Jericho Malabonga

**Jericho Malabonga** is the Sole Survivor of *Australian Survivor* (2017) and a contestant on *Australian Survivor: All Stars*.

In *2017*, Jericho was best known for his sparky personality and bond with Luke Toki. He never truly had a strong hold of the early game, but instead utilized a jar of cookies from a moral dilemma to gain numbers, giving him a strong set of allies come merge. Initially flying under the radar, Jericho's strong social game saw him overlooked in favor of much more aggressive players. However, his game was completely changed once his key ally Luke was eliminated, forcing him to assume a much more aggressive form of gameplay. Luckily, this allowed him to take control of the game, and make it to the Final Tribal Council. Here, although he was called out for being two-faced, he was applauded for his hold over the late game, allowing him to win over Tara Pitt in a 6-3 vote.

Jericho's run in *All Stars* was far less successful. A member of Mat Rogers's alliance, Jericho was targeted over weak link Moana Hope as David Genat's alliance saw him as too much of a social threat to stay in the game, which resulted in Jericho being voted out in a 7-5 vote.

## Profile

*Retrieved from 10play.com.au*

* All Stars

**Age:** 25
**Occupation:** Flight Attendant
**State:** Victoria
**Tribe:** Asaga
From the Philippines to Auckland and now Melbourne, Jericho is used to being the new kid in town. But instead of letting his guard down quickly, on *Australian Survivor* he will be pretending to be someone else entirely.
"It's been my childhood dream to play the game and to become another person. It is not my normal way of behaving so I can be anyone out there. I will make up a life and say I am three years younger, just for the sake of it," he said.
"I watched last year's series and I liked some of the contenders but they weren't given enough room to strike. They were playing with people who do not get the game so they left early. That won't happen to me."
Jericho is not afraid to show his darker competitive side when it comes to the game.
"I don't want to play safe, I want to play risky. I want to be the Sole Survivor and to experience it all. Just being called up is an enormous bonus to my life, I am so excited. It's already one of the greatest achievements in my life."
After studying anthropology, Jericho followed his dream of becoming a flight attendant. Starting as a cabin cleaner and working his way up the ranks, he now works for a major airline, flying internationally.
A mega-fan of *Survivor*, Jericho has his game plan mapped out but is also enjoying every moment in the lead up to setting foot on the island.
"There will be people who think they are the alpha male or the strategist of the whole game. My plan is to fuel those egos. I will keep feeding it until they let their guard down, then I will strike," he said.

"I'm just enjoying every moment of this adventure – from intensifying my exercise, the joy of playing the game and to the lead up of simply listening to music, hanging with my family and friends because I know it is going to be very isolated over there. I'm ready though."
**27, Flight Attendant — Season 2**
Jericho knows coming back to All Stars as a previous winner is not going to be an easy run. With a clear target on his back, Jeri is ready to fight hard to stay in the game and isn't fazed about people going after him. "I'm definitely going to be more on the frontline of the battle and more likelihood of getting booted early, but I've won already so this is a second chance and added bonus. I still want to win. I definitely won't let people walk over me to get to the final two. I'm back for blood."
With his sweet nature but tough talking style, Jeri is hoping to convince everyone he's not a threat and still be himself but hide his competitive side for as long as he can.
Even without his right-hand man, Luke, by his side, he's hoping the other contestants will, "Welcome me with open arms, hiding all signs that what they've really done is invite evil into their home!"

## Australian Survivor

### 2017

Jericho immediately gravitated toward Luke as both of them appreciated mischievous gameplay and antics. Their first move was a small but somewhat effective one of forcing a tie vote on Day 3 between Kent and Joan. Though the initial intended target Joan was voted out in the revote, this move surprised Samantha who thought she was dictating the strategy of Asaga. Her paranoia would increase overtime, during which Jericho found a moral dilemma: he could bring firewood back to the tribe or get a jar of cookies for himself. Jericho almost immediately selects the cookies, and puts an unorthodox but effective plan into motion. He started by pulling Luke and Henry aside individually, and later included Sarah. By forming these one on one relationships, Jericho had enough players trusting him that they wouldn't turn on him. This helped Jericho be in the loop and in the majority in every pre-merge vote except one. Unfortunately, Jericho's solid individual performances in the tribal Immunity Challenges could not translate to enough victories, so Asaga entered the merge with just four members: Luke, Sarah, and Tara along with him.

Jericho and the other Asaga members reunited with Henry and his new allies post-merge, giving them the numbers to take out the alliance of Jarrad, Tessa, Anneliese, and Peter. Jarrad attempted to get Jericho on his side and asked him to underline his vote so he knew where Jericho stood. Jericho heeded the instructions but by voting Jarrad out. From that point on, Jericho, Luke, and Sarah shifted between the other alliances to contribute to the eliminations of Anneliese, Henry (with a Hidden Immunity Idol in his possession), and Tessa in a 3-2-2-2 vote. The latter vote exposed Jericho's allies as threats, and Sarah and Luke would be the next two to go. For the first time in this game, Jericho looked to be in danger. That changed when he joined forces with Michelle and Peter and they succeeded in flipping Tara against Ziggy on Day 47. On Day 50, Jericho won the right to remove a member of the jury. Despite Tessa saying that she would be a rational juror and vote for the best player, Jericho wasn't convinced he could count on her vote and chose to remove her. Jericho survived the final few days by defeating Michelle in a fire-making challenge and then winning the Final Immunity Challenge. With the sole vote, Jericho took out Peter to repay Tara for forcing a tie on his behalf at final four.

At Final Tribal Council, Jericho was critiqued for being Luke's sidekick, his deceitful behavior, and for removing Tessa from the jury. With a little help from his colorful metaphors, Jericho argued that his strategy was intentional and he did enough apart from being aligned with Luke to merit the votes. Jericho ultimately became the first Filipino diaspora Sole Survivor in a full English-language *Survivor* season with a 6-3 vote.

* Challenge History
* Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 1", the vote ended with a 6-6 tie between Joan and Kent, forcing a revote. Jericho changed his vote to Joan on the revote.
**^2** In "Episode 11", despite losing the Immunity Challenge, Asaga did not have to go to Tribal Council.
**^3** In "Episode 14", rather than voting out a member of the tribe, Asaga was given the chance for one castaway to mutiny to Samatau. Jericho did not choose to mutiny.
**^4** In "Episode 25", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Jericho and Michelle, forcing a revote. Nobody changed their vote on the revote, forcing a fire-making tiebreaker. Jericho won the tiebreaker and remained in the game.

### All Stars

In the season's introduction, Jericho appeared confident that he could once again succeed and win the game. He gravitated toward the more old school alliance of Mat, Moana, Jacqui, and Tarzan which placed Jericho in the minority against the new school alliance lead by David. Jericho and Locky picked up where they left off their previous season in opposing alliances as well as a general lack of trust, as Jericho was suspicious of Locky when he returned from the *Survivor* shop reward with Phoebe.

After Vakama lost the second Immunity Challenge, the majority alliance initially contemplated voting out Mat or Moana until David brought up Jericho as a safer third option in case Mat had an idol as well as him being a threatening player in his own right. Jericho attempted to swing Phoebe and AK to his alliance to vote out Daisy. The swing vote duo were torn because they wanted to work with Jericho, but they were well aware of the threat the former winner posed. At Tribal Council, Jericho feigned an emotional breakdown to garner sympathy and seal the votes he needed to stay in the game, but the majority alliance saw past that and Jericho was voted out 7-5.

* Challenge History
* Voting History

 Going Under | Immunity
 2 | Clear the Deck | Reward
 Get Barreled | Immunity

## Post-Survivor

* Jericho reunited with friend and ally Luke after the show, and used part of his winnings to fulfil one of Luke's goals to give his kids a trip to Disneyland.
* Jericho attended the wedding of Mark Wales and Sam Gash on December 14, 2019.

## Tribal Council

### Total votes received:

10

* Jericho and Jarrad Seng are the first Asian-Australian men to be cast on *Australian Survivor*.
* Of the final 6, Jericho is the only one to have never been a part of the Samatau tribe.
* Jericho is the first castaway in *Australian Survivor* to vote someone off the jury due to the Juror Removal twist and second overall in the Survivor franchise, following Michele Fitzgerald in *Survivor: Kaôh Rōng*.
* Jericho went the longest without receiving an elimination vote in *Australian Survivor (2017)*.
* Of the final 4, Jericho is the only one to have never swapped tribes.
* Jericho is the first person in *Australian Survivor* to win a fire making tiebreaker challenge.
* Jericho is the first man to win the Network Ten incarnation of *Australian Survivor*.
* Jericho is the youngest man to compete on *All Stars*.
* Jericho is the second winner on *All Stars* to be the first voted out of his tribe.
	+ Shane Gould, winner of *Champions v Contenders* (2018) was the first voted out of the season one tribal council before.
	+ This also makes Jericho the second winner of Australian Survivor overall to be voted out after becoming Sole Survivor.
* Jericho is the second returning player to never serve on a jury.

## References

1. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-2/jericho/pa190708gvhza
2. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-5/jericho/pa200203wnsvz
3. ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5797721/Survivor-winner-Jericho-Malabonga-uses-prize-money-star-Luke-Tokis-family-Disneyland.html
4. ↑ https://www.newidea.com.au/samantha-gash-and-mark-wales-our-survivor-wedding

Template:S-befTemplate:S-ttlTemplate:S-aft