Episode 6- "Operation Thunder Dome"

This episode kicked off with Bikal's relief that Brandon was gone. Phillip is still confused as to why Brandon had such a problem with him in the first place. They also worry that the fans are going to become even more confident because of a free win.

The only opening shot of the fans is them receiving tree mail about a supposed reward challenge. When the tribes arrive, Jeff learns that each tribe is finally gaining some peace at camp, and shakes it up with a tribe switch. He uses the classic eggs filled with colored paint to randomly pick new tribes. After the eggs are cracked, Gota consists of Erik, Eddie, Reynold, Andrea, Malcolm, Brenda, and Sherri. Bikal is now made up of Julia, Phillip, Matt, Michael, Corinne, Cochran, and Dawn. The biggest shake-up I see coming from this at this point is that Malcolm is split from Corinne, and Andrea is separated from Phillip. Each tribe is also given more rice and beans, and another flint in celebration of the twist.

As soon as Gota returns to camp, Reynold and Eddie immediately try to appeal to Erik and Malcolm about taking out Sherri. Sherri, meanwhile, is talking to Andrea and Brenda about targeting Reynold, and the possibility that he has an idol.

When Bikal gets to camp, I was shocked that one of their first discussions was Julia being potentially recruited for "Stealth R Us." I actually forgot about Julia's existence on the show again until this moment. Corinne starts talking about finally getting rid of Phillip again because he's as annoying as sitting next to a screaming baby on a plane with diarrhea.

The scene turns to the immunity challenge, where the tribes roll six very heavy cubes from a field to build a staircase that spells "Fans vs. Favorites" on the side. The physical difference between the two tribes became a huge factor in the challenge when the much stronger Gota took an enormous lead. Jeff remarked that, "Bikal must be on medication. They're moving so slow." Gota goes on to win the challenge by a long shot.

Back at Bikal's camp, Phillip tries to rally his tribe, which further annoys Corinne, because he becomes very long-winded with it. He then talks with Matt and Michael about targeting Julia since she was the weakest link in the challenge. He also tries to recruit them for "Stealth R Us." Matt says later that the hardest part of the conversation was trying not to laugh about it. The faves in the tribe also discuss that Matt is too close to Michael and how dangerous it could be.

At Tribal Council, Bikal discusses the worry that there is going to be a split between fans and faves when the votes are cast. Corinne and Phillip also worry about whether or not any of the fans in their tribe have a hidden immunity idol, though Corinne is confident that Matt doesn't have one. They say it's hard to know who to tell information to because if they're close to the person with the idol, they can simply shift the idol to the target. At this point the voting begins. Julia is shown throwing a vote in Dawn's direction, but I was surprised to see Matt and Michael had both trusted Phillip and voted for Julia. In the end, all the faves voted Matt from the game.

I'm personally starting to lose faith in Corinne. She needs to quit talking about getting rid of Phillip and just do it. They may hold off until the merge however because they can guarantee more votes to do it at that point. If they all make it that far, she's guaranteed to have Erik and Malcolm on her side, and she can sway Brenda and Sherri. However, if she waits too long, and her tribe keeps losing, she may be gone before she can execute a plan.

The switch has changed domination for all of the fans however. If Malcolm and Erik have been swayed by Reynold and Eddie, Sherri is guaranteed to be the next to go from Gota. Michael and Matt obviously went from being safe to being the bottom of the food chain. Only one fan's status hasn't changed. Julia is still just there. I'm actually remotely impressed with how far below the radar she has been this whole time. I was in shock that she actually spoke in this episode.

What are your thoughts on the episode? Do you agree or disagree with me? Feel free to let me know in the comments section below. Also, don't forget to vote in the weekly poll on the right side of the page. Until next time, the tribe has outspoken!