survivor philippines: "keep your sunny side up...and suck eggs!"

Survivor Philippines, episode 11, air date Nov. 28, 2012

abi's pity party continues back at camp.  "you guys were mean to me, wah."  "i had no idea you guys felt that way towards me, wah."  really?  so you're not a mean person, you're just totally clueless?

only malcolm's heart is big enough to have sympathy for abi.  AND she gets a hug out of it.  jealous!

there are individual envelopes in tree mail.  abi thinks it's letters from home but i see money!  that only means...survivor auction time!

item #1:  pancakes, bacon, OJ, syrup.  for $500, goes to denise.  as skupin notes, this meal would cost $1.99 at the local diner.  skupin must be from a non-metropolitan area because i can't get all that around here for $1.99.  maybe $5.99.

item #2:  before we can even see what this item is, skupin bids $500 - this comes moments after his $1.99 comment.  for wine, cheese, crackers and some dried fruit, i think?  this amuses malcolm immensely.  i think denise got the better deal here considering that skupin doesn't drink.  AND he can't share his food with anyone so the wine goes to waste.

item #3:  iced coffee and donuts, goes to malcolm for $200.

item #4:  mystery tent, goes to penner, uncontested for $100.  he gets fried chicken (!!!) and french fries.  awesome, now i want some!

not a peep out of lisa, abi or carter yet.  hmmm.

item #5:  mystery item, goes to carter for $200. he gets a fully loaded baked potato BUT there's a tweest!  he can trade his potato for a bag of race and a bag of beans for the tribe.  will he do it?  yes he does!  at least he recognizes that the rice and beans at camp will go a lot further than that baked potato right now.  they should've made it a tougher trade like a whole rack of ribs, an ice cream sundae and a massage...OR rice and beans for the tribe.

item #6:  another mystery tent, goes to lisa for $320...just outside of carter's budget since he only has $300 left.  she gets a "nice gigantic sandwich", chips and soda.  is there a rule that they have to sample the food at the podium before taking it back to the bench.  is this survivor's version of the money shot?

"the sandwich was THIS big!"

item #7:  game advantage, goes to abi for $500 without hesitation.  smart move on her part but hopefully she lacks the skills to take full advantage of it.

item # 8:  mystery item, sold to carter for $200.  why have malcolm and penner stopped bidding?  he gets veal shanks with another tweest.  the whole tribe gets 60 seconds to tear into those veal shanks.  after the rice and beans, they really should let carter get at least a full 30 seconds to himself.  or at least one shank while the rest of them share the other shanks, right?  fair is fair.  i mean lisa is still eating her huge sandwich!

back at camp the auction euphoria is quickly replaced with abi demanding an apology for how she was treated - in her own words, she deserves an apology because:
"for destroying me at tribal council yesterday"  like you did to RC?
"i was demoralized."  like you did to lisa?
"i was pointed fingers at."  like you did to RC?
"i was ganged up on."  like you did to RC?
"i left there crying, genuinely crying."  you know, as opposed to fake crying.

penner tries to explain how he didn't do anything wrong while the rest of tribe try to ignore the conversation so they don't have to answer any of her accusations.

"wow, that is the most interesting ocean i've ever seen!"

abi's advantage bought her an automatic pass to the final round in the immunity challenge.  but her plan is to create a "fantasy" HII to trick people into not voting for her.  ok well news flash, a HII will only make them vote for you to flush it out.  so she plants the seed with malcolm but it doesn't seem like he buys it.

malcolm likens abi to a girlfriend who doesn't get the hint that you don't want her around anymore - hahahahaha!  did i mention that i heart malcolm?  never?

#immunitychallenge - holy cow, this one looks exhausting.  even with the advantage of not having to compete in the first two legs, i don't think abi can pull it off.  part 1 - make your way along a rope that is threaded around a hitching rail, first 5 move to the next round.  part 2 - follow the rope through a series of bamboo poles, first 2 (plus abi) move to the next round.  part 3 - navigate a multi-level obstacle course.  and there's a tweest!  at the beginning of each round there is a trivia question and an incorrect response gets you 5% of your body weight for you to carry through the challenge.  THEN we get to the moment where abi gets to flex her acting muscles.  oh my this is comical!  she tries to act like there are 2 parts to her advantage (when has that ever happened??)  and then chooses not to read the second, fake, secret part.  does anyone buy this?  i think most of the survivors just look confused.  except for malcolm who's trying hard not to die laughing.

Q1:  the philippines consists of how many islands?  A. more than 5000.  lisa and denise are wrong and get weight.  moving on are denise, carter, malcolm, skupin and penner.

Q2:  we don't get to hear what it is but denise, carter and skupin get it wrong so more weight for them.  skupin and malcolm get stuck in the poles early on.  penner and carter move on to the next round.

Q3:  carter gets the Q wrong again and adds weight.  knot untying, really??  couldn't they have attached her to a rope and make her climb up and around stuff??  ugh.  and with that extremely taxing challenge, abi wins immunity.  somebody shoot me.  i hate that this means that she gets to stick around but i love that it'll make for a GREAT scramble!

new target is penner...and lisa is waffling.  she's too attached to penner.  it's dangerous to have lisa in your alliance.  and apparently penner does not reciprocate since he says that lisa has lost her mind again, and calls her ridiculous.  it's nice to see that the respect goes both ways.  penner decides to target denise as the alterna-vote and tries to get skupin to vote with him, carter and abi.

tribal council:
- abi winks at her "friends" pete and artis.  artis has already declared that he was never in an alliance with abi.  i wonder if abi knows that?
- immunity has brought back bitchy abi.  as denise tries to explain the group attack on abi at the last tribal, abi just dismisses her, leading artis to shake his head.  some people just aren't capable of learning.
- penner is raring to go, throwing both malcolm and denise under the bus, arguing that they cannot be beaten at the end.
- malcolm points out that penner didn't trust lisa enough to align with her earlier.  whoops.
- probst asks lisa about a difficult situation in her life that she can't talk about because it's too personal.  WHAT IS IT??  dying to know.  and did jeff know about it when he asked?
- carter hasn't made a peep nor has jeff directed any questions towards him.
- abi sticks her tongue out at denise and scowls as she goes up to vote.
- abi can't fold paper.  the next immunity challenge should be based on that - origami for your lives.
- penner yells "denise" over his shoulder while voting - freakin' hilarious!  but if malcolm wanted to use his HII to save someone, that's good information to have!
- 3 votes denise, 4 votes penner and penner becomes the 5th member of the jury.  abi asks for a hug but she is DE-nied.  "yeah no, i'm not going to hug anybody else."  more hilarity from penner!
- "keep your sunny side up...and suck eggs!" penner's parting words as he whistles his way down the path.  with his theatrics, one of the better survivor exits this season - right after dawson's mugging down of jeff probst.

the bitch is back!

skupin drew a big heart with an arrow through it for penner.  i thought he was taking so long to vote because he was unsure.  nope, he was just trying to figure out where to start his artwork.  and penner wrote down "denies" on his card - intentional or dyslexia?

next week is the loved ones visit.  malcolm's brother miles looks like his polar opposite - dark hair, pale, not...fit, and as it seems, not as gifted with the spoken word.  i wonder what he could say that would get malcolm into trouble?  also i wonder if any of the other loved ones manage to recognize lisa and blow her cover?

survivor philippines: "whiners are wieners"

Survivor Philippines, episode 10, air date Nov. 21, 2012

now that abi is no longer controlling things, she finally manages to have a reasonable, respectful conversation with lisa.  she tells lisa that the only reason why the Others were nice to her was because they were playing the game, they want forgiveness so they can win the game later.  strange that abi recognizes the merit in that strategy but fails to utilize it herself.  you're never going to win!!

#rewardchallenge - again the survivors are split into teams and it requires the flipping of huge drums.  the teams are malcolm/carter/pete/abi vs. penner/skupin/denise/lis - so counting carter as a girl, it's two guys and two girls on each team. abi fails terribly because she has no idea what she's doing and instead of competing, she actually helps the other team flip their drum and score a point.  unfortunately she still gets to go on reward because her tribe wins the challenge.

what they played for:  spa days!  they get manis, pedis, massages and baths which means malcolm gets to wash his long, luxurious locks  (he looked absolutely thrilled about the idea).  and food - chicken, beef, shrimp skewers, fried calamari and cocktails.  they all agree to not talk strategy and just enjoy a day off with the young, hip crowd.  that works for malcolm since he doesn't want to align with any of them but abi and pete are stupid if they don't take advantage of this time away.

i guess pete IS stupid since he agrees not to talk shop.  opportunity wasted.

carter decides to feed malcolm grapes in the bath.  ok, that was a little weird.   but then again who can blame him, who can resist the charm?

malcolm comes back to camp looking like a pantene commercial [will insert picture later].  abi is just lighting things up:

-abi can't stop gloating about the reward - how beautiful everything was and how she stuffed her big belly is.  just. can't. stop.  she even interrupts carter so she could continue gushing about calamari.  the other rewardees are looking super uncomfortable and are silently willing her to shut. the. F. up.
- the tribemates are talking about abi and her lack of social skills WHILE SHE'S LAYING RIGHT NEXT TO THEM.  she's all "what? what?  what's up with me?"  no, they lie, not talking about you at all.
- abi declares that she not doing any more kitchen duty ever.  she figures since her days are numbered, she may as well kick back and chill.  penner asks her if she still expects to eat for the next 5 days. "oh i don't want to cook, but i definitely do want to eat.  i don't want to starve to death!"  crazy.
- denise gives us our title quote and tells us she can't wait to tell abi that "whiners are wieners" as she sends her packing.  really, denise?  must be a sex therapy motto.

it was like, the most beautiful thing i've ever seen...oh, my stomach, i was like, eating like a crazy woman...i felt like a princess

skupin decides to talk strategy with malcolm and the two discuss going final four with skupin/lisa & malcolm/denise.  of course when skupin tres to firm up the plan with lisa, she would rather go with penner.  damn you woman!  stop trying to undercut my malcolm.  instead of lisa, malcolm should have suggested penner.  luckily penner doesn't want to talk alliances until peter and abi are gone.  i don't know how smart that was of penner but for the time being, it saves matsing.

if pete wins immunity, these guys are hosed!

#immunity challenge - buoy moving.  this is another multi-part challenge.  part 1 - move your buoy through tangled rope, first 5 done move on.  part 2 - shake your buoy along a balance beam, first 3 move to the final round.  part 3 - maneuver your buoy through the water.  please let anyone but pete win.  i would also root against abi but she'll never win anything.  woo-hoo, malcolm, penner, denise, skupin, and carter take the first round so that means pete and abi are both out of this!  now it doesn't matter who wins.  skupin, carter and denise go to the final round.  it's a very close battle between these 3 as the alternately take the lead but carter ends up the big wiener on this one.  yay for not-pete!

i am LOVING these hobbit special peeks!  can't wait until december 14th!  a friend recently asked me "what is a bag end?"  smh.

my precioussssss

pete and abi start the scramble and their alterna-vote target is malcolm.  they approach lisa but she's already given her word to the six and will not budge.  skupin on the other hand is swayed - and scared - by the idea that malcolm could be tough to beat.  malcolm catches wind of the conversations going on and is now on alert.  hopefully he plays his idol if he needs to.

tribal council:
- abi cannot stop smiling at artis.  what's up with that?
- add lip-reading to malcolm's growing list of talents.
- there are no hidden strategies here yet there's still a huge question mark about how they (skupin) will vote.
- abi uses ESL as the reason that she is misunderstood by her tribemates.
- abi is hurt and may burst into tears.  and she has no idea she was unlikable.  she is finally hearing the truth about her abrasive personality and she just can't handle it.  she has no idea how she talks to people and how hurtful  her words and attitude towards others can be.  hope she watches this season and really sees herself.
- RC can't stop smiling.  can't say i blame her.
- abi plays her HII but malcolm does not.  yikes, nervous!
- 3 invalid votes for abi, 2 votes for malcolm and 3 votes for pete and this season's mastermind is sent home.

abi has been SO mean to some of the of the other survivors, RC in particular.  i find it almost impossible to believe that she had no idea and as jeff said it's a "cultural" thing.  the laughing, smirking and snickering about people is not cultural.  the verbal beatdowns - NOT cultural.  she was cruel and did not give a shit about anyone else's feelings.  but when the tables were turned, she became a blubbering mess - much like our previous mean girl, colton.  this is what power does to people, people. when they're on top, they step all over everyone but they forget this is a social game.  you need people to like you to win.  i really hope the next episode includes one of those quiz-about-the-tribemates challenges but i don't think jeff has it in his heart to abuse abi any more.  now that jeff has seen her behavior at camp, i wonder if he still thinks she's "misunderstood"?  maybe i'll tweet him up and find out!  UPDATE:  no direct response but he did say this "Hey guys - love the responses! I wasn't intending to be hard on Abi, I was just trying to make it clear what the tribe was saying."

nobody likes me?  wah!

ok so i feel a little bad that abi has been reduced to tears.  i don't want to see that.  i want her to stand tall and own up to her mean girl ways.  hopefully she'll get herself together next week so i can be happy when she's sent packing.

survivor philippines: "she found a clam. yay. whoopee."

Survivor Philippines, episode 09, air date Nov. 14, 2012

after returning from tribal council, abi attacks skupin for voting for her.  the nerve of that guy!  after skupin denies it, penner steps up and says yup it was me.   she actually sounded surprised and a little bit hurt by it.

penner realizes that he sort of screwed up the vote by voting for abi.  it's hard to believe that a great player like penner had such a major brain fart at this crucial moment.  it turns out lisa's "plan b" comment threw him for a loop and he was no longer clear which plan to follow.  these guys need to come up with some hand signals or codes or something.  is that against survivor rules?  and we learn that carter can count to 10 if he uses all his fingers.

love that malcolm checks to see if lisa is OK, even after she betrayed him.  what a great (smokin' hot) guy!

and then penner has his own tender moments with lisa.  aw, very sweet.  will it help penner win over lisa and save his ass tonight?  i hope so!

#rewardchallenge - again, the teams are split in my favor.  and since jeff tells us it's a school yard pick, now we know why.  and abi gets to sit out because no one picks her - sweet justice!  in this challenge, the survivors have to crawl through mud, climb an A frame, dig for a bag of balls, crawl through rice (awesome visual gag as the rice sticks to the mud) to the final table.  once all bags are collected, they must then throw all 12 balls into a tall, funnel-like basket.  the dream team of malcolm/penner/carter/denise get a HUGE advantage when penner decides to dig out all 4 bags of balls before completing his leg of the challenge.  as team lisa/pete/artis/skupin fall further behind, they seem to slow way down.  i mean artis is seriously dragging ass as he gets his bag and crawls through the rice.  there is some tension at the end because the team matbaw has a hard time landing that last ball but they do and hooray, they win reward!

it's the riceman!

what they played for:  a visit to a local village where the survivors get to deliver supplies and toys to the kids and then share in a native feast.  yay for authentic filipino food!  i definitely see some lechon (roast pig) but everything else goes by so fast i can't tell what it is. for sure there were crabs, shrimp, chicken, beer, rice, watermelon, noodles, ribs, bananas and a whole lot of other food!

funny moment #1:  penner tells the kids that in america his name is normal.  so all the kids call him "normal"

malcolm interacts with the kids *awww*.  malcolm talks about how much he misses teaching elementary school kids *swoon*.  malcolm attempts to hula hoop *drool*.

funny moment #2:  while the survivors sit to eat and strategize, there's a random guy (villager? crew member?  beer wench?) sitting with them.  i hope he gave them some good tips.

meanwhile back at camp, tandang is angry and bitter.  and for some hilarious reason, artis is still covered with rice.  abi decides to give lisa a verbal beatdown because apparently she thinks has been giving all their secrets away by playing the double agent.  um, really?  no, i'm sure abi was the one waving her HII around and telling everyone exactly where they stood in the pecking order last night at tribal.  unfortunately lisa doesn't get to explain anything to abi because as usual, she talks over her and refuses to listen - a typical abi conversation.  artis calls abi a clueless, loose cannon who needs to shut up before she destroys everything.  amen, sister!   now go take a bath.

maybe i can save this rice for later if i get hungry?

#immunitychallenge - this seems like the world's hardest immunity challenge.  i know jeff (now that jeff kent is gone i can stop calling him probst) has said that all of their challenges are tested by the dream team so obviously it's doable.  the survivors had to maneuver balls into 6 indented spots on a large paddle while controlling the paddle by a long handle - i envisioned all the placed balls rolling off as they tried to place the next ones.  skupin and pete manage to figure it out but they are the only ones.  pete loses two of his balls (ha ha) in the final stretch and skupin wins immunity.

during this challenge my husband asks why jeff keeps calling him "scoopin".  really?  obviously it's because he's the one who puts the raisins in the raisin bran.

side note:  at the beginning when jeff goes to retrieve the immunity necklace from penner, is it just me or does carter eye penner like he's a big juicy piece of chicken?

oh

yeah

yum

so penner does not win immunity.  rut-ro!  let's see if penner can scramble enough to save himself a second time.  he works both lisa and skupin to get them to vote with him.  skupin says his loyalty is to lisa and he will vote with her.  lisa is waffling again.  i don't see any real conviction from her that she is going to flip.  abi, on the other hand, is so annoyed with skupin that she wishes he could go home instead.  in fact she tries to kill him with a coconut!  for once skupin's injury is not self-inflicted.

abi tries to get skupin medically evacuated again

as we head into tribal council, tandang is voting for penner (of course) and kalabawsing is voting for artis.

tribal council:
- the newly cleaned, fed and juried jeff kent has acquired a wooly worm on his lip.
- abi obviously has no clue what it means to show grace.  if this is her being graceful i shudder to think what see her bitchy, cantankerous, abrasive side looks like.
- artis claims tandang is the most powerful tribe in history.  i wonder if he'll kiss his biceps again?
- abi calls out lisa as a possible betrayer and may have put the final nail in tandang's coffin.  oops!
- although i'm not really an advocate of giving away an idol, NOW would be a fantastic time for malcolm to give his idol to penner!
- 4 votes penner, 5 votes artis, so long artis!  abi's reaction was priceless as she looks around trying to figure out who did what.  what a marooon!  i'll have to rewind and watch that again, a few times.
- RC is beyond thrilled while pete and abi look despondent.
- so based on this vote, lisa and skupin did not vote together...hmmm.  i wonder if lisa flipped at the last minute thanks to abi and her big mouth?

ohhhh frak.

and just like that, the evil three has been dismantled and the game is now a free-for-all.  the final credits reveal skupin as the betrayer.  it's about time skupin stopped being tandang's punching bag.  now he's less annoying to me and i'm happy to have him stick around a little longer.  it looks like next week we get to see abi grovel and feel like the outcast for once - CAN'T WAIT!

ps - i apologize for the poor quality of my "screen caps".  i had to resort to the old hold-the-tape-recorder-up-to-the-radio method.

you want to pay me to watch tv? OK!

ok, maybe "pay" is not the right word but it's the next best thing.  i just discovered an app called VIGGLE that gives me points for watching TV.  then i can trade those points in for rewards!  if i'm going to spend this much time watching TV, i may as well get something for it.

how viggle works:
- download the app and sign up.
- check-in to the tv show you're watching by letting the app "listen" to it.
- you earn 1 point for each minute you watch (60 pts for an hour long show).
- when the show is over, you get points!
- use the points to redeem rewards.

i just started using this app a couple days ago so i'm still getting used it but here are a few tidbits i can share.

- it works for recorded shows, up to 7 days after airing.
- you should check-in as early into the show as possible to get the maximum point value
- there are some "featured" shows that offer bonus points on top of the points you already earn.
- there are also quizzes/games that you can play to earn even more points but these have to be played in real time, while the episode is airing.
- i'm not sure if this app works for all shows. i have seen some cable shows (walking dead) on their featured list but i have not seen anything from pay cable networks (like homeland or dexter). *UPDATE* according to their website, they DO register programming from the pay channels and a whole slew of cable networks!
- i assume that you can only earn points for new episodes but it's something that i still need to try out.  *UPDATE* it says that i registers shows that are "currently airing" so not necessarily new.  i'm going to start checking-in on every program i watch and see if it works!
- you can only "check-in" to one show at a time.  if you check-in to another show before the first one has ended you'll only get points for the minutes that have passed.
- only applies to shows that are up to 60 minutes long, except for sporting events.  not sure if they award points for the entire duration of a football game or if it maxes out at 60? *UPDATE* this rule only applies if you're trying to manually check-in to a show.  and you can only do manual check-ins for shows that currently airing.
- the "listening" part of the app doesn't always work right away so that can be annoying.  it could just be the OS on my tablet is too slow though.  i'm running froyo 2.2.

anyway, i think everyone should sign up and try it...then maybe as they grow they'll be able to offer even bigger rewards!  plus maybe we can use viggle to get rid of those nielsen boxes - i'm so tired of them telling me what i like to watch.

i'll come and update once i've have a chance to really use it but so far so good!

survivor philippines: "what the hell is going on? i thought everything was fine?"

Survivor Philippines, episode 08, air date Nov. 07, 2012

on returning from TC, penner is all "WTF?"  jeff explains that he did not have the numbers so he went with the flow to save himself.  but you can't deny penner's logic.  if they had stuck to the pete plan, it would have been pete going home instead of RC since penner played his idol.  DUH.  but who knows if jeff is being above board here anyway, considering how much he (could NOT stop talking about how he) wanted penner gone?

blair is talking about teaming up with malcolm, denise, jeff and carter after the returnees are gone...possibly.  because she also talks about sticking with tandang.   on the one hand she's saying that she should unite with malcolm, denise, jeff, and carter to vote out the evil three that no one likes.  but on the other hand, she saying to stick with the evil three because she can beat them in the final.  i have news for you lisa, if they are still 3 strong going to the end, they'll vote you out first!

self absorbed mr. jeff baseball doesn't know who lisa is, does he?

reward challenge = racing + swimming + clipping + diving + hanging on + digging + lock picking + puzzle scroll solving.  sounds easy enough.  wanna know what they're playing for?  a river cruise to bbq ribs, potato salad, cornbread, apple pie, lemonade and iced tea.  they couldn't have split these teams up any better IMHO.  they have penner/lisa/malcolm/denise/jeff on one team and pete/abi/artis/carter/skupin on the other team.  gee, who do i root for?  lisa is taking a leisurely swim out to her buoy - why put her in a later leg if she's not a fast swimmer?  it's a good thing denise is after her to make up the time they lost...and that skupin suffered from temporary blindness.  and with that, the dream team wins reward!

while the winners are off stuffing their faces, the losers make beans (tandang has beans??) and talk "strategy" back at camp.  right in skupin's face, abi says it's her, pete, lisa, & artis...and then they can include carter & jeff in their alliance.  oh dang, skupin.  get a clue!

can you please shut your pie hole?

it's funny that in all the strategy talk between abi and pete, carter's name never comes up.  is it because he's a  total non-factor?

at the reward feast, malcolm is wearing his napkin as a bib...so he doesn't get any bbq sauce on his bare chest.  because you know how hard it is to get food stains off of skin and nipples.

a food recap for those not paying attention: potato salad, bbq ribs, cornbread, apple pie, iced tea and (yum) lemonade!

in an effort keep skupin tight with her, blair decides to throw malcolm under the bus...and she's scheming to get rid of him.  why?  WHY?  i was rooting for blair but now that she's gunning for my malcolm, it is ON lady.  i want you gone.  i totally respect that she's playing this game hard but i need her to focus her energy elsewhere...like at abi!

#immunitychallenge (see, CBS?  your blatant hash tag suggestions aren't lost on me).  this is one of those two parter challenges.  the first three people through the first part get to move on to part two.  so the three in contention are pete, baseball jeff, and penner just narrowly beats out skupin to take the final spot.  all dudes in the finals so it goes without saying that carter was not even close to being a contender.  even though he is behind from the beginning penner manages to come up with a win!  and he says it's his first individual win ever - his timing couldn't be better.  no one claps when he wins and baseball jeff mutters "what a joke" under his breath.  as judd from survivor guatemala might say, jeff is a bad sportsmanship.

time for the tribal scramble!  initially it seems that skupin is the obvious choice since the returnees are supposed to go first.  it's such a done deal that even skupin knows about it.  but then suddenly lisa is at it again with her attack on malcolm only now she's talking to pete about it - oh no, not his bro!  pete confronts malcolm and seems to buy his outrage and disbelief.  but suddenly now the game is changing and pete is gunning for baseball jeff instead.  huh?  what happened to done deal skupin?  so it's jeff, jeff, jeff, all the way jeff.    and then, for the second time tonight we hear someone say "jeff's behind you"  and suddenly jeff and malcolm are discussing getting rid of pete or abi?? (please let it be abi, please let it be abi).  they choose pete.  dang it!  how did skupin manage to avoid being eliminated without having to scramble at all?

so here's how it breaks down:

votes for jeff:   malcolm, pete, skupin, denise, and artis are shown agreeing to vote jeff.  and we know abi will come along because she's a sheep.

votes for pete:  malcolm, denise, skupin, penner, carter, and jeff.

i wonder how this will play out in the end?  but just before they head off to tribal council we get this lovely little exchange:

jeff:  pete's going home.  we got all six votes.
carter:  i thought they were sending YOU home tonight?

it's nice to know your closest ally has your back.

uhhh, i think you should vote for you

tribal council:
- the first order of business is of course, the topic of the hour:  lisa's been telling everyone about malcolm's HII which he's been denying every which way he can.  and just like that, malcolm is the odd man out.
- people are laying alliance lines out in the open, EVERYONE is giving up all kinds of information - WHAT IS GOING ON??  some nuggets of information, most of them coming from abi who can't seem to shut up:
    * RC and skupin were always on the outs
    * their alliance with malcolm is stronger than their alliance with skupin.
    * their alliance includes abi, pete, artis, and lisa.  she unfortunately forgets to include malcolm!  and she tries desperately to backpedal.
- oh my, WHAT is malcolm doing??  just waving his idol around like it's auction paddle?  why?
- OMG, everyone is going HII crazy tonight.  abi is also admitting to having an idol.  frankly i'm shocked that she has it, as i was sure that pete was in possession of it.
- penner is clearly enjoying this tribal council!  his winning immunity has turned everything upside down.
- penner tries to rally 6 votes to keep him and skupin safe but without naming names and saying who to vote for.
- so pete helps penner out by volunteering his own name for the chopping block?!?
- not to be outdone in the most wanted to be voted out, jeff throw his name in there too.  are these people idiots???
- at this point there so much information flying that i have no idea who's voting for who.  exactly which is plan "B" that lisa is referring to?
- who the heck voted for abi?
- so the votes are 1 for abi, 4 for pete and 5 for jeff kent.  so long jeff, stay classy!
- malcolm looks bewildered and devastated.
- jeff's farewell video is anything but classy. i heard something about all his baseball millions and how the survivor prize isn't not really a million dollars, "i'm a loser" and "this sucks."  probst won't like you doggin' his show, jeff!

EDIT:  after rewatching jeff kent's farewell video i think i misunderstood what jeff was trying to say.  what sounded like him bragging about his millions and dissing the measly $600K the survivor winner gets was actually jeff trying to say that he really wanted to win survivor more than anything - not for the money but for the bragging rights. nothing wrong with that.  also, jeff's dig at obama seemed to get the online community up in a tizzy.  i really don't know if he hates obama or was just using the term "obama" to represent the government because obama happened to be president at the time of filming.

she has an idol, and he has an idol...hey wanna see my idol?

wow.  craziest. tribal. council. ever.  i can't believe people were just voluntarily giving up information for no reason whatsoever. abi flashes her idol.  no one even asked her specifically about the idol (although i know probst asked the general question - i'm sure he never dreamed anyone would respond!).  as for malcolm's HII show and tell, i understand that he felt like he was getting caught in his lies but dude, lie some more!  and i get that he was using it to scare people into not voting for him but now what?  his alliance with tandang is destroyed and who's going to want to work with him after being threatened?  the good news is that all alliance lines are fractured now (except maybe abi/pete/artis and for some reason skupin seems content to stick with them even though abi clearly told him he was on the outs - but that's still only 4 with 9 left in the game) so penner has a real chance to get back in this.  plus lisa's excessive blabbing this week has put her in a vulnerable position so she is prime for flipping.  let's hope she does and we can finally say goodbye to the evil trio.  actually i think i want to see skupin go next because his idiotic decisions are annoying me.  he's like the kid who gets picked on daily but keeps going back for more because he thinks they are his friends.

i just have one last question though.  why, after all his grandstanding about uniting the 6 against tandang, did penner throw away his vote and vote for abi?????  was he anticipating a tie and pulling a cochran?  did he know that skupin is in love with pete and would never betray him?  this made no sense to me.  i wish someone would interview penner and ask him this very important and baffling question.

either way, this season just got a whole lot more interesting as there doesn't seem to be a clear dominating alliance any more.  and as many others have posted all over the internet, it's great to finally get a season where (most) everyone is playing hard to win.  except carter.  i haven't really figured out his purpose yet...plus he's gone back to being mute.

survivor philippines: which flip lands on top?

Survivor Philippines, episode 07, air date Oct. 31, 2012

denise has been to every single tribal council this season.  wow, that's stressful!  maybe she'll set some sort of record?

it's a merge!  by boat?  so both tribes have to pack up all their stuff and move - to where?  to the old matsing camp?  nope it seems like some new, non-descript location.  why survivor producers?  because we want to watch them build shelters again?  or maybe it's so the producers can plant all new HIIs?

time for the merge feast.  i see grapes, watermelon, beer, bread, wine and sausage.  skupin is so excited to have made the merge since it's officially further in the game than he got last time.  i'm guessing it's time for him to lose an arm to a machete or fall into a well or something.  right away skupin is talking about him and RC flipping to the other tribe - AWESOME.  down with abi-tchy!

blair warner decides contribute to camp life in a very motherly way by hanging up everyone's clothes to dry i.e. digging through everyone's bags.  !!!  she inadvertently finds malcolm's HII but quite honestly, i'm surprised she didn't find abi's and penner's idols during this "chore."

"i didn't mean to, i swear"

of course malcolm is FREAKING OUT.  the first chance he gets, he takes blair for a walk so he can start spinning his tale.  actually he starts by giving her a "look" (aka his best flynn rider smolder).  but then...then what is he doing??  he goes ahead and spills everything about his alliance with denise.  WHY?  no need to show that hand!  all he had to do was pull lisa into his alliance, she didn't need to know about denise.  this super secret alliance was the best thing they had going for them but now someone knows.  this is malcolm's first misstep.  not that lisa isn't trustworthy but she now has ammo to use against him if needed.

is dreamz here?  there seems to be lots of deals going down and it involves everybody crossing tribal lines - there are fractures all over the place.  abi/pete's plan to pull in half of kalabaw seems like the most unlikely since it requires the cooperation of a lot of people.  i'd LOVE to see malcolm/denise switch teams to go up against abi/pete but i'm afraid that pete and malcolm may be having some sort of bromance going on.

immunity challenge time!  who can hold their bucket on a kite string the longest?  by the sound of his griping, it seems that penner would let go first but it's actually skupin who loses it first, followed by pete, THEN penner.  do men have less wrist strength than women?  it must be because carter is one of the last two in this challenge - and wins it for the women...i mean, for the men!  oddity #1: artis kissing his own sweaty biceps before finally dropping his bucket.  oddity #2: jeff tries to work a deal with carter but i'm not sure what that deal is.  "if i drop, you owe me one"?  plus i thought these two were aligned with each other in the first place.  denise takes immunity for the women and for one tribal council she can truly breathe easy.

the new tribe name is dangrayne - when did that happen?  and what does it mean?  that doesn't sound filipino at all.  i think i'm going to call them tribe dinuguan.

EDIT:  oh, "dang rayne" - i get it.  i was reading it as "dan grayne" which makes much less sense.  i'll stick with tribe dinuguan.

it's so sunny now.  did they move to a part of the philippines where it no longer rains?

how does stank-face carter end up being such a powerful non-player? it's all about the swing vote, baby!  just the fact that penner flat out states that he's "good with his alliance" tells me that he's in trouble tonight.  baseball jeff is in a power position now but he could easily become the next target.

tribal council:
- probst just read my mind: with the merge, denise will attend every tribal council until she goes home, IF she goes home.
- abi gets a chance to open her mouth in front of everyone and just further proves that she's completely insane.
- all this talking just proves that there is no loyalty anywhere - love it!
- where in the world did jeff kent get a toothpick???  it looks brand new too.
- concerned that we did not see any strategizing from the kalabaw+2 on who they were going to vote out.  watching the voting we see that it is pete.  they should've picked the cancerous abi.
- pete tells the vote-cam that he's never liked RC.  but why?  she seems ok and performs well in challenges.  yet he can spend the whole day talking to that whore pit viper abi without a problem?  maybe pete has deceived me?  perhaps he is a male whore pit viper?
- penner plays his HII!  hope it was worth it!  but even worse is going home with an HII in your pocket a la james.
- wow and with 5 votes going penner's way (one from skupin!) it was definitely a well-played HII.  RC goes home with 4 votes and pete gets 2 votes.  it sucks because RC is much more likable than some of the remaining players (like psycho abi).

from a strategic standpoint, why would baseball jeff do this?  is he so afraid of penner that he would agree to take the bottom spot in a 6 person alliance?  he could have used penner's HII to his advantage - now he has nothing but his stank face puppet.  i think jeff has lost sight of the prize here - he's not playing for a million dollars, he's playing to not be voted out before penner. also, what is skupin thinking?  doesn't he know he's next to go after penner?  not only did he betray penner but he also tossed his only friend under the bus - not even a warning to RC?

so penner really has his work cut out for him next week as it seems he doesn't have any friends or alliances left.  i know he's angry but hopefully he doesn't go the troyzan route and yells at everyone or turns his back during the challenges.  with this many people still in the game, there have to be people on the bottom that are flippable...unless everyone thinks they're on top.  rooting for anyone but abi to win survivor!

unfortunately there were no notable probst moments this episode.  i'll give the editors a reprieve for the hurricane recovery but they'd better step it up next week!