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: coach wins immunity, sierra becomes the third jury member

after tyson's elimination during the last tribal council, debbie and coach are obviously surprised that tyson is gone. sierra seems to be pleased that she escaped yet another tribal council. the morning after, debbie was talking with jt and stephen and asking if they are still into what they have agreed. jt and stephen said yes and debbie relayed this to coach.

surprisingly, the old jalapao tribe is in control of the game now. having been down in numbers at the merge (4 jalapao and 6 timbira) and even suffering a blow at the unexpected elimination of joe due to his wound infection. it is amazing how the three did it by simply gaining timbira's trust and good choices.

the reward challenge involves a survey. each castaway is asked to answer a survey and it was tallied. jeff will ask questions from the survey randomly and they need to answer the most popular response, which is not necessarily their answer.each correct answer will give them a chance to cut another castaway's rope. each castaway has three ropes. if all the three ropes are cut, their figurine will be smashed and will be out of the game. the last castaway standing wins reward.

sierra was the first one out, followed by coach. next out was debbie. by the fourth question, the next person out was erinn. wow! jalapao is killing timbira. having answered the last question right, erinn cut jt's last rope and eliminated him. then it was between taj and stephen. both got the next question right, leaving taj with 1 rope and stephen with 2. stephen was the one who got the last question and won reward.

he has to choose one person to be sent to exile island, and he chose erinn (since they need to know if there is a new idol, and erinn is definitely with the old jalapao, after voting out tyson in the last tribal council). he also has to choose who he will share the reward with and he chose taj and jt, his old jalapao tribemate.

at exile, erinn knew that there is no idol and she was shown with no fire and no food. it rains and she is all wet. that is basically it, and she is amazed on how emotionally strong she is.

at camp, coach and debbie asked sierra if she will be willing to join them in bringing back the old timbira alliance. this is the best time to get erinn after stephen sent her to exile. but sierra hates the fact that coach and debbie is trying to get her despite attempting to get her out the previous tribal council. so it ended up in drama, with debbie walking out and debbie and coach agrees to vote sierra out.

at the reward, the old jalapao tribe was ate with a family and they were served with local brazilian delicacies, which they absolutely enjoyed. during the meal, the family's 3 year old daughter fell and hit her head. now comes taj on her mother mode and came to the rescue. she comforted her and she said that she reminded her of her son and how she missed her family.

they then went to the small spring which jeff told them was unique. it turned out that the spring has no bottom, since the sand is being continuously pushed up and you would not sink into it. it was pretty cool and as expected, the three talked about strategy on who to keep and who to eliminate.

when the three returned to camp, coach immediately talked to jt and wants his assurance if he will be in the final four. look at how coach think that jt is in complete control of the game? jt assured hima nd coach resorted to badmouthing sierra. coach told him that sierra and debbie approached him and asked him if he would consider to bring back the old timbira together, which was the opposite of what really happened.

sierra, on the other hand talked to stephen and told him what really happened. stephen is scared of this happening and went to talk to jt and coach. coach also told him his version and he is really confused on who is telling the truth.

the immunity challenge is a two part challenge. in the first part, the castaways needs to get 3 bags several meters away by throwing grapling hooks. the first three to get all three bags will advance to the next round. in the second round, castaway will manneuver a ball through a maze with holes. if the ball falls through a hole, they need to start over. first person to get the ball to the finish hole wins immunity.

at the first part, it was evident that jt and coach has an advantage, finishing way ahead of the others. then after that, it was between stephen and debbie. both got a good throw but it was debbie who got her bag across the line. so the finalists are coach, jt and debbie.

in the final round, jt got an early lead but his ball fell through a hole. debbie was nowhere in the game. coach had it slowly but surely and had an edge over jt since he started over. having done several risky moves, jt overtook coach's lead but unfortunately, his ball fell again. coach then regained lead and heads on to win coach wins immunity!

so back at camp, sierra is fighting for her life and told jt and taj about the attempt to revive the timbira alliance. she even confronted coach and debbie about it. much drama followed but nothing was resolved. they are still in limbo on who to vote, either sierra since she is a non-entity in the game despite the loyalty she has shown or debbie due to her scheming.

at tribal council, the topic was again brought up and again, coach lied straight up. coach did not gave up the idol and they voted.

here are the votes:

sierra
debbie
stephen
sierra
debbie
sierra
sierra

sierra is eliminated from tocantins and is the third member of our jury.

i am surprised on how far sierra got in this game. she was votedthe weakest in timbira when they arrived but she managed to hang on and stay there. she was even instrumental to tyson's elimination last week and she really survived this despite the odds.

image is from: http://tocantins.survivor.com/survivor-tocantins-cast/2009.01.14/sierra-reed.html

survivor tocantins: tyson apostol is eliminated

for the second week in a row, blindside is the name of the game insurvivor tocantins: the brazilian highlands. utah native tyson apostol is voted off the show, which was completely unexpected to him and two other castaways.

the episode started with sierra completely surprised of brendan's elimination last week. she was so sure of their so-called exile island alliance with the old jalapao tribe. they have decided to vote out coach but the complete opposite happened, brendan was voted out and he didnot use his hidden immunity idol.

sensing that she is in grave danger to be eliminated next, she talks to tyson to take her again and promised to be loyal to the old timbira again. but as expected, tyson hates her and sierra cannot convince her.

at the reward challenge, the 8 remaining castaways were divided into 2 groups of four. the red team are jt, tyson, erin and debbie while the blue team are stephen, coach, taj and sierra. in pairs, they will get big puzzle pieces from the trees and place it to their proper spots. after retrieveing all four pieces and putting them in place, the teams will flip or rotate the pieces so that the holes will align and they will see the vowels.

when they get the vowels, they will arrange it together with the given consonant to form a phrase. first team to get the phrase wins reward. reward will be a feast and they will be entertained by local capoeira dancers, a local martial arts. they will also send one member of the losing team to exile island.

the retrieval of the pieces were neck to neck until the red team had a slight advantage in the last piece. but red team's team work proved supeior when they arranged the puzzle pieces first, getting the vowels. once they were arranging the letters, it was debbie who suggested the word feast and they immediately got it. the blue team was not even close to getting the vowels. red team wins immunity and sent stephen to exile island.

at the reward, the four enjoyed the feast and the dance. the dancers even invited them to dance with them. debbie were doing back flips and the others were doing cartwheels here and there. after dancing, erin was shown vomiting after eating and dancing, talking about embarrassing moments on tv.

at exile island, stephen discovered that there is no new idol in play.

at camp, sierra is still finding a way to stay in the game. now, talking with debbie. she gets points for her fighting spirit and perseverance.

at immunity challenge, the castaways are given an option whether to play or not. if they decide not to play, they will eat pizza during the duration of the challenge. three opted to eat the pizzas rather than participating. they are jt, stephen and coach. wow! the girls are rocking and all decided to play.

the challenge is that the castaways will slide pucks across a playing board and they need to get the pucks nearest the x mark. the one closest to the x after 3 rounds wins immunity. the first round was just a feel of the board, almost all of them are far from the x. at the second round, all threw near the target. at the last round, they were simply hitting each other's targets and taking the lead. so debbie was the last to throw during this round with sierra leading. but her puck was nearer to the x mark so debbie wins immunity.

with debbie winning immunity, the old jalapao tribe saw the opportunity to vote for tyson. after winning the last 2 immunity challenge, he is simply a threat. sierra is in and they talked to erin about it. she agrees and they hope she is really solid to it.

at tribal council, sierra emphasized that she has a big target in her back. jeff on the other hand pointed out how big a physical threat tyson is. then the votes were casted. the old jalapao tribe did not play the immunity idol. so, the votes:

sierra

tyson

sierra

sierra

tyson

tyson

tyson

tyson

another blindside! tyson is voted out of the game. the old jalapao tribe, sierra and erin voted for tyson. it was a complete surprise to tyson. brendan was happy at the votes and sierra was visibly happy.

well, that is survivor, one day you are top, the next day you are out (just like project runway...)

image is from: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/bio/tyson_18/bio.php?season=18

survivor tocantins: brendan is eliminated

after 24 days in the island, brendann synott became the 7th person eliminated and the first jury member of survivor tocantins: the brazilian highlands. the votes were split between him, sierra and coach, but brendan got the most votes.

in the reward challenge, the remaining castaways were divided into three teams of three; black, red and white. the black team was composed of jt, brendan and debbie. the white team is composed of sierra, errin and stephen. the red team is made up of taj, coach and tyson. they will alternately take turns of throwing metal balls and try to break the other teams' tiles. once all the teams' tiles are broken, they are eliminated. team with the last tile standing wins reward.

red looks like the team to beat since they have coach and tyson. sensing these, the two other teams immediately targeted the red tiles. this strategy paid off and the first team eliminated was the red team. it goes down to a nail biting showdown between black and white team. but in the end, the black team wins reward. their reward is a white water arfting trip down rio dovo and a picnic of sandwiches, chicken, brownies, chips and watermelon.

at this trip, jt really enjoyed the rafting part and he looks so happy. he also bonded with brendan so much and jt told him that he can be in their alliance with sierra, stephen and taj (which he already knows). jt really changed brendan's mind since brendan already wanted him out next.

at the immunity challenge, the castaways will navigate through a rope course. they are attached to a rope that is entangled over and under a wooden obstacle. they need to go from one end to the other by climbing, going over and under the wooden obstacle. first three to finish the first part will advance to the final round, which is more complicated, with a three level obstacle already. first to finish the course wins immunity.

the castaways started the race pretty even but towards the middle, it was evident that only four are in contention to advance. thes four are tyson, brendan, jt and sierra. first to finish is jt, followed by tyson. so the last place was contended by brendan and sierra, with brendan getting the last spot in the finals.

in the finals, brendan got the early lead, breezing through the three level course easily. tyson is not far behind but jt seems to lag much. but towards the end, brandan's rope got tangled up and tyson got up to him. he eventually took the lead and finished the course. tyson wins individual immunity back to back!

so at camp, planning on who to vote is very much evident. brendan is planning to vote out coach and coach is planning to eliminate brendan. eventhough the old timbira has the numbers, they are not sticking together and is working to eliminate each other. the power is now with the old jalapao, since who ever they decide to vote with will be safe.

at tribal council, brendan revealed that he has the hidden immunity idol but he decided not to use the idol. in the end, the old jalapao mebers decided to vote with coach. they split the vote between brendan and sierra. four voted for brendan, three for sierra and their votes went to coach.

an unexpected twist, blindsided again... brendan is eliminated!

brendan will be the first member of the jury and will be one of the few who will determine who will win the title of ultimate survivor.

image is from: http://www.buddytv.com/photos/galleryviewer.aspx?csi=21&ci=40000416&pi=2007947&ai=-1&idx=-1

survivor tocantins: joe dowdle is out of the game

joe dowdle became the latest castaway out of the island in survivor tocantins: the brazilian highlands. joe is a real estate agent from austin, texas and was a member of the jalapao tribe.

the episode also featured the merge between the jalapao and the timbira tribes. a small feast was prepared for the merge, which prompted them to get a new tribe name and wear the new buff. the tribe color is now green. they all decided to the new tribe name, forza.

the merged tribe will now stay at the old timbira camp. when the old jalapao came over, they saw that they had a better shelter and they have to improve it. sensing that they are in trouble due to tyhe numbers, the jalapao boys worked around camp.

new alliances are also being formed after the merge. coach has approached jt to watch each other's backs and they are joined by stephen, debbie, tyson and erin. they are plotting to vote out brandon since they think brendan is manipulative and they think he has the immunity idol.

joe and erin, who were the last to go to the exile island, checked out the tree mail idol to check if the idol is still there. they found the compartment empty and they knew that either sierra or brendan has it, since they are the only other 2 timbira members who has been to exile island.

but joe has another problem of his own. he has infected his wound which was just below his left knee. it has been swollen and red and he has been limping around camp. many castaways has noticed this and are thinking of voting him off.

at the immunity challenge, tribal immunity idol is no longer at play and they are now playing for individual immunity. this week's challenge is a simple one. each castaway will cling on the pole and they must stay on the pole as long as they can. last person on his or her pole wins immunity.

the challenged seems to be simple but it proved to be very hard. at the start of the challenge, stephen and joe immediately struggled. less than 5 minutes in the challenge, stephen bailed out and joe followed soon. jeff noticed joe's wound and asked him if it was okay. then several other castaways struggled. taj, brendan and erin fell off their pole consecutively. jt also was struggling and fell off after about 20 minutes. only 4 castaways are left, all former timbira members. coach was the next one to fall, followed soon by sierra.

the challenge is now between tyson and debbie. both are struggling. debbie's arms are already shaking and tyson is holding on the pole by his toes. but soon after, debbie can hold on no longer and released her hold. tyson wins the first individual immunity of the season.

jeff asked the castaways to leave but asked joe to be left behind so that the medical team can look at his wound. the doctor told him that it was infected and the doctor feared that the infection is too close to his bone and it might worsen if he stays and played on. worst case is he might lose his leg.

back at camp, plotting begins, with the old timbira tribe meeting near the camp fire. coach and tyson are making brendan and sierra think that they are voting for jt so that they would not have a clue that they are voting for brandon. when coach told jt about this, jt feared for his life. if brandon plays the immunity idol, he might be in danger. so he and stephen asked tyson to split the vote between brendan and sierra.

stephen also asked taj if she was willing to vote for brendan and explained to her the whole set up. they are also wondering why brendan are not making signs of who they would vote since they had the exile island cross tribal alliance already. so taj said that she is willing to do it. so everything seems to be in place and it looks like either brendan or sierra is going home.

but jeff showed up at the camp. he said that joe is not with him and the medical team already decided that he cannot continue on in the game. he is now being lifted via helicopter to be treated and he will be fine. taj asked jeff to say to him that they all love joe and they miss him. jeff informed them that there will be no tribal council anymore.

tyson was crushed because his plan to eliminate the strong player brendan has been destroyed. anything can happen in the next three days and things will definitely change. in the preview, the so called exile island alliance was showing plotting against coach and coach is doing the same against brendan. i think either coach or brendan will go home next week.

what is unclear right now is that, will joe still participate as a jury member or not? hope he still continue as a jury member, just as what they did in a previous season. bruce was pulled out of the game due to stomach aches and he still continued to join the jury in survivor panama: the exile island.

image is from: tv.yahoo.com/show/42547/photos/10

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 tocantins: candace is the 2nd person voted off

in the second episode of survivor tocantins, lawyer candace smith of the timbira tribe was voted out of survivor tocantins. she lasted 6 days in the island and was voted unanimously by her tribemates, 7 - 1 with her vote going to sierra.

there was no reward challenge again in this episode. the challenge was a combined reward and immunity. in this challenge, each tribe will send out 3 players at a time (composition of which will be said by jeff) to play a game soirt of basketball. a ball will be released and they will try to gain possession and shoot the ball on their goal. the other team will try to stop them in what ever way they can. it is a very physical game.

having momentum on their side after winning the first challenge, timbira gained the upperhand by getting the first 2 points of the game. but jalapao came back and gained the next 2 points tying up the game. the last point was gained by jalapao. jalapao wins immunity! in addition, they also get fishing gear as a reward.

also part of winning is they can send a member of timbira to the exile island. they choise to send brendan. in a twist, brendan need to choose a member of jalapao to go with him. he chose taj to go with him. upon arrival at the exile island, each of them needs to choose an urn, one contains a clue to the location of the hidden immunity idol. taj chose first and it was the empty one so brendan got the clue. he decided to keep it to himself. there was also an option that he can switch tribes if he wants to.

when he returned to taj, taj convinced him to show her the clue and she will help him find it. he showed it to taj and they both decided that the idol was in their respective camp. taj was a little bit uneasy because the revelation that she is a wife of a football star might make her a target in her tribe. brendan also decided to remain in his tribe.

back at timbira, the vote was between sierra and candace. sierra was the one they voted at the start of the game when they were asked to vote for someone that would not join them in the trek. sierra was woried because she has not found the idol and she was in danger. on the other hand, coach was rooting for candace to go because of her bossy attitude. coach has already assured sierra that it will be candace that would go but she still feels uneasy.

at tribal council, it was coach's rallying to vote off candace that triumph and candace was voted out. candacewas really surprised and it was a complete blindside, at their first tribal council.

14 are left, who would be voted off next?

american idol, survivor and the amazing race: new seasons to premiere early 2009

american idol, survivor and the amazing race will kickoff reality tv premieres in 2009. both show will start their latest season on early months of 2009.

the 8th season of american idol will air on philippine cable television via star world. the new season will premiere on january 14, 2009. another notable change this season is the addition of a new judge, kara dioguardi. 38 year old dioguardi is an american singer, song writer and record producer. she has 46 albums in billboard's op 10 album chart under her belt. she has also worked with several idols before, taking kelly clarkson, carrie underwood and david archuleta to name a few. it was also announced that due to the on going economic crisis, the show will not air its charity work idol gives back. i am still trying to get some information if qtv 11 will still air american idol since they were the once who aired the show last year.

one month after american idol, amazing race and survivor will premiere its respective new seasons. amazing race will premiere on philippine cable television via axn on february 16, 2009. studio 23 will telecast the show in philippine free tv. this is already the reality show's 14th season.

on the other hand, survivor will premiere in philippine free television via qtv 11 starting february 13, 2009. the new season is titled survivor tocantins - the brazilian highlands. another notable change this season is that this is the first time that hopefuls below 21 year old were allowed to apply. so expect someone younger than frosty from survivor china will be on the show. this is survivor's 18th season.