Survivor Philippines (Season 25)

[Habs]

I adore Malcolm.
I'm also really liking Lisa and Denise and am loving Penner. I wasn't sure about him coming into this season but I'm so glad he's back!

[genevieve]

I actually jumped up and yelled "YES!!" when the final vote was revealed Seriously, Penner is pwning this game. I do not want him leaving. Lurved the way he was working Lisa - especially because he was telling the truth. Of course, what I really loved was Lisa having no idea why he would understand show business

Abi is a miserable, horrid person. I feel sorry for anyone who knows her in real life - except I suspect all her friends are just like her

classy exit by Artis. He's had so little scream time, I wonder if he's been more like that all along, but his role was the cranky curmudgeon so they only showed that side of him. I sure would have rather eliminated Abi or Pete, but it was so smart to target the one person in the alliance who would not get the idol.

(note - I am still having trouble reconciling the Skupin we see know with the Skupin I remember from Aus that killed the boar)

I actually think Skupin is finally becoming a version of the S2 Skupin - a very good player.

[genevieve]

sorry for double posting, but --- PML Artis' Ponderosa video!!!

1) Jeff comes out to greet him, but RC doesn't, and when Artis comes in, she gets up and walks away While Artis goes to medical (19 lbs lost), Jeff and RC chat, Jeff thinks everyone left has no idea how to play, while he of course did , and RC says it's hard to see Skupin finally willing to flip when he wouldn't do it for either her or Jeff (but they note he didn't have immunity before).

2) Artis upon seeing himself is a hoot. He's totally appalled at himself. Where has this Artis been? He's hilarious! Now I really want to know if he was done in by the editors to only show his curmudgeonly side, or if he was just completely unable to be anything but miserable out there. I think it has to be the former, because even as he was walking away from TC he was saying that anyone who doesn't have a smile when they walk out of the game didn't appreciate what they'd been given. Hmmm.

[Jenny]

I adore Malcolm.
I'm also really liking Lisa and Denise and am loving Penner. I wasn't sure about him coming into this season but I'm so glad he's back!

Totally! I was not happy to have someone back a third time, but am SO eating my words and loving every second of his game! He has all the qualities I want to see in a player - truly loves and respects the game, really wants to be there, VERY smart (seriously, getting all the bags out in the challenge was brilliant strategically, and socially), willing to manipulate (OMG he has Lisa's number) and entertaining to boot.

Also loving Lisa. She's gold on this show - they love the whole personal journey thing, and she's delivering in spades. What a truly nice person, but also a decent player - would be more than happy to see her in the end.

Jeff thinks everyone left has no idea how to play, while he of course did

I think we are seeing some of the finest players we've ever seen this season - Penner, Lisa, Denise, Malcolm and Pete are all excellent players, and even Skupin has his moments. Carter is hard to tell, but he hasn't got this far by chance I think, and even Abi, despite her loathesomeness, has some game.

And you'd think a professional athlete would know that if you diss the people who beat you, it just makes you an even bigger loser by comparison. And that mustache! He's a good looking man, but that just makes him look like a caricature. I expect he had some 'splainin to do after his wife say RC falling all over him.

[Catherine M]

I expect he had some 'splainin to do after his wife say RC falling all over him.

Mrs. Kent is probably use to cleat chasers like RC falling all over Jeff. Goes with the territory of being a ballplayer's wife.


Poor Lisa has west nile virus:

http://www.people.com/people/article...648388,00.html


And If there are any post boot articles in the local New Orleans paper about Artis, I'll be sure to post.

[Erin]

Artis upon seeing himself is a hoot. He's totally appalled at himself. Where has this Artis been? He's hilarious! Now I really want to know if he was done in by the editors to only show his curmudgeonly side, or if he was just completely unable to be anything but miserable out there.

I'd guess it's probably a combination of both, because the other players didn't seem to like him that much either. Plus he was friends with Pete and Abi. That said, I agree he had a classy exit, and I'm looking forward to checking out the Ponderosa video.

Totally! I was not happy to have someone back a third time, but am SO eating my words and loving every second of his game! He has all the qualities I want to see in a player - truly loves and respects the game, really wants to be there, VERY smart (seriously, getting all the bags out in the challenge was brilliant strategically, and socially), willing to manipulate (OMG he has Lisa's number) and entertaining to boot.

Yeah, I think I have to eat my words from when I said that Jonathan was not a good player, because he has really brought his game this time. I think he must have been taking notes from his former tribemate Yul, because the conversations that Jonathan had with Mike and Lisa were very reminiscent of the approach that Yul (successfully) used on Jonathan himself. Even while being somewhat manipulative, he was still being honest and a fairly soft sell. He'd plant seeds and then kind of leave things in a "to be continued" mode, then pick it up a little bit later. Jonathan's been in that role where he was the swing vote that ultimately meant the good guys won and I think he was able to use that to his advantage here. I was very impressed!

The one thing that I was surprised that no one pointed out or discussed was that if Lisa and Mike went with the terrible trio, they were clearly going to be cut loose at 4 and 5, so going with that group meant that the "bad guys" really did win. Switching things up to go with two other pairs means that (a) there is no real dominant three (and I don't think that Penner-Carter-Malcolm-Denise are 100% sold on sticking together...much easier for Lisa and Skupin to make inroads with that group) and (b) if you do lose, at least it's to someone you can stomach seeing with the money.

I think we are seeing some of the finest players we've ever seen this season - Penner, Lisa, Denise, Malcolm and Pete are all excellent players, and even Skupin has his moments. Carter is hard to tell, but he hasn't got this far by chance I think, and even Abi, despite her loathesomeness, has some game.

I agree - what a great season to see a bunch of players who came to play, lots of changing alliances and last minute changes. One thing I realized is that every season Jonathan has been on has been a great season (Cook Islands and Fans vs. Faves are both in my top 5 all-time seasons)...since I don't think he really needs to play a fourth time, they need to look for more people like him to play in other seasons.

[Jenny]

I agree - what a great season to see a bunch of players who came to play, lots of changing alliances and last minute changes. One thing I realized is that every season Jonathan has been on has been a great season (Cook Islands and Fans vs. Faves are both in my top 5 all-time seasons)...since I don't think he really needs to play a fourth time, they need to look for more people like him to play in other seasons.

I think they're getting better at casting actual fans of the game - even Jeff and Lisa, the "celebrities" are true fans of the game, there to play. I'd also count Pete for sure, and even the guy who was voted out first - he loved the game, and was ready to play hard.

I hope the casting team learns something too in that most of the under the radar types and bikini models didn't make the jury - that type of casting adds nothing to the game.

As for choosing the good guys vs the bad guys, while it appears Lisa is loyal to a fault, I wonder if there was any thought of the end - being up against any one of the terrible trio would be a slam dunk. As Malcolm aptly pointed out when he was briefly aligned with Denise and Lisa, going to the end with good and worthy players makes for a much tougher win.

Also, a thought just occurred - now that Pete and Abi are clearly on their own, I wonder if there will be a fight for the II? If Pete's back is up against the wall, he's going to try every dirty trick possible to get it from her.

[genevieve]

The one thing that I was surprised that no one pointed out or discussed was that if Lisa and Mike went with the terrible trio, they were clearly going to be cut loose at 4 and 5, so going with that group meant that the "bad guys" really did win. Switching things up to go with two other pairs means that (a) there is no real dominant three (and I don't think that Penner-Carter-Malcolm-Denise are 100% sold on sticking together...much easier for Lisa and Skupin to make inroads with that group) and (b) if you do lose, at least it's to someone you can stomach seeing with the money.

Agree about the Calabauw alliance. Clearly Malcolm and Denise are in it to the end (or until one of them needs to make a mercy cut if either feels they can't beat the other in F3, of which we haven't seen any indication), but Carter is mostly a hanger on (expendable - but potentially valuable in F3 because he hasn't done anything memorable) and Penner still has a huge target - and he's laid so much social groundwork with both SKupin and Lisa that he has to be thinking of working with them down the line.

Honestly, I can't remember when there's been such an interesting season with so many players I'd be happy to have win.

I think the key takeaway for casting (which I'm confident they will ignore) is that, when selecting returning players, it's best to go with players with real potential who left mid-pack. If they left because their approach was flawed, they're more likely to learn and correct than someone who got super close. If they just didn't get to play their full game, this is their chance. The reason Boston Rob became St Rob was because in the first ASS, he was one of only 2 returning 10th place players. He bombed his first Survivor - but he learned what to do (and not to do), came in, and everyone else was so busy being Survivor celebrities, doing whatever worked for them the first time, they paid no attention to the hungry guy who was actually working it, and them, HARD.

[Jenny]

Do we know for sure it's a 3-person finale? That would give us an 8-member jury, and I don't think they've ever done that. With 3 potential votes there could still be a tie, but it would be unusual.

I thought they might be heading back to a 2-person finale. I know they (and we) don't particularly like the goat strategy, but at the same time, the third person in recent years usually gets no votes anyway, and takes up valuable time in final TC.

[jamesy]

They had a F2 with an 8 person jury for Fans vs Favorites. I remember all the talk about "what if there's a tie?" and the producers keeping quiet about they would do. I don't know if they've said either way for this season if it will be F2 or F3.

[Erin]

As for choosing the good guys vs the bad guys, while it appears Lisa is loyal to a fault, I wonder if there was any thought of the end - being up against any one of the terrible trio would be a slam dunk. As Malcolm aptly pointed out when he was briefly aligned with Denise and Lisa, going to the end with good and worthy players makes for a much tougher win.

I agree with Malcolm - I just don't think Lisa would have gotten to the end if she made it to the final 5 with Abi, Pete, Artis, and Mike.

Speaking of Malcolm, I forgot to mention how awesome he was after last week's tribal council at the beginning of the episode - a lot of people say "it's a game" when they're the ones lying and manipulating, but take it personally when they're on the other side of the coin. He'd one of the few who actually gets it even when he's on the downside. I thought he handled Lisa really well to tell her that he understood is wasn't personal and that probably helped their alliance with this vote (and will ultimately help in the long run). I know that Skupin was the one who flipped, but I would be willing to be that he let Lisa in on what he was doing and probably had her blessing. If Malcolm hadn't been so good with Lisa, she might have felt a lot stronger about sticking with Tandang and pushed Skupin to follow suit.

[Jenny]

I agree with Malcolm - I just don't think Lisa would have gotten to the end if she made it to the final 5 with Abi, Pete, Artis, and Mike.

True, because aside from being tight with each other, those three esp Pete are cutthroat, and there's no way they'd want Lisa anywhere near them at the end. Skupin may annoy them, but he hasn't made enemies and might still have a bit of the hero lustre from his time in Australia - an easy vote if you don't like the other choices.

At this point, the ones I want to see in final TC are Lisa the actress/preacher/public speaker, Denise the psychologist and Penner the writer/Hollywood pitchman - can you imagine? Malcolm is going to have an uphill battle with that lot!

[Sparks]

What a great season. I was prepared to dislike Lisa and Penner...now is a different story.

[Fridge_Break]

This season is any long-time Survivor fan's dream come true. Could this seriously get any better??

[BaileyCatts]

Who actually was the person who pried up that Idol that Abi has? Was it Pete or Abi? For some reason I thought it was Pete that actually pried it off the lid, which in my mind means its HIS idol. So why does Abi have it? I don't believe for a minute that Abi will give it to Pete. Not a chance in hell. Someone clear that up for me please.

And Penner digging up all the bags was kinda brilliant. I never in a million years would have thought of doing that. I can understand why Lisa didn't stop and dig the other bags out, buy why didn't Malcolm go ahead and look for the final bag as well? And so funny Abi didn't get picked. Speaks volumes. Well, probably not to her.

I really hope it is not a 3 person final. I hate that. Take it back to 2 so we have spend more time on the questions and answers with just 2 people. The 3 person is never a factor anyway.

[BaileyCatts]

This season is any long-time Survivor fan's dream come true. Could this seriously get any better??

Yes. If they can blindside Abi while she is still holding the Idol. I would love that!

[Spareoom]

Man, Penner is playing Lisa like a FIDDLE. Never mind that all he says is pretty true, Lisa doesn't mind/seems to like it and it's persuading her to vote with him, which is a good thing, but goodness, I can't help but feel like I'm watching a master exploitation.

[Jenny]

Man, Penner is playing Lisa like a FIDDLE. Never mind that all he says is pretty true, Lisa doesn't mind/seems to like it and it's persuading her to vote with him, which is a good thing, but goodness, I can't help but feel like I'm watching a master exploitation.

Except that she still voted for him to leave. I do like the theory that Skupin might have told her he was going to flip, so she knew Penner would stay and she could still stay loyal, but it was a risk.

One wonders why Lisa is so darn loyal, even when it's against her best interests and to people who clearly treat her badly. Just before filming started, her divorce was finalized - they were married 23 years. I wonder if there were loyalty issues there, and she's determined to do what she believes is the right thing. Might have something to do with an example to her kids - they are grown now, but she homeschooled them and wrote many books on parenting.

[Rogue]

One wonders why Lisa is so darn loyal, even when it's against her best interests and to people who clearly treat her badly. Just before filming started, her divorce was finalized - they were married 23 years. I wonder if there were loyalty issues there, and she's determined to do what she believes is the right thing. Might have something to do with an example to her kids - they are grown now, but she homeschooled them and wrote many books on parenting.

She may also be thinking ahead to the end game, especially if Mike told her he was flipping. If she can make it to the final, she may have assured herself 3 votes by being loyal.

[Jenny]

True. There's a good chance that Abi and Artis will vote for someone who stayed loyal to them. Pete OTOH is loyal to no one, and I do think is more likely to vote for the better player - I don't think he respects Lisa's game at this point.

At this point though, from what we see on the show, the only one really playing the jury is Penner. Smart man.