"Survivor: Caramoan" recap: A merge and a blindside

There are a few truths that reveal themselves in a season of "Survivor."

Sometimes the one who is doing the most wheeling and dealing ends up on the chopping block. Sometimes the person who has no strategy and does nothing is playing the better game by lying low.

And sometimes you have to eat a bug.

On Day 20, the contestants of "Survivor: Caramoan" had their cages rattled once again when the two tribes were merged. No more unbalanced competitions where the muscle is all one team -- it's an individual game now.

To celebrate, the producers pulled out the biannual bug-eating challenge, serving up a disgusting fare of beetle larvae, wormies and fetal ducks. When the gagging and grimacing subsided, Cochran the geek was doing the victory dance as the winner of the first individual immunity challenge.

And then it was on to the strategizing of the newly-combined group. Of the 12 remaining players, there were eight from the former Favorites tribe and a mere four from the Fans tribe. So conventional logic would have been for the eight former Favorites tribe members to pick off the four fans one-by-one, week-after-week.

But Corinne, the sassy clinical consultant from Los Angeles, went into General Patton mode and started deal-making with the desperate boys from the decimated Fans tribe -- Eddie and Reynold. And of course she also roped in her gay -- Corinne loves the gays! -- Michael.

All of this didn't sit well with her nemesis, Phillip, as well as Cochran and Dawn.

"If I had the votes I would vote her off,'' said Dawn.

"I would love that," said Cochran.

So sassy Corinne, who is always good for a few zingers about crazy Phillip -- "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" was her description of Phillip this week -- plucked early defeat from what should have been an easy few weeks paring down the remaining Fans members.

"You're dangerous," said Andrea as she cast her vote against Corinne.

It's a loss for the show, because snarky Corinne has been one of the stars of a fairly dull group. Her expression, as she realized her ship was sinking, was a masterpiece of pursed lips and annoyed eyes.

"In Gabon, the people I played with were actually very close to my heart. Here, I didn't really like anybody other than Michael and Malcolm," said Corinne as the credits rolled. "I knew there were problems, which was why I was looking to move out to a different alliance. Unfortunately I'm out of the game. You just got to look at it I got to spend 22 days in an awesome paradise and I made some new memories."

• "Survivor: Caramoan": On to the merge
• "Survivor: Caramoan" recap: Scrambled tribes
• "Survivor: Caramoan" recap: Painful television to watch
• "Survivor: Caramoan" -- Fans tribe takes 2 hits
• "Survivor: Caramoan" Week 3 recap: Revote!
• "Survivor: Caramoan": Pretty people take a hit
• "Survivor: Caramoan" -- History repeating
• New "Survivor" season pits fans against favorites

So the moral of the story is sometimes being a complete non-entity, like shaggy dog Erik or vacuous Eddie, is preferable to being dynamic. It's a very zen concept for a reality show!

What's your take on the new season? Post your comment below and then check out the coverage at our sister site CBS.com, where you can get all the inside scoop on the "Survivor" home page. And check out their post-show coverage each week.