Category: reality tv

Roxy talked her way out of a spot on the island in Survivor: Philippines Episode 2.

He may have had no choice but to vote with the group, but Russell still agrees with Roxy that the Malcolm and Angie alliance is dangerous. He assumes he is their next target by default.

Abi has injured her knee twice, and she is making an extra effort to rub RC (who desperately wants to be her ally) the wrong way. She’d rather work with Peter, so she tells him about the clue RC shared with her.

Peter throws Lisa a lifeline. He doesn’t want to get rid of her. He wants to get rid of Mike, who was previously the fourth person in his alliance, instead. He also doesn’t trust the other person in his alliance, RC.

Jeff and Dana notice that the thing on top of the rice box is missing. They were staring at the idol the whole time, but they let Jonathan escape with it.

Matsing’s raft is missing. Yet another blow for the tribe that’s lost two competitions in a row.

For all the talk about how Malcolm and Angie are a pair, Malcolm says he really wants to stick with Denise.

At the immunity challenge, they will dive to retrieve puzzle wheels then solve a word puzzle. The first tribe to finish receives a fishing kit and canoe. The second tribe receives a smaller kit. Katie and Dawson sit out for Kalabaw; Abi and Lisa sit out for Tandang.

Kalabaw starts off with a lead. As usual, Matsing is losing, and Russell is more of a hindrance than a help. Injury prone Mike busts open his face when his team’s mask shatters. RC takes control of her team’s task, retrieving three in a row. Russell’s inability to climb a ladder is compounded by his inability to retrieve a piece, forcing him to return empty handed. Kalabaw is the first to gather all their pieces, and Tandang is not far behind. Matsing is two pieces behind, so far in dead last that it looks like they will lose yet another challenge. Kalabaw wins immunity. Tandang places second. Matsing loses for the third time in a row.

Jonathan admits what Jeff already knows. He has the idol. They make a deal with a four finger handshake, which Jeff tells us doesn’t count because it’s not a manly handshake.

Artis (who?) is mad about the challenge. He does not appreciate that Mike broke the mask and cost them the game, which they weren’t going to win anyway.

When RC goes hunting for clams, Abi starts her idol search with Peter, and she successfully finds it.

Malcolm and Denise have to decide between Angie and Russell, both of whom did not contribute to the challenge, though Russell was a far bigger liability, even if he would probably be more useful in other challenges, particularly if they need strength.

Russell says that Angie cannot make it 39 days, but he can. Last time, he nearly died after 15.

Votes
Angie
Russell
Angie
Angie

With 3 votes, Angie has been voted off the island. Hard to blame them for getting rid of her rather than Russell, but there’s a reason his name keeps coming up as a target.

Now that we’re done with the backstabbing and lying, it’s time for the Presidential debate.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recape of Survivor: Philippines Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Zane came up with a ridiculous strategy in Survivor: Philippines Episode 1. Tell people to vote him out. Needless to say, they did.

Russell’s big mouth damn near got him voted out. If not for Zane, he would have been eliminated. He tells us he’s learned his lesson: no more being bossy. Yeah, I heard that story last week.

Angie tells us the only reason she’s cuddling with Malcolm is because she is cold.

RC finds a clue in the rice, and she tells Abi. Then they read it out loud. RC says this is a sign of loyalty, but Abi says she only shared the information because she got caught finding it. Regardless, their alliance is hitting rough seas. Abi, who does not deny she is too close for comfort with Pete, accuses RC of being too close to Mike. That said, she warns her not to screw her over because if she does, she’s dead. Nothing like threats between friends and allies.

The rain keeps pouring, so Jonathan’s tribe heads for the caves, leaving him back at camp alone. This gives him the opportunity to scurry through the mud and look for the idol. As the others return to camp, he gets busted, but they don’t seem to notice what they just saw. For all his frantic searching, he takes a step back and thinks about the clue. It is right under his nose, or rather the nose on the rice container where the clue was. He runs through camp yelling “Yeah, baby. I’m on fire.” Still, nobody notices anything strange.

Roxy wants Angie out because she’s the useless half of the Angie/Malcolm showmance. This provides Russell with a lifeline because now they can aim for a new target. Denise, being in an alliance with Malcolm, is not as keen on this idea.

Lisa’s introverted and not so good with chit chat. Bad news since she’s in what’s largely a social game. The rest of the tribe assumes she must be off looking for the idol, but really she’s just sitting on her own and crying.

I don’t recall an episode with this much rain. They say it’s not stopping for more than half an hour, which is quickly taking its toll on the players, some more than others. Specifically, Roxy shares her breakdown with the tribe. She prays to the man upstairs, and the rain stops. It must be a miracle then. To give thanks, she starts speaking in tongues. Denise finds this objectionable because she doesn’t think asking a higher power for favors either works or is appropriate.

At the challenge, two tribe members will pull pull a sled with puzzle pieces, then one person will serve as a caller to help two others solve the puzzle. Reward for the first tribe is blankets, pillows, and a tarp. Reward for the second tribe is a tarp. Abi sits out for Tandang; Dawson sits out for Kalabaw.

Matsing falls way behind on the first lap. Malcolm evens things out in the second lap by ignoring Roxy and just doing everything on his own. Then Russell and Angie again bring up the rear to put Matsing behind heading into the puzzle. Kalabaw solves their first of three puzzles, and Tandang is right behind them. Tandang finishes their second puzzle. Matsing has managed to catch up to them. Kalabaw is the last to finish their second puzzle. Tandang wins immunity. Kalabaw places second. Matsing will be heading back to tribal council again. Russell proceeds to yell about how he’s angry. As hard a time as he gives Angie, he wasn’t any more use in this challenge than she was, despite being a lot bigger and stronger.

The question going into tribal council is which of their two young girls, neither of whom is contributing anything, needs to be sent home. With Malcolm and Angie in a showmance and Roxy and Russell in an alliance of lack of choice, Denise is the middlewoman to break the tie.

Roxy tells Jeff she doesn’t like that her tribe is working too much at camp. Angie’s response to one thing she could change: it would be nice if they could have some cookies. Even if it sounds silly, this is a fair answer, one that is seemingly harmless and couldn’t get her in trouble with anybody, but she gets more grief about it than Roxy saying they need to be lazy at camp.

Roxy points out that Malcolm and Angie are in an alliance… and then some. His defense is that he’s just cold, and she’s like a little sister to him. Roxy finds the concept of snuggling with a sister to be creepy. This all bothers her because it’s like a booby trap, one made out of silicone.

Votes
Roxy
Angie
Roxy
Roxy

With 3 votes, Roxy has been voted off the island. She probably should have prayed.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recape of Survivor: Philippines Episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Lisa Whelchel (Blair Warner), baseball player Jeff Kent, and returning medically evacuated contestants Michael Skupin, Russell Swan, and Jonathan Penner round out the Survivor: Philippines cast of 18 contestants vying for the title of Sole Survivor. They will be split into three tribes as opposed to the usual two.

The premiere of Survivor gives us a welcome break from the standard two or three singing competitions that are on every night since every network has at least one. They’re going to keep driving that sub-genre into the ground until it dies, the sooner the better at this pace. Sorry, NBC and Fox, but I’ll be sticking to CBS for the night. I’ll watch Simon on DVR, though.

Jeff Kent is hoping people won’t recognize him. That’ll last two days, tops. Most people won’t know him, but somebody has to. As far as Lisa, I suspect she’ll last as long as the boat ride over before being recognized.

Zane’s the only newbie who is not famous that gets to speak before the theme song. He talks about his tattoo of Frankenstein, who gave someone a flower then strangled everybody.

They are already divided into three tribes before they even hit the beach.

Kalabaw (red): Carter, Dana, Jeff, Jonathan, Katie, Sarah
Matsing (blue): Angie, Denise, Malcolm, Roxanne, Russell, Zane
Tandang (yellow): Abi-Maria, Artis, Lisa, Michael, Peter, Robert

Roxanne discusses the most extreme thing she’s seen on this show, and she talks about Russell, who joins them now.

Michael immediately recognizes Lisa. That secret didn’t last very long. Her younger tribe members probably have never even heard of the show, though.

Red tribe gets off to a rocky start. Just getting into the water, their boat submerges. During this, Jeff hurts his leg, and they are left scrambling for the supplies they just gathered.

Unlike last time, Russell does not want to be a leader again. He wants some other idiot to accept that responsibility. Despite this, he’s the one giving orders.

Russell and Malcolm manage to get fire going within the first hour, which very rarely happens without man-made tools, let alone that quickly.

The injured Jeff is rallying the troops against Jonathan. They want to get rid of the veteran. Never actually happens, but good luck to you.

RC says she’s an executive assistant. She doesn’t want anyone to know she’s a banker. I don’t understand lying right off the bat about such silly things.

Abi, Pete, and RC already have an alliance in about five minutes, and they ask Mike to be their fourth.

Dawson knows who Jeff Kent is, which she believes is something she alone knows. She also guesses he’s probably made $30 million during his time in the majors. Unlike Jeff, Lisa’s been out of the spotlight for decades, and she says she lost all of her Facts of Life money in the 80s.

Zane fancies himself a people person, and he has an alliance with everybody on his tribe on day 1. Of course, he reveals this information, so everybody knows about his alliances.

Mike willingly takes on a leadership role and doesn’t try pretending otherwise. He’s already got blood dripping from his head, a cut on his foot, and blisters and cuts on his hands on the second day.

Jonathan goes off on his own to search for the idol, which is not lost on his tribe. His search in their bag of rice leads him to a clue. For all Jonathan’s searching, Russell just stumbles on his clue by accident as he’s cooking rice. Zane catches him both in his search and his lie.

At the immunity challenge, they are tied together in pairs. The first two tribes to win are immune. The winning tribe receives a complete fire making kit; the second place tribe receives flint. The first sets of pairs run and climb a rope ladder to retrieve paddles. The second sets of pairs led by Tandang will row a boat and dive for puzzle pieces. Matsing is right behind them, and Kalabaw is dead last after a slow run by Dana and Katie. Thanks to Jeff and Carter’s fast rowing, Kalabaw takes second place, but Tandang extends its lead. The final phase is to solve the puzzle. In a very close race that comes down to the last piece, Kalabaw overtakes Tandang to place first, while Tandang finishes second.

Matsing will be heading to tribal council. Russell’s overpowering of the first three days continued at the challenge. He barked out orders who was doing what and refused to listen.

Strangely, Zane throws himself on the chopping block. He says to go ahead and vote him out. But he doesn’t mean it. What kind of strategy is this? Adding insult to stupidity, he guarantees Malcolm 100% that Russell has the idol.

Zane compares Russell to an onion. The more layers you peel back, the more you cry.

Votes
Zane
Russell
Zane
Zane
Zane

With 4 votes, Zane has been voted off the island. He shot himself in the foot, but regardless the tribe is left weaker because they have a dysfunctional leader.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recape of Survivor: Philippines Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.