Tribal Council begins with Russell explaining why he was so upset when Matsing lost the immunity/reward challenge. Russell says, "Jeff I’m intense about this. This means a lot.” Denise understands how he feels. Roxy feels her tribe uses too much of their energy working in camp versus saving it for the challenges. Denise disagrees and feels they need food, fire and shelter just to have strength for challenges. Jeff asks Angie what one thing she would like to change about this tribe. Angie responds, " That we could have cookies.” Russell rolls his eyes. He knows that Angie is young but encourages his tribe to get serious about this game. Jeff asks about friendships in the tribe. Roxy says, "I don’t know what’s going on between Angie and Malcolm, but it’s way beyond just an alliance.” Angie responds, "That’s her opinion and she can have that.” Malcolm tries to assure his tribe that they are just snuggling to stay warm. Roxy wants the last words and reminds her tribe that a pair is very dangerous in this game. The Matsing tribe then votes. Jeff reveals four of the five votes, which are one vote for Angie and three votes for Roxy. So, Roxy Morris, the 28 year-old seminary student repair from Brooklyn, NY, becomes the second person to be voted out of SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I’m sorry, but you know what would make these weekly Q&A’s even better? COOKIES! You told me before the game you were worried that Angie didn’t have enough life experience for this game. I think that was pretty much summed up in her response to your question about what she would most like to change about her tribe. While the Tribal Council master of ceremonies in you clearly wanted to shake some sense in to her, was the producer in you wanting to run up and kiss her for giving you such priceless material? What was the Jeff Probst frustration to jubilation ratio at that point?
JEFF PROBST: I was torn because Angie is a good person, she’s just young. So while I was astonished at her answer, truly astonished, I realized that her answer actually made a lot of sense to her — the thing that would make her life better at that moment was some fresh baked cookies! Here’s the truth: I don’t think Angie is playing at the same level as some of the other players who have more life and/or Survivor experience, but as we’ve seen in the past, it doesn’t mean she can’t get to the end.
Nobody that watches Survivor on TV can fully understand and appreciate just how miserable it can be for contestants exposed to the elements 24-7, especially when you are in near-constant rain for six days like these guys have been. That said, some locations and accompanying weather can be harder than others, and the past contestants love to argue about who had it worse. Let’s settle this for once and for all: Which Survivor location has been the toughest for contestants, and which has been the easiest? (Easiest being a relative term, of course.)
Well, Survivor: Africa was certainly a tough one because of the lack of available water and many of the contestants got very sick as a result. Survivor: Samoa had a lot of rain which made it very tough and this season, Survivor: Philippines also subjects the contestants to a lot of rain. It really is tough to compare because even the seasons where there was plenty of food and water is still a total ass kicker. As you say, it’s the hardest thing to convey to someone who hasn’t at least seen the toll it takes in person. I usually say to people try going 24 hours without any food, then call me.
I assume we have not had reward challenges yet due to there being three tribes as opposed to two and there not being enough time to cram that all in. How do you think only having one challenge per episode to break up stuff at the camps alters the dynamic of the show? And can we expect reward challenges to return if/when we go down to two tribes?
You are correct! It’s all about real estate in the show. You only have so many act breaks and so many minutes. With each new twist you usually give up something. Structurally, we all miss having two challenges but we felt it was worth the trade off of having three tribes. I would expect that there will soon be a return to two challenges and we almost always have two challenges once we get to the individual portion of the game.
Finally, tease us up something fierce for next week, Jeff!
The pressure is on Matsing (Russell’s tribe.) There is so little wiggle room that if they lose another immunity challenge the entire tribe is danger of being decimated. Imagine being on this tribe and seeing your entire shot at winning going down in flames only two episodes in…that’s what is at stake.
| Player | Survivor | Tribe |
| Christi | Carter Williams | Kalabaw |
| Colin | Jonathan Penner | Kalabaw |
| Erin | Sarah Dawson | Kalabaw |
| Karen D. | Katie Hanson | Kalabaw |
| Karen R. | Dana Lambert | Kalabaw |
| Tonya | Jeff Kent | Kalabaw |
| Brendan | Angie Layton | Matsing |
| Dick | Malcolm Freberg | Matsing |
| Steve | Denise Stapley | Matsing |
| Warren | Russell Swan | Matsing |
| Alyssa | Artis Silvester | Tandang |
| Cara | Peter "Pete" Yurkowski | Tandang |
| Cheryl | Michael Skupin | Tandang |
| Lauren | Lisa Whelchel | Tandang |
| Lee Anne | Roberta “R.C.” Saint-Amour | Tandang |
| Sandy | Abi-Maria Gomes | Tandang |
