Survivor: Philippines - Episode 8
Dead Man Walking
By Ben Willoughby
November 8, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The result was a chaotic Tribal Council where Jonathan played his hidden immunity idol in the best way possible and RC was left to be eliminated. Ten are left. Who will be voted out tonight? The answer may shock and surprise you.
The castaways return to camp, and Jonathan asks Jeff Kent for the lowdown on what happened. Jeff said “we had big numbers coming in” but when he asked around “the numbers weren’t there... everyone was too wishy-washy.” Jonathan highlights that if Jeff Kent and Carter had not flipped and voted with them as discussed, then he would have used the idol and Pete would be going home.
In interview, Jonathan says that it “hurts to be betrayed” because “you have been kept out of the secret” and “the thing that you trusted wasn’t you.”
Then Jonathan flat out asks Denise if she voted for RC, and she tells him in an equally flat out way that actually she voted for Jonathan, and that she has her own strategy, and her own path and it may backfire but whatever, that’s the game. She is one cool customer.
Now Carter is there too, and Jeff Kent explains that “when the bigger picture doesn’t come together, what do you do, go down with the sinking ship? You can’t do that”. “Absolutely right,” concedes Jonathan, not believing a word of it.
Jeff Kent interviews that Jonathan doesn’t have any power now that his idol is gone, and will be doing his best to win immunity, just to prevent Jonathan from getting it. In the meantime, he recognizes that he gave up authority with his flip, but he plans to work his way up with Tandang by using them against themselves.
Michael and Jonathan have a talk. “There’s cracks, I’m telling you, there’s cracks, there’s cracks.” Michael assures Jonathan that he is “not going home after you,” even though he voted for Jonathan as well. Jonathan asks Michael what they should do, and Michael’s response is to wait for “someone else to screw up.” Jonathan doesn’t seem on board with a lay-low strategy, and they shake hands.
Jonathan interviews that he is not resigned to going home just yet, but as far as he is concerned he has “no alliances, allegiances, I don’t care, everyone is equal, they are all ready to die.”
After the credits, it’s the next morning and Jonathan is out in the boat with Denise and Lisa. Self-mockingly, he says “I am going to act like the big white fisherman,” and then he goes off to kill Nemo. Seriously, the editors include is footage of clownfish and everything.
Lisa interviews that “everyone’s galvanised against Jonathan” and she wants to swim with that stream, but that once Jonathan and Michael are out, she will get together with Jeff, Carter, Denise and Malcolm and target “the three that everybody doesn’t like,” which would be Pete, Artis and Abi.
We see Jeff Kent and Lisa walking along the beach, and Jeff Kent sets out the plan Lisa just explained, saying that it is a straight up numbers game. A bunch of castaways formed an alliance with a group of three, and “can that group outside of that three eventually trust each other and come together and get them out?” “I like that,” says Lisa. Then in a poorly edited interview, Jeff Kent says how fun it would be to break that up and that Lisa is so naïve and so soft and so nice, but maybe they can “carry themselves into a flip scenario."
Probst sighting! It’s for a reward challenge. The castaways will divide into two teams, and then they will swim out with a rope. They will connect the rope to the fish trap, and then swim down to release the buoy. The rest of the team then pulls them back to shore. Once they have collected all four fish traps, someone will then go dig in the sand for a key which will unlock a puzzle frame. After the puzzle frame is unlocked, the teams can open the fish traps that contain the “puzzle scrolls,” and two of them will work to solve the puzzle. Complicated to describe? asks Probst. Yes, say the castaways.
Anyway, the winning team will be treated to a river cruise, and lunch. Ribs! Potato salad! Cornbread! Apple pie! Worth playing for, asks Jeff? The moaning laughter from the castaways at each of his announcements said it all.
The two teams are Jeff, Malcolm, Jonathan, Lisa and Denise (the yellow team) and Pete, Abi, Artis, Michael and Carter (the blue team). Interestingly, Pete, Abi and Artis all ended up on the same team, meaning that whatever happens there’ll be five players who’ll do nothing but moan about them. Jonathan makes a funny fisticuffs move towards the red team. Probably at Michael, because he seems the only one capable of laughter.
Abi and Jeff Kent are first into the water, and Jeff Kent makes quick work of things while Abi can’t quite get things to happen. Remember when Jeff Kent twisted his knee? What happened with that? Anyway, he is back on shore and Jonathan is in the water as Abi hooks her fish trap. I can’t think of a way for that to not sound dirty.
Pete heads out for the blue team, and then Lisa for the yellow team. “Lisa, slow in the water,” calls out Probst. It does make me wonder why they didn’t send her out first instead of Jeff Kent, as she would have had the least distance to swim. But Pete gets back to shore and taps in Carter who seems to overtake Lisa before she gets to her buoy. Michael swims out for the blue team just as Lisa finally hooks her fish trap.
So this stage of the challenge is down to Michael for the blue team and Denise for the yellow. Michael says that he cannot see it, so Denise makes it out to the buoy while he is still struggling. “You gotta back up!” Michael calls out to his team, but no one knows what he is talking about. “What does that mean?” Abi calls. Artis glowers.
Denise has unhooked her fish trap and heads back, and Michael finally gets his released, so things are pretty close again. They get back. Start digging!
Malcolm and Artis are assigned to the digging part of the challenge, and they are about thigh deep when Artis comes up with his key. He unlocks the puzzle frame and Michael and Pete get to work opening the puzzle scrolls.
The yellow team is not far behind, and while the puzzle is easy to solve, it’s fiddly to assemble. It’s clear that Jonathan and Jeff Kent are going to take the lead here because they’re working very well together by separating tasks and putting two puzzle scrolls in place at a time while Pete and Michael are going one by one. “Pick it up!” But it’s not close at the end and yellow wins reward.
Unusually, we see the reward losers return to camp first. “This is a good thing,” says Abi. “Everything happens for a reason.” Artis, in a more charming interview than I’ve seen before, talks about how he wanted that reward. Has there ever been a victory that Artis didn’t want? Be more like this. Artis.
Carter and Abi get talking in front of everyone. Carter says “You guys got a four with Lisa,” and Abi has to count them out “Abi, Artis, Peter and Lisa... yeah, four” right there with Michael in front of her. Pete looks gobsmacked. Abi goes on “You are... you and Jeff [Kent]. Unless, you guys are now part of the alliance too. I mean, going with [Jonathan].”
“Yeah,” says Carter.
“And there is no… placement. I really do think that way.”
Carter says, “You guys are up there, it makes sense”. I guess that’s... agreement?
In interview, Pete says that Abi has a big mouth, and compares her to “a puppy you have to take care of." He sets out his strategy with Abi – that everything is Tandang and it’s “a free ride home” so they have to get rid of Kalabaw. What if they get rid of Jonathan, but then get rid of Jeff, Denise, Malcolm and then vote out Michael?
Abi agrees that she wants Jeff Kent out because she believes he is forming an alliance with Lisa “even if you don’t believe me." Pete is irritated. “Why do you always have to do that?” So even though they are in perfect agreement, they are still sniping at each other. I hope they get married.
Pete has another interview says that “Abi is immature” and “thinks everyone is out to get her." He’d really like to vote her out, but “if she’s in a final three, she’s not getting anywhere."
Now we see how happy the reward-winning tribe is without Pete, Abi and Artis around to ruin everything. They toast their team, and Denise says that she feels “horrible for those guys back at camp”, probably meaning Carter and Michael. Lisa says less diplomatically that she feels bad for Michael because the negativity trio “find something to be upset about after every challenge”. Unlike Lisa, who is complaining about the other people in her alliance after a challenge.
Malcolm agrees that there is “just... negativity." In interview, he goes on to describe the dynamic as good versus evil, with the evil three being Pete, Abi and Artis, while everyone else “considers themselves the good guys”. Lisa continues “if you are in their line of fire, you’re gone, unless you kiss their little behinies." Heh, behinies. Jonathan talks over her to declare that he “hates that kind of bullying." I believe him, not least because he had to deal with that in his first season at Cook Islands, but he’s also desperate for them to vote “anyone but Jonathan” at the next Tribal Council.
He lays it on further, saying, “I do not honestly believe that I can win the game at this point, but I would like to see any of the four of you, or Carter, to be there” and that he’d be happy to help them get in control of the game. Jonathan says that after him, it’ll be Michael and then Jeff Kent, and there “has to be a way to defuse that." Also “Tyrannical bullies, it’s just not cool!”
Meanwhile, Lisa is interviewing that “battling to the end with four other worthy opponents is such a noble choice,” but she wants to win so she’s really really tempted to try and get to Tribal Council with all the people no one likes. “The same rules don’t apply in Survivor as they do in real life,” she says.
After the break, it’s Day 22 and we have more Lisa. She explains that after Jonathan is voted out, it will be time for a five against four split, and it makes more sense for her and Michael to go to the end with Pete, Abi and Artis.
Lisa implements her plan by explaining to Michael that Jonathan is next, and everyone wants him out next. But that Malcolm has the idol, and he has not told anyone about it except her and Denise. She thinks it would be a good idea for Tandang to blind-side Malcolm. Michael’s so proud that Lisa is “in this game to win it.” But what happens if Jonathan wins immunity?
It’s this point where Jonathan shows up. Lisa explains that they are having a very “heated and hot discussion about you.” I think Jonathan’s been fantasizing about Blair from The Facts of Life having a heated and hot discussion about him with a close friend since 1979, but this isn’t quite how he dreamt it.
Anyway, Lisa confesses to Jonathan that Michael is her buddy and they never get a chance to talk, and Jonathan pretends to care. “Maybe you’ll win immunity. Well no you won’t, dude, because I’m winning immunity today. So it’ll be your turn.” No z-snaps, but Michael deflates like Jonathan already has won immunity. Anyway, Michael interviews that a lot depends on immunity today.
Jonathan interviews that he’s “never won immunity before never once, so maybe it’s high time that Johnny did”. He’d like to “stick it in their faces and say that once after three times that he has won individual immunity." If Jonathan can pull one out of the bag Richard Hatch-style, then more power to him. But I’m not getting my hopes up.
Also, I’m not sure if he is talking about his current tribemates, or former ones from previous seasons. All the challenge monsters like Colby and Tom Westman must lord it over Jonathan at every Survivor castmember meet-up. Jonathan is probably imagining handing his commemorative immunity idol to Ozzy who’ll say “Yeah, it’s okay, I guess,” with a face that just sucked a lemon.
And on that note, it’s time for an immunity challenge. Probst sighting! Immunity is back up for grabs!
In this challenge, the castaways will be clambering over and under obstacles, collecting bags of puzzle pieces that are tied to the obstacles as they go. The first three to make it through the course will then compete to solve the puzzle. Winner gets immunity, and a one in nine shot at winning this game. (Cough!) Appropriate to all the snake sightings we have had this season, the puzzle is... a snake.
Let the challenge commence! Probst calls that Abi, Jeff Kent and Pete are away to a good start while Lisa is in last place, but they all get through the first part of the course and are untying bundle #2 at the same time.
Probst calls out the order again. Pete and Jeff are far enough ahead, with Malcolm, Michael and Jonathan all scrambling for third. Jonathan! They start to untie their third bundles, and it’s Pete... and Jeff… and we see Michael get his untied first, with Jonathan next, but Jonathan puts his ample body on the line with a heroic dive for the mat and squeaks over the line! Editing did make it look more exciting, but there were only a few seconds in it. Malcolm tosses his puzzle pieces like he’s Russell, and all the first-stage losers have to head to the bench and watch the puzzle-solving.
According to Probst’s commentary, Pete gets off to a quick start and Jeff Kent is making progress while Jonathan is “falling behind.” “Come on Pete,” whispers Malcolm. “Come on Jeff,” whispers Lisa. But then Jonathan gets on a massive tear “out of nowhere” and takes it. Jonathan! Wins Immunity! All that goading from Probst paid off!
After no one cheers or claps or cares, Jonathan does a lame airplane move to celebrate. “First time ever,” he tells Probst. “Really?” asks Probst. “What a joke,” mutters Jeff Kent professional sportsman. Good for Jonathan. I’ve always liked him as a player, and I’m glad they keep bringing him back for more. After Probst says “see you at tribal,” Jonathan slow-claps himself off.
In interview after the challenge, Jonathan is still grinning about how that challenge was “maybe the best thing I ever did in my life.” His Oscar nominated short film? That was garbage! Immunity’s what it’s all about, baby!
Back at camp, there’s an immediate discussion about who to boot next. Malcolm is bemoaning that of course Jonathan had to win immunity, because he was the only guy that everybody wanted to get rid of. He’s irritated.
But this should be an easy one, right? I mean, no one really wants Michael around. Jeff Kent, Malcolm and Lisa are with Pete who’s saying, “It’s the same thing, just a different order”. Malcolm asks Pete what they should tell Michael if it comes up and Pete’s all “He has to know. He’s just being mellow.”
Jeff Kent is also irritated, but he just says that Jonathan has “bought himself another three days of dead man walking.” He’s not afraid to talk with Michael about his pending elimination, either. “Worst thing that could happen to you. It’s no secret. No secret at all,” Jeff Kent says while Michael is cutting up a clam. Surprisingly, Michael does not stab himself somehow.
Lisa sees an opportunity to get the vote to go the way she wants, so she talks with Pete about Malcolm. “Malcolm has an immunity idol.” She explains how she found it. “I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I haven’t, but the only way to get rid of him is to blind-side him. So you have to realize that whatever he says, his allegiance is with them, not with us.” Pete, who claims to be blindsided by the news, decides to take that under advisement.
Next thing we see, Pete and Malcolm are talking on the beach, and Pete asks “You have the Matsing idol, don’t you?”
Malcolm shakes his head.
“You sure?”
“No no no no no... If I had that thing, my pulse would have been a lot lower going into your tribe a few weeks ago,” Malcolm says with his pulse racing. “Somebody said I did?”
“Somebody said you did.”
“Who said I did?”
“Lisa.” says Pete, as though he thinks she is full of it. Malcolm’s eyes are darting everywhere.
“So... I have to go scramble,” says Malcolm.
“No, don’t scramble,” says Pete the mastermind. “I can save you”.
Malcolm is all ears “So who should we vote out next?”
“Why not send home Jeff [Kent]?” says Pete.
“You want to vote Jeff now?” asks Malcolm, who cannot believe his luck.
“We can switch it really quick,” says Pete. Then Malcolm goes into the ocean to wash his shorts.
In interview, Pete describes Malcolm’s reaction as “freaked out." He goes on. “That right there was enough of a reaction to look into his soul and realize that he doesn’t have the idol." Pete – Master of Survivor strategy, folks!
Meanwhile, Malcolm is asking everyone about who told who about an idol. Like anyone would do if they don’t have a hidden immunity idol. Everyone denies having heard it from Lisa. Everyone agrees that Jeff Kent is the vote. Carter even suggests “You don’t have it? Play it if you got it.” None of this reassures Malcolm, but they all say they are voting Jeff Kent. Artis is laughing at the whole situation.
At the same time, Lisa is scrambling about who told Malcolm about everything. Pete denies telling Malcolm, saying instead that he “just told him that we know." Lisa looks exasperated and complains in interview that all her well-laid plans are ruined because Pete failed miserably at convincing Malcolm that he’s not on the chopping block.
Pete interviews that “playing the mastermind is never easy, and you only really know you’re the mastermind right before tribal, when you figure out do you really have everyone and is it solid?” We see everyone getting ready to go, and whispers like “Watch out, Jeff [Kent]’s behind you."
Jeff Kent immediately figures something is up, and when he talks with Malcolm they agree they can get six – Malcolm, Denise, Jeff Kent, Carter, Jonathan and Michael – to cut the head off the snake, either Pete or Abi. The snake has two heads! Lots of whispers about getting rid of Pete follow, with Jeff Kent advising Jonathan and Malcolm filling in Denise and Michael. Jeff Kent than gets a moment with Carter. “Pete’s going home, they got six votes."
“I thought they were sending you home tonight,” says Carter blandly. Some ally!
They all gather their hidden immunity idols, and Malcolm complains about how crazy it all is.
The heavily confused castaways arrive at Tribal Council, and Probst ushers out a post-boot RC who has clearly put all her effort into looking glamorous and making a grand entrance. Michael and Jonathan smile, and Jonathan even says “Right on!” Even Pete is all “Whoa!” But the display isn’t for any of the guys. Abi just stares blankly.
Probst talks about the target on returning players, and asks Michael if the finger was pointed at him after Jonathan won immunity. “A lot of pressure, instantly,” he says, but the pressure was taken off when he got back to camp and “heard some people talking."
Malcolm laughs bitterly, so Probst asks him the next question and he says that “I put my faith in a little Texas girl and she threw me pretty hard under the bus today” and points at Lisa.
“Lisa!?!” exclaims Probst like he is Mrs Garrett. So Lisa explains in her all-too-honest way that it would have been an easy vote until Jonathan won immunity, which put Michael up for elimination. But she perceived Malcolm as the biggest threat. I love Lisa’s Tribal Council confessionals, but they won’t get her very far in the game.
Now Probst puts forward his view of how the tribes are divided – the Tandang Five and the Kalabaw Four, with Malcolm in the Middle. He asks Denise whether the Kalabaw Four could get Malcolm on their side and suddenly they would be five against five. Absolutely.
Abi – are you concerned that someone in your alliance “screwed the whole game up?” Abi doesn’t mention Pete, but focuses on Malcolm and how they were in an alliance and that sending him home would be ludicrous. So Lisa says, “we were willing to let Michael go home,” so Abi talks about how Michael and RC were always on the outside. The alliance was Lisa, Abi, Peter and Artis. Malcolm double-takes at not being mentioned, and Abi apologises but even Probst calls it as being too late.
Lisa keeps on talking about the hidden immunity idol, and you either have to blind-side the person who has it, or flush it out because it is a huge threat in the game, and that while she “was playing both sides, [her] allegiance was to the original alliance." Too honest Lisa! Also, present tense!
To end this, Malcolm gets out his idol, and shows it to everyone and says “there’s way too much chaos here tonight” and that he’s going to play it. “Anyone who jumps in Lisa’s boat, you might be in for a mean surprise in a second."
Not to be outdone, Abi reveals that she also has an idol. Big double-take from Jeff Kent. Amused cat’s bum face from RC on the jury. “This is awesome,” says Jonathan. Artis has a “what the hell?” look. Abi declares that she will use “selflessly having this to protect her alliance." Great Tribal, Pete says to Jonathan. “Fantastic, man,” says Jonathan. They’re getting on well. Jeff Kent cannot stop laughing.
Anyway, Jonathan has something to say. He turns right to Jeff Kent and says, “It looks like there could be six of us right here who could march forward in this game. And that means keeping [Michael] and I in this game, at least for a while. Are you guys ready to do that?” Jeff Kent says that they have discussed those options and many more. “Are you guys ready to do that?” Jonathan pushes. “Yes,” at least Denise says. Carter seems ready. So does Michael. “Wow,” says Jeff Kent pushing his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.
Lisa also has something to say. “I would like to at least make my proposal. Anyone I have given my word to, we can still keep a majority if we go with Plan B, and hopefully this proves that I am loyal enough to take the offensive move to secure the numbers for those who are in our core alliance."
Probst recaps the two proposals and Pete pipes up “I think they’re coming after me." His name’s been thrown around a lot since the merge he says. Jeff Kent tries to deflect by pointing out that his name as well as Malcolm’s came up. And Jonathan and Michael. Lisa, and Abi. Too many names, Jeff Kent! Now Pete knows it’s him! “This is pretty fun!” he tells Probst. Just wait for the punchline, Jeff Kent!
Probst declares that he cannot remember a more complicated Tribal Council. “Nice!” wows Jeff Kent. He’s so excited! Does anyone really know who they are voting for? Whatever. This Tribal Council has been great.
It’s time to vote. We see Lisa vote for Jeff Kent, and Denise vote for Pete, saying “it was fantastic to watch your alliance implode on itself.”
Probst brings back the votes to “tally,” but first, is anyone going to play their hidden immunity idol? Malcolm fiddles with his a little, and there is lots of looking around, but no one does anything. And the votes are Abi. Jeff Kent. Pete. Jeff Kent. Pete. Jeff Kent. Pete. Jeff Kent. Pete. And the ninth person voted out of Survivor is... Jeff Kent.
Whoa! Malcolm is rolling his eyes, wondering what just happened. Jeff Kent, the tribe has spoken. Probst declares that “that vote may go down as one of the biggest blown opportunities in the game." I can’t tell if he’s talking about getting rid of Malcolm, or about Jeff Kent not getting things tight.
Next week on Survivor, Lisa is “bullied by her alliance” and turns to Jonathan and could flip everything upside-down.
The votes are played, and we see that Malcolm, Denise, Jeff Kent and Carter voted for Pete, while Pete, Abi, Artis, Lisa and Michael (!!) all voted for Jeff Kent. I seriously think Michael may be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. The holdout? Jonathan, who voted for Abi. No explanation for his vote, but I’m guessing he knew which way Michael’s vote would go and maybe he saw an opportunity to get rid of the guy who has been wanting him out since the game started.
In his post-boot interview, Jeff Kent is still wearing his “professional sportsman” cap as he finally reveals the Jeff Kent I had been warned to expect this season. He complains that he made $60 million in baseball, but he’s really pissed off by this loss of a million, “And it’s not even a million bucks, it’s like $600,000 by the time Obama takes it.” By that logic, Bush took $24 million of Jeff Kent’s hard-earned money. And Bush probably lives just down the road from Jeff Kent’s ranch, so it’d be a lot more convenient to go to his ranch and complain about that.
Jeff Kent goes on to explain that while he is a Game Seven World Series loser, “this just sucks.” Don't take it too hard.