Survivor Philippines: Palau

Survivor Philippines: Palau
Season Information
Version	Philippines
Season No.	2
Filming Location	Peleliu, Palau
Filming Dates	May 28, 2009 – July 5, 2009
Season Run	August 17, 2009 – November 15, 2009
No. of Episodes	65 (+ Reunion Special)
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	16
Winner	Amanda Coolley Van Cooll
Runner(s)-Up	Justine Ferrer Jef Gaitan
Tribes	Airai Koror Sonsorol
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	Survivor Philippines: Season 1
Next	Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Showdown

Survivor Philippines: Palau is the second season of Survivor Philippines. It was set in Palau, which had previously hosted Survivor: Palau and Survivor: Micronesia, albeit in a different area.

Amanda Coolley Van Cooll defeated Justine Ferrer and Jef Gaitan in a 4-3-0 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.

Production

The second season was set in Peleliu, Palau. The season was made up of 16 castaways, separated into two tribes whose names were based on starting tribes from Survivor: Palau and Survivor: Micronesia: Koror and Airai respectively.

In this season, a twist called Isla Purgatoryo (Purgatory Island) was in play, where each castaway eliminated during the pre-merge phase of the game was sent. They would be living on the island alone with some supplies and a guard dog, a golden retriever named Jumbo, against snakes on the island. If the inhabitant's original tribe wins a Reward Challenge, the inhabitant secretly gets a portion of their reward. During a castaway's stay on Isla Purgatoryo, they would also battle with the next eliminated castaway sent to the island in a "Face-Off Challenge", in which the loser was eliminated, while the winner earned the right to stay in the game. After nine were left in the main game, the winner of the last Face-Off Challenge would return to the game, with individual immunity at the first post-merge Tribal Council.

The Black and White Pearl twist from the previous season returned along with a new variant, the "Blood Pearl", in which two votes were counted against the recipient.

This season was the last to be hosted by Paolo Bediones, as he later moved to another TV network.

Notable moments from the season were parodied during the reunion special. Survivor Philippines: Season 1 castaways Chev Macias (Tara's sister) and Patani Dano, and eventual Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Doubles Showdown castaways Betong Sumaya Jr. and Maey Bautista posed as castaways.

Twists/Changes

• Immunity Idol: The eyes of the tribal Immunity Idol have detachable eyes with different functions, with one eye to be given by the winning tribe at the Immunity Challenge, and the other to be given to the winner of the Face-Off challenge.
• Isla Purgatoryo: Similar to Redemption Island, voted out castaways would be sent in Isla Purgatoryo ("Purgatory Island"), in which the residents would have to compete in a Face-Off Challenge against each other to earn the right to stay in the game. At the time of the merge (when only nine active castaways are left), the last person remaining on the island would return to the game with individual immunity at their first Tribal Council.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 10, a Tribe Switch occurred, resulting in three members of each tribe being sent to the other tribe.
• Hidden Immunity Object: Similar to the American version's Hidden Immunity Idol, Hidden Immunity Objects would be hidden after the merge, which could negate any votes cast against the user in a single Tribal Council up until the final six.
• Pearls: At certain Tribal Councils after the merge, the eliminated castaway would give Pearl(s) to someone to still in the game.
  • White Pearl: Negates one vote against the holder at the next Tribal Council.
  • Black Pearl: Penalizes one vote against the holder at the next Tribal Council. If lost, the holder would receive two votes.
  • Blood Pearl: Penalizes two votes against the holder at the next Tribal Council. If lost, the holder would receive three votes.
• Double Elimination: At the second post-merge Tribal Council, another vote was held immediately after the first vote. The second place finisher during the previous Immunity Challenge would have individual immunity during the second vote.
• Final Three: For the first time in the Philippine version, three finalists would face a jury of seven.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Isla Purgatoryo Status	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Carol Gementiza 45, Iloilo Public School Teacher	Koror			2nd Voted Out Day 6	1st Eliminated Day 7	6
	Maya Segovia 32, Batangas Military Officer	Airai			3rd Voted Out Day 9	2nd Eliminated Day 10	6
	Vlad Nesas 24, Las Piñas Model	Airai	Airai		4th Voted Out Day 12	Quit Day 13	5
	Troy Perez 27, Manila Mentalist Magician	Airai	Airai		5th Voted Out Day 15	3rd Eliminated Day 16	7
	Louie Ang 24, Pasig IT Professional	Koror	Airai		6th Voted Out Day 18	4th Eliminated Day 19	6
	Cris Bolado 39, Quezon Province Former PBA Player	Airai	Airai		7th Voted Out Day 21	5th Eliminated Day 23	2
	Marvin Kiefer 18, Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental Model	Koror	Koror	Sonsorol	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 25		9
	Tara Macias 19, Cebu Korean English Tutor	Koror	Airai		9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 28		11
	Echo Caceres 20, Albay Call Center Agent	Koror	Koror		10th Voted Out 3nd Jury Member Day 28		6
	Suzuki Sadatsugu 21, Tondo, Manila Model/Student	Koror	Koror		11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 31		5
	Shaun Rodriguez 31, Zambales Government Employee	Airai	Koror		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 34		11
	Mika Batchelor 25, Palawan Chef	Airai	Airai		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37		8
	Charles Fernandez 21, Dagupan, Pangasinan Businessman	Koror	Airai		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38		6
	Jef Gaitan 22, Laguna Model	Airai	Koror		Second Runner-Up		2
	Justine Ferrer 29, Caloocan Businesswoman	Koror			1st Voted Out Day 3 Runner-Up	Returnee Day 23	11
	Amanda Coolley Van Cooll 25, Mindoro Construction Worker	Airai	Koror		Sole Survivor		3

Season Summary

The castaways were split into two tribes: Koror and Airai. From the beginning, the Koror tribe failed in challenges, losing four of the first five challenges, which caused much tension and constant in-fighting. On the other hand, Airai prospered, but divided by gender-based alliances. After a tribe swap on Day 10, it was Airai who found itself in a losing streak, while Koror became a harmonious and effective unit at camp and in challenges.

Unknown to the castaways, a twist, Isla Purgatoryo, was in play, where eliminated castaways must win their way back into the game. Justine, who was the first person voted out after being perceived as weak and ostracized for being a transwoman, secretly thrived by winning duels, and secretly received a part of Koror's (her former tribe) reward. Justine re-entered the game as the tenth and final member of the merged Sonsorol tribe.

At the merge, the castaways found in-roads with the other tribe. when the original tribes banded together to eliminate Marvin for his connection to Jef and strength in challenges. Tara, the most disliked member of the tribe was voted out next, and was followed by Echo, who was largely seen as a threat due to her compelling life story, in a surprise double elimination. An all-women alliance of Amanda, Jef and Mika took control of the game by scattering the men's numbers in votes, effectively eliminating Suzuki and Shaun, leaving Charles as the last man standing in a tribe of five.

Despite Charles not winning the following Immunity Challenge, the women decided to turn on each other; Amanda and Mika campaigned to eliminate Jef while Charles and Justine wanted Mika. Amanda, who won immunity, made an erroneous decision to reveal to Jef her plan to vote her out, prompting Jef to vote Amanda's ally Mika, out.

Charles, who won the Final Immunity Challenge was given the choice between keeping his immunity to advance in the Final Three, or earning himself a new apartment unit. He chose to pass his immunity to Justine, after which he and Justine voted Amanda while Amanda and Jef voted Charles, subjecting Amanda and Charles in a fire-making challenge. Amanda won, eliminating Charles in the process, allowing herself, Jef and Justine to enter the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, the finalists were met with a very hostile jury: Amanda was lauded for playing an effective strategic and social game, but was seen as insincere and sheltered. Jef was ignored, if not blasted most of the jurors for riding coattails. Justine was commended for dominating Isla Purgatoryo and making the most of her second chance, but her duplicity was called out. In the end, it was a close vote between Amanda and Justine, with Amanda winning the title of Sole Survivor in a 4-3-0 vote.

Cycle	Air Dates	Isla Purgatoryo				Challenges			Eliminated (vote)	Status
		Inhabitant	Challenger	Eliminated	Finish	Reward		Immunity
1	August 17-21, 2009					Airai	Airai1	Airai	Justine (7-1)	1st Voted Out Day 3
								[Carol]2
2	August 24-28, 2009	Justine				Koror		Airai	Carol (6-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6
3	August 31-September 4, 2009	Justine	Carol	Carol	1st Eliminated Day 7	Koror		Koror	Maya (6-2)	3rd Voted Out Day 9
								[Jef]2
4	September 7-11, 2009	Justine	Maya	Maya	2nd Eliminated Day 10	Airai		Koror	Vlad (5-2)	4th Voted Out Day 12
5	September 14-18, 2009	Justine	Vlad	Vlad3	Quit Day 13	Cris, Charles, Echo, Marvin, Mika, Suzuki4		Koror	Troy (5-1)	5th Voted Out Day 15
								[Cris]2
6	September 18, 2009; September 21-25, 2009	Justine	Troy	Troy	3rd Eliminated Day 16	Koror		Koror	Louie (4-1)	6th Voted Out Day 18
								[Cris]2
7	September 25, 2009; September 28-October 2, 2009	Justine	Louie	Louie	4th Eliminated Day 19	Koror		Koror	Cris (2-1-1)	7th Voted Out Day 21
								[Tara]2
8	October 2, 2009; October 5-October 9, 2009	Justine	Cris	Cris	5th Eliminated Day 23	None		Shaun	Marvin (9-1)	8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 25
				Justine	Returnee Day 23			(Justine)5
9	October 12-16, 2009					Jef, Mika, Shaun		Suzuki	Tara (8-1-1)	9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 28
								(Justine)6	Echo (6-2)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 28
10	October 19-23, 2009					Survivor Auction		Charles	Suzuki (2-2-0; 3-2)7	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 31
11	October 26-30, 2009					Shaun [Justine]			Shaun (5-3)	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 34
						Amanda [Mika]
12	October 30, 2009; November 2-6, 2009					Amanda [Mika]		Amanda	Mika (3-2)	13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37
13	November 9-November 13, 2009					None		Charles (Justine)8	Charles (2-2; 1-1; Tiebreaker)9	14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
						Jury Vote			Jef (4-3-0)	2nd Runner-Up
									Justine (4-3-0)	Runner-Up
									Amanda (4-3-0)	Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 A second Reward Challenge occurred on Day 2. ^2 After the Immunity Challenge, an Immunity Bracelet was available and was given to one member of the losing tribe by the winning tribe. ^3 Vlad quit the game before the Face-Off Challenge. ^4 The Reward Challenge had the castaways temporarily spread across two mixed-tribe teams of six. After the reward, the members of the winning team returned to their respective tribes. ^5 For winning the final Face-Off Challenge, Justine won individual immunity from the next Tribal Council. ^6 Following Tara's elimination, the Sonsorol tribe faced a second vote. In a twist, Justine received individual immunity for this round of voting for finishing second at the Immunity Challenge. ^7 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^8 After winning the final Immunity Challenge, Charles was given the opportunity to keep his immunity in exchange for an apartment unit, and must give what he did not choose to another player. Charles decided to keep the apartment unit to himself and instead gave his immunity to Justine. ^9 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied players.

Voting History

		Original Tribes			Switched Tribes				Merged Tribes
Cycle		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		10		11	12	13			Finale
Voted Out		Justine	Carol	Maya	Vlad	Troy	Louie	Cris	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Tie	Suzuki	Shaun	Mika	Tie	Deadlock	Charles	Jef	Justine	Amanda
Vote		7-1	6-1	6-2	5-2	5-1	4-1	2-1-1	9-1	8-1-1	6-2	2-2-0	3-2	5-3	3-2	2-2	1-1	Tiebreaker1	4-3-0
►►	Amanda	—	—	Maya	—	—	—	—	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Suzuki	Suzuki	Shaun	Jef	Charles	None	—	Jury Vote
►	Justine	Charles							Marvin	Tara	Shaun	Shaun	None	Shaun	Mika	Amanda	Amanda	—
►►	Jef	—	—	Troy	—	—	—	—	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Shaun	Suzuki	Shaun	Mika	Charles	Charles	—
►►	Charles	Justine	Carol	—	Vlad	Troy	Louie	Cris	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Shaun	Justine	Shaun	Mika	Amanda	None	Voted out		Justine
►►	Mika	—	—	Maya	Vlad	Troy	Louie	Cris	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Suzuki	Suzuki	Shaun	Jef						Amanda
►►	Shaun	—	—	Maya	—	—	—	—	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Justine	Justine	Mika							Amanda
►►	Suzuki	Justine	Carol	—	—	—	—	—	Marvin	Tara	Echo	Justine	None	Mika							Amanda
														Mika
►►	Echo	Justine	Carol	—	—	—	—	—	Marvin	Tara	Shaun									Justine
►►	Tara	Justine	Carol	—	Vlad	Troy	Louie	Mika	Marvin	Shaun											Amanda
►►	Marvin	Justine	Carol	—	—	—	—	—	Tara	Mika										Justine
►	Cris	—	—	Maya	Vlad	Troy	Louie	Charles	Eliminated
►	Louie	Justine	Carol	—	Vlad	Troy	Tara	Eliminated
►	Troy	—	—	Maya	Louie	Tara	Eliminated
►	Vlad	—	—	Maya	Louie	Quit
	Maya	—	—	Troy	Eliminated
	Carol	Justine	Charles	Eliminated
Notes: ^1 With a deadlock tie between Amanda and Charles, a fire-making challenge was held to determine the elimination.

Trivia

• Justine is the first transgender castaway to compete in the Survivor franchise.
• The tribal Immunity Idol had two detachable eyes, revealing Immunity Bracelets, each with a different function: one eye was given by the tribe that won the Immunity Challenge to grant one member of the losing tribe individual immunity, and the other was taken by Paolo after the first Immunity Challenge and later given to the winner of the Isla Purgatoryo Face-Off Challenge. Post-merge, the idol became a permanent fixture at Tribal Council.