Survivor Philippines Finale - And the Winner is...

You have to love Jeff Probst's recaps.  He is so good at what he does and there is no question that Survivor would not have lasted as long as it has without him.  Will Malcolm and Denise stay strong together or will Malcolm's pact with Lisa and Skupin happen.  Who will win the immunity challenge and who will be sent home.  Will there be a tie or will it be a clear decision.  We are about to find out.

Malcolm and Skupin has an alliance.  Skupin is delusional to think he can beat Malcolm though.  He has a great story, but Malcolm has played the better game.

At the reward challenge the winner gets a huge advantage at the final immunity challenge.  It also confirms that there will be only 8 jury members, thus a final 3.  As expected, Malcolm wins.  He is great at puzzles, but Denise was close and while Skupin was the first to start on his puzzle, he was never close to solving it.  Lisa was doing good for a short time, then fell off.  What will the immunity challenge be and what advantage will Malcolm have.

Lisa and Denise had a talk back at camp about taking out Malcolm.  Lisa like the idea and Skupin likes the option, but isn't as on board.  Once again, Skupin says he can beat Malcolm.  The obvious choice is if either Denise or Malcolm win immunity, that is who Lisa and Skupin go to the end with.  If Skupin or Lisa wins immunity, that is where the choice becomes more on their side. Denise referenced a Penner moment with Malcolm not wanting to commit, but that is only with her.  Malcolm does seem committed to Skupin and Lisa.  Right now the final 3 sounds really promising for Lisa and Skupin, regardless who wins immunity.

Skupin is determined to win the final immunity so that he can create the final 3, instead falling into it.  He also said that him and Lisa don't agree on who should go to the final 3, so obviously that could be bad for Lisa.  Because if he wins immunity and he can't get Lisa to see his side, then he has to convince Malcolm and Denise to vote for Lisa.  My guess is Lisa will stick with Skupin, if it comes down to it and they will go to the end with Malcolm, if Skupin wins immunity.

The Fallen Commrades is a staple in Survivor and it is nice that there were people left that had been with all of them, so nice words could be said about each of them.  It makes for decent filler for the show, but it is one thing that could be cut and make the finale 1.5 hours instead and increase the reunion show to 1.5 hours.

At the immunity challenge, the advantage that Malcolm gets a second chance.  The challenge is to balance a ball on a stick and periodically they add pieces of wood.  Malcolm is the first to drop the ball, but now has the second chance.  Malcolm is really struggling and it falls again.  He is the first out of the challenge.  The rest of them to this point very steady.  Just before the 2nd round end, Denise falls out.  Lisa and Skupin go to the third round.  Both survive round 3, but Lida barely made it.  Skupin wins final immunity as Lisa just couldn't quite outlast him.  Skupin is in the Final 3.

With Skupin in charge, obiviously he will be wanting to take Malcolm.  So now it is time for Lisa and him to have a conversation on it and then to see what Malcolm and Denise say.  Will Malcolm and Denise get back together and force a tie or will Malcolm stick with Skupin.  Will Lisa stay with Skupin or vote with Denise and cause a tie.  I Don't think either of those will happen.  I think that Lisa and Skupin will agree and I think Denise will be the last jury member.

Malcolm and Denise are both plead their case.  Skupin still says that he wants Malcolm, but Lisa doesn't and says she will do what she needs to to make sure he isn't there.

At Tribal Council it was a very dramatic discussion.  Malcolm says that Denise's story trumps his own, but I don't necessarily agree.  I would have been so pleased if Malcolm would have won, but I'm equally as happy with any of the others.  In the end, I think Lisa was the driving force on the decision and Skupin didn't want a tie, although, that may have been better, from a jury perspective.  so now it is down to the final 3 of Skupin, Lisa and Denise and if I were to guess now, based strictly on the editing, Lisa is going to win.  She has had her story told the best, but honestly I will be surprised if she does win.  I do think Denise has a real shot, but I think Skupin does too.  It will be interesting and it will be interesting to see if Lisa's past comes up, because Penner and Skupin know and who knows if Penner has told any other jury members.  Does it make a difference?

"This isn't tree mail, this is tree meal."  I love it!

Why start a fire under a tree?  That just seems irresponsible, but obviously as soon as they walked away, I'm sure there was a crew there to put the fire out.

Now it is time for the final Tribal Council.  Will the jury be bitter or will they go about this the way they should, looking at each of the final 3 for who they are, how they played the game and vote accordingly.

Looking back though, Malcolm's biggest mistake was keeping Denise last episode.

Opening Statements:

Denise: Great Opening statement.  The perfect one IMO.

Lisa: Also a very good opening statement.  Shows vulnerbility, but was confident.

Skupin: Also a pretty good opening statement.

I put Lisa and Skupin close to each other, but Denise was the perfect opening statement.  The positive is all of them were confident and none apologized.  Lisa did express regret for not following her heart and that was obviously referring to Penner, but in the end it was Penner that blew the opportunity.  So going into the questions, I think Denise holds a slight lead, but not a strong one.

Questions:

Artis: Sore loser!  Just made a statement.

carter: Congrats to Lisa and Skupin.  He asked Skupin what his reaction to him getting voted off.

Pete:  Nothing to Skupin direct.

RC: Congrats to Lisa.  Skupin, questioned on her going home.  Nothing to Denise.

Malcolm:  Nailed Denise.  Gave props to Lisa.

Jeff K: I think Lisa answered that great.

Abi: Bitter Betty!  Denise apologizing is not what she was looking for.

Penner:  Great statement and I think Lisa countered the fact that she hid her past great.

After Denise's opening statement, the rest was far from perfect.  Lisa performed the best to the questions.

Jeff - ?, RC - Lisa, Artis - ?, Penner - Denise, Pete - ?, Carter - Skupin, Abi - ?, Malcolm - ?

Lisa
Denise
Skupin
Denise
Denise
Denise

Denise Wins!  The other two had to be for Denise so it wasn't even close.

She did play a great game socially and did survive every trible council.  She was also successful in convincing Skupin and Lisa to vote out Malcolm.