Jericho Malabonga is the Sole Survivor of Australian Survivor (2017). He later competed on Australian Survivor: All Stars.
Best known for his bond with Luke Toki, and his sparky personality, Jericho never truly had a strong hold of the early game, but instead utilized the moral dilemmas in the early days of the game 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.
Profile
Retrieved from tenplay.com.au
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."[1]
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 an English-language Survivor season with a 6-3 vote.
Voting History
| Jericho's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Jericho's Votes |
Voted Against Jericho |
| 1 | Kent; Joan1 |
- |
| 2 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Samantha | - |
| 7 | Jacqui | - |
| 8 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 9 | Jacqui | - |
| 10 | Kent | - |
| 11 | No Tribal Council2 | |
| 12 | AK | - |
| 13 | Asaga Tribe Immune | |
| 14 | No Vote3 | |
| 15 | Odette | - |
| 16 | Jarrad | - |
| 17 | Anneliese | - |
| 18 | Henry | - |
| 19 | Tessa | - |
| 20 | Sarah | - |
| 21 | Ziggy | - |
| 22 | Ziggy | - |
| 23 | Locky | - |
| 25 | Michelle; Ineligible |
Michelle, Peter; Peter4 |
| 26 | Peter | Individual Immunity |
| Jury Votes for Jericho |
Anneliese, Henry, Jarrad, Luke, Michelle, Ziggy | |
| Sole Survivor, Day 55 | ||
^1 In Episode 1, the vote ended with a 6-6 tie between Joan and Kent, forcing a revote. Jericho voted for Joan on the revote.
^2In Episode 11, despite losing the Immunity Challenge, Asaga did not have to go to Tribal Council.
^3In Episode 14, rather than voting out a member of the tribe, Asaga was given the chance for one castaway to mutiny at Tribal Council.
^4In 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
Voting History
| Jericho's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Jericho's Votes |
Voted Against Jericho |
| 1 | ||
Post-Survivor
- Jericho reunited with friend and ally Luke after the show, and used part of his winnings to fulfill one of Luke's goals to give his kids a trip to Disneyland.[2]
Trivia
- 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 a elimination vote against him 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.
References
| Australian Survivor (2017) Castaways | |||||||||||||||
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