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.