Survivor Caramoan Episode 8 Recap: The Merge, Malcolm's master plan, and a blindside of Corrine

We Survivor fans were blessed with an overall excellent episode 8 of Survivor Caramoan. Tight competitions, cunning strategic maneuvering, and hilarious antics filled this weeks show.  If this show is any indication, we are in for an excellent post-merge game. 

Too hungry to strategize

The Gotas arrived to a warm embrace by their Bikal counterparts. Everyone seems legitimately happy, especially Malcolm.  He's been waiting to change the game, and now is his chance. But before we get into his strategy, let's acknowledge how awesome it is how Malcolm got the tribe named after his mother (Enil Edam is "Madeline" backwards). This is just brilliant, however pointless it may be.

Ready for a big move

But Malcolm gets down to business right away, affirming Corinne of their alliance. Malcolm knows that he has Eddie, Reynold, and Erik on his side. Corinne offers Michael.  They believe they have 6 votes, and that they can take control after they take out Sherri at the next vote.  Their only problem is convincing Erik to stay in their voting block. Erik is notoriously susceptible to women based on his experience in Micronesia.  If everything goes according to plan, Malcolm's six will vote Sherri and the rest of the Favorites would go along and vote Sherri as well. 

No one is comfortable

We are then treated to an classic immunity challenge from Season 1 (check it out here). The players eat gross native foods and the slowest of each round are eliminated.  No one had it easy in this challenge, with even the very strongest players having trouble swallowing.  Brenda and Reynold had a particularly hard time. Coming out victorious was none other than Cochran, who breezed through this challenge to the surprise of everyone (including Jeff).

"I think this is exactly what my love life needs"

Cochran is so elated that he does a celebratory dance and gleefully accepts immunity. As Cochran says, if anyone else were to have celebrated like that, they would have raised eyebrows. But since he has never won (and may not ever win again) immunity, it was ok with the tribe. Cochran has always been quite terrible at all challenges, so this dominant performance was certainly a thrill for us Cochran fans. In South Pacific, Cochran came within inches of knocking off Ozzy Lusth in a redemption island duel, but this the closest Cochran every got until now.

Does she only align with good looking or gay people?

Telling Dawn = bad move

Strategy is now the priority for everyone, as virtually anything is possible for the next vote. Corinne reassures Reynold and Eddie of their alliance and the brawny fans couldn't be more loyal. Corinne however makes a blunder when telling Dawn. We hear a lot from Dawn in this episode. In a tear filled confessional, she talks about how hard she is trying to win the game for her kids this time around.  The editors gave her a long confessional, where she mentions winning many times - could this be foreshadowing??  She said her mistake in South Pacific was not telling anyone when she heard of Cochran flipping. She kept this to herself and tried to convince Cochran not to do it.  Dawn wants to be more proactive this time around, and so she decides to tell Cochran. Soon enough, the entire group of Favorites know Corinne's plan.

Phillip hears of the plan and immediately Corinne is on the chopping block. But, the Favorites need Sherri and Erik to switch to make this happen. Andrea convinces Erik to flip, and Phillip gets Sherri to vote Corinne as well.  Malcolm and Corinne seem to do very little to reassure Erik to remain in their voting block. They pay the price when their supposed ring leader Corinne goes down.

Every confessional is a shout-out to mom!

Malcolm had a excellent plan in place, ruined by Corinne's big mouth. But it's not over for Malcolm. In fact, he has many things going for him. Now, no one knows that he has the idol since Corinne's gone. Also, no one knows that this was Malcolm's master plan. Every Favorite thinks that Corinne was running the show, when Malcolm was the real leader.  Next episode, Malcolm will only need one flopper (if Erik is loyal) in order to take control of the game. He is fully capable of this.