Survivor South Africa: Philippines Episode 1

This is the season premiere of.

Day 1
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- Welcome to one of the most beautiful and exotic locations in the world, the Philippines! Thousands of islands connected by Pacific waters. Each one home to daze and forests, steaming with all kinds of creatures - both beautiful and dangerous! It is here that 18 South Africans have begun the adventure of a lifetime! They come from all walks of life: a mining technician, a pastor, an investment advisor, a social media advisor - starting the journey with only the clothes on their backs. These castaways will not only be subjected to nature’s law, but also to each other’s. First impressions are already forming. These castaways will have to outwit, outplay, and outlast one another. In the greatest game on Earth. 39 Days, 18 Castaways, 1 Survivor!

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- Looking around, I’m reckon that I might be the youngest castaway around here. Look, if the people look at me and they think I’m this dumb blonde, I can show them dumb blonde. I will literally just be sitting at the beach, and just be looking like this. (mimics dumb face)

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- Coming into this game, I might be considered an underdog, because of my physical appearance. But don’t be fooled by that, everything’s up here. (taps head)

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- I play to win. So, if you’re gonna slow me done, if you’re gonna get in my way - I’m just gonna have to cut you down.

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- I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to tell lies to create havoc and absolute chaos, and to blindside people.

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- I’ve studied this game and every season I’ve watched was basically me doing my homework. To finally come to write the final exam, that’s this exam right now. Immediately something that stands out is the man wearing a suit and tie [Marthunis]. He’s either come here to play the game strategically, or he’s just playing the game

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- This one lady [Palesa], she’s looking like she’s in this game, and I’m like yeah this woman looks like she’s gonna be winning Survivor, she looks so intimidating.

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- I fell pregnant when I was in school, and wrote my exams still days before giving birth. Still finished school in record time and went on to go for all my dreams. So, Survivor’s going to be a walk in the park.

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- People in my town calls me captain. People listen to me. People confide in me. And people speak to me. That is what I do. People trust me.

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- I’m hoping in Survivor, they underestimate me. That is key. They need to underestimate me, they need to see short, chubby… They gotta think they can beat me.

Nico welcomes the eighteen castaways to the Philippines! He separates them into two tribes. Mindanao, wearing blue, consists of: Jeanne, Katinka, Marthunis, Murishca, PK, Stacey-Lee, Tevin, Toni, and Werner. Luzon, wearing red, consists of: Ace, Annalize, Chane, Josie, Neil, Palesa, Seamus, Tom, and Vusi.

Nico asks Chane how she's feeling; she's very excited and wants to get started. He also asks Marthunis and Werner for their names. Werner mentions that his heart is about to explode. Nico comments that Murishca looks nervous; she responds that she was simply concerned he wouldn't pronounce her name correctly. Nico asks Tom what he's thinking; Tom responds that he's happy to not be the only bald person on his tribe, in reference to Neil.

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- My nerves are shattered. What am I thinking doing this? Can I do it?

"mindanao"

- Being a mentor, was something that changed my life completely. It was one of the first steps towards me finding out that I’m different from everybody else. It’s nothing for me to be under pressure, cause I’ve been under it my whole life.

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- Fortunately, I’ve got a difficult name. So, I’m relying on people not to remember my name. When it comes to Tribal Council, they’ll think, “Oh how to spell - Ugh, leave it!”, go for the easy person.

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- I don’t have the speed, but I think I’ve got the strength and the stamina to outlast the youngsters. Being old at 55, I think I have a little bit of wisdom to actually outthink some of them.

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- The first thing that I grabbed was mask and a spearhead. And I think I can provide if I get the opportunity to.

Nico introduces them to their first reward challenge. There are valuable items on the boat and each tribe has a station where they can only pick one of two options: fishing gear or chicken. They have two-minutes to salvage what they can, then head out to shore, where only one tribe can secure the bag of rice. Mindanao wins reward.

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- Everyone was just grabbing, everyone was throwing onto the wrong raft. It was just mayhem.

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- I jumped on their raft and then had to ninja jump over to my raft. Crazy moments.

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- I was thinking, gets some of the chicken, but my tribe went for the fishing gear so I had to compromise.

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- Coming here to try and be as competitive as I can be physically as a woman. There’s nothing not intimidating by a male.

The Mindanao tribe arrived at camp and immediately got to work planning the shelter and finding the water well. "mindanao"

- I won’t be able to hide the fact that I’m loud and outspoken, so I’ll probably move up into the leadership role very quickly.

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- Who’s this broad in a suit? What is he doing?

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- I am a 24 year old medical doctor. My thing is to never expose my actual gameplay to anyone. I will not tell anyone the truth of what I’m actually thinking or what I really want to do in this game.

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- I studied to be a biokineticist, but I am a full-time pastor of a church. I will not disclose that to the contestants because they will butcher me. (laughs)

They spot a snake in a tree, so against the wishes of his tribe, Marthunis takes it open himself to slaughter the snake with the machete. "mindanao"

- I love snakes, but, I’m not sitting on the island and dying, I’ve got a family at home.

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- “Man, look at me. Alpha male with my machete.” Unnecessary.

Tevin tells a lie to everybody else on the tribe that Marthunis found something on the boat and put it in his back pocket. "mindanao"

- Right off the bat, Martunis makes me very suspicious. This could either be the way he’s playing the game strategically. Maybe he thinks if he pisses us off, we’ll keep him until the end. Or, maybe, he just doesn’t interact well with others. To me, right now, he’s enemy #1. He’s got to go. So, I told every member of this tribe that Marthunis did find something and put it in his pocket. That’s a lie - I didn’t see him put anything into his back pocket. I need them to be as suspicious, if not more. They all really think he’s got a clue or an idol right now, so, it’s working really well.

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- The boys are taking charge of building this shelter. That’s absolutely no problem. We’ll focus on other stuff.

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- I’m literally gonna come across as a man-hater on this show. Oh well.

Katinka tells Werner and Marthunis that the boys need to give them orders, like to sweep the camp. An annoyed Jeanne tells her men don't need to tell her anything, they don't run the place. While the men argue over the shelter, Jeanne, Stacey-Lee, and Toni discuss the men. Jeanne instructs them to be weary if the guys asks them to vote out a woman.

Werner asks for the tribe's permission to go gather materials since there are enough people on the shelter. This is actually a cover for him to search for an idol. Nobody followed him, so he searched into trees and on the third one found a clue that informed him an idol will be hidden at a challenge. He will know which one if the treemail says "Balance". "mindanao"

- I want to get stuff so I can see if there should be something on this island, like an idol or a clue. I don’t know what they’re doing, but nobody’s following me, so I started digging around one tree, another tree. The third tree I digged, there in a little pouch, was some kind of letter. There’s a picture of a platform, and underneath, there will be an idol hidden. If treemail comes with a message that says, “Balance”, then I know that that is a challenge that I need to be away. The Luzon tribe arrived to camp.

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- I’m just elated. I wish I could just phone my wife and say, “Baby, you would not believe where I am.” It’s insane!

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- First day on Survivor is a lot like losing your virginity. You know, hell of a nervous, but mostly excited, and the only thing on your mind is you hope you last longer than you thought.

The tribe started planning the shelter. Tom joked about not wanting to be the boss, but he is clearly taking charge with camp life. "luzon6za"

- We went straight to planning.

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- Top dog. Well, thinks he’s top dog, definitely top.

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- I just see alpha males and I’m here like (chuckles) you know? But it’s fine. Dynamites come in small packages.

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- Ace is a total misfit in the game. I don’t know what skills he brings. I haven’t seen anything yet.

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- Tom is definitely taking charge, because he knows more, and everyone is looking to him for his advice.

Josie took Ace down to the water well and she told him that she wanted to go to the merge with him, and potentially through to the end. Ace was content with the plan. "luzon6za"

- What I like about Ace, is that he just seems like he’s a really down to Earth guy. And I think that I’m a good judge of character. The both of us are the only people that we both said, “you are the person that is my #1 ally?” He’s got huge potential to make it to the merge, if he can just get on top of the nerves and sort out his emotions.

Tom sneaked up on Annalize and scared her while she was collecting palm fronds. "luzon6za"

- What I love about Tom is that he makes us laugh, the whole time. The silliest jokes.

Annalize is ready to cook food, but needs the fire to be made. Seamus went off into the woods with Josie. Josie told Seamus about her personal life. "luzon6za"

- Seamus for me, is playing an individual game already. He’s moving aside. There is some heavy lifting to be done. And he should play his part instead of just constantly disappearing.

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- I really like his energy, I think he’s a good guy. So, him and I bonded, but it’s early day.

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- I’m not here to make friends. I don’t care about what they do for a living or how many kids they have. I don’t give a (chuckles)… a rats, whatever.

Seamus talked to Annalize by the well that they should vote based on strength, but to wait until after the challenge to do more strategizing. "luzon6za"

- I don’t trust Seamus, but, saying that, I’m definitely his friend… for now.

Seamus talks to Vusi about voting Ace to keep the tribe strong. "luzon6za"

- And if he [Ace] does have his name on the chopping block, and I manage to blindside someone else and save him, then I’m guaranteed his vote at the next tribal. I think every villain needs a minion. And I think Ace will be the first one.

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- I’m feeling very anxious, because man, this is too early. It’s the first day!

Back at Mindanao, Jeanne argues with Marthunis about using too much bamboo. Katinka is annoyed at all the arguing. Stacey-Lee is worried that it's so late and they don't have a shelter yet. Marthunis expresses discomfort at the idea of cuddling with somebody tonight, so Jeanne jokes about how she will be snuggling with him.

At night time, Marthunis starts vomiting and has a headache. Tevin says he's fine, but is dehydrated, and therefore lacking energy. "mindanao"

- I actually can’t explain to you how dark it is when night falls. We don’t have a fire, we weren’t prepared, we didn’t have our stuff around, there was stuff everywhere. We were tripping over things.

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- So, the worst night of my life is starting to happen. This headache is not going away. I start vomiting. If I have to make it to the next night, they’re gonna find my corpses.

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- If Marthunis was a patient in a hospital right now, we’d treat him as a green patient, because he’s stable. There’s nothing wrong with him. Right now, he’s stable, he’s fine, but he’s dramatic. (chuckles)