interviews that "likability is a liability" and that move might have been Brenda's downfall.
For the Immunity Challenge, the players have to stand on a ledge, leaning over the water, while holding a rope behind their backs. At intervals, Probst lengthens the rope, making it more difficult to hold on until only one person is left standing. Eddie, who needed immunity more than anyone, goes out second. It comes down to Brenda and Dawn. Dawn tries to get Brenda to give it to her, since Eddie is already out, but Brenda wants to play it out. And then Dawn wins anyway. Brenda claims afterward in an interview that she threw it. Hmm.
Cochran and Dawn realize that it might be in their best interest to get rid of Brenda, since Eddie is pretty sure he's going home. But Cochran, Dawn and Sherri vote for Brenda, and that's all it takes for her to go home. She's genuinely hurt by the vote. I get that it hurts to be blindsided, but she honestly should have expected it. I'm not sure that "be nice and humble" is a winning strategy for this game.
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The morning after Andrea is blindsided, Erik wakes up with the sunrise. Eddie gets a fire started and starts some rice. He interviews that all the women he goes after seem to go home. Maybe he should worry less about hooking up with chicks and more about winning immunity or getting in an alliance or playing the game in any fashion. Anyway, Eddie thinks he's probably going home . At least he's smart enough to realize that.
Eddie and Cochran chat about how the game will play out now. Cochran asks who Eddie thinks will go if Eddie himself wins immunity. Eddie, this is your chance! Make an alliance with Cochran! I mean, try something! Instead, Eddie says that he thinks Cochran will be , and he thinks the group is leaning that way. First of all, Eddie knows nothing about what the group is thinking. No one but Andrea ever talked game with him. And second, what a dumb answer. Tell Cochran you have no idea who's going and offer to be a vote for whomever Cochran wants gone. It might get you one step further in the game. Cochran interviews that he figured as the nerdy non-threatening one, he'd be everyone's first choice to take to the end, but now he's having to reconsider.
Brenda and Dawn have a strategy chat about who needs to go if Eddie wins immunity. Brenda says that she thinks it needs to be Cochran, and she thinks Erik would be on board. Dawn interviews that she's been working with Cochran and Sherri, but now she's got the option of working with Brenda and Erik instead. Except that she's had an alliance with Cochran from Day One and she's not sure she wants to break it. I'm not sure why she thinks Brenda and Erik would be a better choice? She doesn't really explain. Dawn tells Brenda and Erik that she would have a hard time voting Cochran out, but she knows he's a threat. And then she interviews that she hopes that making some strategic moves will prove to the jury that she's playing the game and earning the million.
Erik carves a notch into a tree to mark his seventieth day playing the game. He interviews that he should be happy, but he's really unhappy. We see lots of shots of Erik sitting around looking emaciated as he complains about how hungry he is. Didn't they just get more beans and rice? And didn't Erik just go on a Reward Challenge? The problem might be mental as Erik complains that there's nothing more to talk about or say. Look, I can't imagine what the suffering would be like, but I do know that lots of other people have done it and made it under far more trying circumstances than this. Erik decides to climb a really high tree and get some coconuts. The others are a little worried because it's really high. He gets about halfway up and realizes how dangerous it is and then he starts talking about how he might fall and break his leg and have to leave the game. It's not clear to me if he wants that to happen? You guys, we need to talk about Erik.
So Erik makes it safely back down the tree and everyone is relieved. Eddie gets tree mail and it's a device, so they all know that it's the loved one visits. Dawn immediately starts crying, of course. They watch the video letters from each loved one and everyone cries. I mean, everyone. Okay, maybe not Erik or Eddie. You know, I get the people who cry when they watch the video. I don't get the people who cry when they watch OTHER PEOPLE'S videos. Like Dawn and Sherri are all blubbery while watching Erik's brother. What? Anyway, Erik claims watching the video has reinvigorated him. That was fast.
Time for the Reward Challenge. Probst takes the phone back and then introduces the loved ones one by one. Brenda's dad comes out first and they are adorable together. The music is very Jurassic Park, all swelling and majestic. Brenda tells her dad that she took his advice to be humble, and she thinks of him every second. Probst even sheds a tear. I have a black, black heart so this doesn't really move me. If it was her mom, maybe that would do it for me. Then they do a close-up on Probst's watery eyes because that's what this show is about: Probst. Ugh.
The rest of the loved ones come out: Erik's brother, Sherri's husband, Cochran's mom, Eddie's dad, Dawn's husband. Eddie's dad is my favorite. His name is Big Ed and he lifts Eddie right up in a bear hug, kisses him, and calls him the hairiest man alive. He rules.
So now they have to compete with their loved ones in a challenge where they have to unscrew ladder rungs by walking in circles, then build the ladder, then toss bolos onto the rungs, just like the popular tailgating game. The winning pair gets to have a feast on a floating platform docked just off their beach.
Everyone grabs a rung and starts spinning. Erik and his brother are flying through it except for Cochran and his mom. Probst comments about it and Cochran tells him to lay off his mom. Seriously, Probst. Lay off Cochran's mom. Erik and his brother get their ladder assembled first, followed by Brenda and her dad. The others aren't far behind. Then Erik and his brother totally disappear from the competition -- did they throw it? Anyway, Brenda and her dad narrowly beat out Dawn and Sherri and their husbands.
As usual, Probst asks Brenda to choose one other pair to join her and her dad. She doesn't immediately ask for two like I would have -- in past seasons, Probst has allowed that. Everyone is begging to be chosen, which is awful. I feel so bad for Brenda. Why does anyone try to win this challenge? It's a terrible position. Brenda chooses Dawn as she says, "for so many reasons."
Then Probst has to add a twist. He has another phone. It turns out that everyone's second choice loved ones are also on the island, for the first time in Survivor history. Sherri immediately drops to her knees and starts keening, because her son is there. So here's Brenda's choice: she can choose one other pair to join them (I guess no second loved ones in this option) OR she can give it up for herself and Dawn, and the other four get the reward with both of their loved ones.
Holy shit. This is truly evil on the producers' part. I mean, the whole loved one thing is always pretty terrible because some people get left out. I still don't get why they don't give everyone a little more time, even if they don't get the actual reward. But let them have thirty minutes to chat and hug and gain strength, you know? But to force Brenda to make this choice is awful because she's screwed either way. It's one thing if she was only screwing herself over, but she has to screw Dawn over to avoid screwing over the other four. It's terrible. I downvote this twist.
Anyway, Brenda starts crying and then says that obviously, she has to give up the reward. Also, and I don't know if this factored in, but Dawn's second loved one was her best friend. I love my best friend so, so much, and she's been my best friend since kindergarten, but she's not my family. Anyway, Dawn cries a lot and I'm kind of tired of Dawn's cry face. Suck it up, cupcake.
Cochran interviews that he started watching Survivor when he was thirteen with his mom, and they've watched it together ever since, so having her visit him on the show is amazing. Eddie's mom thinks he's too skinny. Cochran's dad is manning the grill and Cochran cracks up because his dad is a nerd and has never acted this way at home. Sherry's husband is a fan of the show and excited to get a photo with Cochran.
Then they cut back to Dawn and Brenda at camp and seriously, the platform where everyone else is dining is not that far off shore. They could probably swim to it. They can hear snippets of conversation. They can probably smell the food. As if this reward wasn't cruel enough, that's just so mean. Take a guess what Dawn does -- she laughs it off! And realizes it's just a game! And she'll be home in like five days! Ha ha ha just kidding. She cries about it. To be fair, everyone starts yelling thanks to Brenda, and granted Dawn didn't have any choice in the matter, but it must be tough to hear everyone giving Brenda all the credit. Brenda encourages Dawn to vent and get it out, so Dawn yells that she doesn't even have a coconut. Brenda also encourages her to see the big picture; that they're almost done with the season. Brenda interviews that she prays that she made the right choice, but she knows that Dawn is livid.
As their tribemates return to camp (by swimming in, I told you it was close), Dawn (who has calmed down now) and Brenda give one another a pep talk about how they will laugh about this together in the future. Brenda interviews that whenever you take action in this game, there are consequences both good and bad. She thinks this action could cause people to be grateful to her, but it could also be her downfall. Cochran interviews that Brenda's move might be a game-winning one, but if Brenda says likable, people will want her out. Cochran states the rule, "Likability is a liability" and vows to get rid of Brenda if he can.
After all that drama, it's time for the Immunity Challenge. Probst explains that they will stand on a ledge over water, holding onto a bar behind their backs. Probst will crank a winch that will lengthen the rope holding the bars, so the players will move closer and closer to horizontal. The last one standing wins immunity.
They start out and Eddie interviews that he knows he's going home if he doesn't win. It seems that this challenge favors those with shorter arms as their angle to the water will be higher, thus they have to support less of their body weight. Gangly Erik is suffering right from the jump. After fifteen minutes, Cochran can't hang on any longer and falls in awkwardly. After twenty-five minutes, Eddie starts to lose it and everyone watches him intently. He falls. Dawn and Sherri nod at one another. Once he's gone, Erik drops out. He didn't seem to be struggling, but once Eddie was out, why not? Sherri's hands slip and she drops in shortly thereafter.
So now it's down to Dawn and Brenda. Dawn says that she doesn't want to sit there all day, and Brenda doesn't either. Dawn says poutily, "I haven't had one. I'll share." Share what? Probst clarifies that what Dawn is saying is that Eddie's out, they're just going to vote him out, and she'd like to have an immunity at least once. Dawn agrees, but also knows that Brenda wants to win or lose on her own merits, not make a deal. Probst lowers them a bit more. Dawn doesn't seem to be struggling at all, while Brenda gets a bit fidgety. A few minute later, Brenda lets go and falls in the water. Dawn celebrates and gives Brenda a hug and a kiss in the water. Hey, guess what Dawn does when she gets the Immunity Necklace? Smiles? Stands there stone-faced? Nope, she cries. I know, shocker, right?
As they leave, Brenda interviews that she doesn't want to be someone who throws challenges, and if she were up against Eddie, she could have hung on a lot longer. But since it was paranoid Dawn, Brenda jumped in the water to keep her happy. I don't think Brenda's saying that she threw it exactly. More like she was suffering and decided to give in to it instead of toughing it out. Which is kind of throwing it.
They all return to camp. Brenda interviews that it's a straight-forward vote for Eddie tonight, and then her plan is to take out Cochran . Brenda confirms the plan with Erik and Dawn. Cochran interviews that he'd rather have Brenda go than Eddie, and he thinks that would be best for Dawn and Sherri too, but he also knows that everyone loves Brenda right now, so this will be a hard sell.
Sherri and Cochran go for a swim in the lagoon and talk strategy. Cochran tries to ease into his plan, but Sherri says right away that she thinks they should blindside Brenda tonight. Guess it wasn't that hard of a sell. Cochran interviews that Brenda is a huge threat because she could go on a winning streak, and she hasn't pissed anyone off on the jury.
Cochran takes his pitch to Dawn, who agrees with all of his reasons, but wonders what happens if they keep Eddie and then he wins the immunity. She also knows that Brenda will target Sherri or him in the round. Dawn explains that she's still aligned with Cochran, but she also wants to play her own game this time, since that was her downfall on her last season. Dawn really agonizes over making the decision to get rid of Brenda, but realizes that if they vote out Eddie tonight, they're still going to have to make a tough decision at the vote.
Cochran placates Dawn by saying they can stick with the original plan, but also adds that it would be a lot easier to vote out Brenda when she's not expecting it. Dawn interviews that she planned to vote out Eddie, but Brenda is the biggest strategic threat, and Dawn's strategy has been to take out big threats as soon as you can. On the other hand, Dawn knows that in their last season, she just did what Cochran wanted to do, and she went home before him. That's a good point; is Brenda a threat to Dawn or to Cochran? Let's say they vote out Eddie tonight, and Cochran doesn't win immunity and goes . Could Brenda beat Dawn in front of a jury? Maybe in front of a typical jury, but I feel like this particular jury is going to respect gamers more than nice people. I could be wrong.
Regardless, it's clear to me that voting out Brenda now is the right strategic move. But it might not be the right political move. Brenda's popularity is at an all-time high right now. Voting her out tonight is going to look like killing Bambi's mom. Then again, Dawn could make the argument that Brenda was such a strong competitor that she had to be taken out. I don't know. It sucks for Dawn that this seems to be ultimately her decision when it was Cochran's idea in the first place and Sherri jumped on board immediately. Now it ends up looking like Dawn is sour about the Reward Challenge and this is her revenge.
They arrive at Tribal Council and the jury enters. Probst starts by asking Dawn how it feels to win her first ever Immunity Necklace, and she says it's nice to be at Tribal and feel safe, but also nice to check something off her bucket list. Probst asks Brenda how it felt to come so close and lose, and Brenda says it wasn't a huge deal because she didn't mind losing to Dawn.
Probst moves on to Eddie and asks him how it feels coming into Tribal without immunity when he's the likely vote. Eddie says he's got his bags packed and Probst points out that he's had his bags packed for weeks, and yet he's still there. Everyone laughs.
Probst recounts what happened with the loved ones challenge, and Brenda says it was both hard and easy at the same time. Probst wants to know if Brenda's gesture buys her anything in the game, and Dawn and Sherri both agree that it does because she's won a lot of goodwill. Probst asks Cochran about Eddie being the easy vote, and Cochran says that he is, but it's about weighing short-term gratification versus long-term benefits.
This makes me ask a question: why didn't Brenda or Erik try to blindside Cochran tonight? If Brenda, Erik and Eddie had banded together, they could have tried. It may have been a tie, but at least it was worth the effort. It's like they're just floating along in a sea of goodwill and aren't we one big happy tribe? But that big happy tribe bullshit ended when they blindsided Andrea, if not earlier. I know hindsight is 20/20, but they could have made a move.
Eddie gives his exit speech, where he says that he's mentally prepared to leave, and he's had a great time. He's so ready.
Voting begins. Sherri votes for Brenda. Brenda votes for Eddie. Probst tallies the votes. No one has an idol and no one plays one. Probst starts reading. The first two votes are for Eddie, and then one for Eric (from Eddie). And then the two are for Brenda. She looks shocked. Over on the jury, Malcolm grabs on to the others, anticipating a shitstorm, and of course, the final vote is for Brenda.
Brenda doesn't take it as well as Andrea did. She's really sad. She tells the others that she was honest and genuine with them. Eddie looks sad and confused. Eddie wanted to go party with his bro-lliance, I think. As Probst extinguishes her torch, Brenda says that it hurts and starts crying. Eddie is shell-shocked.
Okay, let's talk for a minute about the post-show reaction. There has been some bullshit where everyone blames Dawn for Brenda's ouster, but this episode shows that it was clearly Cochran's idea. Dawn even expressed doubts about going along with it because she didn't want to be seen as Cochran's pawn; that's how much it wasn't her idea. Should she have kept Brenda around because they were friends? Is that how this game works? If you were mad at Dawn, were you also mad at Boston Rob when he got rid of Lex? Or did you applaud his game play? What's the difference? People vote out friends on this show ALL THE TIME. Does it matter that they were two women? Does it matter that Brenda is young and pretty and Dawn is an older mom? Do you have different expectations of their behavior as a result?
I have zero doubts that getting rid of Brenda, a popular challenge threat, was the best move for Dawn and Cochran right now. Think about your reaction and think about who you blamed. Dawn got death threats this week due to her actions. Death threats! Because she voted someone off in a game about voting people off so that you can win! This reunion should be legendary.