We’re kicking things off tonight with the Survivor 2012 premiere of the Philippines season. Eighteen castaways. Three tribes. Let’s see how it this works out tonight with the first episode.
Confirming what we’ve already known for a long while the new castaways are introduced to their team leaders, the three returning castaways. Next Jeff confirms there will be hidden immunity idols again this season, but of course no details on where those are located.
Jeff instructs the new tribes to gather everything they can and jump off the boat. Along the way we might have our first injury of the season with Jeff Kent who pops his knee in the process but tries to hide it from the team.
We’re getting lots of time with each tribe and learning how the groups are aligning. I’d say 90 mins is way too long for an episode of Survivor!
Time for some immunity idol hunting. Jonathan Prenner over on the Kalabaw tribe finds the first clue in the rice bucket. The theme continues on the Matsing tribe when Russell Swan finds the idol clue in their rice supply as well.
Finally! Time for the first immunity challenge. Jeff reveals there are two immunity idols, but only the first tribe to finish gets the fire-making kit while the second tribe gets a piece of flint. The castaways have to paddle out, release a submerged chest, bring it back, and assemble a puzzle from its contents.
After trailing in second place Kalabaw comes back to just barely, barely beat out Tandang to get first place with immunity and the fire-making kit. Tandang gets the piece of flint and immunity as well. That means Matsing is heading to Tribal. Will they turn on Russell so soon?
Heading in to tribal council we see Zane trying to play some Jedi mind tricks while working behind Russell’s back to get him evicted. Zane also tries to convince the rest of the tribe that Russell has the immunity idol already. This guy is going full blast right from the start.
It’s time for the voting to begin. We get to see Russell cast his vote for Zane. No surprise. Zane returns the favor. All the rest are hidden until Jeff tallies the votes. Well, I think Zane’s whole bizarro game play has officially backfired. He’s voted out of Survivor Philippines by a 5-1 vote.
Did the Matsing tribe make the right choice?
