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Favorites

1. Andrea
What happened on the “favorites” beach last week? Phillip gave everyone else names, they had a visit from a local bushman and literally, nothing else. So nearly everyone gets the same power rankings they did last week.

It’s worth considering whether Andrea is making her play to get rid of Corinne too early. I suppose these sorts of discussions happen all the time on Survivor, and the show has to use fake editing to build tension. It is definitely a smart move for Andrea to start laying the groundwork for getting rid of Corinne, who is already considered to be untrustworthy and – if both she and Andrea made it to the end – would be telling the same story as Andrea.

But there are some good arguments against this too. Rejigging the alliance could change a lot of things – getting rid of Corinne would mean that players like Malcolm would start looking at their options outside the alliance. And if Andrea’s plan comes to fruition – well, Corinne seems like the type of player who would actually reward that if she were on the jury.

Certainly her plan to replace Corinne with Brandon – a player whose early start on Survivor was defined by his conflicted feelings about pretty women like Andrea – is utterly misguided. Think up a better plan, Andrea.

2. Phillip
Phillip is still the center of his alliance, even though it is painfully obvious that no one wants to buy what he is shoveling. Still, props to Phillip, who is doing pretty well at leading his tribe at challenges and is not going anywhere any time soon. Whatever his delusions, he is never going to be a true mastermind player. But he will have a decent story to tell about how he built and led his alliance from Day 1 if he makes it to the final Tribal Council.

3. Malcolm
Still have an idol, Malcolm? Sure, you can stay in #3.

4. Cochran
Cochran is mis-named as the Intelligence Attaché. He should really be called the Facilitator. Whenever we have seen some sort of discussion – like between Andrea and Brandon – Cochran was the one doing the behind-the-scenes organizing. So everyone respects his thoughts on the game, he has value to everyone so they aren’t going to vote him out. But this type of background game is hard to defend at final Tribal Council. No one ever says “Tom Hagen should be Don of the Corleone family."

5. Dawn
Still no Dawn. More Dawn please.

6. Corinne
No Corinne either. I never thought I’d say this, but more Corinne too.

7. Erik
Ice cream scooper guy continues to be irrelevant. I wonder how much Erik footage is discarded on the editing room floor each week.

8. Brenda
It was interesting that Brenda was the last person that Phillip approached with a new Stealth R Us nickname. He went to Brandon first, because of "threat containment," then Erik, and Brenda last. And then he dubbed her Serenity. Phillip obviously sees Brenda as less of a problem than anyone else, which is a mistake, but we haven’t seen Brenda do much of anything.

9. Brandon
Based on the previews and promos, I have cheated here and decided to put Brandon at #9. Remember how I said a couple of recaps ago that Brandon saw his only power in the game coming from acting like a child and throwing tantrums? Guess what happens this week.

So if you don’t want to tune in tonight because you’re disgusted with CBS, Survivor and Probst for hyping an inevitable meltdown by an already-known-to-be-unstable castaway who probably shouldn’t have been brought back in the first place, come back tomorrow to read the recap. At least you’ll know if something happens this season.

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