Philippines Episode 14: Unfinished Business

Pick your winner

Mike and Denise are happy that Abi's negative influence is gone, but Malcolm is not happy about being called out as the biggest threat again. Skupin thinks he has the story to beat Malcolm, but I'm not sure he's right. The tree mail for the next challenge is ambiguous as to whether it's a reward or immunity. Denise just doesn't want to get voted out, like she's scared she will be.

The reward challenge is part obstacle course, part dragon puzzle. Denise and Skupin take a lead on the first part, as Lisa trying to climb over the poles hinders her and Malcolm falls in a pit in his overeagerness. Skupin struggles on the puzzle though, and it ends up being between Malcolm and Denise. Malcolm wins reward and gains an advantage in the next immunity challenge.

Awful, or awesome?

Back at camp, an exhausted Lisa talks about how Malcolm didn't even need an advantage - he's already on a streak, having won the last two. Denise goes to the well with Malcolm to try and work out a final 3 deal but Malcolm is hesitant. Denise knows that's not a good sign, given how hard Malcolm planned for a final 6 and final 4, so decides to talk to Lisa about voting out Malcolm. Mike thinks Denise is a bigger threat, though.

Denise regales some Kalabaw tales

The final 4 pay respects to their fallen comrades, talking of how Zane was hilarious and Angie was underestimated. "All she wanted was cookies". Russell feels humiliated by his Survivor experience, and RC gets lots of slow-motion boob bounces. Skupin calls Penner out as the biggest jury threat...so at least he has some awareness.

Malcolm knows he dropped the ball

We arrive at the final challenge, and it requires a steady hand. They have to balance a ball on a piece of wood using only handles to keep it up. Due to his advantage he won at the reward, Malcolm gets two shots at it. However, it is Malcolm who drops first, and then soon begins struggling again. Amazingly, immunity king Malcolm is the first out of the challenge, advantage and all. Then Denise loses her ball right before the end of the round and it's down to Mike and Lisa. Mike wins the final immunity challenge and gets very emotional at the thought that he's managed to finally complete his Survivor journey....something he failed to do 12 years ago.

Malcolm blames his nerves for the challenge loss, but still checks in with Mike and Lisa to make sure he's not going home. Denise tells them she's writing down Malcolm's name 100% but Mike decides to steal Coach's shtick and talk about taking the best to the end. "Would there be any honor in beating Lisa and you?" he tells Denise. Puh-lease dude, you're not even gonna beat Denise, let alone Malcolm. And so the four go to tribal council with Mike's mind still not made up, but Lisa is very clear - Malcolm needs to go.

At tribal council, Probst tries to suss out who has the tighter relationship between the Tandangs and the Matsings. Denise says they'd been close until now but it's time for that to change, whilst Lisa points out she hasn't always voted the same way as Mike. When Lisa then admits she has no reason to take Malcolm to the end, Malcolm looks shell-shocked and quickly scrambles to try and make Denise out to be the bigger threat. It's to no avail though, as by the time he casts his vote, he knows he is done. And after he walks away, congratulating Denise, he is furious. I feel bad for him, he was so close.

Even though she liked Malcolm and had a great alliance with him, there's a part of Denise that just wants to gloat that she beat him. The final three watch the sunrise together the next morning and toast over the feast. They all agree that it's still anyone's game.

It all ends tonight

Time to get to final tribal, then. Denise is giving no apologies and wants the jury to know she beat them, but also praises her adaptability. Lisa admits her game was a mess, and Skupin talks about how he had to shake off the returning player stigma and played so hard he still has glass in his face.

Penner's monologue is worthy of Shakespeare

Artis starts us off, saying he hates everyone...classic Artis! Carter is a much nicer presence. Lisa tells Pete she didn't know Artis was going home, and Mike tells RC the same thing. Lisa denies Jeff Kent's accusations that she floated in the middle, and Denise has to apologize to Abi for disrespecting her - I thought she said no apologies? Penner gives the epic finishing speech as you'd expect, calling Denise a bitch, outing Lisa as a TV star, and even making a very theatric ox/chariot analogy.

That was an interesting tribal council in that the vote could've gone either way. And indeed, for the first time since China, all three finalists get a vote - RC votes for Lisa, Penner votes for Denise and Carter votes for Skupin. But when Jeff reads the votes out back at the studio, turns out it's not as close as it looked. Denise wins Philippines by a 6-1-1 margin.

STAR OF THE WEEK: DENISE STAPLEY

Denise is what Stephenie LaGrossa wishes she could be. A scrappy underdog and a true survivor who made it through every single tribal intact, an unprecedented achievement. Her blunt approach to the final tribal council is not something that's easy to pull off, but her intelligence, articulation and people skills served her well.


Reunion recap:

• I wasn't surprised Lisa won Fan Favorite, I was surprised it was so close. Lisa's built-in fanbase pre-show meant her win was never in doubt for me.
• Wasn't it cool how everyone got to speak for once? That hasn't happened in quite a while.
• Malcolm stuttering when Probst asked him if he'd play again was a little suspicious.
• Fans Vs Favorites? Well it's not getting points for originality, but it was a pretty cool concept that deserves re-visiting.  Let's hope the fans don't suck this time. Bring on Caramoan!