Philippines Episode 1: Old Habits Die Hard

We start, as always, with Island shots. But these aren't the Samoan Islands we've come to know and love, this is finally a brand new location, the Philippines. Jeff rides his jet ski to a boat containing 15 new castaways, including two "celebrities"  (baseball douchebag Jeff Kent and 80s has-been Lisa Whelchel) and tattooed redneck Zane, who seems bizarrely enamored with Frankenstein. "But what they don't know is three former castaways are returning for a second time" says Jeff...forgetting to mention that Jonathan Penner has already played twice.

The new group begin their voyage

When Jeff greets the newbies, one of the first questions he asks Roxanne is what's the worst thing she's seen on the show. She mentions Russell Swan's medevac and lo and behold, here comes the man himself. The returnees are given their tribe assignment and told to start grabbing stuff off the boat and get on a raft.

"10 seconds!" says Probst. "Until what?" says Penner. "Until you get off this boat. C'mon Penner, you've played this game before". I love watching these two bicker. In the scramble, Jeff Kent falls over and hurts himself, losing a lot of their stuff. Carter manages to rescue a chicken in the nick of time, but it's still not a great haul for Kalabaw, and Kent is already worried that his injury is making him vulnerable.

The first thing Russell does when he gets to the beach is say that he doesn't want to be the leader. He's waiting for someone else to take that poisoned chalice. His tribe don't seem too impressed with him, but creepy Malcolm gives Angie the order to "do what he wants" for now. Malcolm proves himself around the camp by helping Russell make fire. He's happy to give him credit for that, because it takes the target off him.

Kalabaw touch down

On Kalabaw, Jeff Kent is struggling, but doing his best not to show it. When Penner leaves the rest of the tribe alone to go talk about how much fun he's having and how he's happy to be back, Jeff takes the chance to propose that Penner be the first boot, because he already had his shot. That's what I like about this cast, they're not willing to just give the returnee a free ride like past seasons may have done.

Now we join up with the third tribe, Tandang, arriving on their beach. Banker RC (though she's telling no-one) is getting on really well with Abi, and they decide to bring in Pete and Mike to form a majority. Skupin is happy to have an alliance, but it's already clear to him the younger kids have plans of their own and he's fourth.

Abi pulling the oldest trick in the book

Dana wants to align with Jeff Kent because of their Southern connection. An odd mix considering Jeff is supposedly a notorious homophobe. Dawson sits and watches Kent talk about his fictional motor business. She knows who he is, although the rest of the tribe don't seem to. She's going to keep that information tucked away until it becomes valuable.

Lisa and RC ride the wave

Lisa is trying her best to fit in with the younger crowd, but it's tough for her. RC is already throwing her name around as someone untrustworthy just because she's an easy target. Mike likes Lisa, and in fact recognises her from her TV days. He tells her this in private at night, and suggests she reveal it in the hopes it'll give her some star power, but she still seems reluctant.

Denise is curious about Zane, and the two align. In fact, Zane is making alliances with everyone on the tribe and has deluded himself into thinking he's some kind of mastermind. He goes up to Russell and Malcolm and admits he has aligned with everyone, and Malcolm rats him out to Denise. They're such an odd pair, but they look like they're going to cause some damage. They even have their own secret handshake.

Mike Skupin is getting injured again already and RC and Artis are concerned. Cuts on his head, foot and hand....going by this, it's easy to see how this klutz got medevaced the first time. "Wait til we have fire" smirks Pete.

Penner making mischief again

Kalabaw are taking shelter in their cave from the rain. Penner is absent, and Jeff Kent is pretty damn sure he's off looking for the immunity idol. He's right. After going all over camp, he looks in the box of rice and finds a clue, which tells him it's hidden in plain sight. Meanwhile on Matsing, Russell is also going through his rice and manages to find the clue by accident. He discreetly tucks it away but Zane manages to spy him reading it. And from their subsequent conversation, Zane is pretty confident Russell has the actual thing.

It's challenge time! The tribes are told to split up into three pairs of three, and each pair will tackle a different section...the obstacle course in the jungle, swimming out on a raft to dive down for a chest, and assembling the puzzle inside. Russell decides to take charge of assigning his tribe's tasks, and gives Angie the puzzle, despite her protests. The dumb blonde on the part that requires brainpower? Recipe. For. Disaster.

Russell directs his troops

RC and Artis give Tandang the lead early on, leaving Russell and Zane in second place despite Zane having to be yelled at and literally dragged when he fell behind. How Dana and Katie managed to do worse than them, I do not know, but Jeff and Carter manage to overtake Denise and Malcolm on the rafting, whilst Pete and Skupin extend Tandang's lead. When it comes to the puzzle, it ends up a tight contest with Penner and Dawson edging out Abi and Lisa to give Kalabaw victory. Matsing were a distant third. Russell owns up to his error, but Malcolm is still mad he didn't listen to his tribe.

Angie is watching Zane's back

Russell is in the middle of offering his apologies when Zane pipes up to point out to everyone how much he sucked. Um ok. While this at first seems like a quit, Zane later claims it was part of his master plan to test if he was really running the show and expects everyone to beg him to stay. Angie really does want Zane to stay though, because she thinks he's funny and she feels Russell was trying to throw her under the bus. Zane tells Malcolm that he thinks Russell has an idol. How will this affect the vote?

At tribal council, Probst asks Zane to assess the double-edged sword that is having a returnee on your tribe, and he makes a bizarre onion analogy. Russell explains how he slipped back into leadership mode when he shouldn't have, and says he would be devastated to have come back just to be the first one out. The tribe go up to vote, and the wonderfully deluded Zane is surprised when it is his name called and not Russell's. What a character, he sure managed to pack in a lot of fail for just one episode. So Russell gets a reprieve and goes back to enjoy his second chance on his second chance.

STAR OF THE WEEK: ROBERTA "R.C." SAINT-AMOUR

There were lots of stars this episode but this one took me by surprise. A strong, aggressive, smart player that got herself quickly in a good spot, she has great enthusiasm and looked dominant in the challenge. RC has far exceeded my expectations and has already earned her spots.