survivor philippines: palau: airai reigns supreme, justine voted off

here is a recap of survivor philippines: Palau's first week. the show started off with the castaways being fetched fofrom their homes. they have a limited time to pack and they need to go with the staff to palau immediately. the emotions were high since some of them have not yet said goodbye to their loved ones. this part reminds me so much of the first episode of pinoy fear factor. i think they could have had a special primer where they showed this just like last season where the castaways were introduced during a special sunday show rather than during the first episode.

upon arrival at the island, they were greeted by paolo bediones. he then asked the two oldest castaways to step forward. it was cris and carol. cris was assigned in airai and carol was assigned to koror. they will pick tribes. males will pick female members and vice versa. so the final tribes were:

airai: cris, amanda,mika, jef, vlad, troy, shaun, maya
koror: carol, justine, echo, tara, marvin, louie, suzuki, charles

then they were off to the first challenge. they were asked to navigate the island using a map. they should follow the marked path and avaoid going to the areas marked with red exclamation points. they will carry with them 2 heavy crates containing their supplies. the first tribe to get to the other side of the island wins and will take home to their camp the supplies. the losing tribe will take only the bolo. the race was pretty much even at the start with airai working as a team a little better. but it was obvious in the end that airai had better communication skills than koror, giving them the edge and eventually winning the race. so airai takes the supplies and koror settles for the bolo.

at camp, both tribes made shelter upon their arrival at the area. airai had ann easy time makinbg their shelter since they divided the labor among themselves and they easily agreed on the area. on the other hand, koror had strong personalities that they had a hard time finishing their shelter. both tribes also found their water supply and their tree mail. that night, both teams attempted to make fire but bothe were unsuccessful. they settled for body heat to warm them up. charles went down with a fever and was helped by his koror tribemates to keep warm.

there was another reward challenge in day 2. here is the mechanics lifted from wikipedia:

The members of each tribe are divided into two: one group of six puzzle seekers and another group of two puzzle solvers. The puzzle seekers, harnessed to each other, enter a partially-submerged maze to retrieve twelve bundles of puzzle pieces and exit through the opposing tribe's entrance. The puzzle pieces are passed to the puzzle solvers, who would untie the pieces and solve the puzzle. First tribe to solve their puzzle wins the second reward.

the reward is a flint so they can make fire.it was a see saw battle in the beginning, with both tribes retrieving the puzzle pieces in the maze. they even tually collected all 12 but it was koror who got out of the maze first, with airai not far behind. it is now up to the puzzle solvers. and in the end, airai's puzzle solvers were better than koror's. so it was airai again winning reward.
at camp, both tribes are now strategizing on who to vote out, despite the fact that the immunity challenge has not taken place. at koror, the guys and the girls are planning for a gender based vote. since the tribe is split into 4 - 4, the guys are planning to get jef to their side while the girls are planning to get cris to their side. in airai, carol's attitude is getting into the castaways nerves and talks of voting her off in the tribal council is intensifying.

then came the immunity challenge. here is the mechanics again from wikipedia:

Each tribe would dig out a stone monolith weighing 250 kg (550 lb) and carry it between two balance beams and over a wall before placing it on its new portal. Once that is done, two tribe members would jump into a sand pit and search for the immunity idol. First person to find the idol wins immunity for their tribe.

if koror wins immunity, they will get their supplies. if airai wins, they will decide if the supplies will be given to koror. at the start of the race, it was koror leading since they got the monolith out of the sand first. airai followed soon and caught up in the balance beam. it was the good teamwork of airai that enabled them to take over the lead. the wall was really a challenge to both teams. but airai proved to be stronger. airai was first to the pit and never looked back. it was shaun who found the immunity idol, giving airai the first immunity. koror did not even passed the wall.

the airai tribe decided not to give the supplies to koror. and their is another twist. the eye of the idol when pulled out turns into a bracelet. this is an immunity bracelet. the winning tribe will decide to whom they will give the bracelet among the losing tribe and that castaway will be safe from the vote. without second thoughts, they decided to give it to carol, who they think is the weakest among the tribe. the second eye of the idol also is an immunity bracelet. paolo got it and said that will come into play in the later part of the game.

back at camp, koror was really disappointed on their loss and they were still talking about the challenge. realizing that they were up for the vote and they cannot vote out carol, two names comes up in the chopping block. first, it was charles for being too relaxed in the challenge and having no "mind power". another name was justine since they were worried if she can still cope up in the next challenges. it was clear that louie, suzuki and marvin has an alliance. the girls (justine, tara and echo) also formed theirs. there was also some drama when charles said to tara's face that he is considering voting her off. tara was so angry that he swore at charles. the macias sisters really speaks their minds out.

at tribal council, justine's identity was revealed. justine is a transgender, a man who underwent operation to become a woman. it was revealed to the koror tribe in day 2 when the suzuki told louie that he thinks justine is gay. louie then told tara and tara told echo. echo was the one who asked justine and she confirmed it. she said that it was a complement that they did not notice it at first.

then came the votes. here are the votes:

charles
justine
justine
justine
justine
justine

5 is enough so justine is the first castway to be voted off this season. the final score is 7 - 1, only justine voted for charles. it was a complete backstab at week 1. justine never saw it coming. she though that everyone was voting for charles.

in the primer for next week, it was shown that justine is not eliminated yet. she was brought to a new island and will live there. and she might be able to join the game again. this is the same concept used in survivor pearl islands where the outcasts (the third tribe) competed in week 7 against the 2 tribes. if they placed first, 2 of them will come back to the game. if they placed 2nd, only 1 can come back. it was burton and lil who rejoined the castaways after the challenge. so

let's see how the philippine version works.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_Philippines_(season_2)

survivor tocantins: debbie's game is over

school principal debbie beebe becomes the 10th castaway voted off survivor tocantins: the brazlian highlands. she lasted 33 days and becomes the fourth member fo the jury.

after the last tribal council, where sierra was voted off; coach was visibly upset that taj and erin did not vote for sierra. they are calling them cowards. debbie is getting annoyed by all that coach is saying. coach is plotting to vote off taj, then erinn, which he has agreed with jt. he still has no clue that jt and stephen is not solid in their alliance.

the next morning, debbie woke up and decided that her alliance with coach is not doing her any favor and coach is not liked by any one at camp. so she decided to put her game face on and drop coach and plot to vote him out. she talks with jt about it jt is still in doubt about debbie's loyalty.

the reward challenge for this week is the survivor auction. each castaway has 500 dollars to buy any of the items up for grabs. teh first item is french fries with mayo and ketchup dip. taj and debbie wants this and bids for it. but in the end, it was debbie who won the fries.

next item is chicken parmessan and garlic bread and a glass of wine. coach immediately bids at 100, stephen beat it at 120. they are fighting for it when jt immediately raises it to 300. coach raised it to 320 and jt did not bid any more. coach gets the item.

the next item will be kept covered. jt and stephen are bidding for it. but in the end, it was jt at 160 dollars that won it. when the item was revealed, jt was pleased to see that it was nachos. the fourth item is also covered. stephen bids at 20 and jt challenges him up to the 100 mark, saying that anything is painful to see below 100. so the fourth item goes to stephen. jeff reveals that it is chicken heart, which is a local delicacy in brazil.

the last item is now for auction. it's a cellphone with a message from home. any castaway can give his or her money to someone who they think deserves it (they can pool money) and only one can receive the message from home. the castaways gave their money tpo taj, who misses her family the most. so taj wins the last item.

what? erinn did not even participate in the auction. she did not even bid once. is she the first to ignore the auction in survivor history?

so taj cries over the message from his husband with his son and their dog. at the end, her husband said "see you at camp..." and he kisses the camera. jeff repeated the last statement to taj and it was only then that taj realized that her husband will be there in tocantins!

so jeff reveals the twist, if she agrees to go to exile with her husband, all the other castaways will get to see their lovedones. of course taj will agree, for all of them gave their money so taj can buy the last item in the auction. so all of them will see their loved ones.

taj heads on to exile where she meets her husband, football player eddie george. he was amazed on how much weight she has lost and she shows him her insect bitten legs and unshaved armpits, oh how sweet...

back at camp, the other castaways meet their loved ones. jt got a visit from his little sister, stephen got his brother, erinn got his dad and debbie was with her husband. but wait, coach's loved one is his assistant coach. does coach's family doesn't want to see him? hugs here and their, crying everywhere. i think this is one of the most emotional reunions ever in survivor.

when it was time to say goodbye, all had a hard time letting go and there was more crying and hugging....

the immunity challenge follows soon. it's an obstacle race and a mental challenge as well. each castaway must dig a hole on the sand below a plank. they must pass through the hole and below the plank. they would next cross a balance beam and then crawl under ropes to the end of the course. at the end, they need to memorize 10 math symbols that they need to put in order on the equation on the starting line. they will then solve the equation. first castaway to finish wins immunity.

at the start, it was jt who leads the course, followed by coach then taj and tstephen. jt had a huge lead and was the first to write down symbols on his board. most of the castaways had 2 trips through the course before they got all the symbols, except for stephen, who got it all on his first trip. it was down to jt and stephen on solving the math equation. but in the end, it was stephen who finish first. jeff checks his board and declared... stephen wins immunity!

back at camp, more haggling continues. debbue is still considering voting coach out. the ex-jalapao tribe is in complete control of the game! it is really amazing. who ever goes tonight will definitely be between debbie or coach. coach is still clueless that jt and stephen is not with him. poor coach.

at tribal council, coach again provided so much words of wisdom about the remaining castaways and the jury seems annoyed by it. so it still comes down to the vote. stephen keeps the immunity necklace and he is the only one who is safe tonight.

so now, the votes:

taj
debbie
coach
debbie
debbie
debbie

debbie is eliminated!

coach looks surprised. he is the only one who did not know that debbie is going (aside from debbie of course). hope he realizes he is in danger next tribal council.

survivor tocantins: spencer eliminated

spencer duhm, the youngest survivor castaway ever at 19, was the 5th person voted off the show after he was eliminated unanimously by the jalapao tribe. spencer is a student from lakeland, florida.

the episode started with taj and stephen working together to find the hidden immunity idol at the jalapao tribe. unknown to their tribemates, they have a secret alliance with brendan and sierra of the timbira tribe, which was formed at the exile island. they got the hidden immunity idol at the tree mail, which completes the plan of taj and brendan.

at timbira, sierra got a chance to talk to brendan privately. she said that taj has talked about the alliance while they were in exile and she is willing to join. this made their plan btter since sierra was really on it.

the reward challenge was a very unique one. a tribemate will sit tied to a spinning platform. on jeff's signal, another tribemate would race to that platform, get the rope attached to it and pull it, allowing the platform to spin. when it stops spinning, the tribemate on the platform would stand up, untie himself and try to finish a bbalance beam. if he falls, he will start all over again. first tribe to get 3 points wins reward. the reward is a chance to drink coffee and eat pastries at a cafe.

timbira got to an early lead, 1 - 0 by scoring the first point. but jalapao proved their determination and scored the next three points through great efforts from spencer, sydney and jt. only taj failed to deliver on the jalapao side. jalapao wins immunity and decided to send brendan back to exile island. brendan then chose stephen to go with him, since stephen is also part of their secret alliance.

at the reward, jalapao enjoyed the coffee and pastries and used clean bathroom. but what made it better was they received letters from home. most of them got emotional, especially the girls. jt almost cried after reading his letter. this gave them mental edge over the other team.

at exile island, brendan and stephen got to know each other better. they are the only ones that has not talked personally among the four allies. stephen als revealed to brendan that they already found the idol at the jalapao tribe and it was with stephen. this made brendan happy since their plan is very much on track. stephen was still not convinced if he will go with the alliance or not but he is trying it out.

at the immunity challenge, 2 members of the tribe will release a ball from a large slingshot and their 4 other tribemates would try to catch them using handheld nets. each successful catch would merit a point for the tribe. first team to get 5 points wins the challenge. jt immediately went to work and gave jalapao a 2-0 lead. brendan then got 2 catches, tying the game. then jt got one again. this time, he bumped his mouth on the handle of his net, thus losing half of his front tooth. jeff pointed out that it was the first point scored in survivor history while losing a tooth. jt then again got a catch. then coming from behind, tyson scored 3 more points for timbira, and timbira won immunity.

jt was very disappointed at spencer since he was almost useless at this challenge. jt wants him out of the game. sensing that she is a candidate to be sent home, taj had a n impulsive outburst; going at joe and defending herself. but at tribal council, it was stephen's weak performance that mattered and jalapao sent spencer home via a 5 - 1 vote. spencer's vote went to taj.

at the end, jeff pointed out that jalapao has lost its 2nd straight member and more importantly, they have lost momentum.they need to win to get back in the game.

spencer was really disappointed being voted off this early. he knew that he can do better than what he has shown in the 15 days he spent on the island. he is openly gay but decided to hide it to his tribe. spencer is now rumored to be dating survivor china's winner, todd herzog.

survivor philippines: rob wins last individual immunity challenge

the last individual immunity challenge involves strength and endurance. in this challenge, the castaways needs to hang on a handle attached to an inclined platform with a water drum. water is released from the drum, making the platform slippery. the angle is increased every fifteen minutes. the last survivor holding the handle wins immunity and gets the chance to choose which one of the remaining 2 castaways he will bring to the final 2.

the challenge started quite even since the platform was almost horizontal. the scorching sun was also a challenge since they are facing the sun. this went on until the second level. on the third level, almost all of them are struggling because of the exhaustion and heat. the water is also causing them to slip.

charisse was really struggling at this point. she cannot hold on any longer and she gave up after 47 minutes. it was only between rob and jc at this point. rob found a comfortable position, sitting down near the handle and relied on arm strength to hold on. jc was really struggling and cannot hold on any longer after almost an hour in the challenge.

rob was declared the winner and now has a tough decision to make on who to vote out and who to take with him in the final two.

survivor philippines: will the survivor car curse haunt jc?

in the us version of survivor, there is a thing called the "car curse". in all of the seasons where there is a car reward, all the winners of the car never made it as sole survivor. here is a summary of previous winners of the car reward challenges and the sole survivor for that season:





looking at the table, it is clear that out of 13 season with a car reward, all car winners never won as sole survivor. even yau man who tried to avoid the curse in survivor fiji by giving the car to another castaway (dreamz) did not escape the curse.


last night in survivor philippines, jc tiuseco chose to keep the car rather than keep immunity. will the car curse haunt jc? will the curse reach the philippine version of the show? let us watch the finale next week to see if the curse still holds true.

survivor philippines: jc wins new car, gives rob immunity

survivor philippines' 7th individual immunity challenge is a combination some elements of previous challenges. first, they need to roll the large ball that they used in 4th immunity challenge to a mat. once the ball is on the mat, they can proceed to the second station, where they need to roll a long fabric on their body from a pol and release it by rolling over the sand. after that, they need to run to the next station, where an eating challengeis located. they need to eat 4 thai local delicacies.

after they finish all 4, they will climb a vertical wall and cross a cargo net. at the end of the net, they will run to a sand pit and retrieve 7 blocks. they will place all blocks on a table. each block contains thai symbols for the days of the weeks. they need to arrange the blocks in the correct order. if they are wrong. they need to go to a cheat table and go back again to rearrange the block. if its already correct, the castaway would raise his flag. first castaway to finish wins immunity.

in the first challenge, jc still got the early lead on the ball, followed closely by rob & cris. jc was the first one on the second station and was also the first to finish. on the eating challenge, cris finish first and was the first in the wall climb and cargo net but jc quickly caught up with him. they were neck to neck in the sandpit. rob also caught up. while the men were in the sand pit, charisse slowly but surely caught up with them and eventually joined them in the sand pit.

the blocks proved to be hard to find. jc and cris already have 6 a piece. rob already has 5 and charisse has 4. it is still everybody's game up to this point. the castaways was fighting not only the scorching sun but also the pain of digging for a long time. with luck on his side, jc found his last block. he then ran to the cheat table. rob stopped digging, and just watched jc. cris was teasing him that he only depended on jc and was confident that he will not be voted off.

jc came back to his table and arranged the blocks. paolo checked and confirmed it correct. jc then raised his flag and paolo declared him the winner.

to the castaways' surprise, paolo revealed that jc would have a choice. he can keep immunity and be safe in the tribal council or he can chose to keep a brand new car and give up immunity. if he keeps immunity, he needs to give the car to someone else. jc chose to keep the car and give rob the immunity necklace.

will jc's choice of the car payoff? being a big threat physically and strategically, he is now vulnerable to being voted off the island. also, the us version of survivor has this thing called "car curse" since all the winners of the car challenge all failed to become the sole survivor. will ujc fall to this curse?

survivor philippines: cris wins individual immunity challenge

this week's immunity challenge will surely test the top 5 castaways endurance. in this challenge, the castaways will stand on a plank on top of springs. initially, all castaways will hold on to 2 ropes attached to a frame around the plank. they need to balance themselves and avoid falling off. after 30 minutes, one hand on the rope will be removed. after another 30 minutes, they will free both hands. after another 30 minutes, they need to lift one foot from the plank. the last person on the plank wins immunity.

all 5 castaways were pretty much even in the first hour of the competition. after one hour, fatigue from standing for an hour starts to set in. all boys decided to lean on the frame and both girls decided to sit on the plank. the boys are now fighting back aches and the girls are fighting numbness on their butt. after approximately one hour and 20 minutes, zita lost her concentration and fell off the plank.

after 1 hour and 30minutes, when it was time to release one foot from the plank, rob fell off and was eliminated. on his interview, he said that he threw the challenge since he observed that charisse was very comfortable with her position and jc and cris would definitely last long. it was a wise decision to just watch since he feels comfortable with his alliance.

no one of the three remaining survivors budged after 4 hours on the plank and it was already dark in the area. fatigue is really setting in. switching to a more comfortable position, charisse lost her balance and fell off the plank after staying for 4 hours and 10 minutes. it was a battle between the 2 former naak members. jc was offering something to cris through some hand signals. jc then stepped down from the plank and gave cris immunity.

this is the first individual immunity win for cris. of the 5 remining castaways, only rob has no individual immunity win. the immunity made cris's 2 votes due to the black pearl curse useless. all plans to vote him out will also be cancelled. who will be voted out next with all these developments and the surprise tribal council which was held on the same night of the challenge?

survivor philippines: zita wins individual reward challenge

after 33 days, the castaways sees someone from home in the fourth individual reward challenge of survivor philippines. this week's challenge is a pair challenge, and their partners are someone from home. for zita, it is his son-in-law leo. for cris, it is his mother aida. for rob and charisse, it is their dads bobot and chito respectively. and for jc, it is his girlfriend alu. all of them became emotional after seeing their loved ones.

in this challenges, the survivors will be tied on the waist by a garterized rope and they will be blindfolded. they need to get 15 flags of their assigned colors and give them to their loved one who are standing on an elevated platform. their loved ones will be their guide and they will give the castaways directions on where their flags are. the loved one will also hang the flag on a rope. first to collect and hang 15 flags wins the reward.

the reward for the challenge is an overnight stay and tour in bangkok, thailand.

it was a pretty even match up until the final several minutes. since the castaways were tied in the waist, they had difficulty reaching the flags that are far from the platform. towards the end, it was a close match between zita, jc and cris; leaving charisse and rob on the tail end. it was surprising that rob got the least number of flags. in the end, it was zita who got the 15 flags first and was declared the winner.

zita also has an option to choose another castaway that would accompany them to bangkok. zita chose cris, who wanted it badly. so the ones going to bangkok are zita & leo and cris & aida. she also needs to choose a castaway that would have his loved one stay overnight at camp and experience camp life. he chose jc, and alu would spend the night at chalam camp.

will zita's choice to get cris be advantageous to her? or will charisse grab the chance to strategize with jc and rob to last long in the game?

survivor philippines: jc wins 5th individual immunity challenge

this week's immunity challenge is a 4 stage challenge. in the first stage, the survivors will climb up a wall then swing into a cargo net. they eed to cross to the other end of the cargo net and get a flag and run to a mat. first four castaway to step on the mat with a flag advances to the next round.

on the second stage, survivor will swim to floating bamboos. they need to cross over each bundle of bamboos. on the last bamboo, they need to get a yellow flag and return to the shore using the same process, crossing over each bamboo bundle. first three castaway to step on the mat advances to the third round.

on the third round, castaway will dig 6 colored planks in a sandpit. first two castaway to dig all six planks and raise a flag advances to the last round, in the 4th stage, the castaway needs to match each plank to a step on the ladder. when all the planks are matched, he will climb the ladder and get the elephant on top of the ladder. first to get the lephant wins immunity.

it was a very physical challenge. on the first stage, jc got the early lead, followed by cris. charisse and kaye had a hard time climbing up the wall. jc finished the first round first, followed by cris, then zita. rob was the last one to qualify, eliminating charisse and kaye in this challenge.

the second round was a pretty much even round for all. all four reached the bamboos at almost the same time but they had difficulty detaching the flags in the last bamboo bundle. jc stepped on the mat first, followed closely by zita and cris qualified last. rob simply gave up when cris started swimming back to shore.

in the sandpit, all 3 remaining challengers had a hard time finding the planks. jc got a white plank first, then zita found a yellow one, leaving cris to find violet ones. to make things worse, cris got a big wound from the first round, making it so hard to dig. jc was the first one to complete all six planks and never looked back from that point on. he easily matched the planks and got the elephant, and win immunity.

it was jc's 2nd straight individual immunity challenge win. he will be safe from elimination in the next tribal council.

survivor philippines: jc wins fourth individual immunity challenge

this week's individual immunity challenge is a three stage challenge. first, all remaining 7 cast aways will run to their respective stations and answer 5 questions. all questions are answerable by a number and are about the past challenges. once completed, they will perform the required mathematical operation and find the scroll with the answer. if the answer is correct, they will get a metal key. if wrong, a wood key will be inside the scroll. they will open a lock and launch a flag. first three cast aways will advance to the next round.


in the second stage, the cast away need to finish a rope course. after that, they need to answer another series of questions just like in the first round. after they launch their flag, they need to transport 3 pails of rocks from the starting line to the finish point using only 3 poles and a flat board. first person to cross the finish line wins immunity.


before the start of the challenge, paolo showed them a 10 second message from home. for charisse, it was his brother and mother. for jc and marlon, messages came from their girlfriends. for kaye and cris, it was from their mothers. for rob, it was his brother and for zita, it's from her bestfriend. as an additional reward, the winner will hear the whole message.

all castaways had a hard time figuring out the answers to the questions on the first station. it was kaye who first answered all questions correctly. she is the first one to do the rope course. she was halfway to the course when jc finished the questions, and seconds after, it was marlon who qualified. the other cast aways are eliminated.

on the rope course, kaye finished first followed closely by jc. marlon finished the course quickly and all of them proceeded to the 2nd set of questions. it was again kaye who finished first and jc followed soon. kaye had a hard time pulling those stones and jc took over the lead. jc never looked back and eventually won immunity.

paolo then informed jc that he can choose two other castaways that will also watch their whole message. jc chose cris and marlon. as an additional reward, jc had a chance to call his girlfriend in the philippines which was cuortesy of smart.

survivor philippines: veronica wins second individual immunity challenge

taekwondo champ veronica domingo won the second individual immunity challenge on day 23 of survivor philippines. the immunity challenge was an endurance challenge. a bahay kubo was set up on the beach with 9 partitions. each cast away will occupy one partition. on each side of the partitions are 3 rungs, one is 1 inch wide, another is 3/4 inch wide and the last is 1/2 inch wide. on paolo's que, the cast aways will step on the the 1 inch rung and avoid falling off. when a cast away falls off, he is out of the game. after 20 minutes, they would transfer to the 3/4 inch rung. after 20 more minutes, they will again transfer to the 1/2 inch rung. the last person on the rung will be declared the winner.

the first 20 minutes was quite easy for almost all the cast aways. but just before the first 20 minutes ended, paolo brought out a plate of chips and ice cold softdrink; which will go to the first person to quit. just after all of them transferred to the middle rung, rob stepped down and went for the plate of chips.

after 10 more minutes, paolo then offered a plate of spaghetti and drinks; which marlon accepted gladly. the remaining 7 cast aways all lasted the second round and eventually transferred to the last rung.

after 45 minutes, kiko then gave up. charisse was really struglling and eventually gave up after more than 50 minutes. then jc slipped just before the 1 hour mark. nanay zita soon followed the others after 1 hour and 46 minutes in the challenge.

paolo then offered a plate of fried chicken meal to the 3 remaining cast away just before the 2 hour mark. marlon immediately convinced kaye to come down, sensing that she is already struggling. kaye came down after 2 hours on the challenge.

cris and vern are the only ones left in the challenge. cris was doing this for his father, so he can be proud of him. another hour passed, cris was now in pain and vern is still calm and relaxed. vern even offered a handshake to cris. it was now dark and a bonfire was set up to light the challenge area. another hour passed and cris was really struggling and crying. saying that his father would get angry if he quits. but he evntually called it quits and stepped down, giving vern the immunity.

vern is the second female castaway to win the individual immunity, after zita won iundividual immunity on day 20. looks like the girls are performing better than the male cast aways in immunity challenges.

image is from http://www.allaboutidolshows.com/

survivor philippines: zita wins first individual immunity challenge

the oldest member of the merged tribe chalam became the first individual immunity challenge winner of survivor philippines. zita, tha laudrywoman and naak tribe's mother won the challenge by a wide margin over much youger cast aways.

the challenge is a 2 stage challenge. in the first stage, the cast aways will run from the starting point to the enclosure. they must dig into the sand to get into the enclosure. first 5 cast aways to complete this and step into the mat will advance to the next stage. the cast aways were quite even in this stage, with jace, jc, zita, charisse and veronica advancing to the second stage. marlon got stuck under the fence since the hole he dug was too small. kiko choose the wrong spot to dig. cris's leg got stuck while kaye and rob were not even visible in the challenge.

in the second stage, the survivor would again dig a hole to get into the next enclosure where sticks and ropes are scattered. they need to build a pole long enough to reach the key to the shackles that they are wearing in their wrists. once they unlock the shackles, they would again dig to the next enclosure where they need to cross the maze and run to the finish mat. first person to step on the mat wins individual immunity.

jc, jace and zita were the first one to enter the 2nd enclosure. charisse soon followed. jc and zita were the first ones to try reaching for the key. zita was the successful one. veronica only entered the enclosure after zita reached the key. zita was able to unlock the shackles and from then on, never looked back and eventually won the challenge.

zita is assured of at least 4 more days in the island. who will be voted out next? will naak continue to stick together? will jarakay be able to stir things up? will they vote for the physical threat or the weakest link? tribal council is coming this friday. who will be the first jury member?

survivor philippines: naak wins week 6 immunity challenge

survivor philippines' week 6 immunity challenge was the same challenge used as the reward challenge for episode 2 of survivor vanuatu and episode 4 of survivor fiji. unfortunately, i did not get any pictures from survivor vanuatu. but here are some pictures from survivor fiji (pics taken from survivor phoenix and from the official cbs website):

the challenge starts with the palyers lined up in a narrow plank. the last person needs to cross the plank up to the other end, passing through each other tribe member. they are not allowed to sit or stoop down. if they fall, the one who is crossing the plank would start all over. but if only the other cast away falls, he then goes to the end of the line. first tribe to have all 5 members in the center platform wins immunity.

since naak has one extra member, kaye will sit out this challenge. naak has a clear advantage on this challenge since they are thinner and smaller. jc was the first to cross for naak and veronica for jarakay. jc fell into the water with cris so they had to start again. jc then had an easy time crossing the plank and passing through his tribemates. he finished with vern only through nikki. vern then needs to cross charisse who eventually fell into the water. next was marlon, whose girth was no help in the challenge and eventually jumped into the water.

on the other tribe, it was kiko's turn to traverse the plank. he had an easy time until he reached cris. they eventually fell into the water and kiko started over again. the second try was successful and naak never looked back and finished ahead of jarakay. no one from jarakay finished the challenge.

this is naak's 5th win, 4 challenges in a row. they would definitely gain the upperhand during the merge, since they have the numbers 6 - 4. on the other hand, jarakay needs to vote out another member. will this be another surprise vote with one of the stronger members getting the boot since the merge is coming? or will they vote out the weakest link that is not helping them in camp and in challenges? we will see in tonight's episode of survivor philippines.

survivor philippines: naak wins week 5 immunity challenge

survivor philippines' fifth immunity challenge was the same challenge used as the immunity challenge in episode 3 of survivor palau. please see screencaps below:

it was also used as the immunity challenge in episode 2 of survivor cook islands:

the challenge involves 6 cast aways per tribe, each person carrying a bag at 10 pounds each. each tribe would start at opposite ends of the round playing field. they would traverse the perimeter of the round fence. when a tribe gets to the last person of the other tribe, that member would be out of the game. she would pass her bag to the other member of the tribe and goto an enclosure in the middle of the playing field. the tribe that could eliminate all the other tribe's member will win immunity.

at the start of the challenge, it was evident that it was nikki who is jarakay's weakest link and it was kaye in naak. jarakay decided to let go of nikki and nikki was out of the race. they also let go of charisse in the next round. what they did not realize was that the weight gets heavier everytime a cast away is out of the game, which eventually slowed jarakay down. naak never lost its advantage and eventually won the challenge, winning it by a sweep: 6-0.

this is naak's 2nd win out of 5 immunity challenge. this is the first back to back challenge won by naak, after winning the reward challenge last monday. on the other hand, this is jarakay's first back to back loss and they will go to tribal council on friday to eliminate another member. this would be the first time that naak would have the advantage in terms of numbers.

survivor philippines: naak wins week 3 immunity challenge

after losing 5 straight challenges, naak wins its first ever challenge and immunity for this week. the challenge is an eating challenge (which is a main stay for all the seasons of survivor). in this challenge, the local delicacies of thailand are arranged in a wheel. the wheel is spun by paolo. after the wheel stops, the food where the pointer points is the food that they are going to it. jarakay would choose the member from naak for that round and vice versa. first cast away to show an empty mouth wins the round. its a race to 5 points.

round 1: the wheel stopped at tarantula and the match up was jc from naak and nikki from jarakay. jc immediately put all 3 tarantuals into his mouth while nikki took it one at a time. nikki had a hard time getting the tarantula down and jc sailed to victory. naak leads, 1-0.

round 2: the wheel stopped at scorpions. the tribes choose kaye for naak and charisse for jarakay. both did well in this round, but hard exoskeleton of the scorpion proved to be a great challenge for both. it was close but kaye finished first. naak leads 2-0.

round 3: the wheel stopped at millipedes and the match ups were kiko for naak and veronica from jarakay. in last monday's episode, veronica already said that she is not comfortable with this challenge since she is not a fan of exotic food. kiko took an early lead and did not look back sionce. kiko wins, and naak leads, 3-0.


round 4: the wheel stopped at coconut worms. the match up was rob for naak and nina for jarakay. it was a close fight for both cast aways stuffed everything into their mouth immediately. john was shown dancing to get his mind away from what he is eating. in the end, it was rob who finished first. naak leads, 4-0.

round 5: the wheel stopped at another worms (sorry, i did not get what kind of worms...). it was cris for naak and gigit for jarakay. both too all of the worms into their mouth and cris eventually showed an empty mouth in a matter of seconds. naak wins immunity, 5-0.

it was a definite blow out for naak. naak had the advantage in almost all match ups. naak definitely knows how to choose who fights who. that made the difference in that challenge.

it was chaos at jarakay camp after the challenge. marlon is helping the girls, giving the warning that nina is in danger. john and jace decided to go for patani, as gigit has previously said. nikki is also in danger since she has been crying and showing homesickness. who are the power players in jarakay? it would definitely be john, charisse and marlon.

survivor philippines: week 2 immunity challenge

the immunity challenge for the second week of survivor philippines involves each team competing in different match ups. they would race onto one of the 5 circles in the sand and dug up a thai pillow. they would then run to their respective tribe mats. the person or person that would first step on their tribe mat with a hand on the pillow would gain a point for their tribe. first team to gain 5 points wins immunity.

this is the exact immunity challenge that was played in the third episode of survivor panama, more popularly known as survivor exile island. see pictures from that season below (lifted from http://resources.survivorphoenix.com/ )

first match up: jace (jarakay) vs kiko (naak) - kiko was the first one to find the pillow. jace asked kiko for them to battle it out for the pillow. jace was applying his knowledge on fighting was really giving kiko a hard time. kiko was pulling on jace's shorts. jace asked kiko for time to adjust his shorts which was falling down. this repeated several times. on the last time, jace stood up, adjusted his shorts, apologized to kiko and ran with the pillow. kiko was caught off guard because he thought he had a gentleman's agreement with jace. jarakay takes the lead, 1-0.

many can question jace's action, but this is survivor.. never trust anyone. jace simply outwitted kiko. i did not see it as cheating, it was plainly playing the game to your advantage. its a challenge, don't allow your opponents to gain an upperhand.

second match up: veronica and marlon (jarakay) vs cris and zita (naak) - it was naak again who found the pillow. when the pillow was out of the sand, the struggle for the pillow commences. i was really amazed by the fighting spirit of veronica. she was fearless out there. zita also held ground when she tackled veronica when she ran off with the pillow, just before she gets to the tribe mat. cris had a presence of mind to hold the pillow and extend his feet to touch the naak tribe mat. naak ties it up, 1-1.

in this round, the girls were more impressive than the boys. zita and veronica were really giving their all in the challenge. but it was cris' presence of mind that gave naak their point. i am confused on why cris was so emotional on that point. was he crying?

third match up: gigit, john and charisse (jarakay) vs jc, rob and kaye (naak) - same strategy as the previous round, the teams were looking and observing each other while digging. this is the most boring match up, i think. but the boys gave their all in this round. eventually, john gained the point for jarakay after running off and escaping jc and rob's hold. jarakay leads, 2-1

fourth match up: jarakay vs naak - its tribe versus tribe. as expected, it turned out to be a war out there. who was impressive? patani - she is fearless, toppling and fighting all the girls, even trying to release kiko';s hold of the pillow. veronica - she is a fighter, fearless even with blood on her face. rob - a tactitian even on challenges, he tries to talk the other tribe out and even strategizes for his team. honorable mentions go out for zita, charisse, john, kiko, cris and gigit.

the challenge turned into a brawl as the cast aways started to hurt each other, choking and throwng them flat onto the ground. the cast aways were pulled out of the game one by one due to several violations, the ones thrown out were jace, gigit, charisse, kaye and cris. rob eventually was able to escape the jarakay tribe and ran to their tribe mat. but marlon was waiting there and blocked him, hold the pillow and stepped on the mat. with jarakay celebrating, naak complained. the tapes were reviewed and jarakay was eventually named the winner!

the challenge was definitely more exciting as compared to the one done in panama. it was very physical and exciting. it only shows that all of the pinoy castaways are really competitive. vhev was also shown very upset with emer because he has been playing the game dirty and even called him traitor. cris was the one who comforted her but it was evident that she was really upset. will this cause emerson's elimination tonight or will it work the other way around?

survivor philippines: jarakay wins first immunity challenge!

after a hectic second day on the island, the jaranak tribe felt hunger and decided to eat the fishes that they caught raw since they still don't have fire. cris was the first one to eat, and boys soon followed. only jc was not able to eat the fish and some took it negatively.

the castaways then received treemail for the immunity challenge. they then proceed to the location, and to their surprise, the teams were shuffled. the new tribes are as follows:

naak: emerson, kiko, cris, rob, kaye, jc, chev, zita and vhev
jaranak: patani, nina, charisse, veronica, jace, nikki, gigit, john and marlon

the immunity challenge involves the tribes carrying a small house where a castaway is located. along the way, they would retrieve puzzle pieces that they would solve at the end of the track. first team to finish wins immunity. naak had trouble in during the puzzle pieces retrieval and were forced to change players along the way. jaranak capitalized on this and had a big lead going into the puzzle making. nina had a hard time solving the puzzle, giving naak a chance at winning the challenge. but the lead was too much and jarakay was able to get away with the first immunity challenge of survivor philippines.

with immunity in hand, jaranak is guaranteed to proceed in the competition. but due to the fact the tribes regrouped, no one can be called safe as of now. its interesting to see how naak members would scramble to form alliances with the new tribemates. will the males capitalize on their numbers and stick together? or will the females stick together and convinve someone from the males to swing to their side?