Survivor Phillipines - October 31/12

Gooood evening. I trust you all had a ghoooulishly good Halloween.

In Survivorland it's not Halloween...its just Night 16. Kalabaw is home from Tribal Council minus Katie who was blindsided. Denise is happy that she survived her 6th consecutive Tribal Council and Penner is miffed that someone had the gall to write his name down. He forgets, he tells us, that others are lying.

The next morning at Tandang, Mike is recalling how this is the day that he fell in the fire 24 seasons ago. For him this is new territory. Mike's reveries are interupted by an approaching boat carrying news about an upcoming merge. Survivors have exactly 10 minutes to collect what they want to bring with them. Over at Kalabaw they are receiving the same news, sending Malcolm scurrying to dig up his hidden immunity idol. Both tribes are carried to their new beach on the outriggers that brought the news of the merge. They are greeted by baskets of fruit and other food, along with bottles of wine. The merge sets everyone's mind to working (only slightly clouded by the wine). Denise is hoping she can resume her alliance with Malcolm. Mike decides that he and RC are free agents and that they owe no loyalty to their former tribe. When Abi suggests RC should act as a spy, RC says she is reluctant to do so since they "aren't exactly one big happy family". RC does think she might be able to connect with Denise, though. While all this chit chat is going on, Lisa decides it would be nice to hang up everyone's wet clothing. She goes through Malcolm's bag and finds his immunity idol. Denise sees it happen and tells Malcolm who promptly rushes Lisa off into the jungle. She immediately begins apologizing and swears she will keep his secret. "You, me and Denise to the final three", promises Malcolm. Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe not. thinks Lisa.

The following day finds more strategizing. Penner and Lisa hit it off. He knows she was a child actress but promises to keep her secret. He thinks Lisa might go far in the game, given that she is non-threatening and likely to go under the radar. Penner is also trying to find cracks in the former Tandang tribe. He approaches Mike to see if he is ready to slit the throats of his former tribe. Mike assures Penner that he and RC are solid but that neither are loyal to Tandang. While Penner works the crowd out on the water, a faction led by Jeff and Pete are figuring out how they can get rid of Penner. They suspect he has an idol so decide to split the vote with four votes going to Penner and four to RC. If Penner plays the idol RC is gone and they can get him next time. Of course, for all this to work neither Penner nor RC can win immunity.

They are in luck. At the immunity challenge there are two individual immunity necklaces up for grabs...one for the men and one for the women. Each survivor has a bucket filled to weigh 25% of their body weight. The bucket is slung over a bar with a rope. The end of the rope is wrapped around a metal roller. The Survivors must hold on to the roller to keep it from turning and releasing the bucket. Mike is out almost immediately, followed by Pete and Penner. They continue to drop out until Denise is the last woman. A very happy Denise has just received immunity for the very first time. The men continue to duke it out until it is down to Jeff and Carter. Jeff makes an attempt to deal with Carter but Carter is halfhearted about throwing the challenge. In the end Jeff gives up and Carter wins the jewellery.

And so the plan to split the votes between Penner and RC can proceed. RC is feeling secure, but Mike knows he is a target. He promises to vote with Jeff and Carter if it means Penner goes home. Of course Penner is busy professing his loyalty and thinks Pete should go home. They finally head off to Tribal Council where the members of the former Tandang Tribe learn that they have made Survivor history. Never before has a tribe avoided Tribal Council until after the merge. The votes are cast, Penner plays his idol (negating any votes cast for him), and Dimples (in green tonight!) tabulates the votes. It turns out that Penner got 5 votes, but all it means is that Penner is going to be pretty pissy back at camp since the votes don't count. Instead it comes down to a race between RC and Pete with RC getting 4 votes to Pete's 2. And so RC and our own Pam are heading over to become the first members of the jury. Pam and Grace both voted for RC to win the million. Sorry, ladies. Not this time.

Until next week,
Outplay, Outwit, Outlast
Pat (aka Abi I'm not the most likeable Survivor of all time Gomez)