Tearful goodbye

At Jarakay, the castaways happily bonded around the bonfire and talked about the game. Recalling how Jarakay scored the winning point in the Immunity Challenge, Marlon switched his own spotlight and said that Rob was no match to him.

Goodbye Emerson

“Sana maintindihan nyo ako, wag nyo sana nyo akong husgahan kung mali ang paraan, mali ang strategy ko o pumalpak. Madaling masalita pag ikaw ay hindi kasali sa castaway, hindi ito basta-basta.”

ang huling tagubilin ni emerson… ganyan talaga ang lyf!

Pautakan. Pagulangan. Patitgasan

“Pautakan. Pagulangan. Patitgasan.” Contesting castaways need to dig in the sand to find the Thai pillow within the ‘ring’, and race to go back to their respective tribal mats to earn points.

“Bawal ang sakitan. Walang personalan,” were the words from Paolo before the challenge.

First of, male versus male, Kiko versus Jace. It was Jace who had an edge using his martial arts strategies against Kiko. But it was his “gulang,” as he defined it himself, that won him the pillow. Jace requested for timeouts thrice to fix his loose shorts and Kiko courteously gave way.

Why Survivor Philippines?

A critic of the show find the name “Survivor Philippines ” funny for the reason that it was filmed in Thailand , and not in the Philippines . How trivial!

CBS (US) was the first to use the title “Survivor ” (2000) for this reality TV series. The original title was Expedition Robinson (Sweden, 1992). The initial US season was filmed in Borneo. The second season was filmed in Australia. The season title was “Survivor: The Australian Outback ”. After the season two was aired,  the initial season of Survivor (US) was referred to as Survivor: Borneo.

The British version (Survivor UK ) was also called Survivor. It was filmed in Malaysia . The second season was titled Survivor: Panama .

The initial season of Survivor South Africa was filmed in Panama. The second season was titled Survivor South Africa: Malaysia

The Pinoy version of Survivor is titled Survivor Philippines to distinguish it from the other Survivor series of other countries, and to proudly carry the Filipino flag . When the season two of Survivor Philippines start airing, the season one will be referred to as Survivor Philippines: Thailand or Survivor Philippines: Ko Tarutao .

Castaways make fire

They are to float on the water, holding on to nothing, each with a matchstick in his or her mouth. If they can maintain this for 15 minutes, they can take home the matches. They succeed in the challenge with the exception of Emerson and Rob who quit sometime around 6 minutes into the challenge. It can be remembered that Rob had trouble swimming and staying afloat on the first day of this competition.

Back at the Jarakay camp, the tribe arrives home long after the sun had gone down. Despite the strong winds and the unavailability of possible dry wood shavings, the excited castaways give fire making another try with their newly won flint. Like before, however, natures playful gusts of wind make it hard for the team..

Location of Survivor Philippines

Why does the Survivor Philippines location is on Thailand, we had a lot of ilands here in the Philippines, why should they bring it to Thailand?

Koh Tarutao or Tarutao island is located in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of Satun Province of Southern Thailand. It was a former penal colony in the late 1930’s for Thai Political prisoners. It was said that the existence of snakes , crocodiles and sharks in the surrounding sea ensured that only a few could escape alive.

During World War II, food and medical supplies became scarce for support from the mainland was cut off. In desperation, the prisoners and their guards banded together and raided passing merchant ships, and so the legend of the piracy began. With all these, the waters around Tarutao Island became one of the most feared in the Malacca strait.

An Asian Alcatraz, this remote island will be the home of our first Pinoy Castaways for 39 days as they battle out mother nature, each other and themselves, for the chance to be the first Pinoy Sole Survivor.

The Jarakay castaways enjoyed the raging waters of Koh Tarutao

The Jarakay castaways enjoyed the raging waters of Koh Tarutao – because they can afford to be relaxed with their immunity idol secured.

Over Naak, Rob is somewhat cruising over Vhev. Saying that he finds Vhev as sweet, loveable and sincere. The farm girl from Cebu tries to open up with him.

But the air is sweeter over Jarakay – where the two martial artists finally found each other – Jace and Veronica. Jace admits that he already has a crush on Vern from the beginning. To which, the lady hopes that what the teener was saying is true. “Sana totoo… sana totoo lang…”  I concur the attraction is mutual (even Nikki sees the chemistry). Don’t you just think an island romance is so, well, romantic?

Merges, tribe switches, and dissolves

In seasons which start with more than two tribes, there is typically a dissolve of the tribes down into two tribes, typically after the second or third Tribal Council. When there are 8 to 10 players left in the game, the separate tribes merge into a single tribe. From this point, Challenges are won on an individual basis. In general, after the merge has been announced, the members of the newly merged tribe collocate to a single camp. The merged tribe also selects a new tribe name and designs a new tribal flag with materials provided by production. There was no technical merge in Palau, as the Koror tribe had “conquered” the Ulong tribe by winning every tribal immunity challenge, leaving Ulong with only one member. This one member was then absorbed by Koror with no subsequent tribe name change.

Often, there has been a Tribe Switch at some point before the merge. In this, the members of each tribe are swapped around, typically not redistributing the tribal numbers. The mechanism for the Tribe Switch has varied from a random shuffle to a schoolyard pick by two tribe ‘captains’. There has also been a Tribe Switch accomplished by allowing players to ‘mutiny’ from their present tribe to join the other. This process typically defeats many early alliances and strategies, and has cost some players the game while saving other players from being eliminated early.

The Tribes reformed; 1st Immunity Challenge won by Jarakay

The tribes were reformed and the expected merging of genders happened in day 3. Naak now has Emerson, Kiko, Cris, Rob, Kaye, JC, Chev, Zita and Vhev. Patani, Nina, Charisse, Vern, Jace, Nikki, Gigit, Marlon, John are now in Jarakay.

The Jarakay won the immunity challenge and this half of the castaways are safe from the elimination in the Tribal Council.

What will happen on the merging of genders, i think there something will happen!

About the Survivor Philippines

Sixteen castaways on a remote island. Thirty-nine days of grueling challenges. And the ultimate chance to become the very first Pinoy sole Survivor.

The network that pioneered local reality TV with the hit show, Extra Challenge, now brings you the series that sparked reality-mania all over the world. GMA Network launches Survivor Philippines, a franchise of the phenomenal reality TV series, Survivor. Created by Charlie Parsons in the 1990’s, Survivor has reached Europe, America, Asia and now, the Philippines.

Sixteen Pinoys from different walks of life will be cast on a remote island to face the challenge of living without basic necessities. Referred to as castaways, the 16 will be far from modern comforts, they will scour the island for food, look for potable water, and build their own shelter, all in the name of survival.

The castaways play as members of two competing tribes, and battle in weekly challenges that require strategy and skill. At stake are small pleasures that take away from the castaway lifestyle. Tribes also compete for the much-coveted immunity idol, which saves the winning tribe from elimination. At each week’s Tribal Council, one castaway from the losing tribe is voted off the island. But the ultimate test lies in the ability to outwit, outplay, and outlast all others to emerge the winner. Politics, friendships, rivalry and teamwork all play a crucial role in this make-shift society. In the end, only one will be named Survivor. Reality TV doesn’t get any bigger than this. Who will become the Philippines’ first Pinoy sole Survivor? Find out soon on GMA.

Challenges on Survivor Philippines

During the course of the game, players compete as tribes or individually in contests called challenges. Challenges consist of endurance, problem solving, teamwork, dexterity, and/or willpower, and are usually designed to fit the theme of the current season. A common style of challenge is a race through a series of obstacles to collect puzzle pieces which then must be assembled after all pieces have been collected. Challenges have also included gross food challenges (including foods eaten by the local population), and knowledge quizzes about the locale or players. Many seasons also include during individual challenges: a ‘loved one’ challenge where a family member, friend or significant other of each player participates or is part of the challenge reward; the ‘Survivor Auction’ in which contestants bid against each other on luxury items and strategic advantages; a challenge in which the winning contestant receives a car; and a challenge that includes components of previous challenges from that season. Endurance challenges typically require tribe members to stay balanced on a small perch or support their own weight in a precarious position for as long as possible. The degree of difficulty may be progressively increased during the course of an endurance challenge in order to arrive at a winner faster. Some challenges have had the tribes compete at their own beaches by constructing a shelter or an SOS signal. The results are then judged by an expert and the winning tribe notified by the receipt of a package dropped from a plane or delivered by boat.

Players are notified of when and where challenges are to take place via special messages left at a location near camp, dubbed treemail (a play on the word “email“) by competitors, due to the fact that the messages were delivered to a basket hanging from a tree in Survivor: Borneo. These messages nearly always include a rhyme which gives hints to the nature of the challenge and sometimes include props that may be useful for the upcoming challenge, allowing tribes and players to attempt to form a strategy prior to the challenge. In some cases, the tribes have been given equipment to practice with or information they need to memorize prior to the challenge.

There are two types of Challenges: Reward Challenges and Immunity Challenges.

• In Reward Challenges, the contestants compete for luxuries that are not essential for survival but make their lives easier and/or more enjoyable. Examples of rewards have included food, flint, matches, rain gear, and even short trips away from camp.
• In Immunity Challenges, the contestants compete for immunity from an elimination ceremony known as Tribal Council. When the game is in its tribal stage, the tribe that wins immunity does not take part in Tribal Council. Following the merger of the two tribes, the individual who wins immunity cannot have votes cast against him or her. (see Tribal Council for more details)

There have been several combined Reward/Immunity challenges. These have come in two approaches:

• A tribe can be given both a reward and immunity for winning. This usually occurs in the first immunity challenge, as there is usually no reward challenge during the premiere episode. Usually flint or matches are given to the tribe which wins Immunity.
• In cases where there are more than two tribes, the reward may be given to the first place tribe, and immunity to all but the last place tribe.
• In later seasons, when there are two tribes left, there have been challenges which result in both tribes going to Tribal Council (one after another), but with the winning tribe getting an additional reward, such as a meal, while they watch the proceedings of the other tribe’s Tribal Council.

Prior to the merge, all challenges are between tribes, resulting in tribal rewards and immunities. After the merge, contestants compete in challenges on an individual basis. Individual rewards have often included the option to select one or more other tribe members to participate in the reward. After merging, there have been reward challenges where two or more teams are created from the remaining players, with the winning team reaping the reward benefits.

In recent seasons of the US version, a special message, held in a bottle or by host Jeff Probst, has been given to the winners or the losers of the challenge, with instructions to either read the note immediately after the challenge, or to hold the note unread until Tribal Council. These notes have provided additional instructions to the tribe that holds it, such as deciding to avoid Tribal Council but requiring the tribe to move to a less desirable beach, or to vote off a second player immediately after voting off a first player at Tribal Council.

When one tribe has more players than the other tribe, it must designate players to sit out of tribal challenges so that equal numbers compete. No person may sit out twice in a row or, if this is not possible, no person may compete twice in a row.

The challenges are usually held in a 3 day cycle - one day for the reward challenge, one day of rest, and one day for the immunity challenge and Tribal Council.

Survivor - Concept History

The creation of the Survivor concept, although credited to Charlie Parsons, was actually conceived by Bob Geldof’s Planet 24 television company. It initially failed to attract the attention of any of the major broadcasters in Britain or the United States and was eventually sold to the Swedish television company Strix Television as Expedition Robinson (alluding to Robinson Crusoe). After some public debate and putting the show on hold a few weeks while removing a few scenes not fit for public service TV, it became a major hit when it debuted in 1997 in Sweden.

The initial U.S. series was a huge ratings success in 2000 and, along with ABC’s prime-time game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, sparked a reality-television revolution in the USA. The popularity of these shows prompted networks to push sitcoms and conventional drama series aside and rushed their own reality shows into development. Even the Fox Network, which had vowed never to air a reality show again just months earlier following media outrage surrounding its Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? program, broke its promise and launched several competitors of its own. Survivor’s second season, in the winter/spring of 2001, drew even larger audiences. Subsequent U.S. versions have attracted smaller but still substantial audiences. There have also been British and Australian versions of the show in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Both were considered ratings failures. Indeed in Britain, its failure was a national joke (though ratings for the UK series were considerably lower than ITV had hoped for, it still regularly attracted six to eight million viewers, a decent rather than huge audience, but enough for ITV to commission a second series which appeared a year later). TF1 France has produced seven seasons of Koh-Lanta, a French version of Survivor, and a Japanese version was also produced for four installments which achieved some success.^[1] Broadcast rights for the American version have been sold to various broadcasters and is viewed in many countries around the world. The first ever Celebrity Survivor, made in Australia, attained moderate ratings. The first season of the Israeli version of the show, “Hisardut” (”survival”), has aired in 2007-2008, with its final episode being aired on 17 May 2008.

The First Challenge - Survivor Philippines

Around 12 minutes delay to the target start of 9:15 pm is very much forgiveable especially to those anticipating the much awaited premiere. GMA 7 already unveiled the official website as well as the show starts.

Quick Account:

Chopper Shots      

Paolo Bediones gallantly gives a birds - eye tour of Koh Tarutao Islands - brief history and classic shots of dangerous animals and wildlife, except of course for the Butanding or whale shark  

The First Challenge    

The 18 Castaways are told that they are going to an island for an interview. They have no idea that the 39 days have already started. They are not allowed to speak or talk to one another. They have nothing but the clothes their wearing when Paolo instructs them to jump off the boat and swim towards the shore

Noticeably, Paolo narrates his observations or assumptions on each of the castaways while they are swimming. The hunky Rob, ironically could hardly swim and clings on to a poor girl. Kiko shows a “messiah complex” for escorting the girls. While another guy, Emerson, cries for help for cramps… the black belter, right? Marlon, the waiter - cook, bargains for a lifesaver.

The VTR introductions started with Jace who incidentally finishes the race first. Zita, the laundrywoman with 7 kids and 12 grandkids finishes at second place. Jace or his group gets the bigger camp.

CASTAWAY VTRs

Among the VTRs, Zita states something catchy. “Gusto ko makilala ako ng buong Pilipinas, bago man lang ako mamatay… para rin sa mga anak ko..” Something like that. 

Patani is already a character with her classic Showbiz dreams… “Sisikat ako, magkakaroon ng fans. interview.. ganun!” 

JC says that he is willing to do anything, even if it is not in his personality. That’s how survivor is.

The First Group Reward Challenge     

The castaways are then divided by gender to form 2 groups. Guys go to Jarakay while girls goes to Naak. The rewards are materials for their future shelter.

Tied up together at first, the group had to finish a series of obstacle courses - zip line, web challenge etc… The end goal is for the Puzzle solver to, well solve the eagle puzzle. To which, the male group has accomplished but the girls almost caught on.  

The guys get the shelter materials while the girls also got personal stuff, but they have to remain chained or tied together until the next day.

Finally, Paolo is out of the picture after narrating almost every moment of the show.

The Naak Female group yap about the location for their shelter. Charisse says she’s on the verge of crying during the first night. Zita shares that her house is no different than their present condition.

The Jarakay Male group also was not able to build a shelter since it’s already dark. JC admits that on the first day, he almost wanted to back-out.

The search for food is on for the second episode. 

Alright guys, what’s your verdict?