Survivor: Philippines - Episode 7
Not the Only Actor on This Island
By Ben Willoughby
November 1, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Probst then recaps how at the last reward challenge, Michael and RC convinced Tandang to forfeit, meaning Kalabaw actually won a challenge. We never saw RC do any convincing, but anyway, Probst points out that they were then vilified by the majority. But it didn’t matter in the end because in the words of Probst, “Malcolm single-handedly copped a victory, while Katie continued to be a liability” and was sent packing. Speaking of vilified.
Kalabaw arrives back from Tribal Council, and Jonathan volunteers that they should give Denise a break because she has been to six on a row. If she makes it to the merge, she’ll be at every one of them until she gets voted out.
Jonathan is also curious about why his name was written down at Tribal Council. Jeff Kent blames it on Katie being angry at Jonathan for some reason. Maybe it was her lady hormones! Jeff Kent claims that she just wanted Jonathan out, and he “couldn’t convince her otherwise so I let her run with it."
Jeff Kent interviews that he was pretty close to voting for Jonathan at Tribal Council, but decided against it. He describes it as “two guys taking shots at each other in the dark, and I hope to get to him before he gets to me."
For his part, Jonathan interviews that the one vote, even if it was meaningless, was a “good wake-up call” because he forgets that other people may be lying to him from time to time. He asks “do I have my eyes open going forward? Of course, it would be ridiculously stupid not to." That is some ridiculously stupid foreshadowing.
After the credits, we cross to Tandang in the hope that something might actually happen. But no, we get a close up of their coffee pot in the fire. Michael is reminiscing about how in his first season, Day 17 – which is today – is the day he fell in the fire. “Dude, you barely made it this far,” Malcolm points out, looking at the numerous scabs on Michael’s face and shoulders.
Out to sea, there is a boat with outriggers approaching. It beaches in the Tandang cove and hands over a message that the two tribes are now merged and they have ten minutes to collect their crap and clear out. No big, dramatic announcement by Probst? What are they paying him for?
Anyway, there is the scurrying around that we saw in the promo, and Malcolm has to take the time to recover his hidden immunity idol. They load everything up on the boat and leave.
The boat causes less commotion at Kalabaw – probably because stuff actually happens there – as Jonathan was the only one to approach the boat and get the news of the merge. But they all sound thrilled to be merging – or at least, to have made the merge. Denise interviews that Kalabaw is going to stay four strong, but she would like to go back to her original alliance with Malcolm.
The two boats arrive at their new island, and the merged tribe introduces themselves to each other. Probst doesn’t show up to hand out new buffs. The two returnees Michael and Jonathan exchange a manly hug. Denise looks around for Malcolm, but probably wisely, he’s paying attention to other people.
The new tribe sits around with a feast and tells each other where they are from and what they do. Jeff Kent seems a bit grumpy, but he impresses Artis and Malcolm with the big reveal that he’s a motorcycle dealer. Imagine what they’ll do when they find out he was a baseball player. Everyone’s minds will be blown.
They all go on about the feast, but the only highlight is Lisa drinking wine from the bottle and then giggling the way she learned on The Facts of Life’s very special episode about underage drinking. And it turns out that Michael has seven kids, which is surprising since he shares so many attributes with Darwin Award winners.
Pete interviews that his plan was to go Tandang strong, but “RC would never let that happen” and Michael “doesn’t have a brain of his own and will just do whatever RC tells him." Right. The fact that you’ve been whining turds to them for 17 days has nothing to with them not wanting to vote with you.
Michael interviews that Pete and Abi were surprisingly quiet during the meet and greet. He says that he and RC have no alliance with Tandang any more, and consider themselves free agents.
The Tandang ladies are talking about connecting with Denise, the only other woman left. RC suggests that she and Denise might get on because of the swimming connection, and Abi voluntells RC to act as a spy to get information. So RC replies “Just because you want me to get information, I worry because we aren’t one big happy family. We can pretend to be all we want, but we haven’t, for 17 days." “Right, right, it’s true,” Abi says grudgingly, but I think this is because she is forced to agree with RC. Anyway, RC’s an idiot. Why would she point out that the Tandang majority hates her and she has every reason to flip? I don’t understand her gameplay.
The new tribe has a new shelter to build, and in an effort to be helpful at something, Lisa hangs up everyone’s clothes to dry out. And what does she find in Malcolm’s bag but the hidden immunity idol? How interesting for her! It’s a shame the immunity idol fine print precludes finders keepers.
Anyway, Malcolm realizes that someone knows he has the idol and after conferring with Denise in the jungle, learns it’s Lisa. In interview, he blames Lisa’s hanging out of the clothes on “estrogen kick[ing] in”. Because women are full of lady hormones that tell them to do stuff for men, even when the men just want to be left alone. Malcolm is quite annoyed in this interview. Mother issues.
So Malcolm gets Lisa on her own and asks “What would you like to tell me?” Lisa immediately blabs “I didn’t mean to." They agree that she was just a sweet old lady who wanted to dry everyone’s clothes, and Malcolm volunteers his alliance with Denise and says that Lisa reminds him of his mother. I’ll say it again. Mother. Issues.
Anyway, Malcolm says it’s the “three of them to the end, and nobody knows about it” and Lisa seems to agree. But in interview, he complains about being in an inadvertent alliance with the only two people he couldn’t beat in a final three.
Lisa isn’t trusting either, interviewing that she’s not the only actor on the island, and that Malcolm could be playing her. On Day 18, Jonathan is the next to get a moment alone with Lisa. “Have any of them recognized you yet?” and when Lisa tells him no, he sing-songs “They’re too young."
They take a swim together, and Lisa talks about how it is healing to have friendships based on people liking her for her, and not because she was famous. I feel sorry for Lisa, because I wonder how many of these “friends” will want to spend any time with her after the reunion show. Jonathan assures her that he will not blow her cover. Lisa does not offer to keep it secret that Jonathan played Fran Drescher’s ex-boyfriend on The Nanny.
Now it’s Michael’s turn to have a moment alone with Jonathan. They talk about the returning player bull’s-eye, and that it might be a good idea to team up. Jonathan interviews that he is trying to find “fissures in Tandang, and Michael “seems like a cool guy” so he has to get him “comfortable with slitting the throats of the people he’s been spending the 17 days with." Jonathan tells Michael that he has four loyal people, and he hopes they can work with Michael. Inside, Michael must be thinking “it’s like you’re reading my mind, man."
Michael and RC talk about realignment, and RC says she is “50-50” about flipping. She interviews that she is solid with Mike, but she needs to feel secure about making the jump. In other words, she is 100% behind flipping, but doesn’t want it to come back to bite her.
Meanwhile, Jeff Kent is talking with the four Tandangs who seem clued in – Pete, Abi, Artis and Malcolm. He says that Jonathan has the hidden immunity idol, and that he doesn’t want a returnee to win under any circumstances, and will join any gang that wants to get rid of them. Since these people have been talking about ridding themselves of Michael from Day 1, Michael’s not the only one who is like “wow, it’s like we have some mystic connection."
The boot list is quickly determined – RC first, then Jonathan, then Michael. So one for us, one for you guys, one for us. RC is targeted because Pete says “she’s dangerous” even though she has been completely ineffective. I think it’s code for “Abi doesn’t like her." Then Pete suggests that at this tribal council they vote for RC and Jonathan, splitting the vote 4-4 so that no hidden immunity idol can ruin their plans. And if Jonathan doesn’t play the idol, they all flip to vote him out. The plan is set.
That was a pretty confident move by Jeff Kent. I think every season, when the merge happens, we have seen the alphas of one tribe try to get rid of the alphas of the other. I don’t think we’ve ever seen an alpha of one tribe go to the alphas of the other and say “Hey, let’s join up” before.
But it was a good read of Tandang, which had never been to Tribal Council. Jeff Kent had to know that after spending 17 days together, there’d always be at least one person the group was dying to get rid of.
This is also a good deal for the Tandang alliance, which must realize they’ve given RC and Michael every reason to defect. If this deal sticks, it saves them from getting Pagonged.
Probst sighting! Abi hands over the tribal immunity chicken idol once again, which is probably how she got to sit out so many challenges. “I’ll carry the idol if I don’t have to compete." Probst refrains from mocking her this time.
“Tribal immunity is no more and individual immunity is now what you covet”, says Probst. The challenge involves keeping a bucket suspended in the air. The bucket is tied to a rope, which is spooled around a bar. If you don’t hold the bar steady, the rope will unspool and the bucket will crash to the ground. To even things out, each bucket is loaded with 25% of the castaway’s body weight. Presumably their body weight before they spent 17 days starving.
If you were sharp enough to notice there were two immunity necklaces, that is because immunity will go to the last man and the last woman standing. The challenge is on, and Probst’s advice is “go deep." I think that’s Probst’s advice for every challenge. Or maybe everything.
After five minutes, Michael’s bucket is the first to drop, with Pete dropping out shortly after to Probst’s disdain. No man-crush for you, Pete. RC looks rather confident, while Jonathan is already at the end of his rope. He lets go and according to Probst is “in trouble at Tribal Council." “Well, thank you!” replies Jonathan. Probst: “Glad you’re on the show!” What repartee!
Lisa is out next, and Probst’s breaks everyone else’s concentration to remind them that this challenge is all about concentration. Malcolm is out too, RC works her bucket back up a notch, but she looks really stretched, and can’t hold it up any longer. With RC out, Abi drops her bucket. Full credit to Abi for outlasting RC, who has proven to be a strong physical competitor. It’s also a warning that Abi brings it when she has to.
And this leaves Denise winning immunity. First immunity ever for her. “Whoooooooo!” She is stoked.
Among the men, only Artis, Jeff and Carter remain. Artis pulls his bucket all the way back up, earning a “warrior!” from Probst. Time passes, and after 15 minutes Jeff Kent gives Artis an “attaboy," which seems to mean “Don’t sweat it. I’ll vote with you guys." Artis drops his bucket, and it’s down to Jeff Kent and Carter.
Now it’s Jeff Kent’s turn to lift his bucket back up, which is playing mind games with Carter who has to do the same.
After 25 minutes, Jeff Kent wants to do a deal. “I drop, you owe me. You drop, I owe you” he whispers. He’s probably being quiet so Probst won’t stop everything so they can go over the fine print of their deal, but Probst sniffs that something is up and asks what is going on. Carter says that “having the necklace on tonight would be sweet, and yeah, I just want to win." Jeff Kent can’t hold on any more and lets his bucket drop. Carter wins immunity.
I think that holding out was the right move by Carter. If he’s going to be the sole Survivor, he needs to win the respect of the other castaways and not be seen just as Jeff Kent’s lackey. An immunity win goes a little way to changing that.
The merged tribe arrives back at camp, and we see there is a camp flag. The new tribe is called Dangrayne? As in “dang rain”, get it? Which of these clowns thought up that? It’s awful, but at least we were spared the interminable discussion about “what should we name our new tribe?”
RC interviews that today is a “good day”, even though she was beaten in the immunity challenge by Abi? But she claims to be in a core six with Kalabaw. Has she even spoken with anyone on Kalabaw? Because we haven’t seen it.
Michael tempts fate by eating a piece of coconut right off the machete tip. He has a talk with Jeff Kent, pointing out that Pete, Abi and Artis “cannot control this game." And his reason? They are “too rude." Whoa, too rude? Does he think Jeff Kent’s going to get an attack of the vapors? I realize that he’s been beaten down for days, but by playing the “they don’t deserve it” card, Michael comes across as kind of whiny.
Jeff Kent then shares his “biggest hang-up” with Michael, which is that he does not want Jonathan to beat him out in this game. He points out that the two veteran players might decide to team up and vote him out. Michael readily agrees “with integrity” that when they are down to six, he will follow Jeff Kent. “Unless God Himself appears live before me and speaks to me, I cannot follow Pete, Artis and Abi” he interviews, knowing full well that God won't be intervening in any reality show.
If you needed a hint about why Michael is not a good Survivor player, the answer is right in that conservation. He is telling someone who he needs to ally with that his competition is a bunch of assholes who do not deserve to win. This is the point where Jeff Kent thinks “I should align myself with those jerks, because in a jury situation, Michael’s still going to vote for me over any of them."
Jeff Kent fills in Carter and asks him what he wants to do. Once again, they are the swing vote, which is right where they want to be. Carter seems to want to stay with Kalabaw plus RC and Michael, probably because he knows 4 + 2 = 6. Carter asks if Jeff Kent thinks he can get farther with the returnees, and Jeff Kent says that Michael is willing to vote out Jonathan when the time comes, and that if he and Carter flip to Tandang, they may find themselves on the bottom
Jonathan comes up on Jeff Kent and Carter’s conversation. Jeff Kent: “What’s up, Penner?” Jonathan: “How we doing?” “Good. We’re just talking through all the BS we’ve been hearing.” “You know where I stand, I’m with you guys, you have my loyalty.” Jonathan interviews that he believes they are all voting with him, and that if they aren’t, “I’m a terrible judge of character and... I don’t really deserve to stay in this game." We see Jonathan, Jeff Kent and Carter agree to vote out Pete and then fist bump.
Jeff Kent and Carter go off to reassure the Tandang alliance. “We’re good, we’re still hanging,” is the way Jeff Kent puts it. Jeff Kent interviews again about how he’s at a crossroads – either going with the veterans who he doesn’t want to win, or going with Tandang and being on the bottom. He talks about how you can’t treat the game with disrespect because it will bite you in the ass, and he has to make sure he protects himself whatever move he makes.
In all of this, where is Denise? Why aren’t we seeing Jonathan or Jeff Kent talking with her?
Tribal Council! Gecko! Probst greets everyone and tells Tandang to get their torches and finally get fire. He goes over a bit of Survivor history about how Tandang never lost and they are the only tribe ever to not go to Tribal Council until the merge. Only on a technicality, because there have been ever-victorious tribes before, but they had compulsory Tribal Councils.
Probst asks Denise, about being a Tribal Council veteran and Denise is hoarse for some reason. It can’t be from talking too much, because we’ve barely seen her speak since the merge.
Michael – 19 days in there have to be fractures in Tandang. Michael says sure, but says they still pulled out victories. So nothing from Michael. Probst asks RC “how bad has it gotten at camp?” “It was pretty bad at Tandang,” RC says, “but families fight and we are a family."
Probst them points out to Abi that families don’t win Survivor, and Abi has an opportunity to talk about how RC “betrayed” her with that hidden immunity idol clue that Pete planted, even though Abi had betrayed her first. “I didn’t unbury it... you blew up and wouldn’t have a discussion." If you’re waiting for this to be discussed at the reunion, don’t get your hopes up because Abi will be all “hey, it was a game, don’t take it so personal."
Probst asks Lisa about the argument between Abi and RC, and whether that worries her that someone might flip to Kalabaw. Somehow he manages not to work in a Facts of Life reference. She points out that anyone who switches over to Kalabaw would find themselves at the bottom.
What’s wrong with that, Jeff Kent? He says that if someone who is at #7 on Tandang is offered a #5 slot at minimum with Kalabaw, there’s “potential for a game-changing switch." But Lisa jumps in to say that once you flip, you’re weaker, because you’ve shown you can’t be trusted in your alliance. Whoa, she’s not bad at Tribal Council.
Pete is asked about returning players, and he gives a non-answer about how on other seasons no one has liked the returning players much. Except when they fawned over Boston Rob. And Coach. And Stephenie and Bobby Jon. I’ll just say here that if players like Pete and Jeff Kent think that no one wants a returning player to win, why not just keep them around until Tribal Council and beat them there? What returnee is going to get the jury votes?
Probst goes back to Lisa. RC could be up for grabs, Skupin could be up for grabs, and any concern about Malcolm and Denise? Lisa says it’s a huge concern, and it also brings up something Probst hasn’t mentioned - someone on the bottom at Kalabaw could flip over to the Tandang side. So Lisa is going by the Presidential Debate playbook, ignoring Probst’s questions completely and bringing up whatever she wants to talk about.
Pete is asked about hidden immunity idols. He says that he thinks there are two, and that Matsing’s idol is gone. In other words, he’s not at all worried with revealing that Tandang’s idol is in play and that his side has it. Probst points out that he’s a fit young guy who might perform well at challenges – though not really today. Pete thinks he has a huge target on his back. Justified, Abi? “Absolutely.”
Jeff Kent, will there be a blind side? He says there will be, because everyone is scrambling not sure who’s going home.
It’s time to vote. We see five of the votes, which is unusual. Abi votes for Jonathan, while Artis and Pete vote for RC. “I never liked you,” Pete tells RC. What a choad. RC and Jonathan vote for Pete.
Probst goes to “tally” he votes, and there’s some weird animal noise in the jungle that makes everyone turn their heads. But before the count, would anyone like to play their hidden immunity idol? Everyone looks over at Jonathan and Jonathan says “I’ll do it." This is a hidden immunity idol, and any votes against Jonathan will not count.
The votes are… Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan. Obviously, Jonathan was right to play the idol so Probst gets those out of the way. Jonathan is left to reflect on the fact that he's a terrible judge of character and he doesn’t really deserve to stay in this game.
RC. Pete. Jonathan. Jonathan. Oh Probst, you old tease. RC, Pete, RC and the eighth person voted out of Survivor and the first member of the jury is RC. She hugs Michael and gets up to go. Abi and Pete smirk at each other. So long RC, I know quite a few people who will miss you and particularly your leopard print bikini.
So, in the end Jeff Kent decided to vote with the Tandang alliance. It’s too early to tell how this will play out, but I think Jeff Kent’s priority is to remain the swing vote. If all goes according to his plan, Michael and Jonathan are next out, leaving the tribe split Pete-Abi-Artis on one side and Malcolm-Denise-Lisa on the other. Then he has a choice - side with Pete-Abi-Artis knowing that they’d be easy to beat at Tribal Council, but knowing that you’d be in their sights when it’s down to five. Or play one side off against the other by voting off (say) Malcolm, then Pete, and making your bloc of two the swing vote each time.
Looking at the alternative strategy of sticking with the returnees and voting out Pete, Abi and Artis. With eight players left there would probably be three tight pairs of RC-Michael, Denise-Malcolm and Jeff Kent-Carter and two wild cards – Lisa and Jonathan. I think Jeff Kent felt that he would have less opportunity to be the swing vote in that situation, and he chose the option where he’d have more control and would end up in a final three where he could win. It’s easy to think he made the wrong decision by letting the mean people we don’t like get further in the game, but I think he made the right call.
Next time on Survivor, Jonathan has “nothing left to lose, and wages war on everyone”. He even smack-talks Michael: “Maybe you’ll win immunity. Oh you won’t, because I’m winning immunity." What would be great is if he followed up with a z-snap.
We see how the votes went over RC’s boring post-boot interview. Abi, Lisa, Malcolm, Denise and Michael (!) all voted for Jonathan, Pete, Artis, Carter and Jeff Kent voted for RC, leaving Jonathan and RC to vote for Pete. The most surprising thing is that eight castaways concocted a plan to split the vote between two people, and they all voted the way they were supposed to.
Meanwhile, RC talks about how amazing it was to go on Survivor blah blah blah. She says he’s very proud of herself, but I guess the 112th Wellesley hoop-rolling champion will have to find some other success, however she defines it.