Rating: 5.5/10
Caramoan left a good taste in your mouth, ending with a unanimous victory by a charismatic, dynamic and deserving competitor. It was one of those Survivor seasons that was more appreciable for the blueprint laid down by its champion than spirited endgame contention between multiple foes.
Caramoan repeated the fans vs. favorites gimmick that sired an extremely entertaining season in its first iteration. Unfortunately, Caramoan's fan tribe let the season down. Its "Alliance of the Weak" immediately offed two strong women before the team oaf was med-evaced. Then the physically overmatched fans turned on their strategic leader Laura cause she wasn't helping them win challenges. Team tour guide Reynold used his idol unnecessarily, but found it again the next day.
Meanwhile, undeserving favorite Brandon Hantz went off the deep end and dumped out the tribe's rice and beans, forcing them to forfeit the next challenge to get rid of him. A tribal swap failed to deepen the intrigue, as the favorites wound up with 4-3 advantages on both new tribes and played out their numbers.
The season's only real strategic drama came in the aftermath of the Merge. Favorites Malcolm and Corinne saw some early writing on the wall and attempted to ally with fans to upend the pecking order. But the favorites sniffed it out and served Corinne a delicious blindside. Then they targeted Malcolm, though it took three episodes of idol shenanigans before the nail was buried in his coffin. He spent $480 on an idol clue at the auction but could not find it to save his life.
Aggressive and scrappy Reynold went next, followed by an epic preemptive blindside of idol-owning Andrea. Brenda gave up a challenge reward with her dad so four others could enjoy it with their loved ones. Then she deliberately lost an immunity challenge to mitigate Dawn's paranoia, but none of that stopped them from slitting her throat with six left. Brenda's tearful execution cleared the path for Cochran, who won Final Immunity and casually iced two hopeless orators at Final Tribal. It was one of the most dominant and satisfying performances in Survivor history.
