Survivor: Philippines

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
Version	United States
Season No.	25
Filming Location	Caramoan, Camarines Sur, Philippines
Filming Dates	March 18, 2012 - April 25, 2012
Season Run	September 19, 2012 - December 16, 2012
No. of Episodes	15
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Denise Stapley
Runner(s)-Up	Lisa Whelchel Michael Skupin
Tribes	Kalabaw Matsing Tandang Dangrayne
Viewership (in Millions)	11.851
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	One World
Next	Caramoan

Survivor: Philippines is the twenty-fifth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. 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 Survivor: One World was still airing. Furthermore, the 26th season was also be filmed in the Philippines, where the Survivor Production Team stayed 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 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 Idol: Similar to Survivor: China, 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 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.
• 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
	Zane Knight 28, Danville, VA Tire Repairman	Matsing			1st Voted Out Day 3	5
	Roxy Morris 27, Brooklyn, NY Seminary Student	Matsing			2nd Voted Out Day 6	4
	Angie Layton 20, Provo, UT Student	Matsing			3rd Voted Out Day 8	4
	Russell Swan 45, Glenside, PA Samoa	Matsing			4th Voted Out Day 10	4
	Dana Lambert 32, Winston-Salem, NC Cosmetologist	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		Quit Day 12	0
	Sarah Dawson 28, Silver Spring, MD Insurance Saleswoman	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		5th Voted Out Day 13	5
	Katie Hanson 22, Newark, DE Former Miss Delaware	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		6th Voted Out Day 16	4
	RC Saint-Amour 26, New York City, NY Investment Banker	Tandang	Tandang	Dangrayne	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	4
	Jeff Kent 44, Austin, TX Retired MLB Player	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22	5
	Artis Silvester 52, Terrytown, LA Computer Engineer	Tandang	Tandang		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25	5
	Pete Yurkowski 24, Holmdel, NJ Engineering Graduate	Tandang	Tandang		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 27	9
	Jonathan Penner 50, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 30	14
	Carter Williams 24, Shawnee, KS Track Coach	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33	5
	Abi-Maria Gomes 32, Los Angeles, CA Business Student	Tandang	Tandang		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 36	9
	Malcolm Freberg 24, Hermosa Beach, CA Bartender	Matsing	Tandang		14th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 38	6
	Lisa Whelchel 48, Dallas, TX Former TV Teen Star	Tandang	Tandang		Runners-Up	0
	Michael Skupin 50, White Lake, MI The Australian Outback	Tandang	Tandang			0
	Denise Stapley 41, Cedar Rapids, IA Sex Therapist	Matsing	Kalabaw		Sole Survivor	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 Survivor 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.

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.
• 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 Cook Islands 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 Micronesia. 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 (All-Stars, Panama, 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 Survivor history that a tribe dwindled to two members, the other time being Palau.
• 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 Marquesas.
• The three returning players did not have votes cast against them in the season they were evacuated. Jonathan had votes against him in Cook Islands, but not Micronesia.
• Philippines is the second season, after Marquesas, 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 Gabon 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 China.
• Philippines is the first season since Fiji where two members of the Final Three received the same amount of jury votes.
  • In Fiji, Cassandra Franklin and Dreamz Herd 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 Heroes vs. Villains 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 One World, Philippines was the first season to be released on Blu-ray.