Marthunis departed the game, Josie and Toni switched to Mindanao, Annalize and Katinka find themselves part of Luzon, Tom and Palesa have made up after their epic blow-out on the Visayas beach and Werner has two Hidden Immunity Idols in the bank . . . Thursday’s (7 June) episode of M-Net’s Survivor South Africa: Philippines was packed with more twists than a Parliamentary Q&A as the game was shaken up once more – just as the Castaways were starting to make sense of things after the tribe swap.
This week’s combined Reward and Immunity Challenge was the catalyst for the Visayas reconciliation, after Tom and Palesa found themselves the last pair standing after holding up a heavy wooden disc for over an hour, between them. One by one, the Castaways had let pain, pins and needles and outright exhaustion get the better of them and let their discs drop, with Luzon’s Werner and Toni capitulating last to hand Visayas the sole Tribal Immunity spot – and a Steers ‘Build Your Own Burger Bar’ feast at their camp, as a reward. Luzon and Mindanao would both be heading to Tribal Council . . .
The defeat spelled the end for Marthunis – having had declared himself impossible to blindside and vowing to quit before he could be voted out, after he ran out of goodwill, thanks to insulting almost everyone at Mindanao. His declaration to his tribe that he was effectively bored and wanted to leave meant a reprieve for Annalize, who would almost certainly have been voted out, otherwise. Having taken pains to teach his fellow Castaways how to spell his name correctly for the Tribal Council vote, they gleefully set about finding ways to deliberately misspell it – a parting shot, to irk him.
At Luzon, Josie’s tentative search for the Hidden Immunity Idol cost her dearly as Werner spotted the clue inscribed on the top of the day bed and scooped up the Idol at the first opportunity – ironically, while Josie was having an ill-fated discussion with Toni on the opposite end of the beach about voting the Pastor out. Jeanne saw Werner unearth the Idol – now the second in his possession, after he picked one up at the balance beam challenge – but he brushed off her offer to keep it safe in her own bag. He then shared the news of his find with tight ally Toni, cementing her resolve to stick with him and spurn Josie’s advances.
Pre-challenge, life at Visayas had been hotting up for Tom as Chané expressed her anger that he’d played his Hidden Immunity Idol to save himself at the previous Tribal Council – when he’d previously said he’d play it for her, when she needed it. Seeing her chances of survival as 50/50, she made overtures to Vusi and Palesa and offered to unite with them to send him home, declaring that “the Tom ship is sinking – and he’s sinking it himself”. This, after Palesa and Tom had hugged it out after last week’s Tribal Council and talked about uniting to take the tribe forward.
When Mindanao and Luzon converged for Tribal Council, the result seemed a foregone conclusion with Marthunis having declared his desire to depart the blue tribe and Josie out of favour at the reds. Survivor is a funny old game though, and after questioning Marthunis about his decision, Nico Panagio told him he could leave if he wanted to – denying him a ceremonial torch snuff – and declared that the vote would go ahead for both tribes, putting a previously-comfortable Annalize right back in the Mindanao firing line.
The two tribes duly voted, but once Nico read out the Luzon result – with three votes against Josie – he told them they’d voted her out of their tribe, but not the game. He invited her up to the plinth and ordered her to hand over her Luzon buff, replacing it with a Mindanao one and sending her across to her new tribe. Annalize had picked up three Mindanao votes, and Nico gave her the same instruction – switching her blue Mindanao buff for the red of Luzon. As if that hadn’t set the cat firmly amongst the Tribal pigeons, Josie and Annalize were offered the chance to bring one of their former tribe members across to their new tribe. Josie chose Toni and Annalize picked Katinka, meaning that Mindanao now comprises: Josie, Toni, Tevin & PK, while the Luzon members are now Werner, Jeanne, Katinka & Annalize. Ironically, that still leaves both Josie and Annalize in the minority their new tribes, with the original ‘Mindanao Strong’ bloc dominating both, 3-1.
The new tribes left the Tribal Council area with Nico’s final words ringing in their ears: “You never grow complacent and you never give up”. Tune in to Survivor South Africa: Philippines next week (Thursday 14 June, 19:00 on M-Net 101) to see if Josie and Annalize can break the Mindanao stranglehold in their new tribes – and if unity at Visayas can possibly last.
Survivor fans can also have great fun online. For the first time ever, M-Net has created a Virtual Reality experience for fans of the show. By simply logging on to www.mnet.tv/survivorsa viewers can click through to a full 360 degree experience of the Survivor SA islands, living areas as well as each challenge site as the weeks progress. Fans can now see and experience the surroundings of the exotic Philippines exactly as the Survivor contestants did, and stumble upon some clues along the way that could put them in line to win some great prizes while doing so!
Survivor SA is powered by the Huawei P20 Pro and is produced by Afrokaans Film and TV.
The show is also available on DStv Catch-Up and Catch-Up Plus within 24 hours.