Episode 12- "The Beginning of the End"

Eddie and Reynold are very aware that they're on the outs after Malcolm has been voted out. Cochran is also very eager to have all of the power in his corner. This could be good or bad for him in the long run. Having power isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when people start to realize you have power you could be in trouble. The next morning, Enil Edam receives some shocking tree mail. Rather than the typical reward challenge, they're going to compete for immunity, and have a tribal council again that very evening.

At the immunity challenge, they also learn that they are competing for information about the game. Quite predictably, it's later revealed as the hidden idol clue that Malcolm bought at the Survivor Auction. The castaways are required to stand on a triangular platform floating in the middle of the water. Every so often they had to move their feet to a higher and smaller rung until they hit the top of the triangle. Shortly after beginning the challenge, Eddie and Erik were bribed out for a plate of doughnuts and a glass of milk. This really shows that Eddie feels more secure in this game than he's letting on. Cochran is then tempted out of the challenge by a plate of hot dogs and a glass of soda. The castaways move up to the middle rung on their platform, which causes Dawn and Sherri to almost simultaneously fall into the water. The challenge then progressed to the top of the pyramid, where Reynold made some miraculous saves, but fell out later on. About three hours later Brenda and Andrea are still standing, due to their unwillingness to just make a deal and jump off. This causes Jeff to suggest that they add a stipulation to the challenge. They decide to lift up one leg. It doesn't take long for Brenda to fall from there.

When the tribe returns to camp, Andrea initially shares her idol clue with Brenda, but decides to then have the entire alliance search for the idol. Erik is the one to retrieve the idol, but being Erik, he immediately surrenders it to Andrea without a second thought. Even Cochran thought he was an idiot. This whole time, Reynold is keeping up his hope that the alliance is realizing there are bigger threats that they could take out. Andrea does start to realize it, in fact, when she thinks about how much of a threat Brenda has been in endurance challenges. She actually starts discussing the possibility of blindsiding her instead with Cochran.

At Tribal Council, Reynold puts a legitimate argument out there that he is no longer a threat, and that he is a good person to keep around if someone wanted to make a move. The question of who people wanted to have around later is also raised knowing that who you're sitting with at the end of the game could make all the difference in whether you win or not. After the votes are cast, there is one vote for Brenda, one for Sherri, two for Eddie, and four for Reynold.

Following the first Tribal Council of the night, Andrea discusses taking out Dawn or Brenda next with Cochran, Cochran realizes that Andrea isn't planning to take him to the end at this point, and wastes no time telling Dawn and Brenda her plans. They decide that the best plan to solve this is to blindside her completely. So the question becomes will they make the obvious  choice to eliminate Eddie, or to cause a miraculous blindside.

In the second immunity challenge of the episode, the castaways have to slide a buoy through a rope course, untie a key from a post that opened a trunk full of puzzle piece ladder rungs. The first castaway to climb to the top of their ladder won immunity. Erik took an early lead in this challenge, and kept it all the way to his first individual win.

After the challenge, Andrea decides that Brenda is the more immediate threat to get rid of. However, Brenda continues making plans with Cochran to blindside Andrea. They're best shot is to convince Erik to vote with them. They know that Eddie is much too close to Andrea to convert. Erik is still playing both sides, but is highly tempted by Cochran's promise to take him to the final three.

The most significant thing to come out of the discussion at Tribal Council is that everyone has lied to everyone at some point,  including Cochran, and that Andrea doesn't feel paranoid enough about going home. After the votes are cast, Brenda receives two votes, Eddie receives two, and Andrea is shocked to receive three votes and be eliminated from the game.

This episode flipped the entire season up in the air. Cochran is quite obviously the puppet master at this point, Dawn and Brenda are loyally following him, Erik and Sherri are just following the crowd, and Eddie still has his back against the wall. I think that the final three could potentially come down to Dawn, Brenda, and Erik. Brenda is obviously ready to make her move in this game, and the best start is to get Cochran out of the game. She could easily get the remaining fans on her side, and at least tie the vote. She won't be able to flip Dawn, but there's a small hope in getting Erik on her side, even though he's possibly still tempted by Cochran's offer of the final three. Cochran did admit he's made deals he can't or won't keep so there's a good chance he won't follow Cochran.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Also, take the time to vote in the weekly poll on the right hand side of the page. Until next week, the tribe has outspoken!