Survivor: Caramoan - Episode Thirteen

All smiles... for now.

Just when I thought the season was out of surprising twists and blindsides... here we are.

Let's recap a little here: for the past twelve episodes, I've been pretty frustrated with Brenda's gameplay, aside from her impressive physical strength and hotness. She was playing the 'lay-low' card, hoping that'd bring her the million dollars. While that's a possible outcome, I like to think that Jury members in general value taking risks and making moves and showing strength more than just liking a person, and luckily, it seems like this Jury is going to take its job seriously -- at least I hope. [That means that if Eddie makes it to the end somehow, I hope Malcolm won't necessarily just vote for him because he was his amigo... Reynold, let's not even go there.]

Then, we find ourselves in an episode where all of a sudden, the unthreatening, non-strategic Brenda becomes this huge threat to win, by continuously showing strength in challenges and then pulling the sympathy card by giving up her time with her Dad to offer up extra special time to 4 out of the 6 remaining contestants -- a twist which I found totally excessive by the way. Taking two additional people with you is huge already, and I think she should have done that. No one could have said she did the wrong thing. I mean come on, her reunion with her Dad made Jeff cry! Not to mention that she did peg Cochran as a threat and was planning to eliminate him after voting out Eddie. Which DAWN ESSENTIALLY TOLD COCHRAN.

So, while really hard to watch and borderline cruel, voting out Brenda was the best move for Cochran to win. Getting Dawn on board for that was huge, because I think Dawn would stand a better chance to win against Brenda than Cochran... and not at least letting Eddie know to vote for Brenda for that extra name was a big gamble too. If Dawn hadn't flipped, that would have been the end of Cochran. Brenda's exit interview was certainly the most difficult and heart-wrenching to watch I can remember, but ultimately, she should have played a more strategic game -- while still being humble if that's what she was aiming for.

I talk about all this in greater detail, and a few more things, in my video below... Can't wait to hear your thoughts. Next up.... the finale!!!