'Survivor: Caramoan' Recap: Season 26 Episode 5 ‘Persona Non Grata’

Once at camp, everyone but Sherri agrees that the decision made at tribal council was for the best. Sherri tells the audience that she had a hard time voting for Laura because she reminded her a lot of her daughter. Not only that, but she was well aware that the whole tribe was voting for Laura so she didn’t want to be the odd person out.

Reynold tells the tribe it is good that the idol is gone. He claims that playing the idol was a turning point for the tribe. He also apologizes for his past actions and lack of trust in the tribe. Behind their backs, Reynold tells the audience that he enjoyed showing the tribe that they need him, suck at challenges, don’t do much around camp and are terrible strategic players.

Surprisingly, Matt sees through Reynold’s reasons for using the idol. He notes that it was him and Eddie against the tribe, so he had no choice but to use it to ensure his safety. On the other side of camp, Mike says he doesn’t want Reynold to find the idol. He states that Reynold is a really fierce competitor and he doesn’t want Reynold to pull through longer than he can in the game.

Night 10 at the Favorites camp opens up with Brandon having a heart to heart with the tribe. Brandon tells the tribe that he has passion but says he misses his family terribly. He admits to the tribe that he came on the show for selfish reasons and at the next tribal council he volunteers to go.

All tribe members have a different reaction to the news. Malcolm says he refuses to lose a tribe member over emotions. He tells the audience that Brandon should have thought about his family before he came on the show. Malcolm points out that his actions don’t just affect him, they affect the whole tribe as well.

When the tribe tells him that it’s not guaranteed they will vote him off, a fuse is lit in Brandon. He tells the tribe that he will burn the shelter and/or pee on the beans if they don’t, thus forcing their hand. Corinne grows concerned, calling Brandon crazy and how she wants him off the game immediately.

The next morning, Brandon comes to his senses. He tells everyone that though he realizes he came out to the island for selfish reasons, not motivational reasons, he thought about his actions as well as the impact it would have on the tribe and he’s decided to fight and stay.

At the reward challenge, Bikal gets a first look at the new Gota tribe. Laura was voted off last tribal council and the Favorites are surprised.

In this challenge, two members of each tribe will hold onto a rope attached to a net, the remaining tribe members will throw coconuts into the opposing tribe members net. Last tribe member still holding up their net wins reward, which is a BBQ dinner.
Jeff points out that the Favorites have 3 more tribe members than the fans. Andrea, Dawn and Erik volunteer to sit out while Phillip, Brandon, Matt and Michael get in position to hold the net.

At the start of the game, the Fans have a lot of momentum. Reynold scores the first basket for his tribe, landing it in Brandon’s net. Brenda scores for the Favorites, followed by Malcolm. Reynold continues to sink coconuts in Brandon’s basket, so Phillip yells out war tribe chants to distract the other team. It works, causing Sherri to miss the next two.

After tossing several coconuts into Brandon’s net, Reynold causes him to drop it, opening up the door for Gota to win the challenge. Realizing the Fans' strategy, Malcolm, with the help of Brenda, decides to throw all their coconuts in Matt’s net. Eventually Matt lets go evening up the challenge once again. It’s down to Phillip and Michael holding the net for their tribe. Julia and Reynold try to knock out Phillip, but he holds on. Michael, on the other hand, drops his net, losing the challenge for the Fans.

Back at camp, Eddie tells the tribe he thought the challenge would be a turnaround for the tribe but it wasn’t. He goes on to say the challenge was the biggest let down. The guys then all band together and agree that Gota needs to do something different in order to win challenges.

Sherri overhears the guys and grows angry at the discussion. She tells the audience that it's taking everything in her not to say anything to her tribe. She says that she voted off Laura to “help” the tribe, but they still lost. It’s clear the muscle on the tribe isn’t paying off.

In an attempt to secure their safety, everyone goes off in the woods to find the idol. Surprisingly, Reynold ends up finding the idol. Reynold tells the audience that he doesn’t plan on telling the majority alliance he found the idol because he doesn’t want it to be flushed. He notes that the last time they found out he had the idol, they started gunning for him. This time he wants to use the idol and make it count.

Reynold does decide to tell his Survivor partner, Eddie, that he found the idol. Upon hearing the news, Eddie agrees to team up with Reynold and ride the game out until the end. Eddie then notices Sherri looking for the idol. He comments on how funny it is that she is looking for an idol that’s already been found.

It’s day 13 and the two-day rain storm threatens to destroy the Gota tribe. Mike thinks the tribe shouldn’t stay in the shelter all day. He admits camp life has been hell since day one but he doesn’t think wallowing under the palms will increase their morale.

Brandon appears sullen after the game even though the tribe won. Andrea hopes this win will lift his spirits because they are on a winning streak and she wants to keep it that way. While eating, the tribe congratulates Brandon and everyone who helped to win the challenge, but Phillip steals his thunder. Brandon becomes irate and starts to argue with Phillip.

Tensions build as the argument gets nastier and nastier. Malcolm questions if Brandon’s emotions are real or strategic but notes that no matter how strategic they are, eventually his mood swings will become too draining for the tribe. After calming down, Brandon asks the tribe if he should go and apologize to Phillip. They all say no but Brandon goes off to find Phillip anyway.

On the other side of the beach, Phillip calls Brandon a street thug moments before he arrives. Phillip immediately tells Brandon he can’t slap the gift horse and that it was an honor for him to gain entry into Stealth R Us. Brandon starts to fume and asks Phillip what gives him the right to say who deserves to be in the game? They argue some more. Brandon eventually apologizes and Phillip accepts it. The two then go their separate ways.

Brandon now thinks everything is cool. He states that all he needs to do is control his temper and everything will be okay. The problem is, he doubts he will be able to do that since Phillip gets under his skin constantly. Phillip, on the other hand, knows everything isn’t cool. He says he doesn’t trust Brandon and he plans on voting him off the island the first chance he gets.

The following day, the Favorites endure the rain storm. Much to my surprise, they are able to light a fire in the rain with help from Brandon. Out of nowhere, Brandon says his rivalry with Phillip is getting to him. He tells the audience that he started the fire for the tribe and is the only one who knows how to so he doesn’t appreciate Phillip saying “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” He then screams, “I am feeding you!”

Later that day, Phillip plots to get Brandon off the tribe. His plan is to throw the challenge, even though he doesn’t want to. He then goes to share his idea with Andrea. Andrea asks Phillip what happens if they lose the immunity challenge. Phillip responds by telling Andrea to put him in the game so he can throw the challenge. Andrea disagrees with the plan.

Brandon, sensing there is some tension, walks up to Andrea and asks what’s going on. Andrea immediately says “nothing,” but Brandon doesn’t buy it. He flat out asks Andrea if Phillip plans to throw the immunity challenge and she responds by saying she “doesn’t like where this is going.” He then asks again, noting that he and Phillip buried the hatchet, and she says that she doesn’t think it will come to that.

Brandon becomes livid and searches for Phillip. He tells the audience that he hates that he helps around the camp, cooks food and win challenges for the tribe but Phillip is still gunning from him. Phillip admits to Brandon that it all boils down to trust and he just can’t trust him. Brandon instantly goes on a tirade, slamming Stealth R Us, calling it bullsh*t and the name's goofy. He then personally attacks Phillip and claims that no one on the tribe likes him either.

Brandon storms back to camp. He destroys the food, curses Phillip out from a distance and then follows him down the beach screaming obscenities, while the rest of the tribe cleans up what’s left of the food. Brandon continues to taunt Phillip as Andrea cries near the shelter because everything is destroyed. Dawn follows Brandon down the beach and tells him that he needs to calm down.

Over near the shelter, the tribe tries to decide if Brandon is fit to continue to play the rest of the game. If they decide he isn’t, they plan to forfeit the challenge and go straight to tribal council. Dawn admits that’s something that you don’t do but they have no other option.

At the immunity challenge, Jeff asks Reynold how he’s dealing with the losses. Reynold says it’s hard but no matter how much a tribe wins they aren’t all immune to the weather. Jeff then asks Phillip how he is adjusting within his tribe and the Brandon-Phillip argument ember begins to grow. Brandon tells Jeff that he had an outburst with Phillip and Brandon tells the Fans not to let Phillip get to the end.

Corinne tells Jeff that the tribe decided to forfeit the challenge so they can go to tribal council. She claims they want to hash out the discord in the “appropriate setting.” Angry, Brandon starts to yell at Phillip in front of everyone. He states that Boston Rob took him to the end of the game and that he didn’t do anything to earn the spot. He also mentions in front of Gota that the Stealth R Us names are cartoon names. At the end of his words to Phillip, he states he’s the master of his own fate.

Jeff notices all of the anger and asks him if it was hard on him playing the game the last time. Brandon says he had a rough time after playing. He claims that he receives a lot of slack from his family and friends because he cried on camera. He states that he refuses to let anyone walk all over him again and made a promise not to shed a tear.

Phillip says he tried to embrace Brandon from the moment they arrived on the island even after he rallied to obtain votes against Andrea the first night. Andrea, who’s slowly breaking down, chimes in, saying she grew close to Brandon and hates to hear hurtful things said to one another. Phillip says he never said hurtful things to Brandon and in turn, Brandon tells him to shut up. Phillip then calls him pathetic and Brandon yells back.

Jeff switches gears by asking Dawn how she feels. Dawn says she doesn’t want to be there. She says it’s too stressful and it’s a game. She just wants to focus on her game. Brandon says he wants to be the author and illustrator of his own game. He says he loves Dawn and Andrea but admits to destroying the food because he wants no one to eat if he isn’t eating.

Phillip says he has no ill feelings towards Brandon and the tribe chimes in. He goes on to say that he will look back one day and regret it. Phillip brings Brandon’s kids into the argument and that causes Brandon to get SUPER heated.

Jeff asks the Favorites if they still plan on forfeiting the challenge and when they say yes, Erik hands the immunity idol over to the Fans. The vote happens immediately. Everyone votes for Brandon while he votes for Phillip. Dawn cries and when asked if the tribe is better off after the vote, she says Brandon is better off and that’s all that matters.

Watch Survivor: Caramoan on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS

images: CBS