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LIVE at 9:15 pm ET, Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach are the Survivor Know-It-Alls recapping episode 7 of Survivor Caramoan entitled, “Tubby Lunchbox”. The Survivor Know-It-Alls discuss whether Phillip Sheppard, John Cochran, Dawn and Corinne made the right decision to vote out Julia instead of Mike Snow.
Stephen felt in this episode viewers got to see the John Cochran they always wanted to see in South Pacific: the super fan who can play and comment on the game. Stephen’s favorite moment was when Phillip Sheppard pulled Cochran away to say he wanted to target Corinne Kaplan, and after their talk Cochran rolled his eyes and glanced toward the camera.
Rob and Stephen talk about Phillip’s conversation with Julia Landauer, trying to pull her in as a double agent, only to have her spill the beans to Dawn Meehan, leading the Specialist to feel betrayed. Rob feels Phillip wasn’t interpreting the BR Rules correctly when he said he should take out Corinne’s buddy Michael Snow– Rob feels Boston Rob’s move would be to take out Corinne. Stephen thought Cochran had a good point with Phillip, however, that if they merge having voted out one of their original alliance-mates, the rest of the Favorites will wonder what’s going on, and may feel more loyal to their new tribe. Rob thinks the right move might have been to get rid of Michael, if they fear he would be Corinne’s new ally. Stephen points out that it’s a good idea placate Corinne.
Next, Stephen settles the debate of which flavor is better: Julia or Vanilla, and Stephen extolls the virtues of Vanilla. Rob thinks Dawn and Cochran made the best move to keep their options open going forward, but for Phillip the better move would have been to get rid of Mike. Stephen and Rob also discuss whether it is a good idea to throw stray votes at other players.
Rob feels that Corinne is in the worst position of the four favorites on Bikal. Rob wonders if Corinne’s best move would have been to form a new alliance with the three fans last week, but Stephen disagrees. They also discuss whether Corinne and Phillip will mend fences once the merge happens, as they could unite against a common enemy. Stephen likens them to a Pete-R.C. dynamic.
Then, the Know-it-All’s talk about the potential bro alliance, or “Brolliance” of Malcolm Freberg, Eddie Fox, Reynold Toepfer, and Erik Reichenbach. Stephen takes issue with the fact that there are only 4 of them… who will want to be the 5th in that alliance? Stephen thinks that Malcolm’s experience last season in Survivor Philippines is probably coloring his decision, as he decided not to align with his bro Pete, only to have his alliance of Skupin, Lisa Whelchel, and Denise Stapley view him as a threat and ultimately get rid of him. Stephen thinks Malcolm suspecting that he Reynold had a Hidden Immunity Idol and was fishing for the information when he was talking to Reynold, and this is partly why Stephen is awarding Malcolm the Fishy in his People magazine blog this week. Now Malcolm is the only one in the game who knows where both idols are.
Rob moves to the board to discuss potential alliances and targets in the new merge alliance. Rob thinks the favorites will target Eddie and Reynold, splitting the votes 4 and 4. Stephen wonders if it’s worth it to come in with their idols blazing when they don’t have the numbers. He would love it if Corinne and Michael would join the Brolliance. Rob says it comes down to whether Erik is on board with this plan. Will Erik squeal to Brenda Lowe and Andrea Boehlke? Stephen says he is frustrated when the episodes don’t show what certain players are doing, such as Brenda, Andrea and Sherri.
In the viewer question segment, Rob and Stephen discuss the term “flipping,” Julia’s suggestion of voting out Phillip, Dawn’s under-the-radar cutthroat strategy, Phillip’s arm-wrestling, Phillip saying he threw the grappling hook challenge, Reynold’s backstory of growing up on a carnival, Reynold’s decision to tell Malcolm he had the idol, whether Julia and Michael should have voted together, and Andrea getting chummy with the fans.
Be sure to tune in to Rob’s upcoming podcast with Marty Piombo from Survivor Nicaragua and Podvader, as well as his interview with the latest evicted castaway, Julia Landauer.
