Author: mike

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Naak’s first win

At last, nanalo na din ang mga castaways ng Naak tribe. After five unsuccessful attempts in a challenge, nakatikim na din ng unang panalo itong Naak. Mukha nga kasing mas gutom itong mga taga-Naak na manalo kaysa sa mga tribe members ng Jarakay. Literal na mas gutom ang mga Naa. Ubusin ba naman ng mas mabilis ang mga food challenge na ibinigay sa kanila. Kung naging 5-0 ang Jarakay sa mga nakalipas na challenge, dito sa latest immunity challenge, 0-5 sila. Five members ng Naak ang tumalo sa limang members ng Jarakay. Jarakay never won a point. Sweep kung sweep. Hehe. Lampaso ang mga Jarakay sa challenge na ito. At dahil diyan they would have to vote one of their own sa next tribal council. Kaya pag balik sa camp medyo nag-usap usap na ang mga tao within their alliances kung ano ang gagawin nila. Sa Naak naman, siyempre masaya silang lahat na hindi na nila kailangan mawalan ng isang tribemate. Naglabas din ng opinyon itong si Kiko laban kay Marlon. With this win, Kiko thinks na matututo ng magpakumbaba itong si Marlon. Kiko versus Marlon. Hmm… I Interesting. I can’t ait for a tribe merger at magkasama ang dalawang ito. Wala pa kasi akong nakikitang malaking away dito sa survivor. Yung mga away na mala-Pinog Big Brother ba. Siguro sa mga susunod na araw. Hintayin na lang natin. I’m sure magkakaroon din niyan. At sa episode mamayang gabi, ipapakita na kung ano ang nangyari kay John ang automechanic from Jarakay. Makakabalik kaya siya sa isla upang ipagpatuloy ang kanyang pagsali sa Survivor Philippines? Matutuloy kaya ang tribal council? Si John na kaya ang unang matatanggal galing sa tribe na Jarakay? Abangan na lang natin ang kasagutan mamaya at bukas.

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Episode tonight: John of Jarakay in a stretcher

From the preview last night of what will be show tonight, it seems that John, the auto mechanic, will leave the island for medical reasons. I’m not so sure if he will really leave the competition, but unless he gets well, I think Jarakay might lose him member because of this.  I’m kind of anxious on seeing the show tonight to see what will really happen. I mean Jarakay has kicked the butt of Naak for 5 challenges in a row and then this happens. And also, at the Jarakay camp from last night’s episode, Marlon the waiter is doing an Emerson. If Naak had an Emerson, Marlon is now doing that in Jarakay. Marlon seems to be scheming. He’s in a good position now. He thinks he can be allies with the girls of his tribe while maintaining his alliance with the guys. He is planning to take out Gigit to make the alliance of the guys weaker. However, I’m not so sure if this plan will work out with John succumbing to some sort of physical breakdown. The alliance of the guys will indeed get weaker but not at the expense of Gigit. It’s more likely because John will leave the island.

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Episode 7: Tools for a fire and some ‘fireworks’

After the reward challenge, Paolo gave the prize (a flint) to the winning team, Jarakay. The Naak tribe members were asked to stay. They were given a chance to take home another item that could help them build a fire. That’s another challenge Naak would have to take and at least another chance to take home something.

The eight Naak tribe members were given one match each. They would have to out the match in their mouth above water and try to not get the match wet. This challenge happened in a deeper part of the waters. When a tribe member is successful in treading the water for fifteen minutes, the tribe would be able to take home the tribe member’s match. Paolo, sat on a boat while monitoring the tribemembers as they treaded the water. If a tribe member can’t tread the water anymore, they would have to go to the boat and hold on. Those holding on the boat are of course out of the challenge.

The Naak tribe members were asked to jump off the boat into the water. The time of 15 minutes start when all tribe members are all in the water. The first two minutes was ok. All tribe members kept floating. After a minute or two, Emerson couldn’t manage and had to hold on to the boat. A few minutes after Rob held on to the boat. The remaining six tribe members continued on with the challenge and didn’t seem to have problems floating. Paolo then had a countdown of the last 15 seconds. He then collected the six matches from the successful Naak tribe members. Paolo checked if the matches did indeed got wet. The matches were dry and the six members were successful with the challenge. And so Naak took home 6 matches. Good for them. At least now they have something to be happy about.

The Naak tribe members got to their camp in the night. The tribe members were preparing to rest when Cris went to Kiko wanting to talk about something. Nainis yata itong si Cris kay Kiko during the reward challenge. Medyo taglish pa nga ang pagkakasabi ni Cris. Pero Cris naman didn’t raise his voice or anything. He was calm, he explained himself and he just said what he felt. What I like about what Cris said is that he rarely comments or says anything pero when he thinks he sees something wrong he won’t be afraid to say something. Para ay Cris may mali siyang nakita kay Kiko during the reward challenge. And yun lang yung point niya. Kiko naman defended himself and didn’t want to take the blame. Kiko even brought up his track record in dragon boat rowing. Three years na pala siyang rower and that they’ve won in international competitions. I guess Cris, being the driver by profession, didn’t like the driving he saw from Kiko during the challenge. I’m not really sure kung sino naman ang dapat iblame for the loss. Pero it was a team challenge and since hindi masyadong maganda yung teamwork na pinakita nila with the challenge, they lost and they lost badly. I’m not so sure if the others care. Si Zita nga just continued trying to make a fire. Ang inisip na lang ni Zita na gutom na lang naman yun. Buti na lang Rob, the loverboy, stepped in and reminded them na they’re one team and fighting wouldn’t do them any good as a team.

At the other tribe, Jarakay, the castaways tried to make use of the flint. Kaya lang since madilim na nahirapan din sila. In someway, may fireworks din dito. Si Marlon the waiter kasi parang nakikialam at ang daming sinasabi. I guess it got to the nerve of the other tribe memebrs especially John. Buti na lang nilabas na lang ni John yung saloobin niya at another time. Tama nga ba si John na puro lang salita itong si Marlon at wala namang gawa. In some way I guess tama siya. Para kasing nagger itong si Marlon. Lalaki pa naman siya. Tignan na lang natin in the next few days kung sino sino pa ang maasar dito kay Marlon. I’m sure meron pang iba. In the end, na-give up na lang sila for the night at bukas na lang daw pag may liwanag na nila itutuloy ang paggawa ng apoy. The next day naman mas madali na for Jarakay to make a fire. Since nakita na nila yung ginagawa nila at tuyo na yung ginamit nila for the fire. The others did their own share of the work by looking for food. Marami naman silang nakita small shells, crabs nung umaga. Upbeat na silang lahat sa Jarakay since makakakain na sila ng lutong kanin at shellfish.

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Episode 6: Reward challenge for a flint

Survivor Philippines’ Episode 6 showed the events that happened after the first tribal council, like the aftershocks of the first tribal council and the second reward challenge.

The men of Naak had something to say to Emerson after the tribal council. Natakot yata ang mga guys. I mean they thought they had an alliance and then Emerson makes his own plans. Pero yun nga Emerson backed out from his plan once that his saw that he didn’t have the numbers yet. It was Rob who confornted Emerson about it. Rob said na during the tribal council, kinabahan siya because he didn’t know kung sino ang safe at kung sino ang hindi. The following morning parang lalo pa yatang sumama ang image ni Emerson. The girls naman think that Emerson created stories para mag-away-away sila. One guy doesn’t even believe na Emerson doesn’t know how to play the ‘game’ of Survivor. Dahil daw nadudulas naman daw si Emerson about knowing some things about the show Survivor. Kawawang Emerson. Parang basa na ang papel niya with his tribemates. O well, we’ll see how good he plays the game in the next few days.

For the reward challenge, medyo mahirap yung pinagawa. Sabagay, maganda rin naman kasi ang reward. The reward is a small piece of metal that’s called a flint. Ikiskis lang nila ang knife nila sa flint, it would create sparks at ayun magkakagawa na rin sila ng fire at last. So gaano nga ba kahirap ang pinagawa? Eight members for each tribe had to compete for the challenge. The challenge can be divided into two parts. The first part is involves the team rowing a boat. The eight tribe members had to bring their boat to the water and row it. They then had to reach the torch also somehwere in the water. Then they’ll use the torch to light up six lotus pods scattered all over the water. After lighting all lotus pods, they can now go into the next phase of the challenge. Before starting the next phase the teams had to dive for the two footstools that they’ll use for the challenge. This part of the challenge involves the team getting two of their members accross the three platforms. Kailangan nila yung footstools para gamiting tulay ng dalawang members nila para makatawid sa platform. Medyo physically demading yung challenge since the people who will be holding the footstolls will have to carry the weight of the footstool and the weight of the girls as they cross the platforms. For the two girls who will be on top of the footsools medyo katakot din naman to be on that height tapos ang support lang naman sa ilalim mo e yung mga teammates mo. Kapag nakatawid na yung two girls sa final platform. The whole tribe has to climb up the platform. The first team na makaakyat ang walong members sa platform wins the challenge. O diba ang hirap?

Since Jarakay has 9 members, one had to sit out. The tribe chose Nikki to sit out for the challenge. On the other side naman, Kiko was instructing his tribemates kung paano magrow. The challenge started out na pantay lang yung both teams. Kaya lang pagdating na sa mga lotus pods, nagkaproblema na yung Naak. They seemed to have some communication problems. Kiko in his own way tried his best na pakinggan siya ng mga tribemates niya. Kaya lang parang hindi naman nakikinig yung iba. At yung iba naman tried intheir own way din na ayusin ang kanilang pamamangka. So ayun, Jarakay had the lead. Nauna sila matapaos sa six lotus pods nila. Naak at that time still was at their fifth pod. Tapos Jarakay had no problems getting their footstools. Nung time naman ng Naak to get their footstools, problema ulit. HInila kasi yung tali kaya humigpit yung pagkakatali sa footstool. Nakuha rin naman nila pero they lost sometime at lalo pa tuloy naglead ang Jarakay. Both teams naman were efficient in transporting their two members from one platform to the other. The girls naman on top were trying to balance habang nasa taas at ‘tumutulay’. Because of the lead established by Jarakay, their girls reached the final platform, even before malipat ng Naak yung two girls nila sa medium platform. The members of Jarakay went up the final platform and Paolo annouced that they won the challenge. Super pagod for both teams, Pero siyempre tuwang-tuwa ang winners. Back to back losses na ito for Naak. Hmmm… ang sama siguro ng feeling kung Naak tribe member ka at that time. Lets’ see na lang kung makakabawi pa sila next time.

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Daily Update

Episode 5: The First Tribal Council

The reorganized tribes came back to their respective camps. The girls were happy to see that the Jarakay camp was bigger and better than Naak. It seems that the new Jarakay tribe enjoyed their camp as they went to shore to enjoy the waves and swim. Another noteble happening in the Jarakay camp was the love team of Jace and Vern. Jace has a bit of a crush on Vern. And I think Vern likes the idea. I guess what drew Jace to Vern is that Vern is an athlete since Jace is a sporty kind of guy. Let’s just see in the coming days where this leads to.

At the Naak camp, there were a lot of talks. JC was telling the others to vote off Vern since they see her as the main culprit why they lost the immunity challenge. Emerson was trying to feel everyone. He was trying to make a point to the others that JC should go. Most of what happened was kind of like that. As a viewer, I was kind of feeling that it will be either JC or Vern who will be voted off first. It seemed that Emerson also had this Bisaya alliance within Naac. If that were true JC would be in danger.Â

When it was time for tribal council, the castaways were instructed to get their torches and light them up. Â They then sat at an area where Paolo would as them questions. I was surprised by the questions that Paolo asked at the beginning. Ano ba Paolo! Hindi ito showbiz talkshow. I was expecting more of the questions to be about how the castaways are dealing with each other and with their life on the island and how they are playing their game. Buti na lang in the end, ganun na naman yung mga naging questions. Buti na lang.Â

After the discussion, the tribe members were asked to cast their votes. Because there are nine tribe members for the Naac tribe, any person who gets five votes will have to leave the tribal council area and leave the island.  The first vote that was read by Paolo was for Chev. The next vote was for Kaye. The third, fourth, fifth, andf sixth votes were also for Chev. Chev was voted out. She felt bad for being the first to go. She kinda didn’t see it coming so she lashed back at her tribemates by saying ‘I hate you all’ in her final video.

I think this is the best episode of Survivor Philippines so far. The game is on for the members of the Naak tribe as they determine who they’ll vote off from their tribe. Maraing usap usap, bulong bulong, at kung anu-anong pagsusumbong.  Naglalaro na ang mga Castaways ng kampihan. Siyempre sa botohan, kung sino ang madaami sa bilang, siya ang panalo. Kaya kailangan maghanap ng kakampi. Ganito talaga ang Survivor at ito yung hinahanap ko sa Survivor.

Pahabol lang. I think Emerson played great. He was nice to Chev and boom. Chev didn’t see it coming. I hope to see more of these things in the next few episodes.

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Daily Update

Episode 4: No longer Men versus Women

Special thanks to The Amazing Race Asia Season 3, I was jumping from one station to another just to watch both Survivor Philippines and TARA3. Because TARA3 started at 9pm and ended at around 1030pm, I was more absorbed with that than watching episode 4 of Survivor Philippines. But somehow I was still able to manage watching Survivor Philippines and take note of what happened in Thursday nights episode.

Episode 4 of Survivor Philippines showed another twist that changed the complexion of the game this early. The tribes were reorganized putting both males and females on each tribe. The Jarakay and Naak tribes were given their tribe flags. Â Paolo called on Gigit to receive the flag of Jarakay. For Naak it was Zita who got their flag. I guess they were the flag bearers for their tribes because these two are the most senior castaways in their tribes. Then Paolo started caling the names of the castways giving them their survivor bandanas. Becasue I wasn’t watching really intently, I didn’t notice that a reorganization was taking place as Paolo called on the castaways. I really thought Paolo was just giving the bandanas as give aways to the castaways. Later on I realized that the tribes were now coed.

After the re-org Jarakay is now composed of Gigit, Marlon, Patani, Nikki, Vern, Jace, John, Nina, and Charisee. While for the Naak tribe, it now has Kaye, Chev, JC, Cris, Emerson, Zita, Rob, Vevherly, and Kiko.Â

The former Naak members were quite sad. The ladies have formed a bond even if they were only together for two days. But in the end I think it was better for all of them and for all of us viewers. The competition gets better with both tribes getting a better mix of brawn, brains, and ablility as they became coed.Â

After the reorganization, they now had to compete for the immunity challenge. The challenge is composed of two parts, finding the puzzle pieces and the solving the puzzle. The finding part was the more difficult part of the challenge. The tribe will have to carry a carriage with one person inside. When one member of the tribe needs to rest, this member must go back to the starting line and get a replacement for this tribe member. This memebr will then look for his/her teammtes and they can continue their search for the pieces. The puzzle peices will be scattered in an area and will be numbered. The six puzzle pieces must be taken in sequence from 1 to 6. And only the person inside the carriage will be allowed to retrieve the puzzle pieces.Â

Jarakay was first to obtain all 6 puzzle pieces. The 3 d puzzle of a Pagoda was quite difficult to finish whith Jarakay’s puzzle solver having some problems making the peices fit. The Naak tribe then arrived with their puzzle pieces and it was up to their puzzle solver to catch up for her tribe. The solver had difficulty in pulling out one piece from its cover. As she struggled to get the piece out, Jarakay’s puzzle was being checked by Paolo. It was then announced that the winner of the challenge was Jarakay. The Naak members were disappointed. Â The solver cried. She was consoled by her teammates with a group hug. With Naaks loss, they would have to go to tribal council and vote one of their members off the island. This is where survivor gets interesting.

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Notes on Episode 3 of Survivor Philippines

Episode 3 of Survivor Philippines showed Day 2 in the life of the castaways. It’s just a continuation of what Episode 2 which is also about Day 2. I was thinking how long the show would be on air if they planned to show one day per episode. That’s 39 episodes or just eight weeks if they’ll be only showing on weekdays. So I thought that this was how they were making the show run longer. By spreading the a day in the island into more than one episode they can make more episodes.

The Naac tribe was relatively peaceful. There wasn’t much goin on in the girls’ camp. Just lots of lying around and resting. I guess Nikki’s laziness has spread to the other girls too. Or maybe they’re just trying to conserve their energy for the next day’s challenge. Another noteworthy scene is remeber from last night is Zita looking her bra. She was a frustrated since the other girls did not seem to care for her things. Bakit daw pag siya, she cares for the things of her tribemates. O well, at least level headed naman itong si Zita. Hindi siya masyadong nagalit. Buti na lang she didn’t blow her fuse. We didn’t need that anyway since there was a lot going on in the other side of the island at the men’s tribe.

For the Jaracay camp, Marlon, the waiter, was still at his not so likable self. In one point he was talking to the driver, Cris, about making an alliance. Marlon was kind of feeling left out since he was seeing that there’s this four guys who seem to have a connection. I think he was talking about Kiko, JC, Jace, and Rob. Marlon was pointing out his disapproval of Kiko. He wasn’t really keen on him since he seems to command at bark orders to even their leader, Gigit. I think Gigit is a nice leader. He seems to command some respect because of his age at mukha naman siya madaling kausap. I guess this early Marlon has been seeing that the ‘rich’ guys have their thing. Kaya siyempre para hindi siya maiwan he has to create an alliance to neutralize these guys. Pero siyempre, feeling pa lang naman niya yun. The four are just busy building the shelter. Natural na they’ll be the one interacting. It wouldn’t mean they have an alliacne until we really see them talk about it.

Another notable thing that happened last night at the Jarakaytribe was Gigit being apologetic about making the fire. He wasn’t able to and all the other guys also tried making a fire but they too failed. In the end, Gigit kind of passed his ‘leader’ powers to Kiko. I don’t really agree with it. I mean Gigit would still be a better choice as a leader since I think he can reach out to the other tribe members better. than Kiko. Jace thought this act from Gigit was just to win the approval of his tribe. We haven’t heard from Marlon about what he thought now that Kiko is in charge. This should be exciting.

Later on tonight, the two tribes will be fighting for the immunity idol. Which camp will win immunity? And which tribe will go to tribal council to vote out one of them?

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Survivor Philippines group picture

Here’s a group picture of the 18 castaways of Survivor Philippines. I got this again from our college batch e-groups.Â

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The Castaways of Survivor Philippines
The Castaways of Survivor Philippines
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Daily Update

Notes on Day 2 of Survivor Philippines

Episode 2 of Survivor Philippines was much better than the first episode. Although it was uneventful unlike Monday’s episode wherein there was much action because of the swimming and the reward challenge, I enjoyed the show better with less of Paolo Bediones doing the talking. I guess I appreciate this episode  because I got to know more about the castaways and how they interact with each other.

For episode 2, the two tribes didn’t see each other. They had their own problems of making camp, looking for food, and trying ignite a fire. The Naac tribe was successful in gathering food with the tribe members catching some small crabs, and a few oysters.

Being chained in pairs, the girls also had some hard times specially when the chained pair doesn’t agree on what to do. With the case of Nikki and Zita, Nikki wants to lie down and rest while Zita being the industrious labandera that she is, tries to help in creating the tribe’s shelter. Mabuti na lang ZIta understands Nikki. Zita even pointed out that Nikki reminds her of her fourth daughter who’s shy and quiet.Â

I’m not so sure but I’m getting the impression that Nikki is lazy. It’s hard to tell. There’s a lot of work to be done in setting up a camp. Of course they’ll have to fix shelter since they’ll be staying there for the next 39 days. And some girls like Nikki, can’t find within themselves some sort of urgency to at least help out and do something. She maybe trying to conserve her energy since they’re all unsure if they’ll have food to eat but still. It doesn’t take away the fact that there’s a lot of work to be done. The food problem is faced by everyone and they should still somehow be fresh since it was only their second day on the island.Â

And then there’s Patani, the yaya, who is a frustrated Starstruck fan. She entertained her tribe mates with her Starstruck hosting skills. I’m surprised at how articulate this yaya could get. A typical yaya for me would be someone who would be mali-mali and submissive. Patani seems to be a good speaker and she seems to be confident. I’m thinking that she’ll go a long way in the competition.

The last update for the girls would be Taekwondo girl Vern. As an athlete, she’s not used to giving up. She tried lighting up a fire. She tried and tried and failed. She was getting a bit emotional. I guess it really gets frustrating not being able to be successful in dong such an ordinary thing. I think that’s all for the girls.Â

For the guys, the Jaracay tribe, members tried to forage for stuff to make their shelter. They were also looking for food. They found some mushrooms. It wasn’t shown if they ate them but I guess the hesitation of some was already enough for them to think twice since there are a lot of poisonous mushrooms. The guys also discovered the tree mail and the water source. There was also this instance about the water wherein the fat waiter guy, Marlon, suggested they fill a jar of water to their camp. Jace opposed it because he’ll be the one carrying it . Marlon had a nice idea but a bit impractical specially for the one carrying the jar. Finally there’s this scene wherein Marlon, gets frustrated because he feels it’s taking them too long to decide on things. It kind of ticks off most of the tribe members. They were in the middle of a debate/discussion and then there’s Marlon who tries to expedite everything by stating that they should vote on it and majority wins. This early, I think Marlon will get a lot of enemies. If I were part of their tribe, I would try to get rid of him as early as possible. The negativity that stems from him is not really a good presence in any team. What I would have done if I were a Jaracay member was to speak to the others and forget about the immunity challenge. I’ll let the team lose the immunity challenge so we chould vote him out early on.Â

Basta hindi nakakatuwa itong si Marlon. Yun na lang, he may have his reasons but he’s not very likable. What do you think? May favorites and hates na ba ka kayo among the castaways?

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Daily Update

Some Comments on Day 1 of Survivor Philippines

The long wait is finally over. Survivor Philippines aired its first episode last Monday night and it was ok. I left from work as soon as I can so I can catch its premiere. I didn’t have high hopes for the show so I wouldn’t be too disappointed. I mean, GMA7 acquired the franchise for Pinoy Idol and it was a disaster. Now, GMA7 has the rights for the pioneer of reality tv shows, Survivor, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if they would also fail my expectations on this one.

The opening credits is just ok. I was expecting to be wowed by it but I wasn’t. It was nice but it wasn’t enough. I guess the music should have been different or something. I was expecting it to be as enticing as watching the opening credits for the international editions of Survivor or of the Amazing Race.

The location is nice. They are in some island Thailand and it’s nice. The sneak peek of Survivor Philippines kind of reminds me of Palawan or Camarines. It’s not that we don’t have nice places here in the country, I guess they decided to hold it outside the country so the castaways would have a harder time psychologically. It still feels better to be stranded and lost somewhere in the Philippines than somewhere else. Right? Also, there’s this place where they held the first reward challenge. The place reminded me of Anawangin in Zambales. Pine trees and the beach.

The casting was ok. I think they have a much better reperesentation of ordinary people in Survivor Philippines that in any other Philippine reality show. I don’t know much about the castaways yet but I like the fact that most of them are blue collar workers. There’s a yaya, labandera, mekaniko, waiter, and a driver. I think did a good job in selecting the castaways. At least I the viewers would have an easier time to relate to them. And most of all, ang mga cataways naman ang magdadala ng show. Kaya good luck sa mga plot at twists na makikita natin sa panonood sa kanila.

As for the host, I think Paolo Bediones was the only suitable choice. I couldn’t think of another host who could fit the bill to be the Jeff Probst of Survivor Philippines. Paolo has hosted a successful reality show before and that should help. However, I’m not so sure about his voice. Specally when he does voice overs.

I guess it’s still too early to judge. But I hope they all do well. That’s all for now. Do you have any comments on Survivor Philippines so far?