Survivor: Philippines

This article is about the 25th season of the American version of . For the Philippine version of the series, see Survivor Philippines.
Survivor: Philippines is the twenty-fifth season of . It premiered on September 19, 2012, with a 90-minute premiere. The season featured fifteen new players and three returning players who had been medically evacuated in previous seasons. It would ultimately feature one quit, and has to date produced three returning players (Abi-Maria Gomes, Denise Stapley, and Malcolm Freberg) for subsequent seasons.
The most significant early-game development was the almost unprecedented futility of the Matsing tribe, which lost the first four straight Immunity Challenges. The only two players to survive the annihilation of Matsing were Denise and Malcolm, both of whom would go on to skillfully navigate the post-merge power struggle between the former Kalabaw and Tandang tribes in order to stave off elimination. Key power players from Kalabaw (including Jeff Kent and Jonathan Penner) and from Tandang (Pete Yurkowski and Abi-Maria) all failed to make the final four, which was instead occupied by Malcolm, Denise, and Tandang defectors Michael Skupin and Lisa Whelchel. Denise would ultimately become the Sole Survivor in a 6-1-1 vote over Lisa and Michael.
==Production==
In an interview, Jeff Probst revealed that filming of this season wrapped up while 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 , three tribes will compete starting at the beginning of the season. Also, for the first time since , 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 Idol: Similar to , the idols will be "hidden" in plain sight, with a clue hidden in the bottom of each tribe's rice. For the first time in 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.
* 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	Contestant 	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Tribe Affiliation	Finish	VotesAgainst
Contestant	Contestant 	Original Tribe 	Absorbed Tribe 	Merged Tribe 	Finish	VotesAgainst
 	Zane Knight28, Danville, VATire Repairman 	 	 	 	 	5
 	Roxy Morris27, Brooklyn, NYSeminary Student 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Angie Layton20, Provo, UTStudent 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Russell Swan45, Glenside, PA 	 	 	 	 	4
 	Dana Lambert32, Winston-Salem, NCCosmetologist 	 	 	 	 	0
 	Sarah Dawson28, Silver Spring, MDInsurance Saleswoman	 	 	 	 	5
 	Katie Hanson22, Newark, DEFormer Miss Delaware 	 	 	 	 	4
 	RC Saint-Amour26, New York City, NYInvestment Banker 	 	 	rowspan="11" 	 	4
 	Jeff Kent44, Austin, TXRetired MLB Player 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Artis Silvester52, Terrytown, LAComputer Engineer 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Pete Yurkowski24, Holmdel, NJEngineering Graduate 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Jonathan Penner50, Los Angeles, CA & 	 	 	 	14 	
 	Carter Williams24, Shawnee, KSTrack Coach 	 	 	 	5 	
 	Abi-Maria Gomes32, Los Angeles, CABusiness Student 	 	 	 	9 	
 	Malcolm Freberg24, Hermosa Beach, CABartender 	 	 	 	6 	
 	Lisa Whelchel48, Dallas, TXFormer TV Teen Star 	 	 	Runners-Up 	0 	
 	Michael Skupin50, White Lake, MI 	 	 	Runners-Up 	0 	
 	Denise Stapley41, Cedar Rapids, IASex Therapist 	 	 	 	6 	
==Season Summary==
The fifteen new castaways were split into three tribes and then introduced to their final tribe members, three returning castaways that had been medically evacuated from their previous seasons: Michael was assigned to Tandang, Jonathan to Kalabaw, and Russell to Matsing. Matsing lost the first four Immunity Challenges, leaving only Malcolm, who had the tribe's Hidden Immunity Idol, and Denise, his closest ally since the start of the game.
After Matsing's dissolution, Malcolm was sent to Tandang and Denise to Kalabaw. Malcolm quickly integrated himself with Tandang's dominant alliance, led by Pete, while Denise aligned with an alliance led by Jeff at Kalabaw, strained by Jeff's desire to eliminate returning players. Jonathan had found Kalabaw's Hidden Immunity Idol, using it as leverage to align with Jeff, while Abi-Maria had located Tandang's.
The tribes merged with Tandang holding the majority. Lisa accidentally discovered Malcolm's Hidden Immunity Idol, and promised to keep it a secret if he agreed to take her to the end of the game. At the start of the merge, Pete's alliance took control and targeted the returning players, but Jonathan used his Idol to save himself. Lisa revealed the existence of Malcolm's idol to the others in an attempt to blindside him. However, after Malcolm successfully convinced the Tandang alliance that he was planning on playing his Idol, they voted out Jeff instead.
Lisa and Michael, on the bottom of the Tandang alliance, eventually flipped sides, working with the remnants of Kalabaw and Matsing to eliminate the other former Tandang members. Soon after, a core alliance of Michael, Lisa, Malcolm, and Denise had formed, systematically eliminating the others. Despite winning an advantage in the Final Immunity Challenge, Malcolm failed to win immunity and he was subsequently voted out for being the largest jury threat.
All three finalists were berated by the jury at the Final Tribal Council: Lisa for claiming that she could not handle the pressures of the game, Michael for being strategically and socially inept and Denise for being condescending at times. However, Denise's argument, coupled with the fact that she was the first player in history to attend and survive every Tribal Council in the season proved to be the most convincing, which earned her the title of Sole Survivor by a 6-1-1 vote.
==Voting History==
==Trivia==
* The United States is the seventh country to host a season in Caramoan, following India, Serbia, Bulgaria, Israel, Sweden, and France.
*Philippines is the first season since Nicaragua where the title contains the country where the season is filmed.
* This season's theme is inspired by the Maranao, an indigenous, predominantly Muslim indigenous community 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.
* The tribe colors of 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.
* The font used for the tribe names is "Nuku Nuku".
*Philippines's Hidden Immunity Idol is actually the handle of the tribes' rice boxes, while its clue is nestled inside the rice box.
*Philippines is the first season since to feature more than two starting tribes.
* Coincidentally, all three returning players were evacuated in their respective season's sixth episodes.
*Philippines is the first season to have a man voted off first since Jon Dalton was voted off first in . Interestingly, Zane and Jon are both from Danville, Virginia.
*Philippines is the first season with more than two tribes to have two independent tribal Immunity Idols. Previous seasons with the same format (, , and Cook Islands) had all tribes sharing one tribal Immunity Idol.
*Philippines is the first season with more than two tribes to have a Hidden Immunity Idol assigned to each camp.
** All-Stars had no Hidden Immunity Idols, while Panama and Cook Islands each had only one Hidden Immunity Idol up for grabs between four tribes.
*Philippines marks only the second time in history that a tribe dwindled to two members, the other time being . 
* Matsing became the first tribe to win zero challenges.
** Keeping in mind that immunities and rewards were combined challenges; therefore, only having 4 opportunities for victory.
*Philippines is the first season to have a merge at the final 11.
*Philippines 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 .
* 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, but not Micronesia.
*Philippines is the second season, after , with a three-way tie for most individual Immunity Challenge victories: Carter, Malcolm, and Michael each won two challenges.
*Philippines is the first season since where the finalists did not all start on the same tribe.
*Philippines is the second season where all members of the Final Three received votes, the first being .
*Philippines is the first season since where two members of the Final Three received the same amount of jury votes.
** In Fiji, Cassandra and Dreamz tied at 0 votes each.
*Philippines has the oldest set of finalists out of any season, with an average age of 46.67: the youngest being Denise, Lisa, and Michael were 41, 49, and 50 respectively.
*Philippines is the first time that both runners-up had zero votes against them and the same amount of jury votes.
*Philippines is the first season since where the person that won the Final Immunity Challenge failed to win the season.
*Philippines is the most recent season with an endurance-based Final Immunity Challenge.
* Along with , Philippines was the first season to be released on Blu-ray.
==References==
25
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Survivor: Philippines
25