Survivor: Caramoan Episode 11 Thoughts

"It's better to burn out than to fade away"
- Neil Young

After last week's amazing tribal council, you couldn't help but root for Malcolm. He put himself behind the eight ball by trying to make a move very early on, and has scrambled every since to survive. He has great confessionals as well. But most importantly, he brought big moves to the table.

Two weeks ago, he somehow convinced Reynold to hand over a hidden immunity idol simply by pointing at a vague comment that Philip made. Survivor fans jaws dropped.

The week after, he used two hidden immunity idols to make the three targets of Stealth 'R Us safe, and caused the most hectic tribal council in history. Combine that with his showing last season, and you have the most memorable player to come around since Russell Hantz himself.

This week, he managed to make people think that he might have an idol even though they were watching him constantly when he searched for an idol! He also had the greatest first purchase in Survivor Auction history - his beer and nuts and pretzel purchase (which he knew he couldn't do because he needed all his money to try to get an advantage in the game) was hilarious, as was his confessional that was shown immediately after. Then he was invited to come up and get his beer and to sample it by Jeff. Turns out that Malcolm has a different idea as to what "sampling" means, and Malcolm chugged it, which lead to great reactions from the other players, who were in awe of his chugging. It also gave us Jeff Probst's finest moment, celebrating the bro-ness of Malcolm's chugging by saying "Now that is how you do it!" Indeed it is Jeff.

If he wants to play again, he will be able to without any problem. If he doesn't he's going to be remembered fondly by everybody who watched this season; quite possibly he's going to be remembered most fondly by everybody who played this season as well. In short, his agressive play might not have lead to his victory, but it did lead to the next best thing - a standing invite to come back, the love of the fans (and likely $100,000 coming from being fan favourite) and his plays being remembered for years to come.

Compare that to Sherri. Sherri had the chance to make a big play and join with the Three Amigos, eliminating Andrea (sorry, An-DRE-ah) at the same time. This would have left her at worst in a 4-4 tie next week. The downside is that there isn't proof that she is jumping into a better situation. Malcolm, Reynold and Eddie seems like a strong group of 3, so it would be difficult for her to get any further than that. Either way, she seems to not be "running the show" as she claims, but instead deciding which alliance will be alive at the end. She decided to not go with Malcolm (which was probably her best choice), but in the end, will she be remembered as a player if she doesn't win? Heck, if she does win will she be remembered?

Sometimes, fortune favours the bold. And if you make a big enough play, maybe you'll have a Lego Survivor Musical number created in your honour as well:

(Note: This comes from Lisa Ferreira, proprietor of the fantastic Winter Pays for Summer blog. The Survivor recaps are well worth the read!)