Survivor: Philippines

For the Philippine version of the franchise, see Survivor Philippines.

Template:Infobox Television Survivor Survivor: Philippines is the twenty-fifth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor, which premiered in September 19, 2012.

Participants' applications were due on October 4, 2011, with approximately 800 have been interviewed in various states, from there 15 new people were selected as finalists and were filmed from March to April 2012, making the earliest Survivor season filming to date since Survivor: Borneo.

The season features several new castaways competing with three returning castaways who were removed from their previous seasons due to illness or injury: Michael Skupin (who passed out into a fire and suffered severe burns to his face and hands) of The Australian Outback, Jonathan Penner (who was removed due to a serious infection to his knee) originally from Cook Islands and later evacuated in Micronesia, and Russell Swan (who was removed because he blacked out twice from low blood pressure) of Samoa. It is the first season since Survivor: All-Stars to begin with exactly three tribes and the seventh season overall to feature returning castaways.

The show premiered on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 8pm with a special 90-minute premiere, then returned to its normal hour-long format in the following week.

Notable new contestants this season include the 2000 National League MVP Jeff Kent and The Facts of Life star Lisa Whelchel.

Contestants

The contestants include 15 new players to the game and three returning players, who were previously removed from their earlier seasons due to injuries.

Contestant	Original Tribe	Absorbed Tribe	Merged Tribe	Finish	Total Votes
Zane Knight 28, Danville, VA	Matsing			1st Voted Out Day 3	5
Roxanne “Roxy” Morris 28, Brooklyn, NY	Matsing			2nd Voted Out Day 6	4
Angie Layton 20, Provo, UT	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	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		Quit Due to Illness Day 12	0
Sarah Dawson 28, Silver Spring, MD	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		5th Voted Out Day 13	5
Katie Hanson 22, Newark, DE	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		6th Voted Out Day 16	4
Roberta "RC" Saint-Amour 27, New York, NY	Tandang	Tandang	Dangrayne	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19	4
Jeff Kent 44, Austin, TX	Kalabaw	Kalabaw		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22	5
Artis Silvester 53, Terrytown, LA	Tandang	Tandang		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25		1
Abi-Maria Gomes 32, Los Angeles, CA	Tandang	Tandang			1
Jonathan Penner 50, Los Angeles, CA Cook Islands & Micronesia	Kalabaw	Kalabaw
Malcolm Freberg 25, Hermosa Beach, CA	Matsing	Tandang
Michael Skupin 50, White Lake, MI The Australian Outback	Tandang	Tandang
Denise Stapley 41, Cedar Rapids, IA	Matsing	Kalabaw			1
Lisa Whelchel 49, Dallas, TX	Tandang	Tandang
Carter Williams 23, Shawnee, KS	Kalabaw	Kalabaw
Peter "Pete" Yurkowski 24, Holmdel, NJ	Tandang	Tandang			6

The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway received during Tribal Councils where the castaway was eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

^1 Jonathan played a Hidden Immunity Idol, therefore five votes against him were not counted.

The game

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

^1 Jonathan played a Hidden Immunity Idol, therefore five votes against him were not counted.
^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge.
^3 Tandang forfeited the challenge in exchange for all of Kalabaw's rice.
^4 There was no Reward Challenge due to the tribal merge.

Episode 1: "Survivor Smacked Me in the Chops"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: The tribes would be divided into pairs. The first pair from each tribe would be tethered together and have to race through the jungle and up a cargo net to retrieve two paddles. The next pair of castaways would use the paddles to paddle a boat out in the ocean to a buoy where they would dive to release a chest and swim it back to shore. All six castaways would then push the chest up the beach to a puzzle assembly mat. The final pair of castaways would use the pieces inside the chest to assemble a puzzle. The first two tribes to complete their puzzle would win immunity and reward.

• Reward: First place reward of a complete fire-starting kit of wood, flint, and lighter fluid. Second place reward of flint only.

The fifteen new castaways, already divided into three tribes, were brought in by boat; the three returning castaways were introduced and assigned to these tribes. The tribes were then given sixty seconds to offload as many supplies from the boat to rafts to start their camps. At Matsing, Russell, who had taken a leadership role in his previous appearance, tried to step away from that role, but still ended up making most of the tribe's decisions, irritating the others. Russell found a clue for the hidden immunity idol, and while successful in hiding it, was caught reading the clue by Zane. Russell asserted that anyone looking for the idol would be voted out. The new castaways in Kalabaw immediately targeted Jonathan as their first elimination, while Jonathan began searching for the hidden immunity idol, coming across the clue for it. Dawson recognized Jeff as a baseball player, but kept this information to herself. On Tandang, Michael formed an alliance with RC, Abi-Maria, and Pete; Michael also privately told Lisa that he recognized her from her acting career. At the Reward/Immunity challenge, Kalabaw edged out Tandang to win, while Matsing ended up losing the challenge. At Matsing's camp, the tribe blamed their loss on Russell for poorly choosing roles for the challenge; Zane then asked the tribe to vote him out because he said he did not do well at the challenge. Zane claimed this was a plan to gain the tribe's sympathy and to instead vote for Russell. Zane, Malcolm, and Denise considered if Russell had the hidden immunity idol already and swapping votes to flush it out. At tribal council, the tribe focused on Russell's poor leadership, which he apologized for being the self-described dictator of the tribe. When the vote came, Zane was sent home by a vote of 5–1. Before the tribe left, Jeff Probst gave them flint.

Episode 2: "Don't be Blinded by the Headlights"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: Going on in pairs, the tribes would pull a sled to three stations to retrieve puzzle pieces. Once all the pieces are retrieved, one castaway would work as a caller to help two castaways solve three large puzzles. The first two tribes to complete their puzzle would win immunity and reward.

• Reward: First place reward of blankets, pillows, and a tarp. Second place reward of a tarp only.

At Matsing, Angie and Malcolm's overnight cuddling made Roxy think they were becoming a dangerous pair and she wanted Angie voted out to break up the pair. At Tandang, RC found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, which she shared with Abi-Maria. However, their alliance was an uneasy, suspicious one as Abi-Maria thought RC might be making side alliances with Michael. The tribe thought Lisa spent a lot of time looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol, but in reality, she was just wandering out of camp to be by herself as she felt she was an outsider in her tribe. Over at Kalabaw, Jonathan found the Hidden Immunity Idol: a token on the lid of a box at camp. In the closely fought combined Reward/Immunity Challenge, Tandang beat out Kalabaw, while Matsing again came in third. Back at camp, Roxy pulled Russell aside and began to campaign against Malcolm and Angie. Russell seemed to agree with her, and he later had the same conversation with Denise. At Tribal Council, Roxy called out the pair of Angie and Malcolm as being more than just friends, which the two denied. When the vote came, the tribe voted out Roxy by a vote of 4–1.

Episode 3: "This Isn't a 'We' Game"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: One castaway at a time, the tribes would dive in the ocean to a puzzle wheel attached to a rope. Once eight puzzle wheels were retrieved, the tribe would use the wheels to solve a puzzle. The first two tribes to complete their puzzle would win immunity and reward.

• Reward: First place reward of a fishing kit and a canoe. Second place reward of a smaller fishing kit.

The uneasy alliance between Abi-Maria and RC continued at Tandang. Abi-Maria told Pete about the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol. They found the idol while the rest of the tribe was hunting for clams. Pete talked to Lisa about joining with Abi-Maria to blindside Michael and neutralize RC. Over at Kalabaw, the tribe discovered the missing emblem on the rice container, correctly guessing it had been the Hidden Immunity Idol and that Jonathan had found it. Jonathan later told Jeff that he had the Hidden Immunity Idol in order to try to gain Jeff's trust, but Jeff was still leery of Jonathan. At the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge, Kalabaw and Tandang continued their dominance in the challenges over Matsing, whose failure was attributed to both Angie and Russell physically giving up at the challenge. At Tribal Council, the vote came down to a decision for Denise and Malcolm to send Angie or Russell home. They chose Angie and she was sent home by a vote of 3–1.

Episode 4: "Create a Little Chaos"

• Reward/Immunity Challenge: One at a time, the castaways would carry two large pots of rice on a bamboo pole across an obstacle course. At the end of the course, the castaway would place the two pots on a stand and return to the starting mat. The castaways would take turns until six pots were placed on their stands. The entire tribe would then cross the obstacle course. One tribe member would then swing a ball attached to a rope to smash all six pots. The first two tribes to smash their six pots would win immunity and reward.

• Reward: First place reward of steaks, vegetables, spices, a pot, and utensils. Second place reward of vegetables, salt, pepper, and a pot. The tribes could optionally trade the rewards in for a tarp.

At Tandang, Pete stirred up trouble in the tribe by planting the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol in RC's bag where it fell out in front of everybody. Abi-Maria immediately thought that RC had betrayed her. A bewildered RC tried to talk to Abi-Maria about it, but Abi-Maria refused to talk to RC. Over at Kalabaw, the new castaways' plan to vote out Jonathan fell apart when Jeff changed his mind about aligning with Jonathan now that Jonathan had the Hidden Immunity Idol. The two along with Carter formed an alliance while they were out fishing. Back at camp, the women of Kalabaw were suspicious of the men going out on their own and formed their own alliance. Russell continued to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol at Matsing's camp, causing Denise and Malcolm to become suspicious that he might already have it and considered voting him out at the next Tribal Council to blindside him. At the Immunity Challenge, Matsing had the lead for much of the obstacle course stage, but lost to Kalabaw at the final stage, and went to their fourth Tribal Council in a row. After the challenge, Kalabaw decided to trade out their reward. Back at the Matsing camp, Denise and Malcolm agreed to vote for Russell, but would try to make Russell feel comfortable heading into Tribal Council just in case he had the Hidden Immunity Idol. At Tribal Council, all were concerned that they were going home, but in the end, Russell was sent home by a vote of 2–1.

Episode 5: "Got My Swag Back"

• Reward Challenge: Facing off one against one in a fenced off circle, a castaway from each tribe would hold a wooden idol on top of a platform that they would hold in one hand. They would use the other free hand to attempt to knock their opponent's idol off the platform. The castaway whose idol hit the ground last would score one point for their tribe. The first tribe to score five points would win the reward.

• Reward: Muffins, cookies, coffee,biscuits and tea.

• Immunity Challenge: The tribes would race through an obstacle course down a ramp to a pit filled with water, up a hill, and then a rope net climb. The tribes would then untie knots to release a draw bridge. One person from each tribe would then chop through a block of wood to release a rope which would release a large pile of bamboo puzzle pieces. The tribes would search through the pieces to find ones with letters printed on them. Two castaways from each tribe would then use the lettered pieces to solve a puzzle. The first tribe to solve the puzzle would win.

Anticipating a possible tribal absorption, Denise and Malcolm looked for and found the Hidden Immunity Idol before heading to the Reward Challenge. Malcolm took possession of the idol. Prior to the Reward Challenge, Matsing was declared defeated by the other two tribes. Malcolm was transferred to Tandang, and Denise to Kalabaw. Malcolm scored the final point of the match for the Tandang win, earning respect from his new tribe and leading Pete to tell Malcolm about the idol. At Kalabaw, Dana started suffering from stomach pains. Jeff Probst and the Survivor medical team were brought in, and though the team had cleared Dana to continue playing, she opted to leave the game. At the Immunity Challenge, Tandang narrowly beat out Kalabaw, who lost time due to Katie's weak performance on the first obstacle; she would apologize for this later at camp. Denise told Jeff Kent that she would join the men's alliance; the four discussed voting out Katie or Dawson. At Tribal Council, the tribe discussed performance at challenges. When the vote came, Dawson was blindsided by a vote of 5–1.

Episode 6: "Down and Dirty"

• Reward Challenge: Facing off three on three, the tribes would try to push a large wood ball across a mud field to their goal. The tribe would score a point for pushing the ball to the goal. The first tribe to score three points would win.

• Reward: A trip to a picnic with sandwiches, soup, potato chips, and brownies.

• Immunity Challenge: Two tribemates from each tribe would alternate launching balls from a slingshot while the remaining four tribemates have to catch the balls with handheld nets. Catching a ball would score one point for their tribe. The first tribe to reach five points would win.

On day 15, the Tandang tribe was upset at Michael for eating a lot of the tribe's food. At the first round of the Reward Challenge, Michael, Pete, and Lisa faced off against Jonathan, Carter, and Denise. The six fought to a standstill for over an hour when Jonathan proposed a deal: Kalabaw would give up all of their remaining rice in exchange winning the reward. Jonathan told his tribe that the deal was okay because he promised that he could catch fish. Michael persuaded his tribe to hear out Jonathan's proposal and after some discussion, Tandang agreed to the deal. At the reward, Kalabaw was surprised by an undeclared extra reward of letters from home. Back at the Tandang tribe, Artis, Abi-Maria, and Pete were livid at the deal struck at the challenge and blamed Michael for speaking for the tribe even though they felt he brought nothing to the tribe. The next day, Jonathan only caught a couple small fish, which caused a lot of grumbling amongst the tribe. At the Immunity Challenge, Tandang came back from a 4–2 deficit to defeat Kalabaw, again largely due to Malcolm's contributions. When Kalabaw returned to camp, Jeff and Carter discussed if now was the time to make the big move against Jonathan or to vote out Katie for being the weakest in the tribe. At Tribal Council, Jeff and Carter could not pull the trigger on the big move against Jonathan and instead blindsided Katie by a vote of 4–1.

Episode 7: "Not the Only Actor on This Island"

• Immunity Challenge: The castaways would hold on to a metal rod to which one end of a rope is spooled around. The other end of the rope is attached to a bucket overhead, weighted down with 25% of the castaway's body weight. The castaways would try to hold on to the rod and stop it from spinning, which would unspool the rope. The last man and woman to prevent the rope from unspooling and letting the bucket hit the ground would win.

On day 17, two boats arrived at Tandang and Kalabaw's beaches to take them to a new beach, and the tribes merge. Jeff's past was kept a secret, while Lisa was recognized by Jonathan, who assured her he would keep it a secret. While airing out the tribe's clothes, Lisa accidentally discovered Malcolm's Hidden Immunity Idol. Malcolm then took Lisa aside to do damage control, and she told him she would keep her knowledge of the idol a secret after he promised to take her to the Final Three along with Denise. Still wanting to vote out the returning players first, particularly Jonathan, Jeff organized the Tandang tribe into and followed Malcolm's plan to split the next Tribal Council vote between Jonathan and RC - to either vote out Jonathan or force him to use the Hidden Immunity Idol. Meanwhile, Jonathan tried to get Michael to flip to the Kalabaw side. Michael and RC discussed flipping, telling Jonathan they could not work with Pete and that they wanted him gone. Michael then talked to Jeff about the possibility of joining Kalabaw to vote out one of the former Tandang tribe members, but Jeff told Michael that he really wanted to vote out Jonathan. Michael agreed to follow Jeff's lead. At the first Individual Immunity Challenge, Denise and Carter took the first Individual Immunities. At Tribal Council, Abi-Maria laid out her perceived betrayal by RC; alliances and the complexities and ramifications of flipping allegiances were then discussed. After the vote was taken, Jonathan pulled out his Hidden Immunity Idol, successfully foiling Jeff's plan to take him out. Still, the plan to split the votes came to fruition, and with the five votes against Jonathan negated, RC was blindsided and sent to be the first member of the Jury by a vote of 4–2–0.

Episode 8: "Dead Man Walking"

• Reward Challenge: The castaways would divide into two teams. One at a time, a castaway from each team would swim out into the ocean to attach a line to a fish trap and then dive down to unhook the trap. The other team members would then pull on the line to bring the fish trap and castaway back to the beach. The teams would repeat this until four traps are retrieved. One castaway would then dig into the sand to retrieve a key which would be used to unlock a frame. Two team members would then use puzzle scroll pieces from the fish traps to assemble a banner. The first team to correctly assemble their banner would win.

• Reward: A river cruise and a picnic.

• Immunity Challenge: The castaways would race over and under an obstacle course to untie three bags of puzzle pieces. The first three castaways to cross the finish line with their puzzle bags would move on to the second stage. In the second stage, the castaways would use the pieces to assemble the puzzle. The first castaway to complete their puzzle would win.

Jonathan confronted his old Kalabaw alliance about their betrayal against him. With an obvious desire for the new players to vote out the returning players, Michael told Jonathan that they should bide their time and be on the look out for cracks amongst the new players in order to stay in the game longer. At the Reward Challenge, the team of Denise, Jeff, Jonathan, Lisa, and Malcolm took the win. On day 22, Lisa approached Michael and told him that she had discovered Malcolm's Hidden Immunity Idol. She proposed that they stay loyal to the original core Tandang alliance and blindside Malcolm. At the Immunity Challenge, Pete, Jeff, and Jonathan advanced to the second stage after Jonathan dove over the finish line just ahead of Michael. Jonathan then came from behind during the puzzle assembly stage to take a critical Individual Immunity. With Jonathan being immune, the new players all agreed to vote out Michael. Lisa told Pete that Malcolm had the Hidden Immunity Idol and that they should blindside him. Looking for confirmation, Pete confronted Malcolm, who denied it. Pete believed him and instead proposed that they vote out Jeff. Malcolm got agreement from Michael, Jonathan, and Artis to vote out Jeff. Jeff got word that he could be voted out and tried to arrange for Pete to be voted out. At Tribal Council, Malcolm said that Lisa threw him under the bus by revealing that he has a Hidden Immunity Idol. Lisa admitted that she did so and laid out her whole scheme. Malcolm, tired of the craziness, pulled out his Hidden Immunity Idol to show the entire tribe. Abi-Maria also pulled out her Hidden Immunity Idol. Lisa continued to pitch for the core Tandang alliance to stick together, while Jonathan pitched the plan of the core Kalabaw alliance plus Malcolm and Michael to vote out one of the core Tandang members. When the vote came to be read, neither Malcolm nor Abi-Maria played their Idol and when the vote was read, neither of them needed it as the tribe sent Jeff to the jury by a vote of 5–4–1.

Voting history

Episode title	First air date	Challenges		Eliminated	Vote	Finish
		Reward	Immunity
"Survivor Smacked Me in the Chops"	September 19, 2012	Kalabaw2		Zane	5–1	1st Voted Out Day 3
		Tandang2
"Don't be Blinded by the Headlights"	September 26, 2012	Tandang2		Roxy	4–1	2nd Voted Out Day 6
		Kalabaw2
"This Isn't a 'We' Game"	October 3, 2012	Kalabaw2		Angie	3–1	3rd Voted Out Day 8
		Tandang2
"Create a Little Chaos"	October 10, 2012	Tandang2		Russell	2–1	4th Voted Out Day 10
		Kalabaw2
"Got My Swag Back"	October 17, 2012	Tandang	Tandang	Dana	No vote	Quit Due to Illness Day 12
				Dawson	5–1	5th Voted Out Day 13
"Down and Dirty"	October 24, 2012	Kalabaw3	Tandang	Katie	4–1	6th Voted Out Day 16
"Not the Only Actor on This Island"	October 31, 2012	None4	Denise	RC	4–2–01	7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 19
			Carter
"Dead Man Walking"	November 7, 2012	Denise, Jeff, Jonathan, Lisa, Malcolm	Jonathan	Jeff	5–4–1	8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 22
"Little Miss Perfect"	November 14, 2012	Denise, Jonathan, Carter, Malcolm	Denise	Colton		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 25

	Original Tribes				Absorbed Tribes			Merged Tribe
Episode #:	1	2	3	4	5		6	7	8
Eliminated:	Zane 5/6 votes	Roxy 4/5 votes	Angie 3/4 votes	Russell 2/3 votes	Dana No vote5	Dawson 5/6 votes	Katie 4/5 votes	RC 4/6 votes6	Jeff 5/10 votes	Colton 4/9 votes	Denise 3/8 votes
Voter	Vote
Abi-Maria								Jonathan	Jeff
Artis								RC	Jeff
Carter						Dawson	Katie	RC	Pete
Denise	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Russell		Dawson	Katie	Jonathan	Pete
Jonathan						Dawson	Katie	Pete	Abi-Maria
Lisa								Jonathan	Jeff
Malcolm	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Russell				Jonathan	Pete
Michael								Jonathan	Jeff
Pete								RC	Jeff
Jeff						Dawson	Katie	RC	Pete
RC								Pete
Katie						Dawson	Jonathan
Dawson						Denise
Dana
Russell	Zane	Roxy	Angie	Malcolm
Angie	Zane	Roxy	Russell
Roxy	Zane	Angie
Zane	Russell

^5 No vote: Dana chose to quit due to illness.

^6 Jonathan played the hidden immunity idol; the five votes against him did not count.

Ratings

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Episode	Rating	Share	Rating/share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	Weekly rank
"Survivor Smacked Me in the Chops"	6.6	11	3.2/10	11.37	#8
"Don't be Blinded by the Headlights"	6.3	10	3.1/9	10.31	#24
"This Isn't a We Game"	6.4	10	3.0/9	10.38	#16
"Create a Little Chaos"	6.4	10	2.8/8	9.82	#22
"Got My Swag Back"	6.3	10	2.8/8	10.43	#17
"Down and Dirty"	6.3	10	2.8/8	10.23	#22
"Not the Only Actor on This Island"	6.1	10	2.5/8	9.83	–
"Dead Man Walking"	6.4	10	2.8/8	10.31

External links

• Official CBS Survivor Philippines Website