'Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' tribes merge and castaways vote off Corinne Kaplan

Survivor: Caramoan -- Fans vs. Favorites' newly-merged Enil Edam tribe eliminated Corinne Kaplan, a 33-year-old clinical consultant from Los Angeles, CA, from their tribe during Wednesday night's eighth episode of the CBS reality series' 26th edition.


Corinne was voted out of her tribe at the season's eighth Tribal Council, the first time the new Enil Edam tribe had an elimination vote.

"In [Survivor: Gabon], the people I played with were actually very close to my heart. Here, I didn't really like anybody other than [Michael Snow] and [Malcolm Freberg]. I knew there were problems, which is why I was looking to move out to a different alliance. Unfortunately, I'm out of the game. You've just got to look at it as I got to spend 22 days in an awesome paradise and made amazing new memories," Corinne said following her ouster.

On Night 19 at the Bikal camp, Corinne told Michael, a 44-year-old event planner from New York, the previous vote had been between him and Julia Landauer and she was thrilled he was still in the game because he was her gay friend.  

Phillip Sheppard, a 54-year-old in software sales from Santa Monica, CA, tried to convince his tribe that he threw the last challenge, and everyone was really annoyed with him. His alliance -- Corinne, John Cochran, a 25-year-old law student from Washington, DC; and Dawn Meehan, a 42-year-old English professor from South Jordan, UT -- believed Phillip was a loyal alliance member. However, Corinne said there was no question about it that they had to eventually get Phillip out.


On Day 20, Corinne told Phillip none of the "Fans" had a brain and they weren't very savvy players. Meanwhile, Dawn began reflecting on her game thus far, crying about what winning a million dollars could do for her six children. She didn't want to make a big mistake like she did the first time she played when she let Cochran flip. Dawn knew she needed to be a decision maker going forward and not just a follower.

Over at Gota's camp, the tribe members received mail letting them know they would be getting a new home, so they all knew a merge was coming. Andrea Boehlke, a 23-year-old entertainment host and writer from New York, planned to reunite with the "Favorites," and Corinne was ultimately glad to have more people to talk to.

Reynold Toepfer, a 30-year-old in real estate sales from San Francisco, CA, felt it was a friendly atmosphere despite the obvious "Fans" versus "Favorites" mentality and the line that had been drawn between them.

The entire group then feasted and named themselves Enil Edam. Malcolm, a 25-year-old bartender from Hermosa Beach, CA, came up with the idea but did not tell his tribe he wanted to secretly give a shoutout to his mother Madeline at home.

Phillip talked to Andrea about keeping their alliance with Cochran and Dawn strong. Corinne was quietly parting ways from that alliance and spoke to Malcolm about Phillip's annoying personality. Malcolm told her about how he had become tight with Reynold; Edward "Eddie" Fox, a 23-year-old fireman and EMT from East Brunswick, NJ; and Erik Reichenbach, a 27-year-old comic book artist from Santa Clarita, CA. Corinne then explained she had Michael on her side.


Malcolm and Corinne discussed how they just needed to survive one vote to have the majority in the tribe and then it would be game over. They were currently six against six -- Dawn, Cochran, Phillip, Andrea, Sherri, and Brenda. Corinne was looking forward to a blindside in the near future against her previous alliance with Phillip.

On Day 22, Enil Edam's castaways met Survivor host Jeff Probst, who then explained the rules to what would be their eighth Immunity Challenge but first Individual Immunity Challenge of the season.

For the challenge, the tribe members had to participate in a food eating competition. Each person had to race to get down local delicacies that were neither pleasant or familiar. They had to square off in a series of elimination rounds until only two people remained. The winner of the challenge would receive individual immunity and be safe from the next vote at the upcoming Tribal Council session.

In the first couple of rounds, the castaways ate larva and ship worms. Eddie, Cochran and Malcolm moved on from those challenges to eating duck embryo. Malcolm and Cochran then advanced and squared off in the final round in which they had to consume pig brains. Cochran ended up winning immunity, as he beat Malcolm to the punch by only about a second.

Cochran said his dream had been fulfilled by winning an Immunity Challenge on Survivor. He admitted he was obnoxiously celebrating his victory but his tribemates genuinely seemed happy for him. Malcolm congratulated him and was okay that he lost the challenge because he said Cochran wasn't going to be around for much longer so at least he could check something off his bucket list.


The only thing Malcolm was worried about was whether his alliance would stray from their decisions because they were free thinkers. He needed every member in his alliance to vote the same way.

Meanwhile, Phillip wanted to split his alliance's votes between Reynold and Eddie in case one of them had a hidden Immunity Idol in his possession. Corinne wondered why they wouldn't just vote out Sherri when she was the easiest target and was frustrated Phillip wouldn't take into account her opinion.

"I expected this was going to happen. Phillip's talking about splitting votes and flushing the idol out, but I want to avoid that at all costs because I'm going to need Eddie and Reynold if I'm going to take control of this game and I don't want them freaking out. I was furious that he wasn't even going to listen to what I had to say and just his utter disregard for anyone else's feelings. And that was it. It was like if I already was going to turn, that sealed my fate," Corinne explained.

Andrea and Cochran seemed onboard with Corinne's plan, but they knew Phillip would be almost impossible to convince. 

"Corinne is adamant that we not target Reynold and Eddie, which I don't fully understand, but if Sherri goes, no sweat off my back. Sherri is an easy vote and her elimination would lock the 'Favorites' numbers in a way that would be irreversible. What doesn't bode well is the fact that Phillip and Corinne hate each other and they have a suspicion of each other that's unhealthy," Cochran said.


"And if the 'Favorites' don't come together, that's basically admitting to the world, 'Fans' included, that we're a dysfunctional group who don't completely trust each other, there are openings for them to enter and that we're apt to fall apart given the right catalyst."

Corinne then told Eddie and Reynold she could probably get Dawn on their side too to eventually take Phillip out, but she suggested voting off Sherri first. Reynold felt good about his place in the game, as he said he had been optimistic to the point of being delusional throughout the game but now had a good reason to feel confident.

Corinne told Dawn she wanted Phillip gone at the next vote following Sherri's ouster, basically asking Dawn to flip and join her new alliance. Dawn knew her decision was going to be a huge one, and instead of rashly coming to a conclusion on her own, she shared the information with Cochran.

Dawn told Cochran if they had the numbers, they should probably target Corinne due to her lack of loyalty. Cochran thought Corinne's plan could be devastating to his game and allies, so he told Andrea they could end up on the wrong side of the numbers if Corinne got her way. Andrea then jumped onboard with the idea of blindsiding Corinne. She asked Sherri and Erik to vote with them, and so ultimately, Sherri and Erik became the swing votes.

Erik didn't talk strategy with anyone normally, so Andrea was nervous because she didn't know what he was thinking. Once Phillip got wind of Corinne's strategy, he decided he was not going to allow Corinne to take control of the game.


"It's very disconcerting right now that my fate in the rest of this game rests in the hands of someone like Sherri, who's just desperate for some sort of footing in this game, and then you have Erik, the ice cream scooper -- a guy who doesn't like strategy and somebody who's basically proven himself previously to be incompetent at playing this game," Cochran explained.

Therefore, it appeared that Malcolm's alliance with Corinne was going to vote for Sherri and Phillip's alliance planned to vote for Corinne.

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

Michael admitted he thought the "Favorites" were going to stick together. Andrea was paranoid and Sherri expressed how she believed the "Fans" didn't have a shot at going much further in the game. Reynold, however, simply noted that there was a lot of maneuvering going on behind the scenes and some big shockers were on the way.

Jeff then revealed the votes. Five people voted for Sherri and seven castaways voted to oust Corinne from the game.

The episode's closing credits later showed that Cochran, Dawn, Andrea, Phillip, Brenda, Erik, and Sherri all voted for Corinne, while the rest of the season's castaways voted for Sherri.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski