Philippines Episode 13: Swimming With Sharks

Abi thanks the tribe for letting her stay. She mentions her idol bluff as a possible reason. Bless her for thinking that had any impact on her staying. The rest of them are feeling a little bit of remorse for voting out overall good guy Carter, especially Lisa, but she's got her head in the game now and wants to win...something that Malcolm has definitely noticed and is keenly aware of.

Abi is targeting Denise hard, and goes up to Lisa, telling her that she's "4th for sure" in their alliance. Despite all their history, Lisa is still willing to consider Abi as an option going forward. She's useful to her one way or another, either as a great final three partner or a potential jury vote.

Probst explains the challenge - it's going over a pyramid, gathering rings and throwing them. The winner gets to choose two people to join them on a boat. At final five, that's a great opportunity to secure yourself a spot at the end. It's a really fun challenge, which Skupin takes an early lead in. Malcolm tries to catch up with him on the toss section, but Skupin doesn't let up. It soon comes down to either Skupin or Malcolm with one ring left, and Skupin scores it first. Jeff tells him a chopper's gonna come and take him in. "Remember my last chopper ride?" Skupin says, referencing his medevac. Jeff assures him this one will be a much better experience. So his first pick to accompany him is Malcolm, as he still feels indebted to him for choosing him for the last reward. Lisa is his next pick but he does offer all his food rations back at camp to Denise, which is a nice gesture.

The odd couple

Denise and Abi are back at camp, plotting the demise of the other three. Abi moans about not being picked. She doesn't really understand why she's not the swing vote. Denise is just trying to make it through the day. The afternoon is just as torturous for Denise as it looks.


On the boat, Skupin is fooling around on a sugar high, showing a fun side Malcolm has never seen before. The three of them get the opportunity to swim with a shark.

Skupin is the Captain of the ship

Real live sharks! Skupin even headbutts one. It's an amazing moment, but not the reason they're there. So Malcolm brings the talk back to the game and offers the other two a final 3 deal, because he knows that Denise is his biggest threat. The two of them agree to it, but Lisa isn't really sure about it.



Next morning, Denise wakes up in very bad shape, saying her neck feels like it's "on fire". It's probably a bite and allergic reaction, but there's so many animals that could be the culprit - spiders, snakes, lizards. She wants to just suck it up as there's only three days left. Lisa and Mike pray for her. Abi doesn't feel bad, though. Shocker!

My money's on the scorpion

The immunity challenge involves crossing a bridge with limited planks, then constructing a ball maze. It starts off pretty close but then Malcolm falls off and has to go back to the start. That's setting him back a long way as everyone is over the bridge now and working on building the maze. Lisa, Mike and Abi are not doing well. Denise's looks right, but it's not. Malcolm comes back into it and really flies through it, pulling off an unlikely victory.

Who would you rather face?

Abi is unhappy because she's probably going home. She talks to Mike and tries to get them to take her to the final 3, citing Denise and Malcolm's underdog story as making them unbeatable. It sounds like the perfect plan, but Mike is worried that if they vote out Denise, Malcolm wins the next immunity. Lisa realises it's a trade-off...will they take the easier opponent or just be satisfied with a higher chance of making it to the end? Malcolm is stupidly confident that the two of them will hold true as he's not even considering giving Denise his idol, he wants to keep it as a souvenir.

At tribal council, Probst lets Abi make a case for being the best opponent to have in the final 3, and whilst Denise doesn't dispute that, she says that's not necessarily the way she would want to play the game. She says Abi has been lucky to make it this far, although Lisa takes exception to her saying Tandang avoiding tribal council was luck - it was because they kicked ass! Abi calls Mike a moron and tells him despite what the thinks, he has no chance of winning. Ouch, Abi is really feisty tonight! "The only difference between me and Denise is I'm here for a million dollars and she's here to make friends" says Abi. Denise disputes this, to put it mildly.

Skupin does his happy dance

So with the vote between Abi and Denise, it seems Skupin and Lisa end up taking the easy option and vote out Abi, ensuring that they lose the game. Good job! Abi goes off to face the wrath of RC in the jury house and we're left with one question left unresolved - which Matsing will have the honour of beating the Christian brigade? Malcolm or Denise? Find out in the finale!

STAR OF THE WEEK: MIKE SKUPIN

Despite what I just said, I think Skupin has played a pretty good game overall. He's not gonna win and seems kinda deluded about that, but he's set himself up perfectly time after time to control the votes so at least it's him who decides who does. He was such a goofy, fun presence in this episode and a great challenge win also proves he's managing to keep up with the younger ones.