It’s quite serendipitous that I’m taking “Abnormal Psychology” this semester, as you’d have a hard time finding a better subject for analysis than Brandon. Is he really insane and unstable, or is he just misunderstood? Either way, there’s a lot for me to write about, so let’s waste no time.
First, though, we have to make our way through the Swamps of Sadness, I mean the Fans tribe. However, we seem to have hit a dry spot, the Cay of Contentment. The tribe seems quite happy and much more confident, now that Laura is gone. Matt in particular is quite vocal about how much better the tribe as a whole will do. Actually, I should say that ALMOST everybody is happy about this fact. Sherri, it seems, is rather regretful of the vote, and just prays that the alliance stays strong, which, based upon Matt and Michael’s private interviews on the matter, seems like a justified hope. In all fairness, Eddie and Reynold, unlike many jocks before them, do NOT misconstrue the past vote as a new alliance, and realize that they need a new plan, specifically find the idol. Now, this is a very chancy plan, with lots of potential for failure, but if it succeeds, well, things get very interesting.
Over on the Favorites side of things, we see that there weren’t enough parallels to “Survivor Micronesia”, as Brandon pulls a “Jonny Fairplay” (“Survivor Pearl Islands”), and asks to be voted out, out of devotion to his wife and kids. For me, this translates out to “Brandon is tired of being on the bottom.”, but whatever, we know it won’t happen. We haven’t had the promised blow-up yet. Brandon also commits social suicide by admitting to the rest of the tribe his plan of sabotaging the camp, had he not decided to quit. Corrine of all people is shocked by this, saying it makes him volatile and the obvious next choice to leave. What Corinne MEANS is that she wishes she’d thought of it herself on “Survivor Gabon”, when she was down in numbers past the merge. I know that’s a bit harsh, but to be fair, it seems like the sort of thing Corinne would do.
However, dawn (the time of day, not the person) lets the potion get out of Brandon’s system, and he’s decided that the honorable thing to do is to stay in for his kids. Gee, like we couldn’t have guessed that from the editing.
And now it’s time for the reward challenge. If you think the lack of capitals in that sentence meant something, you’re right. Give yourself a cookie. It means that, while I’m happy that there’s reward challenges abundant on this season, I’M SICK AND TIRED OF UNORIGINAL CHALLENGES THAT WERE DONE IN THE FIRST “FANS VS. FAVORITES”! REALLY, KIRHOFFER, YOU CAN’T COME UP WITH ANY NEW CHALLENGES FOR THIS SEASON? Ok, ok, I know we got an original challenge on the episode I missed, but this is the THIRD challenge in a row that was used in the first “Fans vs. Favorites”. They need to do something soon.
In fairness, though, if they had to redo a challenge from “Survivor Micronesia”, this was probably a good choice. While it is a pure strength competition, it’s quite an interesting one to watch. Two tribe members from each tribe hold up a colored net apiece, while the remaining members of the tribe (sans Erik, Dawn, and Andrea for the Favorites) toss coconuts into said nets, making said nets heavier to get them to drop. Last tribe with a net still up wins. This is an interesting looking challenge that can lead to a lot of good commentary, and it is somewhat fun to watch. I’ll say that I prefer the first iteration over this one, but that has mainly to do with the original having the heckling of Jonathan Penner (“Survivor Cook Islands”). Also, I should mention that this challenge was also repeated on “Survivor Samoa”, as one of the myriad of Immunity Challenges that Galu won, but frankly, it brought nothing new to the challenge (save the splitting of the nets), and “Survivor Samoa” is one of the few seasons of “Survivor” that I try to forget exists, so I’ll stop talking about it.
Phillip, to his credit (never thought I’d say those words in the same sentence) DOES try to keep up the Penner legacy of heckling the throwers, but fails for two reasons: first, his comments aren’t clever and varied like Penner’s were (mostly just shouting random grunts), and second, people actually LIKED Penner, whereas nobody, as far as I know, likes Phillip, at least from a viewer’s perspective. We do get a few interesting points, however. Brandon, of all people, comes up with a clever strategy. Serving as the Favorites’ other holder (Michael and Matt are the holders for the Fans), whenever he sees a low toss, he jerks the net up to avoid having it dunked. A bit physically demanding, but a good strategy. I also enjoyed the editing gaffe of having Probst say “Phillip getting exhausted” while blatantly showing a picture of Michael. No way I would ever mistake the two. Michael is some I like and can actually root for.
It doesn’t matter, though, as Phillip wins reward, being the traditional “Survivor” barbeque, for the Favorites, sending the Fans back demoralized. Even without Laura, their strongest guys are no match for the Favorites’ strongest guys.
Somber music over landscape shots tells us we’re heading over to the Fans’ camp first, where everyone, naturally is a bit down. It’s not enough to damped idol-finding spirits, though, as it seems like everyone heads off in search of the idol. All except Eddie. I saw a shot of everyone searching, except Eddie for some reason. You’d think, being that he’s still on the bottom of the tribe, that he’d be one of the ones searching the hardest, but nope, puts it all on Reynold.
Should I ever go to Vegas, I’m betting on Reynold every time. Despite the ENTIRE ALLIANCE searching for him, Reynold still gets to the idol first. He’s a little excited about it. He also swears not to tell anybody, save Eddie as the two are partnered up.
Now, some of my more frequent readers would notice that I have a thing against telling people you have the idol, and probably expect me to praise Reynold for this good sense. Well, normally, you’d be right, but the more I thought about it, in this specific situation, telling people might actually be a good thing. The alliance is probably still a bit tenuous at this point, and the idol could make a good bargaining chip, in my opinion. Oh well, I hope Reynold comes up with a more useful time to play it this time.
On that subject, since I didn’t address it last time, let me say that, while in retrospect it was bad for Reynold to play the idol, I admit, I thought he was gone, so I’d have done the same thing in his stead. In any case, he got it back, so no harm done.
There SHOULD be jovial music at the Favorites’ camp, but everything seems downbeat, mostly because Brandon is put out by Phillip. Now, Phillip is going on about how HE won the challenge (not helped by Probst calling Phillip “the hero of the Favorites”. Gee Probst, no favoritism there!), and Brandon feels put out because the whole tribe contributed to the challenge. However, I think Brandon has no leg to stand on here. While team challenges are very rarely carried by one person (see “Survivor Cook Islands” with Challenge Jesus for examples of challenges that are), it can’t be denied that Phillip really swung the challenge for you guys. Everyone helped, but Phillip, and it pains me to write this, was really the major contributing factor to the win. Brandon, of course, doesn’t go off about this, but goes off about something unrelated. Specifically, Phillip makes a comment to Brenda (or “Serenity” as I have since learned that her nickname is) that he doesn’t want the tarp moved, as he’d rather save his energy for the challenges. From the way Brenda brought it up, I assume that Phillip was the one who suggested moving the tarp in the first place, which makes him even more of a hypocrite, but Brandon goes off because it sounds to him like Phillip is giving an order, which is not the sense I got. Then again, I don’t have to LIVE with Phillip. Thank God, I don’t have to live with Phillip.
You’d think we’d continue the drama, but nope, over to the Fans’ camp, where everyone is a sack of sad, as they say. Even Matt can’t stand to do work anymore, leaving everything to Michael, Reynold, and Eddie. Instead, Matt just complains about his sore feet (though to be fair, they look pretty bad), and wishes for a gift.
I don’t know if you’d every qualify a Hantz as a gift, but the actions of one certainly are, in this case.
I also have to give the editing team credit, they’re finally learning NOT to spoil the “Next Time On…” clips in the first 10 minutes of the episode. Over halfway through, and we still haven’t gotten the promised breakdown.
It’s about to come, though, as Brandon starts out starting the fire, and complaining that he wants to go out on his terms. “He feeds himself!”, as he repeatedly tells us. Brandon, I hate to break it to you, but no, no you’re not. In this game, the ability to determine your own fate is based on your social prowess, and your being in a majority alliance, neither of which you have. While I may like Brandon better than Russell (“Survivor Samoa”) I have to say, both are equally socially maladapted.
Brandon tries to apologize to Phillip, and Phillip pretends to apologize back, but even with the combined stupidity, both correctly read between the lines that neither is telling the truth. Things get worse when tree mail comes, and Phillip, the man who gave the Zapatera tribe (“Survivor Redemption Island”) such HELL for throwing a challenge, is now himself considering throwing a challenge. I mean, the Zapaterans had more of a reason to throw their challenge, at least their Hantz was outright evil! This one’s just a little unwell.
Andrea is not fully on board with this plan, and so is very bad at lying to Brandon when he asks if that’s what was being considered. Brandon then goes to confront Phillip, who really makes no pretense about the fact that the tribe is indeed planning on throwing the challenge. Brandon complains that there’s no reason to vote him out, and while I certainly don’t think his behavior has QUITE reached the liability point (but it will, in just a second), I have to side with Phillip again. Sorry Brandon, it isn’t fair, but in this game, being outside the alliance is a good-enough reason to eliminate you.
Of course, Brandon being Brandon, things can’t just stand here, and so Brandon decides to “give everyone a reason to vote him out”, and it’s time. As promised, Brandon throws out the rice, throws out the beans, and tries to break a chair, all while yelling obscenities at Phillip (as a side note, the son of the dorm caretaker lives around here, and wanders around the dorm at will. He watched a part of the episode, but I was glad he was gone for this). I should really be appalled: this is the antithesis of good gameplay, and it leaves Brandon with absolutely ZERO argument as to why he should stay, but it’s just so mesmerizing, I can’t help but enjoy it.
Another good thing Brandon does (more words I never thought would be in a sentence together) is get us out of today’s immunity challenge, which was yet ANOTHER repeat, though at least this one hails from “Survivor Tocantins”. It’s the classic “Roll the Boxes down a field, and use them to form a puzzle staircase” challenge, which while enjoyable, has become overdone of late. Thankfully, Probst decides to use THIS challenge to psychoanalyze the tribes, and Brandon, once again, spills the beans, though figuratively this time. He tells the Fans how they’re underdogs, and he’s one them a favor by dumping the Favorites’ food supplies. At this point, Probst wisely calls Brandon over to his side, which I think is a good decision, as I don’t doubt that Brandon would have punched somebody, probably Phillip, and even I wouldn’t wish that on Phillip.
Brandon, once again, goes on his tirade against Phillip, but this time it makes a little more sense. While Brandon is still delusional in some respects, working in his “I Feed Me!” shtick, he does at least make a few good points that I and several “Survivor” Fans have been waiting to hear: Phillip is egotistical, delusional, hypocritical, and talks about himself far too much. All valid points, not that they’ll help Brandon stay in. Brandon also gets in the jab about Boston Rob (“Survivor Marquesas”) carrying Phillip to end, which is stating the obvious, but is good to hear anyway.
Phillip tries to remain calm, but still can’t resist yelling at Brandon about betraying the alliance by voting for Andrea, which, Phillip, is perfectly within his rights to do. You’ve lied to Brandon, don’t get all high and mighty because Brandon lied to you as well.
Surprisingly, the most emotional seems to be Andrea, who claims she’s bonded with Brandon over the past 13 days. All I can say is “When?” We never had any scenes of them bonding, get a grip, Andrea. They brought you back because you were supposed to be better strategically than we saw, start proving it!
Giving Brandon a back massage (given how much Probst loves the Hantz family on the show, I’m a bit surprised it didn’t come with a “happy ending”), Probst decides to hold Tribal Council then and there, with the Fans taking immunity (incidentally, I did enjoy Reynold asking for the victory hand-raise anyway, and was very annoyed that Probst did not follow up on the request), and the Favorites verbally voting somebody out, only the second time this has happened (the first being the final episode of “Survivor Palau”). Not surprisingly, Brandon goes home, and while he did annoy me, I will say that he brought good (if painful) drama to the show, and went out probably the best way you can when there’s literally nothing you can do to save yourself: take every else down with you. After that incident with the food, I don’t think there’s a better way for Brandon to go out, other than cause as much chaos as possible.
Now then, for the big question: based on my years as a Psychology major, is Brandon actually abnormal. Well, I’m only an amateur still, and haven’t had long, in-depth talks with Brandon, but from what I can see, no, no he isn’t.
Hear me out on this: Brandon does have issues. He seems emotionally very unstable, and being out on the island only exacerbates this. But that’s just it, he’s out on the island. The situation, in my opinion, is a lot of what’s causing this behavior. Granted, Brandon probably should seek therapy, as he has emotional issues, and given the effect of the environment probably shouldn’t have been asked back, but does he have an actual disorder? I think not.
But we can’t leave it there, it’s time for another
TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!
I don’t see how this can be about anything but “Survivor” tantrums. Given the environment of the game, they’re fairly commonplace, so it was inevitable that I talk about them at some point. The only bit of housekeeping for this is that the Top 5 will be tantrums that are fascinating to watch, and the Bottom 5 tantrums that are painful to watch.
TOP 5:
5. Randy Bailey’s Cookies (“Survivor Gabon”): Some might argue that Randy’s hissy fit over the distribution of the cookies he got at the Reward auction of his first season was more painful (hell, some would argue that watching anything to do with Randy is painful), and because of this, I put it low on the list when, let’s be fair, it was fairly interesting. What I like is trying to figure out where exactly all the cookies went. The fact that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sugar also made this a fun one for me.
4. Alicia Calaway’s Fucking Chickens (“Survivor The Australian Outback”): Ah yes, the original “Survivor” tantrum (you could argue that Sue Hawk’s “Rats and Snakes” speech was the first, but to my mind, that wasn’t really a “tantrum”. Plus, Sue will be on this list later anyway.). This one gave us a lot: the finger wave, the inconsistent logic, it was just a lot of fun. It helps that Kimmi and Alicia don’t hold a grudge against each other anymore, so now we can say it was just a fairly funny argument.
3. Rupert Boneham’s Vote (“Survivor Pearl Islands”): While it is fair to say that someone voting against you is no reason to threaten them, as I’ve said emotions are high out on the island, and people who wear their emotions on their sleeves have a harder time. Case in point, Rupert got exceedingly angry at Jonny Fairplay in episode 7, yelling at him, swearing at him, even almost chocking him at a few points. Now, there’ll be a lot of situations on the “Bottom 5” list where this sort of thing happens, what makes this one different? The answer is simple: I don’t like Jonny Fairplay, and seeing him yelled at is fine by me. He’s similar to Phillip in that way.
2. Jane Bright’s Fire (“Survivor Nicaragua”): Sort of similar to Brandon’s tantrum this episode, but with less serious repercussions. Another one annoyed about votes cast against them (or in this case votes GOING to be cast against them), Jane decided to go out with a band, saying that as she started the fire, she would finish it. Like Brandon’s breakdown, it’s fun to watch people who know they’re going decide to go all kamikaze on the tribe, and for all that Jane takes a lot of flak as a player, this, for me, was one enjoyable moment, as well as one of the reasons “Survivor Nicaragua” is NOT the worst season of all time, despite what the fan community seems to think.
1. Brandon Hantz’s Feeding of Himself (“Survivor Caramoan”): Brandon is the only one to ever go so far as to completely cripple his tribe. Putting out the fire is one thing; it can be rekindled, and Jane’s incident was late in the game. Brandon’s actions put his tribe at a severe disadvantage, and his motivations are fascinating. The best I can say is that it’s like a car wreck, you can’t look away.
Honorable Mention: Rory Freeman’s “Slash, Burn, and Salt the Earth Policy” (“Survivor Vanuatu”): Think Brandon with more social grace. Rory was totally planning to do what Brandon did, and was stopped only by a lucky reward challenge. I can’t put it on the list proper because it never actually happened, but if Brandon is any indicator, the results would have been fascination. Also, Rory deserves mention as being both one of the most and one of the least socially aware castaways ever. The man was mean to his tribe, belittling, condescending, he yelled at them, and yet he outlasted more socially aware castmates! The man had to be doing SOMETHING right.
BOTTOM 5:
5. Robb Zbacnik’s “Backwards Hick” Rant (“Survivor Thailand”): Given after losing a reward challenge, this one ends up on the bottom 5 only because it seemed kind of mean spirited of Robb, indicative of his youth and wildness. To be fair though, it came off of a fairly enjoyable challenge, and it was Clay he was yelling at, so it was kind of an acceptable target. Still, mean spirited, bottom 5.
4. Jim Rice’s New Opinion of Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”): I accept that Jim may have been justified in his feeling, and this is one of the most personal calls I’ve made on this list, but I still think Jim was particularly harsh to Cochran, given how the tribe had treated Cochran previously. I’ve ranted on this subject enough, so I’ll say no more here.
3. Colton Cumbie’s Existance (“Survivor One World”): A bit of a blanket statement, but apt in my opinion. Colton’s whining about not being accepted into the tribe got old fast, especially considering it seemed like he made no effort to improve his situation. Even when, by a large spate of luck, Colton made it on top, he STILL didn’t stop complaining. This is a major contributor as to why few fans like Colton, and why he’s on the list.
2. Abi-Maria Gomes’ Need to be Popular (“Survivor Philippines”): While Colton’s complaints of being disliked were painful, I at least give him credit that he had SOME basis for it initially. Abi-Maria’s paranoia, on the other hand, was just plain paranoia, unjustified and unpleasant.
1. Sue Hawk’s Hatch Issues (“Survivor All-Stars”): I’m not touching this one. This was just too sensitive of a subject to be entertaining and it’s still one of the hardest parts of “Survivor All-Stars” for me.
Honorable Mention: Terry Deitz’s Torch Etiquette (“Survivor Exile Island”): While he’s mainly remembered as a Challenge Dominator, social ostracism took its toll on Terry, culminating at him getting angry at Cirie for dropping his torch right in front of him, when she forgot he was there. Really, this was a projection of Terry’s frustration at not being able to break the Casaya alliance, and since I rooted for Terry, I found it an unpleasant tarnish on an otherwise good character. It gets honorable mention only because it didn’t make that big of an impact on the game, and resolved itself fairly quickly.
Next week should be a tribe swap. About time, the Fans need it bad! I suppose this means I have to learn the actual tribe names now, though…
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 
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