Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' merged Enil Edam tribe eliminated Michael Snow, a 44-year-old event planner from New York, from their tribe during Wednesday night's ninth episode of the CBS reality series' 26th edition.

ADVERTISEMENT

Michael was voted out of his tribe at the season's ninth Tribal Council, the second time the new Enil Edam tribe had an elimination vote.

"It has been a long, strange, weird, difficult journey. It's over. What can I say? I'm very disappointed. I wanted to go far and deep into the game and I thought I could, but the 'Favorites' are great players. They really are tight and they're playing hard and strong. I know it's going to bust up eventually, but here I am. It's a bummer," Michael said following his ouster.

On Day 23, Reynold Toepfer, a 30-year-old in real estate sales from San Francisco, CA, saw Corinne Kaplan's ouster as a victory even though she had been a part of his "counter alliance," because he saw it as another "Favorite" going home.

Reynold also felt his alliance with Edward "Eddie" Fox, a 23-year-old fireman and EMT from East Brunswick, NJ, and Malcolm Freberg, a 25-year-old bartender from Hermosa Beach, CA, was unwavering and they had complete trust in one another.

Meanwhile, Malcolm was reeling from losing his closest ally in the game, but now with Corinne gone, no one knew about his hidden Immunity Idol. He at least saw that as an advantage. Malcolm also felt secure in his alliance with the fans -- Michael, Eddie and Reynold -- insisting that the majority alliance believed they had bit the head off the snake in eliminating Corinne but that wasn't really the case. 

Phillip Sheppard, a 54-year-old in software sales from Santa Monica, CA, told Sherri Biethman, a 41-year-old fast food franchisee from Boise, ID, she was "hot" and decided to bring her onboard with his "Stealth R Us" alliance. He told Sherri to be loyal and "absolutely trustworthy" and then she'd be fine. Phillip then noted Michael was going to be the next person to go and the "Fans" needed to listen to him in order to stick around.

"Besides even the game of Survivor, I have another game to play. I have to play the specialist game. There's fake organizations, there's secret alliances, it's all crazy. They're all crazy out here!" Sherri joked.

"I am whole-heartedly in with the 'Favorites.' And I am great with big personalities. I had no problem with [Shamar Thomas]. I could handle Shamar. Phillip is my Shamar on this tribe. You give me two more votes and I'll be calling the shots with Phillip. He'll be coming to me, asking me what I think. And that's my plan."

The Enil Edam tribe then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge.

The Reward Challenge required the castaways to divide themselves into two teams of five via a schoolyard pick. One member of each team would serve as the defender while one at a time, the members of the opposing team must leap off a platform and attempt to throw a ball past the defender into his or her net. Each ball in the net counted as one point, and the first team to earn four points would win Reward in the form of rappelling down a waterfall and a picnic.

The teams ended up being Erik Reichenbach, a 27-year-old comic book artist from Santa Clarita, CA; Reynold; Eddie; John Cochran, a 25-year-old law student from Washington, DC; and Michael -- their defender -- versus Dawn Meehan, a 42-year-old English professor from South Jordan, UT; Phillip; Andrea Boehlke, a 23-year-old entertainment host and writer from New York; Brenda Lowe, a 30-year-old paddleboard company owner from Miami, FL; and Malcolm. Malcolm opted to be that team's defender. Sherri was not selected.

Michael's team ended up winning Reward, and Michael was thrilled to finally be on a winning team.

Once at the picnic, Reynold, Michael, Eddie, and Erik pitched Cochran the idea of sticking together and forming a new muscle alliance to slowly wipe the remaining "scheming, flirty" girls out. Cochran went along with it but didn't even consider the plan for a second.

"[They] must not know me that well. They think that emphasizing the testosterone unity between us -- 'We're men. We're men and we hate women and we're going to slap each other with towels in the lockeroom and chug beers,' that doesn't work with me! That doesn't appeal to me at all. I do n

Meanwhile, Malcolm talked to Sherri and Dawn at camp about potentially joining forces. He explained the three of them were at the bottom of the eight-person "Favorites" alliance because obviously Michael, Reynold and Eddie were the next castaways to go.

Malcolm told the ladies they didn't need more than five people after the next vote to take control of the game so they should split their votes between Reynold and Eddie to appear as if they were still working with the "Favorites" alliance but then break apart from them and be guaranteed Final 5.

"The 'Favorites' think they have eight people. They think it's the seven remaining 'Favorites' and they've brought in Sherri for eight against three -- which would be Mike, Reynold and Eddie. I'm going to take advantage of that, because if they go with that and I could pull a five-person alliance, that's enough to take over the game," Malcolm explained.

Dawn immediately thought Malcolm was going to be a problem. She hoped to make Malcolm think she was going to vote with him and then just blindside and take him out. Dawn and Sherri then told Andrea that Malcolm wanted it to be the four guys -- including the three male "Fans" -- and them and how he intended to split the votes between Eddie and Malcolm with the "Favorites."

Sherri and Dawn spilled the beans that Malcolm's plan would leave them with five, and Andrea suggested the girls should pretend to go along with his plan but then vote him out right when he believed he was getting away with a great blindside. The girls planned to activate that plan with Phillip and Cochran on their side.

When Phillip realized Malcolm was trying to play him, he was angry because Malcolm had been a core member of his alliance.

On Day 25, Eddie and Andrea went off on their own, swimming together. She thought he was "hot" and wondered if they were "island dating." Eddie promised Andrea he would vote the way she wanted, and Andrea hoped she could get information out of him. Andrea told Eddie that she trusted him but not the people he was working with. To prove his loyalty to Andrea -- although he wasn't serious -- Eddie noted he'd vote for Malcolm or Reynold if necessary.

"What's troubling to me is I don't think Andrea wants to vote me out. I think that she wants to keep me here. I think she likes me. And I think that she really does want to drag me along in this game, and I just need to be dragged two or three more votes before I can get up on my own feet and start punching people," Eddie explained.

Eddie lied to Andrea and said he knew nothing about a hidden Immunity Idol. Andrea didn't really believe him, and she admitted she was playing him just for strategy. She wondered if Eddie had the same approach, as it's rare two people truly like each other in the game. Eddie joked he was "indirectly hitting" on her.

Later that day, Enil Edam's castaways met Jeff, who then explained the rules to what would be their ninth Immunity Challenge but second Individual Immunity Challenge of the season.

For the challenge, each player had a spot in the water underneath a grated steel barrier. As the tide rose, the water rose as well and the space for the castaways to breath decreased until the space ran out entirely. The person to last the longest in the water would receive individual immunity and be safe from the next vote at the upcoming Tribal Council session.

The challenge came down to Brenda and Andrea, but Brenda pulled through for the win.

After the challenge, Malcolm said the next vote was going to be the turning point of his game. The "Favorites" had to think Malcolm was 100% percent with them or he knew they'd send votes his way. Andrea and Dawn then lied to Malcolm, saying they were going to split votes between Eddie and Reynold.

At the same time, Malcolm was lying to Andrea because he was telling Dawn and his alliance to vote for Andrea. Dawn then asked Malcolm to see Reynold's hidden Immunity Idol, saying she'd got along with his plan if he could prove his loyalty.

Malcolm agreed and got Reynold to show Dawn his idol. He then told Reynold the "Favorites" were splitting their votes between him and Eddie, but Malcolm assured Reynold not to worry because they'd have five with Dawn and the "Favorites" would only have four. He also told Reynold they needed to vote for Andrea. Malcolm wanted her out because she was clearly calling the shots.

Reynold then approached Dawn and warned her not to screw him, insisting he'd play his idol if he had any doubts about her loyalty. Dawn said she understood but was turned off by his aggressive confrontation.

"I can't stand people that intimidate other people and I think Reynold is used to being in control and getting what he wants, but he did show me the idol, which is huge. I mean, now I have more information about how to vote and what to do. But he looked over and said like, 'If you burn me, you'll have hell to pay.' And I feel like, 'Shame on you, shouldn't have shown me your idol. Shame on you, Malcolm. You shouldn't have brought me in,'" Dawn explained.

The boys filled Michael in on Dawn's alleged addition to their alliance, and Reynold told Eddie to be careful of Andrea because she changed her mind constantly and was "dangerous." Andrea then assured Eddie she wasn't voting for him and he 100% percent wasn't going home. Eddie still felt unsettled, as he asked her whom then was the target. However, Andrea refused to tell him.

Eddie then accidentally let the cat out of the bag that one of the guys in his alliance had an idol when he previously assured Andrea there wasn't one. He tried to cover it up by saying he "just" learned of one and refused to tell Andrea anything further. Eddie explained to Andrea her name was being tossed around but he was doing everything in his power to keep her safe and definitely wouldn't cast a vote her way, which made Andrea begin to panic.

Andrea suddenly felt like she was going home. She burst into tears and told Cochran in order to ensure her safety, they needed to vote for Michael -- the safe choice.

"Frankly, I was a little bit turned off that Andrea was so willing to abandon what I think was the smartest, aggressive move in taking out Malcolm tonight. She's completely changed her mind and now suddenly we have to go for this 'safe vote,' which would be to vote out Michael. Because Michael, unlike anybody else, has proven time and time again at Tribal Council not to have an idol," Cochran explained.

Andrea also told Phillip they should go for the safe vote. Phillip disagreed because he wanted to get Malcolm out -- and Cochran and Dawn did as well. Dawn told Andrea that Malcolm wasn't going to play an idol because they only had one in his group and it would be silly of them to target Michael as a result.

That night, Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' members of the Enil Edam tribe arrived for the season's ninth Tribal Council session.

Michael, Eddie and Reynold were revealed to be in an alliance. Eddie said he was fine with going home on his own terms, playing his own game, rather than serving as someone's puppet.

Phillip then announced if someone on his side was operating with immunity and thought it was the right time to make a big move or flip, the smart people left in the alliance would figure it out and that secretive person would be flushed out. Before Jeff revealed his votes, Malcolm asked Reynold for his idol.

Malcolm noted that Phillip's statement was definitely about him, insisting to Reynold that if he played his idol for him, they'd be in great shape.

Jeff then revealed the votes. Three people voted for Andrea, one castaway voted for Reynold and six tribe members voted to oust Michael from Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites.

The episode's closing credits later showed Malcolm voted for Reynold. Phillip, Sherri, Brenda, Dawn, Andrea, Cochran, and Erik voted for Michael. Eddie, Michael and Reynold voted for Andrea.   


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS