‘Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites’ castaway spotlight: Brenda Lowe
When you look at some of the Favorites on “Survivor Caramoan: Fans vs. Favorites,” it is pretty easy to draw the conclusion that not all of them are the best players in the history of this game. Two of them (Erik Reichenbach and Brandon Hantz) were voted out after giving up their immunity necklaces, another in Francesca Hogi was the first person voted off her season, and we also have Phillip Sheppard, a man who pretty much realized during his season that he had no chance at winning and deliberately played for second place.
However, there are exceptions to just about every rule, and in the case of this season, we have Brenda Lowe. Through most of “Survivor: Nicaragua,” we were almost positive that she was going to win the game. (Instead, we had Fabio. Ugh.) While there have been a number of people who have blamed her demise there on her refusal to scramble right before her last tribal council, we saw there being two major reasons why she could keep her status as frontrunner going until the end:
1. Marty (who should have also been on this season) was voted out, and he was someone who was constantly a bigger target than she was. You always need someone to stay who keeps the attention off of you.
2. The entire fiasco with Sash, who became too power-hungry for his own good prior to getting zero votes at the end.
Every season we see a crop of newbies come out and foolishly compare themselves to Parvati Shallow, but Brenda may actually have a case for doing so if she ever wanted to. She is a master manipulator, both smart and physically strong, and also knows how to get men to do what she wants. Basically, she is exactly what you would want a young, female “Survivor” contestant to be. Had Brenda played with better people other than Fabio and two quitters, she probably would be remembered even more fondly.
As for what could potentially hold Brenda back in the Philippines this time, the #1 thing is likely just that she is from an earlier season than many of these other people, so she doesn’t have the advantage of having pre-existing friendships. Plus, she’s not that involved in the “Survivor” community. The main thing she needs to ensure for herself early on is that she forms herself a strong alliance with someone like Malcolm Freberg, Andrea Boehlke, or Erik, that way she is constantly with somebody who will constantly be just as big of a threat as she is.
Prediction – We’ll say it again before the show starts up on February 13, but Brenda’s our pick to win the season right now. Her first game was actually rather similar to Parvati’s in that she played a very good game, but made a few simple mistakes that can be fixed. She’s a player that you don’t want to get rid of early due to challenges, and with we also have a feeling that some of the other players are not going to be so wise until very late in the game to realize how dangerous she is. at that point, she’ll likely have cut the metaphorical throats of the dominant men and be primed for a challenge run.
How well do you think that Brenda will do? In addition to sharing your thoughts below, you can also click here in order to see all of our other “Survivor Caramoan” castaway spotlights.
Photo: CBS