Survivor Philippines Season 25 Episode 1 Recap: Survivor Smacked Me in the Chops
Sep 19 2012 10:28 pm ET
The Philippines. We watch Jeff Probst on a watercraft as we have every beauty shot we'll see on the rest of the season. We meet 15 of the contestants including baseball player Jeff Kent, Frankenstein-tattoo Zane, and Blair from The Facts of Life. Jeff explained the twist about contestants that got pulled out earlier: Other Russell, Penner, and Mike Skupin were back. We got extra shots of Elisabeth Hasselback, pre-The View.
OMG, Opening credits! Nothing too special, but at least everyone was divided and effort was actually put in.
The fifteen contestants met Jeff on his Watercraft and after the excited cheers, panic immediately spread in. We have Roxanne explain Other Russell's storyline and Jeff explained that the three will be returning. Roxanne's expression was a bad sign for her survival. The other boat with Russell, Penner, and Mike arrived. Each had a color already on as each tribe joined. Mike almost called Lisa "Blair." I still think she's Blair. Jeff announced the hidden immunity idols are back in play and then chucked the contestants out of the boat with random supplies in a minute. Poor chickens. Can chickens swim? Mass chaos ensued as untying, and searching for anything sharp kicked in. Everyone got onto their crafts as Kalabaw lost everything to the water, including a chicken. Nothing looked graceful at all as I prayed that a shark would eat them all.
Jeff immediately explained that his leg popped as he landed on his raft, already fearing his weakness was going to send him home.
Matsing arrived at their camp, Russell thrilled about making it through. He hoped that he wouldn't be a leader and told the tribe that they could be a team as he forced the people to do his bidding. The rest of the tribe decided to listen to Russell as he shouted commands. Malcolm claimed to teach ESL in Micronesia as being a teacher and fire-making came together. There was a lot of smoke and embers as the fire almost immediately were started.
Kalabaw arrived in their sea of red as Jonathan moved the gear down the beach. Jeff was in pain as his knee tried to buckle on him. He tried to play it calm as Penner converted his raft into a floor for their shelter. The rest of Penner's group decided that they should get rid of him soon. Kent was smart and proved that he could cover his weakness with vocal power.
Tandang came in with a wave as they were a bit clumsier than the three. Skupin was confident for his tribe as the girls chattered. RC and Abi-Maria giggled like little schoolgirls and aligned as quickly as possible, they decided to go for the Parvati technique of pairing with a stronger male (see: Parvati/Danielle/Russell), then cutting him later. Abi continued to use her sexuality as she flirted with Pete. The three young-uns decided to stick together. RC decided to grab Skupin as part of a foursome. Skupin immediately agreed, deciding that he's going with the flow of the game.
We return to Kalabaw as Jeff warned the girls about bugs; he claimed to own a ranch. Dana was worried, but tried to connect to the southern nature with Jeff. Jeff decided to be the workhorse, but Dawson knew his secret. She's holding her card as long as possible.
Tandang. Hey! Abi's wearing an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Twenty-five seasons, several with yellow as a color for this? As Lisa was worried about being cutthroat she decided to be a charmer. She explained she was a motivational speaker to the girls. She decided to try making a fire for the tribe. Since we didn't see the fire, I assume that she failed. I wonder if she'll get more exposure as an actress after this. RC immediately thought she could be the easy scapegoat. At night, Mike decided to pinpoint her celebrity and Lisa was worried that the celebrity would hurt.
Matsing - Day 2. We learned that Zane was a junkyard worker; Denise the sex therapist started to play the psychological angle as the two decided to work together. Zane then talked to Roxanne and then with Angie for alliances. Then he went to Russell and Malcolm for an alliance. He's basically aligned with his whole tribe. Wrong move. Immediately Malcolm talked to Denise and realized the therapist angle would be useful.
Tandang had to deal with the rain, Skupin was worried about rain. He decided to be a leader and go for the gusto. He cut his finger almost immediately, and then scraped his forehead. He then cut his foot, claiming that he's not accident prone. He then cut his finger eating a coconut. Pete was worried that he'd be seriously injured soon.
Kalabaw decided to hide in a cave as Katie thought Penner was shady. At least they had a cave. Penner continued to look for the obvious places for the idol. Penner decided to check the bag of rice for the idol and immediately found the first clue. The clue led him to the beach, but he didn't find anything.
Matsing worried about rice proportions as Russell accidentally found the hidden immunity idol clue. Zane immediately saw him with the clue and questioned him. Russell denied him which Zane found even shadier.
The three tribes arrived at their immunity challenge, now with hashtags, as Jeff explained that the tribes would be broken into three pairs. The first pair had a net climb, the second had a boat and diving challenge, the third pair had a puzzle. The first two tribes win a cute chicken/peacock immunity. The first tribe to win would also win a fire making kit; the second tribe would get flint. The tribes had time to strategize about who was taking what as Russell led his tribe again.
There was running as the first three pairs began their first challenge, but there wasn't much drama in the running section. Artis/RC finished first with Russell/Zane right behind, Zane with no energy left and having to be dragged. Dana/Katie were last with a lot of time as Kalabaw needed to catch up. There was a strong wind as Skupin/Pete released their chest with no problems. Jeff/Carter made up time for Kalabaw and came back before Malcolm/Denise. The big lead for Yellow helped as all six contestants flipped the chest. The fight for first place was between Matsing and Tandang as the Abi/Lisa did a great job solving the puzzle. It was a dead even race but Kalabaw won, with Tandang in a close second. Russell claimed that it was his fault for his leadership.
Matsing returned and Russell explained how brutal challenges were. Zane tried to pull the fire out of his stomach and threw himself under the bus. What? He claimed that he was running the game by exclaiming his weaknesses. Russell talked to Roxanne and Angie that Zane should be voted out. Angie, Miss Teen Utah, realized that Russell should be out soon. She was annoyed because she wasn't good at puzzles. She talked to Zane and Angie immediately told him to vote Russell; Zane smirked as his plan worked. Malcolm talked to Zane as the two considered blindsiding Russell. The only fear was that Russell had the hidden immunity idol. Malcolm then tried to discuss with Denise who was also upset.
The tribe arrived at their tribal hut, which reminded me a lot of Thailand's tribal. After the fire initiation, Jeff instigated the contestants. Denise wanted the game to be "pure" as she talked about how useful/useless it is to have experience. Zane used the onion parallel which lost Jeff completely. I was lost too. He tried to explain everything, which I still lost. Russell admitted to being a dictator and made a huge mistake. Angie threw Russell under the bus as Russell tried to explain that he made the mistake.
The vote went down as we saw Russell's vote for Zane and Zane's vote for "Russ." There were no hidden immunity idols so the vote stayed 5-1 against Zane. Zane played the game too hard, too fast. Jeff provided them with flint.
Next Week: Jonathan was desperate for an idol. Lisa was broken and by herself.
Michael Pascua - TVLatest.com
Michael Pascua's Twitter:
Follow @MichaelPascua
TVLatest's Twitter:
Follow @TVLatest
Want to join our team of writers? Have a look HERE!