Survivor: Philippines

Template:SeasonSpoiler This article is about the 25th season of the American version of Survivor. For the Philippine version of the series, see Survivor Philippines.

Survivor: Philippines
Season Information
Season No.	25
Filming Dates	March 17, 2012 - April 25, 2012
Season Run	September 19, 2012 - December 16, 2012
Winner	Denise Stapley

Survivor: Philippines is the 25th season of Survivor. It premiered on September 19, 2012, with a 90-minute premiere.

The winner was Denise Stapley after she garnered more Jury votes than returning contestant Michael Skupin and former child star Lisa Whelchel in a 6-1-1 vote.

Production

In an interview, Jeff Probst revealed that filming of this season wrapped up while Survivor: One World was still airing. Furthermore, the 26th season will also be filmed in the Philippines, where the Survivor Production Team will stay up until August. Probst also said that more than 400 locals were hired during shooting.

The Production's Marine Department used 30 boats for water transport, with 15 from the Production Team, and another 15 were boats hired from locals.

Twists/Changes

• Three Tribes: For the first time since Survivor: All-Stars, three tribes will compete starting at the beginning of the season. Also, for the first time since Survivor: Cook Islands, the season starts out with more than two rival tribes.
• Returning Players: Three returning players are going to return to compete with a new batch of castaways. These returnees are former contestants who were medically evacuated from their respective seasons.
• Hidden Immunity Idols: Similar to Survivor: China, the idols will be "hidden" in plain sight, with a clue hidden in the bottom of each tribe's rice container. For the first time in Survivor history, three idols would be in play at the same time. There will be three idols, one at each camp. The idol is resting on top of the rice lid, disguised as a handle. 
• More water challenges: While most recent season locations' waters were deemed unsafe for conducting challenges which would require the Survivors to swim in open water, Challenge Producer John Kirhoffer claims that the Philippines' beaches are safer and conducive for swimming, diving and boating challenges.
• Tribe Absorption: On Day 11, the two remaining members of the Matsing tribe were absorbed in to the other two tribes.
• Merge at 11: For the first time in Survivor history, the Merge commenced with eleven players remaining, unlike the usual 10 or 12.
• New Jury/Final Few Composition: This season is the first time to feature a Final Three with an eight-person Jury.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Absorbed Tribe	Merged Tribe
File:S25 zane t.jpg	Zane Knight 28, Danville, VA	Matsing			1st Voted Out Day 3	5
File:S25 roxanne t.jpg	Roxanne Morris 28, Brooklyn, NY	Matsing			2nd Voted Out Day 6	4
File:S25 angie t.jpg	Angie Layton 20, Provo, UT	Matsing			3rd Voted Out Day 8	4
File:S25 russell t.jpg	Russell Swan 45, Glenside, PA Samoa	Matsing			4th Voted Out Day 10	4
File:S25 dana t.jpg	Dana Lambert 32, Winston-Salem, NC	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		Quit Day 12	0
File:S25 dawson t.jpg	Sarah Dawson 28, Silver Spring, MD	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		5th Voted Out Day 13	5
File:S25 katie t.jpg	Katie Hanson 22, Newark, DE	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		6th Voted Out Day 16	4
File:S25 rc t.jpg	R.C. Saint-Amour 27, New York City, NY	Tandang	Tandang	Dangrayne	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	4
File:S25 jeff t.jpg	Jeff Kent 44, Austin, TX	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22	5
File:S25 artis t.jpg	Artis Silvester 53, Terry Town, LA	Tandang	Tandang		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25	5
File:S25 pete t.jpg	Pete Yurkowski 24, Holmdel, NJ	Tandang	Tandang		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	9
File:S25 jonathan t.jpg	Jonathan Penner 50, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30	14
File:S25 carter t.jpg	Carter Williams 24, Shawnee, KS	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	5
File:S25 abimaria t.jpg	Abi-Maria Gomes 32, Los Angeles, CA	Tandang	Tandang		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	9
File:S25 malcolm t.jpg	Malcolm Freberg 25, Hermosa Beach, CA	Matsing	Tandang		14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 38	6
File:S25 michael t.jpg	Michael Skupin 50, White Lake, MI The Australian Outback	Tandang	Tandang		Runner-Ups	0
File:S25 lisa t.jpg	Lisa Whelchel 49, Dallas, TX	Tandang	Tandang			0
File:S25 denise t.jpg	Denise Stapley 41, Cedar Rapids, IA	Matsing	Kalabaw		Sole Survivor	6

Season Summary

This season, there were three tribes of new contestants. Each of the three tribes were joined by one former contestant, all of whom left their earlier seasons due to medical reasons. Michael Skupin joined the yellow Tandang tribe, Russell Swan joined the blue Matsing tribe, and Jonathan Penner joined the red Kalabaw tribe.

Early on, Matsing was clearly the weakest of the three tribes, losing the first four Immunity Challenges, quickly decimating their roster down to two, Denise Stapley and Malcolm Freberg. While Matsing dwindled, the undefeated Kalabaw and Tandang tribes also manifested signs of disunity, mostly regarding their Hidden Immunity Idols. At Kalabaw, Jeff Kent, who had a distaste towards the returning players, rallied the tribe against Jonathan, who had their Idol, but quickly aligned with him on a short-term basis. At Tandang, an alliance made by R.C. Saint-Amour and Abi-Maria Gomes imploded quickly because Abi-Maria had misguided trust issues towards R.C., enlisting the outsiders Lisa Whelchel and Artis Silvester in her alliance with Pete Yurkowski.

After Malcolm found Matsing's Hidden Immunity Idol, he and Denise were split apart. Malcolm joined Tandang, and was warmly welcomed by the tribe. He then led the tribe to win the remaining Immunity Challenges, helping them enter the merge unscathed with six members complete. Denise joined Kalabaw, and she was proven to be a hot commodity, as she was the swing vote between two conflicting, gender-defined alliances. Denise ultimately sided with the men, and Kalabaw's remaining women were disposed due to their weakness at challenges. 

The eleven castaways remaining merged, with Tandang having a 7-4 number advantage over Kalabaw. However, Penner had a plan to convince outsiders Michael and R.C. to flip and pick Tandang off one by one, to gain a 6-5 advantage. On the other hand, Jeff believed that this was the time to betray Penner and vote him out. He was allied with Carter Williams and Denise, the latter of whom was allied with Malcolm who was allied with the Tandang alliance (consisting of himself, Abi-Maria, Pete, Artis, Lisa and Michael). Together, they split the vote; five for Penner and four for R.C. That way if Penner played the idol, R.C. would go. At Tribal Council, the vote went as planned. Penner played the Idol, and R.C. went in a 4-2-0 vote. With ten left, Penner saved himself by winning immunity and he let the former Tandang to vote out Jeff Kent in a 5-4-1 vote in retaliation for being targeted multiple times by the former baseball star. That same Tribal Council, Malcolm and Abi exposed their possession of the other Hidden Immunity Idols. 

The Kalabaw-Matsing alliance were outnumbered by Tandang, 5-4. The minority attempted to persuade Skupin and Lisa, who were both antagonized by Abi-Maria, to vote Artis, whom they thought were the least likely people that Abi-Maria would share her Idol with. Lisa stayed with Tandang, but Skupin's defection was enough to blindside Artis in a 5-4 vote. Lisa soon joined the alliance after Abi-Maria's continued abrasiveness. Lisa's change of allegiance got the new majority alliance to split the vote between Pete and Abi-Maria to defuse the power of the latter's Idol. Abi chose to use her Idol for herself, sending her only remaining ally Pete home.

Abi, now the odd woman out, bought an immunity advantage from the Survivor Auction. With the said advantage, the once-challenge benchwarmer won immunity, forcing the three tribes' alliance to turn on each other. Knowing her advantage would only last until that Immunity Challenge, Abi fabricated a lie regarding her advantage, saying that it also contained a clue to an inexistent fourth Hidden Immunity Idol. No one bought her lie, but Penner discovered a conspiracy against him, and got Carter and Abi's support in voting Denise out. However, Malcolm, Denise, Lisa and Michael formed a final four pact, and they voted out Penner, Carter, and Abi at the next three votes.

With no more common enemies, the core alliance were forced to cannibalize. Lisa and Skupin were tight-knit while Malcolm and Denise turned on each other, viewing each other as Jury threats. Lisa and Skupin deemed Malcolm as more likable than Denise, and was voted off in a 3-1 vote. At the Final Tribal Council, Denise won the respect from the Jury by overcoming huge odds and her masterful social game, winning her the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar prize in a landslide 6-1-1 vote.

Episode Guide

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Viewership (in millions)	Rating/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Survivor Smacked Me in the Chops"	September 19, 2012	Kalabaw1		Zane (5-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3	11.37	3.2/10
			Tandang1
2	"Don't Be Blinded by the Headlights"	September 26, 2012	Tandang1		Roxy (4-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	10.31	3.1/9
			Kalabaw1
3	"This Isn't a 'We' Game"	October 3, 2012	Kalabaw1		Angie (3-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	10.38	3.0/9
			Tandang1
4	"Create a Little Chaos"	October 10, 2012	Tandang1		Russell (2-1)	4th Voted Out Day 10	9.82	2.8/8
			Kalabaw1
5	"Got My Swag Back"	October 17, 2012	Tandang	Tandang	Dana (no vote)	Quit Day 12	10.43	2.8/8
					Dawson (5-1)	5th Voted Out Day 13
6	"Down and Dirty"	October 24, 2012	Kalabaw2	Tandang	Katie (4-1)	6th Voted Out Day 16	10.23	2.8/8
7	"Not the Only Actor on This Island"	October 31, 2012	None	Denise	RC (4-2-0)3	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	9.83	2.5/8
				Carter
8	"Dead Man Walking"	November 7, 2012	Denise, Jeff, Jonathan, Lisa, Malcolm	Jonathan	Jeff (5-4-1)	8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22	10.31	2.8/8
9	"Little Miss Perfect"	November 14, 2012	Carter, Denise, Jonathan, Malcolm	Michael	Artis (5-4)	9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25	10.06	2.6/8
10	"Whiners Are Wieners"	November 21, 2012	Abi-Maria, Carter, Malcolm, Pete	Carter	Pete (3-2-0)3	10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	9.37	2.3/8
11	"Hell Hath Frozen Over"	November 28, 2012	Survivor Auction	Abi-Maria	Jonathan (4-3)	11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30	10.37	2.7/8
12	"Shot into Smithereens"	December 5, 2012	Malcolm [Lisa, Michael]	Malcolm	Carter (5-1)	12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	10.64	2.9/8
13	"Gouge My Eyes Out"	December 12, 2012	Michael [Lisa, Malcolm]	Malcolm	Abi-Maria (4-1)	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	10.37	2.8/8
14	"Million Dollar Question"	December 16, 2012	Malcolm	Michael	Malcolm (3-1)	14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 38	11.46	3.2/8
			Jury Vote		Michael Lisa (6-1-1)	Runners-Up
					Denise (6-1-1)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						8.77	2.3/N/A
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 Tandang forfeited the challenge in exchange for Kalabaw's rice. ^3 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.

Voting History

		Original Tribes				Absorbed Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5		6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Voted Out		Zane	Roxy	Angie	Russell	Dana	Dawson	Katie	RC	Jeff	Artis	Pete	Jonathan	Carter	Abi-Maria	Malcolm	Michael	Lisa	Denise
Vote		5-1	4-1	3-1	2-1	No vote1	5-1	4-1	4-2-02	5-4-1	5-4	3-2-02	4-3	5-1	4-1	3-1	6-1-1
►►	Denise	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Russell	—	Dawson	Katie	Jonathan	Pete	Artis	Abi-Maria	Jonathan	Carter	Abi-Maria	Malcolm	Jury Vote
►►	Lisa	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Jonathan	Jeff	Jonathan	Abi-Maria	Jonathan	Carter	Abi-Maria	Malcolm
►►	Michael	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Jonathan	Jeff	Artis	Abi-Maria	Jonathan	Carter	Abi-Maria	Malcolm
►►	Malcolm	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Russell	—	—	—	Jonathan	Pete	Artis	Pete	Jonathan	Carter	Abi-Maria	Denise			Denise
►►	Abi-Maria	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Jonathan	Jeff	Jonathan	Malcolm	Denise	Carter	Denise				Denise
►►	Carter	—	—	—	—	—	Dawson	Katie	RC	Pete	Artis	Pete	Denise	Abi-Maria			Michael
►►	Jonathan	—	—	—	—	—	Dawson	Katie	Pete	Abi-Maria	Artis	Pete	Denise						Denise
►►	Pete	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RC	Jeff	Jonathan	Malcolm							Denise
►►	Artis	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RC	Jeff	Jonathan								Denise
►►	Jeff	—	—	—	—	—	Dawson	Katie	RC	Pete									Denise
►►	RC	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Pete									Lisa
►	Katie	—	—	—	—	—	Dawson	Jonathan
►	Dawson	—	—	—	—	—	Denise
►	Dana	—	—	—	—	Quit
	Russell	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Malcolm
	Angie	Zane	Roxy	Russell
	Roxy	Zane	Angie
	Zane	Russell
Notes: ^1 Dana quit the game due to illness. No vote occurred for her removal. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user.

Trivia

• The United States is the seventh country to host a Survivor season in Caramoan, following India, Serbia, Bulgaria, Israel, Sweden and France.
• This season shares many similarities with Survivor: China:
  • Both are two of the only three seasons (the other being Survivor: San Juan del Sur) to have their respective members of the Final Three all receive Jury votes.
  • Both are the only seasons with more than one castaway in the Final Three never receiving a vote against them. (In both cases, the two castaways with no votes against them did not win.)
  • Both seasons' finales aired on December 16, had a Final 4 Reward Challenge, and had only one eliminated castaway.
  • Both seasons preceded a Fans. vs. Favorites season.
  • Both seasons preceded a season featuring Erik Reichenbach.
  • Both seasons are the first seasons to have their respective Jury configurations (8-person and 7-person Jury, respectively with both having a Final Three finale).
  • Both seasons have a black merge tribe color, and whose tribes that were merged were colored red and yellow.
    • However, Philippines also had a blue tribe, but it was dissolved before the Merge.
  • Both seasons have four eliminations before a Tribe Switch (Absorption for Philippines and Swap for China) and two episodes between the Switch and the Merge.
  • Both seasons have a castaway named Denise (Denise Stapley in Philippines and Denise Martin in China), both women over 40 that reached at least Day 38 (Stapley however reached Day 39 and won).
  • Both seasons currently hold records concerning the average age of the Final Three, as Philippines has the oldest while China has the youngest.  
  • Both seasons had "hidden in plain sight" Hidden Immunity Idols that are both plaque-shaped.
• According to Coby Archa, this season was originally going to be a season featuring Redemption Island (twist) with female returnees, but due to one of the returnees not being able to participate, the idea was scrapped.
• The tribe colors, red, blue and yellow appeared to be a reference to the colors of the Philippine flag. Furthermore, several promotional clips feature the eight-rayed sun which prominently featured in the flag.
• This season is the first season since Survivor: Cook Islands to feature more than 2 starting tribes.
• This season's Buffs are the first to sport the new Buff logo.
• This season's starting tribes, Matsing, Kalabaw, and Tandang, are named after animals; namely, the monkey, the water buffalo, and the rooster, respectively.
• Coincidentally, all three returning players were evacuated in their respective season's sixth episodes.
  • In Survivor: One World, Colton Cumbie was also evacuated during the season's sixth episode.
• This is the first season to have a male voted off first since Jon Dalton was voted off first in Survivor: Micronesia.
  • Oddly, Zane and Jon are both from Danville, Virginia.
• This is the first season with more than two tribes with two independent tribal Immunity Idols. Previous seasons with the same format (Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Cook Islands) had tribes sharing one idol, which was split into multiple parts.
• This season's theme is inspired by the Maranao, a predominantly Muslim region in the southern Philippines. The Tribal Council set is inspired by the Maranao people's elaborate wooden houses.
  • This season's Immunity Idol is the Sarimanok, a multicolored fowl in Filipino mythology (sari, an item of clothing, and manok meaning "chicken"), and an ubiquitous symbol of the Maranao people's arts and culture.
• This season's Hidden Immunity Idol is actually the handle of the tribes' rice box, while its clue is nestled inside the rice box.
• The Filipino version of Survivor is also named Survivor Philippines (sans colon).
• Like Survivor: All-Stars, the only other season to begin with three tribes, the first two people eliminated from the season are from the same tribe, which was later dissolved.
• This season is the first season with exactly three returning players.
• This season marks only the second time in Survivor history that a tribe dwindled to two members, the other time being Survivor: Palau.
• Matsing became the first tribe to win zero challenges.
• This is the first season to feature a castaway who quit the game due to medical reasons.
• This season's three returning players have reached different stages in the game:
  • Russell Swan was eliminated pre-Merge.
  • Jonathan Penner was eliminated post-Merge (became part of the Jury).
  • Michael Skupin is part of this season's Final Three (Co-Runner-up with Lisa Whelchel).
• This is the first season since Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains where the Merged tribe didn't start at 12 members.
• This is the first season to ever have tribes merge at 11.
• This is the first time a tribe (Tandang) made it all the way to the Merge without going to Tribal Council.
  • As such, the six original members of Tandang broke the record of days played before attending their first Tribal Council that had stood since Marquesas.
• This is the first, and so far only, season in which every pre-Merge vote was unanimous.
• This season has more unanimous tribal council votes than any other season, with 9.
• The three returning players did not have votes cast against them in the season they were evacuated.
  • Jonathan Penner had votes against him in Cook Islands, not Micronesia.
• This is the seventh season to feature red and yellow starting tribes following Survivor: Africa, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Vanuatu, Survivor: Cook Islands, Survivor: China, and Survivor: Gabon.
  • This makes red and yellow the most common starting tribe color.
• This is the first season in which the first member of the Jury finished in 11th place.
• This is the first season since Survivor: Gabon where the finalists aren't all from the same original tribe.
• This is the second season where all members of the Final Three received votes. The first being Survivor: China.
  • This is also the second season since Survivor: Fiji where two members of the Final Three received the same amount of Jury votes.
• This season has the oldest Final Two/Three out of any season, with an average age of 46.67, the youngest being 41 (Denise), the oldest being 50 (Skupin) and the middle being 49 (Lisa).
• This season is the first season in which no castaway received more than 5 votes against them at a single Tribal Council.
  • However, Denise received 6 votes to win at the Final Tribal Council.
• During the reunion show, Russell and Angie were not seated in the order of their elimination. 
• This is the first time that both Runners-Up both had zero votes against them and the same amount of Jury votes.
• This is the third season in a row to feature a female winner from a blue tribe (following Upolu's Sophie Clarke from Survivor: South Pacific and Salani's Kim Spradlin from Survivor: One World).
• Had Matsing not lost all the immunity challenges, it was revealed that Kalabaw would have been the tribe dismantled, as the challenge crew had set up the two tribe challenges for Tandang and Matsing.
• The font used for this season's tribe names is Nuku Nuku.
• No one was ever voted off by receiving more than five votes. In fact, five different players were voted off by receiving five votes at a Tribal Council: Zane, Dawson, Jeff, Artis, and Carter.
  • Had Jonathan not used his Hidden Immunity Idol on Not the Only Actor on This Island, it would've been six contestants voted off by five votes
• This is the first season since Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains where the person that won the final immunity challenge failed to win the season.
• This is the first season featuring hidden immunity idols in which more than two of them are in play with three; one is hidden at each starting camp.
  • It would later be followed by Survivor: Cagayan.
• This is the only season filmed in the Philippines without a purple-colored tribe.
• This is the only season where 15 contestants make their Survivor debut.
• This is the first season with 3 tribes to have Hidden Immunity Idols.
  • It is also the first season where a two person tribe had someone with an Idol.
• This is the only season with 4 alliances (Tandang, Matsing, Kalabaw, and Fulcrum).